Promethean+Tips

[|Make a pdf into an Interactive Lesson]

So you've found and downloaded a PDF. Now, what can you do with that PDF in an interactive classroom? In this blog post, we'll look at a specific PDF I found on Planet and share some ideas on how you can make it more interactive. I recently found this neat PDF resource from Smithsonian called [|Plants and Animals: Partners in Pollination]. (Here is a link to all of the Smithsonian resources on Planet) What did I like about it? So now that we know what it has, how can I use it in my 21st century classroom? In other words, how can I include the ideas and contents in my flipcharts?
 * It has teacher notes.
 * It has background reading for teachers and students.
 * It includes multiple activity pages to print.
 * It incorporates ideas for hands-on lessons (off board).

Import Pages into a Flipchart
One of the easiest and quickest ways is to simply import the pages into a flipchart. Each page of the PDF becomes a page in a flipchart. Once imported, you can annotate right on it and save the annotations. Now you may find for various reasons that this works well for you or not. Be aware that each page comes in as a graphic that is **not** locked down—I would recommend you do lock them down. And also note that you can import **all** of the pages or a range of pages. The ActivTip video below give you lots of tips for importing PDFs! [|**ActivTip #56 Importing PDFs**]

 Sometimes, you don't want the **whole** page; you may just want **part** of the page. In that case, you just use the camera tool to capture the "pieces" of the PDF that you want. Learn how to capture pieces of PDFs in this next ActivTip. [|**ActivTip #21 PDF Pieces**]

 And what to do with the teacher's notes for the activities? Simple copy and paste them into the page notes for each of the flipchart pages. [|**ActivTip #4 Page Notes**]

 Once you have the basic stuff in your flipchart, you may want to make it a bit more interactive and less like the printed worksheet.

Hide the Answers!
If the activity sheet from the PDF is a diagram with labels, you may want to hide the labels (or answers). I use the pen (pen modifiers) with a thick horizontal line, which makes a nice looking annotation (shown below) and can be "erased" with the magic eraser. I also added a button that selects the magic ink tool so students can easily erase to see what the hidden answer is. You also may want to have students text in individual answer choices using voting devices such as ActivExpression if you have those. You'd have to do one answer at a time.

Make Containers
If you prefer to have moveable text objects, you can draw boxes to hide the answers and make them into containers. That way only correct answers stay in the box and incorrect one pop back out. There are some ActivTip videos about that, if you're ready to tackle containers. Go to the [|ActivTips] and type "containers" in the search box!

Use Learner Response Devices
Finally, you may want to integrate learner response devices. They can not only be used for giving quizzes for right or wrong answers, but can also be used for gathering opinion or seeing if folks agree or feel ready to move on. Here's a great video on how to capture questions from PDFs without having to retype! [|**ActivTip #22 Capturing Questions**]

