I came across this site last year and thought it would be helpful in the implementation of STEM in some of our buildings. This site provides lesson plans, resources, and activities to use in your classroom. There are some great ideas for any grade level and I hope this site can be helpful in your planning.
Kidblog is a very simple blogging tool which is made by a teacher for teachers. I used this tool last year to facilitate discussion and interaction within my reading group time. My book club groups would post questions they had while they were reading. Then members of their group would view their questions and respond within the comments section. Students then would have the opportunity to reply back to their comments as they are posted. This created great reflection and discussion between the members of each group. It reinforced higher level questioning, and challenged student's to support their answers with text support.
This slide show and videos are a great introduction to Kidblog:
Here are a couple other ways you could implement Kidblog in your classroom:
Use it as a portfolio to collect student learning.
Reading Station:
Have them answer the questions listed on each "Wonder of the Day" on Wonderopolis.
Personal blog to share things they are learning while inquiring about a topic.
Commenting on other students work
Digital Notebook for a subject area or a leadership notebook
I know there are tons of different ways to use this resource, and please share any of your ideas in the comment area below.
Here is a quick intro to SMART document cameras. These are very easy to use, but hopefully this video and document will make it even easier to get started. Please post ideas of how you are using them in the classroom in the comments section below.
I was asked some questions about math resources for the secondary level. They specifically were looking for things they could use with their SMART Board to enhance their instruction. I have put together a list of some helpful tools that will come in handy for teaching math at the secondary level.
Websites with great math instruction tools:
Illuminations NCTM - This site has many activities that are prepared for you and can be used on your SMART Board or projector.
As teachers we are always sending things to offset, or sending a tech request form. It takes time to go to the new item button and click through all the dropdowns. Today I will show you a trick I learned to pin that button on your menu at the top of the screen. I hope this will help save you some time over the course of the year.
Each year I aim to stay more organized with my lesson planning. I have tried lesson planning books, binders, Microsoft Word templates, and plain old notebooks. Each method has advantages and disadvantages. The most frustrating part is I have never been able to keep handouts or assessments attached with my unit plans. I am always digging through folders and cabinets, or searching through my folders on my computer. A friend of mine recommended Evernote. He used it to help him stay organized by sending emails to various folders (tags) in Evernote (email instructions). This helped him keep important information without clogging up his inbox. This discussion led to how Evernote could be used as a lesson planning tool.
So what is Evernote? Evernote is an online notebook that has many great features. The notebook allows you to tag each note so you can assign it a tag like - Reading unit 1. This will allow you to later search for this note and all other notes that are tagged for this unit. Evernote allows you to upload documents and attach them to notes. In lesson planning this would be useful to upload tests, handouts, and other documents to the unit plan and have everything in one place. You can also update these documents so they are ready to be used for the following year using these instructions. Another handy feature allows you to clip webpages, or portions of webpages and attach them to your unit/lesson plan. Now you can keep all those handy online resources organized as well. Evernote lets you capture pictures, audio, and scan in documents to attach to your notes as well. Since Evernote is web based you can access it on your cell phone and home or work computer. These features will allow you to keep all of your content grouped with units or lesson plans and access it from anywhere.
I did some searching online and found a few examples of how some educators organize their Evernote lesson planning notebooks.
Another great post is by David Andrade. He shares about Evernote and a few other resources he uses to stay organized and paperless.
The third resource explains how Evernote can be used beyond planning, but actually before, during, and after lessons. Michael Cruz-Evernote in the Classroom
Many teachers are beginning to plan how they will communicate with parents throughout the year. Email is an easy and effective way to provide parents with information and and important documents. If you choose email you will need to set up a contact group with your parents information within it. This video explains a quick and simple way to use Excel to collect the information and how to copy and paste that into Microsoft Outlook.
The new school year is starting. Students will be entering your classroom in less than a week and there is still so much to do. Many of you will want to start using your SMARTBoard immediately, but you will notice some minor changes to the toolbar and SMART Notebook software. I have included some links with videos or cheatsheets to help you learn some of the new features. I will also be providing SMART Board refresher courses during the month of October (or as needed).
1. Here is a link to basic SMART Board skills and navigation resources. This link will take you to the SMART website and allow you to navigate at your own pace through some of the basic features of SMART Notebook Software. - SMART Training Resources
2. Quick look at some of the new features in SMART Notebook 11 -Toolbar, adding audio to images, and Activity builder
I am very excited to start my new job helping teachers integrate technology into their classrooms. I am by no means an expert, but hope to be a support to everyone throughout the year to enable them to use technology to enhance their instruction.
Here are a couple housekeeping things:
Please subscribe to my blog. I will be posting weekly updates on tools or websites that would be beneficial to all teachers K-12. If you subscribe then you will get an email update when I have updated this site.
Please feel free to comment on posts with other resources or ideas that I may have missed.
If you want to schedule me to be in your classroom please click on the red "book appointment" button in the upper right hand corner. This will give you a list of available times that I will be able to work with you.
Please see attached Google calendar which lists upcoming training opportunities. As of right now every Thursday I will be leading a technology training that will cover a broad scope of topics.
This blog will be a tremendous resource to us all as I try to keep you up to date with upcoming trainings and resources available.
