25 Free Resources from Discovery Education 1. New Teacher Survival Central – http://www.discoveryeducation.com/survival/index.cfm 2. Curiosity – explore and learn a variety of topics – http://curiosity.discovery.com/ 3. Clip Art Gallery – free clip art – http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart/?pID=clipart 4. Energy Balance 101 – get and keep students healthy – http://energybalance101.com/ 5. The Road Ahead – energy lessons and [...]
Discovery Education’s Discovery Educator Network runs a variety of professional development sessions each year. These are usually online sessions with live meet-ups also planned. For this Spring, they are doing something different instead of the normal Spring Virtual Conference. The DEN is partnering with Classroom 2.0 to present the Social Learning Summit. Steve Hargadon, of Classroom 2.0, [...]
This “what makes a good teacher” created by a group of high school students. treat students with respect be enthusiastic know your stuff be available for extra help use multimedia resources and multiple resources for students connect with students/ form relationships interact with students- outside school activities, talk about their personal lives real life connections [...]
Google has announced that Google Docs are now included in Hangouts on Google Plus. When in a Hangout, you just click on the new “Docs” button and you can add an existing document, upload a new one, and switch between and collaboratively edit multiple documents at once. This is another great feature of Google+ [...]
Business and Manufacturing Practices in Education. It’s not a new idea, but I’m not talking about treating students like a product. I’m talking about some business and manufacturing processes that can help with other aspects of education. I’ve written about this before, but covering different ideas. United Technologies Corporation has a quality program called [...]
TodaysMeet is a free service that allows you to create a back channel for your meeting, class, or presentation. You name it, create the hash tag (for Twitter) and select how long you want it to be kept before being deleted, and you are all set. You can also export/archive the conversation. It is [...]
LearnBoost is an online grade book and lesson planner that is available for free to educators. It has a grade book, lesson planner, attendance, reporting and calendar. It is easy to use, visually appealing, and you can share information with students and parents. The lesson planner is integrated with state standards and you [...]
I have always thought that games made an excellent learning tool when done right, with the right support by the teacher. Many video games teach students actual content knowledge, but most of them teach critical thinking and problem solving techniques. Research has shown that video games are effective as learning tools and many companies [...]
Google has just announced Google Play. Google Play will combine the Android Market, Google Music and the Google eBookstore. Google is describing Google Play as a “digital entertainment destination” combining apps, games, movies, music and books into one place. All of your musics, movies, books and apps are stored online, always available on any device through Google Play. Google [...]
Professional development is an important part of education and educator’s professional learning. Unfortunately, professional development is not always planned or delivered well, or is not relevant to the staff. Here are some tips for planning professional development: 1. Develop a professional development committee to plan and coordinate. 2. Demonstrate examples of classroom technology [...]
A colleague asked if I could put together a list of some great Android apps for education and some great Android resources for a presentation he is doing on the Kindle Fire. Here’s what I came up with: Great Android Apps for Education and Resources for Android Comparison to iPad Every app I want or [...]
Adobe announces the availability of Adobe Photoshop Touch for the iPad2. Photoshop is the premiere, industry standard, for photo editing and effects and having it available for the iPad expands it’s usability. The Android version of Adobe Photoshop Touch, along with other Adobe Touch Apps, was launched on Android back in November 2011. Photoshop Touch brings core Photoshop [...]
Discovery Education has a lot of great resources for educators, many free (over 30). They also have fee-based services such as DE Streaming with thousands of videos, audio files, images, lesson plans, and much more. One of their other resources that I have been using lately is the Discovery Education Science Techbook. The Discovery Education Science [...]
DonorsChoose is an awesome site, created by former educators, that allows educators to create a project idea, select the materials and equipment needed, and get funding for those supplies. The teacher fills out the project format and selects materials and then DonorsChoose does the rest. Donors go to the site (and the site is advertised) [...]
Vonage announces iPhone and Android apps that allow you to call and text message other Vonage Mobile app users for free, worldwide, on iPhone and Android. You can also call any phone number in over 200 different countries at discounted rates. You can even purchase calling credits through iTunes or Android market accounts. Calls will work over WiFi, [...]
Last month, I wrote “10 Important Skills Students Need for the Future.” After reading a few articles about specific tech skills, I thought I write what I think are the 10 Important Tech Skills Students Need. 1. Internet Search - students need to know how to do a proper internet search, using search terms and modifiers. This [...]
NASA Educational Standards Quilts are a quick and easy way to find free NASA educational resources that align to National Math and Science Standards. The materials are available online for download and print, or you can order copies. The site starts with a menu of 5 quilts: Space Science, Mathematics, California Science, Girl Scouts, and More [...]
Top 3 This week I’ve had two colleagues and three or 4 students ask me what technology apps and services I use the most or can’t live without. The reason was that they were looking to get started using some new things and wanted to pick a couple that they could learn and [...]
Edudemic has a great article entitled “The Must-Have Guide To Helping Technophobic Teachers”. It explores ways to help non-tech savvy teachers get started using educational technology to improve teaching and learning. It has some great tips and points. Over 2 years ago, I wrote an article entitled “Getting Started with Educational Technology” that also offered tips and [...]
Both Jane and David have done a great job of highlighting features of the wonderful gathering of educators at the Mark Twain House Visitor Center this past Saturday. I am so grateful for them sharing their notes, summary comments, and links to the archived presentations. One of the highlights for me was being privileged to [...]
The 3rd Annual DEN SCIcon was held this past Saturday, January 28th. The DEN SCIcon provides participants with effective strategies for transforming science classes through effective integration of digital media content. The conference was broadcast live and online so many people joined in from home. There were also in-person events around the country, hosted by [...]
I’ve been sitting in the Mark Twain House Museum classroom for the day soaking up the DEN SCIcon virtual conference events. I’m sharing the room with about 35 educators from around Connecticut as well as Patti Duncan, STAR Discovery Educator and member of the DEN Team. It’s been a productive and worthwhile day with all [...]
by David Andrade Top 3 This week I’ve had two colleagues and three or 4 students ask me what technology apps and services I use the most or can’t live without. The reason was that they were looking to get started using some new things and wanted to pick a couple that they [...]
by David Andrade What I think students should have in their school bag (high school and college) as essential materials. 1. Laptop or Tablet and charger – depends on student needs, school policies, etc. 2. Notetaking app - Evernote, Simplenote, etc. 3. Cloud file service - ok, not in bag, but a must have to backup [...]
By David Andrade I’m a physics teacher, so I don’t need to carry much to and from school (I have everything in the cloud). I only carry my smart phone (Droid Incredible 2) with me. Everything else is synced through Dropbox between my home and school computers. At school, if I am going [...]
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