A few weeks ago I set up blogs for two of my most enthusiastic student bloggers, Rhiannon and Bianca. I chose these students as they regularly left comments on our 2KM class blog and were committed to learning as much as they can about blogging. After gaining their parents’ permission, I set their blogs up, […]
teaching
Tech Talk Tuesdays and Classroom 2.0 LIVE
Last week, I posted about my top ten ways to engage in online professional development (PD). Tonight I participated in one of my recommended forms of PD (which I don’t get to as often as I’d like) – the Victorian Education Department’s Virtual Conference Centre. While there are a wide range of sessions every day […]
Article: Are Digital Natives Restless?
Last week I was contacted by Jewel Topfield, a reporter from The Age newspaper, who wanted to visit my classroom to watch me teach and talk to me about how I use technology in the classroom. Jewel and a photographer visited one of our daily reading rotations in my grade two class and had the […]
Virtual Maths Manipulatives
I nearly always use my IWB (interactive whiteboard) for Maths whole-class introductions and often small group instruction. Publisher McGraw Hill and Glencoe have a great maths resource for your IWB that is an alternative to IWB software. It is called Virtual Manipulatives. Virtual Manipulatives is a Flash based website with interactive manipulatives that students and […]
Twitter from a Newbie’s Perspective!
According to the website, http://www.whendidyoujointwitter.com I joined Twitter on 9 March 2009. It wasn’t until early 2010, however that I started really using Twitter. I had tried many times previously to get into this social networking phenomenon but, like all things technological, I needed to see how Twitter could enrich my life in order to […]
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 […]
Cyber Safety and Young Students
Want to explore some more current resources about cyber safety and digital citizenship? Check out my page with new resources for teachers, schools, students, and parents. Teaching about cyber safety is an important aspect of all technology teaching. With my Grade Two students, I try to discuss aspects of cyber safety while using the internet […]
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 […]
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 […]