Podcast Reflection #8: Tech Chicks #73

In this podcast the tech chicks mention some helpful tools and resources a teacher could use in the everyday classroom.

123 Certificates

The Tech Chick’s found a great resource to create certificates.  This site offers templates to create individual awards.  There is also an option to upload pictures to the certificates.  123 Certificates is a tool that is handy to have in case of a last minute rewards!

Togetherville

This site offers a safe and monitored way for young students to have a social network.   There also various games and activities for students to play on, its the elementary Facebook. This is a great tool for families to use to keep in touch with relatives or friends that do not live close. 

Podcast Reflection #7: Driving Direction 2011

This podcast is about using the iPad in the classroom.  They talk about the ways it is beneficial to the students and the teacher.  They mention that as a young student they are more with it, because of these iPads.  Another reason it is beneficial is because there are no more handouts and worksheets for the students it is all electronic!  Go Green!  There is also a slighter chance of there being cheating, kids cant just pass their iPad around for everyone to copy off of.  The teacher knows that the student is doing his/her assignment individually.  I hope to be getting an iPad soon!

Kan-Ed Reflection

Wow Kan-Ed is one of the sites I will always have bookmarked!  This will help me so much when I am in my Blocks, student teaching and have my own classroom.  This site is full of lesson plans, standards, activities and resources.  KERC is a great tool for lesson planning.  It is great because it has all of the subjects needed for elementary teachers aligned with all of the Kansas Standards.  netTrekker has numerous amounts of lesson ideas, assessments, quizzes, and interactive activities for teachers to use and incorporate in the classroom.  Thinkfinity is a great resource for teachers.  There are multiple blogs to join and unlimited widgets!  Another cool thing about this site is each day there is a link that shows you the day in past history, and how to incorporate this day into your lessons. I will never lose track of this site!

EduTeacher

This site is very easy to navigate.  There is a bulletin board with recent links, resources and newsletters.  There are a lot of helpful resources under the links tab.  My concentration is special education and I was able to find multiple different tools that are going to be useful in my everyday classroom.  


Zac Browser
Zac Browser is an all inclusive browsing program that was designed specifically for autistic children, although it is nice for all young children, those with disabilities or without. A portal that lives on a PC to various child-safe websites and activities. Safe and fun for young students.


Teacher's First
Teacher's First is a rich collection of lessons, units, and web resources designed to save teachers time by delivering just what they need in a practical, user-friendly, and ad-free format. It is a nice and no-frills environment that is easy for educators to navigate.


Inclusive Technology
If you teach students with disabilities or just need some help with students who need a little support in various learning areas, than this is a nice resource to have on hand. You can look up information about sites relating to specific content, and a lot of devices and software that aims to help your students.


Large Pointers
This is a free downloadable set of over 80 alternative cursors designed to facilitate improved access to the computer for individuals with visual or perceptual challenges.

Classroom 2.0

This site is very beneficial to teachers!  You create your own page and can use it to communicate with other teachers, in a way it is the teachers Facebook.  You can give advise or receive from the other users.  Teaching can be very very challenging at times, but by being a member of this site you can vent and learn from others.  they can give you tips on how to cope with the everyday stresses. I could give others advise as well, we can share stories and experiences, its a win win situation!  There is also a forum where you can talk about books, movies and lesson plans.  You can search the other members of the site and read what they have to say.  There is also podcasts you can listen to and they cover a variety of topics!  This website will be very helpful in my future as an educator. 

Original Podcast

Podcast by: Kendall Hogan and Emily Salter


Click here for our Podcast!


Kendall:
http://teachers.net/
Teachers.net is a free website available to teachers with various categories to choose from. As a teacher you can find lesson plans for all grade levels and subject matter. There is also a chat-board for teachers to discuss anything. One could also look for available teaching or tutoring jobs in their area. This site would be very beneficial to an inspiring teacher because lesson plans are made available in every category and there are hundreds of classroom projects to choose from! Everyone go check out this website!


Emily:
http://www.pbs.org/teachers/

PBS.org is a great resource for teachers to use for their classrooms, with information ranging from pre-k to 12^th grade. It has educational videos to share with your students, online programs for professional development, and a variety of lesson plans to choose from.

Kendall:
http://www.elementary-teacher-resources.com/ 
elem teach res.com is a great resource website. You can brose several different categories such as newsletters, lessonplans, educational music, writers workshop, guided reading and the list goes on. Under the lesson plan tab you are provided with some helpful tricks and tips for the planning process. Some other topcis under the lesson plan tab are reading math, song based, themes and writing. Most of these free lesson plans are fun activities to use in the classroom!


Emily:http://www.resources-teachers.com/

Resources-teachers is a great website for teachers. It provides a ton of free printables for your classroom including worksheets, lesson plans, clip art, short activities, and much more. It is set up by seasons so it provides great ideas for fun holiday activities as well, such as st. patricks day or Halloween.

My Avatars

Creating these avatars were so fun!  Try it out!  It is free! :]

voki

build your wild self

Podcast Reflection #6: Tech Chicks #68

This podcast is about resources for teachers to use in their classroom.  PollDaddy was one of the resources. On PollDaddy, you are allowed 10 questions per survey and 100 responses in a free account, the surveys can be used to increase student interaction. PrintWhatYouLike is also a great resource for printing from the web. This website allows you to format the webpages to print only what you want to print or combine different parts of several webpages on one page. MyNoteit is a collaborative note taking site, you take notes that are organized by classes and share them with others. I think this site would be beneficial for college students! CoSketch is a white board that doesn’t require any plug-ins or installations. All that is needed to be done by the teacher is share the link, its that simple!  They talked about a ton of useful resources, their podcasts are very beneficial!

Podcast Reflection #5: Tech Chicks- Episode 71: Sparking Their Creativity

This podcast shares many useful resource websites including; The Stellar Cafe: The Power of One Word, Media College, Aviary, Webnote, Our Courts, Quizlet, CogDogRoo – StoryIdeas, StoryJumper, Zoodles.  These website are all free to use which is amazing for all of the activities and tools available.  I explored all of these websites/ resources and found them very useful!  Web note is a basic website, its a way to bookmark topics and use a 'sticky note' to write about your bookmark.  You can take notes on your computer, which seems pretty simple but it can be used in the classroom in many ways. It’s a good way to organize your thoughts. Our Courts was created by a supreme court justice.  It gives you lessons about civics, but it also has games that can help students remember civics in a fun way.  Quizlet is a flashcard site, you create your own set of flashcards about any topic.  You can search and download others flashcards and vice versa.  You can share your flashcards with the students.  The most interesting part about this site is it grades your answers!  I could have definitely used this website all through elementary school.

Podcast Reflection #4: Driving Directions 2011 Facebook

In this podcast Kevin Honeycutt and two of his friends talk about the issues of Facebook. You share everything digitally now and not mouth to ear.  The main issue on Facebook is  the bulling issues, venting about someone to their friends,  tagging people in posts to share frustrations!  They mention that this way of communicating is sending negativity to each other.   They brought up an interesting point, if I were to make my status "I am mad at So and So", and all of my friends begin to like the bigger that update gets and more aware to everyone on facebook!  They then talked about ways to prevent Facebook bullying.  One way was to make apage for those who get bullied on Facebook.  Another issue they talked about was the long lasting effect Facebook can have.  When you are looking for a job you can be denied  just based on pictures/comments on your Facebook.  I did not think Facebook was harmful, but I know now that there are short term and long term effects of this friend site! 

Podcast Reflection #3: Driving Questions 2010

Kevin Honeycutt interviewed Vicki Davis about her visions for education, discussing some projects she is using in her classroom, she believes it is crucial that students have an academic digital footprint.  Teaching students how to use technology for education, educators can give students the tools and skills to succeed in the future. These days elementary school students are even using higher levels of technology, as teachers we need to educate our students how to use these to improve their study resources. She believes that teachers should be “teacherpreneurs” and customize their classroom to best meet the needs of their students in technological ways. Davis also spoke specifically to preservice teachers when she said, “Teaching is the most noble calling on Earth. …We are paid in legacy.” It takes a lot of hard work and love to be a successful teacher. Staying positive in the classroom is an extremely powerful tool.

Animoto in my Classroom

Animoto is a quick and easy way to create video slideshows. This site is rather easy to understand, it takes you step by step in creating your slideshow.  You first upload your photos and you can organize them however you want just by dragging and dropping.   Next,  you could either use a song from their library, or upload your own music  from your computer.  I can see the students using Animoto in various ways; wither its an "About Me" assignment for the classroom or a presentation on a book they had to read or a topic they had to research.  I could see myself using Animoto to teach a new topic and to keep the students engaged.

Animoto