Click Out of Here

This is the last blog for the technology class.  I have really enjoyed blogging.  I now understand why so many people do it.  It is a chance for me to talk to myself.  To put my thoughts on paper have made me smile more than once.  Today, I am writing on technologies that I could use in my class.  First, I would have to ask my children what most of these technologies are (smartphone, iPod Touch, iPad, netbooks, and clickers)!  The only one I recognize, and have heard of teachers using in class is the clickers.  I would love for my students to use clickers in class.  They could use clickers as we reviewed for weekly test.  I usually put the questions on the board and we go over them together.  I could put them on a power point and they could click before we reviewed the answers.  Students love to play games and we could play jeopardy or whose line is it on the power point and use the clickers to answer.  I could use the clickers to take roll.  Clickers could be use in voting when we have elections in homeroom such as homecoming court, student council or class officers.  Students could use them in bell ringers as they answer practice questions for the exit exam.   We could use them when students give presentations so other students could have an input in their presentation grade.  I like the idea of having clickers.  Students do not necessarily learn more when they click.  They become more involved when they click.  When they are more involve, then I am earning more of my pay.  Now, it is time for me to click out of here.

"Inspirational Sites"

“Instructional Sites” sounds like such a cold term.  I have found two “inspirational sites” that I love to draw ideas from as I teach school.  The first one is a site I use for my ninth grade biology class.  It has notes, power point, objectives, quizzes, lab, virtual labs, and it covers basically the same topics that we cover throughout the year.  The general biology is not too technical.  It covers all the basics in a straightforward manner.  I think clarity is important when teaching basic biology.  It also has the advance biology for students who are ready for more than the basics.  This site is user friendly in that it is easy to find what you are looking for and with a wide variety of methods to fit the various needs of students.  I especially like the virtual labs because at our school money is short and the students must pay for what they dissect.  This is a way for those who cannot pay, to still experience dissection in all its glory.  This site is the biology corner 

Another site I truly love is the site designed for middle school students on earth science.   I think earth science is one of the most practical classes you can teach.  I usually teach this to seniors.  So, what is a nice group of seniors doing on a middle school site?  My goal for my seniors is to review the basics of what they have forgotten.  Life is so much more interesting when you understand what is happening around you. To look up at the moon and be able to tell someone about its phases is something the average person just does not remember.  Why do clouds form and what drives a storm?   These sound like easy questions but try asking the average adult.  I want my seniors to be able to explain these things to their children.  I love this site because it covers the basics.  It has a wonderful section on space.  I like this site because the more you know, the more you can see.  Look at earth science

Dinosaur come alive

     Which will I find first:  the Loch Ness monster, Bigfoot or high speed internet in my neighborhood?  The technology class I am taking has made me realize how many teaching tools I have been missing since I cannot surf the web at my house.  I have been surfing the web after work and I have found some fabulous sites I can use at school.  I feel like a dinosaur that has just come to life.  One site is Shaloc.  It allows you to share your iphone’s GPS location with friends in real-time by using the Shaloc iphone App.    When you open the Shlaloc App, it allows you to create a temporary URL that you can email to your friends so they can track your phone’s GPS location.  You can stop their tracking at any time and you get a new URL every time you want them to track you.  I can use this in class for my 12^th grade Earth Science class when we have our lesson on longitude and latitude.  We always discuss GBPs and how they work.  It would be great to have one in class to demonstrate.  We could turn it on the phone and monitor them on the computer as well as another phone.  To get this App, go to http://shaloc.com and you can get early access so when it launches publicly. 

     Another site I thought would be good for school is Pen.io.  It is a site where you can write essays, blog, shape recipes, or tell of future events.   I would use it at school to encourage all my students to write.  My students are mostly 9^th graders and one class of 12^th graders.  Many of our objectives in science class are reading and writing objectives.    So many students like to write poetry and that would be a way for them to share their writings.  I could write a something in class from science items to character education items and get the students to write their response on pen.io.  Students actually like to express themselves and this is a great way to let them.  I could also use it as a reading assignment by having them read each other’s work or something I want them to respond to.  The site for pen.io is http://pen.io .   Check out these two sites for cool things to do.  Don’t wait until you start to feel like a dinosaur before you surf the net.