Symbaloo is still awesome

I know in the past I have written about Symbaloo and how I have used it for various things but I again want to rave on it a little.

I have been using Symbaloo as an embedded part of my library website as a tool for my students to access.  I have found it offers them so much information in a little space and it has been so helpful to the kids.   I love the fact that I can make color coded categories and that I can link to other Symbaloo .  It's wonderful to not have to re-invent the wheel if you need to do some additions.  You just make a box and link it to another Symbaloo you already have done.

I think having access to it makes the library page a little more user friendly.  Kids just remember what color you told them to look at and they go to that section to get their information. It has helped make research a breeze for the students.  I think my teacher appreciate it as well since they can direct the kids to the section they want.

Teachers are also finding ease of use with Symbaloo.  Many of them are picking the sites they want students to access and creating a Symbaloo they use for that component of class. It works wonderfully.

Again, Symbaloo is so user friendly and easy to work with, it is definitely worth looking into for any content area.

Symbaloo organized my library

Being organized via weblinks helps me share what I know with my staff and students.  Symbaloo is so easy to use and user friendly that anyone can figure it out. The outcome can organize a lot of great links for your students and for you.

I decided after I saw a school library media specialist library use her Symbaloo to organize her library, I had to do it as well.   I made a color coded Symbaloo for the different components of information kids can access through the library website.   I learned that I can actually embed the Symbaloo directly on the Follett Destiny site so kids can see it immediately when they go to the card catalog.

I selected links that are specific to my kids.  Book report info, PBL type materials, Research sites (paid and free), citation sites, even some places for homework help.   It was a simple process and it was fast to complete.  When I did in class lessons, I shared the Symbaloo with the students and showed them how simple it was to use this method to access their needed information.  I even have some additional space later to make more tiles if I come across some.  

Symbaloo is a MUST HAVE for any educator.  It is a simple way to sort and organize.  For my purposes, it offered a large amount of information in a more organized way.  It has made life for my students easier for sure.

From the archives: Wunderlist

I am not sure how many of you have seen Wunderlist (it's an app as well as online) but I wanted to take a few minutes to show the organizing tool to you.

I added the Wunderlist app to my iPad a few years ago and I decided to start using it for a method of organizing my collection development.  When I preorder a book, I add it to the list with the day it comes out and I add a note about where I ordered it from. I keep all of my records of orders on a spreadsheet, but, a spreadsheet isn't going to remind me of the day I should start seeing it arrive.

Wunderlist allows you to put notifications on your desktop, like a calendar and it will popup a reminder when you are close to the deadline.  It allows for a reminder and a due date.

It is also a great tool to show students so they can learn to task manage.  Task management on project based learning is very important and using a tool such as Wunderlist can really help them learn to organize and plan their tasks.  What is awesome about the tool is the capability of inviting friends to the tasks.  So, if you, as the teacher assign a project, you can invite all of your students to the different tasks and they will get the notifications and be able to refer to the assignment on their own.

If you are in the need of becoming more organized, take a look at this site.  It offers a lot of possibilities for your classes or you.

From the Archives: Ways to organize my tech life

With the dawn of the new year, I have been thinking hard about ways I can organize my technology life, my library life and my teacher life.   I think I will start with my technology life.  That seems to be the area where I find fantastic ideas but sometimes forget them.

Here is how I start things and what I need to do.   I tweet.  A lot.  I favorite tweets with links of interest and they send themselves magically each day to my diigo account. The problem is I forget to go to Diigo and sort them.  Mistake one.  I logged into Diigo today and there were close to 1000 tags I need to sort.   So, my tech goal is to do the following:   Each week, be it Sunday or Saturday I need to go through my new tags, check out the links and sort them. I need to post the most important links on pinterest. Why, you say?  On pinterest, I can see a visual.  Sometimes seeing a visual helps me remember more about the link. 

That's another thing I need to do.  Organize my pinterest.  When I started using it, I had a few boards for recipes, ideas and such but I have discovered after a year on the site, I need to reorganize.  I have a lot of jumbled boards that I need to re-define.  I think doing that will make my boards so much more orderly and easy to track things.

Using technology has so many benefits to teaching,  libraries,  and kids but,  to use it right it has to be orderly. That is my goal for this year.  Organize my tech life.  Perhaps I will come across some fantastic ideas I found years ago.

From the Archives: Realtimeboard

I am all about students collaborating.  I think it's one of the most important parts of education.  Kids need to be able to learn to work together and share ideas, as it's part of their future when they graduate and move into their adult life.

Realtimeboard is another tool that provides collaboration options. It is free and can link to google. You, as the teacher creates a board and invite kids to access it.  They also upgrade teachers to PRO for free. (Follow this link)

This site is set up a lot like ConceptBoard, which I showed in a previous post.  It's collaborative, uses invitations to access boards and is easy.

I can see this working in a project based learning setting.  Students can conduct their research and use the site for a final project.  Maybe a history related search or a biography project.  It is also a way to organize yourself.  There are several mind mapping methods and organzining tools. When you create a new board, you see several templates that can be used for different things.

It could also be used for a foreign language classroom to make vocabulary boards.  Kids can locate images of vocabulary and the shared boards can be used by the teacher as a review tool.

The possibilities for this program are endless.  There are a lot of things that can be used in the classroom.

Use edshelf to organize your apps

A few months ago, I stumbled upon a site called edshelf that provides educators with a platform to save apps and websites for later reference.  I created my account and started investigating the site and the potential it has for my personal needs.

It allows educators to create collections to save tools that are needed for their classroom.
It is a little like livebinders but for apps and web 2.0 tools.  It doesn't save links, it save tools one could use for the classroom.  It allows for numerous collections so if one has different content areas or different classes and had specific needs for each, collections could be created to use later.

One aspect I discovered that was helpful is the dashboard that outlines new users, what they have been adding, the collections they are making.  I is a little like a twitter feed with links.  Each of the collections is accessible by everyone and links can be copied to one's own edshelf collection.

I am going to use my edshelf to establish a Tech Tuesday collection (*tools to share with teachers), a blogging collection (*tools I can blog about) not to mention a few others.  I am certain I will have a great deal of success with this site and I can already see some potential uses.

Handling subscriptions

It seems like my Inbox is getting fuller and fuller of emails from different companies offering things, different programs and lessons.  It is crazy how much stuff we accumulate.  I started an address book to organize all of my subscriptions that relate to edtech, but, sometimes, I get this bombardment of emails from different services.   It would take me hours and maybe days to unsubscribe from everything out there.

I ended up creating a listserv email where I have my subscriptions sent.  But, often, I find I have a subscription to something I don't need or want, or that I have subscribed to a web 2.0 tool to experiment and realize it isn't for me.

I came across a link in my twitter feed the other day that caught my eye-- Just delete me.  It is a directory of links to delete your subscriptions. I looked it over and there is a ton of options there to help unsubscribe from the mass number of lists and websites.   The page offers information about difficulty of unsubscribing as well, which might benefit you because, if you are like me, spending 20 minutes to delete a subscription isn't worth it.  I will just delete the email, it's faster. 

I am going to start looking through it and deleting things I know I never use.   I am sure if you look at it, something will strike your fancy as well. 

Get Organized Pt. 5: SpicyNodes

Have you ever heard of Popplet?  I have had my students use it to organize presentations.  I have come across a similar tool that does very similar things, and it's been accepted by the AASL as one of the top 25 web 2.0 tools.  It's Spicy Nodes.

Spicy \Nodes allows you to create a web map to develop your outline or thought process before you create your project.  One of the main differences I have noticed between Popplet and SpicyNodes is the outline format. You create the specifics of your bubble before it develops into a web map. It reminds me a little of the outline tool in a PowerPoint.

One of the things I like to see as a teacher is the information coming before the decorations.  With an outline format of a web map, like SpiceNodes does, the students can input all of their information before they put in their graphics and make the final project fancy.  It keeps them on task and makes them focus on facts before fancy.

To see how simple it was, I created a sample SpicyNodes with video links.  It took me three minutes to input the links and this was my result:

This site is really cool and it could really be used well to do a student PBL project.  There are a lot of options to link files and facts together.  I am thinking my French two class will use it at least once in the first semester to make a small personal video project where they record things that are important to them. My sample here has just videos, but, you can also add a description.  This can incorporate both writing and speaking.   I am really excited to have my kids try this!

Get organized pt. 4: Google Calendars

I am all about getting organized, both in my school life and my home life and I must say, using Google Calendars has done a lot to save me.

I have an Android phone, so I was fortunate enough to sync my phone calendar right to my google calendar. But, I use both platforms together, and I have found some free apps and extensions that can be added to your chrome toolbar that make it even easier to get reminders and updates from your calendar. I love that when I add something to my phone, it instantly adds to the cloud and shows up on every device I own. I can schedule appointments, schedule my blog, do trainings and PD, whatever I need to do.

I often carry my phone around school with me when I go to a classroom. Sometimes, my aid needs me or sometimes, I have things on my phone to share. But, having it with me has been a lifesaver more times than not.  I am able to pull up my schedule on the spot and plan for classroom visits, one on one staff training, and meetings with the principal or the superintendent.  I can also see if I have something scheduled for my French class, as I do my lesson plans on Google Calendar as well.  I can share my calendar with my library aid and together we can add class visits and trainings from wherever we are so we know immediately who is going to be coming and for what reason.  (Sometimes, we have several classes show up and it is hard to juggle all of it- but if we know ahead, we can plan ahead.)

One school library I visited had a Google Calendar set up publicly and the teachers could input their personal library schedule directly into the calendar so the media specialist knew who was coming and when to get books, check out media, etc.  The staff still contacted the teacher for lessons and direct instruction, but, it did help her organize her day.

I am sure a lot of people are familiar with Google Calendar, but I think if you dabble a little, you will find some fantastic ways to make it work for you.

Get Organized pt. 3: Symbaloo

Last summer, I did a post about Symbaloo and how I use it in my classroom.  I think, since it has changed a little bit, it is time to redo a post about it and show it's new look as well as offer some organizing tips with it.

Let's face it, we teachers come across so many things we want to use in class.  We want our kids to access things and learn stuff, but, we also want to have a little control in what they are accessing. Symbaloo allows teachers to have more control over what kids access.   We assemble a webmix that has our necessary links for projects and require the students to refer to that webmix.

It's really a good way to organize your classes too.  I teach French but I am also the school library media specialist.  I have created several webmixes that cater to the teachers and students in our school. I established one for writing, polling, audiovisual, as well as general research and collaboration.  

Being organized via weblinks helps me share what I know with my staff and students.  Symbaloo is so easy to use and user friendly that anyone can figure it out. The outcome can organize a lot of great links for your students and for you.

Get Organized Pt. 2: Wunderlist (Collection Development)

I am not sure how many of you have seen Wunderlist (it's an app as well as online) but I wanted to take a few minutes to show the organizing tool to you.

I added the Wunderlist app to my iPad a few years ago and I decided to start using it for a method of organizing my collection development.  When I preorder a book, I add it to the list with the day it comes out and I add a note about where I ordered it from. I keep all of my records of orders on a spreadsheet, but, a spreadsheet isn't going to remind me of the day I should start seeing it arrive.

Wunderlist allows you to put notifications on your desktop, like a calendar and it will popup a reminder when you are close to the deadline.  It allows for a reminder and a due date.

It is also a great tool to show students so they can learn to task manage.  Task management on project based learning is very important and using a tool such as Wunderlist can really help them learn to organize and plan their tasks.  What is awesome about the tool is the capability of inviting friends to the tasks.  So, if you, as the teacher assign a project, you can invite all of your students to the different tasks and they will get the notifications and be able to refer to the assignment on their own.

If you are in the need of becoming more organized, take a look at this site.  It offers a lot of possibilities for your classes or you.

Get Organized Pt. 1: Workflowy

I believe that being organized is one of the most important things about being an educator.  Looking at my desk, you would never know I try to organize my life, but looking at my web 2.0 life, you would see I really am an organized person.  I make lists, I keep a calendar, and I use post-it notes.   I have managed to find several free tools that are really awesome to use for organization.

Workflowy is one I came across just recently and I am intrigued by how it works. It was recently named to the AASL top 25 web 2.0 tools of 2013.  I decided to try it to organize my grant writing schedule.  I love how it looks.

It has these little bullets that can be hovered upon to add notes, change concept, etc.  It's awesome!  It gives you the power to hide notes and information so you can refer to it later.

I created a board that was for my grants.  It's a little hard to see, but the site has the capabilities of expanding and decompressing the information you are adding. Signing up is free, and it's like dropbox.  If you invite others to join and they do, you get more space.  I have been using that aspect of dropbox for ages.

This site is very easy to organize and plan your day.  I suggest looking at it.  You might find it works for some of your needs.

My blogging rationale

Well readers, it has been almost a year since I started die hard blogging.   I am not a daily blogger.  I have tried to post something twice a week but sometimes, I get too busy.  Sometimes, I need to take a few weeks of a mental break to experiment with sites.  I think that is the key to my success doing this;  The key to my continual dedication to this.
I don't have a large following, but I do have several people who stop in and see what I am sharing.   I think the reason I keep doing this is because people do care what I talk about. People are learning new things and utilizing the things I share in their lives.  That makes me feel good.
It's hard to keep up with it sometimes.  My key to success is organization.  I spend a lot of time investigating and planning my posts.  I have decided that I am going to share some of my strategies because if I can be a blogger, anyone can be a blogger.  Here is the secret of my success:

1. Calendar:  I keep a small calendar in my purse where I organize all of my posts.  I spent a day over the summer deciding three months (that's two a week for three months) worth of posts and I found that when I had them in front of me, I actually got them done and thinking about them a little in advance made me actually try the tool a little but.   I kept at that idea with the next three months and keep at it.  I think I am going to expand it to using google calendar/ tasks where I can get rid of my second step as well as the calendar in my purse. 
2. Small notebook: When I attend a conference, do a PD or even when I am working on something and something strikes my fancy, I take some notes.  I write the name of the tool, jot down some things I can see myself do with it and other things I may need to refer to.   I always carry this with me in my purse.  It has loads of little tidbits of information.
3. People to test stuff:  I come in to class sometimes with all of these brilliant ideas and I sometimes ask my students to help my test a tool.  I always make sure it is relevent to what we are doing.  I ask them for a quick feel of the tool.  Did you like this one?  Why? What else can you see us do with it? I get a lot of positive feedback from my students.  Sometimes I get negative.  I take that experience and share it with my readers.
4. A curation site:  I curate a lot of web 2.0 tools.  I use pocket and scoop.it the most because they both have a little button to add to chrome that I can click while I am on a site.  I also have pocket added on my phone so as I pin or read or tweet, I add the sites of interest to pocket and voila, I don't forget it. 
5. A little bit of time and quiet:  I often spend time writing my posts on the weekend while kids are at friend's houses or while I am alone in the library,  Occasionally, I have a day where I get to school early or have to stay late and I can actually blog then.  Sometimes the library has a dry spell and I can blog.  It doesn't take me hours to create a post; my organizing tools have helped me be more effecient.
6. A willingness to attend conferences, edcamps, etc: I attend and participate in a lot of things related to tech.  I think on average, I attend one webinar a week.  (Most are 30 minutes but that amount of time can provide a plethora of information).  I also do as many virtual conferences, archives, blog readings as I can.  I am a swim mom.  My kids are at the pool for one and a half hour a night.  The pool is wireless.  I do things while they practice.  I realize many don't have a situation such as mine, but, even finding 30 minutes a week to do archives of webinars will teach you something.  I also try to go to local conferences and edcamps.  A lot of schools in Indiana are starting to do 1:1 programs and they are always having one day programs to share with others what they are doing.  I have gotten a lot of good ideas from those too. 

I am not sure if blogging is for you.  I have found that it gives me an outlet to share things I know and do with others. It is a way I can feel accomplished.  Remember, if I can do it, anyone can.