Integrating technology in the classroom
Thank you to all who helped spread the word and entered the Koostik giveaway contest!
It isn’t too late to place an order for Christmas, I have it on good authority that the Koostik elves are busy in the workshop.
I’m getting ready to head to wine country for a little vacation but before I go, wanted to wrap up some contests, announce a winner, and announce another iLearn Technology give away.
Thank you to all who entered the iLearn Technology Starrmatica classroom giveaway. I was overwhelmed with comments, tweets, Facebook comments on my fan page and people filling out this survey. I can’t thank you enough! I put all of the entries into a spread sheet and then used Random Number Generator to choose the winner. The winner is…
Congratulations Deb!
For those of you who entered the Grade Trac contest, thank you so much! I will announce those winners when I am back from vacation.
In the mean time I have another stupendous give away (I am full of them lately…lucky you guys!). I have ten 100 survey2go credits to give away!
First a little about Survey2Go. As I mentioned in the Grade Trac post, although we would all LOVE to be paperless, that just isn’t the case for most of us yet. Survey2Go bridges the gap by offering the convenience of the paper we are already using, and the online automation of organizing the data.
Survey2Go provides:
Easy Survey Creation
Uses Standard Office Technology
Fast, Accurate Results
I can’t tell you how many stories I hear of technology being used for weeks at a time for surveys. This means that while student surveys are being conducted, no one else can use the technology for *ahem* learning. Anyone else see the problem here? Why are we using technology for throw-away tasks like student surveys when authentic learning opportunities could be happening? Silly! Survey2Go is a great solution, the survey still gets completed, the results are automated, and the computer lab stays open for learning. Not only does Survey2Go offer the ability to take a paper survey and automate it, you can have a school survey where half of the students use paper and half of the students access it online. Regardless of how students (or teachers, or parents) take the survey, the results are all automated and organized in the same space. Brilliant!
So, can we all agree not to occupy our technology with surveys when we could be using it for authentic, hands-on learning experiences and creation instead? Survey2Go is a great way to free up technology for meaningful tasks while still collecting necessary data.
If you or your school is interested in Survey2Go, leave me a comment about it below. On April 15th (2011) I will announce 10 winners. Be sure to use an actual email address in the comment form so I can get in touch with you.
My Students: What do you do when you are reading a book and come across a word that you do not know? You might crack open a dictionary or try to look up the word online. But what if a devi…
My Project: Many of my third graders are reading at or near grade level, which is great. But I still have a sizable number of students who are reading one to two years below grade level. … more»
My Students: What do you do when you are reading a book and come across a word that you do not know? You might crack open a dictionary or try to look up the word online. But what if a device could read the unknown word for you? What an amazing thing that would be!
I teach third grade in a primarily immigrant and working class neighborhood in southern California. Most of my students are learning English as a second language, a couple of them are receiving special education services, a group of students are identified Gifted, and ALL of them love to learn.
My Project: Many of my third graders are reading at or near grade level, which is great. But I still have a sizable number of students who are reading one to two years below grade level. They want to become fluent readers but have not yet acquired the skills necessary to become good readers. What they need right now is more practice reading and listening to stories.
One way to accomplish this added exposure to reading and listening is through the Tag School Reader System, which includes four Tag Readers and four copies of six different books, including Arthur Writes a Story and Honey Saves the Day!: A Story of Young Abe Lincoln. The Tag Reader is a handheld learning tool that provides audio feedback to a student. The device can read the story, pronounce a particularly troublesome word, or provide story context and background information. The Tag Reader can also provide a student with practice of necessary skills such as compare and contrast, cause and effect and sequencing.
With these Tag Readers my students will be provided with on-demand reading assistance when needed. Gradually my less fluent readers will begin to become confident readers as they work at their own pace. Eventually these students will become independent readers, able to read on grade level with their peers. These once struggling students can become readers for life. Thank you.
My students need a LeapFrog Tag School Reading Center Set and a set of rechargeable AAA batteries.
Project Funded! Congratulations Gerard and students, we can’t wait to see what you will learn next! Please be sure to share pictures and stories with us!
Thank you to all of you who commented and tweeted about the iLearn Technology EdTech Unconference contest! Today I put all of the comments and tweets into a Google spreadsheet and then had Random.org generate a random number for me. The lucky number: 11!
Congratulations to Dixie!
Dixie, you have just won 365 days of professional development for free from Simple k12 EdTech UNconference, congratulations!
Stay tuned for more free professional development opportunities this year.
Winner
In a complete unexpected turn of events, iLearn Technology won for Best Educational Tech Support Blog in the 2009 Edublog Awards! Thank you for all of your nominations and votes. I am truly humbled. I was in great company, the other 26 blogs nominated are fabulous. You can view the results here. First runner up was Langwitches and second runner up was Life Feast. Both are excellent blogs, if you aren’t already reading them, you should be!
Thank you again, I couldn’t be here without you!
