September 2011 Blog Posts (55)

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions or strategies when it comes to using ipads in the classroom.  I have 8 students and 3 ipads and currently just use them as time fillers.  What are some great educational uses for them if you aren't able to have them 1:1 with students?  Thanks!

Shauna

I have been going home exhausted. Yes, I'm getting used to early mornings. But I think the most draining aspect of a new school year is fielding the hundreds of questions fired at me. I'm sure you've heard them:

• "Can I call home/go to the restroom/return my book/fill my water bottle...?"
• "Do I...?"
• "What do...?"
• "Where does this go?"

Procedural questions can be handled by…

The buzz around here is that BuzzMath is offering a FREE full-access membership for one teacher and 30 of their students in every school for an entire school year.  BuzzMath is the latest interactive mathematics workbook for middle school students.  This website offers 2,700+ online math problems with instant feedback and detailed solutions. It is amazing to watch students manipulate protractors, create triangles on a grid,…

What if instead of taking up a whole day of class to have parent-teacher conferences, we just use a blog site to let parents know how their child is doing? 

Today, computers and other forms of technology are introduced at a very young age. There are many toddlers that seem to know how to work a cell phone or computer. Is introducing this technology so soon in children's lives harming their writing skills? Will using keyboards to type out information make it difficult for students to learn necessary writing skills for their future?

How can you effectively use technology to teach English to foreign speakers in low economic societies? That is, how is technology useful when teaching English in a society that does not use technology like we do here in the U.S.?

These Technologies Are Changing Education. Are You Familiar With Them?

It’s been nearly two and half years since the publication of the first “10 internet technologies that educators should be informed about” article on this site and given the fast paced evolution…

One of the most important things we can teach students is to be a critical viewer of visual media. Can we believe everything we see?

My teaching partner and I created a 17-second iMovie: http://youtu.be/bnYYyL0wq30

We then gave students access to the 18 smaller clips from which the movie was…

  People Power

Building Community

Without community, a classroom is just a room. Without community, a class is just a crowd.

A community of learners starts with discovering…

I have pretty high expectations for student organization and transitions between activities. I don't want student to lose precious learning time. That said, I don't want students to be robots.



How do I show students I care about them, honor individual quirks, and still clarify my expectations for our learning time?

Clear instructions are written on the board as students arrive - and for each transition. In the past, I wrote steps for students on…

• My first goal is to build classroom community, making all students feel comfortable and successful.
• My second goal is to establish routine.
• My third goal is to formatively assess students'…