Connecting Teachers with Online Resources

To add to recent posts about resources, here are some links to connect teachers to online resources that will help them in their quest to integrate technology into the classroom.

Paper Blog – this lesson has students blog using sticky notes. It helps to scaffold student understanding of the difference between academic and social blogging and about online safety, netiquette, and commenting guidelines before students move to the online version. I love this idea.

In Plain English - On our last PA Day, the system principal of information services shared the In Plain English videos on blogs, wikis and googledocs with English and Canadian World Studies teachers. If you have wondered about blogs, wikis and googledocs or struggle to explain them to your students, these short, entertaining videos created by Common Craft and posted on YouTube will help.

Twitter - In The Open Classroom, Jo McLeay from Melbourne Australia, lists a variety of links about using Twitter in the classroom.

Appropriate Online Presence - Do your students use Facebook? This article, entitled Three Rules for Stalking Potential Employees on Facebook, might be a revelation for students who don’t think about how they present themselves online. Will Richardson would argue that it is our responsibility as educators to teach students how to maintain an appropriate online 'presence'.

In my November 30th blog I wrote about teachers wanting hands-on time to learn how to use technology in the classroom and on the December 5th PA day, many teachers received valuable PD about Web 2.0 tools, software and SMARTboards. More importantly, they had time to do what their students do with technology – experiment. The conversation shouldn’t end here, however. If you want some hands-on time to work with an IT trainer, Avon Maitland teachers can arrange a visit from a trainer who specializes in Web 2.0 applications. She will spend some time with a small group of teachers, or even one-on-one. You can use the system tech help on FirstClass to make this request or, if you would like more information, contact me at kimmcgi@fc.amdsb.ca