If you could show off one of the ways you've used technology in your classroom, which one would it be?

Coming up in January I am running a section of our faculty inservice. I have a large chunk of time to use in any way I want. Part of my intro presentation will be demonstrating how teachers at my school (St. Johnsbury Academy) effectively use technology in their classrooms. In that same section I would also like to show off how teachers at other schools are using technology in their classrooms.

What should I present to my fellow faculty members? What's the coolest thing you've done?

Also -- if you had an hour to teach your faculty anything you want about instructional technology, what would you teach them?

Tags: presentation

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Permalink Reply by Eve Heaton on February 4, 2009 at 8:07pm

I really have liked filming my fourth grade students and uploading videos to TeacherTube and our blog (www.mrsheatonsclass1.blogspot.com). We started with the Everyday Math program and it has really helped students and parents review steps when they can watch a demonstration at home.

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Permalink Reply by Jane Hake on February 7, 2009 at 12:31pm

We've watched your videos on teachertube! We love seeing the demonstrations/tutorials by other kids our age. The students actually watch the demonstrations closer when done "on the big screen" than if they had a classroom peer showing the same thing live... Thanks! And I guess now I have to join teachertube and learn how to post video there.

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Permalink Reply by ddeubel on February 7, 2009 at 3:31pm

One thing I'd like to brag about is my Dave's ESL Bot. I took Dr. Wallace's conception and repackaged it. Now students can talk with a "bot" without typing (which is hard for young students or any ESL student). Great conversations which can be printed and role played in class too. Just click Question or Replies at the bottom for endless fun talking to Dave.

David
http://eflclassroom.ning.com

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Permalink Reply by ddeubel on June 21, 2009 at 3:26am

Dave is going to die at the end of the month. I'm trying my darndest to keep him alive but unfortunately they are demanding a ransom's fee to keep him going in the future (75/mo) and I don't see anyone will to advertise for this cost.

I will come up with an alternative bot and will post for teachers. In the meantime, console Dave HERE.

Cheers,

David
http://eflclassroom.com

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Permalink Reply by Amy Capelle on June 21, 2009 at 3:20pm

Effective use of technology includes planning for effective use of the tools. I would spend the hour discussing how to incorporate technology tools into lessons/units that use constructivist theories or project-based learning all specifically tied to curriculum standards. I would find some GOOD examples of educational use of wikis and blogs and deconstruct the lesson so they can see HOW the tools changed the learning.

I would not give them a hour of Techie Tool Drool Fest (as much as we'd likely find that appealing, most educators would not). A lot of your faculty's receptiveness to technology integration is going to depend on the teachers' current teaching style. Putting a PowerPoint on a wiki and calling it tech integration does nothing to use the tool to change how kids are learning and surely doesn't constitute 21st century teaching IMHO. Your instructors who already are student-centered and more constructivist are going to adapt to the technology better than your sage on the stage types.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Hebbard on June 21, 2009 at 10:51pm

Check out what my class is up to here, have a look at student pages to see some of the ways we are using digital media to create real writing opportunities.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Pennington on June 29, 2009 at 4:19pm

Very cool stuff, Chris, and wonderful ideas by others, as well. I have one strategy. It's not very sexy, but students benefit and it is a real time-saver. I used the Microsoft Word "Replace" function to program in eighty or so canned responses with a quick teaching tool to place in bubble comments on students' word processing docs. They really read these comments, as they have to respond/revise accordingly. Of course, I also add on personalized comments. But this is a time-saver and effective. See if it works for you. http://penningtonpublishing.com/blog/grammar_mechanics/how-to-save-...

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on June 29, 2009 at 5:18pm

Mark, I will never be grading essays like you do but this seems like a brilliant idea!!

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Permalink Reply by Amy Capelle on July 5, 2009 at 7:06am

For Mark: You can also use the web browser Opera to save responses in the Notes features. It allows you to double-click comments into any field you can type in on the web. Wouldn't help for word docs, but it would work with Google Docs or wikis and blogs.

To respond to Chris' link... Personally, I'm a big fan of combining project-based learning with Web 2.0 tools. I use tools more for cooperative group activities rather than individual student posting sites. I started by having a class blog and individual student blogs, but the collaborative part didn't work as well when they all had individual sites. Collaboration can happen in the classroom as well as within the tech tool. The tools can be used to change how we're teaching as well as a handy place to post work.

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Permalink Reply by Aparna Vashisht on July 8, 2009 at 9:24am

You can try parentella.com as well.

www.parentella.com

un: Mr. Pencil
pw: demo

The above is a teacher account. If you'd like to see how a teacher's posts look like for parents, you can log in as a parent.

Parent demo account:

un: Judy Jetson
pw: demo

Only parents who are in the group will see the information. You can post documents, homework, pictures, etc.

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Permalink Reply by Nicole Denny on August 9, 2009 at 10:26pm

Wow. I am impressed!
I am just starting out at a teacher credential program and our EDU422 class (Tech for Teaching) has used quite a few online tools, it is amazing what we can do now to enhance teaching and not have students falling a sleep because they are bored to death with the subject material.
Thanks for sharing your tech applications.

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Permalink Reply by Anthony VonBank on August 10, 2009 at 2:40pm

I would unconditionally introduce them to Google Apps, particualrly the Google Docs. I can't tell you how much this has changed the way I think about theaching, and how amazed co-workers are with what it can do, and the relative ease of use.

I have been documenting my use of Google Apps on my blog: