Enlighten...The Monthly Newsletter of Engaging Technologies
April 2009
|
|
|
Frustrated with your current student response system?
Ask us about our trade-in program!
|
|
|
|
Greetings!
|
Fourth
quarter is upon us and now, more than ever, CPS becomes a teacher's best
friend. With things warming up outside, kids will surely do the
same. Be sure to buckle down and keep CPS in the daily lesson plan to
help keep kids' brains engaged and in tune with class. Idle hands and
fidgety bodies in the spring air are a perfect recipe for classroom disaster, so use CPS to keep them
focused on the daily lessons.
Be
sure to stop in yourself or have folks from your school stop in and see us at NETA 2009.
There will be numerous clicker sessions available to attend, and we'd love for you to stop by the booth and say, "Hi!"
We will be out of the office April 4th-11th, enjoying spring break with our kids. We will try to get back to you as soon as possible but will have limited phone and email access, so please be patient with us.
Sincerely,
Dustin Frank
|
| Great Ideas for Clicker Organization
|
We posted a submission on our website this month from Bill McIntosh, a friend and eInstruction colleague from South Carolina, who sent us the great picture above. Read Bill's submission and find out where you can get your own "clicker caddy." Thanks again for sharing this with us Bill! We'd love to hear your new and innovative ideas for storing your clickers and/or distributing them efficiently or holding students accountable for them. Share your ideas with us and we'll pay it forward! We will have available at NETA a handy little holder that clips to each student desk, perfect in classrooms where clickers are left out for every hour. Make sure to stop by and give them a peek!
|
|
|
|
|
Check Out the NETA Lineup! |
Stop by our booth at NETA 2009, April 23-24, at the LaVista Embassy Suites & Conference Center. Over 2000 educators, administrators, and
technology coordinators will be exploring new territories not only in
the area of educational technology, but also at the conference's new
location at LaVista Embassy Suites & Conference Center.  Click here to see descriptions of all of these upcoming NETA 2009 sessions on our website!This conference is a great chance to hear how other teachers and schools are implementing the newest technologies, including clickers, tablets, and interactive whiteboards, in their individual classrooms, buildings, and districts. |
Pick Up Your Freebies at NETA 2009!
|
If you're headed to NETA 2009, be sure and stop by our booth. We'll be handing out a free gift to all new and current newsletter subscribers, so don't miss out on your free goodie!
Everyone that comes by the booth can also pick up their very own clicker WARNING sign.
 We have been advised that clickers have been known to cause overexcitability, breathlessness, increased teaching (and learning) fun, reduced grading time, increased test scores, and more efficient instructional time.
Be sure to pick one up so that your students can considered themselves WARNED! |
New ExamView Learning Series Content For K,1st, and 2nd Grades
|
The recently announced ExamView
Learning Series content and question banks in math and reading for
kindergarten, first, and second grades are now available! This new content will now be included in all new and future purchases of ExamView Learning Series. Q: How do I get it the new content? Contact your eInstruction consultant to acquire a disc with
the new content. Existing customers can also receive a complimentary copy of
the new content by calling 1-866-496-4949. eInstruction doesn't just work with ExamView, eInstruction IS EXAMVIEW.
|
Tablets, Clickers, and Document Cameras...Oh My!
|
We had some great fun around our dining room table the other night; albeit, probably not the same kind of fun that most families have around their dining room table. No, we had a document camera set up, our daughter inspecting her snack underneath it and her brother playing with the zoom and focus buttons!  After our umpteenth discussion about using the document camera with our wireless tablet, we were bound and determined we were going to figure out how to do it. No, it's not hard, but we just had never sat down with a document camera and tried to get it all set up. Well, amidst the fun, we did take it on and came out as the winners. Using the document camera, we drew all over the camera's instruction book on our computer screen, marking, annotating, and making fun shapes and giving pretend lectures to each other. (I told you it wasn't the same kind of "fun" that other families have...thank goodness our kids are used to it and don't think we are too "out there!") Using the document camera with your clickers and tablets opens up a whole new world for you and your students. We'd love to hear your ideas for using them together! Here are just a few ideas for implementing a document camera in your classroom...- Project your calculator using the document camera. Students can respond individually using clickers.
- Project student writing pieces. Students can use the tablet to proofread each others' work or use clickers to evaluate writing using the six traits. This is great practice for teaching kids to evaluate their own work. Have students use the highlighter on the tablet to identify the "juicy" words or draw different shapes around different parts of speech.
- Focus on live creatures and allow students to respond to questions with the clickers.
- Allow everyone a better view of the science experiment you are doing and even record the experiment with your voice!
- Display your document camera on your whiteboard, and students can use the tablet to annotate over the top of maps, books, a dissected frog...anything.
and here are a few links that will give you even more ideas...The digital presenter/document camera that we can bring to any CPS or board demonstration is a Samsung DSP-850DX. I love the fact that it has a very small footprint when space on your podium/desk might be tight. It is incredibly easy to setup and has a lot of great "extra" features, like the ability to take digital still pictures and to even record audio and video! You can check out all the specs by downloading the PDF. Setting up the document camera was quick and painless. The Lane Education Service District in Eugene, Oregon has a great webpage, Document Camera Setup and Usage, that provides a description of the setup, complete with pictures. There are also a couple of QuickTime movies at this site that explain the Samsung document camera software for remote control and still frame capture and for movie capture.
Interested in purchasing a Samsung DSP-850DX? Request A Quote |
COMING SOON: Content Meet Technology Sweepstakes
|
eInstruction is pleased to announce the return of the "Content Meets Technology" Sweepstakes, this time under the joint sponsorship of eInstruction's eI Community and Knowledge Delivery Systems, Inc.
Beginning on April 15, educators and administrators can enter the sweepstakes at www.contentmeetstechnology.com for a chance to win over $15,000 in prizes. Prizes include an Interwrite® Mobi, 32 CPS student response clickers, ExamView Assessment Suite, and a 3-credit online graduat e course from a regionally accredited KDS university partner.
You can even earn additional entries in the sweepstakes by submitting a brief statement describing an online resource you have used to get the advice, answers, or content you needed to help your students achieve academic success. You can also increase your chances of winning by encouraging up to 10 other educators to enter as well.
Check out www.contentmeetstechnology.com beginning April 15, and we're hoping to see a big winner from Kansas or Nebraska!
|
| Have questions or need additional information? Contact:
|
Dustin Frank
Educational Consultant & Certified eInstruction Trainer
P: 800.705.4049 F: 866.833.7833
dustin@engaging-technologies.com
www.engaging-technologies.com |
|
|
|
|
|
|
