Search results matching tags 'technology' and 'teaching'

Twitter Tips & Resources for Teachers

Anonymous — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 22:45:00 GMT

My Thoughts on Social Media
- How I stay 'in the know' -

I was excited to wake up the other day and see that my Twitter video had been posted by my buddy, Jeff, on Edudemic. This made my day! If you've searched any topic relating to education and technology, I'm sure you've landed on his amazing site. I've been fortunate enough to have guest blogged for him a few times and been featured in his very first iPad magazine. I continue to be amazed by the quality and quantity of content he pushes out through his site.

click here to see this video on Edudemic

I made this Twitter video a while ago, so I was surprised and pleased to see it resurface recently. Thanks, Jeff! He also put together The Ultimate Twitter Guidebook for Teachers, and you can click here to connect to that fabulous resource. I also have a Pinterest board on social media that provides many fabulous resources, including one of my favorite pins that shares 10 Twitter Tutorials (some of which are very entertaining). I would love for you to connect with me on Pinterest - click here to follow.

The Bedley Brothers invited me on their show last week to speak about social media. I'm happy to share our chat with you. They are so entertaining and thoughtful. I was honored to be a guest on their show.

click here to see this post on the Bedley Brothers

Being Connected Matters

I feel as though Twitter has allowed me to stay connected to not only the top resources for education but also to new information coming out. I also receive all of my news from Twitter. I usually always hear it first... on Twitter.

I remember laying in bed one evening scrolling through Tweets and instantly telling my husband to grab the remote and turn on the television. This was the night the news reported finding Osama Bin Laden. My husband and I had a long conversation the next day about major events that have happened in our lifetime. We both discussed the tragic event of September 11. I remember being in my car, on the way to a doctor appointment. The radio news was my only outlet to the breaking story. Upon arriving at the doctor's office, I hesitated leaving my car wanting to hear the details. When I entered the office, everyone was gathered around the one television in the waiting area. I was not able to connect to my family until after I returned home that afternoon. Being connected has certainly changed the way I take in and discuss the news.

The students I teach will always be connected to information. This has not always been the case.

Recently, I was contacted by MSN to connect and share with their news content. Since, I'm already a reader, I thought this would be a great fit. I agreed to participate in their event #MSNKnowNow

How you Can Stay Connected & In the Know

Terry also shares wonderful information on his site, Teach Thought. One post by Kimberly Tyson caught my attention for a chart she put together.

click here to see this post on Teach Thought

Revision to this post:

Upon posting this live, I realized it immediately received several ReTweets and Tweets. However, I would love for these Twitter resources to move beyond the audience already on Twitter. In effort for all of us to grow, I encourage you to please share this post via email with at least one colleague. If each of us share it with one friend, imagine the positive growth of our PLN.

I think it is important for us to continue to connect, grow, and share so that our students can receive the benefits from wonderful teachers sharing incredible ideas. If you have a great idea, share it! You can share by blogging about it, pinning it, mentioning it on Facebook, telling about it at a conference, putting it in your school's newsletter, etc. There are many ways to share. I love the great ideas I've gathered from all of you... thank you!

Expand your Network:
Get started on Twitter by following these fine educators: click here

Here are some of my Michigan teaching friends to connect with and learn from : click here

Disclaimer: a portion of this post was sponsored by MSN. Please click here to read more.

The new MSN delivers unparalleled speed and coverage in an easy-to-use, touch-enabled format on Windows 8 and Internet Explorer 10, iPhone and Android.

I'd love to connect with you on Twitter - click here!

play roulette online in Canada

I've been nominated for A Bammy Award for Elementary Teacher of the Year. I would appreciate your support by clicking here to leave a comment as your vote for of support. Thank you all so much for being readers of this site and friends that I enjoy connecting with throughout the year!

After the NSTA Conference

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 17:29:42 GMT

I’m at the airport, waiting for my flight to Charlotte. I’ve a long layover (about 3 hours), so I thought I’d start to put down my impressions. LOVED San Antonio – friendly city, great people. Gotta give a shout-out to Gabriel, our cab driver (he phoned us at 3:15 am to make sure we woke [...]

A Free Search Engine (@Gooru) for Learning! Try it...

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 13:00:00 GMT

A Safe, Refined Search Engine for Education

The theme of 'organization' seems to be popular in my posts lately. I find myself gravitating towards resources that are easy to use. With so many available options, I don't have the time to learn the ins and outs of every resource.

After seeing someone share Gooru on Twitter, I decided to check it out. I believe it was my friend, Joan Young (@flourishingkids), who shared the resource. Sometimes I come across a resource that inspires me to blog about it. Gooru is one such resource. I wanted to share it with my readers because I for the simple reason that I think it's really cool!

What is Gooru?

Gooru is a search engine designed for education. As you can see in the screen shot above, I typed in 'fractions' into the search bar. Then, many resources began to populate on my screen. In an instant, I had fraction resources in the following forms:

- videos

- interactives

- exams

- textbooks

- handouts

- lessons

- slides

Why it Rocks:

Gooru allows you to refine your search by categories. Then, once you've found fantastic goodies, you can save them in your collections to keep safe for next time.

I just recommend you give it a try... think of a topic, enter it in the search bar, and see what is available. You can click here to try classic Gooru or click here to try their new interface.

Want to Smile? Watch this Video (1 minute and 24 seconds)

Interactive Math Practice with @IXLLearning that is Common Core Aligned!

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 13:00:00 GMT

Online Support for Pre-K - 8th

Plus Algebra & Geometry

- click here to try IXL -

I've been using IXL for the past several months with my own two children, Jacob (4) and Riley (8). As a parent, I love how organized the site is to use. I do not have time to teach myself how to navigate a site prior to signing up. That is the reason I decided to go with IXL. I knew from using it in the past, the testimonials from others, and from several of my teaching colleagues that the site would be beneficial, but I needed to know, as a parent, that it would be easy to use. You can click here to see how great it is!

When IXL contacted me about being a sponsor, I couldn't be more excited. I had used their site in the past as a teacher and loved it. Because I believed in their product, I agreed to partner with them. I receive several emails a day for sponsor requests, but I have to be very selective with who I decide to partner with for Kleinspiration. I must stay true to my readers and only share quality resources that I stand behind. Though I share many resources on my blog, I only honor long-standing partnerships with companies that I feel great about. I believe that is why my long-standing partnerships continue to grow into trusting relationships. Because I hand-pick my sponsors, I fully support them in the fullest. I've met with most of them in person, had dinner with them, traveled across the country to visit them, used them with my own children and in my classroom, and I continue chat with them all of the time. My sponsors truly are my friends. I only endorse companies I firmly believe in for education.

Even Pre-Readers can Practice Independently!

Besides having each skill and standard organized, IXL offers meaningful practice for both of my children. It's hard to find interactive practice that Jacob, my 4 year old, can use independently. Though there are a few wonderful apps and websites that he loves to play on, I wanted a site where I could track how long he practiced and what his areas of strength and weakness were.

My Kids Love to Practice & Earn Virtual Awards

Riley is more interested in tracking her progress, but she does enjoy collecting tokens of pride as she completes her tasks. Jacob, however, is all about the prizes. He's driven by advancing levels. For him, this math practice is more like active game play.

As my children practice more, they receive more treasures to discover in IXL. You should see Jacob's face light up when he's earned a new award. Though I am a firm believer in intrinsic motivation, there is something that my kids enjoy about these virtual awards. They view them as goodies within their 'game.' It reminds me of when they go to the Mushroom House on Mario to gain items for their characters. They go crazy over these little treasures.

I Can See Exactly What My Kids Need

Signing into my parent account allows me to see a number of items related specifically to my child. I can see how long they've practiced, where they excel, and where they need additional support. The reports are beautiful, easy to read, and offer so much insight into my child's learning.

Know What you Need & Master the Skills

Because IXL identifies the "Trouble Spots" in your child's learning, you can target those areas so your child can grow. I love that I can look in my kids' reports and determine what areas they should continue working on in the program. The best part is that I don't have to determine this by myself. The reports automatically identify the skills my children need. This way, we can click on those specific target areas and allow for more practice. I've found that my kids do not mind the additional practice because the more they work on a specific skill, the easier the questions become. Initially, they were frustrated but that is because the questions were challenging - hence why they needed the additional support. Plus, the more they have success with the program, the more virtual awards they earn. They love this part!

As a Teacher, I Love Knowing my Kids are

Mastering the Standards they're Taught in School

If Riley or Jacob needs support on a specific standard, I can go directly into IXL to work on that topic with them. For example, if Riley's teacher says that she needs support with adding three digit numbers, we can find that strand and work specifically on that skill. She likes working at her own pace, from the comfort of home, and getting immediate feedback. Additionally, we can work on skills she's mastering so that she can advance to higher levels of learning.

I'm able to differentiate my children's learning. If Riley or Jacob is excelling above grade level, I can challenge them on higher grade levels. On the same note, if they're struggling in an area, I can work at a lower grade level to support their understanding.

See for Yourself & Connect with IXL

Please click here and get started exploring IXL

You can click here to follow IXL on Twitter, too.

iFake Text - Having fun with Dialogue!

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 20:15:00 GMT

Create a Fake Screenshot of Text Dialogue between Characters

I ran across this fun web tool last night on Pinterest. I linked the resource back to Tammy's site where she shares wonderful technology resources for the classroom. You can click here to see more examples of using this fake texting feature in your classroom from visiting Tammy's site. Tammy also walks you through how to use this web tool. It's very simple.

I created the above text screenshot in a matter of minutes. It was easy to do and you have the option to email your image once it's completed. You can also share it via Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc. Users have the option to embed the HTML code, too.

Users do not need a smart phone to create the images. The tool works directly from a computer. It just looks like it was developed from an iPhone. I imagine there are several creative uses for such tool for all grade levels and content areas. I think this could serve as a quick exit slip or an activity for someone to do if they finish early. I know my students would enjoy creating conversations between fictional characters, historical figures, and famous people we study.

One really interesting idea I'd like to explore with this tool is the idea of developing character voice. Having students develop dialogue in the voice of their character would be powerful for their writing. I believe this activity would encourage learners to chose specific vocabulary to fit the time period, select strong verbs to convey precise action, and to develop mood to elicit proper tone between the characters.

{click here to try your own text message}

Computer Coding for Kids!

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 10:00:00 GMT

Coding is Cool!

A parent stopped me during a recent social at our school to tell me how excited her son was to program an app. While we aren't programming apps in class, I'd sure like to learn how! A friend of mine and I have been discussing the idea about creating a Coding Club at our school. We will not start out on iOS development but rather coding for computer programming. I'm not sure if we will start with Ruby, Java, C+, HTML, etc... I have a few friends who are fluent in several languages. I'm counting on their advice and guidance. I know this will happen, soon (if we believe it will happen - it will), and I'm very excited about the potential this will have for students.

I shared a series of inspiring videos in class prior to our trip to The Henry Ford Museum. The students enjoyed our morning of investigating inventions. This 'lesson' was not planned. In fact, it was student driven based on the spontaneous conversations the students generated. As the class began to discuss certain topics, I was inspired to facilitate their chats by sharing brief ideas I've learned through my PLN on Twitter.

The children loved the videos we shared throughout the day. They asked that I email their parents and share the videos so they could watch them at home, too. Thus, I shared this email with my students' parents:

Dear Parents,

In preparation for our day of learning tomorrow at Henry Ford, we discussed inventions today in class. We also discussed how these inventions helped to change our lives through the decades.

Because we will visit the Your Place in Time section of the museum, I wanted to give the children a brief background of social culture during the recent decades. We watched brief (2-4 minute clips) of Leave it to Beaver, The Brady Bunch, Saved by the Bell, and Good Luck Charlie. We found common themes connecting each of the popular television shows. We also discussed the differences in styles of furniture and clothing.

The children especially enjoyed when we began discussing modern inventions. We traveled back in time to see what it would be like during the early 1900’s. They class enjoyed seeing a brief segment of Henry Ford’s PBS show: http://youtu.be/Vcr3YQK0eEY. They loved seeing the horseless carriage drive down Grand River! During the segment, Ford stressed his desire to make a car that would be affordable for the general population. We connected this to Job’s and Wozniak’s idea of building a computer for the average household. We pulled up a few images of the original Apple computer. Then, they viewed the first few minutes of Job’s iPhone Presentation in 2007: http://youtu.be/c_m2F_ph_uU. If you haven’t seen this, it’s quite interesting. The children thought it was neat hearing the audience’s reaction to the iPhone features. These were mind blowing features in 2007 and helped shape what we know as the smart phone today. They thought this was so cool.

So, of course, I had to inspire them to think what the future could hold for technology. There are a few videos that I always enjoy sharing with friends and family. If you haven’t seen these, I encourage you to take a brief moment to see the potential they offer.

a. http://youtu.be/oWu9TFJjHaM (you can pre-order this technology for $149)

b. http://youtu.be/jZkHpNnXLB0 (second version) - amazing!

I asked the children what they wanted to be when they grew up. Most stated that they were not sure what they wanted to do when they got older. I assured them this was alright and that the jobs they have may not even exist yet. Someone put this video together that shares information regarding social trends today: http://youtu.be/YmwwrGV_aiE. It’s a 4 minute clip that contains several interesting statistics (embedded below). The kids also enjoyed seeing the possibility of being able to create such apps and sites: http://youtu.be/To9S-iunY0c (video just released).

Have a fantastic evening,

Erin Klein

I decided to share the email with you since the resources (videos) are some of my favorites. After our trip to the museum, the children were so inspired to get started creating and sharing their ideas.

I know that integrating new literacies, such as coding, is important. However, I'm not sure how others are integrating this into their practice. That's why I'm asking - YOU. Personally, as a mom, I'd love for my son and daughter to have the exposure to learn how to code, especially at the elementary level. As a teacher, this area is foreign to me. I may as well teach German. However, I'm 100% willing to learn. In fact, I think this may be a benefit to my second graders. We could learn together. I'm curious how many of my friends (readers) are doing such exciting things in their schools or classrooms. I'm hoping you share your ideas so they can benefit everyone. Even if you've ran across a blog post or resource, please share your finds in a comment. Thanks!!

A Push for Coding for Kids

Cargo-Bot: an App

At the state technology conference this past weekend, I learned of Cargo-Bot during @AdamBellow's session, AppAttack. It's free in iTunes: click here.

Description

Presenting Cargo-Bot. The first game programmed entirely on iPad® using Codea™

Cargo-Bot is a puzzle game where you teach a robot how to move crates. Sounds simple, right? Try it out!

★ Beautiful retina graphics

★ Fiendish puzzles

★ A game about programming, programmed entirely on iPad

★ Record your solutions and share them on YouTube

★ Learn more about how it was made by searching for Codea on the App Store

Scratch

There is also Scratch, a site developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab.

About Scratch: (from the website)

Scratch is a programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share your creations on the web.

As young people create and share Scratch projects, they learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.

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Do your kids program? What tools are you using?

Please share your ideas in a comment!

Use @MentorMob for your Technology Centers!

Anonymous — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 19:11:00 GMT

Greetings!

I’m Kate Peila and I blog about technology integration for student engagement and teacher sanity over on my blog, Purely Paperless. I have been a long-time reader and lurker over here at Kleinspiration. Erin always has amazing ideas and resources for classroom teachers. I am thrilled and honored to be sharing with you today.

As a primary teacher, I find that center time can be a bit overwhelming. While I am trying to provide a small group of students with individualized reading instruction, the rest of my little darlings are engaging in independent work time activities. My greatest struggle during this block of time is ensuring that my center time activities relate to the standards that I am addressing in my classroom and provide my students with meaningful learning experiences.

In no center is this challenge greater than in my technology center. I have two separate computers in my classroom that students utilize during their center rotations, so the challenge of finding, curating, and managing resources for my students to utilize can be overwhelming when there are so many other things on my plate. If I am being totally honest, which I always am, this was always one of the first centers that I would let slide if things got crazy.

Enter MentorMob….

With MentorMob, I can create customized learning playlists to embed into my classroom website or blog. I can embed links, videos, PDF documents, challenge questions, and written prompts directly into a playlist. Since I am able to handpick all of the resources and activities in each playlist, I know that my students are engaging in activities that pertain to the standard at hand and are developmentally appropriate.

Create your own Playlist on MentorMob!

So, I want to share with you a few ways that I have used MentorMob to liven up my classroom literacy center planning.

When I plan my centers, I always sit down at with my pacing guide and lesson plan book to look at which specific skills and standards I will be addressing in my instruction for the week. I try to switch my playlists out weekly- though it is sometimes only twice a month- to align with whatever skill we are working on in our reading or content area block. When I am looking for activities for my playlists, I always check the following resources:

1. Online Learning Games from our Curriculum

2. Youtube

3. Pinterest

4. Technology Rocks, Seriously blog

5. Kleinspiration

6. The Google

I try to select a wide variety of resources to include in my playlist. For instance, I like to start with a video or lesson tutorial to reinforce my classroom instruction, followed by a game or two, a virtual learning experience, and a writing prompt.

A quick hint: If you choose to embed a Youtube video into your playlist, be sure to select the “sharing” link from the Youtube site instead of the general URL. If you choose the sharing link, you won’t see any of the comments- just the actual embedded video. PERFECT!

Another great source for activities is to utilize existing playlists within MentorMob. Directly within their website, you can search for playlists that have already been created that address similar skills. MentorMob’s tagging system makes it very easy to find similar or connected resources. This can be a huge timesaver. I don’t always use the entire playlist, but I can often find one or two new resources to use in my own playlists.

Once, I have completed a playlist, I simply embed the playlist into a page on my classroom blog.

Here is where the beauty of MentorMob really lies- easy differentiation!

Up to this point, as a general management tool, I have always color-coded center activities so that my students know which activities to complete. In this situation, with the option to customize the color of the playlist frame as seen below, you can easily differentiate learning activities. Now, I simply assign each child a specific color each quarter -at this point, either green or gray- and students know which playlist to choose.

A final bonus to utilizing MentorMob for during center times is that any playlists that you create are always stored in your MentorMob account for future use. No more frantically searching through your bookmarks or saving Word documents with links.

For more tips on utilizing technology in the classroom to maximize student engagement and increase your productivity, please be sure to visit my blog, Purely Paperless.

Thanks!

Awesome Apps for EDU:

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:30:00 GMT

Search for Apps easily with Google

I enjoy searching for new apps to play around with and use with my two children and my students. Of course, the iPad is far more beneficial than just simply playing with apps. However, just like with reading, sometimes it's fun to just indulge.

Recently, I saw on a great iPad blog that you can search for apps using Google. I actually had to first click 'more.' Then I could scroll down to click 'applications.' After that, I was able to just type in 'math' or 'phonics' to get a list of choices to populate. You could certainly still use the App Store search feature, too.

Learning in Hand

If you're looking for a great mobile learning blog, I highly recommend stopping by Tony Vincent's site: Learning in Hand (click here). He's the real deal. My district brought Tony in for a day of learning a few years ago. I think that is where I really started falling in love with technology. He showed how you could naturally integrate the tools to seamlessly compliment and enhance your current pedagogy. I LOVE his work!

Scroll through the list below for a few of my Favorite Apps for Education

- please leave a comment with some of your favorites, too -

The Internet as an External Hard Drive

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 17:02:02 GMT

This links to an interesting idea – that the Internet is essentially acting as an external hard drive – and, it may be getting closer to INTERNAL than you think. For much information, it is less important that we know a factoid, than know how to find a fact. Even more important is what we [...]

Being An Older Teacher

Anonymous — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 12:45:24 GMT

I was talking to someone at school this week, and we were comparing notes about teaching in our later years. She has been at this school, and in the same system, for some time. I, on the other hand, spent the first 15 years in the same system, then bounced around, in one state or [...]