The Purple Parade

Recently, I've been searching for an app that teachers can use to remotely activate their computers and interactive whiteboard.  I am happy to announce that I absolutely love the Doceri app for the iPad.  You have to download Doceri to the the iPad (free download) and also to your computer (free 30 day trial and a $30 one time fee after that). Your computer needs to be connected to a wifi network (go to www.doceri.com for more information). With Doceri for the iPad, you not only can remotely activate the programs on your computer through your iPad, but Doceri also has their own interactive whiteboard interface for you to draw on.  So, you can use it even if you don't have an interactive whiteboard.  Just connect your computer to a projector and project it onto a screen or blank wall. Also, you can record everything you do.  Your voice is also recorded into your presentation.  After you're done recording, you can upload it to YouTube so students can ac...

I just learned about a video site for math teachers (6th grade and up).  It's called Virtual Nerd ( http://www.virtualnerd.com/ ).  It has thousands of videos that show students how to solve math problems.  It even lists the steps on the side as it goes.  You can even download the instructions for those students who like to have a hard copy. Creating a teacher account is free.  There is a cost for student use, but as a teacher, you have free access to use the videos in your classroom.  You can link the videos to your own website for students to view without an account, but the step by step tutorial doesn't show up.  It is still an awesome site that can be a great tool for teaching math!!

This year our district switched to Google Apps for Education.  All students in the district were given a Google account.  Then, our district bought a few of the Nexus 7 tablets powered by Google.  (As I wrote about previously in this blog, one of our buildings is trying out the bring your own device and the tablets work well for those students who don't have an internet enabled device to bring).  The tablet works seamlessly with Google Email and the Google Drive.  According to USA Today , the Nexus 7 is more flexible than the Amazon Kindle Fire.  What I have found is that you can download many free educational apps from the Google Play store to the Nexus 7 and use the Google Drive and Email, too. Today, I was working with a teacher to set up the Nexus 7 for a special education student.  That student has a hard time writing. So, the teacher wanted a voice activated app that would type what was said and then print it out so it could be edited by h...

I have blogged about Google before, but I'm doing it again!  I am really loving Google Apps for Education the more and more that I use it.  Everyday I learn something new!  One of the best things is Google Forms.  With Google Forms, you can create surveys and assessments for the students to take online.  It is great for student engagement and achievement.  I found a great article online about the many things you can do with Google Forms.  It even has a slide show of over 80 more ideas for using Google Forms in the classroom.  Just click the link below and start enjoying all that Google Forms can do for you!  http://edte.ch/blog/2008/08/23/10-google-forms-for-the-classroom

One very important part of the reading block in elementary classrooms is shared reading.  Shared reading is when all students are reading together from the same text (for example:  a big book, a poem, etc.).  Recently, I have been exploring the web to find places for online books to use for shared reading.  My favorite one so far is MeeGenius. You can go to www.meegenius.com and get 6 books for free to read together with your class.  It will either read it aloud and highlight each word, or you can turn that feature off and read it at your own pace with your students.  You could even set up students individually with this site during group time or reading workshop time.  Another way to get even more free books with MeeGenius is through the iPad/iPod/iPhone app or through the Google Chrome App Store.  There are more books that you can buy through the app for very reasonable prices (and they never get torn or lost). iStoryBooks is another goo...

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) or Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT) is beginning to become more popular in school districts today.  Due to budget cuts, it is difficult for school districts to keep up with the ever changing technology world.  However, most students already own the technology needed.  So, why not let them use what they already have in order to enhance their learning.  There are so many sites out there that can be used for BYOD/BYOT.  A fun one to start with when students enter the door is Poll Everywhere .  Put up a question on the board and have the students respond to it on their technology devices.  A graph will appear and change as each student enters their response.  This is a free resource that could take the place of classroom response systems.  If students do not own a device, you can provide a district laptop or mini notebook to use in class. I've been working on a list of BYOD resources for high school. After that, ...

     The most recent amazing innovation in teaching is Google Apps for Education.  It is truly unbelievable what this new technology can do for your teaching.  Google Apps for Education include: Google Docs (Documents, Spreadsheets, Forms, Presentations, and more), Sites, Mail, Calendar, and Chat.  But, it's not the products themselves that are so amazing, it is what you can do with those products.      In Google, you can share your work with others easily because all of your work is saved in a "cloud" instead of on an individual computer.  You can access your work from anywhere with internet capability.  No longer will you create something at home and email it to yourself at work or save it to your "jump drive" and then load it onto your computer at work.  You create and save within the cloud and that's it!      Here are just a few possibilities that you can use Google Apps for Education in your classroom:...

I've spent the summer going doing research and going to workshops to gain more knowledge on using web 2.0 tools in the classroom.  I always wondered why they call them web 2.0 tools.  Well, when the web was first created, it was used for research and to gain knowledge in a variety of topics.  Now, there are many sites out there that are interactive in nature.  These sites still help students gain knowledge, but through interacting with learning instead of just reading about it.  These sites are called web 2.0. I have spent many hours this summer visiting sites on a variety of subjects and have compiled the following list of my favorite web 2.0 sites.  The topics I have compiled so far are: Student Engagement, Collaboration, Math, English/Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science .  I will also be researching sites on Art, Foreign Language, Business, and more, and will post those when I get the list compiled. I hope you enjoy the sites I h...