Google for Education CT Summit - June 21-22, 2014, Greenwich, CT

I will be presenting at the Google for Education CT Summit on June 21st, 2014 on Chromebook and Google Apps deployments. The Summit is two days, with presentations and workshops by a variety of educators, Google Certified Teachers, Google staff and more.

It's a great event with some great learning and sharing planned.

Here is the event website: http://connecticut.appsevents.com/

Here is the event Google+ Page: https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/cdmsgr0sqmq20iaht6frk95ek6s?authkey=CLeunPTcr9jknwE

Join us!

Adobe Releases New Storytelling App for iPad

Adobe recently released a new Storytelling App for iPad. Adobe Voice, a new animated video app for
iPad, that gives anyone the ability to create and share engaging video stories. Adobe Voice allows you to create these video stories using a combination of your own recorded voice, imagery, music and cinema-quality motion graphics and effects. This is a great app for education, allowing students to create an interactive and engaging school project. Animated videos can be quickly shared via social media, email, personal blogs and websites, by posting a single link, and can be viewed on virtually any device.


Adobe Voice is available as a free download in the App Store. The app requires iPad 2 or higher and iOS 7. To learn more about Adobe Voice, visit http://getvoice.adobe.com/

Here are more resources on it:

• Introducing Adobe Voice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz8ag5i9h0E

• Quick Tour of Adobe Voice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6f0XMOHzoM

• Adobe Voice of an Educator https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf8ZWHIGq_I


For more information about Adobe Creative Cloud, visit: www.adobe.com/products/creativecloud.html.

Related:

More posts about Adobe products and services

Adobe Education Exchange educator community announces new features

Adobe announces major updates to Creative Cloud, including 3D

Adobe PhotoShop Touch for iPad2 now available

Free resource from Discovery Education about Manufacturing

Discovery Education has a new free resource: Manufacture Your Future, which has free STEM lessons and resources for grades 6-12 related to manufacturing.

This is an excellent resource. Manufacturing is a great career and there are a lot of openings in the field.

Manufacture Your Future: New Online Portal Offers Free, Dynamic STEM Lessons and Resources Discovery Education and Alcoa Foundation are excited to introduce Manufacture Your Future, a new, online destination designed to inspire students in grades 6-12 to explore modern manufacturing careers through STEM-based exploration. Manufacture Your Future's standards-based, cross-curricular resources include: FOR TEACHERS: Comprehensive lesson plans including "Manufacturing in the 21st Century" and "Design a Robot" FOR COUNSELORS: Career guide with job assessment tools FOR FAMILIES: Discussion starters to extend the conversation beyond the classroom COMING THIS FALL: A live virtual field trip from an Alcoa facility will provide a behind-the-scenes look at the manufacturing design process. Sign up for e-mail updates to hear when registration opens.       Related: Next Generation Manufacturing Center - this is a cooperative group of manufacturers, CBIA and CT's Community Colleges. They work to get more students interested in engineering and manufacturing. There are some great videos on the site, too. They have a lot of great programs, including the Engineering Challenge. They also sponsor summer externships for teachers. These externships pay teachers to spend the summer at a local manufacturing company learning about their industry and coming up with ways to get more students involved in engineering and manufacturing. I was able to participate about 5 years ago and found it to be a great experience. Great Free Resources from Discovery Education STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Resources

Some more Forensics Science Resources

This past September I posted some Forensic Science Resources for Teachers. Forensics is interesting, engaging, and students love it.

Here are some more:


http://phs.psdr3.org/science/forensics/ - course page for high school forensics class. Has lesson ideas, syllabus, resources and more.

http://nrhs.nred.org/www/nred_nrhs/site/hosting/Rubins/main%20page.htm - high school forensics class site. labs, syllabus, resources, and more

http://wsfcs.k12.nc.us/Page/20284 - high school forensics class site with assignments, projects, rubrics and more.

http://sciencespot.net/Pages/classforsci.html - Forensic Science lesson plans and resources

http://sciencespot.net/Pages/classforscilsn.html - Forensic Science lesson plan links

Today is Earth Day - here are some resources for teachers

Earth Day, April 22nd, is a great time to talk to your students about the environment. 

Earth Day was started in 1962 as a way to bring attention to environmental issues. As polution increases, and the environment is continually affected by humans, it is a great time to get our students thinking about environmental issues. 


Here are some resources you can use with your students:




Earth Day Networks site - http://www.earthday.org/greencities/about/

Google Earth Day Resources
#mybeautifulearth https://plus.google.com/u/0/explore/mybeautifulearth
great photos of our earth.


National Environmental Education Week - Resources for Environmental Education Week. This site has an entire section with resources for educators that includes curricula, quizzes, professional development and more. 




Earth Day Network - this is another great resource for teaching about the environment and Earth Day. The educator resource page has lesson plans, Green your School guide, grant programs and more to help educators. 

Science Museum Climate Science Info Zone - information and resources on climate change, carbon footprint, and more. 

Think Green from Discovery Education - Think Green is another great free resource from Discovery Education that contains lesson plans, videos, and activities for teachers to use in their classroom. The resources are sorted by grade level and are interactive and educational. 

You can also go to the Think Green Resource Page to search for more resources by grade, topic, or resource. 


Discovery Education, Siemens STEM Academy also has some great resources. 

Every classroom can, and should, talk about Earth Day and the environment. We all need to help make sure that the Earth will be a healthy, viable, place for generations to come. It's also a great way to incorporate STEM topics into any classroom and relate STEM topics to the environment. 

English classes could write about the environment, including persuasive essays and letters on different topics. 

History classes could look at the history of Earth Day and the Environmentalist movement, along with the history of different environment events. 

Science classes can delve into the science of the environment, energy resources, energy production and more. 


What do you do for Earth Day in your classroom?


Some More Environmental Resources

Discovery Education Dawn Junior Wildlife Champions-free lesson plans about oil spills and wildlife

The Road Ahead - resources on electricity generation from Discovery Education

Discovery Education Turfmutt - environmental science lessons

25 Free Resources from Discovery Education

Discovery News - science news

Disney Planet Challenge - project based environmental contest with resources

Great list of app based on task you want students to accomplish

I found this great list of apps and tech tools that are organized based on the task you want students to accomplish. It was out on  Twitter and I can't find the original tweet. What do you want to do...?There's a tech tool for that. pic.twitter.com/kWFciWylLP

Meeting Organization with Evernote

Meetings, meetings, meetings. They are a necessary evil. But, you can make them more organized and productive by being organized yourself.

I use Evernote as my main work (and personal) tool. For meetings, it is indispensable. Here's how:

1. I clip the meeting/appointment slot from Outlook into Evernote. This has the invitees/attendees, agenda, topic, time and date, etc. 
2. I then add any additional information and relevant files, along with links to other notes in Evernote. This way, everything related to the meeting is in one place.
3. I use a template for meeting notes (see below) and copy it into this note. I will add questions I have before the meeting and then use it for the meeting itself. 
4. I tag the meeting note for easy searching later. 
5. I can take notes on my smartphone, tablet, or laptop or Chromebook and access all meeting info.

This lets me have everything I need for a meeting in one place, and makes it easier to find the information later.

You can also share the note with others after the meeting.

Meeting Template

Date: 

Topic: 

Objectives: 

Attendees:

Notes: 

•  
•  
•  

Questions to ask:

•  
•  
•  

---

Action Items:

• 
  
•  
•  
•  
• 
• 
  

Related:

Evernote for Educators Resources

My Workflow as CIO - includes heavy use of Evernote

Another great feature of Evernote - integrated in Outlook

Keys to running Effective Meetings

Taking organizing and planning lessons from Ben Franklin - great tips for educators too