Best+Practices+for+Lesson+Ideas


 * SMART Board -** []

One of the activities I enjoy doing the most on the SMART Board is Making Words. Students are given a number of letters on the board. Then they have to try to come up with as many words as possible that they can make those letters into. Students are able to move the letters around the SMART Board freely. Once students have created a word, they write it down on the board. I do this activity as a center. Once the group is done, they move onto a duplicated slide that starts the next group off fresh. We can go back and look at these once we pull the students back together.


 * Document Camera -** []

I enjoy using a document camera within a math setting the most. With the document camera, students can place a piece of work underneath the camera, which is displayed on a projector. Instead of having students show what they have done on a whiteboard which can take a lot of time to transfer from their own paper, students can display their paper on the projector. They can point out and explain what they did. This tool helps students share their work with peers.


 * iPad -** []

I have used this software to record Readers Theatre with my students. Students work on a script with a small group over the course of a week. At the end of the week, I have the students circle around the iPad and record their script on an audio recorder app. The next step I would like to do is to do video recording with Readers Theatre as well. Students will take turns videotaping themselves as they say their lines. The students will do this with a teleprompter app, so they don't have to look down at a paper when they read their lines.

iPod - []

I would like to get my hands on a few iPods for one of my reading centers. In Daily 5, there is a station where students can listen to a reading. I could have a wide variety of books on these iPods that students could pick from. Using the iPod to listen to the audio as they follow along with their own copy of the books, students get the experience of listening to someone who readers fluidly.


 * Kindle -** []

I would really like it if all my students had one of these! It would be especially helpful in our building as we use the Accelerated Reader program. There are many students that go through books so quickly and need to find another book at the library. Students could select a new book from my computer in the classroom. If we had the ability to purchase the latest version of the Kindle, students would be able to take their AR tests through our school's website as soon as they were done.


 * Blogs**

In one of my centers, I have students journal. I like to try to look at these as often as I can, but it's becomes a pain to lug around 24 notebooks back and forth from home. One thing I would like to try with my students during this journal time is to have them work on a password protected blog. Students could respond to the questions I post on a daily basis on their blog, or they could do some free-writing. Students could even access their blogs at home to show family and friends.


 * Google Docs -** []

If students are working on a presentation for class, they could put it together as a Google document. This way, students don't have to worry about trying to transfer from home, school, computer lab, etc. If the teacher has access, this also could give the teacher an opportunity to check up on student work before the due date. If one student doesn't seem to be making much progress, the teacher can intervene appropriately.


 * SMART Response -** []

This tool can be used in the classroom as a way to conduct formative and summative assessments. Teachers can create preset questions within the SMART software and students punch their answers into the remotes. You can assign students an ID, so you can tell which answers came from who. You could also choose to keep all answers anonymous. The best part of this technology is that it gives you a response immediately.


 * Google Earth -** []

4th grade students in my building have to complete Daily Geography on a weekly basis. The students have a set of questions each week that they have to answer and turn in by Friday. This weekly activity would be good to use with Google Earth. Students could use pushpins to highlight the locations that they are meant to find. This is a more interactive tool than just opening up a world atlas.


 * Wikispaces -** http://www.wikispaces.com/

This would have been a great tool to use in my science class. I split the class into three different groups that each focused on one of the three types of rocks (igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary). I could have developed a wiki for each and had students find information and post on the wiki. Students could post any video or pictures that they could find as well to help share what they have learned with their fellow students.

Professional Development Report Best Practices for Lesson Ideas Technology Integration Resources Emerging Technology Research and Paper Create a Professional Development Plan Misc Section

Home