Turning on Mirroring (Connecting laptop to projector)

Sometimes when you plug your laptop into your projector, nothing shows up.  The reason for this is your mirroring is turned off.  To turn on your mirroring, here are some simple steps to follow:

Once the Mac and projector are connected, click on the Apple Menu in the top left corner of your screen.

Select System Preferences from the drop-down menu.

Select the Displays icon.

When the Displays window appears, click the Detect Displays button.

At this point your Mac and projector should be synchronized. If not, try following the steps below:

• Click on the Apple Menu in the top left corner of your screen. 
• Select System Preferences from the drop-down menu. 
• Select the Displays icon. 
• When the Displays window appears, select the Arrangement tab within the menu bar.
• Check the Mirror Displays box in the lower left-hand corner of the window. (Note: After checking this box, please wait several seconds. Once the displays are mirrored, you should see the same image on both your projector and computer.)

See one of the tech interns if you still need assistance!

Source: http://www.meetingtomorrow.com/cms-category/how-to-connect-a-mac-to-a-projector

Learning is a Lifetime Process

Our teachers are open to learning! 

Today three of our teachers earned LEARNING BADGES for inviting a technology intern into their classroom. 

Mrs. Thein and Mrs. J. Nelson asked myself, Jenny, to come into their classroom and help their students login to Tales2Go. It can be a process with a classroom of students but with extra hands we got it done in no time! Check out this blog post for more information on Tales2Go.

Mrs. Hull invited myself, Jenny, into her classroom to teach a lesson using Toontastic. The students were engaged, great listeners, and very excited about the process. I appreciate the opportunity to teach and Mrs. Hull was able to learn about the app. We wrote about Toontastic last spring so be sure to check out the post! It's a great app to use with a variety of grade levels. It is helpful for students to create a draft of their story before they use the app. I have posted the draft template that we have used with students on Teachers Pay Teachers. It is a free download so check it out!

Kidspiration Maps Lite

Kidspiration is an app that allows students to create different types of visual maps and diagrams.

On the home screen, you'll see options to "Create Diagram", "Create SuperGrouper", or do an activity in Reading & Writing, Social Studies, Science, and Math.

In the "Create Diagram" option, students can create concept maps using different shapes and animals for their ideas.  Images, Text, Drawings, and Recorded Audio can also be added.  

Students can start off by making an outline by clicking the horizontal lines image in the top left hand corner.  The little guy to the left of that option will take you back to the home screen.

Students can add any information they want in their diagram in this section.  After they have entered in their text (students can come back to this at any time), they will click on the concept map image where the horizontal lines used to be.  This will take them back to the diagram.

Here they will see the information they just types.  The words are in yellow ovals right now, but students can change the shape to a different shape or an animal at this time.  Just click on the bubble, and then double click on the animal or shape that you want!  The shapes can be moved around also.

If you go back to the home screen (the little yellow circle guy in the top left-hand corner), you will be able to click on the different subject areas.  These subject areas have pre-made diagrams and maps that you can use! 

For more examples to use with Kidspiration, check out: http://www.inspiration.com/Kidspiration/examples

Tales2Go

Tales2Go is an app that streams thousands of audio books for all ages and genres -- kind of like a Netflix for books!  Like MackinVia, I'll add the steps to log-in in case you need to know when the interns aren't around.

The first log-in screen will give you the options of choosing "Individual" or "School".  You'll choose "School".  

On the next log-in screen, you'll enter in the Heartland AEA username and password.  (See a tech intern or ask another teacher if you need assistance.)  You'll also choose US, Iowa, and Roland-Story Elementary School.  Tap "Login".  

Now that you are logged in, you can start listened to books!  

You can find a story based on its topic (Age, Grade Level, Genre, Storytellers, Characters and Series, Celebrity Narrators, Spanish, Kids Music, etc.) or by the source.

If you know the title of the book you want or have a specific author or narrator, you can tap the Search icon at the bottom of the screen and look for a book that way.

Some other cool features are you can favorite a story, bookmark your place, and search your history.  This app goes really well with the Common Core and Daily 5!

Here are some helpful video tutorials about Tales2Go from www.tales2go.com:

• About Tales2Go - http://voice.adobe.com/v/EHMD6sHz2nA
• How to Engage with Parents at Home - http://voice.adobe.com/v/UYirdHSStDE
• Tales2Go Learning Resources - http://voice.adobe.com/v/L7FXzQIctPJ

Visit http://www.tales2go.com/learning-resources for more information and activities on how to use Tales2Go to improve comprehension, fluency, phonemic awareness, phonics and vocabulary.

Add an Icon to the Home Screen

The iPad Home Screen contains many icons that allow you to access various apps and features. There is a neat feature with Safari on the iPad that allows you to create an icon for a particular website your students access frequently. Once the icon is added to the home screen, all students have to do is click the icon to access the website. This helps save time and prevents students from having to type in the URL. 

To add an icon, first click on the Safari app. For most iPads, this is found on the bottom of the screen. 

Next, you will need to type in the website you would like the icon to be. Clicking in the search box will bring up the keypad. 

Once the website it entered, click "go" to load the website. For the purpose of this post, we will be adding an icon to be able to access kidrex.org easily. This is a kid-friendly search engine the 1st grade teachers like their students to use.  

Now, we will add the website as an icon. In the top left-hand corner, you will notice a square with an upwards arrow. This is the "share" symbol. Click on that. You will notice there are many options for you to share this website. To create an icon, click, "Add to Home Screen."

After you clicked "Add to Home Screen," it will double check that you would like to add KidRex to the home screen. In the upper right-hand corner of that mini screen, click add. 

Now you will be able to access the icon on the home screen whenever you would like. In one simple touch, you will be at the preferred website! 

Are there any icons of common websites you frequently access that you would like added to your class set of iPads? Let a technology intern know, and we will gladly add it for you! The first grade classrooms added kidrex.org, a safe search engine for kids. Check it out!

Roland-Story Technology Joined Pinterest!

Roland-Story Technology Joined Pinterest!

(pinterest.com)

Tired after a long day at school? Searching for a particular app to use but don't want to take the time to look through the blog? Look no further! We decided to create a Pinterest account to make it even easier for you as teachers to access our blog! 

Follow: Roland-Story Technology
(http://www.pinterest.com/rolandstory)

Our Pinterest account will allow you to easily access our blog posts by topic or gain insightful ideas to effectively integrate technology into your classroom. We have compiled resources for the computer lab, to use on your laptop, and even useful social media ideas for the classroom! 

While we were putting together the Pinterest account, we stumbled across "The 20 Best Pinterest Boards About Education Technology." We followed all of them to help provide you with the best resources as possible! Check out our Pinterest board and start pinning! 

(someecards.com)

What Pinterest boards do you follow to gain ideas for your classroom?

Blog How To

As we begin to introduce our teachers to this blog, I thought it might be helpful to have an introductory video explaining how to use and where to find things.

Please watch the Blog How To video to learn! Still have questions? Feel free to ask!

I used a program called Jing to make this video. It videotapes your screen as you click, move your mouse, etc. and allows you to voice over. It is very useful!

Start earning badges!

The chart is up in the teacher's lounge and we are ready to graph our hard work! 

Start earning badges today and let's see how far we can go!

Blog Incentives

B.I.G. things are happening at Roland Story Elementary!! 

School is back in session and we (the tech team) couldn't be more excited to see where this year takes us! We have had some exciting changes here at Roland Story: new positions added and many new faces throughout the district. This year, we hope to do our best to help the elementary teachers, new and seasoned, with ways to integrate the iPad into the school day, how to use new apps, and to model for students digital citizenship.

One way we aim to achieve our goals is through this blog. We have created the Blog Incentive Game (B.I.G.) to motivate our teachers to use this blog to learn and grow. This blog provides communication, education, and opportunity. 

To our teachers:

Here's the plan, we will continue posting on the blog throughout this school year with iPad ideas, app how-to's, and many more. The more involved you are, the more badges you earn. 

What are badges?

- Badges come in every shape and size! 

- You will earn different types of badges based on what you do to earn them.

- You can earn multiple badges of the same type. 

How can you earn badges?

- In many different ways!

- Check out the three types of badges you can earn and see what you need to do to start earning!

What do badges do for me?

- Pride.

- Show your knowledge gained.

- The more badges you earn, the closer you are to the grand prize!

- At the end of the semester we will see who has earned the most badges and count up the points.

Where will the badges be displayed?

- We will post on our blog as badges are earned, but there will also be a chart in the teacher's lounge to graph each teacher's progress.

Types of Badges

Comment Badge - the smallest and easiest badge to earn (worth 1 point). Share your thoughts on what we post and you will earn this badge. 

Learning Badge - the next size up (it takes a little more to earn and is worth 3 points!) Show your willingness to learn by inviting an intern into your classroom to learn about a new app or tool. 

Initiative Badge - the largest type of badge you can earn (worth 5 points!) Do some research on your own and share it with colleagues or the interns to earn this badge. It will show the initiative you took to share or research new ideas.

The more you earn, the more you learn!

Let's get started. Are there more badges we should offer? Leave a comment if you have another idea. Think we covered everything? Still leave a comment!