Assess Me Linky!

Monday, July 27, 2015

Rachel from The Tattooed Teacher is having a fun linky party.

I thought I join in on the fun!

Enjoy the last weeks of summer.
When does your school start? Mine starts September 8th!

Tips on How to Broadcast on Periscope!

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Have you joined the Periscope craze yet?

Have you been watching all the wonderful broadcasts that are happening on Periscope?

Do you want to post a broadcast, but not sure as to how or where to get started?

Before I go any further, if you are unfamiliar with Periscope and are just joining in on the Periscope fun, then you also might want to read this post.

I have been watching wonderful teacher Periscopers for the past week or so.

I have learned so much from these teachers.

These teachers inspire me with their quick tips and tricks.

I also love how these teachers are just full of energy and great ideas!

I have also been watching

3 amazing Periscope gurus.

The 3 gurus that I definitely recommend that you follow are:

Kim Garst, March Shaw, and Jess Fozard

In case you have missed their broadcasts,

here's a comprised list of their tips and tricks.

Before you broadcast, make sure that your device is fully charged.

You would not want to be in the middle of a broadcast and

get disconnected from your viewers.

When you flip the camera over to yourself, make sure that you are situated over the hearts, rather than over the comments. If you have too many comments being made by your viewers, your face will not be seen.

Also, position yourself so that your face is near the top of your screen; not at the bottom of your screen.

The bottom is taken up by those lovely comments and hearts.

Remember to give your broadcast a title.

You want your title to be inviting, interesting, and intriguing.

Use emojis, but don't go overboard with them. Use them in moderation.

This is a preference thing.

If you do not wish to have your location known, then

go to your Settings and turn this feature off.

Prior to your broadcast, make sure that you have everything

that you need with you.

This includes a list of things that you are going to talk about, including your notes.

Also, for example, if your broadcast is about saving files, then make sure that you have the files that you want to share with your viewers all open and ready to go.

Viewers do not have time to wait for you.

You do not need a high tech stand to broadcast.

Just make sure that you place your device somewhere stable.

If you end up holding your device, remember that you need to have a steady hand.

Take note of your surroundings.

Is it noisy? Is it windy?

Will my audience hear me?

Is the lighting too bright or too dark?

Will my audience be able to see me?

What's behind me?

Will my audience be distracted?

When you go live, give yourself about a minute before you begin your actual show.

This will allow people to join in and not miss out on your broadcast.

However, in the meantime, do not stay silent.

If you are silent for too long, then you might end up losing your audience.

Keep in mind, that you can easily lose viewers during replays when you are quiet.

Therefore, greet your viewers. Take the time to welcome your viewers individually.

Give each of them a shout out.

Acknowledge them.

Thank them for stopping by.

Prior to beginning your show, have a theme song in the background or

post a quote or

post your TpT or blog logo or

post a picture of your pet.

Make it you!

Once everyone has joined in, introduce yourself. Tell them who you are.

Without giving too many details away,

hook your audience and

get them excited to be there.

Repeat your introduction throughout your broadcast for those joining in late.

Just don't over do it.

Explain and remind viewers to tap the screen to give you hearts.

Remind viewers to invite their followers to your broadcast.

Remind viewers to share your broadcast.

Do this in moderation!

Interact with your audience. Engage with your audience.

As Mark Shaw stated, "This is not YouTube!"

Answer their questions.

Respond to their comments.

Communicate with them.

Ask a question to your audience. Have them respond to you with

a unique word or an emoji.

For example, Mark Shaw will say something along the lines like,

"If you are here for the first time, then let me know by giving me the word CUPCAKE in your comments!"

Kim Garst will say,

"If this is your first time here, then type in the word,

BOOM in the comments!"

You can even ask your audience to give you a specific type of emoji.

Make your word or emoji unique. Let it be a reflection of you.

Be energetic with your scope. Be passionate about your topic.

Be full of energy when broadcasting!

Remind your audience and yourself to block off inappropriate comments during your broadcast.

Remind your audience to tap on the inappropriate comments, by first

tapping on View Profile, and then to

tap on Block User.

Easy Peasy!

This is totally optional.

To engage your audience or to brand your broadcasts, you can host a giveaway.

For example:

a) The person that has a specific color of hearts. wins.

b) The person that gives the most hearts, wins.

c) The person with the most comments wins.

This is KEY!

You must think of your audience. What does your audience want to see and hear from you?

What will they be interested in?

How will you engage them?

You need good, quality content for your broadcast.

Do not be an Egghead. Add a picture to your profile.

Followers want to see who you are.

You want your audience to trust you and build a relationship with you.

By the end of your broadcast, you want to be able to direct

your audience to one of your sites,

be it to your TpT store, blog, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.

Have fun with your broadcast.

Be authentic. Be yourself.

Say a joke or a riddle.

You want your audience to get to know you and trust you.

This last tip does not pertain to you as a broadcaster,

rather it pertains to you as an audience member.

In order to build relationships and followers, you should try and leave comments often.

When you comment, other followers will see you in the comments section.

They will build a sense of who you are. They will get to know you.

They will interact with you within the broadcast itself.

They will then maybe tap on your comment, and easily follow you.

There you have it!

If I have missed any tips & tricks, won't you please leave a comment below?

Overall, Periscoping is much like writing a story.

We teach our students to write a story using the hamburger method.

Prior to writing their stories, we teach students:

to brainstorm their ideas

to have a title

to have an introduction

to support their ideas

and to end with a conclusion

These concepts can easily be applied to Periscope.

Keeping these concepts in mind will make Periscoping fun & easy.

And....finally....

If you miss someone's broadcast and they are signed up with katch.me,

you can watch their replay online.

Once there, you can click on followers, fast forward, and rewind.

To view praticular broadcast, type

katch.me - forward slash - broadcaster's name

ex: katch.me/kimgarst

Enjoy Scoping!

You can catch me @gardenfullof

See you there!

1 comment

Periscope Tips!

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Have you heard of the new popular app Periscope?

Thank you to Lucky Little Learners and Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd for

introducing me to this new form of Social Media.

And, I'm lovin' it!

Periscope is an app that lets you broadcast live videos. You can share your videos with the world and with your followers by letting them know what you are up to at that precise moment.

Periscope can be used in a variety of ways, for example, you can:

Show your students' parents all of the wonderful learning that's taking place in your classroom
Share your classroom environment (procedures, set-up, organization, bulletin boards, etc.)
Share the school spirit
Post weddings, birthdays, concerts, vacations, etc.
Share a "How To" tips and tricks

If you are following someone on Periscope and they are about to broadcast a video, you will hear a whistling sound on your phone. The whistle lets you know that it's time to
tune in .... and join in on the fun!

When you are watching a live broadcast, you can actually interact with the broadcaster. Just type your comments at the bottom of your screen. The broadcaster will then see and
verbally respond to your comments. How cool is that!!!

You can also let the broadcaster know that you are "liking" their live Periscope broadcast by simply tapping on your phone's screen. You will see a rainbow of hearts
flying at the side of your screen.

The more the hearts that appear, the more you show them your love.

Please note: You can only tap on the hearts during a live public broadcast.

Remember, just like any other form of Social Media, ANYONE can view your broadcast,

unless it's a Private Broadcast!

If you post it as a Public Broadcast, that means that anyone around the world
will be able to view and leave a comment on your live stream video.

So, BE AWARE of what you post and who you want to share it with!

BE AWARE of who your followers are!

Broadcasting privately is not an easy one step procedure. It entails a few extra steps
EACH and EVERY time you post a live broadcast stream.

For each broadcast that you wish to post,

you will need to:

1. Open up the Periscope app.

2. Tap on the Camera icon located at the bottom of your screen.

It's the third icon, next to the World icon.

3. Then, describe your broadcast by entering a brief title at the top.

(Where it reads: What are you seeing now?)

4. Click on the Lock icon.

5. Select the followers with whom you would like to share your live broadcast with.
Then, tap on the Make Private (#) icon at the bottom of your screen.

note: Your invited followers will not be able to share your broadcast with others.

6. Tap on the red Start Broadcast icon.

7. Let the fun & recordings begin!

You can also select the icon next to the Twitter icon.
Selecting this icon will only allow users that you follow to chat.

Be mindful of the number of people you wish to follow.

The more people you follow, the more your phone will end up whistling.

Meaning, your phone will be alerting you of live broadcasts more often than you'd wish.

Or, if you wish, you could opt out of the push notifications within your Settings.

Broadcasts that have been posted by those whom you follow will be available for viewing up to 24 hours after posting. So, if you were unable to view a live broadcast at the time of posting, then, you can always come back and view it before it expires.
You will have 24 hours to view a broadcast.

During this time, you may tap for hearts and show the broadcaster your love.

After the 24 hour period, all broadcasts will expire and will not be visible for viewing.

I am still learning how to use this wonderful app.

I am sure I might have missed a few tips and tricks along the way.

However, in the meantime, if you wish to download the app and need further directions on how to get started, you may wish to visit

Lucky Little Learners or Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd

for further details.

If you wish to follow me on Periscope, I am

GardenFullofKnowledg

I'm linking up with Teaching Trio for Technology Thursday.

Have you tried Periscope? What do you think of it?

TpT store: Garden Full of Knowledge

7 comments

Weekly Summer Link-Up: Where I Was 5 Years Ago

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

I'm linking up with Miss Monica with her weekly summer link-up.

This week's topic is Where I Was 5 Years Ago.

Five years ago, we were in Florida!

Of course, we had to visit Walt Disney World Resort.

You will notice in the pictures, that I was one of those crazy moms who dressed her sons all in the same outfits. I had a few reason for that, but I won't get into all the details here.

We also had a chance to visit the beach!

After spending hours playing in the water, my husband took the boys for a walk along the beach, looking for shells and sand dollars. On this particular walk, my middle son decides that he is going to walk along in the water. His foot lands on a hard surface in the water. He decides that he is going to dig this rock out of the water. He pulls and pulls and pulls. The rock would not budge.

Finally, he asks his Dad to give him a hand with the rock.

To their surprise, this is what they pulled out of the water....