10/20/10 Questions: What new technology will I learn this year and use with my students?
Baseline - There are many areas of growth that I have already made in technology. I remember when the internet was first hooked up in my classroom! I manage a folder with web sites and learning activities for my students to use in the computer lab. I also teach Microsoft Word, Power Point, and an introduction to Xcel. I have two student computers in my classroom which are used for research and academic support. I am on my second full year of using a Promethean Board; each day I am using it more and it is becoming more and more interactive. I have developed a teacher web page this year. I update homework assignments daily, add my weekly letter, and have some curriculum supportive websites there.
TEACHING TOLERANCE MAGAZINE REVIEWS:
Meeting the Needs of Special Needs Students Virtually By Denise Harrison 12/08/10
I was interested in reading this article as we have a fourth grade classroom with two autistic students. I was wondering how use of her two computers in her classroom could support their education, but also allow the class some peace (as the outbursts and demand for her time are great). Instead it was an article that I learned from in a different way.
In remote places, videoconferencing could be used to help gifted students collaborate on projects, debate, and participate in book talks. Teletherapy has been used to diagnose depression, ADHD, and oppositional defiant disorders. Speech therapy can take place this way. Video conferencing can be used for students to stay in touch with families if they live at their school far away, as in a school for the blind or deaf. Students can use videoconferencing if they are homebound or hospital bound for a month or more. The same can be used with expelled students so they do not fall behind in their schoolwork. One school district set up a video conference during an IEP to get professionals from far away to collaborate with them for an education plan for a selectively mute student. I’m not sure how to apply this right now, but I thought it was interesting.
I read an article from Teacher Leaders Network by Larry Ferlazzo. He is a high school English teacher who works with an instructional strategies consultant. They video tape his lessons and review them for improvement. They decided to show the video to the students. The students were to keep six points in mind as they viewed the tape. One, when students are engaged, they are leaning in. Two, decide who’s doing the work, the teacher or the student. Three, all students have a job to be working all the time. Four, have writing tools in hand, the tools of the scholar. Five, students need multiple reads with the text. Six, students work hard so they can meet their visions and dreams. All six points given to students reminded them of their job in the classroom. A poster of these was made for his room, and after each lesson they reviewed to see how the lesson went.
I apply the “visions and dreams” to what I have read in The Energy Bus. I feel that I have students at fourth grade who need reminders about what their job is and why they are there. I believe some students in my class do not yet have a vision or dream for their future. I also like the rules of “leaning in” and having “tools of a scholar”. These are terms I will use with my students tomorrow in class. Ferlazzo realized that he was teaching/talking too much of the time, and students were losing interest. They also told him that sometimes he talks when they write. I see great application to my classroom as I work to better my instruction. The quote at the end of the article reminds, “Remember that the person doing the work is the one growing the dendrites”. Janet
http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/1105/journal_201103/#/6
I read Dan Gordon’s article, Return to Sender. It said that the US US
Questions I have: Does your school have a STEM (science/technology/engineering/math) program? Is Algebra the last required math class at your high school? Do your science students participate in labs or use textbooks? I remember a local teacher saying he had too many students in the classroom to do all of the labs he wanted to do that semester. Should he have brainstormed through that to make it work? We use FOSS Science K-4, a hands-on investigative program. Would you say that your courses of math, science, social studies, and language use technology to incorporate the 4 C’s mentioned above? I think there’s more I could be doing in Social Studies with technology. Are you familiar with your school’s technology standards for your district, and are they even accurate based on what we’ve been reading about what students need to compete in the workforce? This reminds me that I want to revisit the grade 4 technology standards, and bring them to the forefront in our building.
It ended with the same idea that Mary alluded to, which was that schools need to go to the teachers who are willing to take risks with technology first. That will do more to move technology along than a top-down approach from the principal. Teachers often stay with what’s familiar due to state mandates like NCLB, and tests like WKCE. Students need to be assessed with performance-based projects. I feel ill-equipped again, but willing to work toward improving technology education in our district. Janet
I went on-line to National Educational Technology Rubrics and found rubrics for PK-2, 3-5, and 6-8. http://www.ncrel.org/tech/nets/rubrics.htm
I read the article, Our Plastic Brains, from the May, 2011 edition of The Journal.
I was interested in this article because of all of the students I have had that I would consider struggling learners.
More has been uncovered about how the brain functions in the learning process. The human brain is quite malleable, even in adulthood. They call this “plasticity”. They know which brain structures are necessary to learn to read or to master other learning tasks. They know more about how the learning process changes the brain. Neuroscience has demonstrated that through brain-based learning practices, all children who have IQ’s within normal limits, have the capacity to learn to read and successfully master all subject areas. Computer interventions have been shown to build up the regions of the left hemisphere responsible for perception of speech sounds, working memory, and oral language skills. There is hope that neuroscience research will identify and treat children with reading, math, and other learning issues. Neuroscience can help educators understand how the brain learns, what causes learning disabilities, and how to combat it.
I know of two young adults who work for a neuroscience business in/near Osceola, but I do not know much about what they do there. I could probably find out more, if I asked. I know of two parents who have taken their child’s urine samples there. One was to help with reading; the other was for behavior issues. Do any of you have any experience with neuroscience? I’m thinking it’s time to become more knowledgeable.
Technology Goal:
We have technology standards in Wisconsin. I feel that students come in with a variety of computer skill levels. I want to effectively teach technology skills, and at the same time, be able to track students and have evidence of their learning. Therefore, students were pretested and postested in knowledge of using: teacher web page, spelling city.com, LEAD21 website, Microsoft Word Document, and PowerPoint. It was evident that students gained skills, knowledge and independence when using technology. Next year I will continue this goal and also monitor individual student progress each week to be more effective during our computer lab time.
Smart Goal #3 Technology in Education
Name:_______________________ Date: February 18, 2011
Rate your knowledge of the following technology.
Microsoft Word Document | I will need help. | I can do this alone. | I can help teach others. |
1. Open a document. | |||
2. Type. | |||
3. Change the font (letter) size. | |||
4. Bold and Italicize. | |||
5. Copy a picture from the Internet and paste it in. | |||
6. Save it to your Scooby file at OIS. | |||
7. Retrieve (get it back) from your Scooby file at OIS. | |||
Microsoft Word Test March 22, 2011
1. Open a Word Document.
2. Type your name.
3. Type the following 5 words in a numbered list.
across, begin, continent, divide, effort
4. Change word one to bold print.
5. Change word two to italics.
6. Change word three by underlining it.
7. Change the size of word four to 22.
8. Change the font of word five. Your choice.
9. Copy and paste a picture from the internet.
10. Make sure it all fits on one page.
11. Save it to your Scooby file.
12. Print it.
13. Hand it to your teacher.
Directions for a Microsoft Word Quiz!
1. Open a Word Document.
2. Type your name at the top.
3. Press Enter two times to move your curser down.
4. Type your new spelling list, make sure they are numbered like below.
1. Lumber
2. Plastic
5. Keep typing until you have all 20 words.
6. Bold the last 10 words and change the font to 16.
7. Italics the first 10 words and change the font to comic sans.
8. Go to the internet and google clip art children.
9. Click on Images.
10. Copy and paste a picture to the bottom of your document.
11. Show Mrs. Anderson
9/12/2011 Teacher WebPage - This fall I have successfully added student pictures. I have two on my home page, and the same two I used to make two puzzles. I also made two word search puzzles. I have used my teacher webpage in different ways than last year.
Compass Learning is a computer program where students can work on their math strands to improve learning and their Math MAP scores. I am currently learning
to use this program as I have three students who will use my student computers for an intervention this year.
September and October, 2011 UbD ONLINE Karen, Amanda and I worked online to develop assignments for our class. We used google docs and google calendar.
Google Docs / Google Calendar - With the help of Team Teva (Amanda and Karen) I have become pretty comfortable with using google docs and posting on the Hudson 2 Calendar. I have participated in live chat, and worked on a document at the same time as my team has, so we could ready our assignments for the class. Here is the results of our work.
Stage 1: Desired Results
Established Goals: Students will integrate teacher leadership into practice. Students will apply teacher leadership into the workplace setting and communicate via technology.
Students will. . .
1.Explore leadership possibilities in school
2. Identify key stakeholders and the impact/pressures exerted on school system
3. Make connections between current trends and personal workplace
4. Develop political awareness of educational trends
5. Modify their PDPs
6. Develop professional portfolios
Stage 2: Assessment Evidence
1. Students will post on D2L how their district is changing curriculum to comply with the new Common Core Standards; students will also reply to at least one other post on the topic. Post by midnight, Sunday, October 30.
2. Students will write about RtI and reflect on the changes necessary in their schools/classrooms and how RtI can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. Post by midnight, Sunday, October 9.
3. Students will identify one group of stakeholders in their district. Students describe the impact and/or pressure exerted by the group of stakeholders and the effect it has on the district. Students will share ideas on D2L for comments and support. Ongoing discussion, post by midnight, November 20.
4.Students will share 2 grant options on googledocs. Post by midnight, Sunday, November 6th.
5. Students will continue to modify, as needed, their professional development plans and portfolios. Ongoing all semester.
6. Students will write up a reflective summary on what they were able to share with their own district from all activities this semester. Post by midnight, Sunday, December 4th.
Stage 3: Learning Plan
Common Core: Students will discuss on D2L how their districts are changing to comply with common core standards. Post one from your school. Respond to two others. Keep the responses and conversation going.
RtI: Students will write about and reflect on the changes necessary in their schools/classrooms and how RtI can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. Share something you are doing personally.
Grant Writing: Students will share 2 grant options, online if possible, on googledocs.
Stakeholders: Students will identify and define a group of stakeholders and the impact and/or pressures exerted on the public school system, (parents, students, school board, administration) on D2L.
School/district Leadership: Students will choose one topic or activity from the semester to share with their team, school or district (Ubuntu, technology, Common Core, RtI, stakeholders, ASCD, Teaching Tolerance, online grants, etc). Reflection/analysis due in Dropbox.
Established Goals: Students will integrate teacher leadership into practice. Students will apply teacher leadership into the workplace setting and communicate via technology.
Students will. . .
1.Explore leadership possibilities in school
2. Identify key stakeholders and the impact/pressures exerted on school system
3. Make connections between current trends and personal workplace
4. Develop political awareness of educational trends
5. Modify their PDPs
6. Develop professional portfolios
Stage 2: Assessment Evidence
1. Students will post on D2L how their district is changing curriculum to comply with the new Common Core Standards; students will also reply to at least one other post on the topic. Post by midnight, Sunday, October 30.
2. Students will write about RtI and reflect on the changes necessary in their schools/classrooms and how RtI can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. Post by midnight, Sunday, October 9.
3. Students will identify one group of stakeholders in their district. Students describe the impact and/or pressure exerted by the group of stakeholders and the effect it has on the district. Students will share ideas on D2L for comments and support. Ongoing discussion, post by midnight, November 20.
4.Students will share 2 grant options on googledocs. Post by midnight, Sunday, November 6th.
5. Students will continue to modify, as needed, their professional development plans and portfolios. Ongoing all semester.
6. Students will write up a reflective summary on what they were able to share with their own district from all activities this semester. Post by midnight, Sunday, December 4th.
Stage 3: Learning Plan
Common Core: Students will discuss on D2L how their districts are changing to comply with common core standards. Post one from your school. Respond to two others. Keep the responses and conversation going.
RtI: Students will write about and reflect on the changes necessary in their schools/classrooms and how RtI can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. Share something you are doing personally.
Grant Writing: Students will share 2 grant options, online if possible, on googledocs.
Stakeholders: Students will identify and define a group of stakeholders and the impact and/or pressures exerted on the public school system, (parents, students, school board, administration) on D2L.
School/district Leadership: Students will choose one topic or activity from the semester to share with their team, school or district (Ubuntu, technology, Common Core, RtI, stakeholders, ASCD, Teaching Tolerance, online grants, etc). Reflection/analysis due in Dropbox.
10/8/2011 Teacher WebPage - This fall I learned how to put a slide show on my teacher webpage. We went on a field trip and I had about nine pictures on my camera. What's probably best about this is that I figured it out on my own, without getting totally frustrated!
10/2011 - 11/2011 New Technology Investigations Third Semester
I investigated the virtual manipulatives site http://nlvm.usu.edu . I have known about this site, but haven’t found a way to make it a part of my practice. I will try to use the bar chart to create our own graphs, since that is what we are studying. 10/28 I used the spinner site as we were learning probability. The students liked it. It was on my teacher webpage, and a couple students said they went out there and got the spinner to spin 999,999 times!
On Thursday, November 3, my class and I used the HPLL Cart. II found it very easy to set up, and the middle school librarian really did most of the footwork for me. I needed to request the cart from our Tech. Dept. and I needed to check out the media room. It was a free program offered by the Minnesota Historical Society on Logging in the 1900’s. It was so interactive; we all loved it. I wanted to use the cart once before meeting with a classroom from other places in the United States. I am trying to connect with a classroom in the Atlantic States, as our next reading unit is on this region. Our audio and video was perfect! I am glad to have tried it out.
I tried the multiplication games at http://investigations.terc.edu/library/Games_23.cfm that Tony suggested. Math Cats really shows the arrays for multiplication facts through10X10, and I also liked Wade’s Workout and Knights of Math. I will try these in the lab with my class. My class did not like Math Cats; I think it was too tutorial for them. They did like the other two, and I liked that they were good multiplication practice in a game format. The students hardly knew they were working and learning. I added it to my math websites on my teacher website.
La Crosse Conference - Twitter Session 11/12/2011
Twitter as a Professional Development Avenue with Curt Rees was interesting. I learned what a tweet was (short message with less than 140 characters), that a PLN is a Professional Learning Network, that a hashtag has a number sign with a subject line, that there are places like edchat and 4thchat where teacher regularly get together at a designated time and day of the week to discuss and share. Backchannelchats are live or ongoing conversations. It is proper for a teacher to follow someone who has followed them, but they will probably unfollow if you don’t put anything out there. You can have a twitter app on your phone, and favorite a tweet to look at later. Twitter flags can be sent to your phone as a text. A lot of this will make more sense once I begin using it. I need to create my account first. I was surprised that I liked this session, but may wait until summer before I begin due to the time investment.
Technology Tools - Third Semester
List at least 2 pieces of how you use technology in the classroom.
(Please put your name in parentheses)
(Please put your name in parentheses)
- document camera (Tony, Rick, Paula, Abby, Janet, Karen B)
- promethean board (Tony, Rick, Tabetha, Abby, Amanda)
- ActivExpressions/Votes (Rick, Tony, Abby, Janet)
- Ipad (Tabetha, Mary, Karen B)
- HPLL Cart (Tabetha, Paula)
- ITV lab (Rick, Karen)
- Moodle (Rick)
- document camera - Students put up their math work to share with the class/discuss. (Janet, Rick)
- Promethean board - Designed interactive lessons in all subjects for use in my classroom, year 3. Spelling Station - promethean page for students to word-sort based on spelling or sound of vowel, etc. Students reset the page and hand the pens off to two new students. (Janet)
- Teacher Webpage / Curriculum Websites - Student/Parent access to newsletters, website links (Janet, Abby, Amanda,Tony, Mary)
- Epson projector with interactive pen, SMART software (Karen Hull, Mary)
I use it like a smartboard, but with the use of the pen. It can be interactive to SMART software lessons, the program Kidspiration 2, and interactive websites.
- Google mail & calendar (Karen Hull, Karen)
I have created a school wide calendar so we can plan activities as a group. The district office also uses google calendar to schedule the school vans, the gym, auditorium, the computer labs, ipod cart, etc.
- projector- new this year! (Paula) projector for media room(Janet)
If we’re going to be expected to use some of these things in our classrooms, would people mind writing out websites and/or other inexpensive technology that we may be able to get our hands on? (Thanks, Karen Hull)
- itunes (Karen Hull) free download for mac or PC at: http://www.apple.com/itunes/?cid=OAS-US-DOMAINS-itunes.com
I’ve ripped all my music from cds I own onto my computer. I can do a quick easy search on itunes for the song I want when I want it. No more looking for the cd that contains the song I want or changing cds at all.
- Picasa (Karen Hull) free from Google
I use picasa to organize and edit my photos. Last year I stumbled upon a way to create collages and movies of pictures. The collages were an awesome way to make thank yous for special events and end of the year memory pages.
- www.spellingcity.com Teachers can set up a free account and then enter each week’s spelling words. Activate the week you are on, and students can practice online games or take an online test. Very easy to use. I linked it to my teacher webpage. Janet
- www.luminosity.com A great place to work on quick thinking activities with your class. Janet
- This summer I came across a Vocabulary site. Games are broken down into K-2 and 3-5. Many vocabulary skills like antonyms, prefixes, suffixes, synonyms, compound words, idioms, contractions, homophones, etc. Janet www.vocabulary.co.il/spelling/primary/letter-blocks-word-builder/
- http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ I’ve used Audacity (a free download) to record students. There are a lot of advanced components to it, but it’s easy to use to record any sort of audio. I’ve used it to record students playing, of course, but I could see it used to record students reading or other presentations. (Amanda) We have audacity in our computer lab. I use it for students to hear themselves read; practice fluent reading, expression, pacing, phrasing, etc. (Janet)
- GarageBand is an Apple product. I used it a lot over the last few years to record students, kind of like Audacity. It also has cool features you can use to record, mix, and even create loops of recorded material. There are also pre-recorded instruments you could use by themselves or with things you record yourself. (Amanda)
- abcteach.com - I use this website for printables (worksheets, calendars, etc.). It is a great teacher resource for all subject areas
- abcya.com - This website has a variety of games in all subject areas. It is great. (I assume this is Paula? (Yes, that’s me!)I think this is the site you used for your wordle-like hopes/dreams!) I’m sharing this with coworkers and have plans to use. (Janet)
- geogebra.org - This website is free and is similar to Geometer’s Sketchpad. It allows for a multitude of graphing features and can be used with an interactive board. Students can graph functions, compose functions, plot points,... (Guess who)
- http://nlvm.usu.edu/ - This website has a plethora of virtual manipulatives for students of all ages. I use some parts of this website to illustrate topics. I use other parts of this website for small labs/investigations when I take students to the computer lab. The tools are separated across age groups. I highly recommend this site to anyone for any math topic. (Rick)
- Yahoo Radio - Free and has a great music selection that can be played over the computer. (Rick)
- Grooveshark.com also FREE and great music selection. You can look up music and build a playlist of whatever you want through multiple genres of music (mood music while students are free writing?). Also, less likely than other sites to be blocked at school (Amanda)
- http://www.carlscorner.us.com/ (Paula) This is a great website of resources for elementary classrooms. There are great ideas for seasons, holidays, blends, fluency, word work, etc. I use it a lot to supplement our reading series.
- www.mrsrenz.net/mathsites.htm Mrs. Renz offers many math activities on her web site. Mrs. Renz is a fourth grade teacher with a phenomenal teacher web page and links. She has other activities and ideas at www.mrsrenz.net (Janet)
- www.worldmathday.com World Math Day is a fun world-wide competition! Students can participate against students around the world here, for as long as World Math Day competition is open! (Janet)
- http://www.poetry4kids.com/index.php
- http://gigglepoetry.com/
- http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19923
- http://rhymezone.com/ Poetry websites where students can read and enjoy poetry.
- www.drjean.org has cheers to use with your class. They are on printable cards you can put on a ring and have handy anywhere.(Janet)
- www.brainpop.com/ This is an animated educational site for kids. It has quick 5 -10 minute clips that help introduce or review topics. I use it for math, but there are also clips for science, social studies, English, technology, art, and music. The two characters are Tim and Moby, and they have a comical manner in how they present the information. The kids seem to enjoy them, and they are right on. They hit the most important points, and explain the information very clearly. There are also 10 multlple choice questions after each topic. I annotate over the top of the screen with my promethean board, and students use the activotes to answer the questions. You can get a trial to try, but after a certain period of time (1 week if I remember) your school would need to pay to use this site. (Abby)
- www.voki.com This site allows you to create an avatar and add your voice to it. You can choose the character, background, clothes, and bling you want for your character. You can then type your text and choose from a few accents or record your voice to the avatar. I put one on my blog, and there is a link below to view it. I also put one on my teacher webpage. Mine are both talking dogs. (Abby)
- http://www.voki.com/pickup.php?scid=4317415&height=267&width=200 (blog)
- www.pinterest.com This is actually something I use myself for crafts, recipes, etc, but students use it to make a virtual “pinboard” that contains live links to websites. Some are ideas they have, some are research. They have the option to name each pinboard and have as many as they want, so it helps them to be organized with their online surfing...it’s MUCH better than their usual MO of copying and pasting random URLs into Word documents! (Karen B)
- I videotape students when they give speeches, then we upload them to our private You Tube channel. Each student makes his own folder, so he can watch himself improve throughout the class (Karen B)
- We use Brain Honey (sort of like a free version of Moodle) for course management in some classes, like College Prep Writing (Karen B)
- http://investigations.terc.edu/library/Games_23.cfm - Online games and activities for grades 2-3 set up according to various strands with investigations math (Tony).
- Try classtools.net for a timer that counts down with music. Choose the musical selection that plays for 30 seconds or 2 minutes, and students can clean up to music playing while it counts down. There’s also a visual (green bar) that grows and moves across the screen so students can “see” how much time is left before the song is over! Works great with a promethean; the music is fun, too! Janet
- Has anyone tried http://kidblog.org/home.php? It is a great way to get you students keyboarding, talking about books online or sharing about what ever you want as a teacher! ~~ Mary
- My new favorite 4th grade blog http://love4thgrade.blogspot.com/ Check it out because there are alot of good ideas! ~~~Mary
Third Semester
REFLECTION ON USES OF TECHNOLOGY-The reflection should address why you chose this particular tool, what adaptations you will make the next time you use this tool and an overall feeling of how the students responded.
Karen Hull-I like the Dr. Jean website. I’ve printed the cheer cards and placed them in a hand held photo album. For the past week we’ve selected kids that we saw doing something good and introduced a Dr. Jean cheer. On her website I also found YouTube videos of some of her songs. (I’m liking those even better than what I had been creating using SMART software!) I chose this particular choice, because I use a lot of Dr. Jean music and was looking for a positive behavior intervention. The children loved the cheers and are singing it at different time of the day. I look forward to incorporating even more of them in the near future.
Karen Hull-I remembered hearing about “Quiet Tube” from a co-worker. I tried it out tonight watching You Tube videos. It took away all the junk that’s usually on the video screen. This will be a wonderful solution for when I want to show videos to the class. I don’t have to worry about what pops up on the side or bottom of the video. I found it by googling Quiet Tube. The actual address is quietube.com and it is a button that you drag to your web browser screen. Then you can click it on when you need it. What an awesome find! I haven’t tried it, but I was reading online that you can also type the word “quiet” infront of You Tube address and it will do the same thing. I choose to try it today, and that internet address is blocked at school. I plan to contact our IT department and get that block removed for the future. Sounds like a great find! Abby
Paula- I really like the Pinterest website. So many times, I discover ideas on the web that I want to use. Finding a way to organize them was very difficult, but this is a fun and visually pleasing way to remember things I want to try! (It has also helped in my wedding planning process :) )
Paula- I have dug into the Vocabulary website (www.vocabulary.co.il/spelling/primary/letter-blocks-word-builder/). I have noticed that this site offers a lot of supplementary activities for skills in our LEAD 21 reading curriculum. I’m always looking for computer lab activities that reinforce these skills, and this one is great. I like that you can choose different levels and that I can challenge my advanced students and supplement for my struggling students. Janet
I investigated the virtual manipulatives site http://nlvm.usu.edu . I have known about this site, but haven’t found a way to make it a part of my practice. I will try to use the bar chart to create our own graphs, since that is what we are studying. I would like students to investigate these either on the Promethean board during work time, or at our computer stations or computer lab. The ones I’m most interested right now are Fractions Naming, Money (making $1.00, making change, or adding for a total), and the Sieve of Eratosthenes to show multiples of numbers. I have never used a number line to show multiplication, and wonder what the students will think when they see this! 10/28 I used the spinner site as we were learning probability. The students liked it. It was on my teacher webpage, and a couple students said they went out there and got the spinner to spin 999,999 times! Janet
On Thursday, November 3, my class and I used the HPLL Cart. II found it very easy to set up, and the middle school librarian really did most of the footwork for me. I needed to request the cart from our Tech. Dept. and I needed to check out the media room. It was a free program offered by the Minnesota Historical Society on Logging in the 1900’s. It was so interactive; we all loved it. I wanted to use the cart once before meeting with a classroom from other places in the United States. I am trying to connect with a classroom in the Atlantic States, as our next reading unit is on this region. Our audio and video was perfect! I am glad to have tried it out. Janet
I tried the multiplication games at http://investigations.terc.edu/library/Games_23.cfm that Tony suggested. Math Cats really shows the arrays for multiplication facts through10X10, and I also liked Wade’s Workout and Knights of Math. I will try these in the lab with my class. My class did not like Math Cats; I think it was too tutorial for them. They did like the other two, and I liked that they were good multiplication practice in a game format. The students hardly knew they were working and learning. I added it to my math websites on my teacher website. Janet
I looked into Grooveshark that Amanda suggested since I thought that she would know a better music site than the Yahoo Radio site I was using. Boy was I right in taking her suggestion! I had each student select at least two different songs for a class play-list. I have a play-list set up for every class and this is the music we listen to when we are working. The students like it a lot more since they were the ones who chose the songs. I tell the students that we let the play-list play and we do not honor requests so that all songs are played equally. I would highly recommend setting up class play-lists on Grooveshark! It is free, easy to work with, and can be minimized on your computer all day. I also set up a play-list for me during my time in the room with no students :) Rick Glad you like it, Rick! -AS
I helped my superintendent share a document on Googledocs. He uploaded our November calendar as a spreadsheet (which is how it is saved on his computer), and he emailed to the whole staff. He really liked how it can be easily modified by anyone he shares it with, and updates don’t need to be re-sent to everybody all the time. Next, I’d like to show him how to use the Google Calendar to streamline things even more. It will be quite a transition because he generally just updates the calendar by changing dates and saving things where they fall in the year, but I think he will find it overall very helpful. -Amanda
I helped my 2nd grade team set up online collaboration documents for our RtI meetings. It is mostly used for recording our notes for students who we bring up during our student of concern meetings (SOC). I tried using Google Docs to set this up; however, teachers were able to access but not able to edit or re-save the files. Instead our district uses WindowsLive which seems to be similar to google docs. So I was able to set up our RtI spreadsheet and I have worked with my 2nd grade team on how to access, edit, and re-save the files. We now each have access to the file, at any time, and can edit/make changes as we see fit as long as we have access to the internet. In addition, I have also have been able to share large flipchart files (used for promethean board) with other grade level members. They are able to access my folder and save any files they want to use in the classroom. It does take a little extra time to retrieve these files, but it does take away the hassle of using a flash drive to move these files. -Tony
Wow, Tony! Way to bring your team along with a shared document. Janet
In addition, I also spent time finding apps for the iPod touch. Within the past few weeks, I have been fortunate to have 7 iPod touches to use within my classroom for one month. Last year I got the opportunity to learn more about the iPod touch through teacher training. Now this year I am excited to have the opportunity to use them with students.
I have found a few math apps as well as language arts apps. Students have been using them for math and reading but I am still searching for quality apps that will be of educational value. So far, I have found a few apps to practice addition and subtraction facts as well as telling time and money. A week ago, I spent time with students on how to care for and use these iPods. Many students knew what to do and have enjoyed using them. They have worked great but it has been hard finding the time to allow students to use them daily. My biggest challenge is making sure the iPods are charged and ready for students to use.
Most recently I found an app that keeps track of time while a student reads a passage. I am excited to use this app with students so they can practice fluency while working with the iPod. -Tony
Tabetha- One of the new pieces of technology that I have been able to use in my classroom is the Ipad. I have about 30 apps that I have downloaded for free from Itunes. The apps range from basic math games to reading games to matching games to an assistive talking app. The assistive talking app is called tap to talk. This app always the student to touch a button and the Ipad will speak what the button says. So if a student wants to eat an apple he/she could touch the “I want” button and then the “apple”. If the student needs to go to the bathroom he/she could press the right buttons to communicate that. I have really enjoyed this app as we are trying to find ways for a couple of students to be able to communicate effectively. Tabetha, I hope you are able to share that out with other special education teachers in our district. We have a few low/no verbal communication students at the intermediate school. Janet
Tabetha- Another piece of technology at I have used in my classroom is website News 2 You (www.news2you.n2y.com). You need a subscription in order to utilize this website but it has current news articles on it. It also has the news articles written at different levels so you can print the ones that work with your students. At the end of each article there are questions and activities that you can have your students complete. Also on the web site they have power points that you can access to enhance the learn process. The website also has a bunch of other resources like worksheets for all subject areas. It is great tool to have in order to meet some of my student’s needs in history.
Tabetha- I have not had an opportunity to use this piece of technology yet but I just received a Livescribe pen. I will be attending a training in the middle of January to learn more about the functions of this pen. I know that you can make pencasts with it, record lectures, or record a test that a student could then listen too. I am excite to try it out!
Mary - I have really worked on my Teacher Webpage to make it a spot for students to go and easily access sites for reading centers. I did not want to have the students google their own sites for this particular activity. During centers I felt like I was constantly guiding the students where to go online. Once students seemed to get the hang of getting to my website this has been a very self-guided activity for the students which makes them feel good and confident about themselves. For instance, this week students know they go to all the fact & opinion sites on the Reading Skills Link tab on my site. I have also attached documents on my webpage. I would like to continue to develop my webpage.
Abby - I introduced my 6th grade advisory team to a collaborative online document at Live@Edu(Office365). I was going to create this on Google Docs, but our tech. dept. responded that it would be easier to use WindowsLive as all staff members already had an account created for them. The tech. dept. offered to provide a how-to session for our team, but I played around with this as it is a little different than google docs, and I was able to share it with my team. I created an online spreadsheet where each advisor recorded notes from Parent Teacher Conferences. My team did not have experience with this piece of technology, and they were happy with its ease, that they could access it from any computer, and the fact that it automatically saved. :) We display this document on the promethean board. We are planning to use it at our Students of Concern meetings to keep records on kids that anyone can access. We are also using it in preparation for the next time we have conferences. It was fun to introduce something new to my team that they found helpful.
I also am a fan of Grooveshark.com that Amanda shared!
Fourth Semester, 2012
HPLL Cart - I continue to use this technology when the programs offered support our curriculum and when they are free. I also encourage other teachers to use it! My students love the interactive, engaging lessons!
IPOD - I went through training and am beginning to use them in the classroom. I need to find time to search for educational apps that are free and very good.
Wallwisher - We used wallwisher twice this year, and the students loved using new technology. We contacted a fellow student who moved to Oregon. We wrote thank yous to the presenters from the local energy company.
Power Point - I am teaching my students to put together a power point. Only 2-3 students had worked with it before. As students discover new features, we gather around their computer and they get to be the experts. There is a lot of excitement from the students.
