Group items tagged

"Over the years I've used a lot of Google tools in my social studies classes. Some of those tools, like Wonder Wheel and Notebook, no longer exist, but many still do. Here are my five go-to Google tools for social studies classrooms. How to videos accompany each tool featured below."

Includes these free downloads: *Writing Questionnaire *Notebook Assessment Form *Beginning of the Year Assessment *50 Most Commonly Misspelled Words

From blog site: Teaching With SMARTBoard - If you're looking to increase your knowledge of Smartboards and learn great ways of using SmartBoards and Notebook in the classroom, this is the best resource available.

"Apple has enhanced its recycling program to add a new "reuse" option that pays owners of existing iPhones, iPads, Mac or PC desktop or notebook computers a fair market value for their old equipment, paid via an Apple Gift Card. "

A mini-movie is a simple (most involve only a click of the mouse), interactive animation that teachers can download and add to their galleries. From there, the movies can be inserted into their SMARTBoard Notebook presentations. Each mini-movie is a dynamic Flash file, similar to the same files that are already included in Notebook's resources.

A website with suggestions for writing prompts. Great for writers' notebooks.

"This is an interactive image (created using Thinglink) that features a bunch of useful iPad apps that you can use to do tasks you would traditionally do using a pen and paper. I really liked the idea of providing alternatives to do things digitally. For instance, instead of taking notes in a notebook or on paper you can use Evernote or any other note taking app to do it on iPad. The good thing about doing things digitally is that you have the added advantage of accessing, editing, and sharing your work across different devices and platforms and also saving it on the cloud to access it anytime anywhere you go. As is the case with all the interactive Thinglink images I shared here in the past, the app icons shared here are hyperlinked, just hover your mouse over any of them to access it on the iTunes app store."

"This article has been making its rounds in social media. I tend to agree with the idea that heavily-decorated, cutesy classrooms are distracting. I've never been a fan of a barrage of brightly-colored signs, Garfield posters and motivational phrases. However, I also see a real danger in district-mandated use of wall space. Here, the issue is less about bright and cutesy and more about things like word walls and anchor charts designed to create visual cues for learning. I see the point to it, but often this creates a text dump that students have to navigate (rather than having a simple notebook or website with tutorials they can access). It starts to feel like an encyclopedia had vomited on the walls. "

"Evernote is definitely a great utility to have in your EdTech toolkit. Evernote combines a bastion of powerful features all in one single platform: you can use it to create notes, add reminders to your notes, separate your notes into notebooks, clip web articles, snap photos to add to your notes and many other interesting features."