Thursday, February 21, 2019

Pocket Points

       Pocket Points is a mobile app that encourages students to stay off their phones in class and rewards them for doing so. Using the timer on the app, you can keep track of how long you stay off your phone and earn point every minute you're not on it. You then can spend your points on discounts for food, clothes, and more. The deals you can get depend on your location. Pocket Points is a great way for you to focus in class and will motivate you to put your phone away and be more present in the classroom. 

        Other features this app provides you with is a driving section where it encourages you to stay off your phone while driving. You can also set goals for yourself whether you're at home or at work to not use your phone. The goal feature allows you to set a certain amount of time for yourself to not use your phone, I believe that this would be good to use when at home and doing homework. I personally struggle with avoiding my phone when working on assignments but Pocket Points is a way to encourage me to stay off of it. I think it could do the same for other students like me.

        Not only is Pocket Points great for students, but it's great for teachers too. Many teachers are already using this app in the classroom. Teachers can create rewards and points for students for not using their phones in class. A few examples of rewards some teachers have  created for their class include, "drop your lowest quiz score," and an "assignment redo." This is a great way of reducing phone use in the classroom and encouraging your students to pay attention in class.

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Popsicle Bridge Building Challenge



Involved in this STEM activity students are to construct a bridge made out of Popsicle sticks that extends at least 12 inches. In addition to extending out to 12 inches this bridge must be able to hold the weight of a small toy, this toy is to be chosen by the teacher. In order to craft out the bridge, students need a glue gun (depending on the grade level), 40-50 Popsicle sticks, a ruler, and a cookie sheet or parchment paper (to keep the bridge from sticking to other surfaces). Students will make predictions, test out those predictions, and make any modifications needed. This project/activity is a great STEM resource and lesson for educators to conduct. Students can be creative and come up with a variety of ways to construct this bridge. This activity ties into other concepts/subjects as well. For example, tying in math by needing to measure out the height and weight of their bridge. Students could also try to come up with different items and objects to make their bridge out of. However, this depends on if the teacher decides to come up with rules as to what you can and cannot build your bridge out of. This activity is a great, fun, and very interactive resource for educators to construct in their classrooms. There are a variety of subjects that can be tied in and it can help to grasp students attention and excitement in conducting a STEM activity.

Flipped Lessons

          So I know that normally these blog posts focus on actual technological resources to be used in the classroom, but I wanted to talk about a teaching technology that has become increasingly popular over the years. A normal lesson looks something like the teacher standing at the front of the classroom or leading the class through an activity, followed by an assigned homework to reinforce the lesson at home.
         
          A flipped lesson on the other hand, places the onus of learning the foundations of a lesson on the students by having them complete a "pre-exercise" which requires them to get the main points of what would normally be a lecture through either a pre-recorded lecture online accompanied with slides, a worksheet with instruction built into it, or another form of multimedia. Once students have completed this activity, they come back to class and the lesson is both reinforced and brought to the next level through the addition of more complex instruction and elevation of the content, due to students having already achieved the basics on their own.

          Flipped lessons do an amazing job of accomplishing two different goals: preparing students for collegiate level learning where seeking their own education is a must, and accelerating classroom instruction by forgoing the building blocks in class and allowing the educators to dive deeper into a content area than time would normally allow. Having engaged in a few flipped lessons on both sides of the equation as a student and an educator, flipped lessons are a great piece of teaching technology that all teachers should implement to keep their instruction relevant and fresh.

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

HOPSCOTCH





Hopscotch is a very cool and innovative app that allows students to create their own games while coding. This app is extremely kid-friendly making it super easy for any child over the age of 8 to use. It is also very appealing to children because no matter what your interests are, you can make a game based off of that. The app comes equipped with tutorials that the children can watch at their own pace, guiding them through how to make apps just like their favorites.

Hopscotch not only allows children to make their own game by coding but it allows them to expand their education each and every time they make one because they will never run out of ideas. Also teachers can incorporate this app into their classroom. It will challenge kids in a new way and provide them with an opportunity to really create something on their own that is theirs. Not only can they make a game but they can publish it and have their classmates, friends, and many others play it.

Personally, I think this app is super interesting and cool. It gives kids a chance to really make something on their own while also becoming more educated and better programers. Teachers should definitely try to introduce this to their students even if they are not interested in gaming. They could still create something that interests them and show it to others. Parents have also expressed how much joy and happiness has come from their children using this app. The children of today have such a bright future, especially with technology, so why not give them the tools to become great at such a young age.


Heads Up!

Looking for a good game to play with your students during indoor recess? Or maybe even an ice breaker game for the first week of school. Try the App Heads Up! Heads up is a fun game that you can download on any phone device or IPad. You pick a category, hold your device on your head, screen facing outward and guess the word on the screen using your friends’ clues. The person guessing the word should guess as many words as possible before the timer runs out! If you guess the word correctly you tilt the device screen to the floor, if you guess incorrectly you tilt the device screen to the sky. You can also record and share videos of your friends’ increasingly frantic efforts to clue you in! The best part about the game Heads up you are able to create your own categories. For example; I created the category “farm animals”. One of my students would hold the device on their head while we gave them clues such as “This animal says MOO!” “This animal produces milk and butter”. I cannot begin to share how fast my students were able to recognize and identify common farm animals as well as know what kind of products we get from farm animals. The game Heads Up is not only a fun game to play during free time but also a tool for learning. “A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination and instill a love of learning.” Download this app from your app store for just $.99 before “time runs up!”

Remind

Remind is an application that can be utilized by educators to reach their students as well as parents or guardians. Remind is an easy way to effectively maintain communication and engagement with members. I have been a part of Remind while in high school, and all the organizations that utilized this app proved to be much more cooperative and communicative than others who did not. Remind eliminates the confusion and misunderstanding that is generally caused by lack of effective communication. Remind eliminates these issues by easily linking to all of the contacts you wish to reach and mass-messaging them whenever you have an announcement to make. Notifications can be sent in varying ways, whether it be through text or email. This way, students can choose what platform works best for them and Remind will do the rest. This also eliminates the struggle of trying to contact different people on different platforms.


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Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Promethean board

Promethean board is an interactive tool used by teachers usually for a classroom setting. Recently learning about Promethean boards in class. Promethean boards infuse technology into teaching and learning. The estimate cost of a Promethean board ranges from $1000-7,000 depending on what type of display you get. You usually use Promethean in a classroom setting with no specified age requirement. You could also have one or more students working at a time on this specific board. The programs are web based. Teachers can include their lessons as they teach, and display results of quizzes and group problems. The hands on interactive board, Promethean is very useful and engaging for both students and teachers!
  

Monday, February 18, 2019

Google Calendar

Today I’m going to talk about Google Calendar! Google Calendar is a useful tool for students, teachers, and parents alike. Teachers are able to create events for the classroom and share with students and parents. These could include reminders of due dates, and other events such as conferences. Sharing events is simple: just send an email! Time management skills are a very important set of skills for students to learn. Teachers can show students how to add events and reminders, such as reminders to do smaller homework assignments or any class work they did not finish in class. Students can customize reminders for the event. Having big projects an other due dates displayed on a calendar can help students visualize due dates. Another great feature of Google Calendar is the ability to have multiple calendars. Teachers could have a shared calendar for each class or group of parents, as well as a personal calendar for meetings and such. Google Calendar is a great tool for online calendars that allows teachers to help students stay on top of due dates.

Sunday, February 17, 2019

Zoo Phonics







Zoo Phonics
If you work in a classroom with younger children, I am sure you have heard of zoo phonics before, if not listen up because it is so great. Children learn the best through play and interaction. For example, when seeing songs with the children having them learn the hand movements makes it more fun and it helps the children remember. There is a book for zoo phonics that you can get that have tons of information on how to teach the children their letters, letter sounds, spelling ect. This is such a great resource and the children love it. If you don’t want to get the book you can simply type into YouTube zoo phonics and there is a great video. Zoo phonics uses animals drawn in the shapes of the letters, so it is easier for the children to memorize, the hand and body movements are given for each letter which also helps the children. Teaching children in a fun way such as zoo phonics is extremely beneficial to them. 






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Thursday, February 14, 2019

Study Island

Throughout my childhood I remember using a website called Study Island to play educational games. I recently found out that it is much more than a website with educational games and it is actually still being used in Dearborn Public Schools and has been used for over ten years now in helping to prepare students for state standardized testing through gamification. More than 24,000 schools use it. It is a program that offers interactive lessons and activities that are build from each states standards and benchmarks and is equipped with school/district reporting so teachers can assess individual students strengths and weaknesses. It also includes real-time progress monitoring which is great for students because it shows them that they are reaching their goal which can be motivating and encourage academic competition among classmates. The program also offers simulations for subjects that may be more difficult to conceptualize, which makes this program efficient to a larger audience. The website is not free.Schools pay around $5.50 per student. For home use, a Study Island subscription costs $15 per month or $180 per year for a single account covering all subjects. There is also a family plan that allows up to 5 users and the cost for that is $25 per month or $200 per year.


Click here to check it out!

Tuesday, February 12, 2019

Vocabulary Builder - Magoosh

Vocabulary Builder is an app, for iPhones or androids, and website to help increase users vocabulary. On the app or website there are around 1,200 words to help users enhance their vocabularies. Users are able to create accounts to track their progress or they can practice without an account. The app gives users access to GRE, SAT, and TOEFL vocabulary quizzes. Each category consists of basic words, intermediate words, and advanced words. In each word category there is a set of levels. Each level users are given around 30 words to master the meaning of the words, once mastering the meaning they move on to the next level. Vocabulary Builder - Magoosh is a great, and free, way to advance your vocabulary.

Sunday, February 10, 2019

Class Dojo

Class Dojo is a fun tool that can be used to make learning in the classroom more fun. The free website (which is also available as an app for iPhones and Androids) allows students, teachers and parents to better develop student skills.  Teachers create classes within the website with their students.  Students can customize avatars, see classes and see individual progress.  Teachers can reward students with positive feedback in real time, which is beneficial to students because it helps to motivate them intrinsically and helps them to learn what they can do to improve their behavior/performance.  Teachers can also communicate directly with parents through the platform and keep them up to date with how their children are doing in the class.

Class Dojo contains multiple options for teachers and students.  It allows the teacher to:

  • display classroom directions (so that the students can know what tasks they should be working on)
  • play music (which can help students focus and learn different materials)
  • randomly generate groups of students of 2 or more
  • display the current noise level in the classroom (so that students can learn to better manage their own noise levels and other behaviors that you might find in the classroom)
  • provide simple questions that prompt students to interact with their neighbors and facilitate discussions
  • randomly select students (using a student generator) to answer questions in class
All of these features can be used to better facilitate classroom activities while still making learning fun for the students.


Thursday, February 7, 2019

CodeCombat


CodeCombat is an excellent resource for teachers and students alike. It provides an engaging and fun way of learning code for all ages. Once visiting their site, find the link labeled “Play Now” under the header of “Learn to Code”. There you will find a role-playing game layout with easy to follow instructions and how to both progress through the game and learn code at the same time! Simply start by choosing your character and learn the programming languages JavaScript, Python, and CoffeeScript, as well as the basics of computer science! In order to progress through the game's levels, you must prove your knowledge by writing code along the way. CodeCombat includes both single-player and multi-player components and is perfect for middle school and high school students.

https://codecombat.com/


Google Docs


Google Docs is an application that many students are familiar with. Essentially, the user can access it through their Google Drive on their Google account. It serves as an easy and simple way to put our thoughts into words without worry of losing them forever. Unlike pencil and paper methods or even opening a Word document, Google Docs prevents work from being lost. Whether it be an essay, short story or poem, I use Google Docs nearly every single day. It is very useful because it automatically saves the work for you within seconds of changes. Not only that, but you can share the document with others either by the link or by entering their email as a recipient. By sharing the document with others, multiple people can add and make changes simultaneously. In my opinion, Google Docs is a great resource for both individual and group work.



Loom


Loom is a simple and free screen recorder for Mac, Windows, and Chromebooks. All you need to do is install Loom’s extension in your Google Chrome browser. From there, you can start recording from your camera and screen with audio directly from your Chrome browser. Once done, Loom creates a private link to your newly created video that you can share with whomever you wish! Loom is also completely free and unlimited! Everyone who signs up to Loom gains access to unlimited recording times, unlimited storage, and video trimming capabilities. This is an excellent resource to use for teachers. One significant application of this service would be to use it for Parent/Teacher notes. Sending home letters can sometimes be easily ignored or even misunderstood by busy parents. Providing parents with an easy to view video explaining your ideas and concerns can be a great solution!


Group Me

Group Me is an app you can download on your phone to socialize with others. It is so easy to set up because it links back to your number so you can be added to a group easy. Or the head of the group could just add your profile. This is a great thing to use for the classroom because it allows students who are in group projects to converse with each other outside the classroom. It is a free download which makes it even better. This app has been so helpful for many people not only for school but sports as well. My softball teams group chat is off this app. I also had a group speech last semester and we had a group chat through this app, it was great. This is so useful for many reasons because it is easy to access, easy to use, and easy to set up.
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Nurture Smart Mobile















 Introducing Nurture Smart Mobile- The most advance crib mobile ever invented! The mobile was designed for safety, cleaning capabilities, child development and comfort for infants 0-5 months of age.  Nuture Smart Mobile was created by 100 Child Life Specialist! Child Life Specialists are professions who work closely with families and children in a medical setting to serve emotional support, and help develop coping strategies. A child Life Specialist goal is to help decrease stress, and anxiety. 
This mobile has a variety of luscious features:
·     three rotating arms with three characters; a fish, a bear, and a star that keeps an infant engaged.
·     A dome mirror where a baby can see his or her face. Having a mirror is important for infants because they are shiny and bright. It helps them to increase the ability for infants to focus and develop social skills. 
·     Nightlight that projects starlight images
·     5 soothing sound options that include:
o   White noise
o   Ocean waves
o   A lullaby
o   Classical music
o   Heartbeat
·     conventional timer settings
·     No removable parts that can fall into the crib and put baby at risk
·     100% cleanable and built to withstand disinfectants
·     BPA free materials 
·     Long Lasting Battery 
·     Moving Joint 
·     Fully Assembled 
The Nuture Smart Mobile is an educational technology that is planned for visual and stimulation. Studies have been proven by Child Life Specialist, that the Nuture Smart Mobile helps soothe babies in the NICU and PICU in varies hospitals In America. This mobile is all about your child safety, development and staying germ free. You can purchase this mobile for only $99.95! 
“Provide optimum infant well-being with the most innovative crib mobile on the market” – Nuture Smart Mobile
  

Remind

Remind is an app that allows someone to make an account to send reminders, links or messages out to a group of people. This is so helpful in the classroom because teachers can set up their own profile and have their students simply text a number with a certain word or code and it links up to the teacher so they will receive any important messages the teacher may need to relay. Not only does it help for teachers, but coaches can use it as well. In high school my coach had a remind and whenever he needed to send schedules or messages out it was a very easy way for us to be informed because he could send out a mass text to everyone in the softball program. My high school teachers used it as well and it saved me many times on remembering test dates or due dates.
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Scribd

Scribd is a giant subscription-based hub of electronic books.  For a $9 monthly subscription (after a 30-day free trial), users have access to virtually any book that is currently in publication.  This is insanely beneficial to students, whether they are in middle school or college, because it offers a cheaper alternative to buying books needed for classes.  Similar to Netflix and other streaming services, Scribd allows you access to a multitude of books with only one monthly subscription, as opposed to sites like Amazon or Barnes & Noble that charge per book.  It is available online, as well as in the form of an app that you can download on your phone or tablet.  While it charges $9 a month, you have the option to cancel your subscription at any time while still maintaining your subscription privileges until your subscription expires.  Once your subscription expires (or you cancel it), you still have access to The website contains access to magazines, books, audiobooks, and pdf documents.  The only drawback of this website is that it only uses an autopay function (as opposed to you inputting your information and paying when you have the money) so, unless you cancel before the end of each month, you will be charged for the next month.

Canvas

Canvas is a really useful tool for college students around the country today. Canvas allows for schools to have the opportunity to set up online classes, hybrid classes, but also most information for in person classes too. Canvas can be found online and by app on the phone too. It is basically a big hub for instructors to send you messages, upload assignments or links, distribute grades, etc. Along with all of these things, you have the opportunity to communicate with classmates through discussion boards, but also if you have a question, you can ask the class as a whole in a message. Canvas is a sort of like a google classroom, but for students in college.
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Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Google Classroom

Google Classroom is one of the best things Google has come out with, in my opinion. Google Classroom is something that teachers can create to have an online version of their curriculum. It allows teachers to post assignments, important documents, reminders for due dates, useful links, etc. You could say it is almost like a class blog, but even better because students can download the Google Classroom app on their phone for even easier access. I used this all through high school and it is a great way for teachers to expand their classroom onto the phones and computers of them and their students.
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Dictionary.com

"Dictionary.com" might seem like something so simple for the classroom it is often overlooked in value. This site is pretty self explanatory, if you are wondering about a word and its definition, or its use in context, this site can be very helpful. You simply hop onto the website, type in the word you need to search, and one or multiple definitions will come up. This is really helpful because of how instant you can learn. My teacher in 6th grade everyday would give us a "word of the day." She would have us go onto "Dictionary.com" to write down all of the words definitions and synonyms as well as putting the word into context. This site was so helpful to expand my vocabulary.
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Librarything.com

Image result for library thingYou ever try to remember book that you read years ago? You can't remember the name but you know that it applies to a subject or just want to read it again? Never lose that book title again with Librarything.com! This site allows you to log and organize books according to the subjects and topics that they contain, the site uses these topics to create tags that you made so if you are teaching a certain topic that you want to relate to literature at the click of a button you can find all of the great books you have logged. You can categorize books that you have already read, are currently reading, as well as books you wish to read. There are also Groups that you can talk and share with about book and topics that interest you. This is a valuable teacher resource that helps you build your bookshelf virtually!