We live in a world today where teachers are expected to do more with less. The amount of things we are expected to accomplish is increasing, but the amount of time we have with our students is not. It is essential that we as educators find ways to be as productive as possible. Thankfully, today’s advancements in technology give us many ways to maximize our time and be more efficient.
Conversion tools are used to convert files from one type to another. I had no idea these existed and am grateful this class has introduced them to me. I find I often need to convert files from word docs to .pdfs. Zamzar is such a quick and handy tool to do just that! It emails you the converted document in seconds! Another thing that excites me about Zamzar is it’s ability to convert word documents into .mp3s!! HOW COOL!!! For my auditory learners or my kiddos who need reading support, I can create audio files for them to listen to. So excited to try this out in the fall! I practiced using Zamzar by taking a .pdf that was a long informative text about sharks and converted it into an .mp3. It was so simple! I wish I could post it here to share with you, but .mp3s can not be uploaded to wordpress.
Google calendar makes it easy to keep yourself organized and on top of deadlines. However, I utilized Google Calendar this past school year by embedded it into my classroom webpage to keep families apprised of what was going on at our school and in our classroom. I love how I can make easy updates to the calendar through my gmail account and it would automatically sync with my webpage. In the past, I have used Microsoft Outlook to keep myself organized with my obligations and deadlines at work. Next year, my entire district will have gmail and chrome books, so switching over to using Google Calendar for everything might be the best option. I can have a work, personal and classroom calendar all in one place. Click here to see my Google Calendar embedded in my classroom webpage.
URL Shorteners are a handy tool to obviously shorten a URL. 🙂 I can’t even think of how many times this would have been useful in my classroom! I have struggled on countless occasions to get my kiddos to enter in a lengthy url to go to particular webpage. Between URL Shortners and Smybaloo (from Cloud Initiation) I will NEVER have that problem again! We learned about three different URL shorteners: tinyurl.com, goo.gl and bitly.com . I practiced taking a long url and shortening it using tinyurl.
Here is the original URL to one of my documents on Google Drive: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MKTRHcqCDJwD42noaXaOWORjZTuofzkyuiDSxIUOIl0/edit?usp=sharing WOW!!! It is long!!!
Here is the new link now that I have used tinyurl: http://tinyurl.com/oeop5yl What a difference!!!
Evernote is a great tool for keeping track of EVERYTHING you need to remember from lessons you want to try, pictures of special events in the classroom, to behavior management ideas and notes about individual kiddo needs. You can take a quick picture, write a small note or even record audio. The best thing about Evernote is how it organizes your files. You can easily search through your notes to find what you are looking for. It can even recognize text in pictures! I am one of those people who has held out on getting a smart phone…however, this tool makes me want one. What a simple and quick way to note something when you are out and about or in the middle of something with your kiddos. Once you have made a note, you can access it from anywhere. Say goodbye to endless sticky notes! Click here to check out my first attempt at creating a note on Evernote.
LiveBinders is a marvelous tool for organizing all your online resources. It basically makes a virtual binder. Say goodbye to all those 3-ring binders in your cupboards! I see myself using this to organize electronic resources for units of study. It will help me find what I need so much faster. I also like that you can search through other’s binders. I found an awesome binder with 3rd grade math resources for parents. Instead of posting the link to my webpage, I actually added it to my symbaloo which is already embedded on my classroom webpage. Click here to check out my Symbaloo with my LiveBinder link.
CITW and ISTE Standards
I feel that thing 7, Productivity, really hits on the ISTE Standard: Model Digital Age Work and Learning. By using these tools to keep myself organized and as productive as possible I am modeling digital age work and learning for my students and their parents. As far as CITW best practices go, I feel like Evernote can easily be implemented with students to support Summarizing and Note taking. Google Calendar can serve as a reminder to students and parents about homework and other assignments. LiveBinders can also be used to provide resources to support students and their families with homework and practice.