The Professional Portfolio

Electronic portfolios are the wave of the future. They are much more versatile compared to the older loose-leaf notebook versions. Videos of teaching can be incorporated with ease. The electronic versions can also be made more accessible by use of websites or even e-mail. Finally they are much more easily changed and updated.

Academic Learning Center

Well we did the PSA. The one thing I learned is that it sure helps to have a partner who has some artistic talent. Go to this link to see how it turned out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIsZv0A4BWw

Public Service Announcement

We are getting ready to do our public service announcement projects. One of the thing I found difficult was getting un-copyrighted material free from the Internet. there is a lot of good music and video clips out there. These days you have to pay for it. and your still not aloud to use it for a public showing.

MP3 players in the classroom

Most of the time when teachers come across MP3 players in the classroom they are disrupting the classroom. However Gary M. Stiler, in an article in Education magazine, laid out a program for integrating the technology into the classroom. If you want to read more about this check it out on the Wilson Web search engine.

Smartboards

The smart board is a great teacher's tool. I have found that it is somewhat easier to work with one via a power point presentation. It makes for better graphics and editing of the material.

Smartphones

There is a software program called DataInHand which can be used for on the spot assessments in the classroom. The software runs on a hand-held computing device called a Mobi. It allows for the easy recording of real-time observations and eliminates the need to input the data into the computer (the data is automatically downloaded). The device can also take pictures of students' work, make audio recordings of readings and make video clips of presentations. How cool is that?

Power Point for Social Studies

You no longer have to worry about students not paying attention to your power point presentation or falling asleep in class when your lesson plan incorporates an eye catching video clip. The folks at United Streaming have all the major areas covered. Their videos are as interesting as they are relevant. Popping one of them into your power point is a breeze as well. Check them out on the web.

Flowers for Algernon

I read anteresting book about technology and education. Flowers for Algernon. It's about a man and a mouse and a lot of interesting science. Charlie Gordon is a retarded person who undergoes a brain operation to make him smart. It works, but only temporarily. The story is a real tear jerker. Algernon was the mouse that was first experimented on. They grow to be quite the pair of friends.
Anyway, Algernon dies and Charlie reverts back to himself at the end of the book.

The Space Shuttle Needs You

We all saw on TV last week that the space shuttle successfully blasted into orbit. What you might not know is that NASA is currently looking for teachers to be a part of it's Educator Astronaut Program. We all remember the tragic accident back in 1986 when Christa Mc Auliffe lost her life along with the rest of the Challenger crew. However, most of you probably don't know that NASA continues to make educators a viable part of the shuttle crews. If you ever had an urge to blast off into space I suggest you contact your local NASA recruiter today.

The Lewis and Clark expedition has always been one of my favorite stories. Their is a lesson plan on Nationalgeographic.com/expeditions that uses an interactive website and various internet sources to tell the story of this great American adventure. After reading all if the info provided about the background of the issues, students are asked to try to convince Congress why the expedition should occur. This would be a nice prelude to a present day scenario in which we could have students write a simalr letter on for the exploration of Mars. What do you think?

Technology lesson plans

It is amazing how many social studies lesson plans are out there that incorporate technology. I have found five good ones. I will share them with the class next week.

digital native cop-out

We immigrants learned technology hard way. We learned that with a good educational foundation we could problem solve our way into using the new technologies as they emerged. The kids in the video want it too easy. Education is all about learning how to learn. They should spend a little more time hitting the books instead of wining about the lack of techno-savvy teachers. If I send my kid to Stanford, he better not wine about the teachers.