Libmedia201

Social Learning These tools use the power of social media to help students learn and teachers connect. Edmodo: Teachers and students can take advantage of this great tech tool, as it offers a Facebook-like environment where classes can connect online. Grockit: Get your students connected with each other in study sessions that take place on this great social site. EduBlogs: EduBlogs offers a safe and secure place to set up blogs for yourself or your classroom. Skype: Skype can be a great tool for keeping in touch with other educators or even attending meetings online. Even cooler, it can help teachers to connect with other classrooms, even those in other countries. Wikispaces: Share lessons, media, and other materials online with your students, or let them collaborate to build their own educational wiki on Wikispaces. Pinterest: You can pin just about any image you find interesting on this site, but many teachers are using it as a place to collect great lesson plans, projects, and inspirational materials. Schoology: Through this social site, teachers can manage lessons, engage students, share content, and connect with other educators. Quora: While Quora is used for a wide range of purposes, it can be a great tool for educators. It can be used to connect with other professionals or to engage students in discussion after class. Ning: Ning allows anyone to create a personalized social network, which can be great for both teachers and students alike. OpenStudy:Encourage your students to work together to learn class material by using a social study site like OpenStudy. ePals: One of the coolest benefits of the Web is being able to connect with anyone, anywhere. ePals does just that, but focuses on students, helping them to learn languages and understand cultures different from their own.

English Language Arts

Social Studies

OverviewA survey of teachers who instruct American middle and secondary school students finds that digital technologies have become central to their teaching and professionalization. At the same time, the internet, mobile phones, and social media have brought new challenges to teachers, and they report striking differences in access to the latest digital technologies between lower and higher income students and school districts. Asked about the impact of the internet and digital tools in their role as middle and high school educators, these teachers say the following about the overall impact on their teaching and their classroom work: 92% of these teachers say the internet has a “major impact” on their ability to access content, resources, and materials for their teaching 69% say the internet has a “major impact” on their ability to share ideas with other teachers 67% say the internet has a “major impact” on their ability to interact with parents and 57% say it has had such an impact on enabling their interaction with students The survey finds that digital tools are widely used in classrooms and assignments, and a majority of these teachers are satisfied with the support and resources they receive from their school in this area. However, it also indicates that teachers of the lowest income students face more challenges in bringing these tools to their classrooms: Mobile technology has become central to the learning process, with 73% of AP and NWP teachers saying that they and/or their students use their cell phones in the classroom or to complete assignments More than four in ten teachers report the use of e-readers (45%) and tablet computers (43%) in their classrooms or to complete assignments 62% say their school does a “good job” supporting teachers’ efforts to bring digital tools into the learning process, and 68% say their school provides formal training in this area Teachers of low income students, however, are much less likely than teachers of the highest income students to use tablet computers (37% v. 56%) or e-readers (41% v. 55%) in their classrooms and assignments Similarly, just over half (52%) of teachers of upper and upper-middle income students say their students use cell phones to look up information in class, compared with 35% of teachers of the lowest income students Just 15% of AP and NWP teachers whose students are from upper income households say their school is “behind the curve” in effectively using digital tools in the learning process; 39% who teach students from low income households describe their school as “behind the curve” 70% of teachers of the highest income students say their school does a “good job” providing the resources needed to bring digital tools into the classroom; the same is true of 50% of teachers working in low income areas Teachers of the lowest income students are more than twice as likely as teachers of the highest income students (56% v. 21%) to say that students’ lack of access to digital technologies is a “major challenge” to incorporating more digital tools into their teaching

1. Best for Young Readersscholastic.com/stacks

2. Best for Lesson Plansthinkfinity.org

3. Best for Finding Booksbookwizard.scholastic.com

Use of computers in the classroom

Creating class websites and blogs

Use of digital microphones in the classroom

I had a student with Cerebral Palsy who only has proficient access to one finger,” Virani said. “The iPad comes along and 35 minutes after opening it from the box, he wrote his name for the first time — it was the first word he ever wrote. I thought if we can do this in 35 minutes, what can we do in nine months? The possibilities are endless when we have the right tools.”

The TabCam is a wireless streaming camera that captures and delivers live video to other devices. Virani uses the TabCam to broadcast lessons to and from anywhere in the room.

Students can access the content when they need a refresher or miss class and to collaborate with their peers. Teachers can use it to track their curriculum and share content with the class or with other schools. It also makes it easier to customize lessons for each student, and to engage parents and other teachers in their education.

teaching with technology involves four major components: the course content, the instructor, the students and the technology tools (See Figure 17.1.). We need to attend to each component in order to make technology integration as successful as possible.   Each of these components is discussed in more detail below. Scroll down or navigate to a particular section: course content the instructor the students technology tools

Here is an activity to reinforce learning at home.

2. Reward Positive Behaviors While you will at times have to discipline children for improper behavior, remember that rewarding positive behavior is ultimately far more effective in the long run. A great many Emotional and Behavioral Disorder students tend to take any discipline as a personal attack. Because of this, unfortunately they learn very little from it. Try and celebrate the successes of these students more than you reprimand or punish their mistakes. When these students receive positive feedback and rewards, they start to see that there is a positive benefit to good behavior. They will then start to see you as more of an ally than an adversary, and this will in turn motivate them to want to behave and do well in your classroom.