Use as a screen

Since every interactive whiteboard will come with a projector that is either mounted to the ceiling or portable, it can always be used as a straight screen. Often VCR/DVD machines are connected to the computer controlling the interactive whiteboard, and sometimes these are also connected to a school-wide network, allowing for a video or visual program to be broadcast on any room connected. Since there is a computer connected directly to the interactive whiteboard, the teacher can conveniently display anything from the computer onto the screen for the

Technology can be a scary word for a lot of teachers – it often means more work,

longer hours, and a lot of hassle. However, it can also bring engaging lessons, interactive possibilities, and success into the classroom. For those cautiously approaching this new form of technology – relax! This product is easy to adapt to and easy to use.

The interactive whiteboard contains three options for use.

1. Use as a screen

2. Use as a whiteboard

3. Use as an interactive whiteboard

Integrating Interactive Whiteboardsinto the Classroom

By Natalie Paine

continued on Page 2

Table of Contents

Integrating Interactive Whiteboards into the Classroom...............................1

Top 10 Sites for Creating Surveys....................................2

Top 10 Sites for Bookmarking and Annotating............................2

Yes -- Student Blogs Allowed!..................................3

8 Ways Ms. Schoening Used Facebook to Enrich a Primary Classroom........4

Top 10 Sites for Creating Surveys

By David Kapuler

Strutta: Create not just polls, but online contests as well. Strutta allows teachers to moderate all student content before being posted online.

Runpolls: An easy site to use, with a drag and drop interface.

Flisti: A simple poll creator that allows users to share with popular social networks.

Obsurvey: A great site with a wiki-style interface that allows users to create surveys with different styles of questions, such as multiple choice, true or false, and others.

Survey Monkey: One of the best online sites for creating surveys. The free version offers 10 questions per survey, up to 100 responses, and real-time results.

Polldaddy: Similar to Survey Monkey, with a nice user interface.

Vorbeo: An easy-to-use site that lets users embed a poll directly into their blog or Web site.

Text the Mob: Good site to use with a large audience. Allows users to text in their responses via a mobile device. Built-in filtering soon to come, which would be ideal for schools.

Insightify: A great collaborative Web site for creating online surveys.

Yarp: A fun site to use for creating simple surveys that generates a unique URL.

Use as an

interactive whiteboard

Use this product to enhance lessons! When reviewing a website with the class, utilize the pen tools and underline key points. If the class is completing a worksheet, put a blank copy of it on the screen and fill it out. Utilize the interactive whiteboard’s software, and create interactive lessons that allow for student interaction.

The possibilities are truly endless – there are so many options regarding this fantastic and educational product. Just start by picking up a pen tool, and go from there…

class to view – such as websites, PowerPoint presentations, and text documents.

Use as a whiteboard

Any kind of interactive whiteboard will come with some kind of writing software. Specialized colored pen tools and an eraser also accompany these boards, allowing you to write directly on the screen, appearing as writing on a whiteboard. The convenience of using an interactive whiteboard is that the user has the ability to save anything written for future use – something unable to be done through traditional whiteboards.

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Top 10 Sites for Bookmarking

and Annotating by David Kapuler

Annotating and bookmarking are very useful tools for managing information on the web.

Top 10 sites for Bookmarking & Annotating

Diigo: Excellent site for bookmarking and annotating with the ability to create student accounts. Simply the best!

Delicious: Probably the most popular bookmarking site on the web with lots of educators to be found.

iCyte: Similar to Diigo with the ability to annotate and then share or embed into a site.

Rooh.It: A great way to highlight content on the web and then share with others and add comments.

Digg: A popular way to bookmark with the ability to share with others, comment, and even generate a widget for a website.

Trailmeme: An innovative site with a beautiful user interface for annotating web content and generating a unique user interface/path to follow.

Jog the Web: Similar to Trailmeme and very user friendly (nice Web 2.0 jogs to follow).

Pinboard: A very simple site to bookmark without all of the clutter that some of the more popular sites have. Works well with mobile devices.

School Noodle: A great way for teachers to bookmarks sites and then share these resources w/ other educators.

Krunchd: A nice way to take a collection of sites and create one unique URL for all of them.

classroom environment. Students made part of policy building take ownership of the rules, increasing the likelihood of their respecting and following them. Teachers can include a civics lesson about First Amendment cases and recent court rulings regarding student bloggers.

3. Determine the goal of writing the blogs as well as their intended audience, and maintain appropriate security measures toward that aim. Some schools may want students to get a taste of the real world by allowing public access in order to highlight their work and ideas; others may prefer a private setting that protects students and offers a haven in which they can express their thoughts without fearing that their words will live forever. To offer personal security, many schools opt to use first names only and suggest choosing as an avatar a photo of something that represents the student rather than an actual likeness.

4. Connect with other teachers to create interdisciplinary projects, or use the blogs as a teaching lesson in collaboration and constructive criticism. Offer meaningful discussion starters tied into the day’s lesson, but reward out-of-the-box thinkers with incentives to discover related topics that speak to their interests. Reward thoughtful comments as well as original posts.

5. An Apple (or PC) a day keeps the loss of interest away. Create good blogging habits by encouraging daily interaction to promote an active community. The best posts can be cached to add flavor to student e-portfolios.

devices such as Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation, and cell phones—as well as acts as a tool to handle matters affecting students’ lives outside the classroom.

“It is e x t r e m e l y important to give students an outlet to express t h e m s e l v e s and to give their opinions validity. This strengthens s t u d e n t s ’ desire to be part of the l e a r n i n g

process,” says Sanders. “We ask students to express themselves via the blogs as part of the learning cycle. I’ve noticed that the students’ work is now more complete, robust, and thorough, and more often on time.”

How It Works

1. Make accommodations available for all students to ensure access. “Most students have cell phones with Internet access,” says Sanders. Designating time slots and making machines available in the school computer room or library, however, or programming blogging time within the classroom schedule, prevents “The dog ate my blog” excuses and keeps students without home access from being excluded.

2. Create blog policy guidelines within the classroom. By doing so, teachers can also jump-start critical thinking about the responsibilities of publishing online content and what might cause problems within the

The keystroke is mightier than the sword, was the message that social studies teacher Gideon Sanders of Washington, D.C.’s McKinley Technology High School helped send last October. While 200 angry McKinley Tech students took to the streets to protest the loss of 15 of their instructors and counselors after the layoff of 229 D.C. public-school teachers (see video HERE)—and a scuffle with police resulted in the arrest of one student and one adult—11th graders Aaron Kitt and D’Angelo Anderson took to their screens.

The students were introduced to blogging as part of a plan to meet McKinley Tech’s goal of becoming the highest-performing school in the nation by 2013. Sanders, an advocate for hands-on learning, uses the it’s learning individualized-learning-platform blogging forum as a regular outlet for his students’ thoughts and insights about their daily work. This addition to the usual roster of resources pumps relevance into his classroom lessons—the platform is accessible via 3

Yes -- Student Blogs Allowed!

by Sascha Zuger

8 Ways Ms. Schoening Used Facebook to Enrich a Primary Classroom

By Lisa Nielsenwith the teacher , students or classroom. Sometimes it was the teacher communicating, but other times, it was the student who had an important message they wanted to share with a parent, like, “Mom. I just lost my tooth!”

Use Videos to Share Tips, Advice, and Lessons to Parents and Students

Ms. Schoening is excited to begin using video on Facebook to extend learning and connection beyond the classroom. How do you move your child from a beginning level reader to intermediate? How can you extend science learning at home? Ms. Schoening can make a video to share with parents and students that they can view together at home.

Connecting with Other Classes

When Ms. Schoening began this project, the word began spreading and other teachers wanted to follow suit. She helped other teachers in her district get going, and those classes became friends. As a result of this collaborations could now easily occur across schools and classes.

Why Facebook?

Facebook serves as a one stop shop that more than half the parents were using already. With a ready-made audience that included most of the student’s parents, they were able to get going today on something without support. For the rest of the parents, guess what? The students could help them get going, or...they could learn how to connect on Facebook on Parent/Teacher night.

about how they can support the class during the trip.

Using Facebook Notes as an Easy Way to Update Parents and Families

Facebook Notes provide a terrific way to update parents and families of important notifications in the classroom. You may want to share a new school or class policy. You may want to inform parents of school closing due to inclement weather. The nice thing about notes is that you can tag many parents so they get a notification in their email account and...they can comment sharing thoughts, ideas, and questions.

Using Facebook Notes for Students to Share Writing

Next year Ms.Schoening plans to use the “notes” feature for students to publish their work. She might consider having tagged classmates, students from other classes, and/or parents comment on one another’s work and give some valuable authentic feedback by “liking” work with which they really connected.

Having Private Communication with Parents and Families

Ms.Schoening discovered that for many Facebook was the most effective way to communicate with student’s parents was Facebook. Many parents found this a great way to communicate and enjoyed that they didn’t have to log on to something else to connect

Providing parents and families a window to the classroom

About four times a day, student reporters update their Facebook page on something interesting that has occurred in the classroom and the teacher often comments on these updates with suggestions of things families can talk with students about at home. Additionally, families can comment right on the class page, providing advice, inspiration, and expertise to the students.

Celebrating student work

The class teacher can easily share student work by taking pictures of it and placing it into albums around the unit of study. Families can comment on the work of their students and under the supervision of their parent’s or teacher they can comment on one another’s work too!

Sharing events and announcements

The events section made it very easy to share celebrations, upcoming events and other activities with parents and families. It also allowed those invited to see who else was coming, and comment, and plan and converse. Another great use is for field trips. Organize the trips here. Know which parents can attend. Have conversations 4