December 2011 Blog Posts (44)

I really struggled creating my Google Site; especially the calendar and editing a pre-made template.  I eventually had to abandon the pre-made template because I could not figure out how to change the picture of the "teacher" nor how to remove "Mrs. Smith's classroom" from the sidebar.  I don't think my site looks too good, the template would have been much better, but I wanted to concentrate on the requirements before I got it to look "pretty."

I like color so I was…

Google Apps is an all-in-one resource center for teachers and students.  It has everything you need – from basic documents to fancy websites and everything in between.  It is an excellent organizational collection and can help me keep all of my documents, sites, presentations and forms in one place. 

I’ve learned in this class that it is easy to share and collaborate with other classmates by using Google Apps.  One person can create a document and others can add to it or edit…

We recently purchased 6 Kindle Touch e-reader devices and then quickly returned them once we realized that they had no parental controls on the store or web browsing.  As a K-12 school, we all know the importance of monitoring the web and even book selections.

We are now in the process of looking into the Nook Color - again, parental controls are limited, they do have the ability to shut off web browsing, but the store is wide open (with a school credit card for purchasing)…

EDTC 601- Week 7- Activity 4: Experiencing Free/Open Source Courses

                I have my undergraduate degree in Kinesiology but it has been a while since I have gone back and looked at some of the courses I was required to take.  When searching for an online class, I saw this Biology class being offered so I thought it would be interesting to take a look back.  This class is the OLI version of Modern Biology. This introductory course is…

I had a couple more thoughts on the forum that I meant to go back and add, but now I can't remember what they were.

I would like to say that one really healthy thing that I've sort of learned from the class is to take some time regularly (daily?) and do some professonal reading.  I plan to do my final bookmarking tomorrow, and actually don't mind putting off this "work" unti Sunday--the day of rest, because I find this reading to be very enjoyable and relaxing.  Unfortunatly,…

ICT Classes for High School Students

ICT (Information and Communication Technology) term is replacing the term of IT (Information Technology) which, in the past time meant the study of how the computer process data in many different ways (software and hardware).



The classes I had in my college years were related to learning about computers hardware (The major components of the computer) and the software…

Activity%204.doc

Hi,

Here is my blog for week 7.

Thank you,

Chris

This was originally posted on The Freshman Transition Network

Over the past decade as I have worked with high schools across the country, I have noticed that the term Freshman Academy has almost become synonymous for Freshman Transition Program.  This is a mistake along the same lines as saying that the word Hammer is synonymous with the word Tool.  A hammer is a type of tool.  A Freshman Academy is a type of…

"Indus River Valley Civilizations." World History International: World History Essays From Prehistory To The Present. Web. 02 Dec. 2011. a href="http://history-world.org/indus_valley.htm">http://history-world.org/indus_valley.htm>.\

"Manas: History and Politics, Indus Valley." Indus Valley Civilization. Web. 06 Dec. 2011. <…

Chestnut ESL Christmas

Chestnut ESL Christmas Resources

When I did a search for open source Spanish courses I was surprised to find very little quality courses available.  I narrowed my search down to one site that lists many different ‘courses’ although most are simply short lessons rather than courses.  I chose what looked like the best option, a Spanish Textbook Course called Aprovechalo.

The…

I see a huge amount of information about 21st century/personalized learning, much of it hyped and full of slick videos, with not too many real connections to real schools and real teachers.  What I'd like to find are thoughtful, collaborative and respectful examples where teachers feel supported as they try new approaches.  One school I work with in Vancouver,Canada, has I think managed well to work collaboratively and very effectively but they have little if any systemic support.  Their key…

Please check out this new blog about using Minecraft as a tool to promote learning in the classroom.

www.middleschoolminecraft.com

Who/What: The people living in the Indus River valley were farmers. Some of them were merchants and traders as well. The people of the Indus were polytheistic, meaning they belived in/worshiped one god.

When: 2600BC.The Indus river civilization flourshed for 700 years.

Where: The earliest South Asian civilization emerged in the Indus River valley, in present day…

I remember when I was a student we did a lot with skill and drill practices. We had to memorize sight words, and math problems. Today, in my observation classrooms I see many more hands on activities and group work. Do students still work independently drilling information into their heads?

I've gotten into the bad habit of doing the blog the morning after and this time, there was not real reason for that except procrastination on my part. 

This course is really planned right as far as making session six relatively relaxing and enjoyable at Thanksgiving time.  I got the work done by Wednesday night and really had a very refreshing break.  In reading the feedback just now, it looks like I've essentially made it.  I'm not sure what more I can come up with in the…

In school right now, all of our professors are pushing inclusion and saying it is really the only way to go. How many of you have inclusion classrooms and what do you think about them? Does anyone not believe in inclusion? What types of things make inclusion work/not work? If anyone has any ideas, leave some comments!

Throughout my years of education, I have learned numerous way to create lesson plans. In addition I have never seen any of my teachers actually use lesson plans. Do you use them? How often? Are they as formal and detailed as the ones created in college? I am wondering what current teachers do to organize their lessons and units.