Tech Tuesday Vol 3
Sept 28th

Today in A116 I’ll begin 15 minute lessons. These are short lessons to give you a chance to learn one new skill and really focus on how it can be used in the classroom. Nothing too overwhelming.

Lessons on Using Inking Layer in SMART Tools
These are best for...

• quick lesson integration
• filling in worksheets
• marking maps, diagrams, anything on the web
• on the fly student input
• MS Office documents

Resources:

Teaching with Smartboard - Wonderful website with lots of downloadable notebooks but also 70+ podcasts of ideas. http://smartboard.fatcow.com/resources/

Science Content Pack - Mimio has on offer a special content pack for free download. Specially designed for middle school, the pack includes activities for Anatomy, Chemistry, Biology and Earth Science. You must have an account at Mimio to download but why not? Download the pack at: http://www.mimioconnect.com/content/lesson/science_pack

eThemes - For every subject there is something available here. eThemes is a State of Missouri site used to help teachers integrate technology in their lessons. They pull together a variety of interactive websites, informational databases, and lesson plans so you have less searching to do. Use this page to search by grade level: http://ethemes.missouri.edu/grades

Science and Math Portal - I haven’t really seen such an easy to use search portal for math. The resources have a large range of both information and interactives. You should bookmark for those last minute reteach ideas. http://msteacher.org/

Interactivate - The above site often links to this. Everyone in math or science should know about these Java based apps that help students manipulate concepts and experiment. Use them on a Smartboard or Mimio or in a computer lab. Either way, they are an excellent way for students to gain a higher level of understanding. Yes, they are aligned to Virginia sols. http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/

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Tech Friday Agenda:                                                          Vol 2
Sept 17th

Blackboard

• emailing parents with progress reports
• placing a banner on your page
• uploading multiple documents and folders; copying to other courses.

I’ll have handouts on the first two options. The third option comes from a simple how to at another website: http://blackboardtips.blogspot.com/2005/04/how-to-upload-many-files-and-folders.html
This is a wonderful option if you’d like to put online all those scanned worksheets. Be sure and rename the documents so they are easy to find for students.

Resources Online

ESOL I tend to think there is some magic about teaching English and truly there is. This site gives hundreds of audio and video clips with questions and lesson ideas for each. Truly a great place to start. http://www.esl-lab.com/

Science Particle theory broken down into a sequential interactive website. The Particle Adventure is really just a unit using the inquiry based  model. You may find this a great review activity or a way to present. Try it on the Mimio. http://www.particleadventure.org/index.html

History Finding good and interesting sites for certain areas of history can be difficult. PBS has wonderful information filled sites that are based on series. There is no real need to watch the series to use the lessons because all the information is included at the website. Here is their site on The West.
http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/lesson_plans/

If you need more technology integration head over to eThemes from the University of Missouri. They list all the lessons online that are grade appropriate. This is their site for the Transcontinental Railroad lessons found online.
http://ethemes.missouri.edu/themes/619

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