We all know the typical method of timeline creation in schools. “Draw a line, add some dates and document events in chronological order”.  Students will typically use poster boards, markers and possibly cut out images. The students in Mr. Papa’s grade 8 social studies class in our district are putting a new spin on...
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Financial responsibility, goal setting, savings options and of course technology,  are just a few topics covered in a White Rock elementary school  fourth grade classes. Students in Mrs. McLeod and Mrs. Brzostowski’s collaborative classroom enjoyed learning about financial decision making using a program called “Feed the Pig”. Students worked in groups to create financial...
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I have written about the Khan Academy many times in my blog postings. It is a tremendous resource and  one that I believe can greatly impact student achievement.  The “flip the classroom” model of instruction involves having students review teacher or student made tutorials at home for homework. They then work on applying problems...
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Webcams have been a part of many classrooms for a number of years. The most common use is for video conferencing. Webcams open up the classroom to the world by allowing classes to communicate and collaborate with authors, subject area experts and other classrooms around the world. I have a wiki page with more...
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What do you do when workbooks, handouts, and class problem sets are not connecting with your students? What do you do for those students who have a solid understanding of a topic before you begin the lesson? How are you differentiating for them? Can you address the needs of your advanced students as well...
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There is a new phenomenon occurring in classrooms, workshops and meetings. It is called back channeling. This refers to participants in a event communicating and collaborating with technology to take notes, ask questions and reflect in real-time. A great tool to accomplish this is the website Today’s Meet. In order to get started you...
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Have you been to the Google Docs template gallery lately. If you have, you will notice that the available templates are continuing to grow. I recently searched for a template that could be  used to create a fictitious Facebook Profile. The first returned result ended up being exactly what I was looking for.  Take...
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The website Read Write Think has a fantastic tool available to help teach letter writing. They have provided an interactive letter writer. Here is a description taken directly from their website: “The Letter Generator tool is designed to help students learn to identify all the essential parts of a business or friendly letter, and...
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Writing in the 21st century has gone digital.  We are keyboarding instead of applying penmanship. We post to message boards, blogs, emails, twitter accounts, corporate intranets, Facebook and various other web-based sites and services. Writing has also become 3 dimensional. You don’t need the latest pair of 3D glasses to experience three dimensional writing....
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The Apple Ipad has taken off in the consumer market as the product of choice for tablet consumers. This device has extraordinary potential for the classroom. I do not normally conduct product reviews on this blogs. I will save my review of the Ipad for a later date. I would however like to introduce...
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