For the nervous and tech challenged.

Over the past week, I have gotten a second opportunity to take the 601 Tech in teaching class here at school. I tend to think that as a bad thing but when it really came down to it. I learned way more than was expected. I know all different apps and programs and I even know what the hell a WEB 2.0 Software is... pretty crazy. There is a world of resources out there and even for those of us who were seen as experts still need to be told what are the best programs to use. I now know about class dojo. A website that allows for teachers to let parents into the classroom and check what the hell is going on with their student. It keeps kids a little more under wraps then before.  I also found out more about popular programs like slideshare which is an excellent back up system and way to gain more presentations, as well as more on Prezi, a key alternative to powerpoint which may or may not make you sick as you zoom in and zoom out at incredible speeds. Nonetheless, The class was another $650 but a helpful reminder that technology is always moving. it's always climbing the mountain and if we don't keep up we'll never get a chance to put all these cool ideas into action in our own classrooms.  SO... for those of us teachers who are nervous or tech challenged. It's never to late to start and never give up because the next thing you know there is something new to learn.  Good night and Good luck...

 Until next time,
 Mr. Baer

Mr.Baer's Classroom Technology policies

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Fall 2014

Dear Students and Parents,

Technology is something that we are all accustomed to in our daily lives. Not only does it put endless knowledge at our fingertips at all times, but it also gives us major distractions.  Everyone can understand the positives and negatives for having technology in the classroom. In terms of Mr. Baer’s classroom here is the policy. To preface the policies please remember, you are all old enough to take responsibility for yourself, your things, and your education. Pay attention, be smart, and act responsibly.

Tech Policies 2013

•       Follow all school and district’s technology policies stated in the school’s handbook.

o   If any infraction occurs, Mr. Baer will, and must, follow the measures the school has placed for disciplinary actions.

•       Cell phones are allowed in class, but they will be left on the top of your table/desk. Part of my job as a teacher is to not only make you a good student but also make you a good & honest adult.  Hiding your texting under your desk is not only obvious to me, but also breeds bad behavior in being dishonest and "sneaky". If you have a text from your parents, respond to it. If there is an emergency answer it and take the call in the hall, after you’re done, come back in quietly, put your phone back on the desk and continue to pay attention to the lesson.

o   If students take advantage of this policy, I will watch as each and every student takes their phone and places it in their backpack every class until the end of the semester and if I see it come out then I’ll subtract 10 pts. off your next test.

•            IPads, tablets, as well as laptops and any other computer technology, may be used in the classroom during appropriate times during the day. Stipulation of use of these technologies is that the students will sit in the very front of the class.  Mr. Baer will let students know when it is an appropriate to use their devices. (example: researching, reading, project work)

o   If I catch any student on an unrelated internet website, messing around on the internet, or not paying attention; ALL students with computers out on this day will lose privileges for the remainder of the week. Moreover, the perpetrating student will lose privileged for the remainder of quarter.

•        If you would like to use a music listening device during your own work time in class you may ask Mr. Baer for permission. Do not ask during a quiz or test, the answer will always be NO. If you get permission you will be reminded once to keep the volume down after that warning you will be asked to put the device away.

•        Lastly, if there is a film being made or pictures being taken of students in the classroom for an assignment and the work is meant to be shared publically via YouTube, or any social media site, a permission slip will be sent home before the project is put on the web. It must be signed by a parent for every student, if not signed by ALL parents, the project will not be publically shared.

Thank you for following these rules and good luck this semester.

~ Mr. Baer

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If you agree to these rules and policies please both parent and student sign and return this form to Mr. Baer by September 1^st. If you do not agree, please contact Mr. Baer at (801) 555-7839 ext. 381.

I, ___________________________ agree to follow all of East High School’s, as well as, Mr. Baer’s classroom technology policies. I understand the consequences of not following these policies and will abide by the rules stated in this document.

Student signature X___________________________________

Parent Signature X____________________________________

What?! How could you. I can't... you did (Teachers being bad)

Not all teachers are alike.  Some like red, some like blue, some like macaroni and cheese some like Escargo, Some like to mess around on the sports field, some like to mess around with their students. If you find that you are a teacher and you really enjoy the last of all those options well then you may want to take a look at UPPAC's website.
Uppac or Utah professional practices advisory commission is a great resource to have if you are an Educators in the state of Utah. Each month they deliver a newsletter that stipulates what is good practices that will keep teachers out of trouble and ... well, what are bad practices that will either have you getting suspended or forced into a very young, very scary, very real, early retirement. Below I have linked in the archived websites so make sure to give a couple a read through and let me know what you think.


http://www.schools.utah.gov/uppac/Newsletters-Archived.aspx

top 10 Blogging tips

Top 10 blogging tips

1. Always include a link to the originator of your knowledge.  LET THE MAN BE KNOWN
2. Exercise editorial discretion.  If there's anyone following you, it will be because your viewpoint helps them to find things they want to read. 
3. Make sure you care about your topic.
4. So many blogs to choose from.
5. Blogs are available anywhere.
6. Blogs can be accessed at the user's pace.  They can give you the tip-of-the-iceberg introduction to a subject and point the way to more.  An interested reader can pick an choose what interests them.
7. The interactive qualities of blogs aren't up to the standards of one-on-one face-to-face teaching, but they stand up well in comparison to what happens in a lot of overcrowded classrooms.
8. Blogs can allow students to self-publish at extremely low cost, and with a great deal of control over the way their ideas are presented.
9. As a centerpiece of a class project, a blog could provide a great way to distribute, collaborate, and collate the work.
10. Stealing others is alright when you link them in. You can't always have original ideas... can you?

10 Video tips

Top 10 video tips

1. The Khan Academy is fantastic and probably has already done what ever you're planning on doing. Look there then develop your own once you realize you are in trouble.
2. write a script and go over it a couple of times.  Not everyone can ad-lib well. Except for me...
3. Have fun with it.
4. Make a good background so you don't look like a ghost
5. Make sure that the camera angle and position is alright.
6. Now you're thinking about being taped. 
7. Moving your frame of reference can give your film the feeling of motion
8. You don't have a professional cameraman, so you're out of focus now. but thats ok most cameras can fix that on their own.
9. Relax and make your video
10. EDITTING TAKES A LONG TIME

10 things to know about Powerpoint

GREAT TIPS FOR POWERPOINT
1. PowerPoint shouldn't be something to read off of. It's a place for lecturers to allow for extra information and pictures to be developed for the audience while you speak.  Don't write every word you'll say on the Powerpoint.

2. Pictures are worth a thousand words. Pictures are a great way to interrupt a PowerPoint and allow students to  visualize the lecture.

3. Graphs can be an excellent way to also give information. Many times numbers look great but when you can see a Pie Chart you learn the same info in a more visual way.

4. POWERPOINT should not be the only method of teaching. It's Boring... use it in moderation

5.  Stay away from animations it takes too much time.

6. Stay away from transitions... kids in elementary school will probably like it because its a distraction but in high school and professional situations it just is too playful.

7. Clip art is not your best option. There are millions of pictures on the internet. grab one that works and remember to site it in a references portion.

8. Recording your voice is a cool experiment to use. It would allow you to send out powerpoints to students and allow them to view them on their own time with notes that you think are important to the powerpoint.

9. Powerpoints can be great for notes for students. printing out the powerpoints on note sheets or even giving the PowerPoints to students will allow them to use them as a great exam study guide.

10. Again, Lecture is not the goal here in schools today. Powerpoints are an excellent way for students to see what needs to be learned for a test but it leads students to drift off and get distracted with other things. Use them in moderation. as I stated in 4

Below are some other great tips found on http://www.techrepublic.com

1: Know how to use the program

Your users must know how to run PowerPoint. More important, they must know how to adapt if the technology fails. Don’t turn your users loose until they’re prepared to face the giant blank screen of death. This advice seems obvious, but many presenters are lost if something technical goes wrong. Don’t let that happen to your users!

2: Know the material

#1 can be a showstopper, but it shouldn’t be. In fact, if the presenter is thoroughly familiar with the material, a technological mishap won’t even matter. Make sure your presenters can carry onwithout the visual aids. The audience will appreciate the message just the same, perhaps more.

3: Practice

Knowing how to deliver the material can mean the difference between an ordinary presentation and a great presentation. Make sure users know how to use PowerPoint’s stopwatch feature to rehearse their presentations. PowerPoint records the time spent on each slide, as shown in. This information will help users stay on track during the actual presentation. The Rehearse Timings feature is in the Set Up group on the Slide Show tab. In PowerPoint 2003, it’s on the Slide Show menu.

4: Print a slide list

No matter how well presenters know their material, they can benefit from a slide list. First, it’s great for documenting the presentation. Second, it’ll help the presenter find specific data on the fly. (To jump to a specific slide, they can enter the slide number and press [Enter].)

To create a slide list based on slide titles, click the Outline pane’s Outline tab. For a shorter list of just slide titles, collapse the view by right-clicking the pane and choosing Collapse and then Collapse All, 

To print the list, click the File tab and choose Print. Click the second item under Settings and choose Outline from the Print Layout options. With Outline selected, click Print to print the outline view — your slide list. In PowerPoint 2007, click the Office button and click Print. (Choose Print from the File menu in PowerPoint 2003.) Then, choose Outline View from the Print What drop-down and click OK.

5: Keep it simple

Where text is concerned, less is more. Your presenters don’t want the audience reading slides; they want the audience listening to them. Your presenters are the text. Slides are just visual clues that support the discussion.

When a text-heavy slide is necessary, the presenter should hold the slide back until it’s relevant and then pause so the audience can read it. When creating a self-running presentation, users can relax this rule quite a bit.

6: Don’t rely too heavily on bullet points

Most experts recommend that you not use bullet points (which run amuck with PowerPoint’s layout defaults). Here’s the general rule: Each bullet point should be a slide of its own. If this is too overwhelming at first, show users how to organize the information using bullet points and then move each bulleted item to a blank slide. From there, they can develop that single thought using graphics and (some) subtle animation. Naturally, the presentation will have a lot more slides, but the overall presentation will be more effective and memorable. Removing bullets doesn’t tie your users’ hands; it frees them up so they can move beyond mere bullet points.

Following the advice in #5, you’ll get rid of the introductory text in Figure D, leaving some ugly bulleted text to revamp. If you move each bullet to its own slide, you generate six slides, but they’ll be more memorable. The introductory slide doesn’t need a bit of text — leave that for the presenter — but the message is clear and the audience will remember it.

To avoid the wrath that the above pronouncement is sure to unleash, I add this simple disclaimer: Bullet points aren’t bad or wrong. But use them sparingly because slide after slide of them is ineffective and boring.

7: Use Slide Master

Creating the presentation can be a laborious process, so efficiency matters. Show users how to configure the Slide Master first thing. It saves time up front and later. Users can quickly create a consistent look that’s easy to maintain. If they decide to change an attribute at some point, they need to change only the Slide Master, not every slide in the presentation.

Slide Master, is on the View tab in the Master Views group (Presentation Views in PowerPoint 2007). In PowerPoint 2003, choose Master from the View menu and then select Slide Master.

8: Use common fonts

PowerPoint doesn’t embed fonts by default. That presents a problem if the system that runs the presentation doesn’t have the presentation’s fonts installed. Windows will substitute a font, which might work; and then again, it might not. Users can avoid this potential problem by using common Windows fonts, such as Arial, Times New Roman, Tahoma, and so on. In fact, you might make a convention for using common fonts. Another workaround is to embed the fonts in the presentation. Doing so eliminates substitutions, but also increases the size of the presentation. This is one area where #7 can help: You can quickly avert disaster by updating the font via the Slide Master.

To embed fonts, click the File tab, choose Options (under Help), select Save in the left pane, and then check the Embed Fonts In The File option. In PowerPoint 2007, click the Office button and then click PowerPoint Options. In PowerPoint 2003, choose Options from the Tools menu.

9: Use legible fonts

Users, especially those new to PowerPoint, will often go overboard with specialty fonts, attributes, and splashy colors, just because they’re available. Help users avoid this pitfall by applying these basic guidelines to improve legibility:

• Make sure the font size is large enough to see in a conference or meeting room (start at 26 points and don’t be afraid to go larger).
• Use a sans serif font.
• Keep attributes, such as bold, underline, italics, and shadows, to a minimum. While these attributes may be effective in print, they can appear out of focus on a slide.
• When using color, contrast is good.
• Use dark text on a light background or light text on a dark background.Anything in between is a wash.

10: Avoid clip art

Clip art has a tendency to be overdone. It’s just too complex for presentation purposes. Your users will ask, “If I limit the text and don’t use clip art, what’s left?” Let them create their own simple graphics using basic shapes and symbols. It takes practice and patience, and don’t expect them to reinvent themselves as graphic design artists. Just introduce PowerPoint’s graphic tools and see what happens.

Of course, you don’t have to ban clip art entirely. Show users how to make small adjustments to simplify and improve clip art.

Rough Draft IEP powerpoint

http://www.slideshare.net/upload?from_source=loggedin_newsfeed