Deb Norton Tech

Movenote is a fantastic tool for recording a video while showing a presentation or images.  It is also a Chrome App .  Recently this Movenote video was shared on Google+ showing a teacher using Movenote to provide feedback to one of her students on a writing assignment. Check it out - Click here What a fantastic way to give a student critical feedback and praise!! This could also be a great way for peer to peer feedback. Or how about students creating a video of themselves reading their writing for an oral reading example for fluency, pace and expression?  I highly recommend giving Movenote a try!

It was an interesting weekend of sorting through posts in my Feedly .  I can tell it's almost Halloween just by reading these Tricks and Treats. Here are some of the highlights. * Google Tricks that are fun to try and share - Click here * A Chart comparing the use of technology versus the integration of technology - Click here * 21st Century Video * Plethora of Graphic Organizers from Teacher Vision - Click here * One "Coin" for all of your cards: * Your Rubric is a Hot Mess; Here's How to Fix It - Click here * All About the Books, No Trouble * Androidify - Click here

1.  Letha is using Screenleap . This site allows the teacher to share their computer screen with others by sharing a link. It works very simply and easily.  I've written about Screenleap before here .  This would also be a great way for students to share their screen on a large screen in front of the class. 2.  Samantha is using newsela to find current event articles for her students. This site allows the teacher to adjust the reading level according to the needs of the students. Some articles have quizzes for students.   3.  Brynn is using Thinglink with her students. I introduced this tool to our staff last week.  Thinglink is used to create an interactive image with hotspots.  You can read more about Thinglink here . 4.  Kerry and Valerie are having their students use Google Docs to publish their poems.  My latest Chat with Deb video was inspired by these two caring teachers. What great share outs from my colleagues.  I can't wait to see what the fu

Monday, October 20th is the National Day on Writing. This year's theme is writing on your community. You can find more information by clicking here . In this Chat with Deb, I will demonstrate tips and tricks to teach students for using Google Docs to its potential.  Borders, colors, text boxes, bookmarks and more will be shown. I hope you have a chance to allow your students time to write for the National Day of Writing. Remember, publishing and sharing is an important part of the writing process.  Thank you to Intel's Teachers Engage for sponsoring this Chat with Deb.

If you are finding yourself teaching the same lesson year after year with the same materials and teaching style; then it's time to add some new technology and spice up that boring lesson.  It's refreshing and motivating for students to see a teacher using new instructional strategies and materials in a lesson. Here are a bunch of ideas: 1)  Involve the students - Use an online poll or backchannel to interact with your students during your lesson. This gives every student a voice and builds character and understanding amongst peers.  a.   Poll Everywhere b.   Tally.tl - Click here for my blog post. c.   Today's Meet d.   Padlet e.   Geddit - Click here for my blog post. 2)  Student Choice - Allow your students to show their learning with these choices. Giving students a say in how they show their knowledge is empowering. a.  Mindmapping with Slatebox or Bubbl.us - Click here for my blog post b.  Create a visualization with Canva  or Buncee or Smor

Inspiration from my wonderful colleagues comes in all different forms this week: #1 Amy used Bringit.bz - This site allows a person to make a sign up for any event. Amy used this site for a upcoming soup luncheon that we will be having. Click here to take a tour of the site. Here are 30 ideas for using Bringit.bz One way I could see using Bringit.bz is to allow students to choose a role that they would like to have and then create groups based on those choices.  Click here to see my example: #2 Ginger is using Easynotecards.com to help her students learn content. This site lets you create flashcards and then students can use the flashcards in several ways: Click here to view a set of cards on the 50 states. I enjoyed playing the Bingo game and found that I was challenged, but also improved considerably the more I played. #3 Abby is using Replayit.com to collect photos for our yearbook.   Click here for FAQ.  I look forward to using this site bec

In October we focus on Digital Citizenship.   http://www.edtechschools.com/category/digital-citizenship/ One of the skills we want our students to be proficient at is having a critical eye when deciding if a website is a reliable and accurate source. We also want to make sure that our students have the ability to determine if the information on a website is credible. This is a serious issue when we consider the recent events with the Slenderman case of the young lady who was knifed because her friends believed in this fictional character. Watch this Chat with Deb to see how a new tool called Annotary can be used to have students mark up a webpage and share out what their critical eye sees.  Click here for Kathy Schrock's list of sites to use for critical evaluation Click here for Common Sense Media lessons Click here for Deb's Blendspace Lesson on Digital Footprints Click here for the Annotary site. Click here for the Annotary extension.

Polls are a great way to gather data and information. Tally.tl  lets you create a poll quickly.  Simply type in your question, add possible answers and share out the URL. You can also tweet out the answer.  Here are two polls I created: Click here to take this poll Click here to take this poll This would be a great way to gather feedback from your staff, school, community or others. Students could collect data for a project or writing assignment.