Technology

Technology for Teaching
//**USB Keys**// are a great way to involve the use of technology in the assignment portion of the class. The students can type up their essays or reports and upload them to the drive to be reviewed by the teacher. This promotes a paperless classroom and a more environmentally sustainable option. This also allows the students to see that there can be a relationship between technology and the classroom. USB keys can be obtained very easily by finding a manufacturer or store that is getting rid of obsolete stock. It is not hard to obtain keys with smaller memory such as 256 or 512 MB where the sticks are no longer marketable to the consumer world that needs more memory. Also it is a good idea to personalize each key with the students name so that the sticks are identifiable without having to plug it into the computer first. [|www.brianchen.com/paperless-classroom.ppt] []

//**Clickers**// are a technological tool that provide an electronic polling system which can enable you to encourage classroom discussion, quiz/query students informally, develop conceptual understanding, take attendance, and promote student preparation. [] [] []

//**Poll Everywhere**// is one of the best online ways to gather live responses in the classroom that allow students to use either a laptop, cell phone, or twitter account to answer the questions. This is a great way to tie in students abilities to bring in text messaging to the classroom provided the school will allow cell phones to be used in the class. If they don't, you can always use the site to do a homework poll where they answer from home or on their cell phones anywhere. [] []

//**SmartBoards**// are quickly becoming the technology tool of choice for many schools and school boards. The interactivity of having a large base touch screen connected to a computer allows so much more to be accomplished with students who need a hands on approach that reaches them on a technological level. There are also a large variety of resources and tools that can be found online and are free. [] [] []

//**Digital Projectors**// can be used very effectively to give students a technological edge by using creative presentation layouts and visually entertaining resources that help draw them into the lesson. They can also be used with a variety of external peripherals that plug into the laptop/computer to add more to the lesson.

(Amy L.) **//Scientific Calculator Online//** is an online website that students can use in the classroom or at home while doing homework. It includes both trig and inverse trig functions on there. []

(Amy L.) //**Graphing Calculator** **Online**// is an online website that can let students see a visual representation of any function typed in. You can also have multiple functions and choose colours to differentiate between them. This URL is rather long, so I might make a tinyurl to make this more accessible for students both at home and at school in the lab. []

Software

 * Installable Software**

//**Microsoft Office**// is the standard software used by educators to provide students with tools to create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and work with email. []

//**Adobe Creative Suite**// is one of the best programs for giving students the opportunity to create and edit pictures and video. They can use it to make stunning title pages and interesting graphics for presentations. []

//**Quiz Boxes**// is a Jeopardy style application that works great with SmartBoards and in my opinion is much better suited than any SmartBoard application that I have come across. It is user friendly in making questions and student friendly in choosing categories and scoring. []

//**Smart Notebook**// is an application for the SmartBoard that allows teacher to create interactive lessons that students can manipulate with their hands. There are a variety of tools available online that can be downloaded to use in the Notebook program. []

//**Geometer's Sketchpad**// gives students a tangible, visual way to learn mathematics. Use it for elementary and middle school math, algebra, precalculus, and calculus. []

TinkerPlots is specifically designed to get students in grades 4–8 excited about what they can learn from data. You and your students will analyze data by creating colorful visual representations that will help your students make sense out of real data and recognize patterns as they unfold. []


 * Downloadable Software**

//**Wordle**// is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. []

//**SmartBoard Exchange**// is a good place to find lesson plans for the smart board and connect with other teachers who utilize the software. []

//**Technology for Teachers**// is a blog site dedicated to blogging from teachers everywhere who share resources through links and posts. []

//**Algebra Tiles**// is an online algebraic modeling applet that allows students to visually see how zero pairing works and how they can create equations using tiling to get a better understanding of how to work with equations. []

//**National Library of Manipulatives**// is a library of uniquely interactive, web-based virtual manipulatives or concept tutorials, mostly in the form of Java applets, for mathematics instruction (K-12 emphasis). []

Technology Videos
//**Classroom Technology Demonstration**// - A high school science teacher, demonstrates technology tools, especially his personal Tablet PC, that he uses in his classes. []

//**Ways to use Technology in the Classroom**// - Describes several ways to use technology in the classroom so that the subject matter comes to life for your students. []

//**Students and Technology, Constant Companions**// - Five students talk about their relationship with technology, and watch a video about the school. []

//**TRC at the National Summit for 21st Century Skills**// - This video was featured at the National Summit for 21st Century Skills in Washington D.C. this summer. []

//**Tech-Fueled Differentiated Instruction Engages Elementary School Students**// - Achievement has soared since educators started using new technology to personalize the learning experience for each student. []