Sunday, April 5, 2009

Online Assignment #2 Darren Hunter

Hello everybody! I have found so many sites, books, journals, and reference materials. I have become overwhelmed at times. However, I have finally narrowed down my list to three wonderful resources. The available materials are endless and I am looking forward to reading the other responses and the information provided by my classmates.

1. Integrating Technology

http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/

I found the website listed above to be a great resource for successfully integrating technology into the classroom. This is one of the biggest areas of my Professional Growth Plan and I found no shortage of websites, books, source materials, and journals. While researching, I came across the education-world website. This website is packed with not only valuable technology resources, but links for lesson planning, school-wide issues, and professional development. I found a great link in which The Education World Tech Team shares its secrets for teaching successfully with technology and includes thirty-three tips for effectively managing technology use in your classroom!

http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/tech/tech116.shtml

2. Informing, Involving and Collaborating with Families

Easy and Effective Ways to Communicate with Parents: Practical Techniques and Tips for Parent Conferences, Open Houses, Notes Home, and More That Work for Every Situation by Barbara Mariconda

This must-have guide explains how to turn every interaction with parents from the first letter home through the last conference into a positive and productive interaction. This book has been a valuable resource for me. It includes many suggestions, as well as problem solving solutions, for effectively communicating, collaborating, and forming partnerships with families. The book is an easy read with real-school scenarios and plenty of ideas for forming positive communication teams. It has been very helpful so far this year and I continue to refer to it. If you would like to borrow this book please let me know!

3. Effective Classroom Management

http://www.adprima.com/managing.htm

I came across this great web resource: The Education Information for New and Future Teachers on the www.adprima.com site. This resource explains how to successfully develop and maintain a student-centered classroom management system. In addition, this site has an abundance of information and hundreds of links for not only classroom management but for my other areas of Professional Growth. This website has links for lesson plans, educational journals, content and curriculum assistance, as well as curriculum and instruction, to simply name a few. I will definitely continue to refer to this website during my professional growth cycle and beyond.

6 comments:

Megan said...

I looked through your recommened website, http://www.education-world.com and was overwhelmed by the vast resources! I wasn't sure where to begin, however, I found some great writig lessons and projects I will implement in my curriculum. I really like how they assist teachers with prepared lessons along with assessments. I was excited about Lesson of the Day for all subject areas! We cherish Veteran's Day at our school and I found a webpage that lists several innovative and creative ways to recognize our courageous troops! Thanks for the awesome lead.

Megan Ackerman

Natalie Bowers said...

Hi Darren,
I think we discussed this before, but we share two goals: Integrating Technology and Informing, Involving and Collaborating with Families.

Like you, Integrating Technology is one of the biggest areas in my Professional Growth Plan, and it is also the one I am the farthest away from meeting. I find technology to be intimidating and frustrating (I still haven't figured out how to actually post my assignment to this blog!), and I've always shied away from using it in my classroom.

I'm excited to check-out this website. I don't feel like I found many strong resources for this goal, and I am hoping that this one can help me move toward using technology successfully. Thirty-three tips for effectively managing tech in the classroom-- there has to be one or two that will work for me!

Megan Ackerman said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Katy Lungren said...

Like Megan, I was a bit overwhelmed by the Education World site - but I feel like being overwhelmed has become my default state of mind at this point! I appreciate how you added the link to a specific article within the vast website that you found especially helpful. I looked it over, and found one idea that I can't wait to start working on. It suggests typing directions for common computer operations onto index cards and making a set connected with a circle ring for each computer station. I have already done this with student passwords for our math curriculum's website, but I hadn't thought to do this as troubleshooting help for the students.

I would really like to take a look at the "Easy and Effective Ways to Communicate with Parents" book. The particular problem I continue to struggle with is communicating effectively with the families of my ELL students. We have incredibly limited translation services, and I find it really difficult to communicate with these families both verbally and in writing. Does your book discuss this topic at all? I would love to look it over at our next class session!

~Katy Lungren

Kathy said...

Hi Darren,

I was also impressed with the Education World site. I used this site as well for some of my rescources. It has a ton of information on many of the topics we are working on.
I also liked your other site for classroom management. That was very good. I visited it and got some great ideas of what to use for classroom management. I am currently teaching a 6th grade health class that is very unrulely. I have use some of these techniques already and they are on the right track - so far.

Kate S. said...

Hi Darren,

Thanks so much for your post! I took some time to explore education-world.com and found it to be very useful! There are great ideas in how to integrate technology, and even specific tips for primary grades, which is always helpful.

I went to the "Using Technology" link on the side bar, and came across "7 brilliant things teachers do with technology", and a previous article "7 stupid mistakes teachers make with technology". Reading both of the articles gave me great perspective!

The tech lessons archive: http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/archives/techlp.shtml

Also has great ideas for lessons/units/projects that integrate technology.

Thanks, Darren!