Wednesday, July 25, 2012

What technology tools do you find helpful?

24 comments:

  1. It has been amazing how helpful it has been to get iPads for my administrative team this past year. We are in the process of comparing apps to show each other some time saving strategies. Likewise, having Dropbox or Google Drive helps with having common documents shared

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    1. The laptop computer, is the most useful tool that I use. The mobility of this devise allows me to work anywhere at anytime. I still experience some restrictions when using my iPad and iPhone. Even with the devices available, I think that without the internet, devices would not be as we know it today.

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    2. I am using easyCBM.com for progress monitoring of our RTI program. It's free!

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    3. I stumbled accross Planbook.com this summer and it blew me away. Not only does it make planning easier for your teachers (standards for all courses are on a pick list is one feature my teachers loved), I have administrative rights to their digital planbooks and I can view and comments whenever I choose 24hrs a day, 7 days a week. I can also provide feedback directly to a teacher while I'm logged in to their account. The teacher can upload plans into bloomboard as evidence for TESS as well. Great tool for planning accountability and quality. I'm still learning, daily , how to better use this tool but it has already had a positive impact on teacher preparation in my building. Best of all its cheap! I purchased a subscription for my school ( about 60 teachers ) for less than $600 a year. Administrative accounts come with it. A great deal. I encourage you to check it out.

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  2. Essential "Starter-Kit" of Free Apps

    AccuWeather
    Converter Plus
    Countdown
    Dragon Dictation
    Dropbox
    Edmondo
    Edmunds
    EZ Loan Calc
    Emoji
    Evernote
    Facebook
    Find Friends
    HeyTell
    Instant Byte
    iMathematics
    MyRadar
    PS Express
    Pandora
    Photosynth
    QR-Code Gen
    Quick Graph
    Random #
    Realtor.com
    RedLaser
    Roman Numerals
    ScanLife
    Shazam
    ShopShop
    Skype
    Socrative
    Songify
    Sportacular
    Starbucks
    Sunlight
    Sunrise Sunset
    Tally Counter
    TourWrist
    TuneIn Radio
    Twitter
    Virtuoso
    WhitePages
    iBooks
    iHandy Level
    iTranslate
    rMaker
    YouTube

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  3. Free Web 2.0 tools
    www.curriculum21.com
    Go to the "clearinghouse" tab

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  4. Easy Portfolio and Splashtop apps

    Splashtop turns the iPAD into a mobile whiteboard. The app does cost, but is cheaper than the alternatives.

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  5. Several more apps occurred to me as I read through the list above

    Apps Gone Free
    Lockbox
    pdf-notes
    Superpages
    GasBuddy
    Flipboard
    Drudge
    Ted
    Iphone secrets
    Ipad secrets
    Awe
    Stumbleupon

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  6. My teachers are having success with Remind 101. Remind101 provides a safe way for teachers to text message students and stay in touch with parents. It is 100% free and is used by over 200,000 teachers, students and parents to send millions of messages every month. You can:
    *Message your entire class of students or parents in seconds.
    *Teachers never see students' phone numbers. Students never see theirs.
    *Students and parents join by sending a text message. No computer needed.

    Remind 101 is available in the Itunes App store. It can be accessed through your ipad, ipod, or iphone.

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  7. One of our focus areas is to increase student engagement during instructional activities. I am using the four timer/selector apps from Kagan. Each app is $4. Teachers are beginning to use them via their iPads and/or Smart Boards. I've started using them during faculty professional development activities.

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  8. I have used Google Drive to create Google Forms. Google Forms are a great tool for developing teacher and student voice with a very simple format.

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  9. I am also using Google Drive to also create surveys, newsletters and getting the information out to the staff. It is so simple to use and I am encouraging the teachers to use the program as well. We have fully implemented Ipads in grades 3 and 4. The teachers, no students are doing some great things with the technology. They have daily assignments that students turn in by email and I love getting the emails from the students. Some students send me their writing pieces for me to read. Sometimes the "newest app" isn't always necessary but getting the students to use technology as a tool for learning is the key. One day during a principal meeting I started getting one email after another from students. The students were learning how to write proper emails and they all wrote to me trying to persuade me to allow the teachers to wear jeans from Thanksgiving until Christmas break....who could resist that...I think there was a writing prompt involved.

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  10. I have purchased institution memberships for the entire certified staff to have ASCD memberships. It includes daily newsletters for teachers/admin and they also receive free professional text monthly.

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  11. Prairie Grove district has purchased Reflex Math for our students. This is a website that helps students with math fluency. The students create an avatar, have the ability to purchase products for the avatar as they earn coins (points) while completing assignments.
    We have BrainPop.
    We also have begun using MAP testing instead of TLI.

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  12. YOU CAN HANDLE THEM ALL - an app that is a good starting point for an RTI team. It is research based and helps to provide talking points when the team of teachers, counselors, admin come together to isolate how to reach a student. The product can also be used by a teacher in her own classroom management planning. The app validates what we all learned many moons ago in educational psychology. I would place its emphasis in the domain of leading and managing change, but it has an impact in all domains.

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  13. The new teacher evaluation will require you to all have your new teachscape profiles created and new passwords entered. If you haven't done that you need to set that up ASAP

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  14. I am looing at combining tablet technology with netbooks. I am looking at apps that are windows based.

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  15. I love Dropbox. My work computer melted down and we ended up replacing it. Since I use it and Google Drive, I didn't have to worry about files. I have also used it with the teachers and put all of our needed forms on the school file so that teachers have access to it with little or no problems.

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  16. Have any of you looked into Chrome Books for your students? I have been really excited about what my 5th and 6th grade students are doing with them. They have used them for all number of things. When I was able to sit in PLC's, I heard a lot of talk about them. Priced right and very easy to use.

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  17. https://evernote.com/. Evernote is a great tool! All of our Leadership Team have Evernote accounts. We keep our agenda and notes for our meetings in Evernote. We are able to she the notebook which gives everyone immediate access to our notes at all times.

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  18. I am asking everyone what they use in their elementary school to support math through technology. My question is have any of you ever heard or used DreamBox? At the present time we are using ClassWorks and I wondered if anyone had any other suggestions. Thank you for your suggestions.

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  19. Good blog with practical reminders and ideas:

    http://connectedprincipals.com/archives/10389

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  20. Lately I find that I utilize Twitter regularly for educational reading. Not only does it have great information out there but it is a great networking tool. I am also very excited about using Prezi. I created a Prezi about our STEM program that we may use to show our parents.

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