Calendar

I've created a google calendar with Faculty, BLT, Collaboration, and Department meetings--if anyone would like a copy let me know and I'll add you to my "share" list!

The google calendars work well with my iPhone too!

Touch Pad Troubles

While talking with some different colleagues during our school inservices  the past few days, I've heard that  laptops take a little getting used to.  That is certainly true as it is with anything new or different!  As things come up, I’ll try to post some tips and tricks to help the transition be a little smoother.  J

Here is a tip that may help you out with typing.  Sometimes your hand may accidentally touch the pad as you’re typing and change the placement of your cursor (which messes up your typing!).  On the touch pad in the upper left corner there is  a circular indention.  If you double tap it, it turns off the touch pad.  To turn it back on, double tap it again.  If you have a mouse, you can leave the touch pad turned off.  If you do not have a mouse, you may just want to turn off the pad while you type.

100,000 Teachers Can't Be Wrong!

Over 100,000 teachers use Blendspace to help them organize their resources.

As you plan your units for the upcoming school year, take a look at Blendspace (formerly called Edcanvas). This neat site can be used by teachers to help organize resources for a unit. For example, I created a page (called a canvas) for a unit on drawing underwater portraits. The canvas contains links to videos, Wikipedia pages, art images, photos of scuba gear, and an closeup picture of a child wearing a dive mask.  All of these links were found by using the search tool within the Blendspace site. It took me less than 5 minutes to find these resources! When teaching the unit, I just pull up my canvas and all of my resources are shown on one page.

Students over 13 can also use Blendspace to create their own canvases to help them organize resources. Their Google accounts will work as their log-in.

If you haven't tried it out, try it today! You can log in with your Google account, a Facebook account (if you have one for school - please don't use your personal Facebook account for school), or create an account with Blendspace.

http://www.blendspace.com/

Library Web Page

The 6-12 Library web page has been updated.  Notice in the left column at the bottom is a link to publishing tools. There are many tools - only a few are listed.  Included is a tutorial video to help get started. Notice the caveat at the top, most Web 2.0 tools are meant for students over the age of 13. Parental permission is needed.

Also notice the reminder to use the links to copyright free resources.  When published out of the school realm and available to the public, copyright free images or permission from the owner is needed.

MSD 6-12 library web page  http://www.mosineeschools.org/faculty/swurdeman/library.cfm

Looking forward,
Sandra Wurdeman

Three new things I tried this summer. I'm still learning but, I like!

1. http://www.weebly.com/
Weebly is super for creating classroom websites. My site is in its infant stage but I find weebly to be user friendly.

2. https://www.teachingchannel.org/
What a terrific site for teachers. There are gobs of videos to watch from preparing your classroom, to learning/understanding/utilizing the CCSS, to teaching a lesson, etc. Again, new to this site, but have been finding myself lost in it as of late.

3. A book:  Common Core Curriculum Maps written for Teachers by Teachers
I got a tip on a great resource this summer that really ties all the new curriculum together in a fast and easy way. The title is Common Core Curriculum Maps K-5, although I do believe there is a secondary version as well. It's written by a coalition of teachers for teachers so it is nicely organized and easy to follow. It lists all the standards, gives an overview of each module with trade book titles and shares sample lessons. This book is ready to go.