I just watched my first webinar today. What a great way to watch a presentation for someone across the United States! If you haven't watched a webinar before, I suggest giving it a try. I watched this webinar on iPads in education through simplek12.com. To get started with your first webinar you can just login as a guest and sign up for a webinar of your choice. If you really enjoy the webinars you can make an account on simplek12 where you can watch recordings of webinars at any time you want, as well as live webinars. Just click on the link below to check it out!
http://www.simplek12.com/
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Too Busy for a Friend?
One day a teacher asked her students to list the names
of the other students in the room on two sheets
of paper, leaving a space between each name.
Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say
about each of their classmates and write it down.
It took the remainder of the class period to finish their
assignment, and as the students left the room, each
one handed in the papers.
Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each student on a separate
sheet of paper, and listed what everyone else had said about that
individual.
On Monday she gave each student his or her list. Before long, the entire
class was smiling. 'Really?' she heard whispered. 'I never knew that I meant
anything to anyone!' and, 'I didn't know others liked me so much,' were most
of the comments.
No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. She never knew if they
That's when the teacher finally sat down and cried.
She cried for Mark and for all his friends who
would never see him again.
of the other students in the room on two sheets
of paper, leaving a space between each name.
Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say
about each of their classmates and write it down.
It took the remainder of the class period to finish their
assignment, and as the students left the room, each
one handed in the papers.
Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each student on a separate
sheet of paper, and listed what everyone else had said about that
individual.
On Monday she gave each student his or her list. Before long, the entire
class was smiling. 'Really?' she heard whispered. 'I never knew that I meant
anything to anyone!' and, 'I didn't know others liked me so much,' were most
of the comments.
No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. She never knew if they
discussed them after class or with
their parents, but it didn't matter. The exercise
had accomplished its purpose. The students
were happy with themselves and one
another. That group of
students moved on.
Several years later, one of the students was killed in
Vietnam and his teacher attended the funeral
of that special student. She had never seen
a serviceman in a military coffin before.
He looked so handsome, so mature.
The church was packed with his friends. One by
one those who loved him took a last walk
by the coffin. The teacher was the
last one to bless the coffin.
As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer
came up to her. 'Were you Mark's math teacher?' he
asked. She nodded: 'yes.' Then he said:
'Mark talked about you a lot.'
After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmates went
together to a luncheon. Mark's mother and father
were there, obviously waiting to
speak with his teacher.
We want to show you something,' his father said, taking a
wallet out of his pocket 'They found this on Mark
when her was killed. We thought you
might recognize it.'
Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces
of notebook paper that had obviously been taped,
folded and refolded many times. The teacher
knew without looking that the papers
were the ones on which she had
listed all the good things each
of Mark's classmates had said about him.
'Thank you so much for doing that,' Mark's mother said.
'As you can see, Mark treasured it.'
All of Mark's former classmates started to gather around.
their parents, but it didn't matter. The exercise
had accomplished its purpose. The students
were happy with themselves and one
another. That group of
students moved on.
Several years later, one of the students was killed in
Vietnam and his teacher attended the funeral
of that special student. She had never seen
a serviceman in a military coffin before.
He looked so handsome, so mature.
The church was packed with his friends. One by
one those who loved him took a last walk
by the coffin. The teacher was the
last one to bless the coffin.
As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer
came up to her. 'Were you Mark's math teacher?' he
asked. She nodded: 'yes.' Then he said:
'Mark talked about you a lot.'
After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmates went
together to a luncheon. Mark's mother and father
were there, obviously waiting to
speak with his teacher.
We want to show you something,' his father said, taking a
wallet out of his pocket 'They found this on Mark
when her was killed. We thought you
might recognize it.'
Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces
of notebook paper that had obviously been taped,
folded and refolded many times. The teacher
knew without looking that the papers
were the ones on which she had
listed all the good things each
of Mark's classmates had said about him.
'Thank you so much for doing that,' Mark's mother said.
'As you can see, Mark treasured it.'
All of Mark's former classmates started to gather around.
Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, 'I still
have my list. It's in the top drawer of
my desk at home.'
Chuck's wife said, 'Chuck asked me to
put his in our wedding album.'
'I have mine too,' Marilyn said.
'It's in my diary'
Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took
out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to
the group. 'I carry this with me at all times,' Vicki
said and without batting an eyelash,
she continued: 'I think we all
saved our lists'
have my list. It's in the top drawer of
my desk at home.'
Chuck's wife said, 'Chuck asked me to
put his in our wedding album.'
'I have mine too,' Marilyn said.
'It's in my diary'
Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took
out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to
the group. 'I carry this with me at all times,' Vicki
said and without batting an eyelash,
she continued: 'I think we all
saved our lists'
That's when the teacher finally sat down and cried.
She cried for Mark and for all his friends who
would never see him again.
The density of people in society is so thick
that we forget that life will end one
day. And we don't know when
that one day will be.
So please, tell the people you love and care for, that they are
special and important. Tell them, before it is too late.
that we forget that life will end one
day. And we don't know when
that one day will be.
So please, tell the people you love and care for, that they are
special and important. Tell them, before it is too late.
Laura Candler's File Cabinet
Need some lesson plan and activity ideas? Check this out!
http://www.lauracandler.com/filecabinet/index.php
On this site veteran teacher Laura Candler shares lesson plans and activities she used to do in her classroom. There are tons of free printables and great ideas located in Laura's "filing cabinets" including:
http://www.lauracandler.com/filecabinet/index.php
On this site veteran teacher Laura Candler shares lesson plans and activities she used to do in her classroom. There are tons of free printables and great ideas located in Laura's "filing cabinets" including:
- Literacy
- Math
- Science
- Health
- Social Studies
- Odds N Ends
- Seasonal Activities
- Info for Teachers
QR Codes
Have you ever seen one of these and wondered what it is? It's called a QR code, and you can find them all over the pages of magazines and advertisements these days. QR codes encode information in a two dimensional space. You can use these to link information to a smartphone or an iPad. I myself have an iPhone and I downloaded a QR code app, it basically just takes a picture of the QR code and links it to a website. Scan the QR code above and it will link you to a website where you can create your own QR code.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Wordle is great, but...
http://www.abcya.com/word_clouds.htm
abcya.com is also another way to make word clouds!
http://www.tagxedo.com/
Here you can make word clouds in the form of shapes!
abcya.com is also another way to make word clouds!
http://www.tagxedo.com/
Here you can make word clouds in the form of shapes!
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
pinterest.com
Pinterest is one of my all time favorite websites! It is a virtual pinboard where you can organize and share things you love. They have everything you can possibly imagine, from home decor, photos, fashion, books, recipes, and best of all craft ideas and lesson plans! Not only is this a great website for all women... but it is great for teachers! You begin by creating you own "pinboards." I have a range of pinboards from fashion to recipes and even my future wedding plans! (HA!) It a great site to browse on, but be careful you may become addicted. I have found many craft ideas for holidays and also many art projects for school subjects. You can even search specific grade levels, and many ideas will come up for lesson plans and art projects. When you click on the pin, it will take you to a blog, which can lead you to find even more fantastic things! I highly recommend pinterest to EVERYONE!
Why Wordle?
Lets make word clouds! Wordle is a tool that generates word clouds using words that you provide. Words that are used most often are large and words that are used the least are small. You can change the color, font, and layout of you word cloud. This is one way to share spelling words with students, or you could simply create a poster for your classroom. (Mom, this would be a good way to display sight words!) Here is an example of a wordle use the US constitution:
Click on this link to get started using wordle:
http://www.wordle.net/
 | |||
| “US Constitution” by Jonathan |
http://www.wordle.net/
blogs blogs blogs
When a parent asks their child, "What did you do at school today?" about 9 out of 10 times a child will say, "nothing." Well, I've got a new way for you to share with parents what happened at school today.You probably here a lot about blogs and blogging, but did you know this can also be a great tool to use in the classroom? This is a great way to interact with parents and share with them what their child is doing at school. You can document daily activities and projects in your own classroom so parents can see their child's progress. This is also a fun way for grandparents, aunts, and uncles to see what's going on too!
For older students they can do some blogging themselves. You could create a blog for them to use as a resource guide for any educational subjects you would like, or you could create a blog for assignments and projects for the student to use as a reference. This is a great for students to keep on task, and I have had a teacher blog for one of my college courses and I loved it.
Getting started is easy and FREE! I recommend using edublogs.com or blogger.com. Edublogs is used for education reasons, but blogger is a bit more fun. With blogger you can change the background and personalize your blog more. Christmas break is right around the corner and that would be a great time to experiment and explore the ways you can use blogging in your own classroom. I encourage you to get started!
For older students they can do some blogging themselves. You could create a blog for them to use as a resource guide for any educational subjects you would like, or you could create a blog for assignments and projects for the student to use as a reference. This is a great for students to keep on task, and I have had a teacher blog for one of my college courses and I loved it.
 |
| Adding pictures is a great way to share art projects! |
My blog
I am a third year college student majoring in Elementary Education, and I have decided to create a blog to share the fabulous things I am learning through the VCSU Elementary Education program. So for all you teachers out there, I hope this will give you a few new ideas for your own classroom! I am currently taking an Education Technology course and I have a lot to share with you. Hope you enjoy it!
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