Hop on the Bus with Rosa Parks!

Do you know why we celebrate Rosa Parks on December 1? Do your students?Rosa Parks was not born on December 1, but she did something on December 1 for which she is remembered. If you need any ideas for things to use in the classroom, check out the available resources from these instructional sites:Scholastic.com shares information: Rosa Parks: How I fought for Civil Rights.The Library of Congress shares an American Memory of Dec. 1, 1955: Today in...

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Lumens DC 190 Part II

In looking at the software for the new Lumens DC 190 document camera (doc cam), you do not see any changes to the 3 by 3 or 4 by 4 grid.  The software itself has been updated to v.1.0.9 for Ladibug and there have been a few updates and improvements to it for use with your computer.  Again the software is available on both PC and Mac, however I did not see on the website the availability for Linux for this new version as of yet. ...

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What's Wrong If Google Tells Me Everything?

The topic of Critical Thinking and Google Searches seems to poke it's head out via various discussions and conversations every now and then. Even a recent #edchat topic centered around moving kids away from thinking Google has all the answers to thinking critically.First let me clarify. I use the term Google Searches loosely. That has come to mean all searches but there are obviously other search engines out there (Like Bing and Yahoo) that are still relevant and...

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Organization Is Not A Nasty Word

Last week I wrote about my favorite go-to web sites in my blog post "Where Do I Go?". This week I am going to talk about how I organize my resources in order to share them.The first thing that I do when I find a resource is save to my Diigo account. Diigo is a social bookmarking site that allows me to access my web resources wherever I go and whatever computer I am on. Steven Anderson wrote about "Why Diigo rocks" several weeks ago. After saving...

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What is the matter?

Here are some ideas I had for using videos and activities to help students identify properties of the three forms of matter (solid, liquid, and gas) and use movement to demonstrate the distinct properties of each state of matter (movement of molecules):Brainstorm Introduction: Open class by asking questions and have students record responses on something like WallWisher, Bubbl.us, or chart paper ( for the beginning of a KWL Chart):What do we know...

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Lumens DC 190 Document Camera

Finally I have recently gotten to really sit down and take a look at the new (well almost new) Lumens DC 190 document camera(doc cam) that has recently replaced the DC 166 that hit is EOL cycle.We have been using the DC 166 model for a couple of years in our school district and will now be transitioning over to the newer design model.At first glance you do not see anything different in the look and design of the doc cam, it is their termed "Ladibug"...

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It's All About The Hashtag

If you remember, in my 3 part series on Twitter, I wrote about how I completely changed the way I do professional development on Twitter. In a nutshell, I no longer start with signing up and tweeting the first day. I always show how to use Twitter without ever signing up. I believe it's important to establish the value in using it rather than using it and attempting to find the value.What a lot of people don't realize that Twitter is a very powerful...

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Technology use in the classroom

I must confess that I grew up in the 80’s and was a teenager during the 90’s. The necessities to life as a teen in the 90’s included Aquanet hairspray, Guess jeans, and a sophisticated taste for the fine selection of 90’s music.  Smart phones, social networks, and e-mail were not part of our daily lives.Fast forward “several” years down the road and a life without such technologies would seem foreign to most of our teenagers.  As I read...

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Technology in the Classroom: Do you get the Picture?

Hello WSFCS.  My name is Marty Creech and I have been given the opportunity to guest blog on the InTouch blog.  Thanks to the WSFCS DIT for allowing me to share my perspective on what technology integration looks like in the classroom and in schools.  I currently teach 6th grade science and social studies.(Photo by Intul using Wikimedia Commons License)The old adage of a picture being worth a million words could never be truer in the...

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Importing Lessons or Tests from Other Databases

It’s a good idea to create and share tests among co-workers. Why should each teacher create their own work and not share it with others. This is very easy to do in CPS. However, be sure you are working from your single database and share it with one shared database. If you are working with too many databases, you will start to get confused and loose tests. Remember, it’s best to keep your database on the C drive of your computer. The shared database...

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Just Press Enter...

I've done a lot of looking around lately. I've worked in the business world, and I've worked in education for quite some time. What I've seen as I've stopped, and sometimes stared, are people using their smartphones, laptops, desktop computers and now tablet devices to be productive in their jobs, communicate, and make collaborative decisions about work and family life.People live their mobile lives connected to mobile devices and mobile people....

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What do you want to do?

The basic goal of education has not changed,  we are preparing students for life-long learning and success in a changing society. The tools and instructional methods used to achieve these goals have advanced dramatically.Technology is changing the way we live and work since has the power to enhance the teaching and learning process. By stimulating creativity and self-discovery, technology is providing new ways for teachers and students to communicate,...

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Where Do I Go?

While working in schools, teachers ask me to find resources for them to help enrich their lessons. When I went back to the office I was talking about finding some really great resources and what some of my "go to" sites are with my co-worker Melissa Edwards. She suggested that this should go into a blog.First stop on the "go to" places that I automatically look at when a teacher asks for help finding resources are: Learning Village; Thinkfinity...

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Technology Advice For Administrators

There is so much pressure on school leadership in this day and age. School budgets are growing tighter and tighter. More, now than ever, schools and districts are facing the real possibility of laying off teachers and not having enough in funds to to even keep the doors open to some schools. The vast majority of districts across this country have had to make hard decisions regarding budgets; many of them deciding to make drastic, but necessary cuts in order to save jobs and still give students the best possible education.There is pressure from...

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Ah Ha Moments - Using Student Response Systems with Websites

In one of my workshops we were viewing, testing, and working with lots of online resources trying to find more ways to integrate a technology piece into vocabulary curriculum. The freerice.com website brought about a lively discussion; each spoken idea sparked another way to use the site in all subject areas. Free Rice is a site that can be viewed in English, Spanish, Italian, French, and Chinese. Everything on the site changes into the...

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Everyday Should Be Science Friday!

Today as I was looking for resources for some middle school Science teachers, I came across some great sites that intrigued me. I admit, Science was never my strongest subject in school. However, if I had a website like Science Friday to peak my interest, perhaps I'd be more prone to do some of my own exploring.Science Friday is a weekly Science talk show on NPR each week. Each week the show focuses on Science topics that are being discussed in the news. Their goal is to "bring an educated, balanced discussion to bear on the scientific issues...

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Picture Books for All!!

Since November 2011 has been declared Picture Book Month by a group of authors and illustrators (see my previous post: Instructional Resources and Picture Books!! for more information), I want to share a few more things I have found related to picture books!Here are some great quotes about picture books that I found in Strategies That Work: Teaching comprehension for understanding and engagement by S. Harvey and A. Goudis:"There is a picture book...

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A New Take on History

If you are a fourth grade teacher and have not been to the North Carolina History Project web page you might just be missing out on some new and interesting facts about North Carolina.  You might be asking how can this site benefit me?  Here is how they describe it. "... an edited, evolving, and free online encyclopedia of North Carolina that also includes commentaries, lesson plans, and a community calendar."To me the site offers a lot about North Carolina that has been broken down into multiple categories and listing so that it makes...

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