Ideas for Using Technology Grant Money for Classroom?

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Permalink Reply by Grace Gorman on September 7, 2011 at 6:19pm

You didn't mention your grade level.  If you have younger students or English Language learners, Brainpop has super resources.

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Permalink Reply by Melissa Johnston on September 8, 2011 at 10:01am

Thanks! I teach 6th grade LA and we did get Brainpop. The kids have enjoyed it so far.

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Permalink Reply by Amy Dobbins on September 7, 2011 at 6:49pm

Do you have microphones for each student to pair with your netbooks?  Making podcasts, storybooks with audio or avatars with audio is motivating and engaging for students.  How about a video camera?  Students could plan out a storyboard with a script around a language arts topic. Good luck with your grant!

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Permalink Reply by Melissa Johnston on September 8, 2011 at 10:02am

These are wonderful ideas. Thanks. I do need microphones, but do have access to a video camera. I wonder if I could ask for a web cam?

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Permalink Reply by Amy Dobbins on September 9, 2011 at 8:15pm

Don't iPads have a web cam?  This would be a way to record and then manipulate the video with different apps.  I also heard about someone who wrote a grant for an iPad and included in the grant gift cards to iTunes!  I thought this was very smart!

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Permalink Reply by R Lagana on September 8, 2011 at 9:38am

You may want to try for some Kindles. I'm a reading teacher who works with small groups of students and I purchased 9 of these last year. We use them primarily to preview new books to order through the library, Scholatic Books, or individually. They're generally well received. I ended up by another 9 for members of my Language Arts Department because they wanted to be able to cart home piles of books to review and read without physically taking them home. Some of the benefits to purchasing on a Kindle are ease and cost per copy. When you buy a 9.99 ebook you're allowed to drop up to 5 copies of it onto other Kindles. So, when the LA Dept. wants to review a book, we need only buy two copies of it for all 9 of us to review. Kindle batteries last a very long time too. Most recharging only needs to happen once a month. They've held up well and been reliable so far.

 

If you're interested, I've more information on how I've used them on a posted blog.

http://readingteacherct.blogspot.com/2011/02/kindles-can-do.html

 

Ralph

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Permalink Reply by Melissa Johnston on September 8, 2011 at 10:04am

Great idea! Thanks so much for the reply. I'm interested in your blog and will check it out.

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Permalink Reply by Melissa Johnston on September 8, 2011 at 12:39pm

Enjoyed your blog! So, the real math worked out to less that two bucks a book, which makes the most (sorry) cents to anyone running a classroom and promoting reading. :)

 

I couldn't comment on it from school because we are blocked from that here, but kudos to you on using Kindles. I may coordinate with my librarian on this.

Melissa

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Permalink Reply by R Lagana on September 8, 2011 at 4:06pm

Melissa,

 

No problems on the reply. I understand about work. We're fairly lucky because most sites closed to other schools are left open for us. I think speaking with the librarian is a good idea. There are drawbacks to Kindles. I don't see them getting signed out because they of course could get damaged or lost. So, this means reading a book from them has to happen in school and then the difficulty becomes getting back to your page when someone else has read from the same Kindle.

 

I don't experience this issue in my room because I assign only a few students to a Kindle across all my groups and have them record on paper the "page" they left off with or the location number is no page is available.

 

Another route to try could be eBooks from Follet. They'll allow kids to read a book from a computer, laptop, or their iTouch. We don't allow iTouch's on the school wi-fi but the Follet books can be checked out on all of the aforementioned platforms from home too. I know my sons like reading from the tiny iTouch screen. The different here is I do not believe you can get multiple copies for one price. I could be wrong. It's worth having your librarian see about that.

 

Oh and one last idea. You might get some very well received response in purchasing classroom clickers.Our school uses these in many content classes. Essentially each student is given a response pad with numbers and letters on it which they can use to select what they believe is the correct response to a question displayed on a Smartboard or LCD. (The teacher makes the multiple questions up beforehand.) This allows a teacher to see instantly how many students understand a math problem or know an answer and if it's a high percentage, then not waste time on it. If it's a low percentage, then s/he knows there's more work to do. The kids like it because it's somewhat participatory. Here's a link to ONE of many places selling these things. I do not know which brand we use. I do not use them in my reading room.

 

http://www.irespond.com/

 

Ralph

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Permalink Reply by Mary E Meisinger on September 9, 2011 at 9:14pm

I have found that 'clickers' are a great tool in any curricular area.  User friendly at all grade levels and for the most part, low maintenance. 

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