Category: Resource type

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

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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

20 iTunes Feeds for the 2.0 Teacher

Kelly Tenkely3 Comments on 20 iTunes Feeds for the 2.0 Teacher4749 views

There are a lot of free podcasts that have been created with the teacher and tech nut in mind. Most of these podcasts are available free through iTunes. (If you don’t have iTunes, you can download it for free at Apple.com.) Here are 20 iTunes feeds that would be of interest to tech-savvy teachers:

Teachers Teaching Teachers – This teacher-friendly podcast is hosted by three public school teachers from NYC. Discussions include teaching and web 2.0 technologies.

Teacher 2.0 (Video) – A companion to the Clever Sheep site, this video podcast offers information about e-learning tools and web 2.0 technology.

Teacher 2.0 (Audio) – This Teacher 2.0 audio podcast covers many of the same topics as its video counterpart: e-learning tools, web 2.0 technology, etc.

Educational Technology Conference – The Educational Technology Conference addresses several education issues in this iTunes feed. Topics include ethics in the classroom, technology integration, and advancements in education.

Teach with Video – This iTunes feed explores how teachers can incorporate digital video projects in the classroom. Other topics include classroom management and lesson design.

Cool Tools for Library 2.0 – The Cool Tools for Library 2.0 podcast is dedicated to exploring how web 2.0 technologies can be used in education settings.

EdTechTalk: Women of Web 2.0 – Four women host this podcast for teachers who are finding ways to use Internet technology in their career and in the classroom. The hosts interview other women and share tech resources.

EdTech 101 – The Ed Tech 101 podcast is aimed at teachers who want to integrate technology in the k-12 classroom. Podcasts are short (three to five minutes) and include information about new software and hardware.

EdTechLive – Steve Hargadon interviews new guests and hosts panel discussions on educational technology in this audio podcast.

Teaching for the Future – Teaching for the Future is an audio podcast hosted by David LaMorte. Episodes center on media literacy and technology education.

Two Tech Chicks – This education technology podcast is hosted by two tech-savvy women from Texas who want to help teachers learn how to integrate technology into everyday curriculum.

The Tech Teachers – The Tech Teachers is an audio podcast that focuses on the ways in which education and technology overlap.
Technology Matters – This educational technology podcast for teachers shares 21st Century tools and discusses how blogs, wikis, and podcasts can be used to further technology in educational settings.

Moving at the Speed of Creativity – Wesley Fryer hosts this education podcast which focuses on technology integration, literacy, and education instruction.

Bit by Bit – This teacher podcast centers on the changing classroom environment. Podcast topics include technology in instruction and teacher responsibility.

KidCast – A companion podcast to the book of the same name, KidCast is entirely devoted to podcasting in the classroom.

The Teacher’s Podcast – Although this podcast isn’t geared specifically toward education technology, it does provide valuable training and professional information for teachers of all subjects.

GeekSpeak – This technology podcast is hosted by professional geeks who enjoying reviewing and sharing the hottest new tech products. A new podcast is recorded each week.

TWiT – This Week in Tech is an award-winning technology podcast hosted by a group of tech nuts who enjoy sharing new resources and talking about how technology can be used in various settings. A new podcast is released every Sunday.

Tekzilla – Patrick Norton and Veronica Belmont host this popular tech podcast for people who have “tech hunger.” Each episode features reviews, tips, and information about high-tech apps and products.

Guest post from Karen Schweitzer, the About.com Guide to Business School. Karen also writes for the online college database on OnlineColleges.net.

Smithsonian Virtual Museum

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Smithsonian virtual museum

What it is: I learn about great websites for the classroom from a variety of sources, I heard about the Smithsonian Virtual Museum from my dad.  This is the most amazing virtual look at a museum I have seen.  Students can take a self guided tour through the whole museum.  They can navigate room by room using their mouse to “walk” through the museum, or  navigate by clicking on the room or exhibit they would like to visit on the museum map.  Camera icons throughout the museum show students hotspots where students can get close to an object or exhibit panel.  This is a truly amazing way for students to learn about natural history.  Students can explore the ocean hall, ancient seas, dinosaurs, early life, fossils and plants, mammals, African cultures, ice age, western cultures, reptiles, insects, butterflies, plants, bones, geology, gems, minerals, and the hope diamond.  As students explore the museum, the map will show which exhibits have been visited and which have yet to be visited.  I am completely amazed by this site and could spend hours going through the exhibits myself, students will love it!  THIS is what virtual field trips should be!

How to integrate Smithsonian Virtual Museum into the classroom: Not all schools have the luxury or the funds to take a field trip to the museum.  Not all cities have great natural history museums like the Smithsonian.  This virtual tour is the next best thing to taking an actual field trip.  The museum can be viewed full screen which would be outstanding for an interactive whiteboard or projector.  The museum and exhibits will be life size for students to explore.  Allow students to guide the tour using the map and navigation tools.  As you “walk” from exhibit to exhibit take the time to stop and discuss what students are seeing and how it relates to what they are learning in class.  Students can also explore the Smithsonian individually on student computers.

It would be a neat assignment for a group of students to study the different exhibits in the museum.  The groups could explore and research the exhibit and then give classmates a ‘tour’ of their exhibit acting as exhibit guide with an interactive whiteboard or projector.

This is an incredible FREE resource that every classroom should use.  Even if you have access to a natural history museum for field trips, this site is still incredibly useful.  Prepare for the field trip before hand by visiting the Smithsonian Virtual Museum or follow a field trip with the site.  Compare and contrast your local natural history museum with the Smithsonian.

Tips: Make sure that you have all the appropriate plugins required for this site before using with students.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Smithsonian Virtual Museum in your classroom.

Help Me 2 Learn: Grammar 1

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grammarWhat it is: Help Me 2 Learn: Grammar is an outstanding way for students to learn the difference between nouns, pronouns, verbs and adjectives.  Help Me 2 Learn is actually a pay for learning website, but Grammar 1 is a full demo of the grammar game for FREE!  This is an incredible interactive that will help your students learn four parts of speech: nouns, pronouns, verbs, and adjectives.  The interactive has a baseball theme and begins with some coach time where your students learn about the different parts of speech.  Each part of speech is introduced by the coach and  accompanied by several interactive examples.  Students get a single when they learn about nouns, a double when they learn about pronouns, a triple when they learn adjectives, and a home run when they learn about verbs.  There is a speed round game where students will play a game identifying parts of speech they have learned.  Finally, students can do a word sort in the Home Run Derby game.  This game is truly impressive, especially considering that it is FREE to use with your students!

How to integrate Help Me 2 Learn: Grammar into the classroom: Help Me 2 Learn: Grammar 1 is a great site to use in a computer lab setting.  The coaching and game is paced according to student input.  Students can learn at their own pace and get immediate learning feedback throughout the game.   The Coach Time section of the site could be completed as a whole class with an interactive whiteboard.  Students can take turns interacting with the coach time at the board.  After completing Coach Time as a whole class, set up a grammar center where students can play the Speed Round, and Home Run Derby.

Tips: This site is a comprehensive way for students to learn about nouns, pronouns, verbs, and adjectives.  This is a site that is worth letting students take time with individually in the computer lab setting.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Help Me 2 Learn: Grammar 1 in your classroom.

Virtual Spirograph

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What it is: Remember Spirographs?  I had a set that could keep me busy for hours.  As I was searching back through websites to align with curriculum, I found the virtual Spirograph on Math Playground.   Virtual Spirograph lets your students determine colors, pen positions, and the radius of the circles.  Students can then draw the Spirograph adding layers.  One of the best features of this fun site is the “where’s the math” button that shows a break down of the math involved in the spirograph activity.

How to integrate Virtual Spirograph into the classroom: Virtual Spirograph is a great way to teach practical (and fun) math.  Students will learn about epicycloids and what happens when they adjust radius and reflector placements.  Virtual Spirograph will help students visualize difficult math concepts and create fun artwork in the process.  This is a great site to introduce with an interactive whiteboard or projector.  Students can take turns adjusting the pen position and radii.  Encourage other students in the class to predict what the epicycloids will look like based on the radii chosen and the pen position.  Then click draw and discuss what actually happened.  Virtual Spirograph can be set up as a math center for students to visit in the one or two computer classroom.  Students can visit the center in small groups and take turns predicting the outcome as a partner adjusts the pen position and radii.

Tips: The Virtual Spirograph relies on a flash player, make sure you have one before using this site with students.

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



Planet in Action

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What it is:    I just learned about this site from @jdornberg on Twitter; even though I have a long list of sites waiting for a post, I had to write one on Planet in Action right now.  This is an incredible site that uses Google Earth as a basis for interactive journeys around the earth.  Students can take a virtual helicopter ride above the Grand Canyon, explore Mount St. Helen, sail a virtual ship in Port of Rotterdam, take a helicopter tour of Manhattan, or Disneyland Paris.  As students explore, they can grab a snapshot and create their own virtual post card.

 

How to integrate Planet in Action into the classroom:   Virtual field trips just got a lot more realistic thanks to Planet in Action!  Planet in Action will take students on a tour of the different virtual places or students can take control and explore on their own.  This is an amazing site to use when studying famous landmarks or places.  Use this site with an interactive whiteboard or a projector-connected-computer.  Take your whole class on a virtual field trip to places that they are studying in class.  This is an outstanding way to bring some life to lessons.  Watch the recorded tour and discuss different landmarks as you see them.  Then ‘hire’ a helicopter ‘pilot’ who can navigate the trip for the class.  Allow students to play tour guide and explore.  Create postcards and virtual tours that can be saved and re-played.  In the computer lab setting, each student can create a virtual tour that can be shared with classmates (complete with a postcard greeting!).  In addition to the virtual tour, students can navigate by using a Google Map to see exactly where they are in the virtual tour.  In the Port of Rotterdam instead of flying using a virtual helicopter, students will actually sail a ship.  Students can choose their ship, blow the whistle, and navigate from port to port seeing actual images from Google Earth.  Your students will want to spend hours learning and exploring here!  Integrate Planet in Action into other learning opportunities, after exploring the world virtually, students could create a brochure for the place they visisted, write a postcard, or even create a short travel video.

Tips:  This site takes a few minutest to load, be patient, it is well worth it!

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

Welcome to the Web

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What it is: Welcome to the Web is an interactive website that teaches students all about the Internet through challenges and activities.  There are seven sections of activities and learning on Welcome to the Web. The first section teaches students how to use the site.  Section 2 teaches students about the basic concepts involved in the Internet, it also gives some valuable practice navigating and visiting websites.  Section 3 is all about staying safe online by following SMART rules, student understanding is tested using interactive activities and fun quizzes.  Section 4 helps students learn more about their web browser and its features.  In section 5 students will learn how to search effectively and safely in search engines.  Section 6 helps students understand copyright.  The last section invites students to compete in a challenge that requires them to use all of the skills they learned to catch the creator of a computer virus.  When the challenge has been completed, students can print out a certificate of completion.  Each section of this site comes with accompanying worksheets to be used with the site.  These don’t have to be used in order to use the site effectively.  Throughout the site, students can ‘hover’ the mouse over an underlined word and a definition will pop up.

How to integrate Welcome to the Web into the classroom: Welcome to the Web is an excellent road map to the Internet.  Every computer lab should use Welcome to the Web to help students understand the Internet and use it effectively.  The way the site is broken down into sections is extremelly helpful for a computer lab setting where students may not be able to get through the entire site in one day.  Start each class for 7 periods with Welcome to the Web. If you don’t have a computer lab, students can learn about the web as a class using an interactive whiteboard or projector.  Encourage all students to participate on the journey.  Make a big deal of completing all of the sections on this site.  I like to make my students an Internet Driver’s licenses when they have shown their understanding of Internet safety rules.  This would be a great site to tie into other computer lessons!

Tips: Welcome to the Web is part of Mark Warner’s excellent site Teaching Ideas.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Welcome to the Web in your classroom.

Arcademic Skill Builders

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What it is:  Arcademic Skill Builders are educational games that help students learn basic academic math and literacy skills. The games are all research-based and standards-aligned.  This site blends the fun of arcade games and key educational skills into fun online games that engage, motivate, and teach students.  All games are free to play and have the option of multi-player or single player games.

 

How to integrate Arcademic Skill Builders into the classroom:   Arcademic Skill Builders has games that will help students practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, ratios, and language arts word skills.  These games can be used as a center in the classroom during math or literacy.  They can also be used with the whole class in a computer lab setting.  I look forward to the addition of the student tracking so that teachers can see trends in student learning and differentiate instruction and practice accordingly.  These games will help excite your students about learning while building important basic learning skills.

 

Tips:  Arcademic Skill Builders has plans to add features that will allow students to save records, teachers to differentiate instruction through the games, and pinpoint students problem areas.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Arcademic Skill Builders in your classroom.

Dweeber

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What it is: Dweeber is a social networking site for students that encourages kids to get their homework done faster and with more understanding by working with their school friends online.  Dweeber was created to help students understand their strengths and talents, and help them work together more effectively with parents, mentors, and each other.  The goal is to get students working together to help them learn, study and do research.  Working together collaboratively this way is an important 21st century skill that we should be fostering in our classrooms.  Students can invite each other to study sessions where they can work in a collaborative whiteboard type space, chat with fellow students, post successes, and send friends thank you cards for helping out.  Students can learn about their unique learning style and will receive tips for working more effectively (SMART profile) these profiles can be shared among friends.  Students can also earn ‘guru’ points by sharing and voting on favorite websites, helping others get homework done, and pointing out successes of other students.

 

How to integrate Dweeber into the classroom:   I really like the idea behind Dweeber.  This site helps students to understand their own learning, and support fellow students in their learning.  I love the way in encourages students to work collaboratively outside the classroom and celebrate each other’s successes.  This site is easy to use and will make homework less painful.  It has the added bonus of preparing students for the real world where they won’t always be able to work with others face to face.  Encourage the use of this site in your classroom.  Using a site like Dweeber will build a community of learners in your classroom.  Students will support each other in learning and each will be able to shine in their areas of expertise.  Statistically, homework doesn’t generally increase learning.  Often it is a mindless practice that is easy for those who get it and painful for those who don’t.  Those who understood the concept probably didn’t need hours of extra practice and those who didn’t get it just practiced the wrong way for hours.  Why not allow students to collaborate and truly learn the material?  This is a great way to keep learning and discussions going outside of the classroom. 

 

Tips:  Dweeber is designed for students ages 13 to 18.  Students must be at least 13 according to the Dweeber terms of use to sign up for the service.

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

GeoEdu

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What it is:  GeoEdu is a free software download for both Macs and PC’s.  The software contains two parts, the first is an atlas with interactive maps and details for each country including the capital, flag, land and water borders, length of the coasts, the population, official languages, internet and country code, currency, international organization membership, and more.  The second part of the software is a game offering more than 100,000 geography questions about worldwide geography.  The game lets players give an answer or choose to answer with clues or multiple choice.  After answering a question, students can view their score and look at detailed data for the territory.

 

How to integrate GeoEdu into the classroom:   I’m not sure why school supply stores still sell the pull down atlas, with all of the amazing atlas and map tools available for free, buying a map seems so last century!  GeoEdu is a bright and colorful interactive atlas with great details for each country.  This free software is perfect for use with an interactive whiteboard or projector.  The game included is a great way to increase student geography knowledge.  Play the game as a class during geography or any time you have a few extra minutes.  Keep a running score going throughout the year that can be added to easily.  GeoEdu is also a great download for classroom and library computers.  Use GeoEdu as a geography/atlas center where students can stop by and interact with maps and play the game.

 

Tips:   This site does require a download so be sure to add it to your wish list before the start of school.

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