Assignment #2

The topic areas I chose to bundle are:
-Classroom Management
-Differentiation
-SMARTBoard Activities
-Technology in the Classroom

First, I thought classroom management would be a good bundle because it's something that I will need help with throughout my career. I thought it would be nice to have a few resources at my fingertips before I even start. To look at the sites I found which could be useful for gaining information on classroom management, follow this link :

http://delicious.com/neanaroo_hehe/bundle:Classroom%20Management

Differentiation seems to be a new buzz word that I'm hearing frequently in my Ed. classes. I'm just starting to become familiar with its meaning and how it will affect me and such, so I thought it would be helpful to find some websites that helped me learn more.

http://delicious.com/neanaroo_hehe/bundle:Differentiation

Although I haven't had much of an opportunity to use a SMARTBoard, my mind is blown away by all the possibilities I've discovered. Knowing that I could have one in my class someday makes me super excited and so I love looking for lessons that can be taught using a SMARTBoard. I was able to find quite a few sites, but because I don't have the SMART program on my computer, I couldn't really play with them, so I don't know how good the lessons are.

http://delicious.com/neanaroo_hehe/bundle:SMARTBoard%20Activities

Last, I thought it was befitting to have a Technology in the Classroom bundle for my Technology in Education blog. The sites I found all give either ways technology can be used, why it's important to incorporate technology in a classroom, or useful gadgets.

http://delicious.com/neanaroo_hehe/bundle:Technology%20in%20the%20Classroom

A few of my favorite sites I discovered are fairly general teaching sites. They cover a wide variety of topics and seem relevant. One site that I sent to the class del.icio.us account is an absolute incredible looking teaching program called K to the 8th Power. It incorporates state performance expectations in various subjects with learning new technology. I would encourage everyone to watch the demo; it highlights all the features for the both students and teachers. http://www.kto8.com/se/?gclid=CMOLl-S8p5YCFQM-gwodmx94zA Another good site I found which is fairly general and encompasses a lot of teaching tools is http://www.4teachers.org/ I liked this site because it's one stop shopping for a teacher! On this site you can kind lesson plans, hints for classroom management, technology tools, teaching strategies, tutorials, assessment, etc. A third site I really liked was http://www.suite101.com/educationandcareer/ This is actually a magazine that covers a variety of topics, but I liked it because it is a magazine, it's all new information. The site is continually being updated with relevant information. So, for example, right now I can learn more about homeschooling and behavior modification, but in the next issue, I could gain some information regarding school lunches or computers. Finally, http://www.teachersfirst.com/index.cfm is an incredibly helpful site. I think this one is especially nice because it was created and is maintained by teachers, thus, how much more relevant could you get? My favorite part is the features sites area. The featured sites are links that the TeachersFirst people think would be helpful. The featured sites are updated weekly. There is also a forum that teachers can join to share thoughts and ideas and respond to a posted weekly question.

I think a del.icio.us account can be useful for teachers because it's an easy way to share helpful ideas. I think it would be really nice in a large public school setting where you have several teachers for one grade. It would be an easy way to share lesson ideas so everyone could be on the same page. In a classroom, I could see a del.icio.us account being a fun way of incorporating technology into a group research project. Students could be doing independent research, but still keeping tabs on what the other kids in the group are discovering.