Create Infographics to Visually Share Research

Infograpics are trendy on the web.  Who doesn't love a good visual representation of statistics and research information?  Your students can become part of the trend by easily creating their own infographics using these great websites:

1.  Piktochart- With the free account, choose from one of five themes.  Add your images, text, and create charts.  A professional looking poster is instantly created!  Download and save the finished product.  Here's an example of one of their templates.

2.  Easelly- Similar to Piktochart, you can choose from one of their pre-made themes (called vhemes) or start with a blank canvas.  Add pictures, text, and modify as desired.  Easelly also supplies a variety of clip art from which to choose.  Here's an example of an Easelly template:

Infographics are ultimately a fantastic and creative way for students to present information on a topic.  It requires that students synthesize their information in a meaningful way while creating new knowledge.  This is only one of the many 21st century skills that will ensure success in the future.

Google Research Tool: New in Google Docs

Here's another reason why you want to be using Google Docs with your students: Google just added a new tool that gives students the power to conduct an instant Google search right in Google Docs.  Once information or a picture is used, Google will even create a citation or a link for the source.

Here's how to use the Google Research tool:

1.  Open a Google Doc, and go to Tools-Research.

2.  On the right a search box appears.  Type in the search topic.

3.  Underneath each result is the option to add a hyperlink or create a citation with a simple click!  Please note that citations are added to the bottom of each document as footnotes.  These can be moved to a Works Cited or Bibliography page, if desired.

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4.  Students can also choose to limit their searches to images, Google Scholar links, or quotes.

Research has suddenly become easier!

While I love the Google Research tool for its ease of use and quick formatting of citations, we must remember the importance of directing students to APPROPRIATE, RELEVANT, and RELIABLE sources of information.  I tend to caution teachers against using Google as a primary research tool.  We must teach students effective search strategies, website evaluation, and the difference between academic and non-academic sources when using search engines.  Students need to consider authority, bias, publisher, currency, and depth of information before using any website as a source of information.  While we may believe that students are savvy web searchers, the opposite is in fact true.  Although today's students have grown-up with the Internet, they need direct instruction on how to appropriately and effectively find information while navigating a vast variety of information on any topic.  They also need to learn how to effectively evaluate a website before accepting the information presented as truth.  I find it mildly entertaining and slightly disturbing at how easily students will believe the information found on fake websites such as All About Explorers or   Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide.  Your Instructional Resource Coach can provide lessons on Internet searching and website evaluation to help you better prepare your students to use the web effectively.  These are 21st century skills that are essential to success in a digital world.

Remember that we have many excellent subscription databases and library print materials that will lead students to appropriate, relevant, and reliable information.  We need to be guiding students to these resources before sending students off on an Internet hunt without proper guidance.

You Are Your Words: Visually Represent Writing

I love it when students take a piece of writing and use technology to share it in unique ways.  You Are Your Words is a fun way for students to express their ideas by combining their words with a visual representation.  Created by the American Heritage Dictionary, You Are Your Words invites users to upload a self-portrait and add descriptive text.  With the click of a button, students have a beautiful self-portrait with a picture and word overlay.   Not only is this a great tool for self-expression, but imagine they other ways that students could use this to visually represent their writing.

Lesson Plan Search Engine

Are you searching for a new lesson but are lost sifting through the irrelevant and poorly written websites acquired through a Google search?  If so, you will want to bookmark the Teaching Ideas & Lesson Search Engine.  This tool will give you the power to search through 50 verified lesson plan websites for a great and relevant lesson.

Save Time with Google Templates

Like most of  you, I do not have time to create a lot of my own materials.  Lucky for us, the web is full of materials created by other innovative individuals who freely share.  Did you know that you have access to thousands of awesome teaching resources just through Google Docs?  Google has an amazing template gallery with docs, forms, and presentations created by individuals who have made their work public.  Here's how to find free templates that you can save in your own Google space:

1.  Go to Google Drive.  Click "Create" in the left corner and then choose "From template" at the bottom of the list.

2.  Choose the "Public templates" option.  Now search for your topic of interest.

3.  Be amazed at what you find!

My search for "book reports" resulted in 30 different forms and docs that students could instantly save and use.  The best part: it only took me minutes to access.

Below is an example of one of my favorite Docs templates created by Derrick Waddell.  It's a fake Facebook profile page students complete after researching a historical figure.  This is just a small sampling of the great ideas available instantly to you.

Vialogues: Videos and conversation in one space

I can't wait to try Vialogues with my students.  We all have those moments during the viewing of a video when we need to hit the pause button to add additional thoughts or clarification.  Often there are moments when it would be great to just stop the video all together and begin a meaningful discussion.  Or, a student may have a great comment during a specific segment, but once the opportunity for discussion is available, that thought has long been forgotten.  Vialogues is one solution to these dilemmas. 

The purpose of Vialogues is to create "meaningful conversations" around videos.  These conversations can occur not only in the classroom during the playing of the video, but also at home, the library, or through another web-enabled device.  Here's how it works: after signing up for your free account, upload your own video, choose one from Vialogues' collection, or add a YouTube URL.  You can then invite people to view your video and add to the conversation.  Invitations can be sent through email or by providing a link.  You can also create surveys and embed the vialogue into your own website. 

In addition, after students have access to the vialogue, they can watch videos and carry on the discussion outside of the classroom.  You could even invite other classrooms or parents to join in the conversation.  There is so much potential to create meaningful learning experiences!

Here is a link to my vialogue to get an idea of how it works.

Staying Up-to-Date this Summer

Ahh...summer! What a time to relax and refresh. Summer is also my time to read all of my back professional journal copies that I never had a chance to read, play around with that list of websites that I never got around to, and browse for some fresh teaching ideas. You don't have to take a college course to learn something new and stay current. Below is my list of easy, free, and painless ideas for gaining some quick summer professional development.

1. Subscribe to and browse other educator blogs. There are some amazing bloggers out there who are willing to share a wealth of ideas! Here are my favorites:

• Free Technology for Teachers
• iLearn Technology
• Tech Transformation
• Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day

It doesn't take a lot of time to browse a blog.  When I have fifteen minutes here or there, I read a post or two.  I often bookmark interesting links into my Delicious account and then go back when I have more time to test those.

2.  Join an educator group on a social networking site.  Pinterest has many interesting educators and educational organizations who share their links and clever ideas.  I'm also a member of the Classroom 2.0 Ning, which offers a great social network to connect with other educators.  I encourage everyone to also become members of Skype in the Classroom and browse through the many different connections and project ideas available there.  While I find Twitter overwhelming at times, it is just an incredible source of ideas!  There are so many amazing educators out there to follow, willing to share all of their knowledge at any given moment.

3.  Check out a conference website.  The K-12 Online Conference is an annual online only event, but the past conference videos and presentations are archived on their website. 

4.  Visit iTunes.  iTunes has "iTunes U" which allows users to create and upload educational content.  Searching iTunes will give you access to great professional growth opportunities that you can listen to at your leisure.

5.  Listen to TED Talks.  TED Talks are a collection of interesting videos on a variety of different topics.  

6.  Steal ideas from your colleagues.  I publish on another blog called What's Up in Your LMC.  I have used this blog not only to share information about the library, but also as a portfolio of student technology-related projects that I have worked with this year.  Take some time to browse through my blog and see what others have done.  Maybe it will give you a fresh idea to try next school  year.

Thanks for another great year!  Happy summer vacation!