When I do decide to use a video that might have questionable comments or unrelated related videos, I can feel my bloodpressure rise as I quickly try to open the video in full screen, or try to attempt the world’s fastest click to close the window at the end of the video to avoid any negative distractions. To reduce extra stress I have found these helpful YouTube URL tricks and have been using them in my classroom to eliminate the distractions. My tricks are proving to be an effective way to take advantage of YouTube to support learning!

Here are four helpful tricks to make YouTube more teacher friendly by changing and adding parameters to the current YouTube URL.

• Open a YouTube video link to full screen.
• Turn off YouTube related videos that display at the end of a video.
• Skip ahead in a video to avoid wasting time getting to the good stuff.
• Open the video in the highest quality to allow a better viewing experience.

To make best use of these tricks you should insert a hyperlink into your current classroom web page to click on to launch YouTube. You can also add a hyperlink to a Word Document or embed a link into an ActivBoard Flipchart. Alright, let’s begin learning!

Here is a typical URL for opening YouTube. Below are ways we will change the URL.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMdTBep3W9c

Open a YouTube video link to full screen.

To do this we are going to change the URL by deleting watch?v= and adding v/. The URL should look like this:

http://www.youtube.com/v/dMdTBep3W9c

Turn off YouTube related videos that display at the end of a video.

To do this we need to add ?rel=0 to the end of the URL like this:

http://www.youtube.com/v/dMdTBep3W9c?rel=0

The ? tells YouTube that you are adding extra parameters. The rel=0, means related videos are turned off. If you changed the 0 to 1, then the videos would be displayed when the video ends.

Skip ahead in a video to avoid wasting time getting to the good stuff.

To do this we will add additional parameters, the URL should look like this:

http://www.youtube.com/v/dMdTBep3W9c?rel=0&start=60

As you can see we left the related video parameter and added an additional parameter (&start=60). The & tells YouTube we are wanting an additional parameter. The start=60 has the movie start 60 seconds into the movie. This parameter is in seconds.

Open the video in the highest quality to allow a better viewing experience.

To do this we will add on more parameter, the URL should look like this:

http://www.youtube.com/v/dMdTBep3W9c?rel=0&start=60&fmt=18

The additional parameter &fmt=18 tells YouTube to open the video in higher quality. This will only work if the video is available in higher quality.

So there you have it! You are getting rid of possible distractions and making YouTube more teacher friendly!

Resources:
YouTube Embedded Player Parameters – http://code.google.com/apis/youtube/player_parameters.html
Get Higher-Resolution YouTube Videos with a URL Hack – http://lifehacker.com/362922/get-higher+resolution-youtube-videos-with-a-url-hack

As you can see on our school web page I have a speech bubble coming from our falcon mascot. On my classroom web site I am using the code available below to post a simple text based feed. Twitter has widgets available, but I didn’t find them as customizeable and basic as I wanted. I found this tutorial (http://www.themelab.com/2010/05/18/custom-twitter-widget-tutorial/) on adding a Twitter feed and adjusted the code to make it as basic as possible.

Follow these steps to add recent tweets. If you are a big retweeter, the retweets do not show up, but I am sure if you Google this issue you can find a solution! Good luck!

Step 1
Now add this code to the location where you want the Tweets to show.
<div id="twitter-feed">
<p>Recent Tweets</p>
<ul id="twitter_update_list">
<li>Twitter feed loading</li>
</ul>
</div>

Step 2
Now add the following to your Style Sheet and read the notes to make your own changes.
#twitter-feed { /* This is the container div. */
}
#twitter_update_list a[style="font-size: 85%;"] {
font-size: 1em !important;
}
.twitter-list {
list-style:none; /* This removes the bullet in the list. */
margin:0 0 0 0; /* This moves the indent over in the list. */
padding: 0 0 0 0; /* This moves the indent over in the list. */
display: block; /* This moves the indent over in the list. */
}
.twitter-list li {
border-bottom: 2px dashed #009999; /* This is the color of the divider. */
padding: 7px 0 7px 0; /* This is the padding around the divider. */
margin-bottom: 9px; /* This gives space below the divider. */
}
.twitter_title{
font-family: "Comic Sans MS", Calibri, Arial;
font-size: 18px;
font-weight: bold;
color: #000000;
}

Step 3 – Last Step
Now add this code right before your </body> tag.
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://twitter.com/javascripts/blogger.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/USERNAME.json?callback=twitterCallback2&count=3"></script>

Now change the USERNAME to your Twitter username, and the count=3, to a number of recent tweets that you desire. Check your page online to be sure it works.

I made changes to the code from the following source: http://www.themelab.com/2010/05/18/custom-twitter-widget-tutorial/.

This resource is also great! This shares additional Twitter badges, http://mashable.com/2009/03/30/twitter-badges/.

A Logo For Equality – Promethean ActivBoard Lesson
http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/42492/martin-luther-king-logo-for-equality 
For this lesson I wanted to teach logo design with a purpose. Students first learn about the history of Martin Luther King Jr. by reading excerpts of content and then are assessed using the ActivExpression voting devices. Once the content is covered a lesson on logo design is taught. Focusing on simplicity, students then create their own logo that would be adopted by Martin Luther King Jr. during his crusade for equal rights. Students create a logo for equality.

Last year, students enjoyed this lesson. They take pride in their logos and their creativity is inspiring.

Seattle Times – Martin Luther King Jr.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/special/mlk/
This is a resource that includes great content as well as images. This resource I find myself using again and again. I also created an online scavenger hunt for this web site. The web quest links and resources can be found here: MLK Web Quest | Scavenger Hunt Word Template | Teacher Page Word Doc.

The King Center
http://www.thekingcenter.org/Default.aspx
This is the official web site of The King Center. History on the holiday, biographies of MKL Jr. and Coretta Scott King, images, and videos are all available here. It is a great resource.

Video – Ruby Bridges
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138068/
This is a great catalyst for dialogue in the classroom. Preview movie first to provide a KWL discussion prior to viewing. Here is a resource that we use to help students reflect on what is being seen in the movie and this graphic organizer helps guide a discussion after the movie (Ruby Bridges Graphic Organizer).

If you have any well researched resources that you would like to add please comment and write an excerpt of the resource. Don’t forget to add the URL. Thanks for contributing!

Along the same lines, and some thinking inspiration, Cameron Herold‘s video presentation makes some interesting points regarding training and teaching students to be entrepreneurs from an early age. Not necessarily teaching, but encouraging further interest seeking in entrepreneurial type opportunities and teachable moments. Below is also Cameron’s closing inspirational video, created by Grasshopper. 

Some interesting food for thought, to say the least.

Cameron Herold: Let’s raise kids to be entrepreneurs

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx3GuO41Jyg

Grasshopper’s Inspiring Video: Entrepreneurs can change the world

www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6MhAwQ64c0

Additional Resources and Ideas:

Teaching Kids Business – Entrepreneurship
This site is a great overall resource for entrepreneurship. Ideas on how to develop a business idea to financing a business. Lots of information and several recommending sites for further resource finding.

Squidoo – Kids Making Money
This site has some great ideas to get kids started thinking about entrepreneurship. Squidoo is a site that collects information from several sites and puts it all in one place. This article talks about business ideas for kids, successful kids businesses, what to do when kids make tons of money, and also shares some software titles to help them practice their entrepreneurial skills.

1. Gather Real World Data (how to)

2. Monitor/GeoTag The “Buzzwords” (how to)

• TwitterFall – http://www.twitterfall.com
  Twitterfall is a way of viewing the latest ‘tweets’ of upcoming trends and custom searches on the micro-blogging site Twitter. Updates fall from the top of the page in near-realtime.
• TwitterMap – http://twittermap.com/maps
  Provides users with the ability to update their locations on a Google Map and send a tweet with it.

3. Summarize Topics/Views As Tweets (how to)

• Historical Tweets – http://historicaltweets.com/
  Most people think Twitter was “created” in 2006.  These are same people who think Richard Gere created Buddhism in the 1990’s.  Just before Madonna created yoga.  Folks, like the sun, moon, and stars, Twitter has always been.  This site proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt.

4. Really Simple One – Tweetstory (how to)

5. Collate Classroom Views (how to)

6. Let Parents Follow What You Are Up To (how to)

7. Find Out Where People Are (how to)

8. Short But Sweet (how to)

9. Twitter Poll (how to)

• TWTPoll – http://twtpoll.com/
  Twtpoll is a feedback tool that helps you to create and distribute polls on Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites.

10. Word Morph (how to)

• Wordle – http://www.wordle.net/
  Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

11. Come Together (how to)

12. Point Of View And Character Development (how to)

13. GeoTweets (how to)

• Google Earth – http://earth.google.com/
  Google Earth lets you fly anywhere on Earth to view satellite imagery, maps, terrain, 3D buildings, from galaxies in outer space to the canyons of the ocean. You can explore rich geographical content, save your toured places, and share with others.

14. Global Assembly (how to)

15. Word Play (how to)

16. Twiddeo (how to)

• Twiddeo – http://beta.twiddeo.com/
  Twiddeo is a powerful but simple service that let’s you do one thing very well: Twitter updates with Video. Upload from the web, your cameraphone and record from your webcam. That simple, that straightforward, that great!

17. Communicate Wwith Experts (how to)

18. Use Aa Twitter Widget For Instant Webpage Updates (how to)

• Twitter Badge – http://twitter.com/badges
  It’s like adding a mini version of Twitter to your website, Facebook or MySpace page. Twitter is all about sharing information and the new Twitter widgets allow you to do this in even more places!

19. Monitor The Learning Process (how to)

20. How Probable (how to)

21. Twalter-Egos (how to)

22. Scavenger Hunt (how to)

23. Track With Twitter (how to)

24. Teach Bite-Sized Info (how to)

25. Twitter As A Research Diary (how to) 

Credits:
“Twenty Five Interesting Ways To Use Twitter in the Classroom,”  by Tom Barrett.
Twitter artwork created by Mirjami Manninen.

September

• Sep 7 Labor Day (wikipedia)
• Sep 11 Patriot Day (wikipedia)
• Sep 13 Grandparents Day (wikipedia)
• Sep 17 Citizenship Day (wikipedia)
• Sep 18 Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) (wikipedia)
• Sep 20 Eid al Fitr (Eid) (wikipedia)
• Sep 28 Yom Kippur (wikipedia)

October

• Oct 1 Clergy Appreciation Month (wikipedia)
• Oct 11 Clergy Appreciation Day (wikipedia)
• Oct 11 National Children’s Day (wikipedia)
• Oct 12 Columbus Day (wikipedia)
• Oct 16 National Boss Day (wikipedia)
• Oct 17 Diwali (wikipedia)
• Oct 17 Sweetest Day (wikipedia)
• Oct 24 United Nations Day (wikipedia)
• Oct 31 Halloween (wikipedia)

November

• Nov 1 All Saints’ Day (wikipedia)
• Nov 3 Election Day (wikipedia)
• Nov 11 Veterans Day (wikipedia)
• Nov 26 Thanksgiving (wikipedia)

December

• Dec 31 New Year’s Eve (wikipedia)
• Dec 12 Hanukkah (wikipedia)
• Dec 25 Christmas (wikipedia)
• Dec 26 Kwanzaa (wikipedia)

January

• Jan 1 New Year’s Day (wikipedia)
• Jan 6 Three Kings Day / Epiphany (wikipedia)
• Jan 18 Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday (wikipedia)

February

• Feb 2 Groundhog Day (wikipedia)
• Feb 12 Lincoln’s Birthday (wikipedia)
• Feb 14 Chinese New Year (wikipedia)
• Feb 14 Valentine’s Day (wikipedia)
• Feb 15 Presidents’ Day (wikipedia)
• Feb 17 Ash Wednesday (wikipedia)
• Feb 18 Washington’s Birthday (wikipedia)
• Feb 28 Purim (wikipedia)

March

• Mar 17 St. Patrick’s Day (wikipedia)
• Mar 19 St. Joseph’s Day (wikipedia)
• Mar 28 Palm Sunday (wikipedia)
• Mar 30 National Doctors’ Day (wikipedia)
• Mar 31 Passover (wikipedia)

April

• Apr 1 April Fools’ Day (wikipedia)
• Apr 2 Good Friday (wikipedia)
• Apr 4 Easter (wikipedia)
• Apr 15 Tax Day (wikipedia)
• Apr 21 Administrative Professionals Day (wikipedia)
• Apr 22 Earth Day (wikipedia)

May

• May 5 Cinco de Mayo (wikipedia)
• May 6 National Day of Prayer (wikipedia)
• May 6 National Nurses Day (wikipedia)
• May 9 Mother’s Day (wikipedia)
• May 15 Armed Forces Day (wikipedia)
• May 31 Memorial Day (wikipedia)

June

• Jun 14 Flag Day (wikipedia)
• Jun 20 Father’s Day (wikipedia)

July

• Jul 4 Independence Day (wikipedia)

August

• Aug 2 Friendship Day (wikipedia)
• Aug 5 Sisters’ Day (not on wikipedia)
• Aug 22 Ramadan (wikipedia)

Credits: Hallmark.com | Wikipedia.org

Addtional Resources:

dmoz Open Directory Project

• http://www.dmoz.org/Society/Holidays/

United States Public Holidays

• http://holidayyear.com/

Calendar of all legal Public and Bank Holidays worldwide, until 2070

• http://bank-holidays.com/

Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Educators – Holiday Information

• http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/holidays.html

Holidays on the Net

• http://www.holidays.net/

Yahoo! Directory – Holidays and Observances

• http://dir.yahoo.com/society_and_culture/Holidays_and_Observances/

Google Directory – Holidays

I know that in today’s classroom, preparing for the state’s tests takes much effort and instruction time. We find ourselves trying to hit every possible topic that could be on the test, cramming new concepts and reviewing previous ones. It is hard to find time to really elaborate on a concept. Technology offers so many outlets to bring concepts to life. Community members are great sources of information that could support the topics discussed in class, relating learning to real life. But there is no time. We have a test to prepare our students for.

This article brought me back to reality. I will try to use the ideas form this article to try to avoid being sucked in to the demands of the state test. I will prepare my students to the best of my ability, but my primary focus will be to create critical thinkers who want to extend their learning, by presenting concepts in a way that offers opportunities for creativity, collaboration, and of course fun.

Here are some quotes that I found interesting from the article:

Wagner said he hears two things repeated constantly by today’s employers: “We need people who can ask good questions, and we need people who can engage others in thoughtful conversations.”

Wagner said the problem is that you can have all the equipment and technology you want, but “if you don’t teach kids how to think, how to think beyond multiple choice, you’ve got a problem.”

Wagner said teaching to the test not only limits students’ ability to think for themselves, but also discourages students from studying subjects they love.

Wagner presented a list of seven “survival skills” that students need to succeed in today’s information-age world, taken from his book The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don’t Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children Need–And What We Can do About It.

1. Problem-solving and critical thinking;
2. Collaboration across networks and leading by influence;
3. Agility and adaptability;
4. Initiative and entrepreneurship;
5. Effective written and oral communication;
6. Accessing and analyzing information; and
7. Curiosity and imagination.

- Meris Stansbury, eSchool News

Technology offers many opportunities in teaching the seven skills. Here are a few that I will consider according to the numbered skill:

1. Open ended questions, essential questions, big ideas…
2. Wikis, SharePoint, cooperative learning, discussions, community member speakers…
3. Debates, presentations, open source software…
4. Teams, project based learning…
5. Reporting, newspapers, tweets, blogging, web sites…
6. Using search engines, learning search modifiers, library research…
7. Make school fun…

Useful links:

• http://www.schoolchange.org/
• http://www.setda.org/

Do you wish you could compile a list of web sites and then use the search power of Google to allow students to enter search queries that output results from just the sites you have determined? Well now you can!

You can set up a Google Custom Search Engine, allowing students to search sites that you have chosen. Visit the Google for Educators, The Google Custom Search Engine, web site to learn more. You can even have Google search your personal classroom web page.

To get started visit this site: http://www.google.com/coop/docs/cse/. Here you will find tutorials and FAQs.

Google also provides classroom posters that can be helpful to students when searching. Here are some search engine specific posters:

• Google Search Tips for Kids (a kid friendly poster reminding students how Google works)
• Google Search Tips (search modifiers to help narrow the search)
• Google Web Search (breaking down how Google finds search results)

It will be nice to teach students proper search techniques without having to worry about the billions of inappropriate search result possibilities. Now you can allow students to search for results without the teacher having to worry about what might pop up! Create your Google Custom Search Engine today!

Description:
Projector ready Jeopardy game that even keeps score! Designed for use with a 1024 x 768 monitor resolution. Design the game on the first page, click “Play Now” and your game is underway! Click on the link and then choose save to save the file to your computer. Involve all students by using the Jeopardy Score Sheet.

Files: Excel Jeopardy File | Excel Jeopardy Score Sheet

Teaching fifth grade, I find my students are proficient in certain software. Microsoft PowerPoint and Word are the two most common applications they use from kindergarten through fourth grade. Students can do amazing things with all the bells and whistles PowerPoint provide. They like using PowerPoint. This year we will be using PowerPoint to maintain a student eFolio. We will then us the Print Screen option to capture an image and create a thumbnail within a web site, that will open the larger, more detailed eFolio reflection piece.

The PowerPoint template gives students the opportunity to reflect on work that they have completed. My student’s eFolios are works in progress. Some students post many more pieces than others. The image shows the basic layout. Students insert an image of their work or project, then reflect on what the assignment required, what they learned, and how they will use the skill again in the future. Within PowerPoint the notes section is to be used as a blog. Students can go into further detail if they so choose. Students can then format the font, slide style, background color to their liking.

Once the slide is complete, students will start their slideshow. When the desired slide is on the screen, students will use the “Print Screen” feature built into most keyboards. This is a great tool for students to use. Within Microsoft products, image cropping is allowed so image editing is really easy. Students love WordArt. With “Print Screen” students can manipulate the on screen image and then capture it, pasting it into another project.

To use “Print Screen,” have displayed on the screen what you want to capture. Then hit the “Print Screen” key on the keyboard. Now open the program you wish to paste the screen image into. Use your paste shortcut (CTRL-V) to paste the image into the program. Now edit it using various cropping and resizeing techniques.

The PowerPoint template allows students to create an image that displays an image of their work and their reflection. Once the screen is captured using the “Print Screen” tool, we save the image to our clipboard to use in the next step… the student’s web page!

At our school we use SharePoint Designer to edit web pages. Included in the file package is a student folder. This folder, along with the PowerPoint file need to be distributed to each student. The student folder is titled “student000.” Once distrubted you will need to have your students change the file name to a unique number (student001, student002). This number is important when setting up your efolio page. To the right is a picture of my “Student Web Pages and eFolios” launcher page. Within my web page file structure I have a folder titlted “efolios” that holds all the student folders (student001, student002). When a student updates his or her eFolio, I drag their folder into the “efolio” folder, because it has the same name, it overwrites the previous files. On the launcher page I have each student create an avatar and scan them in as the launching link to their individual web pages. Once I add the link information it should not change because the student keeps the same folder name (student001, student002).

Students will need to open their site, which includes an index.htm file that has a layout pre-established (avatar cell, name cell, and contact cell). As students add images they will use the Auto Thumbnail feature. I plan to teach students how to adjust the Auto Thumbnail settings to create a 300 px wide image that links to the larger image for easier viewing. I will suggest that they title each subject section to maintain organization. Also included in the web site folder is an “images” folder. Students can practice organization by keeping image files in the “images” folder.

The minimal steps will allow students to create an easy electronic portfolio. PowerPoint is a breeze for most students. Many students have PowerPoint at home too, so adding eFolio content can be done in and out of the classroom. “Print Screen” is a great work around to picture editing. If “Print Screen” is too difficult for the younger students, you can also export PowerPoint slides as an .jpg image, too.

I hope this is a helpful way to create an online eFolio for your students. Next year I will reflect on how this actually goes and make any tweaks that are necessary.

Steps for Students:

1. Open and maintain PowerPoint. Adding assignments by copying the original slide.
2. Export slide image or use “Print Screen” option.
3. Open web site, create name in WordArt, use “Print Screen” option to insert name image, add avatar that your teacher has scanned, insert image of slide, title the subject area.
4. Save file and let your teacher know you are ready to upload.
5. Continue to maintain PowerPoint, adding new pieces weekly.

Files: eFolio_Tepley (Right click and Save Target As to save and access .zip file. File inlcudes PowerPoint Template, Student eFolio Web Site Template, Student eFolio Example)