While I have used DimDim, Elluminate, and Skype, I signed up for DabbleBoard today after hearing how the students in Monika Hardy’s classroom were using the tool to collaborate on math problems.  DabbleBoard is a free online whiteboard that loads quickly and is easy to use.  It is possible to share audio and video through Tokbox which is linked to the DabbleBoard page.  Multiple students may login simultaneously and share their ideas.  I have embedded the link on our class blog so that students will have easy access to our homepage. 

Monika Hardy is pushing the limits in her math classroom and opening up a whole new world for her students through the use of creative approaches to high school math. 

Her idea: open sourced math

Her target audience: Pre-AP Algebra 2 students

Her intentions:

individualize learning wieman exp ind tutor
as much as possible in a  
highly collaborative plns
manner via the web.
The intended instructional model is to combine  
student-centricwillrichardson09 
/student owned curriculum alannovember
with  
inquiry and project based methodology.

She is certainly embracing the challenge to

Math Snacks, developed by New Mexico State, are short animations and mini–games designed to help learners in the middle grades comprehend math concepts. 

“See” language like never before with WordSift!

Type in an unfamiliar word to see related images and words.

Spelling City is a quick and easy and blends perfectly with the Promethean ActivBoard.  This interactive website allows the user to enter a customized word list and Spelling City does the rest!  Students can practice and reinforce skills through games, activities and multimedia word tests.

Numerous games are available for reinforcement of vocabulary across the curriculum.

  Seen originally on Nik’s Quick Shout.

Minimize transitions; maximize instruction.  Again? Really?  Oh, yeah!  With instructional time so limited, it is truly important to teach bell to bell and maximize every moment of class time.  The First Five Minute Activity should really only take 5 minutes.  If it takes longer, it could be that too much is planned or students are tardy or unprepared.  Use the Countdown Clock and the Reveal Tool to keep lessons on schedule.  When the allotted time has transpired, the screen goes black, the independent activity is over, and class continues with a discussion and checking of independent activity.

Day 15: Setting the Countdown Clock and Reveal Tool 

Step 1:  Choose Power Tools

Step 2: Select Clock

Step 3:  Select Countdown

Step 4:  Set the time for the activity

Step 5:  Use the drop down menu to Start Reveal Tool “after timeout…”  Other choices would allow for page turning, page reset, and a fullscreen photo

Check out Promethean’s Activtips for Timers and Countdowns for more ideas.  Other timer options can be found in the Resource Library in the Shared Activities Folder>Gadgets and Widgets>Timers.

Not all students learn and respond to learning situations in the same way.  A student often seeks to fit new material into the context of what is already known.  Often, students vary not only in previous content knowledge but also in the way they new process information.   All students have different interests, backgrounds, and learning styles.  Effective classroom teachers employ a variety of methods to match the students’ interests and learning styles.  It is important to remember, when students do not learn the way we teach, we must teach the way they learn (Dunn, Educating Diverse Learners, p. 30).

In the 30 Days to Get Activ blog series, I have included lots of screen shots and numerous videos supported by written instructions.  I have attempted to engage the reader visually, audibly, and kinesthetically -if the reader tried some of the tutorials.   I could have just written directions or used a voice recorder to provide spoken directions like on might do when using the lecture method to deliver instruction.  However, I thought it would be more helpful to include a mixture of methods to help the reader put the unfamiliar information in context and hopefully, aid in understanding.

Using Digital Images in the classroom assists students in much the same way.  If a picture is worth a thousand words, then digital images can easily enhance understanding and provide illustrations for abstract concepts.  Digital images help readers envision text, provide a bridge for writing, and help put concepts in context.

While many digital images are available for download, you may find yourself wanting to show only a portion of an image, an image from a previous flipchart (ex. chart, drawing, graph), an image from a pdf file from a publisher’s resource disc or a sample of student work on the ActivBoard.  The Camera Tool can be used to capture any of these images. Use this tool to capture an image from the Desktop, Flipchart, or paused video frames or animations. Photograph the complete display screen or a specific area and send images to your resource library or the flipchart page.

Day 14:  Using the Camera Tool

Step 1:  Select Camera Tool

Step 2:  Choose Camera Type: Area, Point to Point, Freehand, Window, or Fullscreen

I typically choose area, though freehand allows for the capture an irregular shape using freehand lines.

Step 3:  If Area is selected, reposition the blue rectangular box to include all to be photographed.

Step 4:  Use the Camera Toolbar to choose where you would like to send the photograph.

o       To the Current Flipchart Page

o       To a New Flipchart Page

o       To My Resource Library

o       To Shared Resource Library

o       To the Clipboard

“I know that video is here somewhere….tick…tick…tick…Well, I’ll try to find it and show it to you tomorrow…(sigh)”   Not being able to find resources when needed is disappointing to students and teachers alike.  When resources are not readily available, valuable teaching time is wasted, students become distracted, and often disruptive behavior ensues.  With the ActivSoftware, every video, sound clip, flash game, and map can be easily opened with a single click. 

Have flipchart, can travel.  Often, my lessons are prepared at home and carried to work on a flash drive. I prefer to embed the resources I intend to use into the flipchart I am creating.  I do not want to change a file location or change computers and have some of my resources unable to open. By embedding the file, I have access to my resource from within the lesson as does anyone with whom I share my flipchart.  The same steps used previously to make a video play can be utilized to cause any embedded file to launch.

Day 13:  Using Actions to Launch Embedded Files

Step 1:  Select an Object from the Resource Library

Step 2:  Right Click on the Object to display a sidebar menu

Step 3:  Choose Properties

Step 4:  Choose Actions

Step 5:  Choose File

Step 6:  From drop down menu, select “Play Embedded File”

Step 7:  Select “SET” and then use the browser to select the desired file

Minimize transition times; maximize instruction.  Honestly, prior to using an ActivBoard, I struggled with minimizing transition times.  It wasn’t because I was unprepared or unorganized or couldn’t anticipate the next activity; I would bring in a variety of resources, have activities planned, be prepared and still I realized I was more active than the students I was trying to teach.  In fact, some days I felt like I was spinning plates in the circus while trying to keep daily lessons running smoothly.   I was so busy fumbling around to start a video clip, turning to the correct page in my textbook or wiping off the overhead transparency that I lost precious instructional time as well as my students’ attention.

Research supports that an ineffective teacher will spend anywhere from 4 to 9 minutes transitioning between activities, while an effective teacher will spend as little as 30 seconds moving from one activity to the next.  In B.F. Steere’s study, he calculated that, based upon nine transitions during a six-hour instructional day, for 170 school days, an effective teacher spending only 30 seconds per transition, will spend a total of 12 hours and 45 minutes per year on transitions resulting in a loss of approximately 2 1/8 days of instructional time. Given the same time frame, an ineffective teacher spending an average  of 5 minutes per transition, will spend 127 ½ hours on transitions each year resulting in a loss of approximately 21 ¼ days of instructional time.

The ActivBoard helps regain valuable instructional time, because every part of a pre-planned lesson is just a click away.  Using the ActivBoard frees me up to focus on my students instead of focusing on management tasks.  Now, lesson resources (videos, maps, excerpts, photos, games, and examples) are included in my flipcharts, even the answers to the “First Five Minute” activity! 

Day 12: Reveal Answers Using the Fill Tool

Works well in matching games, fill in the blank questions, labeling parts of speech or diagrams, and short answer questions.

Step1: Type the “First Five Minute” Activity questions in *blue.     *Note: Can use any color.  

Step 2:  Type the “First Five Minute” Activity answers in *yellow.    *Note: Can use any color other than the color selected for the questions.  

Step 3:  Use the Fill Tool to change the background to *yellow.  *Note: The background should match the color selected for the “First Five Minute” Activity answers.

Step 4:  To show the answers, use the Fill Tool to select a different background color.

Steere, B.F. (1998). Becoming an effective classroom manager. A resource for teachers. Albany: State of University of New York Press.

Fun Finding: Guess the Wordle

 While I am familiar with Wordle, I have never seen it used to create a riddle.  Guess the Wordle is the clever creation of Jennifer Wagner.   New Wordles are posted several times a week and focus on a variety of educational topics.  I love the fact that these are ready to use and can be easily integrated into the beginning of a lesson to get students thinking!  Of course, if you or your students would like to create an original word cloud, visit the Wordle site.