Polly, Catherine and I had the opportunity to go to the MSET Conference last week. As always, it was a treasure trove of great ideas for use of technology in the classroom. I wanted to share a few resources we found with you all.
The first resource is an incredible blog titled: technology rocks. seriously. If you are a Lower School teacher, I would recommend you bookmark it. It is full of hundreds of resources to integrate technology into lessons - and also to use technology to make classroom management easier. Be sure to consult the tag list to find resources that would work best for you:
Tammy Wooster is always one of the most popular presenters at MSET. She compiles exhaustive resources for using technology in the classroom... and creates excellent online reference sheets. The list below will link you to her handouts for this year. As we are beginning to introduce iPads into the Lower School, we were particularly interested in "Have an iPad - How do I Use it in the Classroom?" For Upper School teachers who are increasingly using Google Docs, I think you would be interested in her resources on Google Spreadsheets and Forms (did you know you can create an online test that will correct instantly?) and Google Activities for Kids.
Catherine attended a session titled: Technology Power Hour. The presenters used a program called Symbaloo to organize a comprehensive list of cool Web 2.0 tools that can be used in a variety of ways in the classroom. Just click on each icon to link to a potential resource:
A few of the resources we immediately thought could be used in HTS classrooms included:
Popplet - a graphic organizing tool
Spelling City - a tool that turns weekly vocabulary lists into games and activities:
Storybird - Storybirds are short, art-inspired stories you make to share, read, and print
If you get a chance to peruse some of the lists and have any questions about how to best use some of these ideas in your classrooms, let us know... we'd be happy to help.
