Technology Tips for the Classroom Teacher!

• Be interested
• Put the students first in your classroom
• Use the technology as a tool
• Don't be afraid
• Know that there is help
• Keep an open mind
• Have a vision for the future

What can one do with a computer?

One of the biggest assets to a computer is the communication capability.

If it has the capability to email, you can do lots.

• Email those lesson plans to your principal or yourself at school.
• Email those favorite sites that you find at home and want to locate for your students while at school.
• If the filter is keeping you out of a site that you really need, try emailing it to yourself. This works about 50% of the time.
• Email lessons from teacher to teacher for great collaboration. A friend of mine and myself email ideas for our web site back and forth.
• Email your student's work to your home or school computer so you can correct it as you have time. When finished, email it back to them. I promise that they will read this one!
• When absent, email a sound wave that tells your students that you are interested. Have the substitute play it during class. The kids love it! Send along a fact that you want them to remember. It works well!
• Email a PowerPoint presentation to your school that you've been working on from home. It may be too big for a floppy, but it will probably go by email.
• Email a plea for help or information to other teachers, parents, businesses, or experts.
• Email for documentation. Get it in writing.
• Find a friend or a relative.

Communication other than email:

• AOL (This real time instant messenger allows real time conversation.) I've used this to collaborate projects with other teachers in other states.
• Public messenger boards such as the one on the HMS Webpage.
• Private messenger boards such as one in Delphi.

Don't use Computer Communication for

• bad news
• private discussions
• spamming

Classroom computers are great for teaching to every student. There's something for everybody. It caters to every learning modality.

• Enlarge the print for those that have difficulty seeing.
• Some students will profit from enabling the sound options.
• The computer will allow drill and practice.
• The computer with Internet access will open up the world to students. The computer allows virtual field trips, seeing through quickcams, visiting with people from all over the world, quick access to all and any information.
• Computers are motivational and flexible. It can provide remedial work or enrichment. It can be adapted to independent work or group work. You can lecture or facilitate from the computer.
• Teachers can "work smarter and not harder" using the computer. Find worksheets and lessons that others have already found successful.
• Speech activated software. Great for those students unable to put words on paper.
• Use the Bablefish software to translate into different languages. The language you need may not be there, then order the available bidirectional software.

Other uses:

• Multimedia (Students can create beautiful presentations and teachers can create classroom outlines.) *Think about a CD Writer to transform these into permanent lesson plans.
• Web Page construction can again provide a motivational media for students to practice and learn or it can provide teachers a way to organize their plans. The best thing about web page construction is it allows you to share information with other teachers.
• Documentation/grades/graphs/word processing/etc.
• Free stuff and money! I have received software, money, mugs, music CD's, and cheap merchandise by surfing in the right places at the right time.

How do I learn?

• Tech Center Classes
• College Classes
• Professional Development
• Jump in there and swim
• Read, Read, Read
• Share with others
• Talk with others on the Net
• Visit the Renaissance Center
• Visit your computer store or computer show
• Help someone else

 

What can you find on the Internet?

• Lesson Plans
• Project Organizing
• Curriculum Guides
• Technology Plans
• Research
• Standards and Assessment
• Tools for Collaboration
• As a tool for Problem Solving

What Projects Can I Do Using Computers? Here's a few of the many:

• Allow students to write a biographical sketch, a fictional newspaper article, a research essay, or you, the teacher, give the student a disk with an informational article saved on it. Now tell the student to color code the text by highlighting different types facts (i.e. the how facts will be blue, the why facts should be red, and the when facts will be yellow.) Students begin to "see" the make up of paragraphs this way.
• A variation of the above would be to color code the topic sentence, details, and conclusion of a paragraph.
• Have the student read a book and then design a cover for the book in Paint. It can then be saved as wallpaper to highlight a great book. If you have only one computer, take turns and then have a contest for the book cover to highlight or change each day.
• Use PowerPoint and put your research and/or creativity into a presentation.
• Students can design a WebPage.
• Tell the students to alternate bringing in "hard to answer" questions that can be looked up on the Internet. Use your "extra time" to draw out a question and ask the search to find the answer.
• Use the Internet to give more information about a subject that you are studying in class. Example: one of my English pages has sentences that relate to butterflies. We looked up "tagging a butterfly" and it was so motivational!
• Send email when your absent and let the substitute read it aloud. Better yet, send a sound file.
• Use computers for penpals or epals.
• Do cooperative projects with people across the country.
• Do some cooperative teaching with teachers across the state. One year another English teacher and I used AOL instant messenger to meet on the Net and collaborate our projects. It was a great year, students learned, and we were great moral support for each other. We also shared some of our own forms and tests by sending those snail mail and email.
• If you're at home sick and can't move otherwise, tell the sub to sit the discipline problem at the computer with email and your home address. Take the time to teach from home. It will keep the discipline problem occupied and learning.
• Do WebQuests.
• Get involved with a web project. (Owney, Kit and Katboodle, or HP Mentoring)
• Take a virtual field trip.
• Send someone a thank you card.
• Use your software for drill and practice.
• Let the student type the spelling words for the week. (You'll have a neatly typed copy.)

If you have other computer tips that we can add to this list, please email those to

norrisb@ten-nash.ten.k12.tn.us