Virtual Business Project

I found an incredible idea for a project to do with my BIM (Business Information Management) students. It requires them to come up with the concept,company name,and digital logo as a class.
The students Skyped with another 8th class (my sister's class in Chicago) and presented their ideas in hopes of gaining potential "investors". Tomorrow morning, they will be presenting to teacher "investors". They are so excited! Their excitement and creativity continues to inspire me. Check out one of the student created, information videos.

Good, Valid, Accurate, Internet Research...Sometimes hard to do!

I was struggling with teaching my students about internet research, the importance of citing sources, paraphrasing and general research. With some ideas that I "stole" from online sources (These are for educational purposes and therefore, I am covered by the Fair Use Laws), I came up with an activity that not only taught them, but entertained as well. SCORE 1 for Teacher!

I created an activity that listed 10 websites for them to visit and questions for them to answer about each site. They must determine if the site is credible and accurate,or FAKE! I found some "real-looking" sites to fool (and entertain) students with while they were working. Here are a few below:
Genochoice.com
DHMO.org
The Centaur of Volos (Google it!)
Zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/

Want to Show an Educational Video in Class?

The librarian at our school, Kathy Cunningham, shared this website with me today. She is great! The website is great! If you have ever gone the library looking for an educational video that is relevant to your lesson (at the last minute, like I often do), you may not have a whole lot of selection. You don't want to spend too much time searching through YouTube to make sure your video is school appropriate or the right length. This site has TONS of educational videos at your fingertips that have already been deemed "school appropriate" and there are so many topics to choose from. Check it out: www.snagfilms.com

Blogging about Glogster

I experimented with a new online website making tool today. I was searching for a substitute for FrontPage (the website tool that the district offers). I felt it was a bit blah for my intelligent, fun-loving students who want to create a stimulating, original site of their own. My students deserve more of me. I expect more from them. Therefore, Glogster it is. I checked it out for myself today, to do a little test run before they got their hands on it. I just wanted to make sure I knew how to use it when it comes time to answer the eventually questions. Check out the site I created! Keep in mind, I did this quickly and it really has no definitive purpose....YET!

Want to work on documents at home, that are on your computer at work? I do.

Here is a great way to "share" documents between multiple computers. I have been at home on the weekends and thought to myself, "Boy, wouldn't it be nice to work on lesson plans for the next few weeks while I have some free time. Dang it! My lesson plans are on my computer at work and I forgot my flash drive." This web tool will help you to never have that problem again. It is free up to 2GB.

www.Dropbox.com

Happy Friday! AND, happy one more week until Spring Break!

Magnetic Poetry...FOR KIDS...Online!!!

Just visit this site and it is so easy to create your own, or let your students do some writing.

http://kidsmagpogames.com

Blabberize Yo-self!

Another website that is just plain fun is http://www.blabberize.com/

MWTAGFTC?

More Websites That Are Great For The Classroom!!!

Here is one that I really love:  www.prezi.com - create presentations online similar to PowerPoint, except BETTER!

www.kidblog.com - Can use this so that your classes can blog.  They can comment on others' blogs and the teacher can manage the comments as an administrator.

Other Teachers' Ideas Rock!

Freerice.com - Vocabulary site awards food to the United Nations Food Bank with correct answers.  Great for all subjects, but especially good for Language Arts/English classrooms!

Sweet Success!

The online quiz was a success and it was very easy to grade!  Yay for paperless, easy to create/grade assessments.

Literacy beyond the Classroom - Social Networking Tools Across Grade Levels and Curriculum

Here are some additional websites that I found to be interesting and am planning on using in my classroom.  They can truly be used for any subject or grade level.  If you try them in your classroom, I would love to hear about it!


https://sites.google.com/site/21centuryweb20/ - This website was created by Birdville ISD with links for projects and web tools for the classroom.

http://www.edmodo.com/ - This is like Facebook for the classroom.  It allows you to log in as a teacher and set up groups/classes.  You can chat, discuss a specific topic, or even attach assignments.

http://pbworks.com/ - a way to peer edit, discuss and chat as a class.  Teachers can also post assignments online.

Still more to come...

Google Quiz

Yes, you read it right....Google Quiz.  I learned so much about Google Docs during the conference that I decided to give my first quiz online!  I am so excited!  It should be quicker for the students to take and easier for me to grade it.  To my BIM students: "Happy Quiz-Taking!"

Cool Websites To Use In The Classroom

During the TCEA conference, I learned about many websites that can be used in the classroom across curriculums.  These may not be great sites to use in my classroom, but they would certainly benefit others.  Please share these if you like:

http://www.tammyworcester.com/ - Tammy has LOTS of great tips and other sites to use in the classroom

http://todaysmeet.com/ - chat room with NO LOGINS - you can create a room with only your students

http://corkboard.me/ - chat room with special link for just your classroom - messages are on sticky notes

http://worksheetworks.com/ - graphic organizers, maps, puzzles and PDF worksheets

http://classtools.net/ - random name picker (can use to pick students to answer questions or put into groups)

http://www.online-stopwatch.com/ - create a timer for your classroom to keep track of segments of class time

There are many more that I will share in my next post.  Happy Teaching!

TCEA - Technology Convention

I spent 4 days in Austin, TX for a Technology Convention this week.  Before arriving, I considered myself pretty computer/technology savvy.....I found quickly that I was WAY WRONG!  I attended many sessions with a variety of topics.  There were so many new things for me to learn, and I took lots of notes so I wouldn't "forget" ANYTHING.  Since returning home from the trip, I have thought that it would be important to document my experiences as a teacher and as a technology experimenter....So, here it goes.