It’s been a while since my last post on here, which is partly due to my laziness but also due to my decision to return to the classroom. I am back as an elementary teacher and loving it! I have created a couple resources for my ELA/Reading class and wanted to share them here. Both are for our unit on vocabulary, specifically synonyms and antonyms. The first is a dominoes center and the second is a Busy Bee themed board game. Both are meant to be used as practice activities in a center-based classroom. Hopefully you will find them useful!
Social Learning Summit 2012 Presentation – Building Real-World Skills: Increasing Collaboration within the Classroom and Beyond
For anyone looking for my presentation at the 2012 Social Learning Summit on April 21, 2012.
Building Real-World Skills – Increasing Collaboration within the Classroom and Beyond
View more PowerPoint from kjurczak
Thanks for everyone who joined me today at the session!
2012 Social Learning Summit
Looking for an opportunity to connect with leading educators on the use of social media and Web 2.0 in teaching and learning? Check out the free 2012 Social Learning Summit, an event held in partnership with Classroom 2.0 and the Discovery Educator Network, on Saturday, April 21st, 2012. The theme of the conference is the use of social media and Web 2.0 in teaching and learning.
For anyone interested in presenting, you have until April 7th to get your proposal in. You can find the call for presentations here.
iPad Apps and Instructional Strategies – Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition
This is the third post in a series devoted to integrating the instructional strategies discussed in Classroom Instruction That Works: Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement (Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock) into teaching and learning in a 1-to-1 iPad environment. While in no way a comprehensive list, these resources will hopefully give some ideas for how to integrate the strategies into instruction using the iPad.
Reinforcing Effort and Providing Feedback
This instructional strategy provided a bit of a challenge in identifying appropriate apps for the iPad, but I was able to find information on this site from the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory in Portland, Oregon, to help identify implementation strategies that fit.
Student attitudes and belief can have a strong impact on academic achievement. By recognizing student effort and providing constructive feedback, students are more aware of how hard work can turn into positive results. The applications listed below can help students and teachers identify expectations for effort and track progress as they work towards goals. Do you have any suggestions to share? Help me round out this Google Doc Spreadsheet and make sure to include your name next to any apps you add so that I can make sure to give you credit!
iEarnedThat by Kidoc, LLC ($1.99)
Created for parents to use with their children, this app also can be used to provide recognition as students work towards goals. iEarnedThat is an easy to use tool that can help students develop desirable behaviors by working towards tangible goals. Using a visual interactive puzzle, the app allows students to monitor their own progress and work towards achieving goals.
GradePad by Portage Interactive, LLC ($2.99)
GradePad is a performance assessment tool that teachers and students can use to assess behavior and performance using rubrics that have criteria and scales. Both individual and group rubrics can be created, allowing teachers to track students, or for students to track their own progress against project goals. Teachers can work with students to create a class effort rubric to help set a common expectation for classroom effort and achievement.
Teacher’s Assistant Pro by Lesson Portal, LLC ($6.99 or try Teacher’s Assistant Lite for free)
This app allows teachers to track student achievements and easily send actions to students (if they have email addresses) to provide recognition or feedback on progress. It includes the ability to send reports to parents, who can then use the information to provide recognition and feedback from home on their child’s accomplishments.
Outliner for iPad By CarbonFin ($4.99)
Students can use this app to create “effort logs” to help them track goals as they work on an assignment or project. This can help them evaluate their personal effort and identify how it relates to progress they are making in the classroom.
Check out last week’s post on Summarizing and Note Taking.
iPad Apps and Instructional Strategies – Summarizing and Note Taking
This is the second post in a series devoted to integrating the instructional strategies discussed in Classroom Instruction That Works: Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement (Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock) into teaching and learning in a 1-to-1 iPad environment. While in no way a comprehensive list, these resources will hopefully give some ideas for how to integrate the strategies into instruction using the iPad.
Summarizing and Note Taking
This category of instructional strategies can be defined as a way to “enhance students’ ability to synthesize information and organize it in a way that captures the main ideas and supporting details” (Classroom Instruction that Works, 2nd Edition.)
Students can utilize the power of technology to practice these strategies by providing opportunities to capture, organize, and reflect on important information. These apps can make it easier to provide students with opportunites to revise notes and use them for review, an important part of the learning process. Below is a list of iPad applications that can be used to support summarizing and note taking. These apps are great both for teacher modeling and student practice. Do you have any suggestions to share? Help me round out this Google Doc Spreadsheet and make sure to include your name next to any apps you add so that I can make sure to give you credit!
Evernote by Evernote (Free)
This popular app allows users to save notes across multiple sources in an easy to use space. You can clip full websites, articles, or selections of important information and tag the clips to help organize ideas. The use of tags allows users to more easily synthesize information from multiple sources. The app also allows users to share notes with others (teachers or fellow students), which allows teachers to evaluate student progress, share teacher-prepared notes as examples or create opportunities for collaboration and sharing in groups.
Note Taker HD by Software Garden ($4.99)
An easy to use app, Note Taker HD allows users to write notes and/or diagrams using a finger or stylus, as well as annotate over imported PDFs and images. These features allow students to both take notes from resources outside the iPad (paper-based articles and texts), or import digital information and annotate notes on top.
SoundNote by David Estes ($4.99)
SoundNote records audio while the user types or draws on the iPad, including a recall function that will allow users to play back a section of the audio clip that was being recorded when the note or drawing was written down. This could be a handy note for special needs students or auditory learners to help both with taking notes as well as mapping out ideas through spoken word.
Notability by Ginger Labs ($0.99)
This app integrates handwriting, PDF annotation, typing, and recording to allow students to organize and summarize information. Notes can be arranged by subject and category to allow students to easily move from one project/assignment to the next. The app includes three outline styles for a linear form of note taking, as well as the ability to insert images and annotate to create nonlinear formats, such as webbing and mapping.
PaperPort Notes by Nuance Communications (Free)
A combined note taking and document annotation app for the iPad, PaperPort Notes allows users to type or write freehand notes, use voice recognition to dictate notes (great for some special needs students), annotate over imported documents from the web, your Dropbox or Box.net accounts, or documents folder. You can also import files or snapshots from the web, copied contents from the iPad clipboard and images from the camera. Teachers and students can share summary frame templates via imported documents from the web, Dropbox, Box.net, or PaperPort Anywhere accounts.
iDesk – Diagrams, Graphs, Schemes & Ideas by Ten Touch Ltd. ($6.99 or try iDesk lite for free)
iDesk is great for the nonlinear formats, making it easy for users to create mind maps, flow charts, and other diagrams with notes from multiple resources. This app can be great for helping students connect background knowledge with new information and make connections to summarize this information into key ideas and concepts.
Popplet by Norton Inc. ($4.99 or try Popplet lite for free)
Popplet allows users to track ideas and plan projects visually. Webbing, a nonlinear note-taking strategy, utilizes shapes, colors, text, images, and arrows to show relationships among and between ideas. The app easily integrates all of these formats to allow students to create visual notes and connect information along common themes.
Check out last week’s post on Similarities and Differences.
5 More Free Digital Resources for Math Teachers
Last month, I posted a list of 5 Free Digital Resources for Math Teachers. Since then, I have stumbled upon several more to add to the list. Let’s take a look at five more great resources to teach match in the digital classroom!
1. Gooru is a search engine with more than 2,600 standards-aligned resources, called study guides, in 5th-12th grade math and science. Composed of free open educational resources (OERs), the collection includes digital textbooks, animations, instructor videos and more. Gooru also will adapt to students’ learning needs by looking at topics studied and self-assessments to suggest resources that will help students master concepts.
2. Math Chimp is a collection of free online math games organized by the Common Core State Standards for 1st – 8th grade. You can search by the CCSS to see a list of appropriate digital resources, which includes a description and rating to help you determine which ones are best for your students.
3. WowMath.org - For high school math teachers and students, WowMath.org contains over 600 tutorials on algebra and calculus created by Brad Robb, a high school math teacher in California. You can also find the videos on his YouTube channel.
4. Brightstorm contains over 2,000 free videos from math teachers explains difficult concepts and working out sample problems. Topics include algebra, geometry, trigonometry, precalculus, and calculus. They also have the Brightstorm Math Homework Checker for students to check answers and a Questions and Answers Forum to communicate with others for help with math.
5. Interactivate is a site containing a variety of interactive, Java-based virtual math activities and lesson plans for students and teachers in grades 3-12. You can search through the activities by subject, topic, audience, or resource type, or narrow down by standards for several states or the Common Core. For iPad users, they have also created an app called Math Flyer.
iPad Apps and Instructional Strategies – Identifying Similarities and Differences
Many schools work to integrate the instructional strategies discussed in Classroom Instruction That Works: Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement by Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock. Recently, I began compiling a list of iPad apps that correlate to the nine strategies outlined in the book, and this is the first post in a series devoted to each strategy. While in no way a comprehensive list, these resources will hopefully give some ideas for how to integrate the strategies into instruction using the iPad.
Identifying Similarities and Differences
According to the research, Marzano identifies four process to explain how to identify similarities and differences:
- Comparing – identifying similarities and differences between or among ideas
- Classifying – grouping similar things into categories
- Creating Metaphors – identifying a pattern and applying to another topic
- Creating Analogies – identifying relationships between a pair of ideas
Students will need guidance in identifying similarities and differences, as well as the ability to practice both independently and in small groups to enhance understanding and their ability to use this practice. Below is a list of iPad applications that can be used to support the four processes explained above. Do you have any suggestions to share? Help me round out this Google Doc Spreadsheet and make sure to include your name next to any apps you add so that I can make sure to give you credit!
Popplet by Norton Inc. ($4.99 or try Popplet lite for free)Popplet allows users to brainstorm, track ideas and plan projects visually. Use Popplet to create graphic organizers where students can identify similarities and differences among a group of ideas.
Draw Venn for iPad by Permeative Technologies Pvt Ltd ($0.99)Draw Venn is ideal for making Venn Diagrams. Use the app to describe and compare attributes and characteristics of items (things, people, places, events, ideas, etc.)
iDesk allows you to make flow charts, Venn diagrams, mind maps, take notes, sketches and do other diagrams with no constraints. Create multiple graphic organizers to compare, classify, identify patterns (metaphors), or identify relationships/analogies.
This app contains both picture and word analogy questions to help students build their skills in analytical thinking, problem solving, perception, spatial skills, memory, and creativity.
iCardSort By E-String Technologies Inc. ($5.99)
iCardSort is a brainstorming tool that helps you to visually organize ideas quickly and easily by placing ideas on virtual note cards. iCardSort allows you to group, order, and explore your similarities and differences among a group of items, ideas, or concepts.
Teach students how to group and classify objects using a simple drag and drop interface for younger students.
WordConnex By Chilly Brr ($0.99)In this app, students sort words to learn about spelling and vocabulary by discovering patterns. With WordConnex, students are exposed to many different types of words and they learn while playing. According to the website, in the future, teachers, parents and students will have the ability to upload their own lists of words to learn, which will make this app even more useful.
