Deb Norton Tech

Happy Holidays! Here is our annual holiday Sing-a-Long as captured through Google Glass.  Enjoy! And here is an encore JibJab video from the wonderful staff that I work with each day.   I look forward to blogging in 2013 and all that the new year will bring.  May each of you have a wonderful break.  I'll see in 2014.

This year my Christmas wish list isn't very big.  I had told my students back in November that all I wanted for Christmas was Google Glass.  Well, that wish came true just a few weeks ago and I'm as happy as can be.  Glass is truly an amazing technology. But. . . .  Let's take a look at a few other great gadgets that could have made my list this year: #1 Pencil - Read this blog post or watch the video below. #2 X-Mini II Portable Speaker - My speakers are ancient and have very poor quality. #3 Scratch #2, I'd rather have this one ! #4 HP Chromebook 14 - My son has one for High School and I'm really liking what I see!   #5 Fitbit Aria Fitness Band  - this neat wrist band can track my fitness exercise, sleep and weight loss goal.  And it can pair with my iPhone and the Fitbit app. Here is a short video suggesting some helpful apps for Christmas Shopping: Even though these gadgets are on my wish list, I'm...

Here are a few random finds from my Feedly this week. Punctuation Campground is an interactive for students to practice adding punctuation.  Students can get hints and check their answers.  I like that the sentences get progressively more difficult. Exit ticket is a site for providing real time feedback to students and teachers throughout or after a lesson.  Here is an introductory video: Scholastic has a nice collection of graphic organizers. Finland has been know to have a very different and successful model of education.  Here are three videos showing a peek into Finland schools.  I find it refreshing to see that teachers are required to have a masters degree and are given the freedom to teach the way they feel is going to benefit the students.  I am a bit envious of the fact that the atmosphere is so relaxed and casual in the schools.   I can't wait to see what this week's Feedly brings.  I always enjoy my time spent ...

This week I tried out a new site called Kahoot and it was a HUGE success with my students and with the teachers in Hartland, WI where I presented this past weekend. Kahoot allows you to create a quiz (survey or discussion).  The teacher needs to sign up for a free account to create a quiz.  The students do not need an account to take the quiz.   The teacher projects the quiz in the front of the room and the students answer the multiple choice questions on any device. Students only need to get the pin to enter into the quiz.   Questions appear very visual and the choices are colored boxes with shapes.  After each question, the quiz also projects the students with the top 5 scores.  While taking the quiz, music plays in the background and the questions are timed, which the teacher sets the time when setting up the quiz.  When the quiz is finished, teachers can download the results.   One of my favorite features is the ability ...

Feedly is a sight I use to follow a lot of different blogs.  It has been such a great week on the blogosphere that I just have to share some great finds from Feedly this past week. #1 CLICK HERE to access Richard Byrne's blog (Free Technology for Teachers).  Richard shares that Educlipper now has a new feature which allows teachers to create assignment portfolios.  #2 CLICK HERE to read The Digital Scoop blog where Susan shares a great lesson on inferring using Google Drawing.     #3 CLICK HERE to see how Kristin from Technology Tailgate showcases different ways that she is using Augmented Reality in her classroom.  I'm very close to implementing some Augmented Reality into my math class.  I'm just waiting for the Layar App to be installed onto our iPads. #4 CLICK HERE to read The Whiteboard Blog where Danny Nicholson shares a new app called Touchcast.  Touchcast is used to make interactive video presentations. ...

Recently I attended an Intel Summit for Teachers Engage.  Each participant was asked to create a short presentation to introduce themselves to the group.   The variety and creativity of presentations that were submitted were incredible.  I love the fact that each participant was able to use a tool of their choice to present their information. Because the presentations contain personal information, I will not include them here.  I do want to share with you all of the presentation tools that were used.  So many choices. #1 Prezi - This presentation tool has transformed over the years and offers a lot of choice which helps to make each Prezi special and unique.  I really like the fade-in animation option that was added.  #2 Glogster - This online poster maker allows for many forms of media including video, animation, audio, links, images, and text.  When I used Glogster with my students recently, they praised this tool and many ...

In just a few short days, I'm off to Portland, OR to work with Naomi Harm , Marshal Conley and Intel for Education .  I am really excited and I can hardly wait to spend time "getting my tech on". Since I will have quite a long flight, and I am hoping to spend some time reading during the flight, I need to get prepared.  Now I just heard that airlines are supposed to be allowing passengers to turn on electronic devices during take offs, landings and taxing, however, I'm not going to count on it.   In case you didn't know this about me, I am an avid Kindle user.  I never purchase books anymore.  Basically if I want to read a book, I immediately look to see if it comes in ebook format.   One way that I love to read on my Kindle is to send webpages from the web directly to my Kindle.  To do this I use an extension called Send to Kindle for Google Chrome .  When I come to an article or blog post that I want to read on my kindle, ...

I use a lot of images off of the Internet.  Sometimes I use them for this blog, or other times I use them for my websites or classroom assignments.  Recently I needed images for a slideshow that I had to make. My students also use images all of the time for their projects and assignments.  This week we are making ebooks on our ipads. Here is some help with finding copyright free images. GOOGLE IMAGES! Many of us allow our students to use Google Images to search for pictures.  Here is how you use the advanced search to find images that are free to use and share. Go to images.google.com Click on the gear icon Click on advanced search Type in what you are searching for Scroll down and click on Usage Rights Then click on Free to use or share Lastly click on Advanced. FLICKR! Flickr is one of the most well known sites for finding images. However, all of the images on Flickr are not copyright free.  To find images safe for reuse: ...

Today I am sharing with our staff YouTube Editor and YouTube Slideshow Maker. If you need a quick way to make a slideshow or if you need to edit one of your videos, these are great tools! Naomi Harm is the inspiration behind sharing this blog post with all of you.  To access both of these tools, first sign into your YouTube account and then click on the UPLOAD tab. First, lets look at YouTube slideshow maker. Here is a slideshow that I made.  I used pictures from Pixabay, which is a site that provides copyright free images.  Thanks to Naomi Harm for tweeting about this site. Watch this short video to see how I made this slideshow. Now let's look at YouTube Editor. I highly recommend giving YouTube Slideshow Maker and YouTube Editor a try.

This past week my students worked on a cultures project.  In our reading series we have been reading about how different cultures have unique celebrations, traditions and foods. To extend what we read and to meet the CCSS, the students each chose a culture to research and gather information on.  We used the research tool in Google Docs to find our information and search for images.  Prior to this lesson, we did a lesson on finding reliable websites called Detecting Lies from this collection . Watch the video to see how the research tool works. Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required. Click here for the Cultures Research Doc if you would like to use it in your classroom. After the research was completed, students took the information and created a Glogster to display the information.  Here are some examples: Our last step is that we need to link our research document to our Glogsters.  Then we plan to present ...

How many tabs do you have opened in your browser?  Yes, I'm asking you right now; how many tabs? I personally have quite a few: Perhaps the Tab Cloud extension could be helpful to you.   Here is how it works: You are at work and you have several tabs opened on your Chrome browser that you are working on.  It's time to go home and you want to continue working with the same sites you have opened when you get home.  Or perhaps you are taking a night off and you want to come back to the same tabs the next day.  The Tab Cloud extension will save your opened tabs for you and allow you to reopen them another time and place.  Even on a different computer! To get the extension, visit the Chrome Web Store and search for Tab Cloud.  A quick way to find extensions is to click on the extensions tab at the top. Once installed, you simply need to click on the Tab Cloud extension in your extensions bar to save the tabs you have opened...

This past Saturday I presented at the UW Oshkosh Google and Intel Mini Summit organized by Innovative Educator Consulting CEO Naomi Harm. As always, Naomi brought in an amazing team of presenters and gave attendees more than they bargained for in terms of the greatest technologies in the edtech world. One of the presenters was Ben Hommerding, a Google Certified Teacher,  from the Winneconne School District.  Ben presented on Google Glass and he was fantastic.  Ben wore his Google Glass and did live demonstrations through out his presentation.  I must say that I am quite envious of the fact that he has Google Glass and I don't.  This technology is going to change the educational world in the coming years.    Click here to view parts of Ben's presentation. I had the pleasure of teaming up with a good friend of mine, Tim Neilsen.  Tim works for Innovative Educator Consulting as is a Google Power Searcher.  I always learn a t...