a techno Teamann tip

First, I came across via Twitter (8Amber8) a this list of iPhone apps for education. This may be for you and your personal phone, or for your students if you have an iTouch center in your classroom. I know my daughter loves to “play” on my phone so some of these will be much more beneficial for her than the Pacman I installed, 🙂

Second, in this months “Tech and Learning” magazine, I came across a GREAT web 2.0 idea. An idea I think is so profound I will be adding it to my Techno Infusion class we’ll be offering at the Tech center this semester. As an alternative to writing a book report, what if you had your students go to Amazon.com and review the books there? Give them several guidelines, show them some good examples, but then let them review the book in a way that will actually help others as opposed to earn just a grade. I know that my former 4th graders would have LOVED to do something like this and would have given it much more of their attention, knowing it was for the big wide world to see. If that terrifies you, do you have a blog? Let them be guest posters and write a book review blog, encouraging other students to read a certain book and why.

Since I mentioned blogs, I’ll also mention that we are having gBlog classes at the technology center ONCE a month for the rest of the school year. If these fill up, we’ll offer more. A blog is a great communication & learning tool that can seamlessly correlate with whatever subject or grade level that you teach. My daughter was blogging in the first grade and I do have a kindergarten teacher that blogs as well. I know that this is TAKS season and that you already have a ton of to-do’s on your list. Consider coming to the class and let me show you how easy a blog can be and how much it can add to your classroom!

my blog-y best,
Amber