Wednesday, December 31, 2014

2014 Posts You May Have Missed



In case you were rushing through the year and missed some digital resources that can be used in your classroom, see 10 Faith 4ward posts from 2014:

  1. Connected Educators - Take time to grow your personal learning network and connect with other educators with tools such as Twitter.
  2. Chatterpix Kids - Chatterpix Kids is a fun iPhone/iPad app with many possibilities for many curricular areas.
  3. Journaling Apps - This post spotlights the Things to Think About app and the Write About This app.
  4. Poetry Month - This post from April spotlights nine poetry apps.
  5. Infographics - This post covers infographic design, ideas for using them, and tools to create infographics.
  6. Flipped Classroom Resources - This post highlights two resources that embed interactivity into video - EdPuzzle and Educanon.
  7. Book Creator - The Book Creator app is a tool that allows students to publish work in an epub format.
  8. Brain Breaks with GoNoodle - GoNoodle offers a variety of brain break activities for any grade level.  Do not miss this post as this free resource is way too much fun!
  9. Differentiation with Stick Pick - The Stick Pick app is similar to the old fashioned can of popsicle sticks, but teachers can utilize the Bloom's question stems found in the app to focus on students' various cognitive levels.
  10. Tackk - Create flyers, presentations, projects, blogs, and lessons with this digital resource.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Discovery Education's Board Builder

Board Builder, a student and teacher tool found in Discovery Streaming, is a great way to deliver media content.  It is completely flexible and allows for creativity.  Think of presenting with a digital poster board.

Getting Started

To get started, log into your Discovery Streaming account:

Next, go to BUILDER TOOLS > BOARD BUILDER:
Select a theme:
Enter a TITLE and DESCRIPTION into the CREATE BOARD window and click CONTINUE:
Select an existing folder or use the ADD FOLDER button to add a new folder and click ADD:

Text Objects

  1. Click a text object to enter text
  2. Click the PENCIL button to display the EDIT TEXT toolbar:

  3. Use the EDIT TEXT toolbar to format the text object:

Media Objects

Complete one of the following to insert media into a media object:
  1. Click SEARCH to search the Discovery media library, click the orange +ADD button, and click the ADD SELECTED RESOURCES button
  2. Click MY CONTENT to access and insert media already saved in your MY CONTENT area
  3. Click UPLOAD to upload your own media

Adding Attachments

NOTE: The maximum file size for attachments is 100mb and the maximum amount of files is five.

PERMITTED FILE TYPES:


  1. Click the UPLOAD button found in the attachment object to upload a file
  2. Click the ADD FILES button
  3. Navigate to the preferred file on your computer
  4. Repeat steps 2-3 above to add other files NOTE: The maximum file amount is five
  5. Click START UPLOAD
  6. Click DONE after the upload process is complete

Working with Objects

To move an object, click the object, hover over the grey top bar and drag and drop the object with the four-headed arrow mouse appearance:

Editor Tools

Use the Editor Tools to undo an action, redo an action, change the theme of the board, add items (such as Headlines, Textboxes, Media, and Attachments), apply text styles, change the foreground colors and patterns, and change the background colors and patterns.

Save and Share

Before logging out of Discovery Streaming, be sure to click thebutton found in the top, right corner.

In order for others to see the board, click thebutton and select SCHOOL, DISTRICT, DE COMMUNITY, or NOT SHARED:

Watch this 5 minute video by Kayla Steiner on how to create and share your teacher board.