Updated August 3, 2012: I’ve been contemplating creating a Facebook page for my class/class blog. There are a lot of positives, but there’s a pretty significant negative. Obviously Facebook is a huge online powerhouse in terms of making connections. A large number of people use it and check it frequently. A class Facebook page would… Continue reading To Facebook or not to Facebook
Category: Technology
My #GTANY Application
A couple of weeks ago while on Twitter, I heard that there is an upcoming Google Teacher Academy in New York this October. I first heard about the Google Teacher Academy (GTA) a couple of years ago, and it sounded like such an amazing opportunity. However, I either thought it was too far away, or… Continue reading My #GTANY Application
Jigsaw 21st Century Style
I like the idea of the jigsaw model for class learning. It sounds great in theory, but I often find it is hard to make it work for practical reasons. This year I had the idea to do something a little bit like a jigsaw but to make it a little more 21st century style.… Continue reading Jigsaw 21st Century Style
Tracking Visitors to our Class Blog
In order to get a better idea of who is visiting our class blog, I use two tools to help me. The first is a widget in the sidebar: Revolver Maps. I really like this one because we are an Earth science class, and so watching the Earth spin in space is pretty appropriate! I… Continue reading Tracking Visitors to our Class Blog
Class Blogging with Students
This post is for activity 5 of the Blogging with Students challenge. I’ll be honest. I am having a really hard time with this one. I know I want to have students contribute to our class blog, but I really have not worked out in what capacity. When the school year started, I thought I… Continue reading Class Blogging with Students
An Epiphany: Student Commenting
Last week, I wondered how I could engage students in commenting on the class blog. Today, I decided to conduct an experiment. We had spent the day in the computer lab doing a variety of activities related to air masses, fronts, weather predictions, and storms. The students seemed to enjoy the activities, but I was… Continue reading An Epiphany: Student Commenting
Engaging Parents
There are several things that I have done or am in the process of doing in order to engage parents in our class web site and student portfolio sites. Promote the class web site. In the past, I have made business cards to share. This year, I purchased 200 MiniCards from Moo. The MiniCards are… Continue reading Engaging Parents