Middle/High School – Page 63 – iLearn Technology

Middle Spot

November 11, 2008Kelly Tenkely1 Comment3134 views

What it is: Middle Spot is a spectacular new search engine for teachers, librarians, and students performing research. Middle Spot lets you see your results, you can pan and zoom individual website results. Workpads allow you to save and annotate results and sort by collections. Workpads can also be shared with others (colleagues, students, or professional learning communities). What I love about Middle Spot is the blending of the traditional search results (listed along the left side of the screen) with the snapshot results where you can see the results. When your cursor scrolls over a screen shot, the related traditional result and information is highlighted on the left making it very quick and easy to find exactly the results you are looking for. Middle Spot allows you to search the web or search images, very handy!

How to integrate Middle Spot into the classroom: Middle Spot is a great place for students to do research because of the ability to organize their finds and ideas right in the search engine with workpads. If students are working on group projects, they can share their findings and workpads with others in their group. Middle Spot is also ideal for teachers, collect your search results in one place based on topic or curriculum objectives and share with colleagues. Create your own “webquest” with Middle Spot by creating and sharing a workspace with your students. Make workpads for whole class lessons with an interactive whiteboard or projector to save yourself from typing in each url for the activity individually.

Tips: Middle Spot is truly my new favorite search engine. Your students will love the ability to take notes about websites and cite their sources as they go in the workpads. It really is well designed for the classroom setting!

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

Big Ideas for Education

November 10, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2893 views

What it is: Big Ideas for Education is part of the Landmark Project created by David Warlick. The purpose of the site is to collect “priority actions that might be taken by a new Department of Education that would promote shifts in education that are relevant to today’s students and their future.” After ideas have been collected, the submitted statements will be linked according to topic to pare down all ideas into no more than 20 basic action statements. The final action statements will be posted on Big Ideas for Education for educators to share insights about their favorite statements. You will be able to order the action statements in order of importance to you.

Head over to Big Ideas for Education and share your big idea. It only takes a minute; but if we educators come together and start discussing some of these great ideas, we will start seeing a shift in education.

My big idea is to: Shift teaching away from teacher as lecturer toward constructivism where students are constructing their own knowledge. (id 158) Technology and 21st century learning skills naturally flow into the constructivist approach to teaching and learning. Using technology within the context of the traditional classroom is always going to feel like you are trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, it doesn’t flow naturally. Make sure to copy and paste your big idea into the comment section here…we want to know what your big ideas are!

Daft Doggy

November 7, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2727 views

What it is: I found Daft Doggy several months ago and put it in my “explore more” folder. The Daft Doggy site is in beta version and it isn’t obvious upon first visit what exactly it does. Today I had a little bit of time to go and explore the site more and I am glad I did! Daft Doggy is a free service that lets you record web browsing sessions, play them back, and share recorded sessions with others. It is very simple to use (only 2 clicks to start recording!) You type in the starting point URL and Daft Doggy keeps track of all subsequent URL’s along the way. Daft Doggy doesn’t record everything you do, it only remembers each separate URL you visit in a sequence, it does this both within the site or a separate external site. When students or teachers view the session, a blue bar at the top of the page shows the URL along with reverse and next navigation. Each recorded session is assigned a unique link making it easy to share with students or other staff. After you have recorded the sequence of sites, you have the option of labeling each site and even adding a voice recording that will play when that site is being viewed.

How to integrate Daft Doggy into the classroom: Daft Doggy is a great way to lead students through a series of activities on the web. Younger students especially who would have trouble keeping track of and typing mulitiple URL’s would benefit from a lesson recorded with Daft Doggy. Daft Doggy is also perfect for whole class instruction with a projector when mulitiple sites will be visited. The recorded session will keep you on track and keep you from having to type in multiple URL’s while teaching. As a computer teacher and technology integration specialist, I like Daft Doggy for the ability to make quick guides for students and teachers as well as tutorials. The Daft Doggy recordings are quick and easy to create making them ideal for quickly answering web questions or leading colleagues/students through websites. Make your own online virtual field trips or webquests for students using Daft Doggy. Student projects can also be enhanced with Daft Doggy. Students can create web presentations with site to share with peers. This would also be a great site to use as students are researching. Instead of trying to remember the exact search words and links they used to find a site, they can record their research so that they can re-trace their steps at a later time if needed. So cool!

Tips: This beta site definitely doesn’t have any frills, it is very basic but it gets the job done easily and quickly. To get started just create a login and you are ready to go!

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

The Cool Teacher Podcast

November 5, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2483 views

What it is: The Cool Teacher Podcast is a podcast by educational technologist Chris Haskell who is an instructor for pre-service teachers in methods and applications of technology integration in the classroom (notice any similarities to iLearn Technology?). The podcast “delivers cool tools, techniques, and tactics to transform your teaching.” In episode #7 that came out yesterday, Chris gives a shout out to iLearn Technology’s post on Glogster (thank you Chris!!). The podcasts are very entertaining to listen to and give great ideas for using technology in the classroom!

How to integrate The Cool Teacher Podcast into the classroom: The Cool Teacher Podcast is a wonderful stop (in addition to iLearn Technology) for great ideas and tips for integrating technology into your classroom. You can find the Cool Teacher Podcast at the links here as well as on iTunes in the iTunes store (it is free to subscribe to). Listen to these great podcasts while you are grading, on the drive home, or while you are cleaning up your classroom for the day…just be sure to keep a pad and pencil handy to jot down the great ideas you are sure to hear!

Tips: Chris also has a blog related to the podcasts, you can check that out here. Thanks again Chris!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using The Cool Teacher Podcast in your classroom.

Kids and Cookies

November 4, 2008Kelly Tenkely1 Comment2203 views

What it is: Kids and Cookies is an online flash game that teaches elementary students about fractions in a game setting. Students choose characters to be their “friends” and then choose how many cookies they have. They have to evenly share the cookies with their friends and can use different cutters to divide the cookies. The site provides a great introduction to rational number fractions.

How to integrate Kids and Cookies into the classroom: This is a great site for introducing your students to the concepts of fractions, especially those at the “sharing” and “fair” age because of the way that they have to share and split up the cookies fairly. This would be a good whole class activity with an interactive whiteboard or a projector where students take turns sharing their cookies. As they share the cookies, talk about the fractions of cookies (for example when they split the cookie in half or in thirds.) This would also be a perfect site to use as a math center. Students can visit the center in groups and discuss their findings as a whole class after every student has had the opportunity to interact with the site.

Tips: You can find more advanced (much more advanced) flash math games and activities on the Center of Technology and Education site where the Kids and Cookies game is hosted. This is also a great game for those of you who don’t have Internet access in your classroom because their is a free downloadable version of the game for Macs and PC’s…cool!

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

Cyberbee Copyright Application

October 31, 2008Kelly Tenkely3 Comments3941 views

What it is: Cyberbee Copyright is an online flash application to teach students about copyright laws. Copyright laws can be difficult to teach and difficult for students to understand. Cyberbee makes it simple. The flash site features students raising their hands, each asking a different question about copyright issues. When students “call” on the cyber student, they get the answer to the question. The site uses language that is easy for students to understand.

How to integrate Cyberbee Copyright Application into the classroom: This is a great site to introduce your students to before any research project. The interactive nature of the site makes it perfect for an interactive whiteboard and whole class participation. The Cyberbee Copyright Application is a site to bookmark on your classroom, library, and computer lab computers. Students can refer to the site often to refresh themselves on copyright laws.

Tips: Take a look at the other offerings of Cyberbee for research projects. You will find web evaluation resources, citing electronic sources, a quick site tool, and more!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Cyberbee Copyright Application in your classroom.

Glogster EDU!

October 27, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3785 views

What it is: I wrote a post last week about a site called Glogster, since that post Glogster has introduced Glogster EDU! Glogster for Education is a site that lets students combine graphics, photos, videos, music, and text into a great web 2.0 online poster. Glogs are an outstanding way to enhance learning, wikis, and blogs. Glogster EDU offers support and help with creating school accounts and keeping Glogs private.

How to integrate Glogster EDU into the classroom: As I mentioned last week, Glogster is a creative way for your students to display knowledge. Students can create Glogs for absolutely any subject. Glogster is wonderful for book reports, history, math concepts, science, and literature. The ability to embed Glogs into wikis and blogs is outstanding and makes Glogs even more versatile.

Tips: Send Glogster EDU feedback about features you would like to see specifically for education…they have committed to updates based on your feedback!

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

Primary Access

October 23, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1931 views

What it is: Primary Access is a tool I learned about today while attending one of the K12 Online conference sessions. This incredible site has a web-based tool that offers students and teachers simple access to digital images and materials that provides them the opportunity to create personal narratives. The idea behind the site is that if students are offered primary source documents, they develop better historical thinking skills. I highly recommend you watch the presentation on k12 Online, to see just how accurate this belief was in a case study of the site. Students use Primary Access to create digital movies (historical narratives) that help add to meaningful learning experiences. The site is very simple to use, intuitive enough that even a student (or teacher) who has never created a digital movie would be successful.

How to integrate Primary Access into the classroom: Use Primary Access as a tool to bring history to life for your students. Using the site, students can create a short digital movie that explores some event in history. The digital movie will only be 1-3 minutes in length and can contain images, text, movies, and narration recorded in the students own voice. Students have a place to write, research, narrate, view, and search a time line and idea map right in Primary Access. The finished product is educational and entertaining for the creator and viewers. The results with this site are truly amazing! It really does bring history to life.

Tips: It isn’t obvious how to create a teacher account on Primary Access, to create an account go to http://primaryaccess.org/teacher.

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

Math Arcade

October 22, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2063 views

What it is: Math Arcade is a branch of the Fun Brain Website. Students in first through eighth grades can practice math facts and math skills through fun, interactive games. When students go to Math Arcade, they will see a board game board. They have to successfully complete each game before they can move their game piece to another spot on the game board. Each spot on the game board represents an appropriate age level game. Students can write down a special password to save and return to their saved game at another time. There are 25 games at each grade level to play.

How to integrate Math Arcade into the classroom: Math Arcade is a great website to help students practice math facts and skills. There is enough variety on the site to keep kids interested. The game board atmosphere gives students a goal to complete, they have to successfully play all 25 games to reach the end. This site would be a great one to use as a math center, or in a computer lab setting as a math treat once a week. Students can progress through the site based on their math ability.

Tips: Bookmark this page on your classroom computers for students to access throughout the school day or during free time.

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

Apple Field Trips

October 21, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1798 views

What it is: The Apple Store is offering field trips to k-12 students and schools! Students can create something amazing on their field trip to the Apple store, or bring in a finished project that they have created and turn the store into a theater to share their work. Parents, teachers, and friends can attend the event to celebrate student achievement. Each event can accommodate up to 25 students. A field trip lasts one hour but more time can be scheduled on an individual basis. Right now, schools can request up to 3 date options for a field trip at a time. When you schedule a field trip, Apple takes care of invitations to send home with students, and assigns a contact person to plan the field trip for your school. Additionally, the teacher who sets up the event receives one year of complementary One to One membership. Every participating student receives a special Apple t-shirt.

How to integrate an Apple Field Trip into the classroom: If you have access to Apple computers at your school the create and share field trip option is for you. Students can work on a project (multimedia is probably best) and use the Apple Field Trip as a place to showcase and share their accomplishments. If you don’t have access to an Apple lab or don’t have regular access to computers at all, use the field trip as a time for your students to learn and create using the computer. This is a really amazing FREE opportunity, be sure to take advantage of this offer from Apple!

Tips: Right now field trips are only being offered through November 21st. Even if you can’t fit in a field trip before the deadline, be sure to let Apple know what a fabulous idea these field trips are and encourage them to offer future field trip options.

Leave a comment and tell us how your Apple Field Trip went.