Google-ing Bloom's Taxonomy

In reading some of the wonderful technology blogs written by some fabulous educators, I stumbled upon Kathy Schrock's post about the revised Bloom's Taxonomy. In a nutshell, Kathy decided to search through Google's many tools and apply those tools to the various levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. I am copying her image and linking you to her blog so you can read more about her work. If you follow the link, you will see that she has made her page interactive so you can add your thoughts and ideas! Check this out! This will be a wonderful, wonderful resource for your students!

Remember, the best teachers are made by working with the teachers next door! Here is the image and link! http://kathyschrock.net/googleblooms/

SAIL On...

Come Sail On with technology. This interactive website is powered from the Pasadena ISD and combines TEKS with online technology activities. Activities are listed by teacher and student so there are several activities for each objective.

Who can benefit? All teachers, especially Texas teachers working with CScope curriculum.

How to implement? Use to introduce a lesson & provide a "hook", review activities, extension activities, or as a center. These activities are computer and IWB friendly!

SAILOn
Subject Area Interactive Lessons On-line

My Online Neighborhood

I follow several other technology blogs such as "Free Technology for Teachers", "iLearnTechnology", and "Teacher Gone Digital". While reading iLearnTechnology, I came across this wonderful video about internet safety. This is a fabulous resource to help young students begin to learn safety rules for the Internet.

Use it at the beginning of the year in the Computer Lab or at the beginning of a WebQuest project. Next year, I plan to have all of my students view this video before they ever get online.

Fantastic Resource!

So I'm reading the blog "Teacher Gone Digital" and the lovely author there shared a resource that I would like to share with you.

What: K-8 activities across all grade levels. Unique games and activities for your interactive white board (IWB).

Use? Introduction of topic, review games, center activities

Take time and really explore the site. There is a wealth of information there! Enjoy the activities!

http://guest.portaportal.com/reiss

Lesson Planet

"Where did you get that great lesson plan?"

Why, let me tell you! LessonPlanet.com has over 200,000 reviewed lesson plans for you to browse! They have already weeded out the bad lesson plans and you are left with pages of ideas to try out in your classroom.

"I suppose you work for them."

Actually, yes I do! I recently began reviewing lesson plans for the site and I am amazed at how many quality plans there are available for teachers! Go check out LessonPlanet!

Starfall

What is it? Starfall is fantastic site for young readers! This site teaches basic letter/sound recognition, common site words, common phonics combinations, beginning stories, etc! There are cute videos and games too!

Why should I? It's FREE! Seriously, early education teachers should all know about this site. It's great for parents as well! Spread the word!

Let's Take A Book Adventure!

Book Adventure!

How To Get Started: Go to www.bookadventure.com and bookmark the link on your desktop. This will make it much easier for students to find the site. Students set up a username and then can read books and test online. This site is in partnership with Sylvan so there are a wide range of books. It is a little difficult for younger students to use, but could be a great extension for G/T, or your higher-level readers. Great for 2nd-5th students.

KBears

Looking for free online games to use a center? How about to introduce a new unit? Try this fantastic little site for your class. KBears is perfect for teaching internet safety, basic researching skills, review, or for extending a lesson.

There is a small amount of advertising on the site, but it's worth it. http://www.kbears.com

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For....

"Hang on a minute. Where did I put those files?"

How many of you are working off of different computers and you can't seem to remember which computer has the file you needed (yesterday)? Or better still, you've stumbled across a great article or resource and you need to access it quickly.

Allow me to introduce you to two of my newest (and dearest) friends. Meet Dropbox and Evernote. These two sites will be your new best friend. Gone are the days of needing a jump drive to store your documents. Just upload your files to these sites and you can access them from any computer...or even your phone.

I have these programs on my home computer, work computer, phone, and iPad. Dropbox and Evernote sync up easily and I am never without what I need. Except maybe that winning lottery ticket. I do need that.

Evernote even has a web clipper tool that allows you to "clip" pictures, webpages, files in real time. Easy organization allows for quick retrieval.

Dropbox is great for storing those teacher files that you need to work on at home too!

Why Integrate Technology?

"I've been doing it this way for a thousand years. I don't need technology."

I've heard this one before. Yes, we do need to integrate technology. Society has changed. Education must change too. In times past, factual based knowledge was necessary. We needed experts in different fields to guide business and education. Now we have Google. Mastery at the factual level just isn't good enough anymore. We need students, adults, workers, and leaders who can think digitally and conceptually. We know students aren't what they used to be. So teachers can not be what they used to be.

"How do you begin?"

Slowly. I like to help teachers begin integrating technology through the creation of blogs, distribution lists, or other outlets for communicating with parents. Let me introduce you to Edmodo.

Edmodo is a social networking/communication site that is perfect for teachers, students, and parents. The site functions similarly to Facebook, so it is easy to use. Teachers can invite parents & students into the site and communicate easily, post assignments, create polls, etc. I would definitely recommend checking this site out.

"Why should I trust you?"

Well, I'm not a "techie". I do not have a degree in Technology. I do have 15 years of experience in education and I'm not afraid of integrating technology into my classroom. I speak the language of technology and education. I hope I can help!