Daily tool/resource 2 February 2015 - QR Codes

QR Codes have come and perhaps gone, but I still find them useful and engaging at times. I learned about using QR codes from @daikinane at uLearn11. Here are the collaborative notes from that year,

and the notes from our session are about halfway down. The following page details uses in education.

I use qrstuff to make my codes, and then use them to link kids to my ncea flashcards, homework assignments, readings, etc. They generally get a kick out of it (though more so if they already have downloaded a reader).

I refer my kids to QRreader at the play store. It's free, and doesn't make an annoying noise every tine they scan a code.

I even use a QR code on my cv these days! They take literally a second to make, and are quick, easy, and fun. Give it a go!

Daily tool/resource 30 January 2015 - Kahoot!

Last year I was introduced to Kahoot at #SecondaryHB Unconference. It was wildly appreciated, and I think everyone in my department used it for revision.

Kahoot is an interactive competition/game that classes of all ages (including adults) enjoy. It keeps score and does all the tallying for you, and it even has countdown music. And you don't even have to make your own; there are heaps of already-made games available! You create/choose your game at the main website, and it gives you a PIN. Students go to Kahoot.it to play. You don't to have a laptop; we take our kids to the library, have them connect to the wireless on their phones, and off they go!

Highly recommended.

Daily tool/resource 29 January 2015 .pdf to .jpg

Today's tool, which I just used for the umpteenth time, is a free online converter, pdf2jpg.

Our school's scanner scans everything into pdf, and I quite often need them as a form of picture, so being able to quickly convert them is necessary to me. I just scanned our University of Otago Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival poster so that I could pop it into publisher and add the entry details. I started with this:

and converted it so that I'd only need about 20 seconds or so to make this version.

Nifty note: pdf2jpg plants a tree for every 5000 conversions!

Daily tool/resource 28 January 2015

Today I heard about vocabulary.com via a comment string on another blog post (comments can be so helpful!). So i tried it out. It is a fun game that helps student understand vocabulary in context. It also offered image clues for some questions. It looks fun and engaging and I'm keen to see how they track user progress, since I'm able to make an account rather than logging in via Facebook (though students may like using the fb login).

Already off by a day! Daily tool/resource 2015 (28 January 2015)

The road to hell is paved with good intentions :) Today I will offer two tools: unroll.me and this new one that was just shared via LinkedIn, Assessment Alert.

Unroll.me is a great tool for managing your email. It is free, but after using it, I would pay for the service! Unroll.me "rolls up" your daily emails into one email. For example, I subscribe to a variety of companies whose emails I do want to receive. However, I don't necessarily want 45 new emails in the morning! Instead, unroll.me puts them all into 1 email with good sized "thumbnails" for me to quickly peruse. Unroll.me asks you who you want to roll up, and you can easily manage your subscriptions in your account. If you'd like to see more about it, check out my quickie preso here (slide 6 - 16).

I've just heard about Assessment Alert, and it looks like a nifty little app! I will definitely be offering it as a recommendation in our emeeting later this term. It is available in both the app store and google play.

Goals for 2015

I have been a bad blogger. So often I feel that I don't have anything to say, or that I'm not doing anything useful. I've really got to change this mindset, because it's not helpful to anyone! Secondary teachers especially need support and resources to get started, and I've got to remember that my little blog can be of use to another teacher who is starting out with minimal resources.  

So here goes, my blogging goals for 2015:

1. a "photo" a day. this can be anything related - a screenshot or link to something I've used that day, or an actual photo of something happening in my classroom.

2. a post a month. remember that not everyone is racing ahead of me with resources and that other teachers need a place to start, too. sharing what i'm doing can help someone else.

Not an extensive list! The idea is to keep my use of technology in the forefront of my mind rather than taking it for granted! And with a second #SecondaryHB Unconference on the books for Term 1, action, not words, needs to be my focus for this year.

Happy New Year everyone!

PS: First lesson of 2015. You cannot search for CC images from within the blogger posting page like you can in Google Docs!

SecondaryHB Unconference

SecondaryHB held its first unconference today at Napier Boys' High School. Although we had a small contingent, as Fiona said, "the people who show up are the people who are supposed to be there."  Although catering forgot about us (darn holidays!), we ended up with a nice group who at least had cake and coffee!

We discussed far more opportunities for learning than were scheduled to present. That is the beauty of an unconference - you can take the discussion anywhere, because no one is expecting just "this thing I'm here to talk about." We even had a presentation from NBHS's newest staff member, who doesn't even start until Monday! And we were in awe (and envy) of Iona's 1-1 BYOD.

Here is our preso, and our collaborative notes, which include a wealth of teaching and learning options.

Thanks to everyone who attended today. We have already had interest from other schools in doing it again in Term 1, 2015.

You will find SecondaryHB here. Sign up to the mailing list and be the first to know the date/time of the next unconference!

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