Video: Mrs. Yollis Talks About Commenting!

I am passion about educational blogging. In my 27 years of teaching, I have never seen anything have such a positive impact on learning as educational blogging. 

Not only does blogging improve reading and writing skills, it is also a great place to help children build a positive digital footprint and learn how to contribute to an online community.

Below is a video I recorded with my friends, Ms. Holly Clark and Ms. Tanya Avrith. They use Google HangOuts to record teachers sharing innovated practices from their classrooms. Their show is called EduSlam, and I highly recommend checking it out. These two ladies have a plethora of professional development waiting just for you!

  I spoke about the power of blogging and the steps I use to teach commenting skills. The comment section is where our blog comes to life. It is truly an online learning community!

Here is a video with some students talking about what they love about blogging. Perhaps they can persuade you to blog with your students!

Here is a link to my Educational Blogging Wiki.
How to teach comment skills

What are some blogging benefits you see?

Share & Compare: California • Nebraska • New York

Today we had a wonderful Share & Compare session with two classes. One class lived in Nebraska, and one class lived in New York. We went from the west coast, across the plains, to the east coast of the United States! These teachers first connected at the Google Teacher Academy! 

Yesterday, @MsJennyKirsch tweeted out a photo of her fifth grade New Yorkers preparing for the HangOut. 

This morning, @catlett1 Brent Catlett tweeted out this picture so we could get a sense of what the day looked like in Nebraska. It was cold out on the plains today! Freezing is 32˚F! How many degrees above freezing was it in Nebraska? 

What do you call people from Nebraska?

He also tweeted out this picture and asked, "How many snowmen do you see on the playground?" Look carefully! 

In the spirit of sharing, we went outside with our thermometers and measured the temperature.  It was quite a bit hotter here in sunny California.  It was 81˚F at 10:00! As you can see, the Californians are wearing shorts and tank tops!

Here are some photos from the informative Google HangOut!

Share & Compare GoogleHangout on PhotoPeach

During the Share & Compare, students entered state data on a Google doc. The chart made it very easy to compare the three states, the three communities, and the three schools. It was also fun to watch everyone entering data from across the United States at the same time!

Here is a link to the state data!

Thank you, Shayna, for being our class photographer!

What did you learn?

If it was 11:00 A.M. in Los Angeles (Pacific Standard Time), 

what time was it in Nebraska and New York?

What are their time zones?

Please include any questions you have for our friends so we can answer them in a follow-up session!

Staff Development Day: Blogging and the Google Teacher Academy

I am a teacher and a life-long learner. 

On Monday,  I am presenting a session for my district's Staff Development Day. 

I will be sharing about blogging and what I learned at the  Google Teacher Academy. 

I will also be learning from my district colleagues. (kol • eegs) 

Colleague is a fancy word meaning the people I work with.

It is exciting to learn new things!



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Here are some links and resources I'd like to share!

• Blogging Resources •

Click here for Mrs. Yollis' Educational Blogging Wiki.

Click here  to learn about teaching commenting skills. 
This video was created by my students to help teach this very important blogging skill.

Click here to read a blog post summarizing the ISTE 2012  presentation:  

Flattening Classroom Walls With Blogging and Global Collaboration. 

Kathleen Morris and I presented this session together. 

Click here to watch a webinar of the ISTE 2012 presentation:  
Flattening Classroom Walls With Blogging and Global Collaboration.  
Kathleen Morris and I recorded this session together. 

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• Google Teacher Academy •

My colleagues at the Google Teacher Academy in New York City!

 Team Swan and our leader (in blue), Kern Kelly.

The Google Teacher Academy (GTA) was an amazing professional development experience for me. Although I learned about many innovative tools and techniques that I will apply in my elementary classroom, the friendships and connections I made in the GTA community are what I value the most. The GTA community is a forward thinking group of passionate educators who are quick to lend a helping hand.

 I strongly encourage other educators to apply to the GTA.

Here is my one minute video that was a part of the application process.
The topic is Motivation and Learning. 

 I learned so much at the Google Teacher Academy in NYC! 

Here are some projects and tools I'd like to share with you.

1. Somebody's Hero Project

Somebody's Hero is a wonderful community project launched at GTANY by lead leaders Amy Mayer and Cory Pavicich. Individuals, classes, schools and/or communities can submit a local hero and then students can document their hero using digital media tools. Ms. Mayer and Mr. Pavicich have set up a Google Site template for you to use in your community. Each local community can take a copy of the site template to use, then they can contact Ms. Mayer or Mr. Pavicich and they will add the community to the main site.

2. YouTube

James Sanders and Jim Sills presented a wonderful session about using YouTube to enhance learning. They recommended using videos to hook students, to start a discussion, to flip the classroom, and to document learning. In YouTube I can:

• Create and share PLAYLISTS to organize my videos 
• Search videos and/or playlists using COMMAS (examples:  polygons, elementary   or   fractions, playlist)
• Scroll to the bottom of YouTube to turn on and lock SAFETY MODE
• Create using:   http://www.youtube.com/create
• Edit inside of YouTube using the VIDEO EDITOR!  (www.youtube.com/editor)

• Add a Chrome extension that will remove all ads and comments. Here is a link to the Chrome extension:  YouTube options for Chrome. (I love this!)

My Asia Video Without YouTube Options for Google Chrome:

My Asia Video With the YouTube Options for Google Chrome!  :-)

• Another Chrome Extension is called "Turn Out the Lights". Here is my colleague's post about that YouTube extension.

3. Tech Sherpas

Google Certified Teachers are asked to create an action plan after the Google Teacher Academy. Kern Kelly's  9th grade students, who presented at the GTA, heard about the action plan and decided to do a student action plan. Check out their weekly  Tech Sherpas project! Submit a tech question and they'll help you! They meet every Tuesday at 3:00 EST.


4. Researching and Google Docs

5.  Google Apps Scripts in Spreadsheets

There were many useful scripts that were mentioned!

 Check out what's available in Spreadsheets: Tools>Script Gallery

Useful links for scripts:

• Flubaroo: This script will grade for you! 
• Doctopus: Great script for managing group projects. 
• Fabulous Doctopus tutorial from Tracy Watanabe
• Here is a fantastic tutorial site that was shared at GTA.

6.  The Google Art Project

Visitors to the Google Art Project site will have a wonderful time exploring museums around the world! After selecting a museum, or the White House, choose "Explore the Museum" or "View the Artwork". There are many drop-down menus (and side information bars) to navigate around. You can even create and share your own collections online! The Google Art Project can be used on a Google Hangout and someone could give a tour! Wow! 

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Did you find a useful resource here?  

Can you share a technology resource that would be useful in an elementary classroom?

Students, do you like using technology in the classroom? Why or why not? 

The Google Teacher Academy in NYC!

Mrs. Yollis will be attending the Google Teacher Academy in New York City next week!
Update: After attending, I wrote this post! 

             

Hundreds of educators from around the world submitted applications, and Mrs. Yollis is proud to say that she was one of the 50 selected. Most of the teachers are from the United States, but there are also educators coming from Mexico, Canada, Colombia, the Czech Republic, and South Africa. 

Part of the application process included making a one minute video. Here is Mrs. Yollis' video about Motivation and Learning. It was very difficult to tell a story in one minute!

Mrs. Yollis is quite excited to meet all the new Google Teacher Academy educators! Even while playing word games, she can't seem to think about anything else!

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 Today Mrs. Yollis' students examined the roster of teacher attendees. (An attendee is a fancy word meaning one who attends.) Next, the second and third graders used Google Earth to measure the distances some people will be traveling. The students have been learning how to estimate. The distances have been rounded.


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Some educators are traveling approximately 500 miles.

One educator lives near Lake Michigan. Wow, the Great Lakes are enormous!

Some attendees are  coming from Europe or Asia. Most are traveling within the United States.

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 Ms. Allen is flying in from Bogota, Colombia. Abbey noticed that the distance Ms. Allen is flying is similar to the distance Mrs. Yollis is flying. Ms. Allen is coming from South America!

Mrs. Yollis is flying in from Los Angeles.

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If was fun to compare the differences!

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Ms. Beal is coming from South Africa. She is traveling the farthest. The class noticed she will cross the equator and the Prime Meridian! Go Ms. Beal!

 

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The Google Teacher Academy will be held in New York City. It will be a wonderful place to spend a few days. 

Here are some New York City fun facts!

New York City (NYC) is an urban area.  It is the most populated city in the United States. 

Do you know which city ranks second?

Population of NYC:  8 million people

Size:  303 square miles

 Elevation 33 feet


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What kinds of things do you think will be taught at the academy?

What points of interest should Mrs. Yollis see while in 
New York City?

What did you learn from your Google Earth exploration?