Tech Tuesday for 9/14

I hope everyone is having a great week so far. Here are some great ideas and tech tools for your considerations.

Learning to Blog Using Paper

This is a great project for younger students if you are considering blogging in your class. By using regular sheets of paper, students learn how to "post" items and "comment" on blogs. It's a very fun and simple idea that the kids will love. I think it is very important to start thinking about blogging in the younger grades because they will need to know how to do this as they get older. Teaching them how to do it know, will save them stress later on. Thanks to McTeach for sharing.

10 Great Ways to Use Your Document Camera

Here is another great post from Mr. Zimmer. He has some interesting ideas for using the Document Camera in the classroom. The one that stood out to me was turning the head of the camera towards the class and using it as a recorder for presentations. Great idea! Look at some of the other ideas he has on his blog.

Braingle

A cool site passed along by Mr. Zimmer that provides various brain teasers, riddles and logic puzzles. This could be a really fun way to start or end a class. There are many different categories to choose from and different levels of difficulty. This site is worth a look if you think your students would be up for a challenge.

Voki

Voki is a fun site that allows the user to create a talking cartoon person. You can choose from historical figures or crazy combinations on looks. You can record your own voice or have the computer speak for you with text you created. This could be something fun and different to add to a site or have students create for their presentations. Additional Instructions and Project Ideas: http://cybraryman.com/voki.html

Project PLN

One last plug for the online magazine I created with my friend Kelly. Our goal is to bring some of the best blog posts and ideas on a selected topic to as many teachers as possible. We have  had over 4,500 hits so far and I really think it is worth your time if you have not read it yet. This issue is all about Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) and how much individual teachers have benefited from them. Take a second and read a few articles. You just might be inspired to start your own PLN.





 That's it for this week. If you are ever looking for anything specific, feel free to leave a comment on the blog or send me an email.

- Give it a try!