classroom – Page 5 – iLearn Technology

Classroom Pictures 2009-2010 School Year

August 20, 2009August 20, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments1992 views

In my last post I requested pictures of everyone’s classroom for the 2009-2010 school year. I’ll be honest, so far only three of you have participated. I know the beginning of the school year is busy so I am going to be patient and wait a few more days. If you want to submit your classroom picture, send it to me via Twitter @ktenkely. To get the ball rolling, here are pictures of my classroom this year:

“Oh the places we will go on the Internet super highway”

Application Tree

Application Tree bulletin board

How to Grow a blog

Use Your Netsmartz!

Internet Safety bulletin board

Giant Keyboard for demonstration

Classroom quote “Intelligence is measured by your desire to learn”

Computer Lab Expectations

I love my lab!!

Okay, now it is your turn! Share your classroom pics with us 🙂

Comics in the Classroom 100 Tips, Tools, and Resources for Teachers

July 10, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1846 views

A reader tipped me off to this great list of ways to use comics in the classroom. The list is extremelly comprehensive and includes sections on the benefits of using comics in the classroom, great resources for using comics in the classroom, suggested comics for reading in the classroom, tools for creating comics in the techie classroom, creative ways to use comics in the classroom, lessons plans using comics for elementary/middle/high school classrooms, manga and anime, and free comics for educators. With 100 tips, tools, ideas, and resources, this list should convince you of the why and how of using comics as teaching tools. Enjoy! Comics in the Classroom 100 Tips, Tools, and Resources for Teachers

Top 10 Technology Tips for New Teachers

June 8, 2009December 20, 2010Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2279 views

Yet another article that I wrote for http://theapple.com This article has been a popular one, it had the most views EVER on TheApple in one day! I wrote these tips for new teachers but the tips are valid for those of us who have been teaching for years as well. Enjoy!

Kelly Tenkely | TheApple.com

Being a first year teacher can be overwhelming to say the least. There is new curriculum to learn, unfamiliar school policies, classroom management challenges, and new teammates. Technology can help to ease some of these first year growing pains.

1. Develop a Personal Learning Network (PLN) on Twitter.

Twitter is an excellent place for new teachers to connect, collaborate, share ideas, and struggles with educators around the world. When joining Twitter, make sure to fill out your profile with information related to education. This will help others in education find you. Visit http://twitter.com to create an account. Visit http://twitter4teachers.pbworks.com to find other educators that teach in the same content area(s). Be sure to add your Twitter name to the appropriate list so that other educators can find you.

2. Keep students engaged.

Always have engaging activities on hand to keep your students on task and learning. Students will misbehave if they have nothing to do, don’t give them the opportunity to be bored. Technology is a great way to fill those extra minutes with critical thinking and problem solving activities. Keep a list or bookmark folder full of great online logic puzzle and problem solving websites for students to refer to when they have extra minutes. List ideas on 3×5 notecards that are kept next to the classroom computers. Students can select a card for an engaging activity any time they have a few extra minutes. Here are some suggestions for great engaging websites:

Fantastic Contraption- http://fantasticcontraption.com/

Super Thinkers- http://www.enlightenme.com/enlightenme/superthinkers/pages/index.html

Toy Theater- http://www.toytheater.com/index.php

Science Museum Launch Ball- http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/launchpad/launchball/

I Know That Thinking Games- http://iknowthat.com

Zoops Games that make you think- http://www.zoopz.com/zoopz/zoopz2.html

Light Up Your Brain- http://lightupyourbrain.com/

3. Take charge of professional development.

Just because you have a degree doesn’t mean that you are finished learning. A good teacher is continually learning. Technology makes it easy to extend your learning by offering professional development on demand. Professional development will keep your teaching fresh, current, and will remind you of what it is like to learn something new. Teachers who are continually learning make empathetic teachers, they understand how frustrating it can be to learn something for the first time. These are great places to continue your learning:

Learner.org – http://learner.org

Thinkfinity- http://thinkfinity.org

Tapped in- http://tappedin.com/tappedin

Teacher Tap- http://eduscapes.com/tap

Edutopia Instructional Modules- http://www.edutopia.org/instructional-modules

4. Involve parents by creating a link between home and school.

It is essential to build a strong connection between what happens at school with what happens at home. Students shouldn’t stop learning when they leave your classroom. Keep parents informed so they can be advocates for their kids education at home. There are a few ways to keep parents involved and informed:

Build a simple website to share classroom policies, unit overviews, homework, newsletters, calendars, and links to helpful websites. These websites are as easy as 1-2-3 to create and will keep your parents in the know. Check out the following free website creators:

Wix www.wix.com

Weebly www.weebly.com

Bloust www.bloust.com

Yola www.yola.com

Lunar Pages http://wiki.lunarpages.com/Free_Education_Account

Create a classroom Twitter account (http://twitter.com) and invite parents to follow the class on Twitter.

Throughout the class day invite students to post short updates about learning on the classroom Twitter account. Examples would be: “Yikes, about to take a pop math quiz!” or “Reading chapter 3 of Wayside School, can’t wait to hear what happens next.” This keeps parents updated with exactly what is happening in your classroom throughout the school day. When students get home parents can ask about specific activities that happened throughout the school day instead of getting the standard “nothing” answer when they ask what they did that day. This is also a great place to post homework. It is fast and gets students and teachers thinking about and reflecting on the learning of the day.

5. Keep yourself organized.

During the first year of teaching you will find a lot of new great resources, keep track of all these great finds in one easy to manage location. Delicious.com is a bookmarking website that allows you to bookmark and organize websites and webtools as you find them. Bookmarks can be collected and shared with others educators through Delicious. Be sure to install the Internet browser plugin so that you can easily bookmark a site with the click of a button.

6. Find educational blogs to discover new ideas, encouragement, and educational news.

I have found some educational blogs written by other educators that make me laugh, keep me current, and encourage me on tough days of teaching. Below are some of my favorite blogs, you can find other great blogs by clicking on the links in each bloggers ‘blog roll’. These are the blogs that the blogger is reading.

NCS-Tech- http://www.ncs-tech.org

Three Old Farts- http://threeoldfarts.com/

Cal Teacher Blog- http://calteacherblog.blogspot.com/

Always Learning- http://mscofino.edublogs.org/

Once Upon a Teacher- http://onceuponateacher.blogspot.com/

Regurgitated Alpha Bits- http://regurgitatedalphabits.blogspot.com/

Smart Education 1 to 1- http://smart1to1.blogspot.com/

The Cornerstone Blog- http://thecornerstoneforteachers.blogspot.com/

The Strength of Weak Ties- http://strengthofweakties.org/

Bestest PE- http://bestestpe.blogspot.com/

Confident Teacher- http://confidentteacher.blogspot.com/

iLearn Technology- http://ilearntechnology.com

7. Get to know your students.

Nothing means more to a child than getting to know them individually. Find out about their likes, dislikes, family, pets, friends, and hobbies. Technology can make it easier to get to know your students. Sign up for a classroom http://think.com account. Each student will get a protected web space. Here they can create school related web pages, and interact with you and other students in the form of debates, votes, blog posts, and online collaborative projects. Pose questions on your think.com space for students to answer. In my experience, even shy students are willing to share with you in this type of environment.

8. Work smarter not harder.

Use websites like Scholastic’s Book Wizard that will help you work smart and maximize your time. Scholastic Book Wizard helps you to find just the right books for your students. Level your books, find booktalks, author information and lesson plans. Search books by level, author, title or keywords, or find similar books at the reading level you need. http://bookwizard.scholastic.com/tbw/homePage.do?ESP=TBW/ib/20081222/eng/tbw_logo///thlp/img////

9. Don’t reinvent the wheel.

There are a number of free lesson plans available online for every topic and grade level. These can be excellent, creative supplements for school curriculum.

Scholastic Lesson Plans- http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/lessonplans.jsp

LessonPlanz- http://www.lessonplanz.com/

Hot Chalk’s Lesson Plans Page- http://www.lessonplanspage.com/

Teachers.net – http://teachers.net/lessons/

Lesson Plan Central – http://lessonplancentral.com/

teach-nology- http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/lesson_plans/

A to Z Teacher Stuff- http://atozteacherstuff.com

10. Always be prepared.

Plan out lessons, and keep them organized. Discovery School has a great online lesson planner where you can create and store your lesson plans. Lesson Planner lets you edit, print or download your lesson plans while linking to puzzles, worksheets, and quizzes that you have created with the teacher tools on DiscoverySchool.com. http://school.discoveryeducation.com/teachingtools/lessonplanner/index.html

It’s Not All About the Technology

May 21, 2009May 25, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment8962 views

Another article written for The Apple. If you aren’t part of this teaching community, you should be! Sign up today and be sure to add me as a friend ktenkely.Kelly Tenkely | TheApple.comThis may seem like a strange title coming from a technology evangelist and integration specialist. But it is true, it isn’t all about technology in classrooms. Don’t get me wrong, technology can and will do amazing things to increase student learning, differentiate instruction, and meet students where they are. Understand, technology alone can’t do this, it isn’t the golden ticket that when plugged in solves all educational problems. I see many schools who purchase the latest-and-greatest technology, software, and infrastructure only to have the technology collecting dust a few years later when it didn’t solve the education problems of the school. This isn’t the technologies fault, it doesn’t mean that the technology has failed to deliver. What schools often miss is that it isn’t really about the technology at all. There is a foundational level that needs to be addressed in schools first.Many classrooms still look the way they did in the 19th century. The teacher is at the front of the classroom giving students facts to memorize, rules about grammar, math, and science. The role of the student is to take it all in, memorize, and regurgitate the information back in the form of an essay, worksheet, or test. The teacher marks up the student work, puts a grade at the top, and returns it to the student. The process repeats itself as the teacher works to squeeze in all of the curriculum before the end of the year. Technology can’t improve this learning environment. In fact, technology will feel forced and unnatural in this classroom model. Technology invites students to problem solve, create, think critically, and collaborate. The focus is not on memorization and testing but on discovery and creativity. In this classroom model, technology may be used to replace the chalk board with a PowerPoint presentation. This may be more visually appealing, but it doesn’t change how students are learning. The teacher is still the center of the classroom and students are still taking it all in and regurgitating back on worksheets and tests. Learning hasn’t really changed so the results continue to stay the same.Students learn by doing. Students learn through making connections to things they already know. Students learn through discovery. Students learn when they are the center of their education. Technology lends itself naturally to this type of classroom. Technology enhances learning exponentially when introduced into a classroom where students are at the center of learning. Think about the most popular technologies with students today outside of the classroom. For elementary students those that top the list are Club Penguin and Webkins. For secondary students they are Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, and Twitter. What do these have in common? They are all social. Each of these tools invites communication and collaboration. Students aren’t interested in technology for the sake of technology, they are hooked by the increased ability to communicate ideas and work together. In the traditional classroom students complete work for one person: the teacher. There is very little communication after the paper has been handed back. What can technology do to make learning more of a collaborative effort? Web 2.0 tools (those online tools that invite communication and/or collaboration) make learning collaborative.Blogs, wikis, videos, slideshows, and websites can be used in the classroom as a place for students to create and share their work with a wider audience. This audience could be as small as a classroom and parents, or as large as the whole world. These online spaces make students the ‘experts’ and put them in charge of their own learning. They have a sense of ownership in their education. It isn’t about the teacher, it’s about them. Technology invites students to discover learning. Students today find very little value in memorization. It is no wonder that this is the case, many of them walk around with smart phones in their pockets. At any given time they can Google anything and be given thousands of resources that will answer their question. This introduces a new requirement of education. We must teach students to think critically about the information they find. Yes, they can Google anything, but will they know what information is factual and what information is bad? Technology allows students to experience things that they may not other wise have the opportunity to experience. For example, taking a virtual field trip to Egypt to see the pyramids, hear an archeologist speak, and ask the archeologist follow up questions. These experiences help students to make connections to their own lives that would not have been possible with note taking followed by a quiz.Technology alone will not change education and student learning. First, the classroom environment needs to change. We need classrooms that value student centered learning, collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity. We need classrooms that value learning. Our goal as teachers should not be to get our students to pass a test, but to teach them how to learn, unlearn, and relearn. Regardless of the technology being used in the classroom, students need these foundational skills to succeed in life. When partnered with this type of classroom, technology will increase student learning and performance. Before any school looks at hardware or software for the classroom, they need to set up a solid educational foundation. The expectation needs to be set that students will no longer be memorizers, they will be thinkers and creators.

Selenia Science Comics

April 14, 2009April 14, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2793 views

What it is: Selenia Science Comics is a fun way for students to learn about science concepts through investigations linked to comics. The comics and investigations focus on science inquiry and materials and their properties. Downloadable resources are provided with information on learning outcomes, background to support scientific inquiry, scientific principles behind the experiments, guidance on the investigation, and an equipment list. Each of the investigations is linked to a online comic that poses a problem which the student is invited to solve. There are six comics with investigations including investigating dissolving, cooling, glue, leaks, air resistance, and hardness. The site also features online games for students to play including wordsearches, quizzes, picture Sudoku, and spot the difference (like hidden pictures).

How to integrate Selenia Science Comics into the classroom: These Science Comics are an excellent way to get your students interested in science and thinking like a scientist. Through fun comics, investigations, and experiments students learn about key science concepts in a way that will grab their attention and make science exciting. Students can read the comics individually, in groups, or as a whole class with a projector or an interacitve whiteboard. Following the comics, discuss what the problem to be solved is, gather ideas for solving, and perform an investigation as a whole class or in groups to solve the problems. This solve the mystery approach to science is perfect for students inquisitive minds! Wordsearches and Quizzes on the Science Comics site are fun for students to complete in a computer lab setting or as a center on classroom computers. Students can play the picture Sudoku or Spot the Difference individually or broken into teams as a class with an interactive whiteboard. After students have seen the Selenia Science Comics and performed a few investigations, they can visit a site like Kerpoof or Animoto and create their own science comics about other concepts they are learning.

Tips: Be sure to visit the teacher page for great ideas and downloads of Investigations.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Selenia Science Concepts in your classroom.

eyePlorer

March 31, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment2391 views

What it is: eyePlorer is a really cool site that allows students “explore and process knowledge.” Student type in a word or words to research. eyePlorer pulls information from Wikipedia and puts it into a color wheel of information. When students hover over the different areas of the color wheel, they get a sentence or two about their subject. There is a notebook where students can drag and drop facts that they want to remember. Students can drag facts to the notebook and rearrange them as they need to. Students can click the “i” button under the search box to get a quick summary of their topic, click on the “+” button to add search parameters, and click on the paper button to go to a Google search. The idea behind eyePlorer is to improve the way “users interact with knowledge and information online.” The goal is to provide innovative, interactive, visual methods for working with and discovering facts and information. I think the result is pretty amazing and perfect for the educational setting!

How to integrate eyePlorer into the classroom: This is a truly unique way for students to research and explore new information. Students quickly get a visual guide to their inquiry and can drag and drop what they are learning into a notebook. This is a fantastic tool for research projects but would also be amazing for use with an interactive whiteboard. As students are learning about a new concept, they can type the subject into the search and as a class decide which information they want to save in the notebook for later. What a great introduction to any new material. This site will definitely help wet students appetite for learning! Make sure to bookmark this site on the classroom computers as a classroom research center.

Tips: eyePlorer was created in Germany so the home page information is all in German, once you start a search you can choose to search in German or English. When I searched “shiba inu” it automatically searched in English for me.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using eyePlorer in your classroom.

ActivInspire

March 5, 2009Kelly Tenkely3 Comments19752 views

What it is: ActivInspire is a new software from Promethean that is free! The free edition is a ‘personal’ license that can be used by anyone. The ActivInspire software works with ANY interactive whiteboard (SMART, Mimio, Wiimote Whiteboard, eBeam, etc.) and even for those of you who do not have an interactive whiteboard, use the software with just a computer and projector! The Promethean Planet website has thousands of lessons and resources that are free to access and can be used with ActivInspire to engage your students. ActivInspire has two launch options, the first is to launch in Primary function. In Primary, ActivInspire is very user friendly for primary elementary students. The second option is to launch in Studio with tools that are perfect for older students. ActivInspire works on Windows, Mac, and Linux based machines. Some of the goodies in ActivInspire include interactive protractors, rulers, clocks, grids, and more. New power tools include intelligent shapes and handwriting recognition. There are themed templates for fast and easy lesson building. ActivInspire supports flash files that can be embeded in Flipchart lessons. ActivInspire can open SMART and PowerPoint files, making it quick and easy to pick up any lesson and improve it.

How to integrate ActivInspire into the classroom: ActivInspire is software that can keep students engaged in any lesson in your curriculum. The software is incredibly intuitive and makes it easy to create amazing interactive lessons. The lessons (flipcharts) can be saved and shared among colleagues. Begin building a library of interactive lessons for your students. Be sure to visit Promethean Planet for thousands of ready made (FREE) flipcharts and activities to use with the ActivInspire software.

Tips: To see the possiblities of the ActivInspire software, take a look at Flipcharts created by the developers of ActivInspire. Promethean also has a great set of support tutorials that will have you up and running in no time!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using ActivInspire in your classroom.

The Week in Rap

December 16, 2008December 16, 2008Kelly Tenkely1 Comment2515 views

What it is: I remember being forced to pay attention to current events when I was in high school for class assignments. I know that my teachers were trying to get me to pay attention to what was happening in the world; but, to be perfectly honest, I hated watching an hour of news. My mind would wander and local news left a lot to be desired (why did I care about the dog who dialed 911 for its owner?). The Week in Rap brings students current events on their level in a fun and entertaining way. Every Friday a weeks worth of news is posted in video form. The entertaining piece comes in the way that the recap of the weeks headlines is presented, in the form of a rap. The videos will hold your students attention while they keep up to date with what is happening in the world. The lyrics for each rap are posted below the video. This free website was created by Flocabulary which makes rap videos about a number of subjects.

How to integrate The Week in Rap into the classroom: The Week in Rap is a good way for your students to get involved with current events. Use the videos as a launching point for further discussion, a beginning point for research, or have students write a blog post in response to the video. Students can read more about each story mentioned in the weeks rap by clicking on the link for the news story in the lyrics. The few that I clicked on brought me to PBS.

Tips: Since current events are posted every Friday, this site might make a good end of the week fun activity.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using The Week in Rap in your classroom.

Jump Start 3-D

December 3, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1984 views

What it is: I got the tip off for Jump Start 3-D from a tweet by Kevin Jarrett (@kjarrett) the other night and have been having a great time exploring ever since. Jump Start is the popular software title that makes educational home and school software for pre-k through 2nd grade. Jump Start 3-D is a highly interactive virtual world for kids. Each location within the Jump Start 3-D world offers fun learning adventures focused on math, reading, and critical thinking skills. Students start out by creating a character avitar that represents them in the virtual world. Registration is free on Jump Start 3-D for access to the basic world. Membership for $7.99/ month has the added benefit of new games and activities added monthly, grows with students (as they get better at the games, new more challenging games are added). I was very impressed with the free version!

How to integrate Jump Start 3-D into the classroom: Jump Start 3-D is really geared toward home use, however, I think it would make a great center in the one or two computer classroom. The site is an awesome way to familiarize students with computer skills like mouse manipulation, clicking links, using arrow keys, etc. As the students are playing in the virtual world they will also be building reading, math, and critical thinking skills…just what they need for a great 21st century literacy base.

Tips: Even if you don’t have room in your curriculum for the Jump Start 3-D virtual world in your classroom, be sure to let parents know about this fun site. It is a great alternative to other video games that students may be playing at home because of all the learning skills packed in. This site is highly interactive including video clips, highly interactive games, and sounds. You will need a high speed connection for this site. Jump Start 3-D does require an Internet plugin called Utility Web Player.dmg. The install is very simple and fast directly from the Jump Start website.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Jump Start 3-D in your classroom.

iKeep Safe

September 2, 2008Kelly Tenkely3 Comments5663 views

What it is: iKeep Safe is a website and program I have used every year since I started teaching technology. As I was writing up lesson plans for the upcoming week, I realized that I haven’t ever posted about this outstanding resource. iKeep Safe is a kid friendly Internet safety program. It features a cat named Faux Paw who has adventures on the Internet. There are videos, downloadable and printable books, and games for kids. All are centered on teaching kids to be safe online. There are free guided discussion sheets for you to go through with your students, quizzes, coloring pages, etc. This program is the perfect way to introduce Internet safety in your elementary classroom without worrying that the content is too mature for your audience. The online books and videos teach kids Internet safety basics, how to handle cyber bullying, balancing real life with screen time, and the risks and dangers of downloading. Students learn about these concepts with fun cartoon characters and engaging stories.

How to integrate iKeep Safe into the classroom: iKeep Safe is a great place to start Internet safety. I would recommend making Internet safety a top priority the first month of school before kids are online for class. In my classroom, students are introduced to Faux Paw at the beginning of the school year. We watch and discuss the Faux Paw cartoon, read and discuss the books, and finish by taking the free downloadable quiz. Students must pass this quiz with an eighty percent or better in order to get their “Internet Drivers Licenses”. I talk a lot about how using the Internet is a privilege, not a right. This is just like driving a car. So in order to be online for other subjects, students have to demonstrate that they know the rules of the Internet by passing the quiz. They can lose their Internet drivers licenses at any time by mis-using the Internet or not following the rules. I also have the kids create a rules poster for them to hang next to their home computers. Students also get an assignment to go home and tell their parents the Internet rules. This has to be signed off on in order to use the Internet. I find that we can do a pretty good job of keeping kids safe at school, but at home parents aren’t doing enough to make sure that their kids are safe. Whether or not you are the computer teacher, make sure that your kids know how to keep themselves safe online. Be an adult they trust who they can come to with any cyberbullying problems, if they see inappropriate content, or if someone is trying to contact them inappropriately.

Tips: Never been trained in Internet safety? Be sure to visit the educator page of iKeepSafe, the training materials are wonderful!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using iKeep Safe in your classroom.