by Brantley Spillman
My Teaching Tools.
While researching technology-based tools for the elementary classroom, I was able to find a lot of new information. The sky is the limit
when dealing with technology and its potential for the modern day
classroom. Constantly, new tools and programs are being invented and
implemented into our schools. These tools/programs are allowing
educators easier application of the hands-on approach. The tools that
were notable to me were Pixie, Frames5, Share4, Wixie, Image Blender, and PollEverywhere.
However, the program I will discuss in this post is Epals.
Epals seems to be easy to integrate into the classroom. They have
several options that are specific to grades K-12. One example is the
“Global Community” that allows students and educators to collaborate
with different cultures and communities (over 200 countries).
Additionally, this technology offers a safe way for students to
communicate worldwide. Both educators and students now have the
opportunity to search and learn from many different styles/cultures of
education.
Another
example of options that Epals offers to an educator and their students
is “CRICKET.” CRICKET includes several different magazines and reading
materials for a variety of ages. “The mission of CRICKET is to inspire
children to a lifelong love of reading and learning.”(Epals: CRICKET)
In addition to magazines, CRICKET offers several learning products such
as books, crafts, toys, and gifts. First and foremost, these products
should bring a sense of fun to the learning process.
In2Books
e-Mentoring Service is a more specific program Epals has to offer.
This service is grade-specific. The In2Books tool is for students in
grades 3 through 5. It provides a student with a pre-approved adult
pen pal to discuss certain reading topics they both have read. “The
program provides standards-based professional development and
professional learning communities and is facilitated by three
resource-filled websites - one for students, another for pen pals, and a
third for teachers.” (Epals: In2Books) Historically, pen pals have been very useful in a classroom. (Setting up Pen Pals)
Pen pal relationships offer several important inter-disciplinary
benefits for your students: good practice at writing in the proper
format, increasing your student’s awareness of other interpretations of
the reading material, increasing chances that your student will continue
to be a writer, and increasing your student’s ability to communicate
clearly in written form.
The
notable aspect of Epals is that it is building on traditional learning
tools; reading, writing, and pen pals. However, making it more
successful by using new technological methods such as video chats and
email we are modernizing the classroom.
by Haley Smith
My Teaching Tools.
For my tool, I chose Scholastic Books. Growing up, I remember reading Scholastic books and engaging with the characters such as Clifford the Big Red Dog and the Magic School Bus. Every year, I
always went to my school’s book fair put on by Scholastic. Today, as a
future educator, I had NO idea that Scholastic would provide the tools
that it does. From lesson plans to classroom management ideas to
student activities, Scholastic offers an unlimited amount of resources
that can be used to further learning in the classroom.
On
the front page of this link, Scholastic offers daily starters, the
freebie corner, and printouts that can be used inside the classroom.
Daily starters are anything from fun facts to teachable moments and small lessons in math and language. In addition, you can look up information by Common Core Standards. There is even a link
that takes you directly to the Alabama Department of Education website
where you can see the Core Standards. Scholastic is a partner with
Common Core and they want to provide instructional materials and programs for you, the teacher, to use. Scholastic also provides teachers with lesson plans
separated by holidays, months, and subjects. The amount of lesson plans
that Scholastic offers is extraordinary and can be incorporated in the
classroom in various ways. The best part of this website is that the lesson plans are free! Another resource that can be used is called the New Teacher Support. The best part about this tool is that the lesson plans are free! There is also a tab that is titled "Everything You Need".
In this section of scholastic.com, there is anything you could need by
theme such as bullying, elections, and holidays. It has teaching ideas
for the month and there is also a search bar that you can use to look
for something specific that you need.
Some
tools that are available through scholastic.com are the graphic
organizer, the flash card maker, the spelling wizard, and the class
set-up tool.
Follow the links to explore other tools Scholastic offers for yourself!
Another
tab that you can find on Scholastic’s website is one where you can find
different strategies and ideas. One resource found in this section that
I find very helpful is Teacher to Teacher Blogs. In this section,
you can find teaching tips, classroom management tips, lesson plans,
and great things that are happening in the classroom. It gives you a
list of teachers all over America giving their resources and tips for a
better classroom. While exploring Scholastic’s Common Core section, I found links that explain what Common Core is and how to understand. This gives links to Skill Assessment, Math Material, English Material, and the Content Library. I really like the section called the New Teacher Support as well.
This link offers tips for how to start your classroom, ways to deal
with parents, how to teach lessons, and resources that helps new
teachers get in the swing of school.
Inside
Scholastic there are a lot of resources for teachers, parents, and
students. The student resources vary from computer lab activities,
SmartBoard activities, and “StudyJams!”. These are all resources that
are extremely helpful and will allow students to grasp the concepts needed.
Here are the links to the student activities!
The final resources I am going to discuss are the Book Fair and the tab for Books and Authors.
With the Book Fair resource, you can find book fairs near you, see what
books are being featured, and you could sign your students up for
contests such as Kids Are Authors.
I would use these tools in my classroom as often as I could. This would allow students to stay learning
with technology as well as work collaboratively. This takes learning
home, and it allows parents to join in on the fun of learning!
by Hilary Thames
My Teaching Tools.
In
my sixth grade classroom, I plan to use technology in numerous ways, but
the number one thing I want my kids to be engaged in weekly is keypals.
Through these keypals, my kids will be involved in learning
communities. Each students will be paired with another student from a
classroom in another city or, possibly, even another country. My students
will be in contact with the paired student through email. When
working on projects, they will be using collaborative writing tools such
as google docs. Once a month, as a whole, we will have contact with the
class via webcam and have an activity planned for this allotted day for the students to engage with each other. This will allow the students to see
their partner and their partner’s culture with their own eyes.
In order to find a whole classroom available for keypals, I would use The Teacher's Corner.
Through teacher’s corner, I would be in contact with the teacher about
various things such as setting up the keypals, activities that will be
used throughout the year, and potenital problems that may evolve over that period of time.
I hope, through this experience, my students will gain a working knowledge of teamwork. They will have to learn how to depend on others as they will not be able to take full control over their projects. This quality
will not only help them in the keypals activity, but it will also help them
when they are in the workplace.
My students, through the use of keypals, will also be introduced to different cultures and to students with different
backgrounds.
Another
way I plan to engage my student in technology is by the use of ThingLink. There are many great tools that ThingLink offers;
such as new ways to create an interactive report. By creating this
interactive report, students will be able to learn more because it is a fun alternative to traditional and boring reports. Through the use of
ThingLink, my students will create a report of themselves on their own
culture that they can share with the students they have been paired with via
keypals. When their paired student has shared the report on their culture, we will have a class discussion about what
was shared.
My thinking may seem outside of the box, but one thing I
believe would be great for involving technology into the classroom is the introduction of digital desks. Instead of the old, boring wooden desks, we would have
desks that allow each student access to the internet. The top of the
desk could be compared to an iPad. It would be a touch screen and even
have a connection to the smartboard that is in the front of the classroom. My
students' books would be accessed through these desks. No more excuses like, “I left my
book at home last night”! Of course, the students wouldn’t be
able to take these desks home, so there would have to be a textbook
available for homework activities and studying (maybe an iPad). The students would even
be able to take tests on these digital desks and submit them wirelessly! WE ARE
GOING GREEN LIKE EDM 310! Alright, so maybe there is a reason I
want to be a teacher instead of an inventor, but you can never dream
too big, right?!? 
Brantley,
ReplyDeleteThis is for your part of the post, I really enjoyed reading about your teaching tool Epal. Your blog was easy to read. The only thing that I saw in your writing was you had two different ways of writing pen-pal. For instance; in the third paragraph fourth sentence you wrote "penpal." Then in the fifth sentence you wrote " pen pal."
Other than that, I think overall you wrote a good post!
Thanks. I fixed it!
ReplyDeleteYour group did a very good job on this assignment. Interesting. Thoughtful. Great job!!
ReplyDelete