Is It Too Crowded Around Your Science Demo Computer?

Venier, the company with all those wonderful science probes/probeware now offers free emulation software so that experiments can be projected to interactive whiteboards or to classroom projection screens. Your whole class or class groups won't have to gather around a handheld device or computer to check out results. Besides providing for projecting, the software offers the ability to take screenshots and collect data. The emulator is designed to go with LabQuest handhelds and when connected to a computer, can detect more than 50 sensors attached to the handheld. If you don't have LabQuest handhelds in your school, you might want to download the software to explore the demo of what this product and this software can do. You'll be able to bring up Boyle's law, ball toss, and titration experiments. If you have LabQuest and want the ability to project your work, download this Windows only software

Studywiz Spark and ePals: Now a Team

Those schools subscribing to Studywiz Spark worldwide, a dynamic learning space for K-12, will be working with ePals to provide global experiences through collaborative projects. The alliance between Studywiz Spark and ePals was announced this summer is designed to use the assets of both companies to get students involved in 21^st century skills. ePals, a popular site connecting students in over 200 countries and territories, also partners with National Geographic, which supplies educational content for ePals learning projects.

Media Literacy Learning with Pizzazz

The New Mexico Literacy Project is fun to explore, and most likely, fun for kids, too. It features media images and sound from magazines, radio, newspapers, and television commercials, and encourages kids to deconstruct them by taking a good look and/or listen to what an advertisement is really saying. The program offers a Media Literacy Toolbox DVD_ROM ($99) packed with advertisements, printable activities, and instruction guides; a Media & Body Image DVD-ROM ($49), which tackles ads featuring gender, anti-aging, beauty, plastic surgery, weight, and diets; and free materials about smoking. Students can submit their deconstruction of ads to the site. Take a look at the 2007 winning essays in the Bad Ad competition, which deconstructed ads for jeans, water, and automobiles. Even if you don't want to order the New Mexico Literacy Project materials, you'll get lots of media literacy lesson ideas from this site.

Getting Help with Classroom Needs

As of July 14, 2008, over 70,000 donors had already contributed to over 55,000 classroom projects that were listed on DonorsChoose.org. The site concept came from a school in the Bronx in 2000 and has grown to include schools nationwide. In 2007, for example, over $8 million was contributed to schools listed on the site. If you are a public school teacher who needs help to fund a classroom project, you can sign up and list your project. Eligible resources include just about anything (i.e. books, tuition for after-school sessions, copy machines) that will help students and does not foster discrimination or proselytize a religious or political viewpoint. Once your proposal is online, it's available for donors to preview and contribute. Teachers and students often promote their own project by spreading the word about the request to those in their community and beyond.

Best Buy 2008-2009 Awards

Best Buy supports K-12 schools in the United States and Puerto Rico by encouraging integrated interactive technology to engage students and make learning fun. In this effort, Best Buy offers awards to teachers who submit creative ideas, which relate directly to kids and tech in the curriculum, not to administrative uses of technologies or teaching kids to use technologies. Applications must be submitted online by 11:59 p.m. Eastern DST, October 12, 2008. Awards will be announced on March 2, 2009 in the Tech Awards section of the Best Buy site. Awards generally range between $1,000 to $5000, but $10,000 will be awarded to up to 15 applications supporting 9th Grade programs.

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.