Easier Scheduling for Parent-Teacher Conferences

Three of our blog readers recommend programs they've developed/and or they recommend to help teachers and school administrators with parent-teacher conference scheduling. Parent Locker offers parent-teacher scheduling plus tools such as gradebooks, photo albums, calendars, chat, and more. PTCWizard, which concentrates upon scheduling only, does PT scheduling and team scheduling. PTConference handles Parent-Teacher conference scheduling and provides a method of distributing information to parents. If you are looking for parent-teacher conference software or online scheduling programs, you'll want to investigate these three products to see if they will help you take the drudgery out of scheduling conferences.

Keeping Up with Tech by Watching Videos

As educators we hear so much about tools and sites we can use, but often time to learn everything we want to learn isn't available. We go to conventions and workshops, and think, "I'm going to master that" but we don't get around to it. One way to keep up is to try some of the free educational videos online that describe some of things you want to learn. Perhaps you are interested in developing online surveys, using Podcasts in your classroom, investigating Second Life, creating blogs, or using Delicious, Blackboard, Flash, PhotoShop or.... ? Russell Stannard, who writes about the Web and multimedia, offers a series of free videos to help you tackle the topics you've not found time for. If you are interested in ELT/ESL teaching videos, you'll also find a number of useful ones on the Stannard site.

New York Tri-State Area Educators! Free Day of Discovery

Looking for creative ways to use technologies in your classroom? Join in the free Day of Discovery on August 12, 2008 (8:30 a.m.-4:15 p.m. with lunch and refreshments) when Cablevision's Power to Learn and Discovery Education team to present a technology-infused full day of professional development and digital learning. The event will be held at Cablevision's Corporate Headquarters, 1111 Stewart Avenue, Bethpage, NY 11714. RSVP as soon as possible because seating is limited. Discovery's STAR educators will demonstrate how they use digital media in their classrooms, and there will be a sneak preview of Discovery Channel's Expeditions with Josh Bernstein, sessions featuring Web 2.0, Digital Natives, and much more.

A New Planet: The World's Largest Whiteboard Community

 
If you use an interactive white board in your classroom or are hoping to get one, Promethean Planet is the perfect place to visit. It's packed with teacher features ready to put to work. -And if you have some great whiteboard lessons to share, you might just win an iPod. You must be a member to download materials from Promethian, but registration is free. Just sign up to upload your best lessons and download flipchart lessons, resource packs, Weblinks, best practice suggestions, tips and tricks, and other resources developed especially for Promethian Planet.  Already with about 150,000 members worldwide, this site that's received recognition for its innovative pedagogy, is a perfect way to expand ideas for use of interactive whiteboards in your classroom. Check out the July theme: "Sports and Olympics"-there's a new theme each month that will keep you up-to-date in the latest ideas to make your whiteboard lessons dynamically interactive, not simply a display of content.

Buy a Whiteboard: Get a Student Response System

Turning Technologies LLC is bundling student response systems with its mimeo® interactive whiteboard solutions. The two products complement each other and enable you to get students more involved in learning. Response systems are fun for your students and help you gain a better understanding of how your lessons are going and if your students are mastering the concepts presented. Think of the excitement that these two technologies could bring to interactive lessons! Turning Technologies LLC also offers a grant program for K-12 where teachers can apply to for a student response system grant.

Momentum in Online Learning

More schools and students are turning to online learning according to the findings in Learning in the 21^st Century: A Trends Update survey of over 250,000 students, teachers and parents. The percentage (41%) of students agreeing that "online classes will have the greatest positive impact on their learning" doubled from the percentage in a 2006 survey. Twenty-six percent of teachers now say that online learning is their favorite teaching method. In the previous survey, it was 7%. Eighty-eight percent of the school administrators surveyed held that the effective implementation of tech was "core to their mission." Although everyone's not rushing to online learning just yet, it's evident that online learning is becoming a valuable resource for enhancing classroom instruction, providing additional help for students, and providing coursework that is not available in a local school. It's interesting that only about one-third of the students suggested that more time with Web 2.0 technologies-blogs, social networking, wikis, etc. be put to use in classrooms. Do you wonder what that percentage will be in the next survey?

In2books: Free Materials for Title I Classrooms

Both The Reading Teacher and Phi Delta Kappan praise In2books for its emphasis upon engaging reading and writing instruction. The program teams students with adult pen pals, who read the same books and discuss them through email. The adults serve as "intellectual mentors and friends, giving their students insights into how adults think about books, express ideas, and have successful careers and relationships." Books used in the program are selected by a committee of children's literature experts, which looks for books that can be read independently, stimulate discussion, increase cultural sensitivity, provide role models, teach problem-solving skills, etc. A video about the program describes why In2books works. This e-mentoring program sponsored by ePals is free for Grades 3-5 Title I classrooms.

Not the Whole Video!

For years teachers have been hearing, "Don't play the entire video. Play the parts that fit your lesson." That, of course, is easier said than done. Sometimes it's just not all that easy to find the part of a video that is just right for your lesson. Discovery Education Streaming Video makes it easy. Let's say you want to have a discussion on the problems of teenage driving with your students. If your school subscribes to Discovery Streaming, then you might want to use the video Drive It Right, which is divided into clips such as Drinking and Driving, Speeding, The Teenage Brain, etc. Just click on the clip you want and up it comes to your computer screen in Window Media or QuickTime. -Or maybe you want to explain to your Grade 4 students about perimeter, circumference, and area? You might select one of the math clips in Discovering Math: Measurement (Grades 3-5), and your students will learn how to calculate the circumference of a Frisbee. Besides the videos and clips that kids can watch, there are over a thousand editable clips available for your students to enhance.

When the Sun is Lavender-ish

Spaceweather.com is a great place to keep up with earth and space science and with current events and related history. For example, when the sun seems purple, it probably means that the air is filled with smoke particles from fires or volcanoes. Spaceweather (July 6, 2008) shows a picture of the sun, which was taken in Southern California. The sky looks purple and the sun pink. Blue moons, brown skies, and lavender suns were seen back in 1950 and were caused by fires in Alberta, Canada. The strange colors occurred as far away as England. Your students will enjoy exploring reasons for the different colors and why people report flying saucers during such occurrences. Photos of the many fires in California can be accessed at the sbcfire site.

A Really Easy-to-Use Database: Bento to the Rescue

If you are using Mac OS X Leopard, you'll certainly want to take a look at Bento. It's a personal database with an iTunes-like interface. When you load it onto your computer, it automatically enters your address book and calendar information into its database. Those who have used FileMaker will find Bento much less complicated. That's because it's designed for you. It comes with 20 ready-to-use templates to help you get organized with just about any type of project. Besides working on your computer, it can be used with iPhone and .Mac through the Address Book and iCal. Your information can be displayed in a number of ways such as spreadsheet format or form format. Why not take a tour of Bento or watch the video to see if this product is for you? For less than $50, it looks like a great way for us educators, without much spare time, to get organized.