UR Instructional Tech Integration

I finally have everything completed in the portfolio for the purposes of this Integrating Technology class. I still have a lot more work to do to have this up to my own standards, but I think it is a good start. I hope you like what I’ve created. Please feel free to provide feedback on [...]

I have started the rough draft of my second grade science lesson plan on common storms (VA Science SOL 2.6a). I’m still working on creating and editing the video showing clips of samples of the 4 types of storms. I’ll re-post the final draft of the lesson plan and the video once completed. Storms Lesson Plan [...]

I have created a first grade lesson plan to teach animal classification specific to animal body coverings (VA Science SOL 1.5b). It covers the following animal body coverings: hair, fur, feathers, scales, shells.  The Keynote presentation contains photos of animals.  Students need to identify the animal body covering for each slide/photo.  Then…[Read more]

Many discussions on the topic of improving education in our schools today focus on the emphasis to teach “21st century skills” in our schools and classrooms.  Partnership for 21st Century Skills states in addition to core subjects students must also learn the essential skills for success in today’s world, such as critical thinking, problem…[Read more]

A few weeks ago I sat in my daughter’s second grade classroom and helped a small group of students who needed extra assistance taking their science test on weather.  I remember when I saw a question regarding blizzards I thought to myself, “Oh, this is an easy one, they’ll all get this one right.”.  I [...]

I searched for quite a while looking for a PowerPoint that interested me enough to want to attempt to revamp it.  Finally I decided if I was going to put in the time, it makes sense to redo a PowerPoint for something I may actually use in my classroom.  I decided to redo a very verbose [...]

I’m not sure I’m enough of an internet user to have RSS feeds be a time saver for me, but I will certainly try it out… Here are 5 Professional (Education related) RSS feeds I linked to: Agriculture In The Classroom has some great lesson plans and other ideas to incorporate into the classroom.  Use the Agriculture [...]

Based on our readings and videos, the three most important things to think about when making a presentation for students include: Use pictures!! (not text, charts, tables) Kosslyn’s four rules of Power Point: The Goldilocks Rule – “just right” amount of data The Rudolph Rule – make info stick out & guide to important details The Rule of Four…[Read more]

A lot of what Gardner Campbell writes about in A Personal Cyberinfrastructure and speaks about in his presentation on No Digital Facelifts:  Thinking The Unthinkable About Open Educational Experiences on YouTube is above my level of comprehension when it comes to technology.  I can often navigate the plug-and-play, turnkey web applications…[Read more]