Why Blog?

Here are the top ten reasons to use a blog as a teacher:

1. To keep in touch with parents

2. To have a place to post assignments and information for students

3. You can post important information to everyone at once, faster than email!

4. You are able to share multimedia faster than you can with e-mail.

5.  Parents and students are able to interact through comments on a blog

6. You can share your ideas with other teachers

7. Kids can share their projects with each other and with parents

8. Creates a virtual community for your classroom

9. Good way to show principal and others how you are keeping in touch with parents

10. More fun than a newsletter!

Video about Technology in the Classroom

How technology is used in the classroom at a charter school in Park City, Utah.

How Can We Use Apps in the Classroom?

1. There are alot of apps that have great visuals, such as an interactive version of the solar system.
2. There are great apps that have flash cards to help kids memorize different subjects.
3. Apps are great for helping with spelling and vocabulary.
4. Apps are a great way to use kids knowledge of technology to help them connect to a subject.
5. There are some great Apps that help teachers stay connected with parents and teachers.
6. Apps can be used to allow students to track their progress.
7. Apps are great for interactive texts that allow kids to watch videos within the text.
8. There are some great apps that allow kids to take quizzes and tests and receive instant feedback.
9. There are also some great apps that keep track of kids behavior.
10. It is a great way to include entertainment in learning!

Webquests

What are the benefits, and the ways you can use Webquests in your classroom?
1. It is a great way to introduce a topic.
2. It is a good thing to have around incase you are gone and need an activity for the sub.
3. It can help teach students how to research topics correctly.
4. It shows students that there is more to the internet than just facebook!
5. It allows kids to go at their own speed, rather than along with the speed of the class.  It is easy to differentiate.
6. This is a good way to keep kids entertained while learning a topic.
7. This could also be used an open note assessment to see if kids learned what they needed to learn.
8. It is good for kids to be able to recognize a good source from a bad source.
9. This is a good way for younger students get comfortable with computers and the internet.
10. For older students it is a good way to use their knowledge of technology to help them learn.

How Can Videos Be Used in the Classroom?

Here are the top 10 ways videos can be used in the classroom
1. To introduce a topic in an interesting way.
2. To help visual learners to understand a topic.
3. As an option for a book report or other project rather than a paper.
4. Have kids create a video in a group to illustrate a topic.
5. Kids love youtube, have them find a video and share with the class how it relates to what you are learning.
6. Videos are a good way to illustrate experiments and things that cannot just be described.
7. Having kids edit videos is a great skill for kids to learn.
8. Relating movies kids know to your lesson is a great way to get them excited about it!
9. Have kids watch a movie as homework and list ways it relates to the lesson.
10. Musical videos, such as Bill Nye's Raps, are a fun and interesting way to teach lessons in a unique way.

Education Apps.....Edmodo

           Using my Ipad I found a great application called Edmodo.  It is a system somewhat similar to Angel or Blackboard where students and teachers can connect.  The benefit of Edmodo verse some of the other social learning platforms such as Angel, is that it is much more interactive and user friendly.  It is a great tool for teachers to really be able to connect to their students even when they aren’t in their classroom.

            As a teacher the thing that really stands out about Edmodo is that it is a somewhat similar layout as Facebook.  The great thing about this is that most students are familiar with Facebook and so they will already have some concept of how Edmodo works.  The other great thing about this is it allows you as a teacher to have interactive conversations through posts with the entire classroom.  Using student’s prior knowledge of Facebook they will easily be able to use Edmodo’s many similar features such as the tag option, notifications, and posts.

            Another great thing about Edmodo is the amount of support available for teachers.  You are able to view videos of what other teachers have done with Edmodo, and watch webinars on how they did it.  This is a create tool to use are you are first starting out with the application.

  Another great feature is you are able to connect with other teachers through different communities.  As a teacher this is such a great way to be connected with other professionals and to talk to other teachers about what is working in their classroom.

There is also the option for parents to join in.  Although they are not able to create posts, they are able to view everything else.  This is a great way to stay connected with the parents and to show them exactly what their student is learning and how.  Since there is a place for assignments and grades it can also help parents to keep on top of how their student is progressing and what assignments are due.

Edmodo is a great resource for teachers.  It is a great way to use student’s technology knowledge to get them interested and invested in your class.  I will definitely use Edmodo in my classroom!

                          Click here to get Edmodo

Powerpoint Video

This is a video that shows how to use powerpoint to create a video for your classroom.  

I created a video for my Pre-K classroom to teach them about animal.