Annmarie, I thought of you when I found this site. This is a geometry site that would be a great challenge for your classes. It is a game where you have to solve geometry problems to advance through the pyramid and avoid Ammit and other creatures. Check it out, it's fun! http://www.mangahigh.com/en_us/games/pyramidpanic
Another great resource for math is Illuminations. http://illuminations.nctm.org/ If you have not seen this site, you should really take a look. There are activities galore from simple to advanced math, as well as lessons, and other weblinks. This is a partner site to Thinkfinity. (see Feb 4 blog post)
Another partner of Thinkfinity is NLVM which is chock full of activities, divided up by age level and math topic. I have used this often in the computer lab. http://nlvm.usu.edu/
These are just a few really good math sites, all FULL of wonderful interactives that you can demonstrate at your board, or have the kids work on in the lab or classroom computer center.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
More History sites
Okay, I'm on a history kick. I have found even more social studies related sites. These might be good for your own background info, lesson planning, or primary resources. The first one is a Virginia history site, but isn't a lot of Virginia's history also our nations history? (I used to teach in Virginia and we tend to think the history of the U.S. begins and ends in Virginia.) http://chnm.gmu.edu/loudountah/about/
This other one is another good source of bunches of "stuff". It is the National History Education Clearinghouse. There are lessons and other teaching materials, PD, research, etc. I found the Virginia history site while perusing this one.
http://teachinghistory.org/
Check them out, I'm sure there is something you can use, especially the links to primary sources.
This other one is another good source of bunches of "stuff". It is the National History Education Clearinghouse. There are lessons and other teaching materials, PD, research, etc. I found the Virginia history site while perusing this one.
http://teachinghistory.org/
Check them out, I'm sure there is something you can use, especially the links to primary sources.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg has updated and improved their site since I last visited. It is awesome. There are some great links to videos, audio, slideshows, and many more things. If you are teaching about colonial times, I would recommend visiting this site and sharing it with your students. Having lived not far from here and taking many classes to the historical town for field trips, I can't say enough about the experience. The website does a pretty good job of displaying the historic town online.
http://www.history.org/history/
http://www.history.org/history/
Friday, March 12, 2010
IWB ala Marzano
The IWB is a great tool and it has really created some excitement among students and teachers. Be sure, as you use your board, that you take advantage of all the interactivity that it offers. It is so much more than a projection tool. Even with all of our new technology remember that good teaching is key. We need to be sure to avoid the trap of using technology just for its own sake, and ignoring good teaching practices. It's important to remember that you are teaching students, not just content. The technology helps present the content in meaningful ways so that students will be engaged. You have to reach the kids to teach the kids. Just my two cents worth. Here is an expert's point of view:
This is from the online publication Digital Directions, Feb 2, 2010 edition and written by Kathleen Kennedy Manzo.
Robert J. Marzano, a prominent researcher who is co-founder and chief executive officer of Marzano Research Laboratory in Englewood, Colo., studied teaching and student outcomes in some 200 classes where teachers conducted lessons with and without interactive whiteboards. He found significant benefits when teachers used the boards, particularly among those who had been using the devices for more than two years, were confident in their skill with the boards’ features, and used them for at least 75 percent of class time. The greatest benefits appeared to be in boosting student motivation and participation.
In Marzano's study, the Promethean boards were most effective when they gave students multiple opportunities to use the boards and the interactive features. Nearly one-fourth of the teachers, though, were more effective without the whiteboards.
That finding highlights one of Marzano's key conclusions from the study. The teachers who were most effective using the whiteboards displayed many of the characteristics of good teaching in general: They paced the lesson appropriately and built on what students already know; they used multiple media, such as text, pictures, and graphics, for delivering information; they gave students opportunities to participate; and they focused mainly on the content, not the technology.
"These are things good teachers would do without technology," Marzano says. "Technically, you don't need to use the technology, but it's just so hard to do all these things without it."
The technology, he says, is a tool for making it easier to incorporate the elements of good teaching across content areas and among students with a range of academic knowledge and skills.
This is from the online publication Digital Directions, Feb 2, 2010 edition and written by Kathleen Kennedy Manzo.
Robert J. Marzano, a prominent researcher who is co-founder and chief executive officer of Marzano Research Laboratory in Englewood, Colo., studied teaching and student outcomes in some 200 classes where teachers conducted lessons with and without interactive whiteboards. He found significant benefits when teachers used the boards, particularly among those who had been using the devices for more than two years, were confident in their skill with the boards’ features, and used them for at least 75 percent of class time. The greatest benefits appeared to be in boosting student motivation and participation.
In Marzano's study, the Promethean boards were most effective when they gave students multiple opportunities to use the boards and the interactive features. Nearly one-fourth of the teachers, though, were more effective without the whiteboards.
That finding highlights one of Marzano's key conclusions from the study. The teachers who were most effective using the whiteboards displayed many of the characteristics of good teaching in general: They paced the lesson appropriately and built on what students already know; they used multiple media, such as text, pictures, and graphics, for delivering information; they gave students opportunities to participate; and they focused mainly on the content, not the technology.
"These are things good teachers would do without technology," Marzano says. "Technically, you don't need to use the technology, but it's just so hard to do all these things without it."
The technology, he says, is a tool for making it easier to incorporate the elements of good teaching across content areas and among students with a range of academic knowledge and skills.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Science (and more) to Music
http://www.iamlodge.com/beans//?p=70
Here's a fun little site that enhances standards based learning with music. It's based on the idea that students will learn and retain more with innovative practices. This blog is meant to be a free resource for teachers and provide the following:
- Standards-based songs about elementary, middle, and high school topics
- Worksheets/activities to enhance the songs
- Discussion around the use of this curriculum
Dr. Lodge McCammon, the site's developer, is a Specialist in Curriculum and Contemporary Media at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation (www.fi.ncsu.edu). He developed a teaching and professional development process called FIZZ which encourages and models best practices in implementing user-generated video in the classroom to enhance standards-based lessons.
Here's a fun little site that enhances standards based learning with music. It's based on the idea that students will learn and retain more with innovative practices. This blog is meant to be a free resource for teachers and provide the following:
- Standards-based songs about elementary, middle, and high school topics
- Worksheets/activities to enhance the songs
- Discussion around the use of this curriculum
Dr. Lodge McCammon, the site's developer, is a Specialist in Curriculum and Contemporary Media at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation (www.fi.ncsu.edu). He developed a teaching and professional development process called FIZZ which encourages and models best practices in implementing user-generated video in the classroom to enhance standards-based lessons.
Friday, March 5, 2010
GeoGebra- Math software
Another site that I came across for math:
GeoGebra
GeoGebra is dynamic mathematics software for all levels of education that joins arithmetic, geometry, algebra and calculus. It offers multiple representations of objects in its graphics, algebra, and spreadsheet views that are all dynamically linked.
http://www.geogebra.org/
You can type in a function and it will plot it for you on a graph, or plot the graph and the software generates the equation.
GeoGebra
GeoGebra is dynamic mathematics software for all levels of education that joins arithmetic, geometry, algebra and calculus. It offers multiple representations of objects in its graphics, algebra, and spreadsheet views that are all dynamically linked.
http://www.geogebra.org/
You can type in a function and it will plot it for you on a graph, or plot the graph and the software generates the equation.
On This Day
Here is an interesting site that features events that occured in history on each day. It goes beyond just listing the event and gives some historical perspective.
On This Day: Beyond the Headlines
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news.topic__ss_categories_ss_on-this-day.html
...features one historical event each day; includes what happened, what led up to it, what has happened since, and places the event in today's context including links to the best research on the subject
On This Day: Beyond the Headlines
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news.topic__ss_categories_ss_on-this-day.html
...features one historical event each day; includes what happened, what led up to it, what has happened since, and places the event in today's context including links to the best research on the subject
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
