Each week Simon Collier and I collaborate on an email newsletter for teachers called Tech Tools for Teachers. Click here to find an archive of past newsletters and to subscribe. This week we review the website Behind the News (BTN) http://www.abc.net.au/btn/ Behind the News (BTN) is a fantastic Australian site by the ABC that helps […]
Teaching
Storytelling Tool: Five Card Flickr
Five Card Flickr is a simple yet useful tool that I found out about from a number of people on Twitter. Five Card Flickr deals you random pictures from Flickr that you put together to tell a story. From each 5 photos you are dealt, you choose one to add to your story. You then […]
Tech Tools for Teachers #11 VoiceThread
Each week, Simon Collier and I collaborate on a weekly email newsletter called Tech Tools for Teachers to inform teachers of useful online tools. Find out more here. This week we review the website VoiceThread http://voicethread.com VoiceThread is a popular tool that allows you to narrate images, documents and videos. Others can join in the […]
Thoughts on the Ultranet
The Ultranet is a $60.5 million online portal for teachers, students and parents in Victorian government schools. After years of build up, the Ultranet was officially launched on Monday 10th May and my school was in the first group of schools to come online. The first stage of the Ultranet allows students and teachers to […]
Teach Like a Champion: A Guide for the 21st Century?
Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov is a book that came out in April 2010. It has the byline “49 Techniques that Put Students on the Path to College” and comes with a DVD of real teachers demonstrating 25 of the techniques in the classroom. The author, Doug Lemov, is the managing director of […]
Research Skills and Google Posters
Teaching students how to effectively use search engines such as Google to search for content is a valuable skill. This is something I’ve even started introducing to my Grade Two students. Many people don’t realise there are many tricks to performing the most effective Google search. I also like to have discussions with my students […]
Bringing Learning to Life with Technology
This term my Grade Two class is learning about Aboriginal Australia. In the past, I have taught this topic in a fairly standard way – books and worksheets combined with a few online resources. While the students were interested in the topic, I believe the whole concept of Aboriginal culture remained a fairly abstract topic […]
Clasroom Resources: Teachers Pet
I have been using the website SparkleBox for quite a while to find a wide range of printable resources for my primary classroom. I was therefore surprised to discover that the SparkleBox website has been been undergoing a troubled time recently with it’s creator and editor, Samuel King being imprisioned in January 2010 for child […]
Two Reading Sites for Younger Students
I recently came across two sites that would be useful in the lower primary classrooms for reading lessons. SIGNED STORIES This British site contains a collection of free animated stories. Each story is read, signed and also has the words down the bottom of the page for students to follow along. There are hundreds of […]
A Vision of 21st Century Teachers
I heard about this You Tube clip via a few different people on Twitter. The 4 minute video involves 18 classroom teachers “speaking out” on the topic of tech integration and 21st Century skills for students. It’s a really interesting insight into what the technology in the classroom can look like in all curriculum areas […]
Tech Tools for Teachers #5 – Creating Google Docs Quizzes
Each week Simon Collier and I collaborate on a weekly email newsletter to inform teachers of great online tools. Find out more here. This week we review the use of Google Docs: Forms (http://docs.google.com/) No doubt you have all heard of Google, and possibly Google Docs. Google Docs is a free, Web-based word processor, spreadsheet, […]
Kubbu: Make Education Games
I recently came across the site Kubbu. This is a site where teachers can make games and online activities for students. The activities can be made available to individual students or groups of students and the teacher can view and analyse results. Kubbu is free for teachers although is limited to using with 30 students […]
Blogging: Teaching Commenting Skills
I am currently in the process of introducing my Grade Two students to blogging. Our 2KM class blog is proving to be very popular with students and families. As I have previously blogged about, I like to follow these steps when introducing blogging to students. This is my third year of blogging with young students […]
Tech Tools for Teachers – Newsletter #1
As I have previously blogged about, I am collaborating with a fellow teacher Simon Collier on a weekly email newsletter for teachers called Tech Tools for Teachers. I aim to post these newsletters on this blog and have created a page where you will find PDF versions of these newsletters and find out more about […]
Digital Natives
Many people talk about the divide between digital natives and digital immigrants in today’s society. Digital natives are said to be those people who have grown up in a world of computers and 21st centuries technologies. People who are considered digital immigrants grew up before the digital age and have had to learn how to […]