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"3 Tips on Integrating Technology in the Classroom Former Gov. Bob Wise discusses Digital Learning Day and how high school teachers can embrace technology. By Laura McMullen Jan. 25, 2012 SHARE Integrating technology into a high school classroom isn't a one-step process. "You can't just slap a netbook [computer] on top of a textbook and say, 'Great, now we have technology," says Bob Wise, former governor of West Virginia and president of the Alliance for Excellent Education, an advocacy organization. Wise says that digital learning starts with teachers, whose performance is enhanced by technology-not the other way around. That's also the idea of Digital Learning Day, which the Alliance is spearheading. The first annual Digital Learning Day falls on February 1 and will celebrate innovative K-12 instructors who successfully bring technology into the classroom by assigning online course content, using adaptive software for students with special needs, and utilizing online student assessments and other digital tools. Educators, as well as parents, students, librarians, and community leaders, can learn about classroom innovations and get new ideas by chiming in during the virtual National Town Hall meeting held on Digital Learning Day. [Learn how a new iPad app is revolutionizing textbooks.] "The whole intention of Digital Learning Day is to really celebrate teachers and good instructional learning practices," says Sarah Hall, director of the Alliance's Center for Secondary School Digital Learning and Policy. And good teaching, especially the kind that involves working with evolving technologies, sometimes requires good advice. Hall and Wise shared the following ideas for effectively using technology in the classroom-not just on Digital Learning Day, but anytime. 1. Plan ahead: There has to be a comprehensive strategy in place to implement technology into the school system, Wise says, and the teachers have to be involved in the planning stages. "When a schoo

"Five Ways Teachers Can Use Technology to Help Students Posted: 05/07/2013 8:34 am Follow éducation , Classroom Technology , Open Source , Public Schools , Teacher Technology , Technology In The Classroom , Technology News SHARE THIS STORY 57 273 34 Submit this story By Darrell M. West and Joshua Bleiberg Thomas Edison once said, "Books will soon be obsolete in the public schools... our school system will be completely changed inside of ten years." Amazingly enough, however, one of our nation's most important inventors was proven quite wrong. The American education system has a remarkable resistance to innovation and the classroom experience has changed very little in the 100 years since Edison's prediction. Advances in information technology have revolutionized how people communicate and learn in nearly every aspect of modern life except for education. The education system operates under the antiquated needs of an agrarian and industrial America. The short school day and the break in the summer were meant to allow children to work on family farms. Schools have an enduring industrial mentality placing students in arbitrary groups based on their age regardless of their competencies. Technology has failed to transform our schools because the education governance system insulates them from the disruptions that technology creates in other organizations. The government regulates schools perhaps more than any other organization. Rules govern where students study, how they will learn, and who will teach them. Education regulation governs the relationships of actors in the system and stymies the impact of innovative technologies. Furthermore the diffuse system of governance creates numerous veto points to limit innovation. To overcome these obstacles, we must persuade teachers that technology will empower them and help their students learn. We argue that there are five strategies for successful teacher adoption of education technology and that these principles will he

"Best Practices for Using Technology in the Classroom Technology in the Classroom When using technology for teaching, there are four basic principles to be kept in mind: Alignment: Technology should be used for a purpose-not for the sake of being flashy and not as a distraction from other forms of pedagogy. Carefully consider the ways in which video or other media that you share with your class are aligned with your learning objectives. Consider the technology that is most closely in alignment with your teaching skills and the needs of your students-if you don't like to teach with Power Point, consider giving students a handout outlining the main points of your lecture and listing major concepts to assist them in note-taking. Accessibility: Be sure that the technology that you intend to use is accessible to your students. While computers are virtually ubiquitous, and students living on campus have ready access to computing labs and other technology on campus, do consider whether or not your students have access to technology that you want them to use. Also, consider your own access to technology: make sure that you are familiar with all of the technology that you use and that media technology in your classroom is functioning correctly before the class. Plan ahead. If you are going to show a film, for example, don't wait until you walk into class to find out if the player in your classroom supports your DVD's regional format, or you will find yourself scrambling to come up with a lesson plan that does not include the film. By checking the regional format in advance, you will be able to have a matching-format DVD player delivered to the classroom by Technology Services. Assessment: As with lectures, discussions, and labs, provide your students with guidance when dealing with media technologies. If you are showing them a film, provide them with the learning objectives that you have for them in watching the film. Consider giving them a short assignment to be fil

Been busy pinning away on Pinterest to curate resources helpful educators http://t.co/6lTLRpcd Am I on right path?

Was having trouble with google reader. I ended up on wikipedia on edublog and this was one of the names referenced so I'm testing out my diigo skills with this one...

This is a fairly open and comprehensive list. There is at least one other RSS feed aggrigator on here, (I think) and some cool looking personal organization things.

This site--English pedagogy guru Jim Burke's ning--is a treasure trove for middle school and secondary English instructors. Joining requires verification of your relationship to a learning institution. The site is well organized, allowing me to browse by general topics and within forums. It's a virtual teacher's lounge, allowing for quick takes on strategies for teaching any number of things, or in depth discussion on the viability of Literature Circles for Shakespeare study. I could easily get lost in the forest of great ideas here.

This article gives me a new perspective on Project Based Learning, and one teacher incorporates a lot of interesting technology to expand her anatomy class.

Reason Effectively * Use various types of reasoning (inductive, deductive, etc.) as appropriate to the situation Use Systems Thinking * Analyze how parts of a whole interact with each other to produce overall outcomes in complex systems Make Judgments and Decisions * Effectively analyze and evaluate evidence, arguments, claims and beliefs * Analyze and evaluate major alternative points of view * Synthesize and make connections between information and arguments * Interpret information and draw conclusions based on the best analysis * Reflect critically on learning experiences and processes Solve Problems * Solve different kinds of non-familiar problems in both conventional and innovative ways * Identify and ask significant questions that clarify various points of view and lead to better solutions

This is a great website for information on teaching students with learning disabilities. The site has information on tech tools for students with learning disabilities and how to use the tools in an inclusion setting.

Teachers Guide on The Use of Graphic Organizers in The Classroom free graphic organizers Med kharbach Gone are the days when planning and thinking were done mainly by pen and paper.Technology have made it pretty much easier to think in different other ways.

This is a great site to download activities that others have already made on Boardmaker. It works for assistive technology and on computers. You need to have the Boardmaker software at your school though.

Do you know of any sites or blogs that focus on technology specifically to assist special Ed teachers?

TenMarks is an excellent resource to use for Math. This website is aligned with the Common Core Standards and provides students with excellent practice and understanding of each standard. The classroom teacher can sign her class up on the site and provide each student with a username and password. From there she can assign different problems for the class to solve based on the skills they are learning or have already learned. Each question has a video lesson and hints to support the students if they are struggling. TenMarks also automatically provides the students with an intervention or a re-teaching video if they continue to struggle with a concept. It also provides the teacher with reports on the progress of each student. This is something that my fifth grade colleagues and I started this year and it has been great!

Thie commercial Apple, Inc. website provides its viewers valuable information about the latest Apple, Inc. apps for educators and students. It will keep you up to date on the technology out there for us and allow you to see demonstrations of the use of certain apps. Commercial, but very informative

history of the universe - this starts with the big bang

These are some fabulous-looking tools! Everything from graph creation to time-line generators. . . a cool resource to click around on.

Intended for elementary and secondary school students and teachers who are interested in learning about the nervous system and brain with hands on activities, experiments and information.

Intended for elementary and secondary school students and teachers who are interested in learning about the nervous system and brain with hands on activities, experiments and information.

How to teach students to leave quality comments on blogs

Interesting article on copyrights and showing free time movies in the classroom.

You may have seen this, but I thought this was great as a way to teach young elementary students internet safety.

Another engaging activity about what to share on-line and protecting your computer from a virus is http://home.disney.com.au/activities/surfswellisland/ Surfs Well Island by Disney. I found the tip that you should never tell an on-line friend the name of your baseball team very interesting.