LOCS Technology and Media Newsletter

Lake OrionCommunity Schools

March 2012

MACULMembership toMACUL(MichiganAssociation forComputer Usersin Learning) isfree to educators. Once yousign up for a free membershipyou have access to resourcesthat support integration oftechnology into their teaching.http://www.macul.org

The Big Deal eBookGet a free copy of The Big Deal eBook of Resourcesfor 21st Century Teaching and Learning: From the3Rs to the 4Cs.

Explore this collection of resources to help studentsmove beyond the 3Rs and embrace the 4Cs—Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking andCreativity—the 21st century skills cited by industry as keys toinnovation and invention in an increasingly challenging global economy.http://www.bigdealbook.com/c21registration.aspx

MicrosoftDiscountsDid you knowthat as a K-12employee you areeligible fordiscounts on Microsoft andmany other software productsfor personal use? For moreinformation go to http://www.journeyed.com/educators

March is Reading MonthCelebrate reading all month long! Talk with your friendlylibrary media specialist to learn more about programsand activities happening at your school designed topromote reading. You can also visit the websites belowfor lots of great ideas on how to incorporate the “Marchis Reading Month” theme in your classroom.

• ABC Teach http://abcteach.com/directory/seasonalmonths/3_march/reading_month/

• Apples 4 Teachers http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/dr-seuss-birthday/

• MDE Online Resources packet http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/Reading_Month_270348_7_272048_7.pdf

Type to LearnThanks to new netbooks purchased forelementary schools, 2nd grade students havestarted learning how to type through the Type toLearn program. 3rd-5th grade students will alsohave the opportunity to hone their typing skillsthrough this interactive program as well!

Ultra-Short Throw ProjectorsThanks to funding through the District DepartmentChair Council (DDCC), math classes throughoutthe district will be outfitted with the newest modelof projectors in their classroom, known as an ultra-short throw. Ultra-short throws are unique in thatthey are mounted on the wall a short distance from a whiteboard orscreen as compared to older projectors that need to be mounted with along arm in the middle of a room. The new models will also haveinteractive capabilities that previous models do not have.

Hunter

Madison B. & Rachel F.

Lake Orion Community Schools • Technology & Media Newsletter • March 20122

Tweeting HistoryIn this GoTeach interview,instructional designer MarionJensen explains TwHistory, inwhich students use Twitter tocreate virtual reenactments ofa historical event. They takethe role of a protagonist in anevent and answer, minute byminute, the question, “Whatare you doing right now?”

Here’s how it works. Theteacher decides on an event –for example, the ContinentalCongress, the Cuban MissileCrisis, the sinking of theTitanic, the Battle ofGettysburg, the Civil RightsMovement. Students do someinitial research and identify keycharacters involved in theevent. Then they locate andread journals, letters, andother documents that providedetail and start creating tweetsbased on those events. “Youput your characters, all of thetweets, and all of the timesthat the tweets would havegone out into a spreadsheet,”says Jensen, “and you upload itto our site – http://www.twhistory.org. You connectit with Twitter accounts, andthe site will queue up thosetweets and start to send it out.”

Jensen says this is a moreinvolving way to learn history“because the students arediving right into the historicaldocuments themselves.” Themost challenging part, he says,is finding good documents. Heand his colleagues are workingon putting together packets ofdocuments to help teachers getstarted.

Count Down to Election 2012iCivics, the organization founded by retired Supreme CourtJustice Sandra DayO’Connor, is markingthe countdown to Election Day 2012with the launch of its latest free onlinevideo game, Win the White House. Inthis game, students take on the role of a presidential candidatefrom primary season through Election Day, making toughchoices about the party platform and vice presidential selectionas well as where to fundraiser, poll and spend valuablecampaign dollars on appearances and advertisements. Newscoverage recaps their successes and failures as they campaignfor their 270 electoral votes. Students also have to makedecisions about the kind of campaign they will run: will theyfocus on their platform or on attacking the stances of theiropponent? Win the White House prepares young people formeaningful citizenship by helping them see the value of votingand different candidates’ reasons for choosing differentstrategies for engaging the public. The iCivics Politics and PublicPolicy Curriculum Unit also offers a broad array of resources foreducators, including lesson plans, additional games and gameguides. iCivics content is designed by educators and isstandards aligned.

http://www.icivics.org/games/win-white-house

Control Where Tax Dollars GoA free, challenging online game makescivics and economics accessible and fun forstudents. Budget Hero lets students try tobalance the federal budget. First studentschoose one to three “badges” that reflecttheir political values. Then they try to earnthese badges by choosing from more than 70policy options. The game is built on theCongressional Budget Office model, which incorporates pro andcon arguments for each policy, drawn from dozens of sourcesand vetted to ensure the game is nonpartisan. Players maketheir own decisions about health care, military spending orenvironmental protection. In the end, students can see howlong it takes before their budget goes bust and share theirresults with friends via Facebook or Twitter. To date, the gamehas been played more than one million times. Budget Hero wascreated by the Woodrow Wilson Center and American PublicMedia.

http://www.marketplace.org/topics/economy/budget-hero

Social StudiesOnline Learning Games

Lake Orion Community Schools • Technology & Media Newsletter • March 2012 3

Have you heard of QR Codes yet?Here is a quick introduction:They come to us from Japan where theyare very common. QR is short for QuickResponse (they can be read quickly by acell phone). They are used to take a pieceof information from a transitory media andput it in to your cell phone. You may soonsee QR Codes in a magazine advert, on abillboard, a web page or even on someone’s t-shirt. Once it is inyour cell phone, it may give you details about that business(allowing users to search for nearby locations), or details aboutthe person wearing the t-shirt, show you a URL which you canclick to see a trailer for a movie, or it may give you a couponwhich you can use in a local outlet.

The reason why they are more useful than a standard barcodeis that they can store (and digitally present) much more data,including URL links, geo coordinates, and text. The other keyfeature of QR Codes is that instead of requiring a chunky hand-held scanner to scan them, many modern cell phones can scanthem.

Want to create a QR Code for your electronic businessvCard?Or maybe you want one that will point to your website. A greatfree QR Code Creator can be found at http://goqr.me/

FFFFFeaeaeaeaeaturturturturtured ed ed ed ed WWWWWeeeeebsitesbsitesbsitesbsitesbsites

Wufoo -Online Form BuilderWufoo is a web applicationthat helps anybody buildamazing online forms. Whenyou design a form withWufoo, it automaticallybuilds the database, backendand scripts needed to makecollecting and understandingyour data easy, fast and fun.http://www.wufoo.com

Highlight What’s ImportantThe Awesome Highlighter is an easy-to-use tool forhighlighting, clipping, saving and sharing what you findinteresting on the web. Using the tool, you can highlightchunks of text from a website and save just that text, alongwith the URL, to your Awesome Highlighter account. You canalso add notes to the text, sort your clippings by date ordomain and sort them into groups (for example: text, images,videos). To use the online tool, you will need to install abookmarklet that you click while viewing any page. If you don’twant to install the bookmarklet, you can simply enter a URL onthe homepage to take advantage of all of the highlighting andsharing options.http://www.awesomehighlighter.com/

Free ProductivityResources forTeachersThis listing is divided intotwo key groups – toolsintended specifically foreducators, and generalapplications intended foreveryone.http://www.emergingedtech.com/free-productivity-resources-for-teachers/

Lake Orion Community Schools • Technology & Media Newsletter • March 20124

iOS Fun (iPads, iPhones, iTouches)

Scribble Press

Scribble Press is an iPadapp that lets students buildand illustrate their ownebooks. The free app offersnumerous story templatesand drawing tools, guidingstudents through the story-writing and book-layoutprocess. The books that arewritten with Scribble Presscan be shared with others-either via Facebook orTwitter or by email. Theycan also be posted onlineon the site’s gallery; booksremain private unlessshared there. The app isavailable at no cost in theiTunes App Store.

Websitehttp://www.scribblepress.com/ipad2

Download Free Apphttp://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scribble-press/id487300076?mt=8

Apps WorthEvery Penny

http://www.teacherricks.com/apps-worth-every-penny.html

Top 10 Tips To Improve iPhone’sBattery Life in iOS 5

Tip 1: Reset Network SettingsTap on “Settings” > Reset >Reset Network Settings

Tip 2: Disable BluetoothSettings > General >Bluetooth > “OFF”

Tip 3: Disable Notifications &Apps in NotificationCenterSettings > Notifications >Turn OFF for anything youdon’t need

Tip 4: Disable iCloudSettings > General > iCloud > Turn everything to OFF

Tip 5: Disable Location ServicesSettings > Location Services > Disable selectively forservices you don’t use

Tip 6: Disable Time Zone AdjustmentTap on “Settings” > “Location Services” > ‘SystemServices’ > Setting Time Zone to OFF

Tip 7: Disable PingSettings > General > Restrictions > Enable Restrictions >Ping > OFF

Tip 8: Disable Diagnostic & Usage ReportsTap on “Settings” > General > About > Diagnostic &Usage > Don’t Send

Tip 9: Delete eMail Accounts, Reset Network Settings, Re-add eMail Accounts• Delete your email accounts by going to “Settings” >

Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Account Name > DeleteAccount

• Now Reset Network Settings in “Settings > Reset >Reset Network Settings

• Reboot the iOS device

• Re-add email accounts back in “Settings” > Mail,Contacts, Calendars > Add Account

Tip 10: Reboot the iOS Device.

http://www.spiritjb.org/2012/02/top-10-tips-to-improve-iphones-battery-life-in-ios-5.html

Lake Orion Community Schools • Technology & Media Newsletter • March 2012 5

Want to get the most out of your iPad?

Attend any or all of the upcoming iPad training sessions!

Session 1 Basic iPad use (45 minutes)

Setting up your account

Managing settings

Understanding basic features

Setting up email and 3G

Utilizing built in Apps to their fullest potential

How to find Apps and manage your apps

Various Tips and Tricks

Session 2 Using your iPad for Productivity and Teaching (45 minutes)

Creating documents and taking notes

Saving your work and accessing your documents

efficiently

Tools and tricks

Camera and video tools and storage

Best Apps to

Session 3 Apps Galore! (60 minutes)

Apps sharing session be ready to learn and share apps:

Educational apps–by subject area

Games for learning

Books and magazines

Reference tools

Social media tools

And more…

All sessions will be held at CERC in room 108

To sign up go to http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0A4AACA722A31 ipad

You will need to enter the code: ipad2012

Get Skilled and Schooled on the iPad

Session 1

Monday, March 12th 3:15 – 4:00 p.m.

Wednesday, March 14th 4:15 – 5:00 p.m.

Tuesday, April 10th 3:15 – 4:00 p.m.

Tuesday, April 10th 4:15 – 5:00 p.m.

Session 2

Tuesday, March 13th 3:15 – 4:00 p.m.

Thursday, March 15th 4:15 – 5:00 p.m.

Wednesday, April 11th 3:15 – 4:00 p.m.

Wednesday, April 11th 4:15 – 5:00 p.m.

Session 3

Wednesday, March 14th 3:15 – 4:15 p.m.

Thursday, March 22nd 4:15 – 5:15 p.m.

Wednesday, April 18th 3:15 – 4:15 p.m.

Wednesday, April 18th 4:15 – 5:15 p.m.

Resources for Newsletter 

In addition to websites referenced throughout the newsletter, information was also curated and quoted 

from the following resources: 

1. Emerging Ed Tech – www.emergingedtech.com 

2. iTunes App Store – http://itunes.apple.com 

3. Simple K12 – www.simplek12.com 

4. The Big Deal Book of Technology Newsletter – www.bigdealbook.com/newsletter 

5. QR Codes ‐ page 3 

Source: Information quoted from “QR Codes. A Quick Introduction,” TWS – Systems Solutions 

LTD ‐ http://www.tsw‐systemsolutions.com/QR‐Codes%20A%20Quick%20Introduction.pdf