Discovery Education

For every grade and every subject that you are teaching, Discovery Education has the visual teaching tools needed.  While finding a video that is appropriate in time length and content can be a difficult task for any educator, Discovery Education enables educators to find visual aids that will make their lessons plans as effective as possible while engaging the students in the topic as well.

            While Teacher Tube is free and Discovery Education requires a subscription, Discovery Education allows educators to search for their topic by using SOLs. The draw to the use of the SOLs is that they enable educators to find the tools they are needing efficiently and effectively. The educator also has the option to save the videos that have chosen so that they have the videos available to them at any time.

            Overall, Discovery Education is a wonderful tool available to educators today that enables them to search and save for effective teaching aids to share with the students in their class.

Smart Notebook

     Using the SMART Board in the classroom is a very effective tool in teaching. The SMART Board allows students to become actively engaged in the lessons and also can be fun. SMART Board is also an efficient tool for the teacher. If the instructor knows the material that they want to present to their students, going into class twenty minutes or so early provides plenty of time to put together a lesson on the SMART Board. In today's society, students need learning tools that hold their attention and gage their minds. The SMART Board is just that.

TeacherTube

TeacherTube is a wonderful tool available to educators at all levels. There are a variety of different videos posted that provide different teaching techniques and ideas that teachers can incorporate into their classrooms. One of the most effective ways to search for videos is to use the search bar provided by the site. There you can input what type of video that you are searching for and it will pull up several matches for your request. Overall the site is very effective in providing teaching tools to create lesson plans that will be not only effective but fun for your students.

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SOL: Reading








SOL: Oral Language and Reading

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Smart Board

 The use of Smart Boards in the classroom can be very effective and fun! The Smart Boards enable teachers to create fun games/lessons that will help his/her students learn particular lessons. Smart Boards are learning in a form of technology that is easy for students of any age to grasp and enjoy.  The best thing about the Smart Boards is that there are thousands of different games that teachers can create on ANY topic in relation to any subject. Once the teacher has the hang of how to make the games eventually it is something that can be done in ten minutes or less and each game can be saved for students to come. Overall the use of Smart Boards in the classroom is a wonderful idea that will make learning for students fun and effective.

Google CSE

     The Google CSE can be a very effective tool in the classrooms of today.  By using a Google CSE a teacher has a research aid prepared for her students that is customized with websites that are useful and credible for the students to use. By the CSE being customized the teacher can ensure that his/her students are able to make the most of their research time and are able to find information needed to complete tasks.

URL: http://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=016915413429830978442:ycu37maomsa&hl=en

Usernames for Delicious and Flickr

http://www.delicious.com/kaylagennarelli1991
 Flickr Username: Kaylag10

Flickr

Flickr has the ability to be effective in the k-12 classroom is various ways. In today's society, children of all ages are very familiar and somewhat reliant on the technologies offered. Flickr is an effective tools that teachers can introduce and use in the classroom to not only make the lessons for their students more in depth and interesting but to also allow students the opportunity to share information about themselves and their experiences in ways that are appropriate and educational. One of the most beneficial contributions that Flickr provides is the quality of work that students are able to create and turn into their teachers. An example of how this could work could be students collecting and organizing photos for powerpoints to share with their classmates. Flickr provides a place for both students and teachers to share information, share photos, and hold discussions  about different topics. Flickr is an effective tool that can be used to maximize classroom discussions and achieve the highest level of learning on particular topics.

Delicious and Netvibes

      Delicious and Netvibes are very interesting sites that can be used to help organize personal and business parts of every individuals life.  Netvibes has more of personal spice to it in the way that you are able to organize your favorites in a way that is more customized. If you choose to, you are able to check email, look at the weather, as well as different updates from  social networking sites while also having the access to your favorite sites by just clicking on the links. The great part about it is that all the information that you use on a daily basis while you are on the computer is all right there in front of you. Delicious are the other hand can be compared somewhat to that of a library. It is a website that you can use to store your favorite websites or links together in one place. Adding the delicious toolbar on your web page will make the process of using delicious even more simple as you will only have to click on the toolbar and it brings up your delicious account with all of your favorite websites posted there for you. It is somewhat similar to using google except you do not have to search for your favorite sites because they are already organized and put together.

Engage Me or Enrage Me!

     The "Engage Me or Enrage Me!" article is one that highlights many points in regards to today's students attitudes towards school and the curriculum. It is the responsibility of the teacher to ensure that their students are learning what is required. A factor influencing how much a student takes away from a lesson is the level of engagement. The curriculum's taught in schools today are not up to the standards of today's young society and needs to be updated.
     Blogs would add a great amount of interaction and engagement in classrooms today. By creating and posting on individual blogs, students would have the ability and opportunity to share their opinions and ideas with one another. An example of an engaging way that blogs could be used in the classroom is to allow students to complete assignments through their blogs verses perhaps writing in journals or completing papers. By allowing students to complete work through a blog, not only are they going to be engaged in their assignments because it is a technical and updated tool that will hold their attention but the students also have the opportunity to personalize their blogs and make them their own which in turn will encourage them to use their blogs more often and will also encourage communication and participation among the students as well. Overall, introducing blogs into the classroom environment  would have a positive effect on students and would be engaging and encouraging.