Making Life Easier.

When I saw this, I immediately thought of a colleague (MC), who does a lot of work with scanned things (as PDFs).  

I've blogged about tools like this before, but Convert PDF to Word is really handy.  It's very easy to use and is quick, too.

Just go to the website, browse to your PDF file and then add your email address.  It converts and emails to you very quickly, once it comes you can edit the text, which makes the PDFs much more usable.

Enjoy!

Flash Drive? I'll pass...

Last week I blogged about the eBook, Tools for the 21st Century Teacher. One of the delightful items I read in the eBook was Dropbox.  Dropbox is an online storage site-which isn't new, but the great thing is that they offer a free 2 GB account-it's like having a flash drive that you don't have to carry around with you-fantastico!

I know what you're thinking...if it's online how can I use it?  It's actually pretty easy.  You download the Dropbox application (Windows/Mac/Linux) and use it to dump all of your files that you want into it.  From there, you can access your files via their website and (drumroll, please...) they have an iPhone app!  So, I have my work files (PowerPoints, Word Docs & PDFs) in Dropbox and now I can completely get them all on my phone (which is pretty handy for me).  

I've always been somewhat paranoid that the server at work will go down and I'll lose my files.  I have them backed up on an external at home, but this is nice for me to be able to access whenever (and wherever) I need to.

I highly recommend trying this one out. 

Increase Technology Use in Your Class

Michael Zimmer has written an ebook called Tools for the 21st Century Teacher.  It's pretty great.  It goes through new technology stuff that you might be able to use in your classroom-some of which I've used and some are new to me, too.  It's a short, pretty good read.  I'll be reviewing different parts of it over the next couple of weeks.  Take 10 minutes from your planning today and read through it-maybe you can try something new today. 

Open publication - Free publishing - More 21st century

Did you know?

In the our division's SR&R (Student Rights & Responsibilities), they talk about a group of students being classified as a mob.  I always find that pretty amusing.  Calling someone a mob typically isn't a compliment, but I've found a mob I can get involved in...Micromobs!  Micromobs is pretty close to what I was looking for when I started a Twitter for my classroom.  Once you start  your own mob, you have people join it.  Then, you send messages to  your mob-instead of having to email them individually, Micromobs emails them for you.  The reason behind my wanting one is to keep in contact with parents.  Twitter has worked really well with students, but it isn't the best with all parents.  About 95% of my students' parents use email regularly, so having a mass emailer would be pretty great for me.

The only drawback to using Micromobs is that participants have to set up an account (which is pretty easy)-outside of that, it seems pretty good.

Week in Rap

Wow.  Just wow.  I am so excited about The Week in Rap.  I'm just disappointed that I've just learned about this now (at the end of the year), but it is definitely something I plan to implement in my classes next year.  Essentially, it's a weekly reader (I used to love those things), but in rap video form.  It goes through the major world events of the week and explains them at a student-accessible level.  It takes the oil leak and explains where people are worried it will go, with graphics.

This is a great way to work current events into your class on a weekly basis in an engaging way students can enjoy and relate to.  I recommend checking it out!

Here's the one from last week:

Week In Rap 5.21.10 from Week in Rap on Vimeo.