Matt's Monday Media Tips and Tricks 10-17

Matt’s Monday Media Tips 10/17Stick it To IT (Get it? IT as in technology and IT as in “it”- sigh - it’s Monday)

I know, I know - we missed a week! I do apologize for that - I was off canvasing the country in search of neat ideas to share with you. Since we last spoke (or you read) I have been up and down the east coast, OH, and over to TX.

So without any further ado - Let’s get sticky with www.Stixy.com. Let me just say I love this site. It is a lot like www.wallwisher.com only without the constant crashing and better embed features.

From Stixy’s site:

“Stixy helps users organize their world on flexible, shareable Web-bulletin boards called Stixyboards. Unlike most personal productivity or project management software, Stixy doesn’t dictate how users should organize their information. Users can create tasks,

appointments, files, photos, notes, and bookmarks on their Stixyboards, organized in whatever way makes sense to them. Then they can share Stixyboards with friends, family, and colleagues.”

Now how can you use this tool in your classroom? Well let’s take Science Literacy as an example. Say we’re working on the how a larvae turns into a butterfly, or maybe we’re keying in on photosynthesis.

First, let’s find images from Discovery Education STREAMING and their definitions from Discovery Education SCIENCE and upload them to www.stixy.com. After the content is uploaded to Stixy, simply drag your photos into a bulletin board. Next, cut and paste the definitions into the yellow sticky pads that Stixy.com provides you. Then share the link with your class. Once your students click on the link they’ll be taken to your Stixy bulletin board. Then it’s just a matter of moving and matching the definitions to its corresponding image (great if you have a SMART, Promethean or some other type of interactive white board)!

Take Teaching to the Next Level Where Microscope and Mouse Meet Connecting to a Global Community of Educators

So cool right? Well it gets cooler my friends. Not only can you collaborate on images and sticky notes you can also upload .pdf docs and/or Word documents. Have you seen the Discovery Education’s Speech Transcripts or Lodge McCammon’s song lyrics? I’m just sayin’.

Do you see where I’m going here?

What about using STIXY.com for peer review?

How about working in teams during the creative writing process?

Finally, you can lock down a bulletin and password protect it, you can send out emails and invite people, or embed on your website or blog. The possibilities are great with this site and Discovery Education... so I hope you stick with it :)

Discovery Education Webinar ScheduleDiscovery Education Webinar ScheduleDiscovery Education Webinar Schedule

Dates Time (EST) Link

10/17 7pm - 8pm Discovery Education Science Middle School 101

10/18 7pm - 8pm Reaching all Students with Project Based Learning

10/18 8pm - 9pm Seasonal Science Stream: Pumpkin Patch Science

10/19 1:30 -2:30PM - STUDENT WEBINAR!

Making a Difference Through Conservation With Discovery Channel’s Dave Salmoni

10/19 7pm - 8pm STEMulate Students Mids with Creative Web 2.0 Sites

10/22 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM

2011 Fall Virtual Conference

What is a DEN Star Member?

Two cool iPad Apps that are great for Digital Storytelling

1. Check out the ToonTastic app ($1.99) for digital storytelling. Students are prompted to follow a story arc (setting, climax, resolution, etc) by creating and animating characters for each stage of their story. They can draw their own characters, gain inspiration from other ‘toons’ that have been created, use some of the stock images and/or combine original artwork with the stock images to create a unique and animated story. What’s more, an onscreen narrator describes each

stage of a story and then asks students to respond accordingly.

2. Check out the Puppetpals app (FREE) . Similar to Toontastic, this app is a great tool to use with digital storytelling. One thing that I really like about this app is that you can use your own photos and animate them. Which means that you can grab some of the great National Archive imagery from Discovery Education and animate it - i.e. you can bring Abe Lincoln, Dr. Martin Luther King, or other great leaders to life!

More Things I Thought You’d Like To Know

And speaking of Literacy - check out Jennifer Everett’s comments in this week’s Educator Spotlight!

Jennifer is a teacher at High Street Primary school and she is doing amazing things with Discovery Education and her elementary students. Here is a snippet from arecent email:

• I created an assignment on What we use Money For• The students all were able to log in (using the lap tops) and

they all were awesome at it....• They were prompted to say if they were under 13 years of

age..• They clicked "yes" they were--therefore it then wanted an e-

mail address to send things to so had them enter my [email protected] address....

• They opened their Student Center and there they were able to view all of their assignments related to the lesson on money.

• We talked about what Status means and how that shows me what stage of the process they are at with each area.

• They viewed a 4 minunte video on How and Why we use/need money.....

• They clicked the writing prompt that I created and then wrote a short 2-3 sentence statement about how they have used money in their life......

• They clicked SUBMIT TO TEACHER......• Then their status changed to submitted on their writing

prompt in their student center.....• Then I received a reply from each students account saying

that they completed a writing prompt.

 “OK--I am in in "teacher heaven" right now......I have students using words like:

• submit• student center• spell check• video clip• volume control• text box• assignments....

 I could go on and on--but I will quit”  Tomorrow: I will check over their writing submissions that have been submitted to me and give them replies....and then we will move on into the next part of the assignment.

A Spook-tac-u-lar experience!

October 22 is right around the corner and that means it is almost time for the Fall Virtual Conference! Please join in on the fun. There will be prizes for best costumes and lots of other goodies. Session descriptions are here:http://www.discoveryeducation.com/VirtualConference2011/

Here’s a list of all of the in-person events.Medicine Hat, AB Canada (Register here)

Birmingham, AL (Register here)Anaheim, CA (Register here)

Costa Mesa, CA (Register here)Los Angeles, CA (Register here)

Meridian, CT (Register here)Orange Park, FL (Register here)

Palatka, FL (Register here)Atlanta, GA (Register here)

Glenn Ellyn, IL (Register here)Bossier City, LA (Register here)Mandeville, LA (Register here)

Auburn, ME (Register here)Rockville, MD (Register here)

Battle Creek, MI (Register here)Branson, MO (Register here)St. Louis, MO (Register here)Goddard, KS (Register here)

Chocowinity, NC (Register here)Madison, NC (Register here)Camden, NJ (Register here)

Port Chester, NY (Register here)Harrisburg, PA (Register here)Lexington, SC (Register here)

Cope, SC (Register here)Poundmaker Cree Nation, SK Canada (Register here)

Knoxville, TN (Register here)Houston, TX (Register here)

Pasadena, TX (Register here)McKinney, TX (Register here)Muskego, WI (Register here)

Don’t see your location listed? Then organize your own in-person event for the Virtual Conference! Head over to our Meet Up site and add your location there. Then promote it via Twitter, Facebook, Email, Plurk, and any other way you can think of. Come Tech or Treat with us!

Rock on Jennifer! Way to go!