Best+Practices

Blogs
Blogs could be used in a literature group. I could post an open ended question about a book I have read in a group. The students could take some time and respond to the question and post their blog. I could then go in and add another question to further the discussion or let them ask questions to each and give opinions back and forth. This would be after explaining how to do this appropriately.

Wiki
Wikis could be used in a science lesson. I could have groups design an ecosystem. Each group member would have to sign on and add things to a list that were in the ecosystem. They would have to add appropriate animals and plants to get full credit for the ecosystem project.

Inquiry-based Learning
Inquiry-based learning is a great way to design a lesson. If you look a students prior knowledge, get student interest, and give them a hands on experience, learning is going to happen. With anything in life interest and experience help you learn. By teaching this way students will remember more and achieve objectives you have set for them. This way of learning also leads to reflection, higher level thinking skills, and a deeper understanding of the material presented. I have done many science and math lessons that were inquiry-based and the objectives are reached by the students quickly and they retain these objectives when it is time to assess. One example is in our geometry chapter I have the students make 2-D shapes out of straws and pipe cleaners. Here they have a hands on experience that involves research in their book along with making something.

Google Docs
Google Docs could be used very similar to wikis. The biggest difference I see is Google docs are more private and secure. I could give the same lesson activity using these as I did in the wiki. Another lesson I could do would be a social studies PowerPoint project. I could assign a group an animal and they could make a project with pictures and information about that animal. They could work on the project at anytime and they would not have to do it together. They could save it to Google docs and work on it from anywhere.

Google Calendar
Google Calendar could be used in a course just as we have a calendar in our wilkes portal. You could post homework and due dates for various assignments. Parents and students could access the calendar so use in the classroom would be valuable at any grade level.

Google Maps​
Google Maps could be used in social studies. In my class we discuss community and the town the school is in. I could show an overhead of Watsontown so students can see what it looks like, how roads connect, where rivers and streams run, where houses and businesses are located, how to read maps, and compass rose directions. The My Maps feature would allow me to make a map of our district or our town to show the students. This would let me have historic and important sites marked and ready to go for the lesson that day. I could even let students mark their houses on our map.

Mashups
Mashups would be good to use in science classes. If we were studying ecosystems, animals, environmental issues, or landforms I could find a mashup to go along with those topics. This would allow students to see where in the world these things are located and where they are in relation to the student's home.

Google Earth
Google Earth would be great to use in science lessons about space or earth. This tool can be used to take a tour of the moon. You can look and constellations in the sky in relationship to your location on Earth. You can use it to look at the Earth from outer space. You can mark places around the earth. You can zoom in to anywhere around the world and check out landmarks and landforms. It is a very interesting and ppowerful technological tool.

Google Custom Search
This is a great tool to use in any subject where your students are doing research using the web. You can limit what sites they use and be sure the sites are accurate. This is good for younger grade levels who may not be as trained in choosing accurate and reliable sites.

Google Notebook
Google Notebook reminds of a cross between a custom search and favorites that you may access from any computer. This would be a good tool to use when doing research or working together on projects. You can save only the things you find that you want to use to the notebook so you can access them at anytime. You could use notebook in a similar way to the custom search by only using sites that you find useful or appropriate.

Delicious
Delicious would be good to use when you find websites you would want to use for whatever purpose. It is like the favorites tool on your Internet toolbar except for you can access your Delicious account from any computer at any time. You could also use this if you want students to use specific sites for a project. An example would be in social studies I have my third grade class do a Pennsylvania Animal PowerPoint. I could list only the sites I found to be useful for them to complete the project. It is similar to Google custom search if you use it in this way.

Podcasting
Podcasting can be u​sed in every subject in the classroom. You can use this as a way to build student interest, stretch a discussion, have students complete a project, have absent students make up work, record lectures to broadcast, or as a way to differentiate learning. In my third grade classroom I could use a podcast in a few different ways.I could record a series of instructions and steps for short math activities/projects.When students finished early, they could complete those activities.One example might be to draw a house using two dimensional shapes we study in our geometry chapter.I would start by having them draw the house so it is shaped liked a pentagon.Next draw a rectangular door.Draw 4 square windows.Draw trapezoid bushes in the front.In any way you would like draw a circle, triangle, hexagon, and octagon somewhere in your picture of the house. Another way to use podcasting would be to read stories from our reading book and post a link to them on my school website.This allows lower level and inclusion students read along with the recording from their books.It could also benefit students who were absent when we read the story and those who want to hear it again at home.It is another way to differentiate in the classroom.

Web 2.0 Tools
I could use a few of the Web 2.0 tools discussed in this course. I also found sites with links to, descriptions of, and how to use other Web 2.0 tools while completing this course that I will be able to use in my classroom. I have bookmarked these sites on my Delicious page. Below are some I would have a pratical use for even before school started during in-services or getting my room ready.

Engrade
The first tool I really liked was Engrade, the online gradebook. I always wanted to do my grades online and let parents have access to their child's grades at any time. This will allow them to see how their student is doing in class and I can address any concerns at any time of the year, not just report card time. I also like how you do not have to carry your grade book around to do grades or worry about losing it. It will be saved and available at any time.

Skype
Skype would be a great tool for doing conference calls or planning in my district that has more than one elementary school. Group planning for the same grade levels that may be in different buildings could work together without leaving their own rooms, saving time and money. All 7 of my third grade colleagues could plan and share ideas together from your own rooms. I think this would help some teachers keep more organized and be more organized. I also think this would help the grade have more continuity and build a stronger faculty district wide with the extra collaboration. I believe it would also make meetings easier to schedule with not having to be some place specific for the meeting. The fact you can have so many people in one call together makes it a great tool to use.

Classroom 2.0
​This site I could use when trying to incorporate technology into my classroom. I can go here to get and share ideas with other educators who are using the same technologies in their classroom.

Appropriate Use and Responsibility
Along with using technology and making your classroom a Web 2.0 classroom, appropriate use and responsibility also need to be taught to students. For any grade you may want to briefly go over what would be appropriate and what would not be when using the Internet. A good way to explain it to elementary students would be if it is not appropriate for you to say, bring to school, write about, or do it in the classroom, do not use technology to say, bring to, write about, or do it either. I think you could also share this with your colleagues as similar situations discussed in the court cases could happen at other districts also and it would be good for everyone to see what happened in previous instances.