- Wikis for differentiation
- How to Create a Weebly
- Free Technology Speed Geeking
- 21 Signs You're a 21st Century Teacher
- Top 25 Websites
- Educational Blogs
- Useful PDF resources
- Helpful Wiki for differentiation
- More Resources
- Even More Resources!
- RTI using Technology
- Multiple Intelligences
- Glogster
- Prezi
- Web 2.0 Storytelling
- eSchool News
- iPad Info
- PhET Simulations
- Pay Attention
- A Day in the Salt Marsh
- A Day on the Mountain
- Critical Thinking/ HLT
- Top 40 Web 2.0 Sites with Educational Portal - April 6, 2014 by David Kapuler
- 2014-2015 DI Resources
- Top 50 Sites/Apps for 2015
http://ipodsiphonesineducation.wikispaces.com/
For Educators this is the most important App you should have, it is free and it lists the apps are worthwhile looking at and most important of all, the ones that have dropped in price for a short time.
http://www.edutecher.net/app/
The ultimate educational technology resource for your iPhone or Android device
http://ocw.mit.edu/high-school/
Free online OpenCourseWare materials useful for high school students and teachers. MITOPENCOURSEWARE - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
Project Gutenberg is the place where you can download over 33,000 free ebooks to read on your PC, iPad, Kindle, Sony Reader, iPhone, Android or other portable device.
Bump is an app for sharing pictures, facts, ideas, information, and audio files/stories. By gently nudging two iPods together, information is transmitted back and forth between iPods or iPads with ease. In school, this has been a valuable tool, as my students have the ability to transfer information temporarily for such purposes as editing work, sharing pictures or stories, apps, or even location. You can also "virtually bump" without being near each other. I have found this to be a great feature to use on scavenger hunts. Students can "bump" information back to me as they go out and about answering curriculum-based questions. I can also instant message them through Bump to give hints, clues or other important information.
Show Me is a new iPad app and learning community designed for creating and sharing lessons on the iPad. The service is still in a closed beta, but it looks promising. The concept is simple, design a lesson on your iPad and share it with the community of iPad using educators. Show Me provides the app for creating the lesson. Watch the video below to learn a bit more about Show Me.
Power Vocab is a free iPhone App for learning and studying vocabulary commonly found on the GMAT and GRE. The app uses artificial intelligence based on the research of the MIT Web Semantics Lab and MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab. The artificial intelligence in the Power Vocab app is used to learn about your vocabulary skills and habits to then present you with the word lists and exercises you need to focus on. The app provides you with tools to track your progress as your test date approaches.
Last month I sent out a friendly reminder to back-up your important files. I sent out that reminder after watching one of my colleagues panic when he lost a flashdrive full of important documents. In that reminder post I suggested backing-up your files to a service like DropBox or simply to a Google Docs account. Recently, I've been trying Sugar Sync for backing-up files and now add it to the list of good services for backing-up files.
Last month I posted a neat interactive chart made by Kathy Schrock that matches Google tools to the levels of Bloom's Revised Taxonomy. That chart is very helpful for selecting a Google tool to support your lesson plans. This morning through a Tweet by Kyle Pace I've learned of another useful resource for teachers interested in exploring the use of Google tools in their classrooms.
This Google Apps Lesson Plan Selector offers dozens of lesson plans that incorporate various Google Apps. You can search for lesson plans by grade level, content area, and Google product.
Applications for Education
If you're trying to develop a lesson plan in which students collaborate with their immediate or global classmates, take a look at the Google Apps Lesson Plan Selector. Even if you don't use any of the lesson plans there, you might get some good ideas to adapt for the unique needs of your students.
Here are some tips:
1. DIY Whiteboards - a regular whiteboard can cost hundreds of dollars. If you go to a home improvement store, you can buy the same material for a few bucks and glue it over an existing chalk board or wall.
And forget those expensive "Interactive Whiteboards" that are not interactive and are a huge waste of money since most teachers only use them as a projection screen. Save the $2500 and use it on other things that will get all of the students active.
2. Professional Development - don't hire expensive "Professional Trainers" that probably haven't been in a classroom in years. There are a lot of great presenters and trainers out there though too. But, if you are hurting for money, you need to cut these out (or at least decrease the number). Use the resources you have around you. There are plenty of people in your building or district that would make great PD presenters for you, and will be much less expensive than bringing in an outside trainer. Also, you can help other teachers create their own personal learning network for instant and always-on professional development. Related: Professional Development on a Shoestring Budget, Professional Development 2.0.
3. Netbooks instead of laptops or (sorry guys) Apple products - Netbooks are very inexpensive and you can use lots of free software on them. In fact, if they come running Linux, they are going to come with lots of software for you. I'm also waiting to see how much the Google Chrome OS notebook computers will be because Chrome OS will be great for schools. You can get two netbooks for the cost of an inexpensive laptop or iPad and you can get 3-5 for a Apple laptop. You can also get 9 netbooks for the cost of one Interactive White Board. Related: ACER One Netbook Review, and Update.
4. Free Software and Services - why pay for software when there is so much out there that is free (and in many cases, better than the paid version). Google has a million apps and services that are free and then you have things like OpenOffice, GIMP (graphics editing), and more that are really good and free. Related: Alternatives to Paid Software, Free Alternatives to Paid Software and Services, Free Apps - Find Free Software
5. Go Paperless! If you have the computers, you can go paperless. You can also decrease the amount of paper used if you use computer based note taking, don't print emails, and use email instead of printed memos. Related: Tools to Go Paperless.
6. Free Textbooks - instead of spending $60 - $140 for textbooks that are heavy, static and get outdated quickly, look for free alternatives. Create your own "textbook" using a class website and posting materials there. Use free e-texts that are available. Use a variety of free resources instead of textbooks. Related: Resources to Replace Textbooks, Digital Textbooks, Free Textbooks (downloadable and online).
7. Find some grants and donations - grants are a great way to get supplies and equipment for the classroom. Talk to local businesses and colleges and ask for donations of older equipment, computers, furniture, and such. You can also ask local businesses for money donations. There are thousands of grants out there for teachers, but the applications can be time consuming. Donor's Choose is easy and a great way to get supplies for your classroom. Related: Sources of Funding for Teachers
8. In-house IT Help - use knowledgeable teachers and students to help others with tech problems so that the IT department can focus on the big issues.
9. Free calculators - if students will be working on computers a lot, like in a 1-1 program, why spend money on calculators? There are free calculators available online, and for download, so save your money. Related: Free online calculators, Microsoft Math - free math help and graphing calculator software.
10. Free Conferences - why pay for an educational conference when there are so many free alternatives? I do like many conferences that you have to pay to attend (like CECA, TechForum, FETC and ISTE) but if you don't have the money, you can still attend some great conferences for free.
Some free alternatives:
Edcamp - held all over the country
EduCon - held yearly in Philadelphia
Teachmeet - held all over the world
NT Camp - held in multiple locations
Discovery Education Spring Virtual Conference
(Discovery runs a lot of free online conferences and in person Day of Discoveries - check out the DEN Blog Network to find out about more of them)
Virtual Tech Forum
Campus Technology Virtual Conference
Virtual FETC Conference
http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/
TeacherLINK, an online teacher resource for educators and students, is provided as a free public service by Utah State University's Adele and Dale Young Education Technology Center (the YETC) and Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services.
APPS:
http://www.bestkidsapps.com/ages-0-4/best-kids-apps-of-2010-for-the-iphone-and-ipad/
Apps for iPad or iPod: Autism Classroom - $0.99
Sign Language - $1.99
iLearn: ISTE 2011 Workshops
https://sites.google.com/site/ilearniste2011workshops/home
Lesson Ideas Apptivities
iDeas for iPads
iPads in Schools
iPod Touch & iPad Resources
Learning in Hand
Northbrook 28 School District: How are iPads/iPods Being Used in the Classroom?Google Docs Presentation on iPad Curriculum Ideas by Cheryl Davis iPad in EducationMobile Devices in Education Ideas by Julene Reed Classroom 2.0Learning in Hand
Some resources we use for our VLA program:
· Kahn Academy – Teacher toolkits for Education (streaming video)
· PBS – Kids - Lesson plans, videos, offline activities/projects, interactive activities
PBS - Lesson plans, videos, offline activities/projects, interactive activities
· PhET Interactive – Simulations for: Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, Math
· SAS Curriculum Pathways – Lesson plans, videos, offline activities/projects, interactive activities
· Scribblar – Online whiteboard
Tammy's Technology Tips for Teachers
http://tammyworcester.com/
I was looking over an email I received from Tammy's Technology Tips for Teachers ( http://tammyworcester.com/) and found this information that I was unaware of. I knew that Wolfram Alpha can be quite useful for Math, but never realized it could do so much more.
WolframAlpha is considered a computational knowledge engine. Instead of giving you websites, it gives you facts and answers!
Try it for yourself: Go to: www.wolframalpha.com Enter something like: 2x + 15 = 45 And the results will show: Where was this when I was taking Algebra? . . . . . . . . .
If I enter something like: Bogue, Kansas The results will show: Note – When I scroll down, I also see a local map, the current time, the current weather, the economic properties, the geographic properties, nearby cities, and the county. Other searches to try:
http://tammyworcester.com/
I was looking over an email I received from Tammy's Technology Tips for Teachers ( http://tammyworcester.com/) and found this information that I was unaware of. I knew that Wolfram Alpha can be quite useful for Math, but never realized it could do so much more.
WolframAlpha is considered a computational knowledge engine. Instead of giving you websites, it gives you facts and answers!
Try it for yourself: Go to: www.wolframalpha.com Enter something like: 2x + 15 = 45 And the results will show: Where was this when I was taking Algebra? . . . . . . . . .
If I enter something like: Bogue, Kansas The results will show: Note – When I scroll down, I also see a local map, the current time, the current weather, the economic properties, the geographic properties, nearby cities, and the county. Other searches to try:
- Enter Kansas and Texas and it will build a table to compare the two states.
- Enter your birthdate to find out: what day of the week you were born; how old you are in years, weeks, and days; and famous people who share your birthday.
- Enter a food (apple, donut, Big Mac) to see the number of calories and the nutritional value.
- Enter your height and weight to see your body mass index, fat mass, lean body mass, and ideal body weight.
- Enter any number to see it written as a roman numeral and in binary form (along with lots of other info).
- Enter a person’s name for all sorts of facts.
- Click the “Examples” link on the home page for tons more search options!