smart-schools.com » Technology

Ultra-Rapid Growth for Tablets in 2011 and More Options

Smarty — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 04:51:25 +0000

Apple continues to dominate the tablet market in 2010 with 87% market share according to eWeek Magazine.

But rapid changes as well as blisteringly rapid growth are amongst the trends for 2011:

-New iPad 2 from Apple before end of 2011 that will help continue their leadership position

-Significant XOOM tablet by Motorola with amazing features

-Significant products by Samsung

-Enterprise tablets from Blackberry and Cisco that will integrate VOIP phones and other never seen-before features (Blackberry Playbook and Cius)

-HP Web OS in significant development (Palm WebOS) with flurry of new products months out

-5 inch form factor tablets bite the dust: Not popular

-Widely divergent quality of product

-Windows tablets not significant in market share

-Android OS Making significant gains in market share in 2011

Document Cameras & Projectors: Cool Use #17 “Compare and Contrast”

Smarty — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 19:22:42 +0000

COMPARE AND CONTRAST ————————————————————–

CONTENT AREA: ANY

GRADE LEVELS: ANY

Learning to compare and contrast requires high-level cognitive analysis. Comparing

and contrasting is a skill used in many different disciplines at all levels of education. Using an

document camera can help students practice using different graphic organizers

collaboratively before being asked to use them independently.

MATERIALS

- Document camera

- Projector

- Whiteboard or large sheet of paper that students can write on

- A drawing of a graphic organizer used for comparing and contrasting, such as a Venn

diagram, double bubble map, or a T-chart

PROCEDURE

BEFORE

1. Decide the compare and contrast topic to assign students.

2. Prepare a drawing of the graphic organizer to be practiced, such as a Venn diagram.

DURING

3. Project the compare and contrast diagram using the document camera.

4. Call students to the board to complete different areas of the compare and contrast

diagram.

5. Discuss notes as a class, changing and adding as necessary.

6. Have all students copy the collaboratively designed notes.

AFTER

7. After creating notes together as a class, assign an independent project such as an essay

that discusses the topic in depth.

8. Choose a different compare/contrast method of organization to demonstrate to

students each day for several days.

ADAPTATIONS

- Assign a compare and contrast topic and a method of organization. Allow students to

work collaboratively or independently to complete the notes. To review the topic and

check for accuracy, choose student products to project with a document

camera.

- Allow students to choose how they will organize notes for a graphic organizer. After

students have completed their notes, show the class different ideas by projecting

student samples using a document camera.

Document Cameras & Projectors: Cool Use #14 “Conversation Station”

Smarty — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 06:44:41 +0000

CONVERSATION STATION ————————————————–

CONTENT AREA: ANY

GRADE LEVELS: ANY

A document camera is a great way to save trees, and your own energy!

Use the document camera to project images of notes, quizzes, and worksheets that would normally be photocopied. Save yourself from writing the same series of notes multiple times during the day. Written notes are an excellent way to help students learning English and students with certain learning disabilities who may not otherwise be able to take notes quickly from verbal lectures.

Using a document camera also allows you to face the class while demonstrating written notes, instead of having your back to the class while writing on the board.

MATERIALS

- Document camera

- Projector

- Notes on topic

- One blank sheet of paper

PROCEDURE

BEFORE

1. Prepare notes for classroom lesson.

DURING

2. Use a blank sheet of paper to uncover sections as you progress through the notes.

3. While lecturing, use a document camera to project your notes for all students to see.

AFTER

4. As a review or as an open notebook quiz, place small sticky notes over strategically

important words or phrases in the notes. Assign number to each blank. Project the

image with a document camera. Have students consult their notes to correctly

fill in each blank.

ADAPTATIONS

- To encourage good note-taking skills, have students take notes from your verbal lecture. Project your own notes after the lecture so that students can compare their own notes to your notes, adding or making corrections as necessary.

Document Cameras & Projectors: Cool Use #11 “Flashcard Review”

Smarty — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:52:21 +0000

FLASHCARD REVIEW

CONTENT AREA: ANY

GRADE LEVELS: ELEMENTARY, MIDDLE, OR HIGH SCHOOL

The following activity can be used to review concepts through questions, vocabulary,

or required memorization such as multiplication tables. It is an excellent way to achieve class

participation with students such as beginning level English Language Learners or students

who may be shy to speak during a class discussion.

MATERIALS

- Document camera

- Projector

- Note cards or paper cut in similarly small pieces

PROCEDURE

BEFORE

1. Create a few example flashcards that indicate to students the concepts or vocabulary

to be reviewed.

DURING

2. Direct each student to create several flash cards of the target concepts. Students can

use index cards, or simply use small sheets of notebook paper or printer paper.

3. Have each student come to the projector and place flashcards questions, one at a time,

under the document camera.

4. Direct the rest of the class to answer orally, either by choral response, or by selecting

individual students to respond.

AFTER

5. Choose some of the flashcards to project under the document camera. Have

students copy these questions onto paper. Assign as homework.

6. After sufficient reviewing, select flash cards to include on an assessment.

ADAPTATIONS

- Collect all the flash cards. Choose several for a classroom mock quiz. Have students

write their answers on paper. Check together as a class.

- Collect all the flashcards after the class activity. Choose one flashcard to project each

day as bell work.

- Hold a class competition by dividing students into two teams. Direct each team to

create questions for the opposing team. Students from one team place questions under

document camera, while students from the opposing team must answer the

question correctly.

Flashcards become a truly communal experience

Award Winning Video from LACOE’s Roger Espinosa Sheds Light on Incarcerated Students, Improving Lives & The Learning of Trades

Smarty — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 02:38:04 +0000

: Roger Espinosa, Teacher and Documentarian at Kilpatrick High School

Roger Espinosa and students produced this Digital Voice Award-winning video about a successful vocational education program for incarcerated students. The contemporary video has a personal feel, shedding insight on students’ lives while demonstrating valuable lessons on electrical trade skills.

Roger is a teacher at Camp Kilpatrick in Malibu, California. “Kilpatrick High School” is part of Education Programs at Los Angeles County Office of Education, and helps incarcerated students get an education. Roger is also a successful grant writer and recipient.

It’s teachers like Roger that contribute a great deal to the kids who most need strong insight, inspiration, encouragement and hope.

Click here to see the video.

Document Cameras & Projectors: Cool Use #10 “Map It”

Smarty — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:14:40 +0000

MAP IT ——————————————

CONTENT AREA: GEOGRAPHY

GRADE LEVELS: ANY

Being able to correctly label a map with key features is an essential skill in geography.

Using a document camera to project a large image allows students to collaboratively practice their recall of geographic places large enough for everyone to see.

Simple - Yet Effective

MATERIALS

- Document camera

- Projector

- Outline map of target geographic area

- Whiteboard or large sheet of paper that students can write on

PROCEDURE

BEFORE

1. Prepare a paper with an outline map of the target geographic area.

DURING

2. Project the image of the outline map using the document camera.

3. Call students to the projected image and direct each student to add another feature to

accurately to the map, i.e. continent, country, city, state, capitals, mountain ranges,

lakes, rivers, oceans, etc.

4. Discuss as a class, making corrections to student labels as necessary.

AFTER

5. Review with students by covering key features and names with removable sticky

notes. Lift the notes to reveal if students have given the right answers.

6. Create a quiz by covering target feature with removable sticky notes with numbers

written on them. Have students write their answers on their own paper and turn in.

ADAPTATIONS

- Instead of labeling with words, students can draw in geographic features, cultural

highlights, and landmarks onto the map. If students have drawn on a large sheet of

paper, the image can be saved and posted in the classroom.

- Using a document camera virtually eliminates the need to purchase costly

classroom maps that may quickly become outdated. Use a document camera to project

maps of any kind for students to use.

- As an icebreaker activity in a class of English Language Learners, have students pair

with a partner, interview each other about their culture, and add their partner’s name

to the correct location on a world map as they introduce their partner to the class.

And don’t forget the great Web 2.0 tools like Google Earth and Microsoft Worldwide Telescope, which augment the above process and are especially useful on interactive whiteboards (IWBs).

Classroom 2.0 Seminar for L.A. School Principals

Smarty — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 05:31:06 +0000

How do teachers integrate 21st Century technology into a seamless learning and teaching environment? … including interactive whiteboards, document cameras, student responders and countless other tools?

It’s easy to see the benefits of many of the 21st Century learning tools & techniques, but having an effective integration plan and knowing what tools, when to use them and how to integrate it into curriculum, effectively, is not easy.

This seminar, designed for School Principals and Administrators, will host a continental breakfast.

It will be a morning of current & relevant content for the K-12 education environment in Los Angeles, which is both very demanding and very budget weary.

Tuesday March 23, 2010

Embassy Suites Los Angeles-Glendale

800 N Central Avenue

Glendale, CA 91203

8:30 -9:00 AM Registration and Continental Breakfast

9:00 am to 12:00 pm Classroom 2.0 Seminar

Seminar designed for School Principals, Key Administrators and Technology Leaders.

How do you define 21st Century Learning?

How can technology increase student engagement?

Are your teachers 21st Century educators?

How do you seamlessly integrate 21st Century technology into the learning environment?

Seminar for Registered Guests. Hosted by Troxell Communications & Presented by Eduscape Learning.

What is XGA, SXGA, WXGA etc?

Smarty — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:31:33 +0000

Understanding screen resolutions can be confusing at first. When you are selecting a new laptop/netbook, and document camera or a new projector/monitor, pay attention to the native screen resolution of your unit. The most inexpensive models may be a smaller native resolution like SVGA, which as time passes, will be utilized less and less. On the other hand, it does depend on what environment you are in and what type of content you are displaying.

Here is a handy chart from this wikipedia article

Document Cameras & Projectors: Cool Use #5 Science “Categorizing Concepts”

Smarty — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 04:36:26 +0000

CATEGORIZING CONCEPTS #5—————————————–

CONTENT AREA: SCIENCE

GRADE LEVEL: MIDDLE SCHOOL

The following activity can be used to introduce or review examples of science concepts in categories, such as vertebrates and invertebrates. A document camera allows all students to actively participate.

MATERIALS

- Document camera

- Projector

- One paper with the category names listed in columns

- Papers cut in small pieces with the names of different animals to classify into vertebrates and invertebrates

PROCEDURE

BEFORE

1. Label the piece of paper with the category names, i.e. vertebrate and invertebrate.

2. Write the names of different vertebrate and invertebrate animals on each of the small cards (works best if there are enough examples for every member of the class).

DURING

3. Project the image of the diagram using the document camera.

4. Pass out a small card with the name of an animal written on it to each student.

5. Direct students to decide whether the animal on each card is a vertebrate or invertebrate, and place the card in the appropriate category.

6. Discuss as a class, making corrections to student classifications as necessary.

AFTER

7. As a review activity on a separate occasion, mix the cards and pass out to different students, repeat activity as listed above.

8. Create a few new cards with animal names that have not been previously reviewed as a class. Project the image of the cards using a document camera. Assign students to categorize the animals for homework. To review homework the following day as a class, pass out the cards assigned as homework. Allow students to place each card in the appropriate category using the document camera.

ADAPTATIONS

- Instead of preparing the cards with items to categorize, have students create the cards by writing the name of an animal on each small card.

- This class activity can be easily adapted for other categorizing activities.

Clearly, document cameras rock!

Document Cameras & Projectors: Cool Use #4 Health “You Are What You Eat”

Smarty — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 06:25:38 +0000

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT #4 ————————————-

CONTENT AREA: HEALTH EDUCATION

GRADE LEVELS: MIDDLE SCHOOL

Increase students’ awareness of food ingredients and percentages of nutritional components such as vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, protein, fat, sodium, and fiber by using a document camera to project the images of actual food wrappers.

This activity can be an eye-opening experience for everyone!

MATERIALS

- Document camera

- Projector

- Food wrappers that contain nutrition and ingredient information

PROCEDURE

BEFORE

1. Assign students to bring in an item of food, or only the wrapper, that contains the nutrition and ingredient label.

DURING

2. Using the document camera, project the ingredients and nutritional label of the

food items or wrappers that students have brought in.

3. As a class, discuss the components of each food item displayed, calling attention to certain target concepts.

AFTER

4. Project several wrappers with nutritional information that have not already been discussed as a class. Have students discuss collaboratively which food is the healthiest based on the information given or have students write a paragraph critically analyzing the healthiness of the items displayed.

ADAPTATION

- Cut off the nutritional information of several food containers. Display using the document camera. Give students several choices of food names. Have students make educated guesses to match each product with its label based on the information given.