We are 33 days from the end of the year. A couple things to remind you.
1. embedded learning coursework should be completed by July 31st
2. I know that many of you do final projects in your classes. If you would like some new ideas on how to improve the experience for you and your students please let me know and we can set a date that I can help you with freshening up your final projects.
3. I am available to work with anyone on new ideas for next year if you like to plan ahead. I would even be available this summer to meet and share any resources or ideas for the next school year
Site of the Week
www.shmoop.com
This site provides a ton of resources on a variety of Literature, US History, and Poetry. You can search for different topics and the site provides you with summaries, themes, quotes, plot analysis, study questions, characters, and web sites about the topic you choose. There is even a Book Club page that provide opinions and discussions about various books. Great resource! thanks KAG
Story of the Week
I have a teacher, who shall remain nameless, that has recently caught the technology bug! She has been slowly adding Moodle discussions and the use of other online resources to her courses. It is great to see her new found excitement. She told me the other day that she had students ask her if they could use Quizlet to help them study for one of their upcoming exams and her student have been much more engaged in discussions thanks to her Moodle discussion boards.
Personal Site of the Week
I decided to add this new segment to my weekly byte.
www.hulu.com
You may have seen a tv commercial about this site. Hulu provides tons of free movies and television shows that you can view whenever you like. They include networks such as Fox Movie Channel, NBC Universal, National Geographic, the Sundance Channel and more. Check it out!
Friday, April 17, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Weekly Byte 4.7.09
The end of the year is fast approaching!
We have completed our last late start for the year. Many CFF teachers have completed their coursework and to you I say thanks. Keep in mind that this coursework is due to be completed by July 31, 2009. If you are going to have an issue with completing your course by the deadline please let me know so that we can figure out a plan to meet the deadline. Thanks for all your hard work.
It is the time of year for final presentations and projects. If you would like help designing final projects or learning a new tool that your students can use to better demonstrate their knowledge please don't hesitate to ask me for help. We can sit down and work on this together.
Another thing to keep in mind, Jim will be reimaging the teacher laptops in May. I will be working with him on developing a schedule so that your classes are not interrupted by this necessary update to our computers. That being said it would be a good idea to start saving your files to the network H: drive and not your laptop. This will expediate the process and minimize loss of work. More on this to come.
Tidbit of the Week
In a recent email exchange with one of our colleagues I was commenting on how their class has changed this year and this is their response, "It has changed significantly this year. I'm trying to change the way I see education, especially as an English teacher. I used to be the "discuss, discuss, discuss" in class kind of teacher, but I have seen better results when I motivate them to think on their own through online discussions and nings and web tools. For me, that is the best thing about the technology. Compared to my class discussions last year, my online discussions are 10 times better because students can truly share their feelings about an issue. And the classmates are great at responding to each other's comments. I can't tell you how happy students are to learn new things or use the board. They love evernote!"
Site of the Week
www.slideshare.net, this is a great tool that allows you to post PowerPoint presentations onto the web and allows other access. You can just upload an existing PowerPoint and make it available to your students.
As always let me know if you need help with anything, a quick technology session or just some help with a new idea.
Have a great Spring Break!
We have completed our last late start for the year. Many CFF teachers have completed their coursework and to you I say thanks. Keep in mind that this coursework is due to be completed by July 31, 2009. If you are going to have an issue with completing your course by the deadline please let me know so that we can figure out a plan to meet the deadline. Thanks for all your hard work.
It is the time of year for final presentations and projects. If you would like help designing final projects or learning a new tool that your students can use to better demonstrate their knowledge please don't hesitate to ask me for help. We can sit down and work on this together.
Another thing to keep in mind, Jim will be reimaging the teacher laptops in May. I will be working with him on developing a schedule so that your classes are not interrupted by this necessary update to our computers. That being said it would be a good idea to start saving your files to the network H: drive and not your laptop. This will expediate the process and minimize loss of work. More on this to come.
Tidbit of the Week
In a recent email exchange with one of our colleagues I was commenting on how their class has changed this year and this is their response, "It has changed significantly this year. I'm trying to change the way I see education, especially as an English teacher. I used to be the "discuss, discuss, discuss" in class kind of teacher, but I have seen better results when I motivate them to think on their own through online discussions and nings and web tools. For me, that is the best thing about the technology. Compared to my class discussions last year, my online discussions are 10 times better because students can truly share their feelings about an issue. And the classmates are great at responding to each other's comments. I can't tell you how happy students are to learn new things or use the board. They love evernote!"
Site of the Week
www.slideshare.net, this is a great tool that allows you to post PowerPoint presentations onto the web and allows other access. You can just upload an existing PowerPoint and make it available to your students.
As always let me know if you need help with anything, a quick technology session or just some help with a new idea.
Have a great Spring Break!
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