Looking for ways
to use technology
effectively
at your school?
Try a TechKnowFile:
Opening the Doors of our Classrooms: Blogs
Integrating technology into the classroom is a must.
As teachers, we need to increase student motivation in
reading and writing to impact their learning and answer the
demands of the "real world." The easiest way to address
this problem is through blogging. Blogs enable us to meet
students' learning where it happens for them - online and
interactive. Additionally, blogs have revolutionized the way
we share ideas and resources with other teachers, and also
allow administrators and parents a peek into what is going on
behind the classroom doors.
Podcasting a New Review
High school students are often reluctant to read, much less
participate in analyzing and evaluating a novel or biography.
By creating and sharing podcasts students will become
excited when their classmates find and share books they
enjoy.
Publishing "I Am From" Poems in PowerPoint
Want your students to put more pizzazz into their writing?
Become aware of audience? Use presentation software for
more than electronic notes? This TechKnowFile describes
how your students can write and workshop "I Am From"
poems and publish them in a PowerPoint format with images.
Using Microsoft Word to Energize Revision
Want to provoke more revision in your student writing? Need
a way to integrate more technology into your classroom but
find yourself in a technology-challenged district? Would you
just like to learn something useful? Step right in to Microsoft
Word, arguably the most used word processing program in
American schools. In this TechKnowFile, Rebecca discusses
ways of using facilities provided within Word, both low-tech
and high-tech, to encourage student revision.
Using Web Resources to Explore Graphic
Novels - Not Your Parents' Comics
POW! ZAP! BLAM! The proliferation, popularity and
acceptance of graphic novels in American culture increases
every year. This is a unit or topic introductory classroom
lesson teachers can use to expose students to a variety of
internet information sources about graphic novels, their
historical roots in comics, their popularity, characteristics
and creators.
Wiki Wild: Using a Classroom Wiki for
Collaborative Prewriting
Looking for a way to motivate students to engage with their
own writing and their peers' work as well? Are you so busy
trying to teach the basics that the important job of
integrating technology is getting left behind? Why not let
your students go a little wiki wild?
