Deb Norton Tech

Happy Spring Break! I hope your week is full of relaxation and rejuvenation! I enjoyed watching this documentary over the past few weeks. It is really well done. Have you heard the news ? Wikispaces is going away. I’m not too disappointed. The last time I used Wikispaces was 2010. I create A LOT of Google Presentations. This icon add on has quickly become one of my favorites.   You can choose any color you want and the icons are imported in your slides with a transparent background. I am thinking of ordering this for our Innovation Lab. Students are always commenting on the poor lighting in our space. I think this could make a big difference. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Curricular Connection Extensity - Not just another extension! Tired of having too many extensions in your toolbar? Try Extensity, the ultimate tool for lightning fast enabling and disabling all your extensions for Google Chrome. Just enable t...

This week has been INCREDIBLE!  We are so blessed! On my commute to work, I listened to this and this and this .  (Better PD, Modern Family and Flipping Science) #TryPod To celebrate #InternationalWomen’sDay, I viewed this slideshow of girls from around the world going to school. This site intrigues me.   Move over escape rooms or BreakoutEDU, check out Room Escape Maker ! I’m among some incredible educators for this Saturday’s, free SimpleK12, Google Training Webinars.    Happy Friday and consider this inspiring message that I created with this Chrome extension . -------------------------------------------------------------------- Curricular Connection Google Drawings I have heard this tool referred to as the Swiss army knife of the GSuite!   I recently showed a colleague how to add a Google Drawing to a Google Document by clicking on Insert and then Drawing. Google Drawing provides a blank...

We've Been Awarded a Technology Grant for Our High School! Let's Celebrate! In January, our principal, Ms. Jackie Schleicher, came to me with a challenge.  There was a local grant opportunity called the Rudoy Technology Grant. We decided to take on the challenge of writing a proposal that showed innovation, career connections, the 4 Cs (soft skills)  and incorporated current and advanced technologies. We have been notified that our proposal was accepted and we have won the Rudoy Technology Grant through the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation ! Rudoy Technology Grant Proposal- Oshkosh North High School Advanced Printing, Coding, Robotics and Hi-Tech Production OH MY! Click here to take a look our grant proposal.  I am beyond ecstatic and excited for the amazing opportunities this grant will bring to our staff, students and parents. Here is a list of the items we submitted in our grant proposal: Advanced Pri...

Happy Friday Everyone! This has been quite a week.  Snow, shovel the snow, more snow, more shoveling, repeat. I’m so ready for spring break!  Are you going anywhere? Poster My Wall is a site I looked into for a colleague who was searching for a site similar to Glogster . Unfortunately, Glogster costs money. Luckily, Poster My Wall does not. If you are looking for inspiration for your classroom, check out Shake Up Learning by Kasey Bell. I used her template, Teach Like the Tonight Show , Internet Pop Quiz ,  in a classroom this week.  I think it went over well! I also used this , this and this in classrooms this week. Instructional technology is the best! Source After watching the Oscars last Sunday, I’m considering which of these I might want to watch this weekend. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Curricular Connection Sketchboard.me Sketchboard lets you collaboratively sketch and ...

“You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.” Sometimes we don’t have a choice over who we spend time with, but lately, I’ve been careful to choose people who are positive, kind and a joy to be around. Here are my top 5 influencers in my educational profession: I'm thankful for these amazing individuals who influence me in positive and inspirational ways! My friend and colleague, Val, gave me a Merge Cube this week. I have been lost in a world of augmented reality ever since.  This is such a great way for students to learn and explore various content areas . Scan the cube with your smart phone or iPad and objects show up through augmented reality. There is also a cool app for digging similar to Minecraft. Curricular Connection Crello This is a visual design tool that is meant to make digital designing easy and enjoyable. Crello reminds me of Canva . There are free and paid items to choose from. One thing that Crello offers i...

This week I was fortunate enough to be asked to teach in a classroom that I had not had the chance to be in yet this year.  The lesson I taught was using Quizlet (a digital flashcard generation site).  The students were shown how to start a stack of flashcards and then invite their classmates at their table to join in their stack and work as a group to create a complete set of flashcards with 20 words.  Students could then use the stack to learn, study, quiz and play games with the vocabulary words that were in the stack.   The last part of the lesson involved showing the students and teacher how to play Quizlet Live, a classroom game using a flashcard stack.  This lesson ended up having some challenges. Some students were hesitant to participate and were unengaged. One student didn't even have a device, so he didn't participate at all.  Some students found the activities too challenging.  And some students were anxious and one student...