2 SMART Board Tips and 10 Google Search Tips

Since many of you have SMART Boards in your room or may use the software to create lessons I am going to share two tools that will save you time and enhance your instruction. 

Dual Page and Pin Page
Many times during a lesson you want to show two pages or keep one page stationary and scroll through other pages.  This tool works great in math if you want to keep the teaching example up and scroll through other pages while students are continually referring back to the example.  This may also be helpful in reading to keep a passage up and scroll through some questions or prompts that get students thinking while they are still able to see the passage page.  Below I have created a short video explaining how to create both a dual page and how to pin a page.

 



Internet Browser in SMART Notebook
When I have created lessons in SMART Notebook I include links that allow me to navigate to a internet browser outside of the software.  Now SMART has included a browswer within their software so you can include that in your lessons.  In the video I show how to quickly and easily drag images from this browser to use in your lessons.  I also show how to add these images to "My content" for later use.  This tool allows you to easily navigate to a internet browswer within the flow of your lesson.  Below is the video explaining how to insert a browser and how easy it is to use.

Ten Google Search Tips for Kids
I have seen some of the searches that kids do on Google.  No wonder sometimes their searches do not come up with the information they expect.  The document below gives you ten Google search tips you can implement in your classroom.

Techniques Google Search Star

Educational Video Sites

Over the past few weeks I have posted ways in which you can use YouTube videos safely in your classroom.  This week I want to share a few alternative video sites that you can utilize in your lessons.  These sites allow you to search by standards, content, and grade level.  Video is such a powerful instructional tool and I hope these sites can save you time while you are trying to find videos to use in your lessons.

PBS Learning Media:
PBS LearningMedia provides you free access to videos, interactives, audio, photos, and in-depth lesson plans.

WatchKnowLearn:
WatchKnowLearn has thousands of K-12 educational videos which are organized and free to use in your lessons.

Knowmia:
This site has over 8,000 video lessons which are tailored for high school students.

2 sites full of K-12 Interactive Resources for SMART Board

I usually do not post huge lists of resources, but this Livebinder and website are definitely exceptions.  We have so little time in the day and sometimes finding time to create our own resources can be difficult. These websites have tons of interactive resources organized by topic that you can use on your SMART Board.  I would highly recommend checking these out!

1. http://bit.ly/SIVXCI
2. http://bit.ly/S5IIuR

Scholastic Thanksgiving Resources for K-12

Scholastic has developed a collection of many great resources to help students learn about the Pilgrims, Native Americans, and the first Thanksgiving.  The first step is go to the Sign-Up/Home page and register your class.  You will receive a diary letter from different Thanksgiving characters in your email inbox during the month of November. 

The voyage on the Mayflower section allows students to take an interactive journey that the pilgrims experienced or they can tour the ship. 

 

Scholastic also provides implementation plans for K-2, 3-5, and 6-12 to help teachers use these resources effectively in their instruction. 

Finally, Scholastic has partnered with Plimoth Plantation to produce three video tours of Plimoth Plantation, a Wampanoag homesite, and a Pilgrim homesite. They will also be adding a Mayflower virtual fieldtrip.  This is a great set of resources which will bring Thanksgiving to life in your classroom through technology.

 

This following video I found on History.com.  It shows the Pilgrim's route they took and deconstructs the Mayflower.  



2 Tools to Help Eliminate Distractions Around YouTube Videos

YouTube is wonderful tool to use in your classroom.  What isn’t so great: all of the garbage that can come along with it (i.e. advertising, comments, related videos…in short-distractions). Here are two resources that will allow you to safely view and share YouTube videos without all the garbage.

YouTubeXL- This is a service that YouTube provides that lets you watch videos on large screens without the ads and comments.

Safe Share TV is a fantastic way to share You Tube videos with your students. Safe Share TV removes all distracting and offensive elements that surround a video on You Tube and allows you to share the video with a unique link. Safe Share TV also gives you the option to crop videos before sharing them.

Implementation:

• Spark interest in certain topics
• Make real world connections to various topics
• Explain concepts to students

(adapted from original post found on http://ilearntechnology.com/?p=4695)

Utilizing YouTube and Discovery Ed Videos in Your SMART Notebook Lessons

Video is a powerful tool that you can use within your classroom for many purposes.  Today we are going to focus on how to put these videos into your SMART Board lessons so you can easily access them during your instruction.  Our distritct has access to Discovery Ed and the other type I will show is YouTube.  I will show how these videos can be downloaded and embedded, and also include some implementation ideas.  Please remember when you are using a video this way that you should give credit within your lesson to the original video creator.  This is a great way to model digital citizenship to our students.

YouTube:

Discovery Ed:

Implementation Ideas:

• Create lessons utilizing videos for discussion or to build anticipation for the content
• Build your SMART Notebook documents to include these videos to avoid buffering/having them become unavailable
• A great way to have students create presentations so they can use video without having to wait to view it during the presentation (remember to cite the video)
• A way to include only the segments of a video you want within your instruction instead of having to search and find the exact spot within the video