Doceri VS Reflector: What's the Difference?

Colleagues have asked how I use the iPad in the classroom and the number one way is to annotate on it and have that displayed through the projector in the classroom.  This allows me to circulate the room and take pictures of student work to display for the class to see.  To accomplish this I have two programs available for use, Doceri and Reflector.  However the question always comes up; "What's the difference between Doceri and Reflector?"  Below is a presentation of what the differences are between Doceri and Reflector.

Preparing for Next Year With Reoccurring Events

With the end of the year two weeks away it would be nice to have a jump start on next year.  This is the first year I have depended on a Google Calendar for my class calendar and I am so glad I did.  With repeating events in Google Calendar it will make next years schedule so easy.  I usually teach mostly the same classes and other than a minor changes here and there it mostly remains consistent.  This is why I will be making my events from this year yearly repeating events.

 
There are many benefits to making events reoccurring.

1)  You can move events to different dates.  With reoccurring events, most of the events will not fall on the date you want it to be on.  The great thing is that you can just click and drag the event to a new date without changing the other yearly occurrences.

2) The reoccurring events retain all of the same attributes.  The repeated events keep all of the descriptions, links and attachments that the original event had.

3)  It only takes 7 clicks to make a single event a yearly reoccurring event.  7 clicks sounds way easier than creating a new event and typing in all of the same info.

Literacy Strategy: Text Frames: Using Questions to Frame Lessons

In the Google Presentation below are examples of how the LHS Lit-Techs have implemented a text frames literacy strategy into their classroom.  This text frame strategy focused on having a specific question guide a classroom lesson.

Adobe Acrobatic Pro: 3 of My Favorite Features

PDFs are a great way to distribute notes and answer keys to my students.  PDFs also help because when you create a PDF it retains the form of the original document.  This is essential as a math teacher because of the extensive use of MathType problems.  Without PDFs those math equations may loose their form.  While researching how to edit PDFs I noticed that with a copy of Adobe Acrobatic Pro you can edit PDFs but I had no idea how many other benefits a Pro account had.  My classroom computer has a copy of the Pro version and a brief list of things I do with it is below.

1)  Print as a PDF:  I know that this is already an option from with Chrome (and it is free) but it is nice to open a Word document (or any program with print capabilities) and just choose "Print to PDF" to create a PDF version of my notes.

2)  Convert Picture Files to PDF:  From my time using Google Drive I have found that the most useful way to put answer keys for student access is as a PDF.  I like to take photos of an answer key with my iPhone and then use them but they are a jpeg file.  With Pro you can right click a picture file and "Convert to PDF" right from the desktop.  Then I put that PDF in my Drive so my students can access it.

3)  Combine Multiple Files Into One PDF:  There have been many times that I have had several PDF files but wished I could combine them into just one PDF document.  With Pro you can select multiple files (PDF, picture files, etc) and combine them into a single PDF.  You can also choose specific pages from within them in case you want to leave a page out of the new version.

Google Sheets App: New Options

While using the new Google Sheets app I noticed a few additional tools that I do not remember being in the original Google Drive app.  If you click the header of a row or column it pulls up these new options.

1)  Insert Rows/Columns:  You now have the option to insert a row/column before or after your selection.

2)  Delete Rows/Columns:  You can not delete a row/column from the app.  I do not remember that being an option.

3)  Sort:  You can sort A->Z  or Z->A from within the Sheets app.

All of these options may have been available in the Google Drive app but they are new to me.

Literacy Strategy: Questioning: Character/Concept Interview

In the literacy strategy of Questioning, one of the methods is called Character/Concept Interview.  With this concept students ask questions of characters or concepts and infer the answers to the question.  The Lit-Techs incorporated these techniques in their classrooms over the last few weeks and have examples in the Google Presentation below.

Google Drive App for iPhone: Easiest Way to Display Student Work

I have tried many ways to find the easiest way to display my students' work for the whole class to see.  The document camera in my classroom is great but that requires me to take the students worksheet from them.  After brainstorming with another teacher I found that the easiest way was to use the Google Drive app on my iPhone to take a picture of their work and auto-upload it to my Drive account.  I can then open the image file and annotate over it with my Smart Board.

1)  Download, open and link the Google Drive app to your Google account.  I use my personal iPhone because the iPad I have from my school is an iPad 2 whose camera is horrible.

2) While in the Google Drive app click the plus sign (+) in the top right corner.

3) In the menu it brings up, choose "Use Camera" at the bottom.

4) Take a picture of your students work and click "Use Photo."  If you do not like the photo you can choose "Retake" instead.


5) After you take the photo the app will automatically upload the photo to your Google Drive account.  It will put it in your main Drive folder.  To see the progress of the upload, open the menu and click "Uploads."  It usually takes about 30 seconds to upload the file.

6)  In Chrome open the picture file in your Drive account and show the class their work.  If you have a hard time finding the file (it usually names it "Photo Date Time") open your recent items and it should be at the top of your list.