Gamestar Mechanic: Teaching game design in the classroom
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Integrating technology in the classroom
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Happy New Year!! You may have noticed…I took a tech break for the holidays! There may not have been an abundance of posts and sharing happening, but I was still collecting away and have more resources than ever to share in 2012. Thank you all for making my 2011 such a wonderful year to be a part of!
Tips: Embed the link to Living Math Book List on your class website or blog, this will make it easy for you, and your students, to find math-related books any time.
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How to integrate Tag My Doc into the classroom: My mind is racing with the possibilities of Tag My Doc in the classroom. I can envision middle and high school teachers using Tag My Doc to share documents with students. In the land of mobile devices, Tag My Doc makes a whole lot more sense than endless paper copies that get lost on the way home. Post the QR codes from Tag My Doc next to your door, as students leave the classroom they can scan the code for the evenings homework, study guides, rubrics, etc.
Students can use Tag My Doc to keep a record of all the digital documents created throughout the school year. Each document can be uploaded to Tag My Doc and an accompanying QR code can be printed and put in a physical portfolio. No more worrying about where a document was saved and if students transferred it to a flash drive or CD at the end of the year. Everything is kept in the cloud and easily accessed.
Back to school night and parent teacher conferences are a great time for parents to gather information about what is happening in your classroom. Instead of making paper packets, hand out a business card with your contact information on one side and a Tag My Document QR code on the other side. Parents have all of the information they need without the paper clutter at home. Awesome.
Tag My Docs is fantastic for staff meetings, conferences and meetups and anywhere you are sharing documents.
Tips: Tag My Doc supports the following file types: jpg, tiff, png, bmp, gif, doc, docx, ppt, pptx and pdf.
Please leave a comment and share how you are using Tag My Doc in your classroom!
How to integrate Quixey into the classroom: If you or your students use ANY of the above platforms, Quixey is a must! Hunt down the exact app you need quickly and easily. Have a mixed platform classroom? Quixey makes it simple to see where app crossover is possible for the classroom. This is one handy search engine!
Be sure to bookmark Quixey on classroom computers for easy access to an anytime search. When you find an app you are interested in, click for more information, screen shots of the app and a link to the app store. You can even tweet the app out or share it on Facebook!
Tips: When you click on an app, Quixey will even redirect you to the appropriate app store for download!
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How to integrate the Mastery Connect App into the classroom: At Anastasis Academy, we use the Common Core standards as a rough framework and guide of where to take learning next. We don’t constrain students to just one grade level of standards (they are all developing skills and mastery at different rates, we move as students are ready to move). Because we don’t use ANY boxed curriculum, the standards act as an outline and guide through learning. The Mastery Connect App is a great little help for students, teachers and parents. The widget makes it easy to embed in a classroom blog, website or wiki. Just copy and paste the code and the widget is there for you when you need it.
Tips: Make sure to check out the rest of Mastery Connect!
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Goalbook Beta Overview from Daniel Yoo on Vimeo.
What it is: Goal Book is a platform, currently in beta, that helps educators come together to create and track student goals. The interface is very Facebookesq in feel. Teachers can create and track student goals from within Goal Book, sharing those goals with any other team member that works with the student. Each time a goal or progress of a goal gets updated, the entire team that works with a student is updated. Educators can keep each other updated with progress of goals, celebrate students, and share messages in Goal Book. In addition to updating educators, parents are now in the center of the conversation. They can see all progress, communicate with the education team that works with their child, celebrate successes and send private messages from within Goal Book.
How to integrate Goal Book into the classroom: Goal Book is a fantastic way to keep every part of an education team up to date with IEP goals and progress. No more keeping track of email threads, assuming someone else is taking care of a particular portion of the goals, or wondering what progress a student has made with another team member. Goal Book brings all communication to one, easy to manage place. I like that teams are fluid in Goal Book. Here, the assumption isn’t made that every student has the same group of educators working on their goals. The students you have input in are listed in one place and the team members associated with that student show up as well.
Goal Book isn’t just for students with IEP’s, all students benefit from creating and tracking learning goals! Ask your students to think of a goal they would like to make for themselves for the semester/quarter/trimester in each discipline. Record the goals and progress with students throughout the semester/quarter/trimester. Celebrate with students when they have reached their goals and share these with parents.
At Anastasis Academy, we hold parent/teacher/student conferences at the beginning of each block. We call this conference “Meeting of the Minds”. This is a time where parent, teacher and student come together to write learning goals for the upcoming block based on the progress that was made the previous block. Students play a big part in creating their learning goals. One thing I would like to see from Goal Book is the ability to include students in the goal making/tracking process. It is important to include students in the planning and tracking of THEIR learning goals. Kids have to have ownership in their learning!
Tips: The Goal Book blog is worth subscribing to and following if you plan to use Goal Book at your school or in your classroom. The blog will keep you up-to-date with the latest updates and information about Goal Book.
Please leave a comment and share how you are using Goal Book in your classroom!
What it is: Thinking Blocks is a great find by @matthewquigley who was nice enough to share his find and let me take the credit (I may have made up that last part…). Thinking Blocks lets students model and solve math word problems by using online virtual blocks to visualize the problems in new ways. Thinking Blocks includes blocks to model addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, fractions, and ratios. On the Modeling Tools tab, students will find modeling tool videos on addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, fractions, ratios, decimals and percents, and algebra. These thinking blocks were developed by Colleen King as she worked to help her students in their Singapore Math program. While the concept of modeling word problems with the blocks is most closely associated with Singapore Math curriculum, it can be used to support any math program and is especially helpful to use with visual learners. Students can use virtual blocks to model known and unknown quantities. By modeling in this way, students are better prepared for moving from arithmetic to algebraic thinking because they learn how to break complex problems into their simplest form. The activities on the Thinking Block website includes guided and independent practice opportunities. The tutorials can be used for guided instruction. Videos show worked examples from each section (addition, multiplication, division, fractions and ratios. Progress tracking is built-in (currently this is only per session but the site notes that sometime in September this should be included for multiple sessions). The Modeling Tool lends itself to independent practice. Students can choose from hundreds of built-in word problems or enter their own. Dynamically generated models let students check their own work. A full screen option is included for use on interactive whiteboards.
How to integrate Thinking Blocks into the classroom: Thinking Blocks is a wonderful website for exploring and demonstrating understanding of word problems. Visual students will be keen on the ability to visualize math in this way, using the virtual blocks to represent word problems. Because Thinking Blocks addresses so many different math disciplines, it is a great way to differentiate instruction for students at a variety of levels.
Thinking Blocks can be used with the whole class using an interactive whiteboard or projector-connected computer. Students can take turns working out word problems on the whiteboard while students at their seats work to arrive at a common solution. Students at the board can “phone a friend” if they need a little extra help or guidance.
Thinking Blocks would make a fantastic center activity on classroom computers. Students could visit the center to practice some word problems and record a reflection about how the blocks enabled them to visualize the problem differently.
Be sure to bookmark Thinking Blocks on school computers and let parents know to bookmark the site at home. I suspect this site could be a life saver for MANY students (I would have been one of them!)
Tips: You can adjust the difficulty of each model by adjusting the numbers addressed before students begin an activity.
Please leave a comment and share how you are using Thinking Blocks in your classroom!