Group items tagged

"The debate about homework is growing heated in education circles. With more and more demands being placed on teachers, students, and educational leaders, homework can provide valuable practice time for students. It can also be a time of torture where families lose their precious little time to conflict and stress, as the battle of "I don't want to do my homework" ensues. It's important to impress upon students the value of getting the work done, but sometimes homework demands are unrealistic, bringing up the question "Is homework productive?""

"This is a cool tool for finding archived newspapers from at least one hundred years ago via a Google news search. Particularly, as examining primary source documents can be an effective component of Common Core instruction, I hope you'll find this useful. "

"This is the third post in a series of posts I am sharing with you to help you better make the most out of Google Scholar. After we have learned how to effectively search Google Scholar and how to sift through its search results, today's resource features 7 important tips on how to easily find and access academic and scholarly articles. It is a sort of anatomy of how Google Scholar works and how to use each of its salient features. I find this document really helpful and can be used with students in class  to help them discover the potential of this academic search engine."

"Today is the last day of our first quarter, and I had my IB Theory of Knowledge students work in groups of three to prepare presentations on this topic: How do each of the Ways Of Knowing - Perception, Language, Reason, and Emotion - help and hinder our search for knowledge. Give examples of each."

"How are you making connections between your English Language Arts instruction and the work happening in social studies? Incorporating social studies reading passages into your instruction can help you address learning goals in both subject areas. If you are teaching a lesson about the American Revolution you might share a short selection of informational text so students can discuss cause and effect in a reading passage in the context of that moment in history. If you are reading a historical fiction novel you can use short reading passages to provide additional information on notable figures or events that pop up during the course of the story. Earlier this year I shared some favorite online resources for science reading passages (see the post here). There are a handful of great social studies reading passages organized on websites and available in mobile apps. Locating just-right resources for your classroom can be a struggle, especially when it comes to reading materials. As you begin the search for content to share with your students, you'll want to check out the range of resources featured on this list. Make sure to scroll to the bottom for a special link to reading response tools that students can use in combination with the resources on this list."

"I wrote in my book about the power of using word clouds in the classroom. They are such a good tool for activities linked to literacy, problem solving and much more. The classic Wordle and Tagxedo still rank highly in my estimation but as more and more use of technology moves to tablets and other mobile devices; so the search for a decent word cloud generator moves from the desktop to the mobile device too. Over time, more and more Apps have become available on the App Store and so in this post I'll explore my top six Apps for creating word clouds using iOS devices. Note, not all of these apps have Android alternatives although some have."

Technology Integration in Education is an App that does away with the hours of searching the net for the right instructional technology resources for you. TIE is the one stop location for everything related to educational technology.

"If you perform a basic Google search using terms such as 'iPad' and 'education' you will find that most of the results come from blogs and news sites. The success of iPads in schools is still highly anecdotal and often unconfirmed, but that is changing as more researchers and educators publish their findings in scholarly journals, which undergo peer review and a raised level of scrutiny. I spent the last few days tracking articles published through Elsevier's various journals as listed on ScienceDirect.com, and it is clear that the iPad is on track to be the focus of more articles in 2014 than any year previously."

"How about creating some awesome graphic quotes to use in your classroom? These could be used either as warm-up activities or entry events to project based learning. Picture quotes could also serve as prompts to brainstorm ideas around a given topic or as educational posters to embellish your classroom walls with nuggets of wisdom. I have some searching and found this wonderful list from Louise Myers, check them out below."

"Google Books is one of the research tools that Google offers, but a lot of students overlook. Google Books can be a good place for students to look for books and look within books that can help them with their research projects. In the short guide below I provide updated directions for the basics of Google Book search."

"As part of C.M Rubin's monthly series in the Huffington post: The Global Search for Education: Our Top 12 Global Teacher Blogs, this is my third contribution. This month we are answering the following prompt: What are the best ways a teacher can demonstrate leadership in the classroom? I started to poke a little around to get a better handle on the popular notion of WHAT leadership was perceived as:"

"Last summer at the Apple developer conference, WWDC, we learned that there were more than 1.2 million apps in the Apple App Store alone. That's a lot of choices. In a sea that large, understanding how to find apps for the classroom can be challenging. In speaking with numerous educators, we learned that most app downloads result from a colleague's recommendation (i.e., word of mouth) or from choosing the first app in the search results. These are both sound strategies given the limited time educators have to explore each new app. But a larger point has become clear: learning to swiftly evaluate apps has become an essential skill in the fast-growing, ever-changing mobile classroom. The Great App Checklist, go.sas.com/MobileLearning. We offer this checklist to help educators zero in on the app they need and to judge how well it performs key functions. This rubric can help developers understand how educators choose apps, what information would help someone in this audience, which details to mention in the app store summary, and what is the essential functionality. The checklist's themes - Purpose, Alignment, Pedagogically-based, Personalization, Sharing, Ease of Use, Privacy, App Citizenship, and Access - are those discussed throughout Mobile Learning: A Handbook for Developers, Educators, and Learners."

Lots of web2.0 tools that have an application in many areas of the curriculum.

This site is designed to provide teachers with a directory of free webtools along with some suggestions as to how they may be used in the classroom. I have searched over 2000 websites and listed over 295 tools, that's almost 300 opportunities for you to use ICT in your classroom and all for free!

"Today I am sharing with you a number of useful websites that are particularity designed for younger learners. Yes, finding kids-friendly website is not an easy task and it even becomes harder for those busy teachers and parents who can hardly afford an extra hour or two to conduct online searches. The list below is not comprehensive but it does include some of the best websites for helping kids learn better."

"Do you like discovering new Google related tips? I sure do! And that's why I'm starting a new series this Tuesday featuring 1 awesome Google tip each day, for 21 days!  The tips will cover a wide variety of Google products we all love such as: Google Search, Chrome, Drive, Plus, Maps, Calendar, Gmail, Adsense, YouTube and more! Each tip will be presented as an embedded Google+ post on this page, and if needed - followed by screenshots and examples to further explain the point."