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| Sunset from Bug Light Park |
A teacher in rural Georgia has connected her kids to the world with technology. The list of the programs and skills these highschoolers now understand is impressive, and will definitely help them maneuver college and become successful in the job of their choice. The students all looked very engaged, and I particularly liked a part of the video that showed a student leading the class.
One blog shows how to convert a highlighter and Wii remote into an interactive computer "whiteboard" tool for use in the classroom (for about $50!). Another has videos of kids performing math "raps." I can see that the 8th grade science kids will get a lot out of Sciencefix.com, which displays and discusses videos about inertia, the visible light spectrum, natural selection, etc. Many of these demonstrations could be reproduced at home or in the classroom, giving students a way to participate in the activity and make their own discoveries, instead of just being "forcefed" information.
As a person who does not enjoy math, I was thrilled to find hooda.com -- it has an impressive array of math games, as well as tabs for teachers that give information on each game, the skills it covers, and supporting worksheets. The tutorials section was a disappointment, however, because some of the visuals did not display, and others were a little bit "low-tech."
On Facebook, I have been getting regular updates from Edutopia (the George Lucas Foundation's education blog), which is where I learned about Heather Wolpert-Gawron's tweenteacher.com site. Heather is an experience middle school teacher (she has taught elementary through high school) with an incisive wit and a lot to say. Check her out!
maggie, you know i will be following this blog as the school year unfolds. i must say that you seem excited and revved to be going back to school, sharing all your new discoveries. sending thoughts on the new england breezes that you have a successful, happy, memory-making year. 8D
ReplyDeleteGreat post reviewing lots of good ed blogs, Maggie. Vicki Davis (cool cat teacher) is a wealth of creativity and knowledge. Great resource! And she's connected with Maine teachers - who knows when she may be in the state again to learn from in person. I checked the HoodaMath site and found the tutorials loading OK for me, so I'm sure we need to update the Quicktime plugin on your machine. Edutopia will certainly keep you posted - I'm still on their email list which is very active. Thanks for the pointer to TweenTeacher - terrific voice and prolific on-target writing for us!
ReplyDeleteYou are an A+ blogger, of course, so here's a pointer: www.posterous.com Check out quick and simple (though somewhat limited) blog posting. Likely Connie and I will move all of our blogging to Posterous in the coming year, especially since Google is making account sign up trickier every time we check.
Keep sharing your own great voice here. I hope the class pops in and visits.
Such a nice photo!
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Great blog, Maggie. I loved reading your enthusiasm for the learning you are doing on blog applications. There is so much great stuff online! I'm glad some of the links in the unit were useful and exciting to you. Remember: 11 more applications to go in this class! We'll have a blast.
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