- Storyworks Magazine Online: Oh how I love my Storyworks. Not only is this a great periodical with a mix of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction, but they have branched out to include amazing online resources for teachers. An example was in last months issue they had a play called "Medusa's Head." Instead of just reading the play and responding to questions the site provided us with another amazing learning experience. They created a video called "Medusa's Perspective," which allowed the readers to see the same story from the perspective of the villain It allowed us to have a great discussion on how different points of view can change our outlook on a situation, but it was also a great visual tool for the students to really see how Medusa can be seen in the wrong light. They were then able to compare and contrast the video to the play, which helped to deepen their thinking. My whole team raved about this experience in their own classrooms as well. Having the site attached to the magazine with pre-created worksheets, activities, and videos is such an amazing resource that doesn't create more work and planning for the teacher!
- Pintrest: I finally bit the bullet and was introduced to the world of Pintrest. While great for recipes and fashion trends, the best feature of this website was its educational resources. Not only are there there chart ideas and inspiration quotes, but they really do have things to inspire you in every area of study. I love being able to look at something another teacher has already done that is tried and true and be able to easily reproduce it myself. I also like that it is another way for me to connect to my colleagues. One of my co-workers did the class on a Friday afterschool as an introduction for all of us newbies. This only took 30 minutes and we were able to play and create on our own. We are also given the opportunity to "follow" our teammates and see what they are working on and creating as well. I also liked the fact that I could create a personal account and a school account. This will allow me to stay school focused on my school account and will let me get recipe and fashion happy on my personal account. I have already found some awesome ideas that I can use for upcoming reading units of study and I can't wait to see what else is out there once I have more time to explore.
A random thought also came to my mind today when discussing parent involvement in technology use. I am wanting to maybe create a "Parent University" centered around technology that would allow interested parents to come and learn about some of the tech we use in the classrooms. We could show parents how to log onto their child's Google account so that they can access work at home and learn how to work some of it themselves. I feel like if we are all speaking the same "tech" language it might help parents to support their learning at home as well. This could also be something where parents could share what they are interested in learning and we could branch out from there. I will keep you posted on how this develops, because if we have success with it it might be something other schools could try as well (or are maybe already even trying). We could then share resources so that no one has to do extra work :) Just a random thought to end my technology filled day!
