Group items tagged

" Beyond Google - AddThis Posted by Mr. Byrne at 2:12 PM Labels: Google, Internet search, teaching technology, Teaching With Technology, Technology Integration, web search, web search strategies 5 comments: SIS Media Specialist said... Geesh Richard, another great resource; like your posts are not enough. Many, many thanks. I have followed your blog for about a year and have learned SO MUCH. I understand you are from CT. Any chance we can get you to the joint annual CASL/CECA (Connecticut Association of School Librarians and Connecticut Educators Computer Association) conference next year? October 24, 2009 10:35 PM Mr. Byrne said... Yes, I am originally from Connecticut. In fact, I went to CCSU for freshman year. I'd like to come to CASL/CECA. Can you send me an email? richardbyrne (at) freetech4teachers Thanks. October 25, 2009 6:47 AM Linux and Friends said... Thanks for the amazing document. I am aware of a few of the resources listed in the document. However, many of the others are new to me. I will definitely check them out. November 2, 2009 9:45 PM dunnes said... I visited and bookmarked four sites from this post! Thank you for the great resource. Students want to use Google rather than stick to the school library catalog, but they need more instruction on how to do this. I have seen too many children search with ineffective terms, and then waste time clicking on their random results. November 8, 2009 12:38 PM Lois said... Beyond Google is a great resource. I wish I had your skills for taking what you learn and putting it together as you do. I love reading your daily blog. November 15, 2009 10:04 AM Post a Comment Links to this post Beyond Google: Improve Your Search Results http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2009/10/beyond-google-improve-your-search.html While working with some of my colleagues in a workshop earlier this week, I was reminded that a lot of people aren't familiar with tools

"This defines a new role for librarians as database experts and teachers, while the library becomes a place for learning about sophisticated search for specialized information." "How do we make information as useful as possible to our community now and over a long period of time?"

WebCHECK Professional, designed for educators and Web designers to use for (1) assessing the quality of Web sites used for assignments and learning activities and (2) determining how to improve the quality of locally-designed personal, classroom, library and/or school Websites. · WebCHECK Senior, designed for high school students (grades 9-12) · WebCHECK Middle, designed for middle school students (grade 5-8) · WebCHECK Junior, designed for elementary school students (grades 2-4) · WebCHECK for Facilitors, designed for K-12 educators, administrators and higher education faculty to use when assigning a single Web site to be evaluated by groups or classes of students or by educators in an in-service or professional development workshop. What makes WebCHECK unique: · based on a foundation of instructional design and motivation theory. · available online, fully automated, and free. · both fun and easy-to-use. · a powerful instructional and learning tool. · generates a full evaluation report to share results with teachers, administrators, students, parents, etc. · uses graphs for visual representation of scores and text for details and interpretations. · On the WebCHECK Web site, you will find all of the instruments, as well as more than 30 lesson plans, designed by school librarians nationwide, that incorporate WebCHECK at various levels and subject areas.

"Invention - Create Solutions -  According to the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, "Learning and innovation skills increasingly are being recognized as the skills that separate students who are prepared for increasingly complex life and work environments in the 21st century, and those who are not. A focus on creativity is essential to prepare students for the future." School Librarians TEACH students how to invent, innovate and create solutions. They provide students with creative tools and apps that inspire students to use innovative solutions, express knowledge in unique ways, propose answers to real world problems, and share their world."

"Prior knowledge is an essential part of the meaning making negotiated between interlocutors. In classrooms, too, students' prior knowledge is a key factor in students overall achievement and performances. Most often, those lacking this kind of knowledge always lag behind the rest. There are actually several ways teachers can determine how much prior knowledge students have in store before debuting a discussion or a lesson. The visual below created by Mia from anethicalisland outlines some very practical ways that you can use in your class to check for students' previous knowledge. Check it out"

"Our job as teachers is to draw our students attention to the fact that copy-paste culture is destructive and that appropriate citations and crediting back the sources, if ever we are allowed to, are two important things we always need to invoke as we are dealing with both digital and non digital content.  I have an entire section in this blog packed full of resources, tools and tips on how to teach your students about copyright, check it out here to learn more. Today, I am sharing with you this wonderful flowchart I come across in digital inspiration. You can use it with you students to teach them about the kinds of images to cite and how to do so."

"Young people also need guidance and adult assistance to learn how to safely navigate the virtual environments of the 21st Century. Schools must be proactive, rather than merely defensive, in helping students acquire the skills of digital citizenship needed today and in the future. Simply banning read/write web tools on school networks is an inadequate response: Educators must strive to learn alongside students and parents how these technologies can be safely and powerfully used to communicate and collaborate."

resources and links provided - from a workshop to schol library media spcialists (and others) by Wesley Fryer

Free games to reinforce the usage and spelling of contractions.

"In order to make this program grow, students will have to take a role in terms of creating and managing their badges. Of course, we will be there to guide the students, but it will require students to be a little more creative with their time in the library. We feel this will be a positive program to help student learn time management skills, as well as increase their reading throughout the school year."

At its most basic level, Activate Instruction is a free open database of standards-aligned learning resources-but it was designed to be much more. Teachers can browse, search, rate, add, share, and organize resources. Parents and students can follow teachers to see what they posted or search for the resources they like best. When integrated with student assessment data systems, Activate makes it easy for teachers to use student assessment data to connect students with the resources that match their specific needs.

January 5, 2015 Google Maps is an excellent tool to use with students to develop their spatial thinking. Beyond getting driving or walking directions to the other, this tool enables students to discover the world right from their classrooms. It is also a very good way to teach students about geography concepts, distance measurement, map readings and other fundamentals of mapping such as longitude, latitude, locations and many more.

These tools motivate students to learn, share, and develop presentation and collaboration skills needed in their future careers. Teaching them how to do this now means we are preparing them for their future effectively! Rarely will a student have to fill out a bubble test for their careers, but trust me many will have to prepare presentations, brainstorm ideas, be creative, and collaborate on teams through ICTs.

In a world as fast-changing and full of information as our own, every one of us-from schoolchildren to college students to working adults-needs to know how to learn well. Yet the evidence suggests that most of us don't use the learning techniques that science has proven most effective. Worse, research finds that the learning strategies we do commonly employ-like re-reading and highlighting-are among the least effective.

Always good to read the original - in popularizing the information, some of the ideas are misrepresented http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/publications/journals/pspi/learning-techniques.html

This is a wiki set up as a student-directed learning portal for Year 8s learning about space. It includes compulsory and free-choice activities. Students must accumulate 100 points. Analysis showed that student results improved significantly.

As educators pursue CCSS alignment, it is crucial to design curricula and assessment systems that engage students in higher-level thinking tasks that provide opportunities for students to evaluate information. This white paper will focus on one critical thinking skill that students need to learn-how to evaluate

JogNog, a website that provides competitive learning games that motivate students in grades 2-12 to learn, has opened up its library of elementary and middle school content to teachers who want to create games that match their specific lesson plans.

What you call your space doesn't matter as much as whether or not your space is flexible, relevant and supports the needs of your students.

The Michigan Learns Online Portal helps educators bring anytime, anywhere learning to every K-12 student in Michigan.