Middle/High School – Page 46 – iLearn Technology

Math Snacks

January 5, 2010Kelly Tenkely3 Comments3596 views

What it is: Math Snacks is my new favorite teaching resource for math! Math Snacks are animated videos and games that help students understand math concepts. Each “snack” offers a math concept that students can learn, review, and practice. The snacks are available online or can be accessed for free on a mobile device like the iPhone or iPod. The snacks focus on math concepts that are appropriate for 5th-8th grade. Print materials are available that can be used to help students in applying their conceptual understanding to math problems. Concepts on Math Snacks include ratios, proportions, scale, number line properties, equality and order on the number line, tables, graphs, measurement, and equations.

How to integrate Math Snacks into the classroom: Math Snacks is a fun way for students to visualize difficult to understand math concepts. There are short humorous videos that demonstrate the math concept in action. These videos can be viewed as an introduction to a new concept or as practice and review of learning. The videos can be paused for class discussion about the concept and for solving of problems. All videos are available for viewing online and can be downloaded to an iPod. Some of the iPod downloads also include subtitles. Each video also comes with a learner and teacher guide. Print these guides to direct you in discussion throughout the video and activities.

Tips: A huge THANK YOU to @summersj who introduced me to Math Snacks via Twitter!

Leave a comment and share how you are using Math Snacks in your classroom.

Safe Share TV

January 5, 2010Kelly Tenkely16 Comments10728 views

What it is: Safe Share TV is a fantastic way to share You Tube videos with your students. Safe Share TV removes all distracting and offensive elements that surround a video on You Tube and allows you to share the video with a unique link. Safe Share TV also gives you the option to crop videos before sharing them.

How to integrate Safe Share TV into the classroom: I love the way that Safe Share TV eliminates all of the related videos, comments, links to other videos, etc. from a You Tube video and makes it available with a unique link. You Tube has some excellent videos to use in the classroom on demand. The problem? You Tube can share too much with your students. Related videos may be inappropriate for the classroom, or comments left by others may be offensive. Just today I was searching for a School House Rock video for one of our first grade teachers. I found the video on You Tube but shared it via Safe Share TV so that the distracting content would be excluded. This is the perfect way to share You Tube videos with students on a projector, interactive whiteboard, or as part of a center activity on classroom computers.

Tips: Safe Share TV includes cropping capability for You Tube videos, it is simple to crop videos down to the exact clip that you want to use with students.

Leave a comment and share how you are using Safe Share TV in your classroom.

National Geographic Image Collection

December 11, 2009December 11, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3019 views

What it is: National Geographic is known for their poignant images. Now, those images can be viewed online in the National Geographic Image Collection. There are more than 11 million images that chronicle the world from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 21st century. Students can also view the history of photography from daguerreotypes to digital through an interactive time line. The image collection includes images related to exploration, wild life, people and cultures, and science and climate change.

How to integrate National Geographic Image Collection into the classroom: The National Geographic Image Collection is an impressive set of images from around the world. The old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” proves to be true. These images are indeed worth a thousand words or more. Use these images to help you tell the story of our world as you teach students about history, science, wild life, and world culture. These images will help to connect your students with learning in ways that a textbook can’t. Use the Image Collection for creative writing prompts. Allow your students to choose an image from the collection to tell a story about. The interactive time line can be used to teach students about the history of photography.

Tips: I learned about this site from a Tweet by @McTeach a few weeks ago on Twitter, thanks Karen!

Leave a comment and share how you are using National Geographic Image Collection in your classroom.

Typing Olympics

December 8, 2009Kelly Tenkely4 Comments3417 views

This year I am teaching 3rd- 5th grade only. My remaining time is spent helping teachers to integrate technology in their classrooms effectively and supporting our new Promethean boards. I see my students once a week for 35 minutes. Any of you that teach a specials class know that at least 5 minutes of class is spent getting students ready to learn after the hallway transition. This leaves me with 30 minutes with my students. In that 30 minutes I have to teach a lesson and give students an opportunity to practice it on the computer. In a school year I see my students a total of 24 times (that is if we never have a snow day, or lose a day due to field trips or special events). I love teaching my students how to use technology as a tool to help them learn. I do not want to spend my time with them typing. Although typing is a valuable skill for them to learn, there is SO much more than our brand new iMacs can do. My other hang up with spending computer class focused on typing is that I still only see my students 24 times in a school year. Even if we spent every class typing, I don’t feel like this is adequate time to really learn and build touch typing skills.

My solution was to come up with a typing competition that will take one class period. I call it the Typing Olympics. I make a BIG deal out of this day. We have opening ceremonies, olympic fanfare music, and even paper doves. Students compete against each other to find out who is the fastest touch typist with the greatest accuracy in each class. There are two gold winners, one boy and one girl. The winners receive a gold medal in the closing ceremonies along with a break dresscode pass (these are like gold to our students!). There are also silver and bronze winners who receive medals. The students know that the Typing Olympics happens in the spring. We talk in class extensively about how hard athletes like Michael Phelps have to train before the Olympics. At this point I give students the goal to train for our Typing Olympics. This year I decided to create a special website for the training and created a Typing Training Club. Students can visit the site for links to websites that will help build their typing skills. There is also a blog page where I give students suggestions about which keys to practice each week building up to the Typing Olympics. This helps break down practice into a manageable skill each week. We type in class one day prior to the Olympics. The rest is up to them. For my students, a break dress code day is enough incentive to practice typing on their own time. Obviously, some students will take this more seriously than others. For our situation, I think this is our best option for building touch typing skills. I have some students who can type at 53 WPM and some at 8 WPM, but at least we have learned more during the year than just touch typing. I suspect I would get similar results even if we used the 24 classes in the year for typing practice.

What are you doing at your school to build touch typing skills?

Animated Atlas: The Growth of a Nation

December 7, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment1802 views

What it is: Animated Atlas: The Growth of a Nation is an animated video that teaches students about American expansion. The video allows for interaction as it plays. Students can click on any state to learn more about when and how it became a state. There is also a great interactive timeline at the bottom of the animation that students can explore more in depth. I really like the look of this website, it makes me nostalgic remembering the computer activities I used as a kid. I can’t guarantee that our students will get such a kick out of the graphics. 🙂 The ten minute presentation takes students from the original 13 states and shows them the gradual expansion. At any point students can click on a territory or state for more information. The timeline pointer moves along with the presentation but students can click on a date for more information. The interactive timeline goes from 1790 to 2000.

How to integrate Animated Atlas into the classroom: This interactive is a good one for helping students to visualize the expansion of the United States from the original 13 colonies. The site is packed full of information with the ability to learn more about a time period, state, or territory. Use this site as an overview of the growth of America. If students aren’t loving the graphics, have them gather information and create a 2009 (almost 2010!) version of the site. This site could be used whole class with an interactive whiteboard but I think it would allow for more exploration as a center activity or individual computers.

Tips: When you play Animated Atlas you have several options: play all the way through, 1789-1853, The Civil War, and Post Civil War. This makes it easy to chunk the lesson or split students into groups.

Leave a comment and share how you are using Animated Atlas: The Growth of a Nation in your classroom.

Big Huge Thesaurus

November 23, 2009Kelly Tenkely3 Comments2343 views

What it is: Big Huge Thesaurus is a must add to your classroom publishing center. The tag line of Big Huge Thesaurus says it all: “synonyms, antonyms, and rhymes (oh my!)”. Big Huge Thesaurus goes beyond other online thesauruses by giving students a wealth of synonyms (for each part of speech), words that sound like the original word, and rhyming words. When students find a word that they are curious about, they can click the link and it will send that word through the Big Huge Thesaurus.

How to integrate Big Huge Thesaurus into the classroom: If you have classroom computers, set up a writing/publishing center where students have all the resources they need to write. Big Huge Thesaurus should be one of those resources. Students can visit the writing center to add richness and interest to their stories, poems, and other writing. This Thesaurus does an excellent job of breaking down words. Use Big Huge Thesaurus on an interactive whiteboard or projector when learning new vocabulary. Type in the vocabulary word and have students construct its meaning using the synonyms that are generated.

Tips: I learned about Big Huge Thesaurus on Twitter this morning from several of my PLN. If you aren’t on Twitter with other educators, I highly recommend joining and following the fine folks I follow!

Leave a comment and share how you are using Big Huge Thesaurus in your classroom.

Track My T

November 19, 2009Kelly Tenkely5 Comments26861 views

What it is: Track My T is a truly impressive website that I learned about from @dianadell on Twitter. Track my T lets students type in the unique lot number on their t-shirt and then go through an amazing interactive journey tracking their t-shirt from its very beginning as a cotton seed on a farm, to every step before they bought it. Students can track their actual t-shirt or choose a random t-shirt to follow. On their journey students will learn about picking cotton, the cotton gin, yarn spinners, textile mills, cut and sew factories, and distribution centers. This is an incredible journey that teaches students the process that goods go through before they end up in the local store. Each stop on the journey includes video, images, and information about what happens during that part of the t-shirt creation process. In addition, students will learn about and encounter historical figures like Eli Whitney. At the end of the journey students can check out their custom T tag, learn more about the screen printing process, and learn how to reduce their carbon footprint.

How to integrate Track My T into the classroom: Track My T is an amazing site. From beginning to end your students will be engaged and enthralled with this website. The ability to track their actual t-shirt is really something! Use this activity as a whole class with an interactive whiteboard, as a center activity in the classroom, or individually in the computer lab setting. As a follow up activity, have students put placemarks on a Google Earth map on the location where their t-shirt/pants/shoes were made. This activity could easily be expanded to the geography classroom (perfect for national geography week which is this week!). Students could do additional research about the country where their t-shirt originated from. To expand the activity even more, have students Tweet about their findings, see if they can get a response from someone that lives in that country.

Tips: Be sure to take a look at the accompanying lesson plan on Track My T. The lesson teaches students all about fair trade.

Leave a comment and share how you are using Track My T in your classroom.

The Differentiator

November 16, 2009November 16, 2009Kelly Tenkely4 Comments2374 views

What it is: This is a neat tool for teachers. The Differentiator is based on “A Taxonomy of Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives”. The Differentiator helps to guide you as you create learning activities and lessons for the various learning needs in your classroom. First choose a thinking skill from one of six categories (remember, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, or creating). Next, pick a way to to differentiate the content. Then, you will choose a resource that students will use. Select a product for students to create it can be visual, constructed, oral, multimedia, or written. Finally choose the group size. As you choose items for each category a learning objective sentence will be created.

How to integrate The Differentiator into the classroom: The Differentiator is a great tool to focus your learning goals. It helps you to quickly and succinctly create objectives for the different learning styles in your classroom. Not only does this help to focus your lessons, it can also help students to direct their learning. Students who understand what learning goals they are working toward, and how they will get there, will be more successful.

Tips: There is a great little informational tutorial video that you can access by clicking on the “Need Help?” button in the top right corner of the site.

Leave a comment and share how you are using The Differentiator in your classroom.

One Minute Countdown

November 11, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1461 views

What it is: Another great tool from Triptico, One Minute Countdown is a simple web tool that acts as a countdown timer for the classroom. The countdown is perfect for using at a center on classroom computers or on an interactive whiteboard/projector.

How to integrate One Minute Countdown into the classroom: I find it difficult to give students adequate thinking time after asking a question. Usually as teachers, we call on the first hand that shoots up. This can be a hindrance for students who require a little longer to process and think about the question asked. Use the One Minute Countdown to pace yourself and give students built in time to think. The One Minute Countdown Timer can also be used for classroom games, or as motivation to move quickly during transitions (see if your students can beat the clock).

Tips: You can choose whether or not you want a sound to play when the countdown has finished.

Leave a comment and share how you are using One Minute Countdown in your classroom.

Block Poster

November 11, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment22239 views

What it is: Block Poster is a neat site that I learned about on Twitter. Block Poster lets you choose any image, choose how many sheets of paper wide you would like your poster to be, and then creates a pdf file of your new image that is blown up. The result is a massive pixel poster to hang on a bulletin board or the walls of your classroom.

How to integrate Block Poster into the classroom: It can be difficult to find good technology posters that relate to my classroom. I was thrilled when I learned about Block Poster. Any image can be turned into a poster that can be printed on any printer! So cool! Create posters with unique messages for your classroom, posters that include the names of your students, or motivational posters. I am currently creating a Wordle message for my classroom that will be made into a poster using Block Poster…I’m pretty excited about it!

Tips: The smaller the image is to begin with, the more pixellated the full size poster will be. This can be a neat look!

Leave a comment and share how you are using Block Poster in your classroom.