EDCT203

Kristy shared this with our 203 group. Students can make a "virtual" poster for a class project and incorporate you tube videos, pictures, sounds, etc. Very creative and unique! I will definitely use this website. I think it would work well with groups or individuals.

How do you attach the stuff? I would like to maybe use this in the future, but not too much. Posters probably get old after a while.

I have met some of the best and worst people through pen pal writing, so guess what I hope for my future students to do (especially when we get to the Jane Austen stuff)? I love it when I hear of English teachers that incorporate pen pal writing into their lesson plans, especially if the recievers of the pen pal writing are from foriegn lands. Not only are they taking a stab at their English skills, but dealing with different kinds of people of different cultures. The different kinds of people that were talked about in this article were eighth grades becoming pen pals with senior citizens. Some just did the homework, other ended up making long lasting friendships.

I checked this out just to see what potentials for novels and plays for seventh graders to study. Just a thought, why do English teachers keep teaching the same old books? Some of the stuff that I found was stuff that I was taught back when I was all three levels of school. Isn't time to update the reading list to stuff that has be written in last 20 years or even more recent instead of stuff that is outdated by like 50 or 100 years ago. I can't complain about Mark Twain though. I do like his writing. But Julie and the Wolves, The Outsiders, The Giver?

I am a big fan of organized chaos teaching. The best teachers that I ever had in school taught with aspects of this ability.

The Oregon Department of Education approved Google Apps for Education. This will save the state 1.5 million per year.

This is an intersting article about researchers in Japan working on future cell phones that will contain DNA chips to keep a regular watch on their owners' health.

This article talks about the "Gender Gap" in technology and some reasons to why there may be a gap.

This article looks on both sides of the issue of having technology in the classrooms.

A little light reading for everyone...(the "Learning Powered By Technology" draft is 114 pages)

This website had tips on how to deal with cyberbullies. One of the suggestions that I never thought about was contacting their phone or internet provider and file a complaint- they may be in violation of their "terms and conditions". There were also tips for teachers.

I liked the fact that one of the teachers in this article is using Wikipedia as a learning tool by having her class edit their hometown page.

Great videos that demo augmented reality, Chris Dede (Harvard), one of the leaders in the field, talks about what he envisions as the future of this technology.  Overall, a page of great info to introduce you to the educational potential of this tool.

This article talks about how the internet can be a great tool to the educational field.

An article about how to effectively use the internet

This isn't an article, but I thought it was interesting

I found this article interesting because it made me think about what would happen if all students had laptops in the younger grades. The teachers would then have another problem of making sure the students weren't playing games, and that any Internet communications were school appropriate.

If it is a problem in college classrooms, and it definitely is, multiply that by 10 in a classroom full of youngsters.

This article just reminds me of the fact that technology, even educational technology, is all about the money.

Absolutely. If they can't make money on it, then why would they put it out there??

I loved the programming examples some kids have done on this website. It is free, which is a big plus. Encourages creativity individually, or in groups. Teaches computer programming in a fun, easy way.

This evaluation fof Study Island promotes it as a great way to make sure kids learn the state standards and become proficient.

I have spent many hours with students as they work on Study Island, and I believe that they aren't as enthusiastic about the program as adults are. What I have noticed from the teachers is that Study Island is a good babysitter and a way to kill time. I'm not so sure I would give the program credit for boosting test scores.

I have had nothing but bad experiences with study island. Much like many things, the idea is better than the reality. Even though the system "times out" when the computer senses the student is guessing, the students just take a ten second break then get right back to guessing.

This is a website from the Miller Center of Public Affairs from the University of Virginia. It has a good deal of information about each president with a multimedia gallery for each president as well(mostly pictures). For social studies teachers with a focus on US history and particularly the presidents of the U.S. this is a great website.

This is a short article on Cyberbullying. It highlights that cyberbullying is more invasive than "convential" bullying due to the fact that students do not get a break from it on evenings and weekends.

I have to admit I am quite surprised cyberbullying is as high as 10%.

Yes, 10% of middle schoolers being cyber-bullying is a lot of kids experiencing the dark side of social technology.