After looking at our books, we headed outside to find silly things that our apple could do (or just some other activities that involved apples). Some of the ideas that we came up with:
While preparing a presentation for an upcoming conference, I was searching for different or unique ways that Pinterest could be used by educators. While searching, I ran across this pin about a Virtual Book Club. Although this idea wasn't about using Pinterest, it caught my attention and I knew I wanted to revisit the idea and try to come up with a fun way to incorporate Pinterest into the concept of a virtual book club. I kept this idea in the back of my mind as I continued working on my presentation. As my daughter and I were working on a project for her preschool, things started to come together. Her class has been studying apples for the past couple of weeks and their family "assignment" was to think of silly ways to use an apple and then take pictures of some of those silly things. We searched our overloaded bookcase and looked at different books about apples and read the story Ten Apples Up on Top. After looking at our books, we headed outside to find silly things that our apple could do (or just some other activities that involved apples). Some of the ideas that we came up with: Pinterest could offer a great way for teachers to organize a class (or even school-wide) virtual book club. Either students could read the same book or everyone read a different book, and then the teacher could take pictures of the students reading or taking part in a related activity. Once a collection of images are acquired, they could be posted to Pinterest as a way of sharing with other educators or communicating with parents. This could also be a great activity for teachers during Reading Month! By posting and pinning ideas, it is a great way for teachers to collaborate with one another and share the great things their students are doing in the classroom. Want to follow my "Virtual Book Club" pinboard? Click here! I would love for you to be part of my virtual book club! After you read a book, write on your blog, web site, or create a pin sharing what book you read and any activities you did after you were done reading. Share your link below. All links will then be added to my Virtual Book Club pinboard.
0 Comments
As the busy holiday season is upon us, it is often difficult to find the time to devote to exploring new technology resources to implement in your classroom. Like last year, I would like to share some tools, resources and integration techniques with you this holiday season that you can use in your classroom that can help you utilize technology in your classroom. Starting this Thursday, December 1, I will share some of these things with you - something new each day for 12 days! The web site for this year's 12 Days of EdTech Cheer can be found here.
If you would like to receive daily e-mail notifications for these resources (or subscribe via RSS), please visit the Subscribe page. Once subscribed to e-mail notifications, you will receive an e-mail asking you to confirm your request to receive e-mail notifications. Please verify this request and then you are set to receive daily notifications filled with tools, resources and creative integration techniques! Otherwise, feel free to check the web site to view the latest updates. I encourage you to comment and add your thoughts on the resources presented each day (there is a comment section for each day). These days are filled with just some of my thoughts, ideas and collection of resources - I know that many of you are already doing awesome things in your classroom that others would love to hear about! Wishing everyone a happy holiday season! As the 1:1 Learning Initiative Program grows each year, we feel it is pertinent to provide teachers with training. As the district encourages, "anywhere, anytime, any device" access, the focus of the training is not on how to use a specific device, but rather how a device can be used to transform the teaching and learning process. For the 2011-2012 school year, both 6th and 7th grades will be completely 1:1 (with Dell netbooks) and 8th grade will have significant access to netbooks as well. For the training provided by the district, the focus was on providing core teachers with training. The training provided to the teachers was organized by myself (Technology & Media Integration Specialist) as well as Kelly McGee (District Media Specialist). The training was spread out over two and a half days and focused on how Project-Based Learning can be used to transform the learning environment while using a technology device as a learning resource. The complete outline of our training as well as materials and resources used and teacher-created lesson plans can be found here. In designing the training, we were not only focused on providing teachers with important information, but presenting it in a way that would help them remember the information and help them make connections and prompt ideas for projects they could do with their students. Every activity we planned was presented in a way that modeled a PBL approach or provided resources that could be used in a PBL environment. Some of the activities that were well-received by the teachers for their informational value and engagement level were:
A teacher participating in a student challenge of Angry Birds. As part of our high school extended year program this year, the eighth graders in our district are participating in an Algebra Camp. They have been presented with a variety of unique learning experiences that incorporate math and algebra concepts. The students have been very receptive to the concepts and activities presented and the math teachers participating are a fantastic group of teachers. The teachers planning the camp have asked different individuals or groups to come speak to small groups of students on how math is used in their job. Our district's Technology and Media Team (@dtownsend20, @lukevan12, and myself) was asked to be guest speakers and talk about how we use math in our jobs. After some discussion, we unanimously agreed there is a lot of math in technology, but so much of it is "behind the scenes" and we take for granted that we don't have to do much of it to make things work. So, we chose a technology resource that many students are familiar with and chose to highlight some of the math concepts present. So what is an engaging technology resource that many students are already familiar with? You got it, Angry Birds (thank you Chrome Web Store!). After searching online, I found some great reference articles here, here and here for how Angry Birds can be used in the classroom. We decided to use an interactive white board to engage the kids in the game and had them use the markers to predict shooting angles for the birds. Some of the other topics we discussed while playing were:
The students had great discussion while playing, but I think the most exciting part was when they got to challenge their teachers to a level! We had great feedback from the teachers who were able to watch and hope it provided the students with some background knowledge for when they participate in their water balloon launch at the end of Algebra Camp! Yesterday was day twelve of the 12 Days of (Ed Tech) Holiday Cheer. I hope that I was able to share some new resources with you that you can use for instruction or with your students. These twelve resources are just a sampling of some of my favorite Ed Tech resources - there are so many out there that it was hard to choose just twelve! In case you missed a day, feel free to go back and take a look at the twelve resources.
Day 1 - Word Clouds Day 2 - AnswerGarden Day 3 - Wallwisher Day 4 - Glogster Day 5 - VoiceThread Day 6 - Animoto Day 7 - Doodle Day 8 - Delicious Day 9 - Google Docs Day 10 - Google Sites Day 11 - Picnik Day 12 - Twitter If you learned about a new resource that you were able to use in your classroom, I would love to hear from you! You can contact me here or on Twitter. I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday! One of things that I have been meaning to do for a while is create a blog to share some of my thoughts and ideas about technology integration. I work with K-12 teachers to integrate technology into their curriculum so that it is seamless and not "something else they have to teach." Students today are digital citizens and rely on different technologies to communicate, collaborate, and be productive. Why not use the tools and resources they know and love to help teach them essential content? Times are changing in the education world where technology is becoming embedded in teacher's curriculum. The buzz words online and in schools are focusing on "21st Century Learning," but this time is now, not some place off in the future. It is our job as educators to prepare our students to be successful global citizens. As all educators are tackling this enormous responsibility at the same time, networking and collaborating are key components to creating a love of learning. I hope that I am able to share some ideas that may help you enhance your curriculum and become part of the digital revolution. Some things to think about: |
Like What You See? Show Me Some Love!Follow MeWould you like e-mail notifications? Enter your e-mail address below to subscribe.
Categories
All
Archives
December 2022
|