Search results matching tag 'ed tech'

4 free tools for teachers to manage digital clutter

Anonymous — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 18:00:54 GMT

Each month, I invite a different educator to share a few classroom management tips that have worked in his or her classroom. It’s part of a blog post series called Real Teachers, Real Tips. My goal is to feature a large cross-section of teachers from all different parts of the world, at a wide range of grade [...]

The data doesn’t “prove” that technology increases student learning. So what?

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 19:13:26 GMT

Quick aside: A big thanks to everyone who has emailed, messaged on Facebook, etc. to ask how we’re doing after Superstorm Sandy. We really appreciate your thoughts and prayers. Our part of Brooklyn is just fine: our biggest problem is that we still don’t have subway service and the gas shortages are serious, so it’s tough [...]

The website/app EVERY teacher can use

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 19:47:26 GMT

Voicethread is my absolute favorite classroom technology tool because it so amazingly versatile and has an almost limitless number of uses. I share it with every single teacher I coach and I thought I’d share it with you all, too. Not only will you love it, but your students will, too. What makes Voicethread awesome? [...]

5 apps that encourage social play and collaboration

Anonymous — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 04:40:26 GMT

Today’s guest post is by Dave Wingler, an American teacher living in Japan. Through his blog TopEducationalApps.com, Dave explores innovative teaching methods for using apps, smart phones, and tablets in the classroom to encourage social and collaborative play. Dave has written this post on behalf of INKids (an Australian company that makes apps for kids) and [...]

Karen's Korner

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 12:23:00 GMT

Karen's Korner: Using Tech to Teach and Learn is a new Ed Tech blog from Karen Wright-Balbier, a wonderful integration technology specialist. This very first post covers 5 great iOS apps for alphabet writing practice. These reviews have a nice written blurb to go along w/ a video.

I highly recommend checking out Karen's Korner by clicking here!!!

Using Student Blogs as Showcase Portfolios

Anonymous — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 14:12:00 GMT

I am a huge advocate of blogs as ongoing, reflective portfolios of student work. After using them with students for the last six years in a variety of formats in three different schools, I believe they are the perfect container for sharing, organizing and reflecting on student learning.

For starters, they are so amazingly easy to use. I’ve used blogs with students as young as third grade and it really only takes one lesson for them to understand the basics. Once they get the hang of posting, organizing their work in categories is a breeze and adding links and media are natural next steps. Plus, the inherent organizational structure (categories and tags), if used properly, makes it extremely easy and quick to find anything. The hardest part is ensuring that students remember to organize their posts.

In addition to the ease of use, the accessibility of connecting with other learners around the world, since work is online and easy to comment on, makes blogs a straightforward tool for building a global classroom. Considering how often our students move (usually every two years) the portability of a blog is another strong point. It couldn’t be easier to export a WordPress blog from one school’s MU to another or to the online wp.com. Finally, there’s the fact that blogs are so popular in the “real world” that they have immediate relevance to today’s media landscape.

Read Using Student Blogs as Showcase Portfolios

Doodlebuzz: Drawing News in the Classroom

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 19:25:00 GMT

How many of you have a newspaper delivered to your school or classroom daily, weekly, monthly? With Doodlebuzz, you can access hundreds of newspapers from around the country based on whatever curriculum or topic you want.

According to the web site, "DoodleBuzz is a new way to read the news through an experimental interface that allows you to create typographic maps of current news stories."

Read Doodlebuzz: Drawing News in the Classroom

How to Plan a Virtual Field Trip

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 18:45:00 GMT

“Enjoy your field trip to the state park. Due to the budget, there won’t be any field trips at all next year," my principal said to us during our team meeting last week.

Budget cuts, the need for an ever-increasing number of chaperones per student, and about a million other obstacles educators face every day are making class field trips a thing of the past. It’s a shame, because allowing our students to discover and explore in an environment outside of the classroom can be an amazing way to inspire a love of learning that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

We can whine and complain about not being able to take field trips, but once we’re done with that – what’s next? Virtual field trips can give students a bit of the “field trip experience” without the need for funding, permission slips, and chaperones.

Here are some quick pointers on how to make virtual field trips an exciting and useful part of your lesson plans.

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How to Use Cell Phones as Learning Tools

Anonymous — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 17:31:00 GMT

Regardless of your school’s cell phone policy, the reality in most schools is that students have phones in their pockets, purses, or hoodies. Why not get these tools out in plain sight and use them for good and not evil?

Here are some easy to use strategies to use cell phones in the classrooms.

Why Use Cell Phones as Learning Tools
Cell phones are different from a computer lab filled with computers or a cart of netbooks because the cell phone is personal technology. Most students have invested a great deal of time learning about the features of the cell phone, how to navigate and the limitations of the phone. The other reason to really rethink the cell phone debate is because learning on the cell phone can extend beyond the walls of the school or the confines of a class period.

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Why Ed Tech Starts with Teachers

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 19:36:00 GMT

A computer for every student in school sounds like the ideal educational system. The possibilities for educational exploration would be endless.

However, implementing this type of learning environment cannot be rushed and should require strategic planning.

Two Types of Ed Tech Approaches

As the pedagogy of one-to-one laptop computers continues to grow at a geometric rate across the nation, two types of schools are emerging.

Read Why Ed Tech Starts with Teachers