August 2010 Blog Posts (75)

ideas for grade 4 math and technology

Hello,

I'm a grade 4 teacher in BC, Canada, and I'm enrolled in a post-grad. program in integrating technology in teaching. I am looking for ideas to integrate technology into math lessons (starting with whole numbers to 10 000 and addition to 10 000,) in order to better engage students in the lessons and increase their understanding of these concepts. Any ideas for sites, free programs, or lessons themselves will be appreciated. Thank you!

Added by Clare Ellison on August 19, 2010 at 10:11am — No Comments

TEACHING TECHNIQUE -WHO DO YOU WORK FOR? I did a workshop for teachers recently. I asked a question of the teachers. The question was “who do you work for?” Some teachers replied by naming the princ…

TEACHING TECHNIQUE -WHO DO YOU WORK FOR?

I did a workshop for teachers recently. I asked a question of the teachers. The question was “who do you work for?”

Some teachers replied by naming the principal of the school. Other teachers replied by shouting out the name of the school. Still other teaches replied by saying “the board of education”.

I asked that the teachers think for a minute. I asked that they think how they happen to be in the field of education. I asked was it… Continue

Added by William Lambert on August 19, 2010 at 4:47am — No Comments

Four Words to Improve Your Search

I'm a huge fan of the free tools that Google offers, as they integrate perfectly into my classroom. Google's best offering, though, is its original--search. Even with some recent competition hot on its heels, Google Search is the best search on the web. Here are four modifiers that I use on a regular basis that make Google Search even more…

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Added by Derrick Waddell on August 18, 2010 at 7:40pm — No Comments

Looking for 6th and 7th Grade Classes to Discuss the Internet

Hello there, My name is Sherry Hegstrom and I teach at Timberlane Regional Middle School in Plaistow, NH. I am looking for classes anywhere that may want to participate in our discussions on "The World is Flat" by Thomas Friendman. A much toned down version of course. If interested please check out our wiki at http://trms.wikispaces.com. My classes begin on 9/1 and run every 9 weeks. I would love for my students to get true collaboration from around the… Continue

Added by shegstrom on August 18, 2010 at 2:31pm — No Comments

Make PowerPoint an experience for students

I just sat through a webinar with Tom Kuhlmann, the author of The Rapid E-Learning Blog. The particular name of this webinar was “Don’t let the experts tell you PowerPoint sucks.” There were some good ideas presented, but more than anything, it made me think of how we use PowerPoint in the…

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Added by Jeremy Kaiser on August 18, 2010 at 1:31pm — No Comments

Zen and the Act of Publishing a Book

Jeremy Harmer made a comment in defense of big publishers the other day. He said, "the cost of producing a book is horrendous these days, the investment staggeringly high."

I took that as a challenge so within 8 hours I CREATED and PUBLISHED a book. Not some frothy, blablabla book but something substantial and which practicing teachers or teacher training programs can use.… Continue

Added by ddeubel on August 16, 2010 at 7:33pm — No Comments

Bridging the Digital Generation Gap

I often hear the term "digital native" when discussing the current and upcoming body of students. The implication is that technology is a must use tool in today's schools because these students have grown up with high tech tools and they see the world through a digital lens.

So, if today's students are "digital natives," then my parents' generation of students were "book natives." They grew up with books, and they learned through that medium. That said, were my…

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Added by Derrick Waddell on August 16, 2010 at 6:53pm — No Comments

Reinventing yourself = survival...

My first official working day at school was today...I witnessed ups and downs, heard screams of joy, and whirlpools of pessimism and

discontent. As I thought more about the "happy" people, and the not so

happy people, I decided to concentrate on why the "happy" people were

happy. I soon realized there seemed to be a couple underlying factors

that lead to their happiness / enthusiasm toward the new school year.

I have to… Continue

Added by Justin Tarte on August 16, 2010 at 4:47pm — No Comments

Recommendations for Computer Headphones to use in Elementary Lab

Can someone recommend inexpensive computer headphones to use in an elementary computer lab setting?

Added by Debbie Wilson on August 16, 2010 at 8:30am — 2 Comments

Bienvenidos!

I am looking forward to this year. There have been many changes and there are definite challenges ahead of me, but I am able and ready to take them on. I have new energy. I'm going to use TPR more than ever. It is now coming to light how useful and needed it is.

Added by Ingrid Nathan on August 16, 2010 at 8:00am — No Comments

Blogging in Education Today, part 3 (Student Blogging)

Continuing our multi-part series on the use of blogs in education today, we look at various examples of Student blogging efforts.

Over the last two weeks we’ve looked at various ways in which today’s teachers are using blogs. This week we continue our review of the educational blogoshpere by looking at…

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Added by Kelly Walsh on August 16, 2010 at 4:28am — No Comments

Building the perfect nest?

In my years in education, first as a student, then as a preservice teacher and finally in the classroom, I saw a lot of nest builders. People who sought to build the perfect place for kids to grow. Too often the nest was completed before the chicks arrived..

I remember it like yesterday and it wasn’t one classroom but most of the elementary schools I attended from Texas to Tennessee and… Continue

Added by Kevin on August 14, 2010 at 6:38pm — 1 Comment

Your pencil can reach the world...

On December 14th 2008 I posted the Great White Shark video into the ocean of Youtube and wondered if anyone would ever find it, much less watch it. After uploading the video I went back to my regular work and almost forgot that my shark was lurking out there where anyone in the world could see it. Recently I got an email from Youtube, offering revenue sharing for the Great White Shark video.

By this time I had many videos on Youtube and… Continue

Added by Kevin on August 14, 2010 at 5:30pm — No Comments

Can I move to the cloud?

In using the iPad for the past few weeks, one of my missions has been to discover the answer to the frequently asked question: Can that thing replace my laptop? I still travel with both the iPad and my 17in Macbook Pro but I’m seeking to fly “iPad solo” soon. There are still things I need that I haven’t figured out how to do with the iPad alone. I Use iWeb to build and maintain my websites and I cannot interface without the design and… Continue

Added by Kevin on August 14, 2010 at 4:46pm — No Comments

Wings

Flying today is increasingly iffy proposition. I mean, what with the economy and the reality that companies and entities are cutting staffs to the bare bones of functionality, what might the maintenance challenges at airlines look like? I look out the window and think about the complex moving parts that must work to keep this craft in the air and I am reminded of our school systems and their challenges to keep flying on dwindling staffs,… Continue

Added by Kevin on August 14, 2010 at 4:43pm — No Comments

Can powerful, new devices work on your network?

Tim Holt is one of the air traffic controllers of technology at El Paso ISD and as such spends a lot of time exploring new software, devices and approaches to serve his 4500+ teachers, 64,000 students on over 48,000 computers across a very large school district. I recently asked him his thoughts about implementing iPods and iPads within his system and his thoughts have been illuminating as I've explored the idea of using these tools within school systems.

Apple's system is a closed… Continue

Added by Kevin on August 14, 2010 at 4:36pm — No Comments

Graduation is NOT the endzone!

I like sports metaphors to make points and I often use one about a quarterback throwing the ball to where the receiver is going to be, rather that where they are standing at the snap of the ball. My point is that as educators we must throw education to where our learners are going to be rather than where they are when the class bell rings.

I believe that many of us are too focused on graduation as a sort of educational end zone. We see the kids score their touchdown in their cap and… Continue

Added by Kevin on August 14, 2010 at 4:34pm — No Comments

Cutting Budgets

The soap at the Hershey lodge in Hershey PA is missing it’s middle. Since most people waste the middle anyway, they just eliminated it altogether.

These are the hardest times I’ve ever seen in education in terms of budgetary limitations. Good people and programs are being cut all over the country and witnessing this is painful… Continue

Added by Kevin on August 14, 2010 at 4:30pm — No Comments

Word Clouds

I have by now written two or three blog posts on this great tool and I wanted to share them here as well as some other great posts by colleagues who have written some great stuff on word clouds.

My original post was…

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Added by Marisa Constantinides on August 13, 2010 at 10:49am — No Comments