My Beauty Best Teacher

Let me ask you a question: how many times a week do you get on Google or Yahoo! and use the search bar? It seems that I am always searching for something! Until a few months ago, I thought there was nothing more to conducting an internet search than just to type in a few words and get the results. But, as it turns out, there's a search engine company called Swagbucks that allows you to get rewards every time you conduct an internet search through them! How cool is that?!

I stumbled onto Swagbucks through Facebook, actually. A couple of my FB friends posted statuses about it, and I finally got curious enough to check it out myself.

Basically, you sign up for an account at Swagbucks, and you have an option to install a search bar (that's connected directly to your Swagbucks account) into your internet browser. Any time you use Swagbucks, you have a chance of earning reward points.

I don't earn reward points every single time I use Swagbucks to conduct an internet search, but I figure if I'm going to be searching anyway, I might as well give myself a chance to get some rewards while I'm at it! There are other ways to earn reward points other than just conducting internet searches: you can take part in their daily polls, you can take surveys, or you can purchase their daily deals. Basically all I do is conduct internet searches (which earn me anywhere from 0-16 reward points) and participate in daily polls (1 point for every answer). I think the surveys are a hoax -- I don't want the companies to get my personal information, and I'm not interested in sitting through 20- and 40-minute long surveys. But you can earn some pretty hefty points through participating in them (I think I saw one survey that would give you 250 points if you completed it!).

The rewards can be pretty cool, depending on how many points you've earned. I think the rewards that interest me the most are the gift cards, but there are rewards in virtually every category: books, movies, clothing, jewelry, electronics, school supplies... you get the picture. You do have to earn a fairly substantial amount of points to earn a nice reward, but isn't that to be expected?

As a teacher with a couple years of experience under my belt, I can personally attest to the fact that teachers can spend a lot of their own paycheck on their classroom. I think it's because we care so much and want our students to have the best of everything. I think you could use Swagbucks to help you get things for your classroom -- all it costs you is a little bit of internet searching or poll-answering!

You could use Swagbucks to purchase supplies for your classroom or for individual students:

A $5 Amazon gift card currently costs 450 SB

A set of 4 skinny dry-erase markers currently costs 349 SB

A 26- or 39-week subscription to the Wall Street Journal currently costs 3,400 SB

 You could also use your SB reward points to purchase things for your classroom store or for a school raffle to earn money:

Modeling Dough currently costs 279 SB

A Spongebob puzzle currently costs 429 SB

A $10 gift card to Fandango currently costs 1,175 SB

A $25 gift card to one of the above restaurants currently costs 2,949 SB

And I've noticed that Swagbucks runs sales on select items at random times. I've seen gift cards on sale before, but they're basically the only thing I keep my eye on at this point, so I'm not sure about the other items. In any case, Swagbucks seems like a great way to earn some things for your classroom or school without spending more of your own money!

I recently redeemed my first prize -- a $5 Amazon gift card -- and am pretty pleased with the results. It takes about 10 business days to receive your gift card code, but it's free, so I really can't complain!

I won't say that searches conducted through Swagbucks get you the same results as a Google search -- they don't -- but if you're searching for something that's fairly popular, you'll find it with a Swagbucks search, no problem. I keep the search bar installed on my browser window so that I'm not tempted to use Google, instead. As far I know, you can download the search bar to any browser window an unlimited number of times, so you could install it onto all your home computers and, if your IT crew will let you, install it at work, as well. If you have computers in your classroom, you may consider installing the Swagbucks toolbar onto those computers, as well (so long as students aren't tempted to redeem prizes for you!). Swagbucks has a strict policy against searching just to earn points, but if you're going to be searching anyway, you might as well make it a Swagbucks search!

Have you heard of (or do you currently use) Swagbucks? What are your thoughts on this service?

A lot of teachers struggle with classroom management. If you teach, you know that managing your student's behaviors can be like walking a tightrope! There are lots of management ideas out there (some of which I listed in this post and this post), and it's wonderful to be aware of all of them, just so you know what your options are.
Anyway, I was blog-hopping, and I happened to come across this post from Miss B, Busy Bee about ClassDojo. The behavior-managing website looked so amazing that I decided to try it for myself. After I signed up, I realized it was really something that needed to be shared with other educators, so... here's my blog post about it! 
It is completely free because it's in its beta stage, but I read that there is limited sign-up available during the beta stage, so you might want to jump over there now and sign up!

The website is called ClassDojo. Like I said, it's a behavior management tool. I think this could be used for elementary or secondary students, which I know is pretty rare.
Besides it being free, here are some other perks to ClassDojo:

1. ability to add multiple classes (with individual students in each one)
2. ability to add a list of positive behaviors and negative behaviors to track
3. ability to project the running tallys of behaviors on a whiteboard/smartboard so that students can see results in real time
4. ability to record data from any computer in the room (including smartphones or tablets!)
5. ability to create a color-coded graph of the overall day for the class in one click
6. ability to create a color-coded graph of the overall day for one student in one click
7. ability to print/e-mail said graph to anyone who needs it (parents? principal?)
8. ability to view each behavior throughout the day for each individual student. Can also comment on the day to clarify each behavior further, if needed. 
9. ability to change the avatar picture next to student names (would be especially great for subs, if you allowed them to use ClassDojo while in your room -- no need for a manual seating chart or worrying about whether or not kids will try to switch seats!). This is a free feature if you recommend ClassDojo to someone else (I e-mailed a suggestion to a beloved colleague of mine), or you can pay $3 for this feature. You could upload students' actual pictures OR you could sort them into groups based on your school's yearly theme. For instance, I know a school that separates students into 2 major groups. Their theme for this year is "Under the Sea," and they have named their students Starfish and Stingrays. You could upload a starfish graph for each student in that group and so on. The possibilities are really endless...
10. ability to vote for new features! (From what I can tell, ClassDojo really pays attention to the voting and puts a lot of suggestions into action! I can get on board with that customer service!)

This behavior management system seems fairly simplistic to me, and I love that you can print/e-mail the class graph or an individual student's daily behavior, if needed! I cannot wait to try out this website.

Here are a few screenshots, in case you're curious. ClassDojo sets up a demo class for you so you can get used to the set up. I used the demo class to take my screenshots so I could keep student information private. :)

A class view of my pre-loaded Demo class, complete with instructions.

Overall performance of the class in a graph. Red = negative behavior. Green = positive behavior. I just clicked randomly on my Demo class.

Megan had a hard day in Mrs. K's class today! lol. But this is her personal graph. Notice at the bottom that I have the ability to make it visible to a parent or other teachers, and that I can comment on her behavior to clarify, if needed!

What do you think about ClassDojo? Will you use it, or do you already have a stellar management system in place? Share your thoughts in the comment section!

If you haven't heard about Pinterest, or are just too confused about it right now to try it, read on! I want to explain Pinterest and why it can be a useful tool for your classroom.

What Is It?

Pinterest is basically a series of virtual corkboards onto which you can "pin" ideas. One of the fabulous things about Pinterest is that it's online, so no matter what computer you're on, if you have access to the internet, you have access to your boards! I know for sure that there is a Pinterest app for iPhone, too, so people with Apple smartphones can take their Pinterest boards and ideas with them wherever they go. Also, anyone can see your Pinterest pins, and you can see everyone else's. I know that sometimes that "no privacy" thing stinks, but in this case, it may be a good thing. Users can browse pins in whichever category they choose and "repin" to their heart's delight. Not being limited to only yours and your friends' ideas has made this website the prime site for creative inspiration.

How Does It Work?

When you log onto Pinterest, you have a profile, much like you do on Facebook or any other social networking website. Your profile contains all your boards, which contain all your pins. You get to decide how many boards and pins you have, what you name your boards, and what pins you place on each board. Pinterest users have already pinned thousands of great ideas onto their Pinterest boards, and you can access their ideas by either "following" their boards or doing a search across ALL boards in Pinterest. You can "repin" others' ideas and/or add your own new pins from whatever website you want.

If you're trying to add a new idea to Pinterest, you'll type in the URL (or use the special "Pin It!" button that you can place in your internet window's toolbar), select a picture from that page that you'd like to use to best capture your idea, and pick the board onto which you'd like to pin it. You canalso upload your own pictures. It really is that simple!

When you create a board, you have the option of making the board one where only you can contribute or opening it up to the public so that anyone can contribute to it. Be aware that there is currently no "private" option, though, so don't pin anything you wouldn't be comfortable with others seeing!

How Do I Use It In the Classroom?

Personal Use -- You can use Pinterest to make your teaching life easier! Pin all those teacher-blogs you've been following. Pin all the bookmarks you've got saved and visit regularly. Pin classroom pictures. Pin lesson plan ideas. ...Are you getting how versatile Pinterest is?! I have been able to pin SO many fab teaching ideas from other educators on Pinterest. It really does make life easier! In case you'd like to see 'em, here are my classroom boards:

• Decorations
• ELAR
• Gifts
• Holidays
• Management
• Math
• Miscellaneous
• Organization
• Science and Social Studies
• Technology

And I'm sure the list will grow even more in the days to come!

I used to clump all classroom-related ideas into one board labeled "classroom." But I found SO MANY ideas that I wanted a way to organize it more efficiently. So now, I have several classroom Pinterest boards.
Student use/resources -- You can actually incorporate Pinterest into classroom projects and activities! Here are the ideas I've found (or imagined) so far:

1. Ask students to collect ideas/pictures about something in particular that you're studying. Maybe your kindergarten students are studying the letter "a" and will focus on collecting as many "a" items on their personal Pinterest board as possible. Maybe your secondary English students are studying hyperbole, and they need to collect as many real world examples of hyperbole on their board as possible. The beauty of Pinterest is that you can use it to pin anything, so no subject is off-limits!
2. Pin boards full of examples for students to access at home or during class.
3. Pin boards full of educational YouTube videos.
4. Pin boards full of quotes for bellwork or journal writing.
5. Pin boards full of images for bellwork or journal writing.
6. Pin boards full of images to act as anticipatory sets. You could project them in class with the click of a couple buttons, and students can even comment on them to start a discussion.
7. Create a collaborative board and allow ELAR students to pin images of books they liked or would like to read.
8. Create a collaborataive board and allow science students to pin experiments they'd like to try.
9. Create a collaborative board and allow history students to pin historical figures, events, and monuments they'd lik to study (or are studying).
10. Create a collaborative board and allow math students to pin images of careers that use math (to answer the age-old whine of, "why do I hafta knoooowwww this?")
11. Create a collaborative board and allow technology students to pin images of tech tips, tools, or websites that might be useful to everyone in the class.
12. Create a collaborative board and allow music students to pin the images of their favorite artists or albums.
13. Create a collabortive board and allow art students to pin images of their favorite artwork...or upload their own! 
14. Create a collaborative board and allow students to pin images of subjects they'd like to study in any subject!
15. Create a collaborative board and allow students to turn in assignments...? I'm not sure about the logistics of this one, since I know every student would be able to see every other student's work. So, obviously, this wouldn't work for exams. But book reports, projects, presentations, or little homework assignments might work. Since there would probably be no images available, students would need to take a screenshot of their work and then upload it to Pinterest with the link to their actual work and their name at the bottom of the pin.
16. Create a collaborative board and have every student add the pin that connects to his/her online portfolio. It would be an easy way to keep track of everyone's portfolios, and students could check out other student's portfolios for inspiration or motivation.
17. Create a collaborative borad and allow students to pin images of things they're interested in...it might be interesting to have links and visual reminders of how to connect with students. (It might be easier to make lessons relevant if, say, I understand that Hannah Montana is out and The Biebs is in!)
18. Students could take advantage of the Apple iPhone app for Pinterest by using it to snap pictures of things in their day-to-day lives and pin them to a specific board. For instance, let's say that your kindergarten class (the one that's studying the letter "a") has a classroom set of iPod touches and a school-wide wifi connection. Why not send your students on a scavenger hunt for all items beginning with "a"? They could work in pairs or teams and walk the school grounds with the Pinterest app open. When they see an "a" item, all they have to do is snap a picture of it with the built-in camera on the app, and add it to the appropriate Pinterest board. When the students come back to class at the end of the hunt, the teacher can access the boards on her computer and project the results on the wall for everyone to see and analyze.  OR you could make it a competitive scavenger hunt and give each pair/group their own board!
19. Ask students to collect and organize information for, say, a research report. Let's say the students are studying Egypt and must write and present a report over Egypt to the class on x date. Why not use Pinterest to organize ideas? While surfing the web, students could pin useful articles and detailed, accurate pictures onto their Pinterest board. There's no more bookmarking tons of websites or writing down URLs on paper. Users can access Pinterest boards from any electronic device with internet capabilities, so their research is saved and accessible in a variety of places outside the walls of the school. In the event that a resource doesn't have a picture (a requirement for a pin), just take a screenshot and upload it!
20. For group projects, group members can share ideas via collaborative Pinterest boards.
21. Twitter user @teach46 suggests using it for getting-to-know-you activities! I love the idea of students collecting images that tell me (and fellow classmates) more about their individual personalities, family life, hobbies, interests, etc!
22. Twitter user @teach46 also suggests having students pin their personal goals. It would be interesting to have such a visual image of goals at the beginning of the year, and it could it updated whenever the students find a new goal and/or cross off one on the list.
23. Another idea from Twitter user @teach46: use Pinterest in the ELAR classroom by having students create character charts that represent their favorite character in a novel they're reading! I really love this idea, too!
24. Track extra credit points.  For instance, I had an on-going extra credit opportunity in my secondary English class last year. My students were able to earn 2 bonus points every time they brought in a picture or example of something we'd learned in class. If the students had been paying attention, they would've realized they could've earned infinite bonus points in this because examples of our lessons were EVERYWHERE in public! Any time they saw a vocabulary word, author, concept, literary device, etc. that we had studied, they could earn bonus points. My catch was that no two people could present the same example; the first student to get that example to me was the one who got the points. If you had a collaborative Pinterest board (perhaps labeled "Extra Credit" or "Real Life Examples"), students could post those examples to the board and write their name in the description in order to claim the points. Other students would then not only know what examples had already been presented, but they would also be able to access all these real world examples and see how that subject pertains to life outside the classroom walls.
     

How Do I Get Started? 

• Go to www.Pinterest.com. 
• In the middle at the top, there's a big, red button that says, "request an invite." Click on it. 
• Enter your e-mail address into the text box and click "request invitation."
• You should get an invitation to Pinterest in your e-mail's inbox very shortly (if it doesn't happen, e-mail me and I'll send you a request!).
• Click on the link in your e-mail to activate your account. Once your account is activated, you can begin! 
• In the top, right corner of your Pinterest home screen, you'll see three options. The left one will say "add," the middle one will say "about," and the right one will say your name.  Click "add." A pop-up will appear that gives you 3 options: add a pin, upload a pin, or create a board. If this is your first pin, you'll want to create a board.
• Give your board a name and select a category for it. If you want this to be a board only you can pin to, mark yourself as the only contributor. If you want the public to be able to add any pin to this board, mark "me + contributors." Click the red "create board" button, and you're done!
• Once you have a board (or two), you can begin adding pins. You can use the "add" button on the top, right corner and click "add a pin" or "upload a pin" when you find something you'd like to pin. 
• Check out Pinterest's Help section for more concise instructions! :)
• Click on your name (in the top, right corner of the page) and "settings" to adjust the settings. 
• If you have questions, please leave me a comment and I'll see if I can help you!

I'd love to know more of your ideas for using Pinterest in the classroom! I know that once you get the hang of it, you'll want to pin 24/7 like I do! Be careful...it's addicting! :)

Google's nGram viewer lets you search over 5 million books for the instances of words. Imagine it as a search engine into the uses of words since 1800.

To better understand it, view the Tedx Boston talk "A Picture is Worth 500 Billion Words" by Erez Lieberman Aiden and Jean-Baptiste Michel.



It is quite interesting and still a big imperfect as the uses of words change so dramatically. You can see that in this search (shown in the chart below) I did for the words school, teacher, and principal. Do we now call principals administrators instead? If we do, then administrator is used in many professions and the results won't just show schools.

Comparing Teacher, Principal, and School and the use of these words in books.

I also find it fascinating in the chart belowwhere I searched for educational technology, project based learning, differentiated instruction, classroom management, class size.

Here we can see that as we talked about class size in the 1930's we talked about classroom management. In the 1970's and 80's educational technology and class size were common discussions and now we are beginning to talk more about classroom management than educational technology as we talk about class size.

Differentiated instruction and project based learning are barely a blip. We just aren't talking about this. (Sad.)


Finally, I've been curious about the use of the terms PLN, PLE, PLC - note this is only going through books through the year. When you look at the chart, you think that PLC has been winning out until you look at the types of mentions more closely.

The fact is that PLC are programmable logic controllers and their use has blossomed. Be very careful and look to drill down and understand the meaning of terms.


If you take that chart at face value you will make a WRONG analysis. Instead you have to type the terms themselves. Note that we can only search through 2008 or this number may be different. However, if we look at this, we see that personal learning environment is used more widely with personal learning community and personal learning network not even making a blip.

So, you can't take a search at face value.




We are only at the beginning of our analysis. I would like to know, for example, why William Shakespeare was so incredibly popular between 1940 and 1950.

And when we add William Faulkner why is one favored over the other at different times.


This is a new albeit imperfect literacy but a powerful tool that is now an infant born before your eyes. All types of questions will emerge such as:

• Can we include all ebooks?
• Can we opt in new books so they are automatically included in the results?
• Can you aggregate and compare blogs, news media, and books?
• Can we drill down and include only one genre?
• Could we just use this for research in a certain field, for example?
• Could we aggregate collections?

Researchers, students, teachers, and anyone curious can find all sorts of uses for this incredible new tool. It may challenge your thinking but we are just seeing the beginning of digitization. What happens when paintings are digitized and we can examine trends in the use of color or trends in the use of certain types of materials in art? Topics or themes across art?

The thoughts are limitless but this is a tool I've introduced to my students today. They started by looking up their names and various spellings of their names.

Do you have kids that are extremely visual? Do they have a hard time conducting regular Google searches because of the sheer number of words on the page?

While browsing my list of phenomenal educational Twitter users and trying to keep up with their valuable words, I came across a tweet from @ShellTerrell that talked about Search Cube. When I clicked on the link, it was easy to see that Search Cube is unlike any Internet search engine I have ever seen before in my life!

When you go to Search Cube and click on the "About" page, you realize that Search Cube is exactly how it sounds. You type in a search term and Search Cube creates a 3D cube out of 96 of the search results. Each face of the cube contains 16 small squares made up of an important picture from the search result's website.

Users can press the arrow keys and use their mouse to roll over the cube and view all 96 search results. Search Cube realizes that this is a pretty novel idea on search results, so it doesn't mind giving you a quick "how-to" lesson (click on the picture to enlarge it):


When I typed "education" into the search bar, this is the cube I received:



Pretty cool. People who are visual but don't need to run a search for "images" would benefit most from Search Cube. Another plus, it's powered by Google, so I feel pretty good about the results I'm getting.
 

Yeah, yeah...we all know what Google is and how it can be used in the classroom. Students and teachers alike can use it to do unlimited amounts of research. But did you know there are off-shoots of Google that are even more interesting for classroom use?

1. Google Scholar. This acts like a Google search engine, but provides more scholarly, reviewed articles over any topic. This site could be used for any subject. 
2. Google Earth. This allows students to see any part of the world with just a click. Users can zoom in and see what pictures satellites have taken of the Earth -- they can even find their own school or house! A few questionable images have been captured on Google Earth, but I understand it's fairly rare, so it's not really something I would worry about. Geography teachers could use this to get an up-close and personal view of places they're studying in class and literature teachers could use this to show real-life settings in books. 
3. Google Body. Check out the human body in a digital form. This one's for you, science teachers. I think it's the coolest thing ever. It shows all kinds of intricate details of the workings of the human body. Check it out: