Transforming Education through Technology

For the past year I have been receiving a wonderful publication from The Journal that I would like to recommend to everyone.  The Journal whose goal is to Transform Education through Technology is a great way to learn about new tools that are available in this ever-changing world of Education and Technology.  Each month you can choose to receive the digital or the print version of the magazine.  Within every issue there are many ideas that may help you implement technology into your classroom.  This is a great way to learn about new ideas that will help push you towards having a 21st Century classroom.  If you have a minute visit The Journal website and sign up for this free publication.

Online Learning Opportunity

Getting the Most Out of Your Interactive Whiteboard

Simplek12.com is offering a live online webinar on Tuesday, March 22, 2011.  The webinar will begin at 1:00PM and last about an hour.  If you are interested in this free webinar just click on this link and sign up.  The webinar states that it will help you discover some new ways to use your interactive whiteboard.

View Google Search Results Based Upon Reading Level

I recently just learned about a new tool that Google offers that will help you sort your search results based on Reading Level.  Although the new tool is fairly new and needs a little bit of work it is a great start to something that can make things a lot easier for teachers.  Google uses a very simplified leveling system which includes basic, intermediate and advanced reading levels that you can sort your results by.

How do I use this new feature?

• Go to www.google.com
• Type in your search term and then click on the "Advanced Search"
• On the next screen you can choose the Reading Level you want to work with or select "Annotate results with reading levels".

• Click on Advanced Search
• You can now choose which reading level you would like to sort by and the percentage of results within that reading level.

• You and your students can now use this feature to help narrow down the results and hopefully make things a little easier on everyone.

Classroom Use:
This is a great tool to use with students who may be researching information on a specific subject.  Elementary students can view the basic results where as High School Students might find that the intermediate or advanced results will better suit them.

The First Thanksgiving

Are you looking for something to teach your students about Thanksgiving?  Scholastic provides a really nice website that talks about The First Thanksgiving.  On their website they have many explanations that are very kid friendly.  You can show your students the Mayflower and show them the journey that the Pilgrims had taken to get to the new land.  You can also view the daily life of the Pilgrims after the arrived in the New World.  The First Thanksgiving is a great way to share the information with your students.  They also included a Teachers Guides for K-2, 3-5 and 6-8 that may help you gain a few more ideas.  There are also links to other sites that may help as well.  Have a great Thanksgiving and enjoy the resource!

Study Jams

If you are looking for something to liven up your classroom you will have to check out Study Jams.  Study Jams is a website that is built around the Math and Science subjects.  It has animated videos that explain a several topics of Math and Science.  There is also the karaoke section which provides songs that help the students remember the steps to many problems.  You can start the video and have your students sing along.  One of the nicest parts of Study Jams is the step through process on the Math section.  This takes math problems and shows the students step by step how to complete them.  All of the lessons are animated and all of them contain quizzes that you can use to help evaluate how your students are doing.  When you get a chance check out Study Jams!!