Meet Alex, The Voice Of Your Mac

Meet Alex, the voice of your mac. 

Alex is the voiceover accessibility feature built into Mac computers.  He is designed to tell you what is on your screen, assist you selecting menus, and help give you complete control of your Mac with oral directions.  Apple has had this built into their computers for awhile but it has greatly improved.  Alex now looks at an entire paragraph at once instead of one word at a time.  When reading passages he sounds more realistic following the nuances of a person talking.  It is now much easier to comprehend what he is saying.  Alex's voice is smoother than most text-to-speech and just to easy to use.

You can hear and adjust Alex's speed under your Mac Settings.  Menu option Dictation & Speech--> Text to Speech.  You can change Alex's sped and even change Alex but he is truly the best. There are 3 female and 3 male default voices.  You can add novelty voices and voices with accents.  I can see a great use for these in education.  The video below shows you how.

To get Alex to read to you, first highlight a section of the text.  There is NO pause feature so highlight a small amount at a time.  There is more than 1 way to start the speaking.

Option 1, my favorite:

1. Control + click or right click within your highlighting

2. Select Speaking

3. Start Speaking

Option 2, easiest for young children:

1. Choose Edit from the menu bar 

2. Select Speaking

3. Start Speaking

Option 3, best for those in need of this on a frequent basis:

1. Go to the System Preferences

2. Choose Speech and Dictation (Speech on older OSX)

3. Check the box "Speak the selected text when the key is pressed"

4. Change the key if you do not like the default of Option+Esc

5. Highlight your text and press your key

For the last two weeks the first graders have been using Alex in the computer lab.
The first week we learned about encyclopedias and online encyclopedias.  Together we looked up scarecrows on World Book Online Kids.  Students then looked up anything they wanted to and tried having Alex read the article to them.  World Books Kids articles are advanced for most first graders but having Alex allowed students to listen as they read along. They shared facts they learned at the end of class which was a lot of fun.

Week two students chose a topic to research by picking a book from the library.  They picked facts from the book and listened to Alex read facts on the same topic from World Book Kids.  Using a Venn Diagram, students recorded facts they learned from the book and facts they learned from World Book Kids.  They shared their new information with classmates.

At the end I took about a poll asking students which they preferred: learning from the book or learning from World Book Online with the help of Alex.  The classes were split.  We will explore this more. 

Big 6 Research Model

The fourth graders are studying Vertebrate and Invertebrates and the third graders are studying Planets in our Solar System.  This is the first time the third and fourth graders are using the Big 6 Research Model so I created a bit of a checklist/step-by-step process for them.  We are doing much of it together but I plan for them to do it on their own for the next project.

There is a LARGE amount of information about the Big 6 Research Model on the website  http://big6.com/.  The amount of information is in fact, overwhelming.  The best place to start is the Overview.

The Big 6 is of course breaks down finding information into 6 steps:
1. Task Definition
2. Information Seeking Strategies
3. Location and Access
4. Use of Information
5. Synthesis
6. Evaluation

An experienced researcher goes through all these steps and we must teachers our students to do the same. From now on, each and every project I do with third grade and up, we will follow this model.

To make it easier for the students to follow, I broke down each step into smaller questions to follow.
For example, Step 1: Task Definition is broken down into the following questions and table for responses:

Step ONE: Task Definition
Do I understand what my final project will be?	Yes            No
Do I understand the topic that was assigned to me?	Yes            No
What are some keywords or phrases I can use to get the information I need?	Keywords:
What kinds of information will I be searching? (maps, pictures, biographies, graphs)	Types of information:
How am I required to cite the information?

There are few reasons I like this model
First we can discuss the kinds of information students will look at for information, such as text or video, before we discuss the actual source of the material.  This started out a tough task for my students.  The did not see these two things as separate entities until I gave specific examples and practically acted it out for them.

Also, during Step 4, when they are gathering information, students must continuously evaluate each source on its level of difficulty while deciding if it is valuable.  They then must define new keywords if they arise and this forces/allows them continue their research.

For Step 5, they stop and regather themselves for starting their final project.  This is HUGE for many students who rush forward and are not ready or need to recoup.

To get my checklist head over to my TPT store or click here. Let me know if you use it.

Wonderopolis

A few weeks ago I wrote about a some things that were new to me.  Wonderopolis.org was one of those things. (past blogpost)

With the year winding down my students are finishing their projects and some groups are finishing before others.  Most years I have them practice proper typing but this year I pulled out the iPads and had the students look into any wonder that interested them.  They were then responsible for creating a "Did you know?" paper that I would hang up near the related non-fiction section in the library.

The students had so much fun.  They asked to do it again the following week.

New (to me) Tech

I'm always patrolling the web for new tech. Usually I'm looking for new ideas for the classroom but sometimes I come across things that just entertain me.  Here are a few new ones, at least to me.  I'm sorry if I'm late to the scene.

Artisan.com Picture Book Maker

This is the best picture book maker for the younger students I have found so far. With a cover, back cover, and 6 pages, the students writes and design their own story.  This website has premade images

and backgrounds for the students to choose from for their pages.  There are 8 backgrounds, 4 different characters that can be scaled and switched to look like it performing a different action, and 20 extras such as fences, trees, clouds, skateboards, soccer balls, and more. With the pencil tool students type in their words and can scale those as well. While I do not love the typing part, the illustrations are fun and in the end you can email a link to the final book.

Take a look at my sample book: http://www.artisancam.org.uk/flashapps/picturebookmaker/captures/stf/index.php?incomingNum=17299

Croak.it

This is a free website that allows you, the user, to record up to 30 seconds of audio.  This user interface is one of the easiest on the web.  Click the large croak button on the page, record 30 seconds or less of audio, and select Proceed.  Name it, Tag it, and tou can share via a link, directly share it to Facebook, Twitter, or Google+, OR you can get an embed code to put it on your website.  They even have a mobile version for iPhones and Androids.
Coming soon: the ability to mix to croaks.

For the classroom this could be fun to download on the iPads and have students work on quick facts to add my website.  Or book recommendations to add to the website.  As I mentioned before I LOVE using QR codes and so do the students so I can have students record information/recommendations about books, link the croak with a QR code and add it to the cover a book.  As a classroom teacher students could record answers in groups and record quick answers for me to check later.

Wonderopolis.org

This is fun and great for getting students more interested in Information Text.  Wonderoplois is a website where the answers to things you are naturally curious about are answered.  There are short passages of non-ficiton text as well as video and interesting topic to keep any students interest.
This would be fun for a quick research project in between the large projects. 

Todaysmeet.com

The last few large meetings and conferences I have attended have had Today's Meet up and running. It is a great tool for backchannel talking in large groups.  Once a room is created people with the link go in, and with no registration need, can post ideas and questions.  The entire conversation can be saved.  This is a great way for students to interact with each other in the classroom as well with students in other classes nearby, in another state, or anywhere around the world!

a place where natural curiosity and imagination lead to exploration and discovery - See more at: http://wonderopolis.org/about/#sthash.Dg7X2GPB.dpuf

a place where natural curiosity and imagination lead to exploration and discovery - See more at: http://wonderopolis.org/about/#sthash.Dg7X2GPB.dpuf

a place where natural curiosity and imagination lead to exploration and discovery - See more at: http://wonderopolis.org/about/#sthash.Dg7X2GPB.dpuf

Owls- fourth grade

While studying ecosystems the fourth graders complete a research project on Owls.  Students worked in groups to research one of six owls found in New Jersey.

This project is great because of the vast amount of resources used to complete the project. 

The students use:

1. information text to learn traits and behaviors of the owls
2. dictionaries to define words such as habitat
3. World Book Online to learn the traits of all owls in general
4. websites for additional research
5. PowerPoint to create a presentations

Photo Gallery by QuickGallery.com


Photo Gallery by QuickGallery.com

A bonus allows students to take a field trip see the owls live.

To complete the project students I teach students how to speak to their classmates while having their PowerPoint up the SmartBoard.  Student's love having their projects projects onto the board while they practice standing at "the angle" where they can see the both the board and talk to the audience. 

This year was tough.  With 2 weeks off for Hurricane Sandy it felt like this project went on forever.  I'm proud of my students for hanging in there.


A link for the files will be here soon.

Common Core
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.8 Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; take notes and categorize information, and provide a list of sources.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.9 Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.4.4 Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.

Postcards From Pluto -Third Grade

The first science unit in first grade is the Solar System.  To correlate with the classroom curriculum the students completed a library and computer skills project related to the Solar System.

First we read "Postcards From Pluto" by Loreen Leedy.  Students I and discussed the mix if fiction and non-fiction as well as the outdated facts due to this books copyright date.

After students worked in pairs to research a planet using two books. Since books have different copyright dates students must compare the information they are getting.


Once we completed our research the students moved to the computer lab and learned some new skills in MS Word.  They learned about Page Orientation, adding a border to ClipArt, and inserting a text box.  The final product was a postcard to a person of their choosing mimicking the writing from Loreen Leedy's book.

Sample Postcard:

Common Core
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.9 Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

             

Ocean Animals- second grade

This is the first time second graders are doing a real research project.  It starts out with encyclopedia skills and this is the second year I felt the students did not really need it.  Thanks to technology, students do not need to use the index to figure out which encyclopedia volume they need, they have a library automation system to search for topics.  If lucky enough, which my district is, students have a subscription to an online encyclopedia which requires an entire new set of skills.  My final decision is to teach students how to use the online encyclopedia first and look for books on their topic to support their research after.

This year though my students used the encyclopedias.  They each researched a different ocean animal to match the science unit in their classroom. Students completed the worksheet below and met a couple of of the common core standards:

After students opened Word and first time typed two paragraphs.  They learned about the tab key and how to import an image they drew.  It is one of my favorite projects because they learn so much.

Common Core
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.2 Identify the main topic of a multiparagraph text as well as the focus of specific paragraphs within the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.5 Know and use various text features (e.g., captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, indexes, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently
 CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.2.2 Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.