Searching for information on the web can be tiresome and untrustworthy for the most part. Thankfully Google always has some tips and tricks on how to make searching much easier for the user. You can even put a + sign in front of a term that you want more of in your search and a - minus in front of a term you want less of. Check out the tutorials below to learn about more of these tips and tricks!
Another awesome search engine I learned about to help with searching the web for information is called Wolfram/Alpha. This website is a search engine that has compiled information from experts that can help anyone on any level of education or expertise search for knowledge. Check out the tutorial below to learn about Wolfram/Alpha and click here to check it out for yourself!
This week we explored the presence of social media in the classroom. What are the pros and cons of integrating social media into education? Some of the ideas I read about when integrating social media include updating parents on a Facebook group, having student discussions on Twitter, or using Skype to connect with classrooms in other countries! Although, there are definitely benefits to integrating technology there can be some downfalls. Social media can be used as a hateful tool kids take advantage of to get back at an enemy. There also needs to be a fine line between what administration can do when kids are outside of school. Is it fair to punish a student for putting profanity on their Twitter or Facebook status outside of school? Well, that has happened to some students! I guess you'll have to take the good with the bad in this situation! What do you think????
Pinterest is an amazing tool that educators can use! I have a serious obsession with Pinterest and I have used it as a tool that collects all kinds of different resources at my fingertips. I also follow the other teachers on my team, so that we can keep each other in the loop about what we have found on Pinterest. You can check out my account here! Make sure to follow me!
Click on the Pinterest button above to get to Pinterest and start pinning!
This week we played around with Google Drive. Google Drive is a fantastic feature Google has that provides the user with all different types of tools they can use to enhance any project, assignment, or meeting. The picture below shows the different options a person has to create something on Google Drive.
I played around with Google Forms this week and created a form to assess our unit 3 reading skills. You can take my form by clicking here! I also learned about an awesome website called Flubaroo. This website allows teachers to get their online assessments graded within a minute! It then can collect the results into a spreadsheet for you to utilize. If you're interested in checking out Flubaroo click here.
The videos below will help you navigate through Google Drive!
I also have other videos under Google Drive-ing You Crazy in a previous post!
We checked out some ways to organize all of the awesome things we find online this week. We discussed a couple of really great tools like Delicious and Diigo. Both have their advantages and are wonderful tools that will help you keep track of everything you find!
I actually made an account with Diigo, but not because I felt that it was the more superior choice. We just checked Diigo out as our organization tool! It was really easy to create an account and if you have a gmail account you can just sign in clicking the blue g button. You can also access a free educational account through here! You will just need to use your school email address. Once you sign up for your free educational account you can use tools like sticky notes, highlighting, and bookmarking when searching through all online sources! This awesome organizational tool will keep websites you like and allow you to check out other member websites, so you can partake in social bookmarking, which means you are sharing your resources with other users out there. The tutorial below will help you figure out Diigo. The tutorial below that talks about Delicious!
We also talked about Google Calendar, which I discussed in a previous post! Google Calendar allows you to keep track of all your schedules at work and outside of work by color coding and alerting you of appointments and meetings. Check out the video below or my previous posts to help you figure out Google Calendar!
Enjoy these organizational tools for gathering and collecting your online favorites!
This week we checked out this awesome website called Edmodo. Once I got on the website I was actually able to connect to TONS of other teachers I work with that I had no idea used this site. I guess I'm a little outdated : /. Edmodo is a website that allows you to connect with other teachers, parents, or students. If you teacher middle to high school it's a great tool to use for homework outside of the classroom, however since I teach first grade my main use for it would be to connect to other educators and share ideas.
On Edmodo you can join groups or create your own that have a specific purpose. For example, I created a group called First Grade Phonics. The purpose of my group was to have a place that primary teachers can go to get and share ideas for phonics. There are so many resources out there it can definitely be overwhelming, so hopefully my group provides some ideas and guidance for first grade teachers! If you want to join my group the code is 7ax9tv. The tutorial below will help you set up your Edmodo account.
Edmodo is a wonderful professional learning network! It reminded me a lot of Facebook, but it has a more focused purpose that can serve educators. I hope you check out Edmodo and join my group!
This week we learned about PLN's! PLN stands for Personal Learning Network and it is a place you can go to connect with others about educationally related discussions, articles, or opinions. Some of the PLN's I checked out are listed below and if you click on them they'll take you directly to it! You have to sign up with some PLN's and then the administrator will either approve or deny your request. In some of the PLN's I checked out it would show pictures of the other members and in each PLN they provide you with different articles, interest groups, or discussion boards. They provide educators with the opportunity to connect across the world with other educators, which is pretty awesome.
These three PLN's were all different and had their pluses and minuses to each. However, I will say The Edublogger had some awesome articles, Goodreads is a wonderful resource if you love reading, and Classroom 2.0 has some awesome interest groups and discussion boards!
This week we also learned more about using Twitter to connect with other educators. My username is hmduethman if you want to follow me! Twitter is a wonderful resource for educators to connect with other educators across the world. You can follow some educators and check out specific discussion boards. For instance, I typed in #edtech into the search box and it took me to a discussion that was surrounded around education and technology. Anyone that hashtagged edutech their tweet, article, or video was taken to the #edutech board. The video below lays out the purpose of Twitter in case you're interested in checking it out!
Google allows the user with the ability to build their own website......FOR FREE! WHoohoo! My school actually provides their teachers with a program to build a website for their classroom and it is required to have an updated website for our parents. I actually preferred Google Sites over the program that my school uses because it was much more user friendly!
I have to admit that the only truly annoying thing about Google Sites is that you cannot rotate pictures that you upload.......I know that's really strange but true! SO if you want to upload pictures make sure that they are ready to go before you upload them!
Check out the tutorial below for more information.
Click here if you want to check out my Google Site Fabulous First Grade!
Everyone knows and loves YouTube.....but are we using it to our best advantage? I just recently discovered (and maybe I'm just naive) that there is a specific YouTube website that is centered around education! You can actually access various educationally related videos on this site! Click here to check it out. I played around with this YouTube Education site and you can subscribe to a level of education that is specifically what you are interested in. Like primary or secondary, university, or lifelong learning. Anyhow, it's pretty awesome that YouTube decided to dedicate a site specifically for educational purposes!
Another little trick I became in love with is called the quietube. You can move this little tool to the top of your browser to "quiet" the nonsense that is going on around you video. AND you can even share the "quietube", so others can view the clip without the background noise! Click here if you're interested.
PICASA!!!! I like to say the word out loud....it just rolls off the tongue ya know. Picasa is a wonderful tool that Google has come along with that helps the user organize, manipulate, and share their pictures. All you really need to do is download it...which you can do here. I will admit that it took me some time to adjust to the program and learn how to use it correctly, but once I did begin to figure it out....I definitely enjoyed it! It is a WONDERFUL way to share your pictures! Please check it out and tutorial below if you need help! Enjoy!!
Check out my Picasa album here! You will L.O.V.E I.T!!!
Google Tour builder is a tool created by google that allows the user to create a "tour" of places they have visited. A teacher could even use the tour builder as a way to enhance a topic that would benefit the students' understanding with a visual representation of geographical locations. Tour Builder was originally created to give veterans a way to record the places they went throughout their service. And fortunately everyone can now take advantage of this awesome tool!
If you're interested in creating your own tour click here! Check out the tutorial below if you need some more help.
Google Earth is a wonderful tool that allows the user to view the world from a more virtual perspective. You can also interact with google earth. One of the tools I love from Google Earth is called the Tour Guide. When you choose a location to check out you can open the Tour Guide feature and a list of pictures of popular monuments or places from that location will pop up. If you click on one of the pictures it will take you on a tour of it automatically! Pretty cool, huh?
Another tool that blew me away was the moon view tool. You can actually take a tour of the moon! I mean that is awesome! When you're checking out the moon you can see different artifacts that were left by humans.
If you are interested in downloading Google Earth click here!
The tutorial below will give you some more information if you need a little help figuring this tool out!
I definitely enjoyed Google Earth more because it was more of a fun way to play around with the tool. I have not done near as much as I could possibly do with Google Earth, but I will be using it more in my classroom to give my students tours of different monuments in the country. I think that Google Tour Builder is perfect for introducing a new topic or giving a presentation about yourself in a unique way. However, Google Earth is a more interactive tool that students could manipulate themselves.
Like I have covered in previous posts, Google has it all, and you can't even begin to take advantage of all that it offers to the user. I feel like I am always learning something new when it comes to Google! This week I played around with some really awesome tools that I wasn't familiar with. Below I will be covering some favorites of mine and providing you with some tutorials you can view! I consider myself fairly independent when it comes to technology, and by that I mean I have to watch a step-by-step video to help me.....ha ha. Which is why I'm always providing the video as an option to help you create a more comfortable relationship with Google!
The Tools:
1. Google Scholar-This tool is perfect for any high school, college, or graduate student. If you've ever had to write a paper and are in need of resources that are considered "legitimate", instead of wasting your time, just go to google scholar! It's also SUPER easy to get to! I included directions below:
Go to your google browser.
Type in google scholar, which will take you to the site.
Click on google scholar and type in whatever you are in search of!
You're welcome.
2. Google+ Hangouts-I am a total newbie when it comes to this tool, but it definitely took me back to my AIM days! Before my parents were FINALLY convinced that I needed a cell phone, my only form of communication outside of our family landline (seriously lame) was AIM. It was a communication tool used to talk to friends before texting was invented (for all of you born in the late 90s/early 00s). Well, Google+ Hangouts is the resurrection of AIM, but better. You can actually talk to ten people in the same chat room and even watch Youtube videos! The video tutorial below will give you the details if you're interested. Make sure to check it out!
3. Google Body-Another tool I had no clue existed! My husband is in medical school, so once I discovered this I obviously had to tell him about it. Well, he informed me that this is old news and he's known about it awhile. THANKS FOR SHARING HUBBY! I don't want you to feel as pathetically lonely as I did in that moment so I'm going to share it with you. It is a detailed 3D model of a human body, which could potentially become inappropriate fun for teenage boys. However, a wonderful tool that an anatomy teacher or future physician to take advantage of. The tutorial below might help you out a bit......ENJOY!
4. Google Books-This tool is wonderful for teachers and I've talked about this in a previous post, but I LOVE IT! If you are ever looking for a book that will help you teach a specific topic or unit and don't even know where to begin.....use Google Books. You can type in specific words or topics and it will search books that you might be interested in. An awesome feature of this tool is preview. You can actually preview books your interested in and then buy or rent them. If you want to check this out click here!
I hope I've rocked your world with some more Google knowledge!
Google Drive is one FANTASTIC feature of using Google Chrome as your browser. It seems a little scary at first because of all the possibilities Google Drive provides you with, but like anything great in technology all it takes is a little playing around.
I have actually used Google Drive for previous graduate classes because it makes life easier when presenting with a group. Something you may not have known.......if you have a group presentation to do you can actually all work on it through Google Drive without ever having to see each other. Using Google Drive for group presentations has been the main feature of the drive that I have used, however I've recently played around with the drive more and I'm thrilled with the other features it provides.
Google Drive Features:
You can create a document, presentation, spreadsheet, form, or drawing on Google Drive under the Create button. All of which can be shared between others that also have a gmail account! The options are endless when it comes to Google Drive, so I have included some tutorials below to help you understand the different features more. Good luck and enjoy!
Can you tell I love this guy? He makes things so easy!!!!
If Google could get any cooler it would be the most popular girl (or boy) in seventh grade! And just like that IT DOES.....You can actually customize your own search engine on Google. As a teacher, administrator, or even parent this is B. I. G. for your kiddos and your sanity.
How does this look in the classroom? Well, a teacher that might want her/his students researching information on animals (we do an animal research project in first grade) would customize their search engine to appropriate websites that their students could easily navigate for completing research tasks. These specific websites could pertain to those students that are completing enrichment projects or papers on their own or for upper grade research opportunities.
Any customized search engine will be a compiled list of websites for that specific search engine. So if a student was looking up information on lions their results will come only from the sites I have decided I wanted them to use for their search. Basically I will have compiled websites that are student friendly and related to animals. Sounds amazing, right? All you need is to have a google account. Check out the tutorial below for more help setting up your customized search engine.
Once you begin the process of building your customized search engine you can even go a step further and invite colleagues to partake in the fun! Eventually your search engine could be student centered and used throughout your grade level, building, or district.
I included my customized search engine below that will be used for the animal research project my firsties will be completing. Feel free to take it for a ride!
Typically I type in www.google.com and then whatever I'm looking for that day, or more appropriately that hour because Google has been the answer to all random, weird, or important questions/sources/pictures I've looked for over the past years. The saying "Think smarter not harder" was what I thought I was doing by quickly typing in what I wanted at that moment and awaiting the plethora of resources that would be at my fingertips. However, I failed to take a serious look around the my google browser or even look up tips for refining my searches to make life a little easier. Have you ever taken advantage of the other features Google provides you for better search results? If you're like me then NO because you didn't know and you didn't want to take the time to find out. I mean whose got time for that? Ha. Ha. There are many advantages to using Google as your browser (which I covered in my last post Google Chrome Browser) and searching for information is just another reason to consider Google Chrome as your number one. Well, below I've summed up and dumbed down my top five basic and favorite Google search tools you can start taking advantage of! Check out the features below and start refining your searches on Google today.
The Big Five
1. File Type- Raise your hand if you have done a paper or project at the last minute? Everyone! Okay Perfect! When you're searching for information on Google and you want a certain file like Powerpoint or excel you simply need to type in your topic, then filetype, colon, and then it's abbreviation. For example, if you want a powerpoint on classroom management you would type this into the search bar (omnibar):
classroom management filetype:ppt
TA DA! You'll have scoured the web for all Powerpoint resources on classroom management by using this simple little trick. The video below gives more of an overview of this tool.
2. Specific Source Search- Along the same lines as the previous search trick this tip allows you to get more SPECIFIC with your search results. Most of the time when you are in need of some seriously reliable information for school or classroom assistance you might look for the EDU at the end of that resource. I know I do because it's legit! Well, instead of just typing in your topic and praying you get lucky with some reliable sources towards the top of your search, you can just ask for it! For example, if you are looking for information on sea lions and you want to focus on educational resources you will type this into the search bar (omnibar):
sea lions:edu
And there you go! Sources that are from educational websites will fill your results. You can do the same for government or org based sources as well. The video below provides more information, and please ignore the strange woman on the intro. Enjoy!
3. Reading Level- This awesome trick truly amazed me! If you're having your kiddos do some research, and you want them to be able to actually read the results, you can search for information that is on their reading level. All you have to do is follow the easy steps below:
Go to your Google browser
Click on the options button and then scroll down to advanced search
Scroll down to reading level and select Basic, Intermediate, or Advanced
Click submit and the results will list the sources on that reading level
Mind=Blown. I hope some teacher's life out there in cyberspace just got a little bit easier! Watch below if you're confused.
4. Google News- If you need help researching a topic in the news that you want more information on from today and from history Google makes news searching easy. This tool would definitely benefit upper level student research or enrichment projects. Check out the steps below:
Type your topic into the search bar (omnibar)
After you search, click on the News tab under the omnibar
Click on the Search Tools box, then any time, and finally custom range.
Input the dates you want to specifically search to tighten up those results!
Click Go and you'll have news related information, on the topic of choice, within a time frame you want!
5. The Perfect Book- Primary teachers are ALWAYS looking for a book we can read that relates to a new topic we're teaching! This trick helps you find and preview potential books that can be used for a topic you're teaching. If you're interested in trying this out, follow the steps below:
Type in your topic in the omnibar.
Click on search tools and then any books
Select preview available, so that you can check the book out and decide whether it's what you're looking for
And BOOM! You got yourself a book. Check out the video below for more information or go to Google Books to try it out right now!
There are my top five! Spread the love and add more that you know below.......
I've been using the Google Chrome Browser on my Mac for quite a few years now and I've been pretty happy. I've basically used this browser for web surfing and checking my email, but beyond that I was simply unaware of the features that were at my fingertips. Google Chrome provides the user with extensive options for navigating the web and accessing information. Not only does it make web navigation easier, but it also provides you with the Google Apps Store. This feature I was amazed with, and I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I had no idea it existed. I've blindly used my "Google Apps" like Google Drive and YouTube, however I didn't know they were apps and there were hundreds more where those two came from. Check out these videos below if you're interested in Google Chrome Web Apps!
Like I said I've been using Google Chrome for years now, so I would prefer to use it over other browsers because of familiarity. Although, now that I've been playing around with the different features of Google Chrome I'm even more convinced that I've chosen the right browser. Google Chrome makes accessing my email unbelievably easy and that is one of the more important features, for me, that I use because I'm constantly needing to check it. If you're interested in trying out Google Chrome you can download it here.
The YouTube below provides you with some Google Chrome tips that helped me manage the Chrome Browser easier. Make sure to check it out!
If you have any other user tips or tricks you know of for Google Chrome please add comments below. I'm also interested in hearing what others think about Google Chrome. Do you prefer it over other browsers? Why or why not?
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