Thursday, June 16, 2011

Monday, January 19, 2009

Things that warm a teacher's heart.....

Students who grow up to be really cool kids and aren't afraid to come over and say hello when they see you out somewhere.
Young ladies who were cute little third graders and are now beautiful 8th graders.
Working with a staff who really enjoy being together!
6th graders who WANT you to take their picture. These guys are best buds. Can you tell? :D
Students who come back to visit you during midterm short days. They're trying to look SO cool......but inside, they're just goofy teenagers! You just gotta love 'em!!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Math CAN Make You Laugh!

OK.......this one's for a giggle........I'm hooked on YouTube today! Having taught Math for two years in fifth grade, I can really relate to this one. Ever have one of these days?

21st Century Learners

Just wanted to share a FABULOUS clip found out on YOU TUBE about our 21st century learners. Take a quiet moment and watch it more than once.....it will really make you think!


Thursday, July 3, 2008

Website Evaluation

Searching for a website that could address my personal area of technology weakness was not as easy as I thought it would be. One really has to comb through lots of sites in order to find one that really appears to be reliable and a valid source of information. One such site I found was www.internet4classrooms.com . It's a website created by two educators with over 60 years of teaching experience between them. Both have also been involved with staff development and training specifically in the field of technology.

Internet4Classrooms is dedicated to helping teachers use the internet effectively. The easily navigable site map includes Links for K-12 Teachers, On-line Practice Modules,Assessment Assistance, Daily Dose of the Web, and In-School Integration Support. There are hundreds of links to internet resources full of fun and practical assessments in various formats and step-by-step practice modules used for self-paced learning in areas such as Word, EXCEL, Power Point, and Web Quest. The Daily Dose of the Web has lots of websites which change content on a daily or weekly basis making it a super resource for warmups, bell ringers, or quick reviews. This site is strong in content, easy to maneuver through, and the links are continuously checked and pages edited, taking out old, dead links and adding new resources.

I only see a few drawbacks to this site. The first is that I had to search a bit for content that challenges student reflection. The other drawback is just minor, but certainly plays a part in the overall appeal of any site and that's it's visual appeal. There is way too much white space and not much in the way of visually appealing graphics. A lot could be done to visually pump this site up.

In closing, this website has great value to 21st century, information-age education. It's easy to work through, contains good content, the information is updated often, and is maintained by people currently active in the education field who are dedicated to helping teachers make effective use of technology in their classrooms. I would strongly recommend marking this site as a favorite. Internet4Classrooms is a fabulous resource to go back to over and over again.