Podcast Reflection #12: 0084 TCT – The Chicks at the Chick (fil-a)

       The Tech Chicks talked about a lot of really fun, interactive, free websites that students can use in the classroom or for some educational free time. One website is titled Little Bird Tales. It is a site where kids can create stories (for free) by uploading artwork, recording their voice, and then sharing it with teachers or parents via e-mail. To go along with the idea of creativity, teachers can assesses their students knowledge about a president or famous poet, etc. by having the students create a "Fake Wall" or facebook page for that person. With this, students can share images and information about an important person in history or famous places to their classmates and the teacher. Sweet Search is another site the two Tech Chicks talked about. It is a kid-friendly search engine, so students can only search for appropriate content that has been approved. This search engine would be a great place to find information for student's "Fake Wall" or Little Bird Tale.

Find out about the many other great sites for kids by checking out the Tech Chicks podcast or their facebook.

Podcast Reflection #11 Classroom 2.0 LIVE- Featured Teacher Karen McMillan

Karen McMillan shared some of the awesome stuff that she does with her 7th graders in California. I listened to her speak at Classroom 2.0 LIVE in which she shared how this site really opened up her world and taught her to make her classroom more student-centered. I definitely feel that her classroom is student-centered with all the fun activities that her students get to do. For instance, she talked about Paper Blogs. Instead of going online to create a blog and write comments, her students drew their own blog on a piece of paper, wrote something that they are passionate about and then the students walk around the room and make comments on their classmates paper blogs on sticky notes. The second activity she talked about was Text Poetry. She would pick some of her favorite poems and the students had to translate each line using "text lingo." The students then wrote their own poem using "text lingo." Lastly, Karen talked about a book that teaches students how to love reading. This book is titled, The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller. What Karen got out of this book, is to encourage students to read different genres and read books that are at least at their grade level. Her students are to read 40 books in one year and she has them log in their books and make responses to them on her website and using a Google Doc form.

Listen to her speak about these great ideas!

Podcast Reflection #10: iPad in the Classroom

Keven Honeycutt and two of the teachers in Inman, KS shared their use of the iPad. Kids really seem to love using the iPad. It is a great hands on tool that is also auditory and a visual. One of the teachers mentioned how she can record her voice on the iPad. There are tons and tons of apps that can be found on the iPad and some are only 99cents! There is a site called I Education Apps Review where there are student reviews of the apps and you can also learn about the apps that are out there! One of the apps that was mentioned is called Spell Board, where students can type in their spelling words and the teacher can record her voice, giving the definitions. With hundreds of different learning styles out there, teachers can use the iPad to fit students' needs. People anywhere from age 5-95 years old use these iPads! The iPad has everything educational such as using Spell Board or Wordle or Solitare. The iPad is also great for building relationships when students get to use the iPad in groups or with a partner but they can also build a sense of self-efficacy by using it on their own!