In attempts to increase traffic to this blog, I have tried 2 new strategies that where shared to me.
One was "Ping-o-matic". This is a service that will update different search engines that your blog has been updated.
Another strategy that I tried was using Classroom 2.0 to spread my blog through commenting on relevant discussions.
This project was somewhat helpful to my professional development. It has caused me to read and become more interested in education blogs. I have found many resources and articles that where interesting to me and I have gone back to visit them again in my own free time. But I this this project would be much more helpful to me if I was in a long term position where I could post my findings of how technology has effected my classroom.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Printer Restrictions?
Today in the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade classroom, the students where doing a research project. I noticed something that they where doing way too much of:
Printing
Not to mention that most of the pages where not needed. They where either blank or didn't have the information that was needed.
What I would suggest is to have a short mini lesson on how to get the information they want without wasting too much paper.
The lesson would include how to copy and paste text from the site to a word document. Also what is important to copy and paste such as the site you got it from, pictures that will be helpful, paragraphs that contain your information and perhaps some surrounding paragraphs as well.
This would be a great mini lesson for earth day for the important of not being wasteful.
Printing
Not to mention that most of the pages where not needed. They where either blank or didn't have the information that was needed.
What I would suggest is to have a short mini lesson on how to get the information they want without wasting too much paper.
The lesson would include how to copy and paste text from the site to a word document. Also what is important to copy and paste such as the site you got it from, pictures that will be helpful, paragraphs that contain your information and perhaps some surrounding paragraphs as well.
This would be a great mini lesson for earth day for the important of not being wasteful.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Seek out $$$
For anyone looking for a way to fund raise money or obtain grants for their school, this could be a great resource.
Listed are sites that vary in how they give grants and fund raise. Some depends on votes, while others rely on families and teachers shopping at Target.
Other helpful resources such as how to write a grant can also be seen at this web page.
Listed are sites that vary in how they give grants and fund raise. Some depends on votes, while others rely on families and teachers shopping at Target.
Other helpful resources such as how to write a grant can also be seen at this web page.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Another Example of Twitter in the Classroom
This is a great study of how Twitter has enhanced the learning experience in the college setting. How can this benefit high school or younger students? I think the constant updates and tutoring can help any student. Watch this video which was taken from this article.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
What's Up with Me & Wordies
School is out for my students for spring break, which gives me plenty of time to jump from blog to blog!
This week I noticed I have no visitors to my page :( so I'm chosen to start commenting on the blogs I read.
Normally, I am an anonymous reader: reading and then passing on to the next post. But I thought if I gave more input on the post and signing it with my blog address, I could get more hits.
We'll have to see!
In other news, I read about something called Wordies on a peer's blog, and its cute!
Wordies are "word clouds" are a selection of individual words that are used to convey meaning or intent. See the above example of my blog as a Wordie.
I can see this as a great tool to introduce a unit of study. It can help students see the big picture and the important terms of the course. Its visual, spacial, and interesting to look at.
This week I noticed I have no visitors to my page :( so I'm chosen to start commenting on the blogs I read.
Normally, I am an anonymous reader: reading and then passing on to the next post. But I thought if I gave more input on the post and signing it with my blog address, I could get more hits.
We'll have to see!
In other news, I read about something called Wordies on a peer's blog, and its cute!
Wordies are "word clouds" are a selection of individual words that are used to convey meaning or intent. See the above example of my blog as a Wordie.
I can see this as a great tool to introduce a unit of study. It can help students see the big picture and the important terms of the course. Its visual, spacial, and interesting to look at.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Digital Picture Project
What a great idea!
This lesson would be great for my students! A lot of the students in my school are first generation Americans or even emigrants (like me) and probably have very different perspectives on life.
So by keeping a photo journal could be very interesting.
While I don't know if the pictures my students would take would be as harsh as the ones mentioned in this article, I do think I could learn new things from my students with the pictures. Also, some of my students are very shy, and this could be just the sort of creative outlet that will get their gears going and give them that voice that has been missing.
Free tec could also be used such as Picaso by Google so the students can have access to the pictures and edit them at any time needed.
Look at this article for perspective.
This lesson would be great for my students! A lot of the students in my school are first generation Americans or even emigrants (like me) and probably have very different perspectives on life.
So by keeping a photo journal could be very interesting.
While I don't know if the pictures my students would take would be as harsh as the ones mentioned in this article, I do think I could learn new things from my students with the pictures. Also, some of my students are very shy, and this could be just the sort of creative outlet that will get their gears going and give them that voice that has been missing.
Free tec could also be used such as Picaso by Google so the students can have access to the pictures and edit them at any time needed.
Look at this article for perspective.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Idea for a Mini Lesson
Today I was thrilled when I walked into my Upper Grades classroom (4th,5th,and 6th students) and saw we have plentiful laptops. The students where working on presentations for their research projects. I was so excited to see PowerPoints, Glogsters, and Prezi being used to present their information I have seen them collecting for a few weeks now.
Unfortunately, it was obvious to me that no one has instructed the students on how to correctly. There where long paragraphs of information that might have been carefully researched, but I can guarantee that they will be read word-for-word by the student and bore the class.
Here is a video that is short and sweet and could have helped the students I was working with:
Unfortunately, it was obvious to me that no one has instructed the students on how to correctly. There where long paragraphs of information that might have been carefully researched, but I can guarantee that they will be read word-for-word by the student and bore the class.
Here is a video that is short and sweet and could have helped the students I was working with:
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