Two recent inspiring class activities

I had the privilege of working with two classes using technology in recent weeks.  In both cases, students were using technology in creative and transformative ways.  It's always good to share these-- if you're inspired and want to take on something similar, please let me know!

Geology Volcano Project

Kerry Walker's classes are studying volcanoes.  Each student used LucidPress to create an online "brochure" about his/her volcano.  Then, the class used a shared Google Map, attached a pin to the location of each volcano, and provided a link to the brochure.  Check out the final result here:

Current Issues Political Ad Project

Lezlee Sprenger asked her students to create political ads for different candidates. The description and targets are here.
Here's what one student produced:

Searching Google Drive by e-mail address

Are you trouble searching for a document by the owner's e-mail address in Google Drive?  

This seems to be an issue that has arisen recently. Nick offers this solution--  To search by an owner's email address, use owner:email.address (no space between the colon and the address) So, for example, try searching for owner:bknowles@cvuhs.org for any of Beyonce's documents (you may not know her-- she's new here ;).

SBAC practice

I haven't posted in a while due to some intense SBAC test practicing!  Lots to share, so expect a small flurry of posts in the next little while.

First, a thought from the SBAC sessions: Becoming comfortable using unfamiliar online tools is something that comes from "just doing it."  The more you try new tools, the more you'll see which features and functions tend to be universal.  

Can you tell the computer from the human?

Here's an interesting quiz from the 3/7/15 New York Times.  It provides snippets of text either generated by computer algortihms or written by humans.  Can you decide which is which?

http://nyti.ms/18ri3XH

Measuring Direct Distances in Google Maps

This could be helpful when using Google Maps in the classroom...

To measure direct distances ("as the crow flies"):

• Click the X in the search box to clear it
• Right-click the starting point
• Choose "Measure Distance"
• Click the end point

Distance will be shown in miles and km.  You can add/edit additional points, as shown here.

 *here's an obvious math question-- what's the area of the land enclosed in the triangle shown?