Wordle-Free Technology

The technology that I would like to discuss is Wordle.  It can be found at http://www.wordle.net/.  I think this technology has a lot of variety in how it can be used in the classroom.  According to the website, “Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.”  The way that I might use this in the classroom would be to add text to compare or contrast information from a text.  Maybe you could create two different wordle boards and determine which story the wordle is referring to.  Because of the compare/contrast aspect I feel this would be the “Analysis” level of Blooms Taxonomy.

This image was found on flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/raeallen/5530857927/

 

Scribble Maps-Free Technology

The technology that I found this week is called Scribble Maps.  It can be found at http://www.scribblemaps.com/.  This website lets you use draw and add markers to maps.  I think this would be great in the classroom to discuss maps and the idea of following directions.  You could also use this to graph/chart various pieces of information such as where the capital of a state is located or where a special landmark is in relation to your school.  Maybe you could use this to find the route your bus will take on an upcoming field trip.  This would give a great visualization for younger students.  I think this would fall into the category of application for Bloom’s Taxonomy.  Using this tool would illustrate and show students a specific objective which is part of this step of Blooms.

 

I found this picture at http://www.flickr.com/photos/24143753@N07/5711092058/

Puzzlemaker-Free Technology

The technology that I have chosen for this post is called Puzzlemaker. This is a website that teachers (or anyone) can use to create a variety of puzzles. This would be helpful in the classroom as a way to review specific concepts or terms. There are ten different puzzle types to choose from including word search, crossword, and double puzzles. Using these types of puzzles would require a student to use the Application portion of Bloom’s Taxonomy. The application stage requires students to solve and complete varies questions. In addition to being able to create your own puzzles, the website have pre-made puzzles available to try. The website can be found at http://www.discoveryeducation.com/free-puzzlemaker/index.cfm?campaign=flyout_teachers_puzzle

 

I found this picture at http://www.flickr.com/photos/hippie/2464175868/

Technology and Education PowerPoint

Mission Statement

Free Technology Classroom Organizer

I have to admit before I post that I have a slight control issue! I love organization and spreadsheets and planning 🙂  Anything in my house that can utilize a spreadsheet does, including my recent trip to Disney World.  It’s just my nature to be in control and while most times it adds more stress to my life (because of the quest for perfection) I just can’t stop myself.  My husband has learned to deal with all my control issues and need to excessively plan, but I am not sure how I am going to function in a elementary classroom.  I am rational enough to realize I have a problem, but still doesn’t slow me down.  So getting to the actual post, this technology is right up my alley.

Being the control/organization freak that I am I have fears of kids losing/destroying books in my classroom library.  Here is a picture of what my ideal classroom library would look like

See how organized!!

I found this picture here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/katy_bird/7558373652/

and here is how I fear my classroom library will look

AHHHH!!!

I found this picture here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alysser/2011022884/

So my point of this post is this AMAZING technology I found to help over-organizers like myself.  It is called Classroom Organizer.  This free tool allows you to keep inventory of your books and use your smartphone or ipad to check out books.  I LOVE THIS!!

You start by scanning or inputting the books into your library database and adding your students names to the account.  Then each student can check out the pre-determined amount of books and return them as they finish.

It might seem like a lot of work to begin with, but I think this could be a valuable tool for classroom organization.  I can’t wait to implement this into my own classroom soon.

Check out the website at http://classroom.booksource.com/

Podcasting

Today I am posting about podcasting.  I have never utilized this technology, but I can see from my limited use so far that it could be a great resource.  For me, as a new teacher, I have found some great conversations about education changes that I am going to have to deal with soon.  The podcast that I would like to talk about is entitled, “What makes a Good Teacher?” http://www.jackstreet.com/jackstreet/WMBKecn.RTGoodteacher.cfm.  I found a list of great information (including podcasts) at this website http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/teacher_resources/ecnradio.asp

I found this podcast very interesting with some different views of what makes an effective teacher.  Their ideas were different than what we typically judge teachers on.  They suggest that they teacher has three main roles in the classroom; social worker, manager and instructor.  I would agree that all these things make sense as a role of the teacher.

RSS-never heard of it!

Ok, so this week we are learning about RSS feeds. Why have I never heard of this? Sometimes I feel so dumb about technology when I always think I know whats going on! I have a feeling that this will not be the last time 🙂

For my RSS reader I have chosen Google. I already had a gmail account and liked the idea of not having to sign up for something else (or remember any more passwords). I have subscribed to all the members in this class as my first exposure to RSS technology.

I think this technology will be beneficial in my teaching because as I continue on in my education I will surely run into some helpful sources and will be able to add a link in one place rather than checking out their blogs everyday. It can be frustrating to search my favorite blogs only to find out they have not posted in a week or two. This will save a lot of time and keep things organized.

I also think it could be beneficial with research topics. Just like the article we read suggested I can add some feeds that touch on a particular item that I am interested in researching.

Smart board New Technology

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The technology shown above are various forms of the Smart Board interactive white board.  These products can be found at http://smarttech.com/smartboard.  The reason that I selected this technology is because I believe this (and other types like it) is the future of the classroom.  I substitute teach and many of the rooms have these boards in use.  As a sub, I am expected to use these in the daily lessons and learning how to operate these will make my job much easier.  Most times, I can figure out what the teacher wants me to do, but I wish I knew many more “tricks of the trade”  I think this is an important innovation for the classroom because it gets children more involved in the lesson.  Unfortunetly, many teacher use these like a blackboard and don’t really utilize all that can be done with this technology.  There are so many amazing resources that can make learning exciting and fun!  One classroom I subbed in had these “clickers” ok they are really called interactive response systems, but I like “clickers” better.  The kids were able to vote on responses and choices from their seat and the teacher could project a graph of all the answers.  What an awesome tool!  My hope is that I will have the support of my school to be able to have these technologies and use them to their full potential, rather than like a typical dry erase board.

REMARKABLEOHIO

So today I went on a scavenger hunt of sorts 🙂  I learned about these awesome Remarkable Ohio landmarks and decided to go searching.  Here are the 6 that I found.  I think I marked them on the Flickr map correctly!

You can find these pictures in flickr here:

http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=92218238@N02&q=remarkableohio&m=text