Group items tagged

This website has blogs on trends in technology, new technology resources, research, and ideas related to education.

MindShift is a very upto date assessment of how technology is gaining stronger foothold in schools! The BYOD and MathDesk article two articles that cover the use of current hardware devices and more implementation of game playing as a learning device! Well worth the time to read!

Classroom Resources have a pretty wide collection of lessons and web resources for teachers, students, and parents. Materials are easily access by subject area and then you can use them to create lesson plans or at-home activities. There are many multimedia (video) presentation of contents as well.

The Busy Librarian has great ideas for educators on the Home page and the Books for Us link. Book reviews, links to resources, and lesson ideas that integrate technology with a primary education focus.

Article by Jaclyn Norton that is explains the power of visual information with a strong visual element. The link is incorrect, but I can't seem to edit the link itself. Here is the actual link: http://gettingsmart.com/blog/2012/09/infographic-growing-up-with-technology/

This appeals to me because it is a fun video website that make video technology the central topic for the improvement of classroom education. The Infinite Thinking Machine (ITM) is a high-energy Internet TV show, first launched in 2006, directly targeted at K-12 educators, parents and students with the simple goal is to inspire creativity and innovation in education. Currently in its second season in the current format, it provides an upbeat and engaging commentary that appeals to older student and educator, alike. New episodes are released every two weeks during the school year. Each show features a classroom teacher as its host, many engaging educators as "Field Trip" correspondents and amazing innovators as guests. Innovative approaches to education are showcased, and the teachers, administrators and students behind them are celebrated. Special segments address deeper topics head-on, often challenging conventional educational thinking. Currently in its second season, the ITM depends on a mix of funding from its producing organization, education partners and corporate sponsors. Produced by Computer-Using Educators (CUE), a nonprofit educational association focused on advancing student achievement through technology. I found the several segments that I watched informative and interesting professional produced programing!

A news service that covers major headlines in 15 countries in their native languages. Categories of news selections can be limited to one or more of the following subjects: World, national, business, health, sports, entertainment and technology. Feeds can be updated every 10 minutes or every hour. As you mouse over a particular headline, a short synopsis appears as a preview before clicking will take you to the primary online source article.

This site combines the old fashioned practice of writing names on the chalkboard as a form of disciplinary tracking with modern technology. Positive reinforcement is even easier to monitor and post. Internal record-keeping within the software is a snap!

This March 29, 2011 Blog by Paul Bogan, provide an interesting prospective on why Teacher-based learning is creating behavioral management problems in middle and high school classrooms! The privately funded George Lucas Educational Foundation strives to make Edutopia a source of communication and leadership for improvement of instructional methods through-out the K- 12 educational community! Edutopia is "dedicated to transforming the learning process by helping educators implement the improved strategies." Edutopia's strategies are Comprehensive Assessments, Integrated Studies, Project-based Learning, Social and Emotional Learning, Teacher Development, and Technology Integration. This website focuses less on video production and more on Teacher's blogs that communicate how teachers are implementing the Edutopia's list of improved strategies! On this site more can be gained by researching instructional methods and finding inspirational examples of successful schools than gathering classroom ready lesson materials.

ReadWriteThink features K-12 classroom resources, professional development, and parent resources. There are lesson plans aligned with NCTE and IRA standards and student interactives.

FableVision has many resources for K-12 educators including software, books, games, videos, a blog, a newsletter, and professional development. The resources are aligned with national standards (NETS-S, NCTM, etc.). The Grants link has pages of available grants for educators. It has some free resources and many products available for purchase.

Visual learning strategies such as graphic organizers, concept mapping, mind mapping, diagrams, outlines and more are being used in classrooms. These strategies help students or all ages better manage learning objectives and achieve academic success. As students are required to evaluate and interpret information from a variety of sources, incorporate new knowledge with what they already have learned, and improve writing skills and think critically, visual learning tools help students meet those demands. Together with the brain's capacity for images, visual learning strategies help students better understand and retain information. This Website offers a variety of resources for better understanding the use of visual learning methodologies and tools to incorporate into your classroom.

Rubistar is a free tool for educators that helps them to create high-quality rubrics. Users can create rubrics or use the available rubric templates.

Quizlet allows users to find or create virtual flashcards for studying practically any subject. There are different study modes like spelling, test, scatter etc that help students learn content independently or in groups.

The Digital Citizenship and Creative Content program is a free, turnkey instructional program. The goal is to create an awareness of the rights connected with creative content.

A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web. This site provides information and resources for teachers on the WebQuest Model.

The Kahn Academy offers resources on a variety of topics like Math, Science, Computer Science, Finance and Economics, Humanities and Test Prep. Resources include an extensive video library, interactive challenges, and assessments.

Create a Graph is a free website that allows users to create bar, line, pie, area, or x-y graphs by inputting specific information. Graphs can be saved or printed. Suitable for lower grade levels. 

Visual Thesaurus is an interactive dictionary and thesaurus that shows connections between words.Students can use it for writing and teachers can use it for lessons (e.g., 6+1 Write Traits Word Choice). This tool explores vocabulary, creates a visual word map,creates and shares word lists,has audio pronunciation, shows relationships between words, and uses visual symbols and allows the manipulation of words.It also provides spelling help, finds synonyms and antonyms, identifies parts of speech, and can analyze vocabulary from any text into lists of useful words and their context. Features include 5 languages, a spelling bee, an online magazine and tech support. The Educators link provides resources, activities, lesson ideas, and professional development.

This site allows you to create customized maps by one of two methods. Draw your own or layer information onto existing maps provided by Ikimaps. Once completed, maps are given a unique URL to share by link. They can also be embedded onto websites. Ikimaps could be used as part of student presentations or could be created, with the use of an interactive white board, as a interactive, multimedia activity during class.

This website provides the tools to create infographics for student presentations and assessment. Students choose a general theme and drag and drop graphics and information onto the graphic. After creation is complete, students receive a URL to share their Easel.ly.