March 2016 Tech tips

Just a few tips

1. Open-Sankore: Free alternative to Smartnote book, allows you to import many different file types and you can output as a video podcast your lesson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0y9XvbZO7c 

2. Bio Human 3.0 - Free Chrome Extension to see the human body in multiple levels from the muscle systems to the nervous systems, organs and bones. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/human-30/meefjekipolcgabfgaclcpdkbghhmoah?hl=en 

IOS, iPhone, iPad Tips

1. Load Desktop version of Website on iPad and iPhone: In Safari, hold down the refresh button and choose Request Desktop Site

2. Bubble Level - Open the Compass app, flick to the side and turn your phone sideways to get a Bubble Leveler.

Clair 2016 Conference

I had the pleasure of attending the Clair 2016 conference this past weekend. Located in the Clair Village near Edmunston, New-Brunswick, le centre d'apprentisage du haut madawaska is a K-8 school that has in its mission statement, technology use to develop a students full potential. The conference is in french and gathers some of the best people in ed tech in the french community.

The conference runs from thursday night to saturday morning and has a mix of great presenters, meet and greets and seeing the students in their classrooms.

We had a great presentation by Benoit Petit on the need to go to Clair as well as professional development and how to combat change resistance.

The following day was spent in the classroom with students showing us their projects, classroom activities and the school live radio broadcast. The afternoon was an ignite session which is 5 presenters with 20 slides, 20 sec each timed, so each presentation was exactly 6:40min. We then had a presentation by Biz, from the group Loco Locass, about the importance of technology and french literature.

The following morning was a mix of very academic research analysis by Thérèse Laferrière
, professor at university of laval and Yves Doucet a math and science teacher who gave us his perspective of teaching in a truthful and funny manner.

The best part of the conference has to be the small community feeling as if you are invited in their home. Living a day with the students gives you a feeling of how this school has changed and evolved into a kind of beacon of hope for other educators who want to push the limits of education. I would like to thank Roberto Gauvin, Director, and the organizing committee, as well as the staff, students and residents who helped organized the event and I cannot wait to next year.

You can see the conferences and ignite sessions by following this link http://clair2016.wikispaces.com/Webdiffusion

Article on myself and Selwyn House in Ludomag

I had the chance of being interviewed by Ninon Louise Lepage for Ludomag, a french education online magazine. Here is a link to the interview: http://www.ludovia.com/2016/01/jean-pierre-trest-votre-reve/

January 2016 Tech Tips

Here is your January 2016 Tech Tip

Historypins - Look up locations to see pieces of history, or take a historical tour of well know landmarks in time. Built with Google Maps as a back end, this simple navigation can show you images from the past layered on top of recent street views. http://www.historypin.org/en/

New-York Public Library Digital Collection of 672,186 items is free for everyone to use http://digitalcollections.nypl.org

Draftback - this cool extension will take any Google Doc and make a video out of all the edits. You can see the process of the building of the document, along with any big copy and paste sections, easily to view the thought process or plagiarism, its also a cool effect. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/draftback/nnajoiemfpldioamchanognpjmocgkbg 

Coggle - an online collaborative mind map tool, sort of like a shared inspiration. login using your Google account and to work collaboratively and keep track of who does what, have your students keep a specific color for the items they contribute. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/coggle-free-collaborative/hbcapocoafbfccjgdgammadkndakcfoi?hl=en-GB 

http://www.timer-tab.com/ - A Cool and simple Timer, Alarm and Stop watch, you can also under the setting gear, add a Youtube video to launch when the timer hits 0, I like the Final Countdown by Europe.

Opinion Casts - An iPad & iphone app that allows you to record, edit and publish podcasts with ease. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/opinion-podcasts-record-edit/id926260308?mt=8 

In honor of David Bowie, he is an cappella version of Under Pressure with another legend Freddie Mercury https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMQb9LCNGxs 

December 2015 Tech tips

Here is a few more tech tips to try for the holidays.

1.Google Docs Voice Typing feature located under Tools, can now work in 40 languages, try it out.

2. I was connected to Billy Corcoran @MisterCMaine by Beth Holland @brholland and he is a great teacher of a grade 3 class who has embraced ed tech as well as learning spaces and experiential learning.

Here is a great project he did that helps the community, uses technology and even a Wood workshop with cross curricular work with older students.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-69w6LC3y0s&index=1&list=PL7Kkhrn4tsETEjABM4ZT8YhTAINupRE8I 

Web site created by students 

 http://millikenmillstrails.weebly.com/ 

Teachers web site

 http://www.mistercmaine.org/ 

Class Site

 http://mistercloranger.weebly.com/ 

3. Code.org and hour of code with Star Wars https://code.org/ could be a great activity for students or even adults if you want to try coding.

4. Google Apps for Education training Handbook

 https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.com/en/us/edu/pdf/guide/professional-development-handbook.pdf

Everything you ever wanted to know about Google Training, products, certifications, community...

5. Ninite.com Ninite allows you to download a whole bunch of popular apps at once and keep them updated.

6. Ed Tech Teacher has released Vol 2 of their Awesome Activities for the classroom series of ebooks, you can get both after signing up http://edtechteacher.org/awesome/

7. We all know that modifications, adaptations, and accommodations useful to reach different students, but different subjects have different techniques, here is a collection of ideas on how to differentiate your teaching style to reach more students.

http://archive.brookespublishing.com/content/blog/modifications-and-supports.pdf

November 2015 Tech Tip

November 2015 Tech Tips

Go Formative - www.goformative.com Free live quiz app that is web based and can be used on any device and its FREE. You can build your quizzes, distribute them and see them filled out live. You students also don’t need to sign up so it's super easy to implement.

Intro Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Cu8F6gMshg

EdPuzzle -https://edpuzzle.com/  Similiar to Go Formative you can have a video lesson and layer your voice on top and ask questions at certain intervals. You also get great reporting tools. Your students need to create accounts and you need to build classes so setup takes more time but this tool is very interactive and great in a flipped classroom environment.

Google Chrome Extension - Permanent Clipboard http://bit.ly/1KBVv2m

Create a list of clipboard items, that you can right-click and choose from, quickly writing sentences without having to type them out. Great for Commenting in Google Apps Documents.

Book Creator - New Update Comic Book Stips - Book Creator on the iPad has just gotten a nice update, you can now build comic books and add stickers. Here is an intro video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sxm_sW0PBkk

This is a tutorial on how to animate your comic books with explain everything and then add sound effects in iMovie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HCSIABQNp4 credits go to the Book Creator Team for making the tutorial videos

September 2015 Tech Tips

Hi Everyone,

I know I have not posted in a while but with the start of the new school year, I am sure I will have loads of  amazing tips and tricks that can help you in your classroom.


Book'In A free program to organize your book collection and track who has what

http://www.2025exmachina.net Online Interactive Game that is available in both in English and French on Digital Citizenship and the dangers of online and Social Media

Pixar in a Box A collaboration with Pixar and Khan Acamedy to show all of the jobs and steps that go into making a Pixar Film


https://plickers.com/ Cool way to poll and ask questions to your students with an iPad or iPhone


https://www.thatquiz.org/ A free collection of quizzes, mainly on math but on many other subjects.