Want to Book Parent Conference More Easily??

VolunteerSpot is a great site that offers a free resource that would be great for scheduling conferences. Parents can sign up for pre-determined times by clicking a link (from a site or by email). See the steps below to get started.

1. Go to www.volunteerspot.com
2. Click the Register button and enter your information (I always do uncheck the "receive emails" box just because my mailbox already gets too full :) You will have to verify your email address by clicking a link in an email that VolunteerSpot sends you (mine came very quick) and then Login to the system.
3. Click the Create New Activity button
4. Enter the details for your Activity. In using this site for parent conferences you will want to name your activity something like "Parent Conferences" and include your school name (this info will be at the top of the calendar when the parents are signing up). For the welcome message I would say something like "Please sign up for a time that you are available for a conference. All conferences are scheduled for 15 minutes. I look forward to seeing you soon!"
5. The next step is for you to add the times that you would like parents to register for. To do this...

1. Click a day on your calendar
2. Select Plan This Day
3. Click Add a TO DO Task
4. Enter your details 

1. Name: Parent Conferences (the first time you type this copy it, then you will be able to just paste the text in for the rest of your times)
2. Limit the number of people that can sign up to 1 (this is super important so that you're not double-booked)
3. Add a Start Time (and End Time if you'd like)
4. Save
5. Repeat steps 4 & 5 above for the rest of your appointments
6. Once all of your times are scheduled in the calendar you will be prompted to send a draft email. It will default to just send to you so that you will be able to see what parents would (you can come back later and email the invitation to parents if you so desire OR see the next step).
7. Click the gold button on the left that says Create a Link. Click to Generate the link and then copy either the link (which you can put on your website or in an email), or copy the code to embed a button on your site that parents can use to register (see example here).

If you use this site to schedule your conferences this year let me know how it goes. Also as the "Event Organizer" you have the ability to schedule people for a time so if a parent can't access the page there is an alternative. I know I wish I had this tool available to me when I was in the classroom. I would have loved to not have to keep up with those tiny sheets of papers and individual emails ;) Go to www.volunteerspot.com to get started.

Symbaloo - Fast links, Fun interface

Symbaloo offers a great way to sort out site links. You can pick from pre-organized Symbaloo pages (see here) or create you own (see my example, screen shot below).

With a free account you can create your own start page and have a link to post on your site in order to share it with your students. To get started with creating your own Symbaloo for education, follow the steps below, or view the video at the bottom of the post.

• Go to edu.symbaloo.com
• Option A - use the Symbaloo you see here
  Option B - click Create free account (in the upper-right) to make your own and save it
• Enter your name, email, and a password (you might want to uncheck "I want the inside scoop" before you select to "agree to Symbaloo's..." and click Create my account
• Click Get started with your webmix (you'll see a pop up after this to Set as my home page, you can follow the directions, or just close that window)
• Click on blank tile space to add a site
• Select Click here to create your own tile
• Enter your site address select your options, then click to Add tile to webmix
  
• You will see your newly created tile, just click it and drag it anywhere on your webmix

Quick Google Searches

Google is a service that many of us are quite familiar with, but there's more to Google than meets the eye. For example, did you know that by simply typing "weather" you will get the current weather and the next 4 days forecast for your current location, and it gets even better! Quickly find conversions, time, definitions, when the sun will rise and even more. Check out the quick (I promise it's short ;) video below.




If you like these tips and would like to know even more, check out Google's Features page by clicking here.

EM-S ISD Tech Integration Conference

We are so super excited to be having our first Technology Integration Conference here in EM-S ISD on August 3rd & 4th! Need more info...check out the video below =)

GoAnimate.com: Summer Technology Conference 2011 by Becky501

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

YouTube for Students through the Educational Video Library

I just found this site with great information from Lightspeed. Thanks to Mr. Houser for the info (and visit his site for info on creating your own YouTube channel). You may not realize that you can have students safely navigate to view YouTube videos within the district, but to do so, you need to take advantage of the Educational Video Library. To learn how to submit YouTube videos through this site within EM-S ISD click here. Visit the Lightspeed wiki (below) for detailed directions on submitting videos to the Educational Video Library.

End-User 'Safe Video' Instructions - Public Info - Lightspeed's Support Wiki

Take out the clutter with Quietube

YouTube is a great resource for educational videos. I've spoken to teachers that are concerned about showing videos from YouTube in their classroom because of all the extra "stuff" that's on a YouTube page. This is a very valid concern. A great solution to show YouTube videos in an educational setting is Quietube.

What is Quietube? It takes the YouTube video you're currently viewing and puts it on a blank screen, with no suggested videos or comments.

How does QuietTube work? 

1. Go to quietube.com 
2. From this site drag the button that says "quietube" into your bookmarks bar of your browser (If you don't have a bookmarks bar visible in you browser go to View>Bookmarks Bar). It super easy from here. 
3. Find the YouTube video you'd like to use, and then from that video's YouTube page click the quietube button from your bookmarks bar. 
4. That's it! Your video is viewable in this format and you can save the url or even click the button below the video to get a short url. Use this link to show the video to your students. Click the pic below for an example.

For emsisd teachers...want more info on Visual Thesaurus? Check out www.emsisd.com/vt.

Read it Later + New Blog Design

Read it Later is a resource that I now find myself using on a regular basis. It offers a very similar service to InstaPaper if you are familiar with that. Read it Later allows you to save webpages and articles to read later, even if your offline. Both services also offer the options to read your items on a computer or many mobile devices. The idea is that if you are on a webpage and either want to save it for later, or don't have the time to finish reading it then, you can "Read it Later" and have the page available to read on your computer or mobile device at a later time. Many other applications are adding support of Read it Later so that while browsing articles you can add to "Read it Later" with the click or tap of a button. This is usually found in the same menu location where you might forward an article. One of the benefits I see to using Read it Later is that they offer apps for most smart phones including iPhones, Android, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile. To see even more options for devices that have support for Read it Later view this page.

I hope you like the new look to the blog! I began having some trouble with the template I was using before so...viola! =)

Great Everyday go-to sites for Classroom Use

I wanted to feature a few sites that are awesome go-to tools for classrooms. Each one can be used at anytime during the day with a multiple of lessons, and used by the teacher (whole group) or by students. Take a look and think of the possibilities! =)

http://e.ggtimer.com/ - Quick and easy to use timer. Large print with countdown so it is great for classroom use!

http://www.scribblemaps.com/ - It uses Google Maps (something we already know)  ;) but adds the ability to mark it up with arrows, lines, shapes, and words. Great for teacher demo with the whole group, or for individual student use. Consider students using it to create a map of their community,state, or country by identifying and marking major buildings and sites.

http://markup.io/ - Markup.io provides a way to mark-up any webpage that you want. To use it you just have to drag the bookmark image to your bookmarks bar (or install the chrome extension if you're using the Google Chrome browser), and then when you're on a site that you want to mark-up click it!

https://bubbl.us/ - Create mind maps. You can get started right away by clicking in the "Start Here" bubble, then just hit enter to create a new bubble or ctrl+enter to add a stem or "child bubble".

PDFmyURL Saves website as pdf fast!

PDFmyURL provides a service that lets you generate a pdf of ANY web address that you enter. This could be super helpful when you need to save what's displaying on webpage today when it may be updated and changed tomorrow. Additionally if you want to have a file on your record of something that you've seen this is a fast and easy way to do that. All you have to do is go to pdfmyurl.com and then enter the web address in the window.

Once you've entered an address just hit enter or press the button to the right. The website will then save and you'll see a pdf appear...pretty cool!

Favorite Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts are something that many people are familiar with. Some (like me =) use them on a daily basis, and others just here and there. There are multiple shortcuts that are well known and loved, and then those that I think tend to get forgotten. All of this to say, here are my top 10 (plus a few) favorite keyboard shortcuts…

FYI, for Mac users substitute the Command key for Ctrl

1. Ctrl + X = Cut, think of the X as a pair of scissors to help you remember this one. 
   Ctrl + C = Copy
   Ctrl + V = Paste, I remember this one as V for Velcro
   (I know that was actually 3 keyboard shortcuts but they’re all very related so they count as one here)
2. Ctrl + Z = Undo, this is one I could never go without!
   Ctrl + Y will re-do whatever you have undone.
3. Alt + Tab = Switch between open programs, continue to hold Alt and press Tab again to switch to a different program all with your keyboard. This is great for a quick change during a presentation!
4. Windows + D = Shows your desktop (btw, the windows key is found right next to the Alt key on your keyboard )  It will minimize all programs and windows that you have open so that you can access your desktop items. Press Windows + D again to show all of your windows.
   Mac users = F11 for same function
5. Ctrl + D = Duplicate, now I know what you’re thinking, isn’t duplicate just another word for copy, the answer here is no. The Duplicate function actually serves a fantastic purpose. To use it in it’s full glory I recommend opening a PowerPoint slide.
   - Insert a small picture or a small shape
   - Click to select the item then press Ctrl + D on your keyboard (do not touch your mouse here… yeah I’m serious :)
   - Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move the image over so that it sits right next to your original picture.
   - Press Ctrl + D on your keyboard, and watch as the next image is placed with the exact same spacing next to this image…magical!! If you continue pressing Ctrl and press D  more times, the pattern will continue.
   (You can use this same tip for multiple items, for example, if you get grouping of images that you want to duplicate, just hold the Ctrl key and click to select all of the images, then use Ctrl + D)
   
6. F6 (when in Internet Explorer or Firefox) = The address bar being highlighted. This makes for fast typing of a different web address.
7. Ctrl + Enter (when entering a web address in Internet Explorer or Firefox) = www + .com, Let me explain this one a little bit further. When you are in an internet browser entering a web address to go to, instead of typing out the www.(websitename).com, just enter the website name, then press Ctrl + Enter. For example type in emsisd, then press Ctrl + Enter and your web browser will go to the full address.
8. Ctrl + F = Find, use this keyboard shortcut anytime you want to find a specific word or phrase in a document or website!
9. Windows Key + F = Search, use this to search for a document or file on your computer.
10. Ctrl + A = Selects everything, in a document this means the text and images in the document, in a folder you are viewing this will select all of the items in that folder.

Great Online Timers...

It was brought to my attention that an online timer I had posted about previously was no longer online. That got me looking around for other online timers, and I have found several that serve some different purposes fantastically...

How often have you told your students, "You have 10 minutes to complete this activity.", only to lose track of time thereafter. Luckily, there are many online timers that make it quite simple to track your time. Even better is that many of them put a large display on your computer that you're students can see to monitor their time.

e.ggtimer.com - There's a couple of things I really like about this timer. First, you can actually type in the time you want to use for the timer in the url, for example, e.ggtimer.com/5minutes, would automatically pull up a website with a countdown from 5 minutes. You type in any time amount here, as well as a few other cool things that you learn about on the site's main page.

Online Stopwatch - This site can serve as a stopwatch or a timer. To use the stopwatch click the green arrow stopwatch link. You'll then be taken to a page that will allow you to start the stopwatch. If you need go back to the main page just click the provided "back" link. To use the timer function of the site, click the "Count Down" red arrow. Use the buttons on the screen to set your time, then click the "Set" button. From here you can start the timer.

timer.onlineclock.net/ - This is a simplistic timer that can be shown quite large on your screen. Just use the links in the upper-left to adjust the size. Use the drop-down menu under the timer to set a time. The timer will begin as soon as a time is selected.