IHMS Tech Tips

Google Sites used to be a scary, scary place, but they've done some updates this year and I'm tasking my 1st hour students with creating their own site!  In Sites , you can embed YouTube videos, Google Maps, and anything from your Google Drive. There are a myriad of ways you could use Sites in the classroom: Teachers could use a Google Site to house their calendar, weekly agenda, homework, etc.  While students can get most of this information from Google Classroom, parents would benefit greater from a Parent Portal in Sites.  Teachers could also use Sites to house all of the material for each unit.  Consider a page per unit with links, videos, audio files, etc.  Not only is it a great way for students to access information, but it also keeps everything in one spot when you need to use it the following year. Students could use Sites as a digital portfolio.  Have them showcase their work from the quarter or semester and reflect on each piece. ...

This week, my 1st hour students researched current emerging technologies.  They wrote a blog post about this new research which you can read here: New iPhone camera updates Brain-sensing headsets Electric cars Liquid biopsies and reverse paralysis Apple watch Artificial leaf Airless tires Liquid fuels from sunshine Electric motorcycles

"Ignite  is a specific genre of presentation. An Ignite presenter only has five minutes to speak about the topic, and 20 slides to do so. Every 15 seconds, slides are moved along automatically. The overall purpose of an Ignite session is to empower and excite the audience around a specific subject matter, idea or topic. Ignite is used at conferences all around the world, at  EdCamps , and even within professional organizations and businesses."   Ignite presentations are a concise way to either introduce or sum up a concept or idea.  Ignite presentations are different than others your students might do in that they are timed: 20 slides 15 seconds per slide 5 minutes total The slides are set to auto-advance every 15 seconds so that there is nothing required of the presenter except providing the information that correlates to each slide.  This type of presentation requires a lot of practice so that transitions between slides and speaking is seamless. ...

Last week, my 1st hour students used the green screen for the first time.  They used iMovie to record and edit their films and thoroughly enjoyed the process.  While at first iMovie seems daunting (to me anyway), the students caught on quickly and ran with it. Here are some tips and tricks for using the green screen with iMovie from my 1st hour class blogs: http://techtipsmacbook.blogspot.com/2017/10/how-to-make-green-screen-video-with.html http://techtipsihms.blogspot.com/2017/10/green-screen-and-imovie.html https://technologytips4teach.blogspot.com/2017/10/how-to-use-green-screen-green-screen-is.html https://technologytoday50.blogspot.com/2017/10/imovie-greenscreen-tutorial.html Here are a few examples of their movies from last week: The Three Little Pigs The Ugly Duckling Jack and the Beanstalk Chicken Little Goldilocks and the Three Bears There is tons of information out there online, on Pinterest, etc. on how to integrate use of the green screen into the c...

We've talked about how to use WebEx for contacting parents, and I know some of you have used it for PLCs, but it is also a great tool to use with your students in the classroom or away from the classroom.  We are all aware of the trouble with AirPlay.  Using WebEx is a way to avoid having to use AirPlay in the first place.  With WebEx, students are viewing your screen on their Macbook in real time. Here's how to use WebEx: Instructor Load WebEx with the following link using Google Chrome:  smsd.webex.com  . Log in via the link in the top right corner of the page Click the green 'Start Meeting' button This will launch the Cisco Webex Meeting Center application Click on the 'Meeting Info' tab Take note of the meeting number, as you will need to provide this to your students Post the the number in Google Classroom, or simply write it on the board Once your students have all joined the meeting session, go to the 'Quick Start' tab and click ...