Return to My Roots — App & Site Reviews
It’s been a long time since I really dedicated myself to the idea of providing links and reviews to different educational apps and websites that you can use in your library or instruction. This occurred for a multitude of reasons, namely my growing young family took up a lot of my free time (as they should!) and some volatility in my own employment between moving and finding the right fit in a school district and library.
Fortunately both of these have settled down a great deal and I want to get back into the swing. I have to admit, I was putting this off a little bit until I attended a great Bureau of Education & Research (BER) Seminar on Monday — “Making the Best use of Technology in Your School Library Program to Support Instruction and Enrich Student Learning” with Deborah Ford. Because my former district was not too keen on sending me out for seminars, trainings, and workshops, I found that I had missed out a lot on the technology end since leaving Palmyra where my tech side was encouraged in 2013. Now at Cumberland Regional, where my inner techie again is being encouraged and fed, I feel the ability to grow and thrive and share and learn again. Frankly, it’s exciting and I need more hours in my day!
While I work through trying and testing the various websites, apps, and tools I was introduced to on Monday (there are so many!!!) I’ll make sure I share them here as I plan and test them out to turnkey to my colleagues here at CRHS. Thank you BER and Deb Ford for re-kindling this in me!
Thanks so much for hanging in and for your continued support. I can’t wait to share and hopefully find something that YOU can use and love as your work through your own teaching and planning.
If you ever have any concerns, questions, or comments — plesae never hesitate to contact me!
–NJB
Tags: education, teacher tools, tech integration, technology, update
Breaking Your Creative Block
No matter what it is you are trying to do — write, draw, paint, engineer — at one time or another you’ve encountered a little mind block. Don’t worry though, they are very easy to overcome (even if it doesn’t happen as fast as we would like sometimes). The folks at Creative Market have come up with a wonderful infographic to give you 40 ideas to try and help you overcome whatever mental block you are having and get back to creating all your wonderful things. [VIA]
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Tags: creation, creativity, drawing, education, general, infographic, painting, reference, study habits, study skills, teacher tools, writing
How to Think Visually
One of the most effective ways to present data and information is by using visual aids. This is why infographics are so popular! Did you realize just how many options there are, however? I am sure you and your students are familiar with many of these methods presented below. We tend to fall into a rut sometimes however, sticking to those visuals we find comfortable while there might be better methods to present the data and this might give you some alternative ideas. Anna Vital has created this wonderful visual to present different visual presentations (talk about meta!). Make sure you visit her page here as she also summarizes each of the 72 visual analogies presented and how to best use them in presenting information.
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Tags: data, general, infographic, presentations, reference, teacher tools, tech integration
The Ultimate Guide to Note Taking in Class
It’s been a while, but I came across this infographic in my travels around the Internet and thought it was fantastic. One of the toughest things we need to help our students with are study skills and habits. One of those things that is the bane of many students is the ability to take notes during classes to help them remember important details and concepts from your lessons. The tips presented here focus solely on handwritten notes. [VIA]
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Tags: education, general, infographic, reference, study habits, study skills, teacher tools, writing
Autism 101
While there is a great deal of increased knowledge, awareness and treatment, autism is still one of the most mis-understood developmental disorders we know. Today’s infographic helps to provide some more information on what we do know and the great personal, family, and economic impact it has. [VIA]
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Tags: autism, development, education, health, infographic, reference, special education, teacher tools
Inside ADHD
As educators, we see students diagnosed with ADHD every day. How many times, however, have you been shown the range of symptoms, behaviors, strengths, and weaknesses of these students? Today’s infographic from Brain Balance Greater Philly gives us an inside look at the two types of ADHD as well as helps to dispel some myths about the diagnosis. [VIA]
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Tags: ADHD, education, general, health, infographic, special education, teacher tools
Cyberbullying
We’re all familiar with the concept of a bully. However, as teenagers and pre-teens become more connected, the old view of the big kid shaking down a little one for lunch money has gone and is slowly being replaced by a more subtle, harder to track, and disturbing trend — cyberbullying, defined as “willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices.” [VIA]
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Source: Best Education Degrees
Tags: bullying, cyber citizenship, cyberbullying, education, HIB, infographic, reference, school climate, teacher tools
SMS (Text Message) Generator
This is a fun little tool that allows students to create fictional text message conversations between fictional or historical characters. The Classtools SMS Generator does not require students to register or log in and is fairly simple to use. Simply click on the left hand text bubble icon (gray) to initiate the conversation, then on the right hand text bubble (green) to reply. Once finished, students can save their conversation to the Classtools server (with a password and unique URL for further editing) or by clicking on the sprocket icon, they can get an embed code, direct link, or QR code for sharing.
The Classtools SMS Generator is great way to get students thinking about how historical or fictional figures would be thinking and having conversations themselves, as well as providing a unique alternate assessment tool to check for understanding of text or events. Imagine Romeo and Juliet’s conversations if they were only texting!
Tags: education, english, history, SMS generator, teacher tools, tech integration, technology, webtools
The Flipped Classroom
You may have heard the term “flipped classroom”, but do you really know what it means? Simply put, it’s flipping the roles of the teacher and student in the process of learning, but it’s really much more than that. Traditional classrooms still have the teacher at the head of the class, delivering instruction or lecture, then assigning homework and projects based off of that. In a flipped classroom, however, the students take a much more active role in the class, while the teacher acts as facilitator, arbiter, and expert in the instruction. This idea ties in very nicely with the increased use of technology in the classroom and while it takes practice, it can be a very useful (and less stressful) environment for teachers and students alike. [VIA]
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Tags: classroom management, flipped classroom, infographic, lesson plans, teacher tools, teaching tricks, tech integration, technology
The iPad as Teacher’s Pet
Having an iPad in your classroom can be one of the most tools in your arsenal as it’s a veritable Swiss Army Knife of technology. Today’s infographic takes you through the many ways you can use this great device, even if you only have one for yourself. Explore different ways to use the iPad as well as useful apps (many of which are free) that can help you use this technology in your classroom immediately! [VIA – Learning in Hand with Tony Vincent]
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Tags: apps, education, infographic, interactive, Internet, iPad, lesson plans, multimedia, teacher tools, tech integration, tech skills, technology, web 2.0
NJBiblio 