Ways to Use Web-Based Tools in the Classroom

Here is a great site with presentations for ways to use Google tools, Hardware, and more in the classroom.

Click on this link.

I am impressed with the way these have been created and how easy they are to share and give ideas for inspiration.  

Google is at it again

Google has shared a new technology incorporating Motion and Gmail.
Check out the fun at www.gmail.com/motion

Just remember what today really is...

Kathy Schrock Rocks

Kathy Schrock has created a Blooms Taxonomy, digital version using only Google tools.
Check it out for yourself: Google Bloom's Digital Taxonomy

Or add Kathy's blog to your RSS reader:
 http://blog.kathyschrock.net/

RTT and things that come with it

Our state was one of the few to receive Race to the Top funds.  I'm really impressed with what my school district has decided to do with the $1 million dollars that it will receive.  One of my fears was that the funds would be used to buy a bunch of technology that would then be dispensed to schools - something that we have had in the past and has yet to lead to more than a massive collection of dust bunnies.  Instead of our Central Office deciding what everyone would receive, sessions were held on the topic of Learning Environments which focused participants on the practice of teaching and what constitutes an effective learning environment.  The information gleaned from these sessions was used to create a competitive grant which schools are in the process of applying for and will be read and awarded by judges outside of the school system.

One of the great parts about being a tech coach is meeting with schools and hearing about their ideas on transforming their teaching practices and technology integration.  I'm looking forward to seeing the implementation of the grant in the winning schools!

The demise of clickers?

This week is Spring Break for our teachers which makes it a great week to catch up, plan ahead, and do some maintenance on our equipment for check out.  One of the check out items needing the most attention is our CPS clickers.  We've had them for several years and they are always a big hit with teachers for preparing for testing and informing instruction.  Which means they have needed battery replacement detail this week, ugh.... but while changing batteries I've been multitasking on my iGoogle page to catch up on all the iPad2 news, disaster in Japan news, and just plain thinking about the Ed Tech world I live in.  All this thinking makes me wonder how long single purpose devices like the clickers will last.  I sold my Kindle DX as soon as I got my iPad realizing that carrying one device that did one thing really well along with a device that did the same thing reasonably well along with doing a ton of other things made no sense whatsoever.  As most students now carry cell phones, I see the future of clickers being in the apps they can write for smart phones so that schools can get out of the battery changing business.

Google Day

Today the three tech coaches were participants instead of trainers. What fun to be a part of the audience and be an active learner instead of the one running the show. There was so much information that early on the idea hit me to create a google doc to take notes that could then be shared and edited with the group. Here is the document.