All Blog Posts (867)

I think this was one of the assignments I was dreading most. For some reason, I just never enjoyed creating and using wikis. I procrastinated doing this assignment and even when I set out to get it done, I had technological difficulties and in the end my wiki is quite simple, but I did it. I got over my fear and it is done. However, the good news is, that while I was searching for ideas, I did come across some very impressive looking wikis. I think part of my challenge is, where and when are…

 Google Art Project (http://www.googleartproject.com/) is a fantastic visual learning tool that allows students to explore museums all over the world without leaving their classroom.  Google Art Projects allows you to explore museums and great works of art while learning the significant value that each piece/artifact possesses.  Currently there…

YU2.0 FEATURED BLOG POST

Two thoughts have been keeping me up the past few nights. First and foremost on my mind is how will I ever get my house and kitchen ready for Passover? The second theme playing over and over is how should I include assessment in my blended navi class?  What type of activities should I include, and how will the sixth grade students respond to the assessments that are…

I recently used a wiki for the first time in my AP US Government class and it was definitely a positive experience. I am in the middle of a lesson on Congress and one of the topics is "How a Bill Becomes a Law", which involves several steps. As I was introduced to the idea of a wiki, I decided to try it out with this topic.

I gave each of my students several handouts outline the steps for how a bill becomes a law. I then created a googledoc and titled it "How a Bill Becomes a Law." I…

I remember way back when I was in graduate school and my colleagues and I were given the responsibility of collaborating with each other in order to complete a group project on a topic in education.  Our group divided the major topic into subtopics among the members of the group.  Then we exchanged phone numbers and e-mail addresses in order to communicate with each other and then the collaboration began.  Each member of the group completed his or her tasks and e-mailed the other members.…

Venturing in to the virtual world of Second Life was definitely…an adventure. Do I think this is an adventure I can live without? I can confidently answer that question with a resounding yes! While the virtual world is amazing in it’s ability to create custom avatars, walk, run, fly, and visit all types of locations, it was a little bit to much for me, actually it frightens me. There are no limitation in this world as to where you can go or whom you can meet and talk to. Anyone can start a…

For this week’s assignment, I watched a session of the International Society for Technology (ISTE) 2011 conference. It was session 118A titled “Formative Assessment: Technology Enhanced Approaches to Increase Student Achievement”



This was a very informative session on formative assessment. Several different ideas were discussed by technology integration specialists and I learned a great deal from them. First, I was exposed to…

Several years ago, one of our teachers shot video of his lectures. He saved them on our school's server, planning to use them for absent students or for times when he might be absent. Rather than relying on a sub to figure out his lesson plans, he wanted to ensure that his lessons were taught in the way he wanted them taught. "Flipping the classroom" was unheard of at that time, so the whole idea mystified many staff members.…

Somewhere back in the 1800s, there must have been a teacher pacing around her one-room classroom lamenting the new technology — chalkboards — that was going to be the ruination of education. Children writing on the wall — that’s just crazy!! Last week, I walked into a professional development session and, I’m sad to report, was hit in the face with an English/Language Arts teacher ranting about how “video” games are the reason that children don’t read. To be fair, the session did improve,…

YU2.0 FEATURED BLOG

In my Edtech class we recently have begun to learn about Wiki’s. I think that wikis are probably the most amazing collaborative webtool for the classroom.

What is a wiki? A wiki is a webpage (or pages) where people can collaborate and use to write, edit, and add different elements to the wiki. Think of it as one big workspace that everyone has access to and…

It’s so simple, and yet so powerful. I can’t believe I never heard of this website before now. I’ve just stumbled upon the Wordle website (http://www.wordle.net/) and even though the site is utterly simplistic and lacking in massive amounts of applications, I find myself strangely addicted.

What is Wordle? You take any text and you plug it into the site, e.g. cutting the words to this blog post and pasting them in the site. Within moments it will…

I just watched an wonderful session form ISTE 2011 on the the best free web tools in the different categories. Having spent the past six months learning about different web tools, I was amazed by how much I still have to learn! The presenter showed examples of what he feels are the best in each category. For example, the best search tool for kids went to Searchy Pants, the best social web tool went to Schoology. This session was informative and entertaining as well. He even had an "in…

For this week’s assignment, I decided to view a video located at http://www.isteconference.org/ISTE/2011/program/search_results_details.php?sessionid=60703851&selection_id=82514556&rownumber=15&max=54&gopage. The title of this video is Formative Assessment: Technology-Enhanced Approaches to Increase…

YU2.0 FEATURED BLOG

After a long, intensive week of school orientation (described in my Part 1), our teachers were armed with a new tool and ready to face their digital students head on. It took several weeks for the students to get serious about the iPads and move passed the “new toy” excitement of it all. Once they got going and the beginning of school adjustment period was over, things…

This week I used animoto for the first time. It was really fun and easy. I made a video showing the levels of organization in living things from subatomic particles to the organism level. I will use it as a review for my students. Here is a link to it.

levels of organization

Featured Blog: Chinuch ENERGY!



Do you remember when you learned how to use the internet? I don't. Why not? If we can figure out the answer, we can create lessons that our students won't remember having to learn as well.…

Animoto http://animoto.com/ is a very user-friendly visual presentation tool that even students in pre-1st can utilize to create beautiful slide presentations. This easy-to-use web-based tool will allow you and your students to create engaging video presentations on any subject.  These presentations can incorporate images, video clips, music, and text. Teachers can incorporate this tool into classroom lessons, create school-wide videos like “100th Day of…

One of my goal's out of my Ed Tech course, was to try to get a better understanding of the differences between, wikis, websites, blogs etc. They all seemed to do the same thing! While I still notice that many of their purposes overlap, the shared editing aspect of the wiki is fascinating to me! I tried using a Wiki for the first time with my third graders and it was a huge success! I wish I could have taken a picture of their faces when I taught them how to use the wiki. They were so…

I recently watched this amazing video:

http://www.isteconference.org/ISTE/2011/program/search_results_details.php?sessionid=60716586&selection_id=82458334&rownumber=1&max=54&gopage=  (Actually, to be honest, the video has two minor technical issues. I had problems with watching it on the site, so I…

Teaching today is kind of like acting. Children, at least young children are expecting a show. It is getting harder and harder to get away with traditional style of teaching. Today, it is all about the visual affects. Children want bells and whistles, they want to be amazed. I have been using youtube in my classroom more and more in my class and I am always thinking of new and improved ways to wow our students. This week I used Animoto for the first time. I was always intimidated by these…