1.
Do you Skype on a personal basis? Have you used - or have you ever considered using - Skype
in your classroom? Skype in the Classroom can connect you with other teachers for personal
professional development. You may also find ideas for lessons using Skype, join online
workshops, bring guest speakers into your classroom, and more.
You may also connect your students with other students from around the world. Join and get
free group video calling for free for one year. Visit the Skype in the Classroom website to sign
up and/or learn more.
Skype in the
Classroom
Library
OCT 2013
NEWSLETTER
Happily we bask in this warm September sun,
Which illuminates all creatures... Henry David Thoreau
Now October is upon us...
It’s hard to believe that the first month
has come and gone already. I had forgotten
just how hectic life at ESA is, right from the
start. Nothing slow and gradual about
coming back to work this year.
All Grade 9 students have finished their
first round of Library Orientation and
Instruction. All Grade 9 classes will be back
for the next phase in mid-October.
Some of the Grade 12’s have also been
down for a refresher course on Academic
Honesty. During these sessions I shared the
disposition of Tribunal Decisions from the UofT
for the Winter Term 2012.
It makes for interesting reading, and
reinforces the need for everyone to take their
responsibilities vis-a-vis academic honesty with
great seriousness.
All members of the ESA Community are
reminded of the school policy on Academic
Honesty. A copy of the full policy, as well as
the Academic Honesty brochures for both
Students and Parents, and Teachers, may be
found online here.
October in the Library kicks off with
Mental Health Awareness Week, brought to
you by the ESA Equity Group. The full listing
of events may be found online at the ESA
Library Daily Blog. Do come and be a part
of the conversation.
Great Soup is Back!
ESA’s SEEDS Me to We group
will host their first Great Soup
Community Lunch of the year on
Monday November 11th. Mark
your calendars. For just $6 per
person, we provide soups, salads,
homemade breads and goodies.
All proceeds go to charity. If
you’d like to contribute a food
item, fill out the Google Form by
November 6th.
Killbear Provincial Park. Copyright free
photo sourced from Brittanica Image Quest.
Available for home access - with password
protection - via the ESA Virtual Library.
News

2.
Other News...
Tidbits that hopefully
will interest someone...
Pocket
Does your e-mail inbox serve as your
to do list? or your “I have to
remember this later” list? Try Pocket
(formerly Read it Later). I’ve been
using it since May and loving it. Send
a link to your pocket in one easy step,
and browse the contents later at your
leisure. Clean and simple layout,
totally user friendly interface.
Cool Text
Looking for some interesting graphic
text to spice up that assignment
handout or add to a presentation
slide? Try the Cool Text Logo and
Graphics Generator. Choose from a
wide variety of styles, customise your
colours and font size.
Spicy Learning Blog
EdTech blog by a York Region
Teacher. Lots to say about Social
Media in the Classroom. If you’re
ready to jump into the Web 2.0 world
in your classroom, check the June 15
2013 posting for a matrix comparing
various options.
Evernote
Always losing those little slips of paper
you write notes to yourself on? Never
lose one again. Find everything at
your fingertips from any computer
anywhere. I’ve been using Evernote
since early this summer. Another
lifesaver. Also interesting educational
applications. See link above for more.
App of the Week
Are you interested in a weekly e-mail
highlighting an App which has interest
from an educational perspective? Last
month’s feature App’s are archived on
the ESA Library EduBlog.
If you are interested in being on the
receiving end of the weekly e-mail,
and/or interested in keeping up with
what else is going on in the Library,
sign up here.
Happy App’ing.
PDF Commenting
Save paper by having your students
submit work electronically, as PDF files, and
then mark them online using a PDF
commenting tool.
I’ve been using PDF Escape (for no
particular reason). Read about three more
options at FreeTech4Teachers.
CoffeeTime Edu
The YouTube Channel belonging to US
teacher Tim Childers, CoffeeTime Edu hosts a
collection of EdTech videos on a variety of
topics.
One of the more recent posts is about
Feedly, which is rapidly becoming the RSS
reader of choice, following the shutdown of
Google Reader.
The videos are casual, informative, and
easy to follow. If you are just starting to
incorporate Web 2.0 tools into your personal
and/or professional life, a quick stop at
CoffeeTime Edu might help you gain
confidence to incorporate some of these tools
into your daily routine.
Using OnLine Surveys
Consider using online surveys in a
variety of ways in your classroom. There are
lots of free tools available to suit just about
any need.
For starter ideas, refer to a recent
article, posted at Edudemic, titled 5 Ways to
Use Online Surveys in the Classroom.
Two great starting points, for developing
online surveys are Survey Monkey and Zoho
Survey. Google Forms, available through
your TDSB Google Apps for Education
account is another user friendly vehicle for
online surveys.
Time Toast
Need students to generate timelines for a
project in class? or simply as a teaching tool
to help everyone keep the dates straight?
Consider using TimeToast. Time Toast is
user friendly and intuitive, with a very shallow
learning curve. TimeToast allows for a couple
of different presentation styles as well as
opportunities to add your timeline to a blog
or website.
If you want to go the Open Source
route, try Timeline JS.
DropBox
DropBox will allow you to store and sync
your teaching life across all of the computers
you encounter on a daily basis. The beauty
of DropBox is that it doesn’t matter whether
you work on a Mac at home but have to deal
with PC’s at school (as I do).
Another great aspect to DropBox is the
ability to use it as a student repository for
homework and assignments. No longer are
you tied to connecting to the board network
to access dropped off files.
Learn more in an article written by
Jennifer Carey and posted at the Powerful
Learning Practice blog.