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25+ Ways to Use Technology in Your

ClassroomPam Krambeck

Papillion-La Vista Schools

pkrambeck@paplv.esu3.org

Web site: plv.ishareinfo.org/pkrambeck

(handout, docs & presentation under documents)

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Gathering Internet Resources &

Information With Students: Jamie McKenzie Idea (http://www.fno.org) that was adapted:

When students are doing research on the web, I always let the students copy as much as they want from the web with these guidelines1. Text copied from the net is in “black ink”

2. The web page location is copied and pasted in “red ink”

3. For every paragraph of text copied from a web page, the student must type one sentence in “green ink.”

Green stands for “new growth” and anything in green is the students writing and can be used in their project. Any of the red writing should appear in the student’s resources cited section. I have tried this with students of all ages and once you train them to copy and paste into a document, it works very well.

EXAMPLE

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Starfall

If you are a primary teacher (K-2) and you have not yet discovered the Starfall web site you are in for a treat. http://www.starfall.com

The activities and

links on this page

are written at the

student’s level and

students love the

activities and clips.

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I-photo (for Mac users): If you are not using I-photo on your computer you should be. This program allows you to create very quick and simple slide shows and student books for sharing. You can export/share a group of pictures as a Quicktime Movie which can be used “stand alone” or imported into I-movie.

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Creative Use of a Database:

Using a database for books, genre, summary, etc. Students can keep their own database, or you can keep a classroom database of the books and genre’s that students are reading. This provides a great resource for students and teachers in the classroom.

Example: Book DB in Appleworks

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e”Video Creation:

A great first step for creating a video project is to use still pictures and movies to create a “documentary” on a curricular topic. Moviemaker on the windows platform and I-movie on the mac platform provide solutions for student productions no matter what platform of computers your school district is providing.

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Trackstar:

http://trackstar.4teachers.org/ This web site allows you to view/use “tracks” that other teachers have created on a variety of topics, or you can create your own track from scratch. The tracks put together web sites and teacher instructions to guide a students voyage on the net.

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Rubistar:

http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php Need to create a rubric or checksheet for any type of curricular project? This web site allows you to create a rubric either from scratch or from a list of indicators on a variety of topics. I haven’t created a rubric from scratch since someone showed me this web site.

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My Scrabble Tiles:

Using a word processing program (I have used both Word and Appleworks) you can either create scrabble tiles, or use the ones I’ll provide for a simple activity with primary students. Students can work on the computer to “drag” the tiles around to make words or sentences and then they can “total” up the numbers for a math activity.

http://www.geocities.com/~rosella/scrabble/tiles.html

Scrabble Tile Example

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e”Video Clips in Powerpoint:

Use Moviemaker (Windows) or I-Movie (Mac) to create a short video clip and save it as QuickTime. Once you have the movie clip saved as a Quicktime movie you can insert the movie into Powerpoint by simply using: INSERT--> Movie --> From File

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Word Art for 6-Trait Writing:

Many teachers in our district are using the 6-trait model for assessing student writing. Use Word Art in MS Word, to create some “common comments” that you are making on student writing, and save those to a document you can label as “comments.” Open up this document as you are looking at the students “electronic work” (yes, this only works electronically) and simply “drag” the comments from one document to the other.

Example

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Book Review with Amazon:

Use the Amazon web site for viewing book review and have students write their own review (http://www.amazon.com/)

You must have an Amazon Account set-up to complete an on-line review.

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Creating a 10 X 10 image(or 5 x 5) of images that tell a story. Older students could Hyperlink the images to web sites or other pages of information. This can be used for a closure activity, a sharing activity, an introductory activity, etc. For picture sizing: 72 pixels = 1 inch (mac)

http://www.tenbyten.org/10x10.html

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Example of 5 x 5 image in MS Word

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (LZW) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

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IHMC CmapTools:

Free concept mapping software that is available at this web site: http://cmap.ihmc.us/ (available for both mac and windows)

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Comments in MS Word:

Use the “track changes” and comments in MS Word for peer editing on writing projects or for working on group projects to track the changes and comments that students add to a project. In the main menubar: Tools--> Track Changes --> Highlight Changes

Sample Document

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Pics4Learning Web Site:http://www.pics4learning.com

This is a great web site for students looking for pictures for use in their projects. The site not only offers pictures that are categorized by subject, but also has the citation information that can be copied and pasted into the bibliography. Students/teachers may also contribute pictures to this site.

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Lintor Publishing:

This is a great option for publishing student books/writing. If you haven’t seen this product in the past, it is worth a look. The company will send you a sample coverset to try at this web address:

http://www.lintorpublishing.com/main.html

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Use templates/stationery:

If you have a “starter page” that you want students to use and “add information” why not use a stationery/template document that can either be put on a machine or server. This feature is available in Appleworks and MS Word—students open that document and it appears as an untitled document which they must name and then add their information.

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Popular Topics/Hobbies:Take advantage of topics/hobbies that students are interested in. Examples: Baseball cards, scrapbooking, geocaching, etc. Using a “baseball card-like” template, students can create trading cards on explorers, geometric shapes, states, famous Nebraskans, etc. Use Powerpoint to create a “scrapbook like” page where students “scrapbook” the learnings for a unit, the year, etc.

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http://www.thedigitalscoop.com/lessons/5th_scrapbook/scrapbook.html

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Encourage the Use of Digital Pictures:

If you have access to a digital camera, show students how to capture pictures. Once the pictures are taken (remember—you can take pictures of student artwork, writing, drawings, show and share items, etc) put the pictures on your classroom computer or a server for the students to use in their projects. Teach the students categorization, sorting, and organization in organizing student pictures for the year.

Sample 1

Sample 2

Sample 3

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Lifetouch:

Does Lifetouch take your school pictures? If you use the Lifetouch labs (most schools do), did you know that for a small charge they can give you a cd with all of the student pictures on it? This saves a great deal of time scanning in pictures or taking student pictures to use for portfolio work, or “student of the week/month” etc.

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e”Creative Book

Reviews/Book Talks:Create a template on the computer (this can either be a database or a word processing document) that is the size of a bookmark (you can put multiples on one page) and have the students type their book reviews/book talks on the bookmark. Once the bookmark template is filled with the student’s writing, you can print the bookmark on card stock or “bulkier paper” and cut the pieces apart for the students to give the media specialist for “sharing” with other students.

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MS Tables Make Great Bingo Cards:

Use the MS Word Table Feature to create a Bingo Card. You can create these, or simply give the students a word bank (I usually write the words on the board or overhead) and then create a “5 row, 5 column” table. You can decide the set column and row width. Make sure the students use a free space. You can use this as a review item with the parts of speech, Greek mythology, etc.

Example of Bingo Card

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Postcards From School/Letters From

School:This works great in an upper elementary or middle school setting. In an English, typing, or writing class—have the students invite their parents to P-T Conferences by writing them either a short letter or post card of invitation. This not only increases attendance, but also gives you a “springboard” for discussion. (I usually give some “extra credit points” as enticement for bringing the card with them and this helps me keep track of the parents I see)

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Utilize On-Line Tutorials: Many on-line tutorials are available for students and teachers—use them! My favorite is Atomic Learning http://www.atomiclearning.com where you can go through the first few lessons at no charge (this is a pay per use site), along with the ones offered as Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com/education) click on the tutorials link. With most of the hardware and software we purchase I have found that if you go to the web site of the company, you can usually find either a written or on-line tutorial.

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Create a Magazine Cover

Have the students use a word processing or painting program to create a Magazine Cover on a topic that you have just studied. Make sure you have requirements about what should be included: number of pictures, captions that “hint” at the topic that was studied, what is happening in the area of study, etc. Students will have a “fun time” with this and it is a great way to get them to think about and summarize a topic they have studied.

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Tux PaintA free painting program for both Mac and Windows. This program is pretty intuitive and students will have an easy time learning how to use this very simple paint program. It may not be as powerful as Kid Pix Studio or other paint programs but you can’t beat the cost!

http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/tuxpaint/download/

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Numb3rs Math Activites

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Texas Instruments & CBS have teamed up to offer math activities and lessons plans that utilize the popular show “Numb3rs.” The lessons vary from middle school to high school--advanced to very basic.http://www.cbs.com/primetime/numb3rs/ti/activities.shtml

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Create a Blog for Writing

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Free Blog Site: http://www.blogger.com

Three steps and you are blogging

Here is an example I created in 3 minutes: http://pkrambeck.blogspot.com

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Jeopardy PowerPoint Games

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http://www.hardin.k12.ky.us/res_techn/countyjeopardygames.htm

This web site contains downloadable PowerPoint Jeopardy games on a variety of topics and grade levels.

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