Technology Goodies

Poetry WebQuest

2012-02-16T21:00:00.000-05:00

Shhh ... Don't tell anybody, but I hate poetry!! It is my least favorite genre of literature to teach! So, I developed a Poetry WebQuest on Moodle to teach my students all about poetry. Students are able to go to websites linked to the WebQuest to learn about different types of poems. Three years ago, my Poetry WebQuest was the first online project I created. Each year, I find more

Group Projects with GoogleDocs

2012-02-07T20:28:00.001-05:00

Well, I can officially say my students have completed a group project using GoogleDocs! This project did take twice the amount of time I had planned, but it was well worth the finished products! Students were assigned to groups by me. I debated on letting the students pick their own groups, but I wanted to make sure everyone in the class was in a group of four. After reading a story about

GoogleDoc'ing is My New BFF!!

2012-01-24T21:15:00.000-05:00

GoogleDocs has become my new best friend!! There is nothing better than to hear a student ask - "Instead of using Microsoft Word, can I use my GoogleDocs to type my report?" Wow!! I was impressed! Students in class agreed that GoogleDocs was easy to use and they loved the fact that their work was saved automatically as they typed. So, I eagerly agreed for the class to use GoogleDocs!

Google Doc'ing in the Classroom

2012-01-17T16:00:00.000-05:00

My school system has created Google accounts for all of our students. When I introduced GoogleDocs to my class in December, I ran into all kinds of glitches. It was frustrating as a teacher to watch the frustration level of my students intensify. So, I have been trying to figure out the problems. First of all, Google does not seem to like Internet Explorer. Up until a few weeks ago,

Day Two with Bill Ferriter - Teaching the iGeneration

2012-01-14T00:00:00.000-05:00

Today was a fantastic day!! It was the second day of my workshop with Bill Ferriter. First of all, he is awesome!! If you ever have the opportunity to hear him speak, GO!! For me, as a classroom teacher, I am often forced to listen to professional development presenters who are no longer in the classroom. This guy is still a full-time teacher. I had my doubts, thinking how can he be a

Teaching the iGeneration with Bill Ferriter

2012-01-12T20:06:00.002-05:00

Today was AWESOME!! I was fortunate enough to be selected to participate in workshop that included the filming of a documentary for William Ferriter's book, Teaching the iGeneration. This book is filled with fabulous ideas to enrich your classroom with technology. If you follow the link above, you can check out this book in addition to online reproducibles to use in your classroom. Mr.

Victorian Christmas Party

2011-12-17T16:00:00.000-05:00

Screen Capture of a page from the presentation Normally, I only post about the technology used in my classroom. However, during the month of December, my classes were transported back to the Victorian Era as we read Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Students used Moodle to answer Pair/Share reading questions for each page of the novel. I set up a Text Page on Moodle. Students copied and

PhotoStory Projects

2011-11-16T20:29:00.001-05:00

My students ended up working on their PhotoStory projects a lot longer than I had originally planned. There were a few glitches we had to overcome. First of all, the students were unable to download the music from the website I posted. I had posted links to 3 royal free music websites where they could do and pick out background music for their 30-second book trailer. Since they could not

Movie-Trailer Vidoes for Book Projects

2011-10-29T21:28:00.003-04:00

I have a new project planned for my students this week!! We have almost finished reading our in-class novel, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D.Taylor. I am going to have my students help me write a 5-6 sentence paragraph to persuade other people to want to read the book. I know that sounds boring, but then I want them make it snazzy with PhotoStory3. I want to create a "movie trailer

Hoot Suite ... An Alternative to TweetDeck

2011-10-13T15:28:00.002-04:00

I was so sad that my county blocked the TweetDeck application. I follow several Tweeters who post awesome technology ideas to use in the classroom. I added a Twitter widget to my blog earlier so I could keep up with my very favorite Twitter #Hashtag. Today, I was introduced to HootSuite by a fabulous Tech Facilitator. It is a web-based Twitter stream. I added my Twitter information linking

The Best Flipping Book Ever!!

2011-10-05T21:44:00.000-04:00

Create your own flipping book with FlipSnack.com Have you ever wanted to make a book from your PDFs? Lots of times, I save my Smart Notebook files as PDFs so anyone can open them. For a recent online book project, I had numerous pages that I wanted to upload as a booklet. After an extensive search, my fabulous tech facilitator recommended this website. The biggest advantage is I do not need

Online Book Study for Students

2011-09-25T22:29:00.001-04:00

I have spent the past few weeks working on a book study for my classes. I added a book to my Moodle page with all of the information. The book includes pre-reading activities, background information, vocabulary, chapter questions, and response journals. I planned this unit with my students in mind. I have a wide range of students; some read faster than others. With the online book study,

Checklists and Prerequisites

2011-09-14T18:17:00.001-04:00

I have been using the Netbooks in my classroom for a week now and I love it!! To begin with, I had some issues, but those have all been worked out! My students come into the classroom and take their assigned Netbook out of the charging cart. They log on and then complete their Grammar Warm-Up. I have them clam-shell their Netbooks as they complete their warm-up. Once I have gone over the

The Netbooks Are In My Room!!

2011-09-08T19:39:00.000-04:00

The sixth and seventh graders have finally gotten their Netbooks, so I have the Netbook cart in my room!! I was so excited Tuesday morning. I had worked several hours over the weekend getting my Moodle page ready for my students to use with the Netbooks. The lessons were all posted and linked, the cart was in the room, the kids were excited ... and then reality hit. When students tried to log

First Week Review

2011-09-03T22:05:00.000-04:00

The first week of school has been great!! I moved up a grade level this year, so I have a lot of the same students again this year. It really made the first week easier ... I already knew their names and abilities. The only thing I was disappointed about was missing out on the Netbooks for another year. I had really focused last year on enriching my lessons with technology in preparation for

Getting Ready For a New School Year!

2011-08-12T16:15:00.000-04:00