Fun URL

KidsPsych

A really fun and interactive technology tool for kids ages 1-9 with information for parents.

Edutecher

There are great technology resources available here for each subject, even for ESL and foreign language.

10 Tips for Filming

This article was a list of 10 great tips to keep in mind while filming.

1. Use a big net: always film extra, more is always more.

2.Never Rely on Software: try to make each scene just the way you want it already; lighting, sound etc.

3. Plan, Plan, Plan: this will always increase the quality

4. Don't zoom: its amateur.

5. Good audio=good video: self-explanatory

6. Let there be light: more light is good, never have light from behind.

7. The tripod is your friend: we want clear steady shots

8. Always retake: better safe than sorry

9. Questions or no questions? Make sure if you are the interviewer that the sound quality isn't weird and make sure if you are in the shot that the focus is on the interviewee and that no one looks at the camera.

10. Not centered: divide the screen into 9 squares and try to have the focal points on the 4 intersections.

Digital Storytelling Finds Its Place in the Classroom

This was a great article about how a teacher brought the students' writing to life through digital story telling. It may take a lot of time, effort, and patience but the end result is worth it all. Digital story telling is a great way for students to feel hooked to their topic and excited to write everything they know about it. The children automatically become so interested and intrigued by their work and one another's work. The technology is important but not as much as the writing itself. It is great that the students have such great technology resources available to assist them in their daily learning.

Sites for Social Studies

Children's Software Online

Tons of educational and active software for kids. It is not free, but usually reasonably priced. You can find many popular themes and character activities.

Twhistory

History on twitter. This may be a fun way to let kids be creative and get involve and maybe even apply the lessons to their lives better.

Teachinghistory.org

Content, materials, videos, available for all grade levels. All different kinds of history topics and times. Appears very user friendly.

Language Arts URLS

Tom Snyder Productions

On Scholastic. A great site for many subjects. Multiple resources and articles and things to download to support and reinforce instruction.

Read Write Think

Classroom resources, parental resources, and professional development. Lesson plans, interactive activities.

Math Sites

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

AAA Math

Interactive lessons and practices. Lots to do on this site, would be really fun for grade school kids.

Teacher Sites

UDL Toolkits: Teaching Every Student

Ideas, information on UDL, digital content and its use and fun ideas to use in the classroom.

Storybird

A really fun site to create stories and story boards with already set-up images. You pick an artist/image and are given multiple images to use and create a story to go with them.

Internet Archive

A digital library of websites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Free access to resesarchers and the general public.

The Educator's Reference Desk

Great resources for each grade level and subject. Tons of fun lesson plans available to use.

Gallery of Teaching and Learning

Digital representations of knowledge related to teaching and learning. There are multiple subjects listed and under each subject are numerous links to projects created at many different grade levels. You can download teaching materials here and see how other teachers are creating strong classroom environments and how they do what they do.

Powerpoint Games

Really fun site that gives modules on creating games within and on a powerpoint! Really great resources! Homemade powerpoint games.

Student Cam

Annual video competition throughout the nation. A topic is given each year and the requirements for the video. There are prizes if your video wins! Available for grades 6-12

Edit Library

Education and Information technology digital library.

URL'S

prezi.com
Live web presentations. It makes fun, creative and exciting presentations. More than just your average powerpoint!

Spookathon.com
This is a really fun Halloween site where kids can 'carve' and paint pumpkins. This is good for working on mouse movements. After you create a pumpkin you can 'light' it, name it and then turn it into a puzzle where it makes it into puzzle pieces and you have to arrange them.

Constructivism in the Classroom

There are so many different teaching styles and it is common for teachers to find it difficult to integrate technology into their classroom. The teachers are capable of the technology yet have a hard time letting the students have some of the control of their learning. They feel as though they aren't doing there job, teaching. Constructivist theory says that, "students make sense of the world by synthesizing new experiences into what they have previously understood". Constructivist teachers organize information around conceptual clusters of problems and questions as opposed to facts in isolation. Technology is used as a tool to help students solve problems. It is not necessary to teach every little bit of 'how to' when teaching technology. It is good to let the student's questions guide the lesson and exploration. We need to let students take more control of their learning and guide themselves through what they want to know based on what they previously knew.

Mental Challenges

http://smart-kit.com
Fun puzzles and games

highbeam.com
Students learn valuable manufacturing lessons

custompartnet.com
Manufacturing cost estimator

nlvm.usu.edu
National Library of Virtual Manipulatives. Fun resource site!

Smart Moves

This is a fun ice breaker to get your brain and body moving!

Constructing Digital Stories

1. Write an Initial Script: This may be as short as a note card. To many students this task seems much more accomplishable and reasonable than a 5 page essay.
2. Plan an accompanying storyboard: This is the plan of what to show. For a 2 minute story, 12 images is usually sufficient.
3. Discuss and Revise the Script: Basically peer review to tweak the story for the better and decide what actually needs to be said vs. just visualized in an image.
4. Sequence the images in the video editor: Scan the images onto a timeline in the chosen software and organize them. Format the images to the proper size and resolution.
5. Add the Narrative Track: Record sentence by sentence. Read through as whole may take longer and more recording tries.
6. Add Special Effects and Transitions: Use minimal effects: use them when they contribute meaning in the story.
7. Add Musical Soundtrack: If time permits. Import a soundtrack. Background music and narrative may be heard together.
Make sure students are in the right place at the right time and using their time wisely. Remind them to keep it organized and to always save their work. It is also necessary to address copyright issues with the students.

How to Use Digital Storytelling in Your Classroom

This was an article about the use of technology and digital story telling in the classroom. This fun, new technology would work great in a class and students would enjoy it. Students have a little bit more freedom in their work and they get to show their interests and creativity. As teachers, we need to still be in control but let our students take more of a charge of their learning and what they want to apply their knowledge to. As with many things in technology we learn by trial and error. This goes just fine in a class full of students because some will pick it up faster than others or even faster than the teacher and are then able to teach the rest of the class. Taking that position, students get the feeling of responsibility. The students should be and will be more accountable for their work because it is their own.

Social Studies

teamslacoe.edu/documentation/classroom/angie/angie.html

Fun grade level links to resources on history, with activities, more resources and multiple units.

What's Not on the Web

This article discusses how today, so much of our students' research is performed on the Web, when they could be using so much other material that is full of great information and often free. We need to better direct our students to the libraries of text, books, and magazines. It is difficult to decipher if the text you are reading on the web is accurate and reliable. We can help open our students up to bigger and better things when it comes to research.

I Read it on the Computer

This article was interesting and brought some good points to my mind. Really, how do we know if information we are reading on the Internet is accurate and not false or fake? The article gives a few lesson examples to do with your class to help them be more aware of what type of information can be found on the Internet. You can give your class a age appropriate controversial topic and have them go to various sites, that report different accounts or information. Knowing that anyone can put just about anything on the Internet and even make it appear professional and accurate should make us cautious about the information we use and take to mind.

History

Educationworld.com
Fun resources and links to educational topics and activities.

Science URL'S

Pbskids.org/zoom/games
Virtual games and experiments that students can play around with and apply their learning and knowledge. Really fun way to let kids play around on their own and still apply their learning.

Math URL'S

Cast.org
This site discussion research innovations and development. It goes into great detail about Universal Design for Learning and what it is, how it is used in the classroom, and what it benefits of use are. There are also toolkits and and training guides for UDL.

nlvm.usu.edu
National Library of Virtual Manipulatives
Awesome site! This is a really fun site for doing really visual math and using manipulatives to support the instruction. Really fun!

Illuminations.nctm.org/
Links to lessons, activities, standards. Great activities and hands on learning and application. Very easy to use! Usable with younger students and older kids.

Language Arts URL'S

Techlearning.com
Has great resources and links to other resources, sites, tech forums, videos, webinars and contests. This would be great to use in my future classroom to know better how to integrate and use technology in the classroom.

Constructing Learning

This article helped me to better understand the many uses of technology in the classroom and the great benefits that are accompanying it. The discussion of the use of technology in the classroom in this article is from more of a constructivist theory. They list eight teaching characteristics: Learner centered, Interesting, Real life, Social, Active, Time, Feedback, and Supportive. Each of these categories really makes sense to apply in my mind but one that really stands out to me and I feel would be extremely beneficial is the 'Interesting' category. It's simple, if something isn't interesting of course you won't want to pay attention and learn about it. The article talks about by focusing on the students beliefs and experiences they are better able to apply what they are learning and it becomes more relevant to them which in turn may lead them to mastery. Technology is a great way to grab the interest of students. Adding technology engages the students' interest. There is so much available in technology and so many resources our students can turn to to learn and grow. Technology is a very important strategy that we need to be integrating more into our classrooms so we can help facilitate the meaningfulness of learning.

Empowering Igeneration

This is a great article about how teachers today are able to integrate technology into their classrooms and the great experiences and benefits that have come from it. Reading this material inspired me to try to find as much interactive and innovative technology as I can and apply it as often as I can in my future classroom. Times are changing and things move so much faster than they used to. In order to keep up with the time, technology needs to be strongly implemented in our classrooms and daily life. Adding technology to our lessons prepares our students for the future and creates a better awareness of the world in which they are living.

Great URL'S

cooltoolsforschool.wikispaces.com
The title basically says it all. This site has a long list of great collaborative sites that can be used in and out of the classroom. Along with a link to each site is a small description of what can be accomplished on each site. There are numerous links listed under collaborative tools, transferring files, blogs, wikis and social networks, templates, virtual meetings and chatrooms, collaborative spaces and drawing boards, and multimedia posters and pages. There are SO many resources available on this site!

bubbl.us
Is a great site to use for brainstorming. It makes a chart for you and you can add and fill in each box of the chart. You can change the arrangement and colors and make it fun!

mindmeister.com
This site is for mind mapping. It can be used as a group or on an individual basis. It keeps your thoughts and processes very neat and organized. You may post your created map and view other maps made.

Readings

A Range of Use: Technology in Learning
Technology influences learning in 3 significant ways:
-A Driver for Change: The 21st Century Skills. (Technology and '21st Century Skills' must be better incorporated into the classroom by the teachers)
-A Bridge to High Academic Achievement. (Research shows that by properly incorporating technology in education students have higher academic achievement)
-A Platform for Informed Decision Making and Accountability
The different levels and applications at which technology is used and incorporated goes in line with Bloom's Taxonomy. "Learning by doing" is a great way for kids to learn and relate to. Range of Use taxonomy is used to trace/track student's experience in school.

Evaluating Internet Information
There are 8 areas of criteria to look at when reading an article on the Web to determine its quality and reliability.
-Authorship
-Publishing Body
-Point of View or Bias. Extreme views are not always easy to find.
-Referral to Other Resources
-Verifiability. Does it list references and other credible resources?
-Currency. Important dates: ie: publication, resources found.
-How to distinguish Propaganda, mis/disinformation
-The mechanics of determining Authorship, publishing body and currency on the Internet
If the information sounds "too good to be true, it probably is".

URL'S

ictineducation.org
Provides teachers with high quality articles that are very informative and good food for thought.

learningcenter.nsta.org
E-professional development to help you address the needs of your classroom. You can search by subject, grade level, and state standard. There are also links to other great resources.

Thinkfinity.org
Current educational news, blogs, today in history, community discussions and widgets. There are great interactive tools, webinars, and lesson plans. In the class, at home and professional development on a great range of grades and subjects.

literacy for the 21st century, by Jones-Kavalier, B. and Flannigan, S.

Bringing our education up to par with the technology that is available. Our students are technology savvy and we need to apply their skills to the classroom

Professional Development Resources

These all have great resources and newsletters and e-mails available. There is teacher development, technology support and ideas, core concepts for innovations and reform in learning. News about education, schools.
www.edutopia.org

http://education.smarttech.com/ste/en-US/NEWS+and+research/

www.eschoolnews.com/news/classroom-news/

www.thejournal.com/the/magazine/currentissue/

URLS

Rainforesteducation.com/funNGames/canuseethem.htm
There is a picture of a forest and you can move your mouse over different sections of the forest

Wlcsd.org/spice2010
Electronic handouts

Wallwishers
http://answergarden.ch/view/2936
At this site you may create a wall garden question and your students may respond anonymously and all of their responses will pop up on the wall.

Teaching Style Survey 9/7

The Teaching style survey found on google was interesting. Some of the questions were hard to answer because I am not yet in my own classroom. Many of the questions I would hope to strongly agree with so that I were a very welcoming, informative, supportive, and motivating teacher. I would hope that my future students will understand how much I want them to work hard and become leaders and take charge and responsibility of their educations. There were 5 teaching style categories that I was ranked in after my survey was scored. The categories were: expert, formal authority, personal model, facilitator, and delegate. I ranked moderate on expert and facilitator and high on the other three. I would like to be an expert someday, but I know that facts and data isn't everything. There is much more to being an educator than the facts.

Copyright

The readings and videos about copyright were very insightful and informational. I learned about copyright, fair use, and public domain. I learned that if something was copyrighted before 1923 it is considered to be in public domain and is free to use. If something is under fair use, it may be used but limitedly. Usually the rule of thumb is 10% of a material. You should always check the copyright and ask permission if you are unsure if you may use a material or its content. A piece of work or material does not have to have a copyright label or anything like that to be considered copyrighted. Though best to have a copyright, it is not required. Copyright is an automatic thing that happens anytime something is written down or created in one form or another.

URL'S #2

www.voki.com
Allows you to create personalized speaking avatars and use them on blogs, profiles, and e-mail.

www.sKetch.odopod.com
Anyone can sketch anything here!

www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech005.shtml
printable documents for teachers: worksheets, certificates, templates, and assessments

www.Flicker.com
A place to upload and organize photos

http://projecthelp.wikispaces.com/music+resources
Music resource

Urls #1 and 1st article summary

Wordle.net
We used wordle as fun way to list and create a page of the characteristics we hope to have as teachers. It is a great tool for creativity. This would be a good site to use in a classroom to get the students to make something their own and show their creative side. This could be used for any subject or class; from art, to history, to English.

Toondoo.com
This is a great site to create cartoons and books and comics. There are also pre-made comics available for viewing. I could use this site with my class to make something or to do something fun. You can easily create a comic and then share it on a blog or elsewhere. Very easy.

Freetech4teachers.com
This is a blog site that provides new and innovative technology for teachers. It is created by a Google Certified teacher. This site is full of resources for all types of subjects and classes. The blog explains the technology, how to use it, and where it may be beneficial to use.



How To Bring Our Students Out Of The 20th Century
This article presents the image of what the classroom today looks like - and how it hasn't varied a whole lot since the 'olden days'. It is discussed that we need to find a balance of how much each subject and class is taught: core knowledge vs. portable skills. Our country is rapidly changing and the more it changes the faster it continues to change. There needs to be a greater emphasis on teaching kids to collaborate and solve problems in small groups and apply what they learn into the real world.

The Multitasking Generation
This article discusses and gives examples of how recent generations multitask more and more and what tasks they are doing. There have been many studies about the effectiveness of multitasking and is it actually possible. Our brains need a break from thinking and processing everything that comes through it. By constantly multitasking our brains may feel overloaded. It is not always efficient to be listening to music, chatting with a friend, the TV on and writing an essay for class.

Visualizing Technology
Having our students learn by doing hands on activities and projects where they get to build upon their knowledge is very beneficial to their learning and has shown to be a great method in preparing the students for big state exams.