FPS Integrating Technology into Your Classroom

Bunkr is an online presentation tool which not only enables you to create your presentations (a la powerpoint) in your web browser but also to collect and store content (image, video, quote, text) from the internet which you can use later in your slides.

Quick Rubric is the wonderful new (beta) site for creating rubrics from the creators of Storyboard That. This is far and away the easiest site for creating a beautiful rubric where a user can add a row or a column with a tap of an arrow button. Everything inside of the rubric is customizable (i.e., from the heading to customizing points) and a user can save or print out as many rubrics as they need.

"Your referencing style supported. With over 7,000 reference styles, including Harvard, APA and MLA, you can be sure your bibliography is created in the correct format."

"Depending on the features you enable in Quizizz, a quiz-based website, kids answer questions and score points based on the correctness of their response and how quickly they give it.  They can run out of time and lose the opportunity to answer too. "

"Integrating video projects into the classroom can be as simple or complex as you want. Just grab a phone, digital camera or tablet and your students are on their way. Here are some video project ideas, divided into ideas for any classroom and ideas for specific subject areas."

Learning Bird is an online application that combines smart technology with engaging digital lessons made by real teachers. It uses grade levels, local curricula, textbooks, and lesson feedback to match the best lessons to each student.

"This free e-book examines the underlying principles that guide effective teaching in an age when everyone,and in particular the students we are teaching, are using technology. A framework for making decisions about your teaching is provided, while understanding that every subject is different, and every instructor has something unique and special to bring to their teaching."

"What teachers most often ask me is why they would set up a blog for their class. What value is there in a class blog?"

"Tackk is a simple way to create beautiful pages on the web. It's your very own page, flyer, blog post, or poster."

"A professional learning network is a vibrant, ever-changing group of connections to which teachers go to both share and learn. These groups reflect our values, passions, and areas of expertise. Teachers build PLNs the same way they build any network: by investing time to find and connect with people they trust, who have shared interests and passions. To me, a PLN includes the organizations, communities, and individuals who help me learn and grow as a professional. My PLN also provides me with a broader perspective on education-beyond my classroom, school building, state, and even nation. It is a blend of face-to-face and digital interactions with professional buddies, mentors, and rockstars."

"Technology is way too often given a bad rap by administrators and educators as a distraction or a hazard for students.  When technology is integrated intentionally with foresight and with intention of addressing specific growth-oriented goals, it increases the potential to help students learn, develop, and grow in unique ways.  It can be used to help address the needs as described by Maslow."

"An infopic is a photo with text layered on top that is designed to communicate a message. The message might be a summary, quote, definition, notes, data, weblink, hashtag, or other informational tidbits. The information might come from a conference, workshop, activity, lesson, video, book, a conversation, etc. Your blog, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Google Plus are great places to share infopics. The process of creating an infopic forces you to listen or read information and decide what is most important to remember and share. Learners of any age can make an infopic!"

Need something to brighten your walls and engage your students? Scroll through our poster series to find free eye-catching and educational images that you can download, print, use and share. Browse our ever-growing collection of data-rich educational infographics, on topics including dyslexia, fluency, technology, and more. Through these infographics, you can absorb information at a glance and expand your knowledge about diverse topics relevant to education.

"The alternative ways suggested here are important. If you look at the suggestions analytically you will see that they center around actively engaging students in the learning task through a variety of ways including, critical thinking, brainstorming, concept mapping...etc."

50 popular literacy, readaloud and articles sites like newsela.com (Newsela | Nonfiction Literacy and Current Events). Top 3 alternative sites are: http://nces.ed.gov/naal/, newsinlevels.com, dogonews.com.

"Would you be interested in the ultimate list of free tools for teachers? At the following post you will find 321 Free Tools for Teachers separated in 18 educational technology categories. Enjoy!"

"I am looking to use as many Google Apps and products as I can…because it will be easily accessible. Students will only need one username and password to access their course. We ALL know that makes life easier, for everyone! I think Google Moderator is definitely worth trying out. I love the fact that I can simply share the URL for my "series," which I'll refer to as a discussion board, with my students.

"I (Alice Keeler) polled some students who have been using Google Classroom and here are some tips they came up with for students using Google Classroom."

"To ensure that educators choose technology for the right reasons, here are three questions you might ask before choosing technology for the classroom."

"I began creating dedicated time and space for reflection toward the end of my classroom teaching career, and the practice has followed me through my work at the WNY Young Writer's Studio. I've found that it can take very little time and yet, the return on our investment has always been significant."