A Distraction or A Catalyst?

"As we provide our students with models of how to use their digital containers for learning, the role of the teacher will be more crucial than ever. The fact remains: These tools can be a major distraction from learning or they can be a major catalyst to it. It will be the courageous educator who works with students to explore the power of these tools and in turn empowers students to be lifelong learners and active shapers of a world we cannot yet...

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Awesome Resources

Our department was tasked with creating a lesson plan using a specific goal or objective from the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. I knew of several resources that I had that could reinforce the objective, but I needed to understand what students needed to learn.Learning Village to the rescue! I logged into Learning Village (remember you can access it from the front page of the WSFCS web page). Then I clicked on the Elementary tab under the...

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Free BrainPop Videos for Educators

While teaching a workshop this week, BrainPOP came up in conversation. Several teachers expressed their interest and appreciation for the videos and content BrainPOP was offering teachers and students. One teacher liked how BrainPOP engaged his students from the very beginning by making complex concepts, easier to understand. Although BrainPOP subscriptions are available for purchase, they do offer free resources, lessons, and videos to educators....

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Teachable Moment-Hurricane Irene

With school starting back teachers are always looking for something fun and interesting to do to hook kids right from the start. With Hurricane Irene baring down on the NC coast there is a great teachable moment for kids and a simple activity that anyone can do this week.Google Earth is always good about mapping events all over the world. Open it up and you can turn on any number of layers and learn loads of great information. Hurricane Irene is...

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Need Resources But Don't Have Time to Search Lots of Places?

I often talk about how netTrekker is a collection of resources that have been teacher-reviewed, so teachers can feel comfortable sending students to netTrekker to do research.Over the last several weeks, I have been working on gathering instructional resources to go along with a new curriculum. I was trying to work quickly to finish up the project this morning. I have a list of sites that I could go check for the needed resources, but I decided to...

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When was the last time you learned a new word?

Part of writing well involves using vocabulary correctly. What are some ways you develop vocabulary skills for yourself? What are some ways you develop vocabulary skills in students? What are some ways you demonstrate vocabulary skills? What are some ways you assess vocabulary skills? What can you do today to learn and use a new word?Here are some LiveBinders full of resources and activities for word work and vocabulary:Word Party Word GamesVocabulary...

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Completing The Quest Atlantis Student Consent Forms Online

You no longer have to print out the student consent forms and have the students and parents sign them. Students and parents can now complete their consent forms online. However, teachers will still need to complete their forms on paper. Here is the procedure for completing the student online forms.1. Go to your teacher toolkit -> My Questers -> Registration and Class Lists.2. Expand your current class to see mail envelopes in the Consent –...

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Keep the Collaboration Going with Edmodo

I admit, the more I've been exploring and using Edmodo, the more I've grown to love it. Last week I spoke with a Science teacher who really wanted to find new ways to get her students to collaborate with each other. She already uses Google Docs on a regular basis so students can collaborate and co-create various projects together. However, she had a difficult time keeping up with all the documents in her Gmail account.Together we decided by adding...

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Taking Care Of Your Digital Self

One of the areas of focus for me in the district this year is teaching teachers and students how to take control of their digital identity and turn it into something positive and something they can be proud of. Too often each year students find themselves in situations that could be easily avoided if they understood what a positive digital footprint is and how to manage it. The same thing with teachers. Many times I hear of teachers who flat out avoid any (or make a very strong attempt) to leave no trace on the web. While they might believe this...

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Learning About Government Can Be Fun!

At a workshop this summer, a teacher was creating a lesson for her students talking about the different areas of government. A couple of days later, EDSITEment posted a lesson plan with the title of "Balancing Three Branches at Once: Our System of Checks and Balances. This gave me an idea for a blog post. I decided to find some other lessons about Civics and Government and put them into a Glog. I have written about Glogster EDU quite a few times before, but find it a great way to "posterize" lesson plans to share with others. Below is my Glog on...

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ActivInspire and Jigsaw Puzzles

I have been running down my feed lists and social media outlets today and came across a neat little tool that I had to share out.When I saw the blurb about it I followed the link and found out that it came out of the Community and Blog Section of Promethean Planet's International site. It was a blog post from last year by Nigel Pearce on a neat little program called Jigflip that allows you to create a jigsaw puzzle from any standard image. I have...

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Tech Toolkit for UDL in All Classrooms

I really like the Featured Sites of the Week from TeachersFirst. This week I noticed a link to a site with technology resources to go along with UDL (Universal Design for Learning): Free Technology Toolkit for UDL in All Classrooms. Here are some of the categories of resources available from this site:Graphic OrganizersLiteracy toolsWriting ToolsMultimedia & Digital Storytelling ToolsStudy Skill ToolsResearch ToolsAudioBooksMath ToolsCollaborative...

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Five Simple Ways to Use Edmodo Everyday

I recently watched an Edmodo webinar about 20 ways teachers can use Edmodo everyday in their classroom. I was impressed with the ideas and suggestions that were shared so I decided to post five of my favorite ways teachers can use Edmodo everyday with their students. In the future I plan on sharing more ways to use Edmodo, but thought these five would be a great place to start.Create a group: Teachers have the ability to create groups and invite...

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Can Learning Cancel Out Distractions?

Imagine yourself in an elementary classroom surrounded by about 40 other adults trying to work on projects on laptops. Since there are not enough tables/desks/chairs, people are sitting on the floor and every available surface. Most of the laptops being used don't hold a charge for very long and need to stay close to an outlet .... there are not many electrical outlets in the room ... but there are a few surge protectors stretched every-which-way....

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