Deb Norton Tech

Presentations help to tell a story or give information There are many choices for making presentations, but one of my favorites is Adobe Slate.  There is an iPad app as well as a web version.  Here are some of the features that make Adobe Slate a favorite of mine: Scroll through the presentation and check out the awesome effects and features. Easily add text, window images, captions, links, picture galleries and a cover photo. Edit or add more content as you go. Easily move any content around to readjust. Publish and share your presentation with a link or embed code. Click the image below to view my Adobe Slate presentation.

October is Connected Educator Month. How do you stay connected with others in the education world? Skype, Twitter, Facebook or Google Hangouts? There are multiple ways to connect with others and learn from one another. Watch this Chat with Deb and see a few other possibilities that might be new to you: Resources shared in this video: Periscope Bloglovin Connectededucators.org How do you stay connected with educators from around the globe. Please share. I'd love to hear about it.   Thank you to Intel's Teachers Engage for sponsoring this Chat with Deb.

Makerspaces and Career and Technical Education (CTE) What are Makerspaces and how do they help with CTE ? Think back to when you were younger and enjoyed a hobby or interest. Perhaps you enjoyed building or a craft. Maybe it was music or art? Or, if you were like me, perhaps you enjoyed electronic devices and games.  These are all examples of the Makermovement or Makerspaces.  Career and Technical Education (CTE) prepares our youth for a wide range of high-skill, high-demand careers with cutting-edge, rigorous, and relevant educational experiences. When Makerspaces- hands-on areas of creation and discovery in the learning environment, combines with CTE, great things can happen.  Think of this as technology blended with hands-on, skill-based learning environments.  There is a big movement in education today to bring more creation and hands-on time to students; to give students time to explore and learn from their personal interests (20% time or Gen...

October is Digital Citizenship Month As a technology integration specialist, I am often asked to find resources for classroom teachers on Digital Citizenship. Below is a collection of videos that specifically cover Digital Citizenship and Social Media.   Talking to students about their behavior online is very important to me. I know first hand with my own two sons, ages 15 and 17, that kids need direction and reminders of how they behave, not only online but in any social situation, including the classroom, in public and online. Here are four excellent resources for the classroom and for parents to help talk to students about Digital Citizenship and Social Media. Hashtag, You're It  shows the consequences of giving away your location and personal information using hashtags in social media. It's amazing that the people in the video are shocked by how much the host of the video knows about them when he approaches them. Kindness and thoughtfulness...

October is a time to focus on Digital Citizenship and Cyber Safety. In this Chat with Deb, you will learn how to use a video / animation site called Powtoon with your students for the purpose of creating a video about Cyber Safety. Here is the published Powtoon video : Here are some sites with resources on Cyber Safety: Netsmartz.org National Childrens Advocacy Center National Cyber Security Awareness Month Cyber Safety Checklist Internet Safety Checklist for students and parents How do you bring awareness to Cyber Safety with your students? Please share if you have a good resource or activity. Thank you to Intel's Teachers Engage for sponsoring this video.

Today I'm sharing some tools for making avatars and emojis. Today it is all about fun, engagement and using tech to make us feel good and connect with others.  Stadium Takeover - This site is sponsored by nflrush.com and allows you to create an avatar based on your favorite NFL team. Another fun part of this site is watching which team is winning the Stadium Challenge: Regardless of which team you root for, this avatar maker will put a smile on any football fan. Get Peanutized  - is another avatar maker that lets you create yourself as a Peanuts character. You can share your avatar as a wallpaper or as a profile picture. Bitmoji is an emoji app that will allow you to create an avatar and then use that avatar to insert emojis into Google Docs, blogposts or most writing platforms on the Internet. Even this blog post: There is also a Bitmoji extension that will make it easy to add an emoji at any time. It even works in Gmail! To...