in the news

Weekly Web Links

2010-09-09T13:15:00.000-07:00

From now on, updates to our Teaching Resources page will happen every Thursday. I'll try to add between about 5 good links a week.

Here are a couple more:

Word Central by Merriam-Webster - Fun word games, and a "Create Your Own Dictionary" feature that allows students to look up or write their own definitions for new vocabulary.

PBS Shakespeare lessons - Great Shakespeare resource for teachers including lesson plans and teaching methods.

ClassTools.net - Free, customizable flash templates to embed into blogs, wikis and websites. Create educational arcade games

Featured Links

2010-09-07T11:10:00.000-07:00

Some new links are up on the Teaching Resources page. Notably Prezi, a web-based presentation maker that allows you to capture the big picture using infinitely-zoomable vector graphics. Basically, you can put everything you're going to talk about on screen, then zoom in on points and zoom further to access smaller details as you go further into each topic. Very quick and easy to use. The catch with the free version is that they get to use your presentation for whatever they want.

Also, a link to a UK reality TV show called From Good to Outstanding that follows a teacher as a team of professionals help them become better at engaging students.

And of course iTunes U, which has hundreds of free university lectures on various topics.

Flickr and digital media in the classroom

2010-09-03T09:25:00.000-07:00

You know your standards have changed when you nearly overlook a four-year old article simply because it's four years old. This little gem claims to be about Flickr and its uses in the classroom, but it's really about how to incorporate digital media in the classroom for different applications. Have a look!

http://jakespeak.blogspot.com/2006/03/classroom-uses-of-flickr.html

New!! Teaching Resources Page

2010-08-31T06:28:00.000-07:00

Check out the new Teaching Resources page. We'll be adding links to digital resources we find being used in classrooms across Canada. They're organized by subject and have helpful images to tell you what kinds of resources you'll find on the site (i.e. links, videos, pdfs, etc.)

Here are some new ones from a training session Anna Perrotta gave in Niagara Catholic:

Explorelearning.com - Learning simulations for Grades 3-12
carfleo.org - The Catholic Association of Religious and Family Life Educators of Ontario
Catholic Curriculum Corporation - K-12 Resources for Catholic School teachers
Educating for Justice- An American website focusing on social justice news
Grooveshark - Browse an extensive bank of songs for streaming off the Web
Playlist.com - Create playlists from a bank of songs; have students suggest songs in advance so you can screen them

Teaching with Comic Books

2010-08-20T11:24:00.001-07:00

The Ontario Ministry of Education has licensed all public school teachers to have free access to BitStrips, an interactive Online comic-making program.

Try it with your whole class on your Mobi!

NASA and Microsoft team up to create digital planetarium

2010-08-20T06:12:00.000-07:00

Download a free program that allows you to take guided tours, or explore the cosmos on your own, examining constellations and galaxies with the click of your mouse. The program uses high-quality images from multiple online databases.

Check out the WorldWide Telescope.

"Technology adds to students' math comprehension"

2010-08-19T13:46:00.001-07:00

Have a look at an old(ish) article from March of this year.

One teacher in the article makes an interesting comment about most interactive whiteboard solutions:

"Martin noted that high school students are often reluctant to go to the board at the front of the classroom to work out math problems for the entire class—but they are willing to demonstrate a problem from their own desk, he said."

Teaching with the New York Times

2010-08-12T06:48:00.001-07:00

Looking for Lesson Plans? The New York Times has some for you. Featuring lessons in multiple subject areas, this might be a good place to start if you're looking to start off the year with a dynamic lesson to deliver on your DualBoard or Mobi.

You could, for example, teach with the Simpsons. It's not unpossible...

Online Teaching Resources

2010-08-10T06:45:00.000-07:00

Check out these online teaching resources!

softschools.com
PowerPoint Jeopardy Games -
Automated Online Math Quizzes
Virtual Field Trips
media-awareness.ca

NECTAR Activity Sampler

2010-08-10T06:05:00.000-07:00

Check out this activity sampler from the NECTAR Foundation, an Ottawa-based educational software company. Math, language arts, and ESL activities can be used to help introduce and reinforce lessons in an interactive and engaging way with Workspace™ and CPS™ to encourage greater student progress.

Stephen Harper meets eInstruction

2010-06-21T07:35:00.000-07:00

TORONTO - Prime Minister Stephen Harper had the pleasure of meeting our office manager Mary-Lou at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) held this year at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

Harper asked about our response pad system, which was used in numerous sessions over the course of the three-day conference.