Sharing Tips and Tricks of Using Technology in the Classroom Part 2

[Carrie Albin]

In your courses you have been asked to share your tips and tricks of using technology in the classroom. In this forum we would like your class to nominate one tip or trick from each of your class discussions to post here and share with other educators in our other classes.

[Marc Compton]

For those of you that see a Youtube video and want to download it this is a great program that quickly does this! I love how I can quickly search for relevant video clips for my history class on Youtube but I always hate having to load the video during class. To lesson the dependence on an internet connection during the day simply download the video by pasting the HTML link into the program menu. The downloader will then download the file that you must convert into whatever format you wish to use. Dont worry the downloader will do this step too! Here's a link from Download.com for the downloader. Oh and if you're concerned about spyware when downloading, fear not because this site promises files without any.

download.cnet.com/YouTube-Downloader/3000-2071_4-10647340.html


Or if you want to use a DVD ripping software to put together scenes check out Aimersoft DVD ripper! Now what's great about this program is that you can cut scenes from a movie that might illustrate a point in your class then you simply slip it in a PPt slide. This is awesome because it gets rid of all of the searching for scenes with a fastforward or rewinding that a conventional player might use. I remember when I got this idea I thought software such as this would be complicated but its not, very easy to just start recording at a selected point then stop at another one. This is easily done with little brackets that you position on the timeline as the DVD is playing. There are other programs out there that do this but are free so if anyone else knows about those please feel to share with us!

[Shawn Telford]

During the school year I often use the website A to Z Teacher Stuff to create great wordsearches and word shape worksheets for my students (I teach 2nd grade). It's free and all you have to do is go to the Tools section from the homepage. For the wordsearch, you can put in your own words, choose the shape of the puzzle, the font, size, etc. I use them to make searches for our word wall words. They can easily be printed off without advertising.
http://tools.atozteacherstuff.com/

[Jeffrey Scull]

A major concern for elementary teachers is finding books at the appropriate level for their students. You will often find these classrooms with huge differences in reading levels and it can be a real headache figuring out which books to recommend to which students. There is a great feature on Scholastic Books' web page that will tell you the grade-level equivalency of any book and will often tell you two other common Reading Level scores used by teachers. Even though this is a Scholastic website it has information on non-Scholastic books as well. It also rates book meant for high school as well - I searched the classic science-fiction series, Ender's Game, and it ranked them ranging from 8.0-9.3 on the Grade Level Equivalency.

http://bookwizard.scholastic.com/tbw/homePage.do

So for Bridge to Terebithia you will find:

Grade Level Equivalency: 5.3

DRA: 44

Reading Level: T

[Mary Wever]

This is a good resource if you'd like to use a PowerPoint, but you just don't want to recreate the wheel. Pete's Power Point Station has pre-made PowerPoints for all subject areas. You can change them to suit your needs and there are theme based lessons too.

http://www.pppst.com/

[Elizabeth Lett]

I just stumbled upon this article that gives a really cool new way to use Google Earth using CIA Factbook information. It is called KML Factbook and you can compare all sorts of visual data under topics such as government, economy, etc. It is really cool once you get it going. You do need to download the newest version of Google Earth and the KML file. If you have trouble refreshing the data on the globe click "Preview in Map". It took me a little while to figure this out. It also has a direct link to CIA factbook if you want to read additional information. This is a lot of fun to play around with, and once you have everything figured out, you should be able to use it with multiple grade levels in a variety of subject areas.

Article http://www.techsavvyed.net/?p=585

KML Factbook link http://www.kmlfactbook.org/

[Amiee Stiverson]

I love United Streaming. It is a video streaming site through Discovery Education. Your school has to pay to have access to the videos. Fortunately through our ISD we have access to this website. The videos through United Streaming are a wonderful resource. I use these videos as introductions to new materials, to solidify what my students already know about the subject, or as a wrap it up tool. My students enjoy watching these sort clips. As a teacher, I like that some of the videos have quizzes and teacher resources attached to them. I also like these videos because they are through Discovery Education and I don't have to worry about the material being appropriate for my 3rd graders, I still watch the movies before I let them watch them. These videos can range from being excellent to being a little hokey. Like I said I always watch the movies before I show my kids. If you have a chance this is definately a technology to look into.

[Ahna Dykema]

I enjoy your views on VoiceThred. I really like the idea that students can contact you outside the classroom. It may give those shy students the chance to communicate with the teacher. And working with colleagues! Awesome, I will need to discuss this with my school, it can be so difficult to get everyone together.
I only wonder how easy is this program? I hope easy - you seem to really benefit from using this :)
Thanks!

[Maria Turner]

Check out Steve Dembo, a great educator of educators as he explores technology at www.teach42.com. Also on Twitter as Teach42

[Katy Maiolatesi]

I used this website with a sixth grade computer class when we were learning PowerPoint: http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/PPT-games/
The students themselves edited the templates to make their own trivia games. They then swapped with other students in the classroom and played each others' games.
Another way to use this website is for teachers to edit one of the games to fit whatever content they are covering in their class. The game could be played as a whole class for review.

[Tim Williams]

My tips and tricks suggestion is something I may have discussed earlier. For any of those of you out there that are involved in teaching careers.., There is a great web site out of New York called Career Zone. Much like the government career site it list just about every job you can think of as well as employ-ability statistics and an extensive job description.

However, this web site has an interactive approach that allows students to create a detailed account. With this account students can complete an aptitude test as well as many other process steps involved exposing students to careers that my relate to their interest. As students complete these steps they are also completing a detailed resume builder as well. The resume is displayed in PDF format as the student completes the various steps. It is very useful and a lot of fun. The web site itself is very well designed and professional. I encourage any and all to check it out regardless of subject area.

[Amy McMillen]

I recently started utilizing Study Island with my 3rd graders while preparing for the MEAP. It is a web-based program that students can access anywhere, anytime, and it is self-paced. There are several thousand questions built directly from state-specific content expectations. Assessments and interactive games are also based on the GLCEs and teachers can customize worksheets based on students' needs. I use this site primarily as MEAP prep, but it certainly could be used throughout the year. My students love it and so do I!

[Justin Taylor]

Although this is not really a trick or tip on how to use technology, I thought that it was still worth mentioning. I am very big into classroom community and building a positive learning environment, both with my students and in my classroom as well. The American Library Association has a website, ala.org that offers many different products that can help make learning fun in your class. Although the focus at this website is to build reading awareness, there are products that can be appreciated by many different subject areas. Also, the shipping on these items is incredibly fast and safe. Happy Shopping!