Cool Classroom Tools

This is a great site to find create ways to bring technology to your classroom.  My favorite is "Self Destructible Notes".  You find it under 'Collaborative Tools'.  This site allows you to send self destructible notes via email or other social media.  Its a great way to send your students praise, reminders, announcements, etc.  Check it out!

My portfolio includes awards, credentials, sample student assignments, assessments, record keeping, lesson plans, and photos.  The modern portfolio is digital.  Some would say that portfolios are kept online on employment sites like LinkedIn.  I can imagine that in the near future, perspective teachers will scan their iPhones and employers will view a commercial or video presentation.

Portfolios serve as a record of your skills and can demonstrate your professional growth over time.  It is proof of what you do.  It is accountability.

IF I WERE TO RECEIVE A $20,000 GRANT....

Children win when educational programs are supported.  There should be many oppotunities for teachers to earn grants and teachers should receive time for seeking them!

If I were to receive a 20,000 grant, I would create a classroom media center.  Therefore students to come would benefit from the grant.  I would use part of the funds to offset the cost of a meaningful field trip.  I would also set aside $5000 to pay someone to pursue grants for me.  That way the money would keep on coming.

THE FUTURE CLASSROOM

The future classroom will be paperless.  Classrooms may even be virtual.  The teacher will communicate with students in a myriad of ways.  Students will carry iPad-like divides that contain their books and assignments.  Libraries have already become Media Centers.  Instead of posters, classrooms will have screens with changing messages.  I can see classrooms looking more and more like Starbucks.  Classrooms may even become more interactive with classrooms in other parts of the nation or world.  Students will become more independent and responsible for their grades.  I think technology will force society to move in this direction.

Word Processing

Currently I have my students use word processing to compose essays. They also have the option to complete assignments using Microsoft Word. They can attach them to emails and submit them or print them out. I like having them submit essays using word and email them. I check rough drafts inserting comments then I send them back for revision. Word processing is important in my own teacher duties. I compose my lesson plans in word, I create assignments with it, and correspondence. It is literally part of my everyday life.

Assistive Technology: Clickers

Clickers

This a great tool to helps students who may have difficulty writing.  This tool gives those students an equal opportunity amongst their peers.  When multiple choice questions are displayed on a screen these students can respond just as quickly as their classmates.  It is a good way to review and reinforce materials.  This activity gives the student a way to judge their own performance in relation to their peer anonymously.

Questions are displayed and timed then student select their choices.  They find out if they are wrong or right immediately after the timer runs out.  They can also see how the class performed.  Teacher can see which concepts need more reinforcement and which ones they have mastered.

Visuals and sounds can enhance questions and it eliminates paper!  Assessment is immediate and grades are automatically placed in the teachers electronic grade book.

Databases and Spreadsheets

As teachers we must be certain to incorporate activities that force students to use higher order thinking skills.  Teachers must also assess at these levels.  The days are gone for the multiple choice test assessment.  Teachers have to implement presentation assessments and performance assessments.  I plan to have students present business documents in Excel.  I have pondered a lot about activities where students will have to create databases and spreadsheets in correlation with concepts in Economics.  I want them to calculate averages, medians, modes, population increases, GDP, percentages, etc for an assigned country and compare findings with that of the United States.

For example students might research how population changes effect GDP.  I would like students to compare the terms of loans.  I would also like them to take information and make informed projections, generalizations, and predictions.

Multimedia in My Classroom

mapsofwar.com

Above are a couple of multimedia tools that I use.  mapsofwar.com is an interactive timeline for teachers and students.  I also have students use the Library of Congress website and we watch CNN Student News on the web each day.  Students make powerPoint presentations and I use clickers.  This year I want to get more into spreadsheets and databases.

The other multimedia project I would like my students to create are movies.  This would be a collaborative group assignment in which students would have to act out an event and create a video or mini movie.  I also want them to write lyrics to explain historical events and create music videos for their songs.

I will also require students to participate in a class blog.