Todd's Tuesday Tech Tip #22 What Should I Read Next? Enhanced!

Dear Colleagues,
As you know I am at the Illinois Computing Educator's Conference in St. Charles, IL Tuesday through Friday.  I will be presenting with Rob and Julie on our collaboration around The Dot.

In preparing for our presentation this Friday, we came across a quote that we think encapsulates much of what we as teachers believe deep in our being.   

“When technology become invisible in a school, learning becomes the focus.  That should always be our goal, regardless of the tools we use to get there.”

-Chris Lehman

It is with this in mind that I want to recommend a couple of excellent resources that I hope will be valuable to you:

Technology is great-especialy when it works and helps us.  I have written about The Scholastic Book Wizard and What Should I Read Next, but I would like to refresh my instructions about The Book Wizard.

Two phenomenal resources are available for helping you and your children choose great books.  One of the most reliable is the Scholastic Book Wizard.  It allows you to search for books by reading level and by similar titles.  Simply put in a book you love and it will give you several choices of other books that are similar in reading level and content. 

 

I would also like to share with you a resource that I think is the best tool for this job for many, many reasons.  This tool is Your Next Read.

The second source is Your Next Read  This site is geared towards slightly older readers, but works exactly the same.  Put in a book you love and it will give you a myriad of suggestions that are similar in difficulty and style.  The thing I really like about this site is that it gives you a grid of similar books.  If you sign in, you can save your selections to your own lists, share in a variety of ways, etc.   

Here is a link to the site: 
http://www.yournextread.com/us/#



These two links are terrific for both students and parents to use to find that ‘next’ amazing book! Give these two sites a try today!

As always, if you have any suggestions to share with your colleagues, please feel free to share them with me!

Todd's Tuesday Tech Tip #21: How to use Read, Write Think!

Hello Colleagues,

Happy Tuesday!

This week's tip is not a new resource, but its one that I had forgotten how useful it is.  I found this week's tip on Tammy Worcester's blog. She has tons of amazing teacher tips.

Read Write Think is a site that includes tons of great resources, but the best, in my opinion are the student interactives.

Here is a simple video that explains how to use Read Write Think:

Video of how to use Read Write Think

1.  Go to Read Write Think.org

2.  Pull down the classroom resources tab to student interactives.

3.  Click the links at the left side to filter the results by grade level, type, learning objective, or theme.

4.  Or use the window in the upper left to search by keyword.

5.  Choose the desired tool and then click the get started button.

6.  Follow the onscreen prompts to complete the activity.

7.  Use the provided buttons to print your final product.



8.  We've used this site in the past to introduce students to various poetry genres in the Resource Center.  There now is a way to save student work to complete at a later time.  This is quite handy if you are short on time.

That's it for today's tip.  How have you used Read Write Think?  Please leave a comment on the website for others to see and learn.

Thanks,
Todd

Todd's Tuesday Tech Tip #20 Certificate Street

Hello Colleagues,

Happy Tuesday!

This week we are looking at some free, customizable certificates that you can use for anything with your students.  The templates on this site are a great starting place.  Best of all, they are free.



I have to admit, in this day in age when I see that something is free I usually think, 'Sure.'  In fact, these certificates are customizable and they really are free.  You download the certificate, edit the PDF and print.  It's that easy. 

Well there you have it. 

How do you think you might use this tool?  I could imagine awarding student "Keyboarding" certificates when they have completed a set amount of Type to Learn lessons.  Or, we could use these for the READ program in the RC.  As always, please post your comments on the T4 website for the benefit of all.

Thanks,
Todd

Todd's Tuesday Tech Tip #19 Online Stop Watch

Hello Colleagues,

Happy Tuesday!

This week's T4 is an awesome way to maximize your Smart Board or your classroom projector.  Imagine having a giant stop watch that everyone in the class can see while kids are working in groups.  Well, that's what the website online stopwatch .com does for you.  It is super simple. 

1.  Simply go to the site

2.  Punch in the amount of time you want to have.

3.  Choose: "Use the timer in full screen mode" to get rid of the annoying advertisements.

4.  Click start!

For those of you who are a bit more adventurous, you can explore the many other timers at the links below the clock:




My favorite is the Bomb Countdown!  :)

How do you think you could use this tool?  Please leave a comment on the T4 Website for others to learn!

Thanks,
Todd