Swimming In The River
Ripples and Splashes from a 21st Century Educator
ClustrMap
-
NCTIES Wiki of conconcurrent sessions, etc.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
-
Write, create, and packages quizzes accessible from iPods.
-
Daily Earthquake map. Very cool!
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
-
EasyTech Intro Video : integrate technology into core curriculum
Something to look into purchasing!?
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
-
InstructorWeb – Teaching Resources, Tools, Lesson Plans, Worksheets, Lessons
Great resources in all subjects
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
-
graphic organizers
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
-
Pandora Radio – Listen to Free Internet Radio, Find New Music
Internet Radio that plays songs in genres you choose. Very cool!
-
Site for NC support documents
-
Site full of ideas and resources in science
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
I’ve divided my kids into groups (based on their suggestions on index cards of whom they could work well with) and they are now responsible for adding content to the class science wikis (Core 1and Core 2). Unlike in the Fall however when they added whatever, whenever they wanted. I have decided to be much more structured at this step in Project WISE.
The kids chose questions related to our Earthquake unit which they must answer as “experts”. In an effort to ensure they were exploring meaningful sites, I put together a Jog the Web (one of my favorite tools!) where they could do most of their online research. I also checked out every book in our library on Earthquakes! The kids have been researching and collecting their information in a Word document. Today we began copying and pasting their research into their wikis. They LOVE it! The room was completely silent with the exception of whispers of assistance from one to another and the click of laptop keys! Although we do have a few entries which will need to be edited due to the questionable high level vocabulary that showed up “using their own words”, our first attempt at a more organized wiki is going well.
Next week they’ll add many of the lab photos and videos they’ve taken. Should be interesting!!
Photo Credit: Silence is Deafening
-
Gaming in the classroom. Site with ideas and resources for programs.
-
Anytime Anywhere Learning Program
Description of 1:1 initiative in the Walled Lake School District
-
What Works Clearinghouse: Home Page
Great site to read research on current programs our schools are spending a lot of money on!
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
-
Neat resource with lots of cool ideas
-
Great site with all kinds of primary documents and multimedia
-
1906 Earthquake Eyewitness Accounts
Neat site with eyewitness accounts of early earthquakes and other disasters.
-
Have kids create their own newspaper clipping related to something they are doing in the classroom!
-
Great collection of Web 2.0 tool sites
-
Lee County Technology Ning – A social network for technology innovators in Lee County
Thanks to Danita, this is my new network!!
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
This week we were supposed to welcome visitors from the UK who were coming to see how we are using Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. Unfortunately, we found out today while awaiting the arrival of our guests, that due to planning problems at our Department of Public Instruction, the teachers from England would not be coming to our school after all. Needless to say, we (the kids and I) were very disappointed.
However, in anticipation of their visit, I stepped my Web 2.0 teaching up a notch. Something I should’ve done months ago, but had gotten into a rut! What the kids have done the last few days has been wonderful! Needless to say, having access to the laptop cart made it all COMFORTABLY possible. I know it all could have been done sharing the 5 desktop computers, but there is a real and measurable advantage to every child having their own laptop on which to complete their activities!
The kids have been using Smart Notebook and the Smart recorder which is on all of the laptops, to create soundless screen capture videos of how to complete various math problems. They then upload their one to two minute videos onto their Gaggle Blogs and write a post which explains in words how to solve the problem. As I look over the blog posts, I am amazed at what a great formative assessment tool this has become for me! Not only are the kids motivated, but I can see first hand what the patterns of errors are, and the kids are challenged to explain their thinking. It has been great!
In addition, we had a great Skype session today with a wonderful seismologist from the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory! The kids got to ask the many questions they have developed as we have been conducting our unit on plate tectonics and the lithosphere. Dr. Peggy Hellweg did a wonderful job keeping her answers interesting and at a level which my students could understand. Thank you Dr. Hellweg for “visiting” our classroom! Can’t wait until tomorrow – and I haven’t felt that way in quite awhile!
