Wednesday, May 26, 2010

A Resource for New Media in the Classroom | Edutopia

A Resource for New Media in the Classroom Edutopia

This is a great resource for educators. We now need to teach content and prepare students for 21st century businesses, which we don't even know what that will look like, but we know students must be able to use and adapt to technology. This resource, created by Edutopia, is a great tool! Download it and check out other fabulous resources, including "Schools that Work" and sign up for the online community to develop new relationships with educators around the globe!

**Don't forget to click on the link above to download the PDF-
10 top tips for teaching with New Media- from Edutopia.


Sunday, May 23, 2010

Webquests!!

Webquests are FUN and might be a great tool for the end of the year!

Are some of you packing your classroom to move? I know it's difficult to transition to a new school and yet have to teach at the same time but sometimes we all have been placed in these situations where we need to do this! We need to pack an entire classroom and get it ready to move by the end of the last day (yes this is true... sadly) and yet we have to continue to teach our students too. Do we get paid additionally to stay above and beyond those paid hours to continue working to pack up that entire classroom, that could consist of 20 years of teaching?? NO- we don't get paid extra and I don't know about other educators but I know that Florida educators with over a decade of experience make about $43,000... which isn't much when you have a family of four to feed.

So the question remains... how do you attempt to resolve this situation? How do you pack an entire classroom and continue to teach at the same time? I think a WEBQUEST for the class, could be a great solution for the time being... You can present the information, integrate it with some summer reading choices, and then allow students to choose partners for the activity. Then have them take turns using the computers to access the WEBQUESTS. If you don't have enough computers, pull some books from the media center to allow students, who are not on computers , to find information until they have a chance to access the computers. Rotate the groups every 15-20 minutes so that students have enough time to research their topics.

Here is a link to assist you in finding some wonderful WEBQUEST topics:
http://www.bydewey.com/webquests.html

As far as the topic of Teacher pay: Check back tomorrow to Read the upcoming post re: Diane Ravitch's letter to Legislature and watch her video.... then pass it to every educator you know.

If we are proactive and united... a change will begin to emerge.

NAP book: Ready, Set, SCIENCE

THIS QUIZ is sooo much FUN!!


This Traveler IQ challenge compares your geographical knowledge against the Web's First Travelogue's other 4,891,903 travelers who have taken this challenge as of Monday, December 14, 2009 at 12:57AM GMT. (TravelPod is a TripAdvisor Media Network member)