Weekly Core Subject Resources

A welcoming April Spring day in Kentucky. Lots of rain in March, so it is good to see the sun today. UK plays today, so guess where everyone in this state will be tonight? I will probably watch the game too, but I cheer for their rival, so I won't be watching it for the same reasons....he he.

English
1.) Synonym Finder is a website designed to helps writers from using the same words over and over. You will also find antonyms and definitions as well, and examples of use in a sentence.

2.) Wordis is a website where visitors can share their thoughts on any word. "Share your insight, your story, your vision…We give you words; everything else is after you."

3.) Memidex is a free online dictionary and thesaurus with a simple interface, complete inflections, auto-suggest, adult-filtering, frequent updates, a browsable index, support for mobile devices, and millions of external reference links for definitions, audio, and etymology. It's fast too.

4.) Idioms 4 You is a website dedicated to providing several examples of English idioms. Not only can you read them, but you can also hear them. The author of the website has recorded the samples of idioms for visitors.

Mathematics
1.) Dan Meyer is a math teacher and math blogger. He recently did a TED talk "Math Class Needs a Makeover." If you are a math teacher, I highly recommend watching his talk.

2.) Uses for Math is a website that provides lessons and activities for how math can be used in the real world. Everyday jobs, sports, medicine, and even solving crime.

3.) The Math Worksheet Site allows users to create an endless supply of printable math worksheets. The intuitive interface gives you the ability to easily customize each worksheet to target your student's specific needs. Every worksheet is created when you request it, so they are different every time.

Science
1.) Wonderville is a fun, interactive destination for kids to discover the exciting world of science. This award-winning site encourages exploration and curiosity, while helping kids discover how much fun science can be.

2.) The Science Spot is a website for middle school science teachers that provides links to various web resources. You will also find lessons and activities as well.

3.) Late Nite Labs offers students and teachers hundreds of preset and customizable science labs that can be conducted completely online. Teachers can get access for free, but their is a cost for students. So it is a great tool to use in the classroom by the instructor. It should probably be the other way around.

Social Studies
1.) Best of History Web Sites is an award-winning portal that contains annotated links to over 1200 history web sites as well as links to hundreds of quality K-12 history lesson plans, history teacher guides, history activities, history games, history quizzes, and more. (Source: US History Teachers Blog)

2.) The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database has information on around 35,000 slave voyages. You can search the voyages database, examine estimates of the slave trade, and search through a African names database.


3.) The Demographic Chartbook provides a wide-ranging audience of persons interested in American history – including historians, other social scientists, teachers, and students – with graphics portraying the demographic history of the United States, as shown by the decennial census of population. (Source: US History Teachers Blog)

An EdTech Tip for Adminstrators

In the coming years I plan to be finished with my Administration certification and pursue an assistant principal position.  When I get to that position, I don't want to forget several of the awesome tools and services that are available to teachers that can be adapted to being an administrator.  The first order of business for a new administrator is to setup some Google Alerts.

With Google Alerts you can add in the search terms you are looking for, determine the source of alert you want (Everything, blogs, news, etc), determine how often you want to receive alerts (as it happens, daily, or weekly), and the volume of results (All results or just the best results).  You then provide the email attached to your Google Account.  You can see the image below of the menu options.

So how could administrators use Google Alerts?  Here are several ideas:
1.) Get alerts for your school district
2.) Get alerts for your school
3.) Get alerts for your name in case it is in the news
4.) Get alerts for your school mascot/athletic teams
5.) Get alerts for your town/city/neighborhoods
6.) Get alerts for Central Office staff as well.

How would you use Google Alerts?

Ye' Old Stomping Grounds

I learned this week that the Technology Integration Specialist job that I have had the pleasure of doing last year and this year is not going to be renewed (There is always a chance that could change, but not looking likely) due to state budget cuts.  This move will take me back to teaching Social Studies again.  I am disappointed that I will no longer continue to do this job, which I have loved.  There is, however, some excitement about returning to the classroom to use and share so much of what I have learned about in these past two years.

At the same time, I feel there will be a bit of pressure on me to "prove" that I can do what I have been encouraging so many other teachers to do.  I am not worried about that pressure, I just know that it is going to be there.  I always like a challenge, and I feel going back is a challenge, because so much in education has changed since I "left" the classroom.  Like I said, there is some excitement about interacting with the kids again, but there is less excitement about the increased "paper work" that now goes with teaching.

The best thing about these past two years is my increased passion towards the teaching profession.  I have learned some valuable lessons.  I have learned about some valuable tools.  I have met (both face to face and online) some outstanding educators, administrators, students, and technology staff.  Looking back, I feel like my brain has been overloaded with #edchat, #edtech, and everything in between. 

Because of this new found knowledge and passion, what will I be doing differently with my students?  This is definitely just the short list.  There are several classroom management and instructional tools/ideas that I will also incorporate into my classroom as well.  I will have high expectations for my students when it comes to being engaged in my classroom.

1.) I will be using Twitter and Group Tweet to interact with students and provide homework, extra credit, links, resources, etc.  I also hope to use it as a teaching tool like the Teaching Paperless Blog did. 
2.) I am contemplating creating a Facebook Page for students which I will provide information, extra credit, etc.  My first order of business though, will be to explain to students how to make their profile private.
3.) I want to have my students writing blogs.  I am not sure yet how I will integrate that into Social Studies, but I am researching ideas.
4.) From the video The Independent Project, students talked about their "Individual Endeavors" that they did.  I would love to incorporate something like that into my classroom.
5.) I will be incorporating more video and webpage production as well.  I want students to be creating as much as possible
6.) I will have to completely revamp my lessons and lecture because I will have so many new tools at my disposal.
7.) Create a blog for my students to interact with as well and provide an area for discussion over various topics.
8.) Using videos, like TED Talks, to create discussion.  Most of the videos I showed before, were just time consuming.  I really want them to invoke discussion among my students.
9.) Use available resources to teach history by teaching today.

So what will become of "The Pursuit of Technology Integration Happiness?"  Well, my goal is to keep it going.  Whether I can post to it as often is still up in the air because I will be focusing more on student lesson and activity development.  My blog might turn into a combination of resource sharing and classroom sharing.  I really am not sure, I just know it will be something I think about over the summer.

Would love to hear what you all think, and if you have gone back to the classroom, what have you done differently?  What new things would you do with your students?

March - Most Popular Posts

March was a pretty good month on the blog.  I found a lot of interesting resources and had 39 blog posts.  For the month of March, here are the most popular posts.

1.) 10 Resources for Teaching Writing with Technology - A lot of valuable resources out there for writers and English teachers. 

2.) 10 Resources for Teaching Reading with Technology - If you teach writing, you probably teach reading, so this list is worth checking out as well.

3.) 10 Wikis Worth Checking Out - I just posted this yesterday and it came in third place.  Not bad for 24 hours. 

4.) Idea Paint - A Technology in its own right, Idea Paint allows people to paint a whiteboard anywhere they want.  A fantastic idea. 

5.) INTEGRATING EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY - An acronym of Web 2.0 resources for students, teachers, and administrators. 

Some Other Good Posts:
- It Isn't Going Anywhere - My 400th post about Social Media in Education. 
- Group Tweet - A valuable Twitter application for teachers who use Twitter with their students. 

The Independent Project

The Independent Project(Link to New York Times Article) is about a group of 8 students at Monument Mountain Regional High School who set out to form their own school.  The essentially formed a school within a school.  Each student involved in this project developed Independent Endeavors.  The idea was to find something that you are passionate about and create it.  What were some of those Endeavors?  Wrote a Novel, Wrote a Play, Created a Short Film, Experimented with Culinary Arts, or Learned to Play the Piano.

Students are coming to school and getting an education in material they have no interest in learning.  These students felt that if they were going to spend 6 hours of their day, 30 hours a week at school, they wanted to learn something that interests them.  I was very intrigued with the video below.  I applaud the school for supporting these students.  I also like the idea of an Independent Endeavor.  What would your students do?

To learn more, see the video below: