Screencasting: Instant Rockstar

While there are several screencasting apps that you may download for you Apple products, Jing is the PC version of screencasting.  Screencasting is a great tool for creating tutorials for classes; by simply posting these videos to an online source, your students may view and review lessons in your absence.

Jing: PC Screencasting

Useful iPhone/ Droid Apps

I am always looking for innovative ways to incorporate technology in my class.  One of the most accessible forms of technology is found right in the pockets of our students (and mine)- a cell phone.  These tiny computers can provide a new level of academic experience with the right lesson and, of course, app.  Pictured to the right are a few of my favorite apps that are student-friendly and resourceful for me, the teacher.  All of these apps are free of charge through Apple.

 

Thinkfinity

Thinkfinity is an online educational community for teachers to blog, chat, read scholarly articles, share, and keep in the know regarding the constantly changing realm of academia.  Thinkfinity is a product of Verizon.

 

Edmodo

 

Blogger

 

Dropbox

 

iTunesU

Weebly

TED

Common Core

Remind101

Remind101 is a communication tool that allows teachers to send reminders or announcements via text message to students and parents.  Students can organized into different classes for the sake of sending more effective messages.  Messages can also be timed to be sent at a particular time.  Advantages to this app include constant communication with parents and students, parents and students are unable to see your (the teacher) phone number, and they are unable to respond to the text.




EasyBib

Useful YouTube/ Teaching Chanel Resources

One of the easiest ways to find great supplemental material via video is through the use of YouTube and Teaching Chanel.  Use the hyperlinks below for access to each respective site.

Teaching Chanel

YouTube

YouTube
 From examples of other student work, story readings, creative attempts at providing visuals for literature and writing, to demonstration videos, YouTube is a Pandora's box of goodies; however, with the liberty to post/ publish one's work at will comes the nuisance of people of less regard for appropriateness.  Let this not be a deterrent for using YouTube as a invaluable tool.

One of my favorite videos that I have pulled from YouTube concerns a very progressive biography of William Shakespeare titled "Shakespeare Brief and Naughty."











Another favorite YouTube pick for me is the dramatic reading of "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe performed by Christopher Walken.













Teaching Chanel
Teaching Chanel is where I go when I need some new ideas for teaching strategies, current news on upcoming educational policies and standards, and resources for professional development.  This web source has been extremely helpful and continues to stay relevant with changes in education.

This video demonstrates the fishbowl method in terms of discussing text and providing differentiation for a group of high school students.

Literary Analysis Using Evience

Useful iTunesU Resources

Taking into consideration that many of my students are just hardwired for technology, I often choose resources that they may access via free applications on their iPhones or Droid phones and attachments to unit-based Bloggers.

 One higher level academic source I have learned to utilize is iTunesU.  In class, students, if able, can download the video, hook up their headphones, and listen to the presentation at their leisure while multi-tasking with other related assignments.  Once downloaded, iTunesU videos become mobile and easy to access in case students participate in sports, extra-curricular activities, or have a spare 30 minutes break from an after-school job.  Students will eventually learn to appreciate this as a tool for extra support, research endeavours, and entertainment in the future.


iTunesU offers varies categories to search recorded lectures perform in high-education forums or videos created to enhance a more rigorous curriculum; categories include but are not limited to arts, business, health, medicine, language, law, literature, mathematics, philosophy, science, society, and history.  iTunesU also offers a list of new and popular videos.







Example Videos
I use two videos as constant resources for my classroom- The Close Reading Cooperative and Fundamentals of Speech by Miami Dade College. With our standards changing to Common Core Standards in 2014, speech/presentation and researching informative texts has a larger role in the English Language Arts classroom.  Both of these sources serve as key components as I introduce explication and public speaking/ presenting.