eBooks Could Spur Kids' Interest in Reading

Innovative educators who want to incorporate eBooks into their instruction when they are teaching the literary classics have a number of free online resources at their disposal. A few websites specialize in providing free downloads of eBooks, and classic literature is particularly prevalent because the copyright on such books has long ago expired. Students can be given the option of reading the books at home online, and forgetful students will never again have the excuse that they forgot their book in their lockers. Numerous classic titles are available online and students have access to them wherever they have an Internet connection, even on handheld devices and e-readers like the Nook and Kindle.

One site dedicated to providing free eBooks is Planet eBook, which provides numerous titles in classic literature online as free downloads. Titles include many that are commonly taught in the classroom and assigned as reading outside the classroom, such as A Tale of Two Cities, Gulliver's Travels, Les Miserables, and The Great Gatsby. The site allows you to sign up for a newsletter that lets you know when new titles are available. If anything else, you can use the site as a creative way of coming up with extra credit assignments for students.

Another great site is Project Gutenberg, which has more than 33,000 free eBooks available to teachers or anyone else for that matter. The site allows teachers to search by title or author. Among the most popular titles are: The Picture of Dorian Gray, Paradise Lost and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Project Gutenberg allows users to download in six different formats, such as HTML, Kindle or plain text. A limited number of audio books are also available through this site.

Finally, another site you can use to look for eBooks not only in classic literature, but also in a number of other topics is E-Books Directory. If you look under the children's category, you will see numerous titles available for free download, including Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Call of the Wild and Jungle Book. Under literature & fiction category are more titles for older readers, such as War and Peace and Anna Karenina. There are also descriptions of each book posted under each title listed on this site.

This guest post is contributed by Angelita Williams, who writes on the topics of online courses. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: angelita.williams7 @gmail.com.

Smartboard Activities | Online Student Activities | Virtual Manipulatives

Interactive Whiteboards: Tips for New Users

As technology moves at an ever-increasing rate, making all our communication and entertainment devices smaller, faster, and cheaper, schools all over the country rush to purchase the latest items, trying to give teachers more tools with which to help kids learn. Sometimes these new technologies can be great study and teaching aids and sometimes they’re not. But the usefulness of certain technologies in the classroom has little to do with the technology itself and more to do with how that technology is used. Interactive whiteboards are a great example. Interactive whiteboards (sometimes called smart boards) can be extremely helpful and engaging in the classroom, but only if they are used to their full advantage.

Don’t Use It Like a Glorified Chalkboard

Some educators feel that if they use technology in the classroom that their teaching will be gimmicky or that students will be paying more attention to the technology than the subject. As a result, even in school districts where interactive whiteboards are in every classroom, some teachers only use it as a glorified chalkboard, only for writing information for the whole class to see or using it simply for PowerPoint presentations. In addition, the teacher may be the only one allowed to touch or use the whiteboard. This type of limited use is frustrating to students who want to be engaged with new technology and learn by interacting with the subject matter.

Interactive Whiteboards are Interactive!

The best way to engage students with a whiteboard is to get them interacting with the subject matter on it. By touching it and trying it themselves, they retain more information and increase their desire to learn more. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Use your interactive whiteboard collaboratively. In a classroom with limited computer use, interactive whiteboards let multiple students work through a single interface.
• Give students the ability to interact with the subject matter. Let them write on it, draw on it, move it with their hands and fingers, or manipulate it in other ways. A simple drag and drop activity where multiple students come to the whiteboard one-by-one gets the kids out of their seat to interact with the subject matter.
• Save their work. Because writing and images made on the whiteboard through electronic pens can be saved and printed, students don’t have to copy their work into separate notebooks. They can have the exact images and text they created in their hands before they walk out the door when the bell rings.
• Use voting technology. Remotes that allow teachers to gather feedback from students on their interactive whiteboards have been shown to increase student achievement.

Using interactive whiteboards is beneficial to both the students and the teacher, but only when used to their full ability. How can you maximize the use of your interactive whiteboard?

Gunter Jameson writes about several topics including travel, minimalism and online classes.

Technorati Tags: interactive whiteboard | education | learning

A Few Interesting Math and Science Apps for Mobile Phones

Figuratively speaking, the world we live in has been cut down to size, thanks largely to the extensive reach that the tiny mobile phone has allowed us. With this small device, it is now possible to do just about anything – communicate, entertain, learn – the list is endless. The more sophisticated of this breed, the smartphones, are even more convenient as all-in-one tools because they have operating systems that allow you to use them similar to computers. So if you own one of these gadgets and are on the lookout for interesting math and science apps to try out, here is a compilation of a few apps that I think are useful:

For the iPhone:

• Get all the Science: If you’re a regular subscriber to the RSS feeds of major science publications online, then this is the app for you. It brings pages from websites like Nature, New Scientist, and others and displays them on your phone for your convenience.
• Uranus: This app is GPS-enabled and allows you to view information about the night sky from any place on earth.
• Scientific Calculator: You don’t have to shell out money any longer for a scientific calculator; just download this free app onto your iPhone.
• Pi Cubed: I love mathematics, so this app had me really excited – it allows you to actually use your iPhone’s screen as a notepad on which you can do Math equations. The interface supports animation and touch input, so it’s easy to enter and delete numbers and symbols.

For the Android:

• Elements: An easy ready reckoner for the periodic table, this app helps you look up not just the names of elements and their atomic numbers, but also their melting points, atomic radii and more.
• HandyCalc: A good scientific calculator app written for the Android OS.
• SciencePal: This app allows you to access information not just about the periodic table, but also about scientific constants, the solar system, and nuclides.

For the BlackBerry:

• Math Trainer: This app is both fun and informative for kids and adults; it allows you to practice basic mathematics in three modes – exam, timed and training.
• Viigo: This app is basically an RSS aggregator, but you can set it to read all the science blogs and sites that you’re passionate about so you stay on top of all the latest news.

For Windows Mobile:

• SpaceTime Mathematics: This app is probably the most advanced mathematical and scientific calculator in the mobile world; it includes features for plotting, symbolic calculus and scripting besides other functions.
• Calc Pro: Another basic math-based app for Windows Mobile phones, this features options for graphing, financial calculations, standard computations, unit conversions, statistical calculations, and much more.

There are many other science and math apps for mobile devices, most of them having been written for the iPhone for obvious reasons, but the Android is soon catching up as a popular OS. So no matter what the brand of your device, you’ll be able to find suitable apps.

This guest post is contributed by Anna Miller, who writes on the topic of online degrees . She welcomes your comments at her email id: anna.miller009@gmail.com

Check out: Interactive Whiteboard Mini-Movies - Flash Animations for your Interactive Whiteboard

Learning On the Go: Mobile Math Resources for Your Kids

Both math and science are subjects that are perhaps most difficult to teach to young learners, especially during the pivotal late elementary and middle school stages. What's the best way to reach out to them? Perhaps the most effective method is to use the medium by which young learners communicate--mobile devices. According to a national survey from CTIA and Harris Interactive, cell phone use comprises almost half of a teen's social life, and four out of five teens carry some form of mobile device. This figure represents a 40% increase since 2004. In the final prognosis--when you want to get a kids' attention, if can't beat, then join, as the saying goes.

Aside from the ever-increasing popularity of the iPhone and its family of related gadgets, there are several STEM learning resources for pre-teen and teen students beyond Apple products. One such application is Math4Mobile. This cell phone application was developed in 2007 by Prof. Michal Yerushalmy, of the Institute for Alternatives in Education of the Faculty of Education at the University of Haifa. When the app is installed on a cell phone, it enables users to perform mathematical functions as advanced calculus and as basic as elementary geometry. What's more, it's compatible with almost all cell phones.

Another interesting mobile device created earlier this year is the TINspire Navigator. Developed by Texas Instruments, the device enables math and science educators to facilitate classroom collaboration and discussion. Similar to how online schools interact virtually. This particular learning device is a variation on the concept of the cell phone. Students will likely respond to such technologies well.

The numbers of elementary and middle school STEM learning resources are vast. And sifting through the Internet is a great way to begin finding new ways to teach the same thing. The bottom line, however, is to make sure these resources align with your students interests and personal technologies. They'll be more willing to employ new methods if they're approached with something they are already familiar with.

By-line:

This guest post is contributed by Tim Handorf, who writes on the topics of online colleges. He welcomes your comments at his email Id: tim.handorf.20@googlemail.com.

Tech Ed: Keep Kids Learning Through the Summer

Parents and educators are well aware that children have a hard time retaining knowledge over the long summer months. And nobody wants to see students return to school in the fall unprepared to pick up where they left off the previous term. That can cause undue frustration for everyone involved. But getting kids to do “homework” during their summer vacation can be like pulling teeth. So how do you make summer learning fun? Use technology to your advantage.

Kids today are in tune with technology. It seems like even young children can use computers and cell phones to play games, which is why these gadgets can make such great teaching tools. Students who moan over summer reading may have more fun if they can track their progress, so check out the Scholastic Summer Challenge, which asks kids to log their reading minutes to try to break the world record (it also offers book lists to help them start or keep going), and the program offered by Barnes and Noble that allows kids to earn a free book for every eight they read (they turn in a tear sheet reporting their favorite part of each book to show progress). There are also websites that offer games and activities for different age groups and subjects, like Funbrain, Play Kids Games, and PBS Kids. And the best thing about utilizing the internet is that all of these websites are free.

If your kids prefer the Xbox or PS3, you may be out of luck. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of educational options for video game consoles. But a good bet is to check on Xbox Live Marketplace. If your kids like handheld devices, like the Nintendo DS, you can pick up a copy of one of several games in the Brain Age series (just make sure they are suitable for your child’s age group). You can also explore a wealth of options on your cell phone (Scrabble, The Oregon Trail), especially if you have an Apple device like the iPod, iPhone, or the new iPad. Simply log onto the iTunes store and download one of the hundreds of options listed under educational games (they range in price from free to $4.99, with the majority costing $0.99 or $1.99). This could be a great option for long car trips.

Whatever relationship your kids have with technology, they’re sure to be more amenable to summer learning if they perceive it as a game (and therefore a bit more fun than memorizing times tables, for example). So take an interest in their technology and see if you can find something that meets both your criteria for educational value and their qualifications for fun.

Alexis Montgomery is a content writer for Online Degree Programs, where you can browse through various online degree programs to find a college that suits your needs.

Bugscope: Exploring the Microscopic World of Insects

Imaging Technology Group, an association of imaging specialists and microscopists at the University of Illinois' Beckman Institute, has found a way to make collecting bugs for a school project more interesting than ever before. The group created a special project known asBugscope for K-12 students. Bugscope provides classrooms with free access to a scanning electron microscope (SEM) that can be used to study insect specimens at high-magnification.

What's cool about the Bugscope project is that it is available to everyone in the world. The SEM isn't brought into the classroom. Instead, the classroom is brought to the SEM through a live one-hour web session. During the session, students have full control over the interactive microscope. They can magnify, adjust contrast and brightness, control the focus, and explore preset views setup by the Bugscope team.

Bugscope sessions can be displayed on multiple computers, projectors, and interactive whiteboards. Only one user can operate the microscope at a time, but students can login and view the session on up to 20 different computers at once.

The Bugscope team, which includes several microscopists and an entomology student, are available online via instant messaging so that students can ask questions throughout the session. When the session ends, images and chats are saved and can be viewed later by both students and teachers.

Scheduling a Bugscope Session

There is no cost to participate in a Bugscope session. However, you must schedule a session prior to participation. You can do this by filling out the application form on the Bugscope site. If you are interested in seeing how a Bugscope session works before you apply, you can login as a guest and view an upcoming Bugscope session.

Once your application has been accepted, you can setup a Bugscope session and mail in the specimens you want your class to examine (That's right--it's up to you to send in the bugs!) The Bugscope team will then schedule a demo that allows you to get a feel for the microscope controls before the actual session begins.

Guest post from education writer Karen Schweitzer. Karen is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes about online degrees for OnlineDegreePrograms.org.

New Teaching Resources for September

Student Activities

Several new student activities have been added since the last update. Teachers can find a set of three activities that will help students learn how to represent and compare integers and determine absolute value. How many computer-generated arithmetic problems can your students answer in 60 seconds? Arithmattac
k is a new math resource on misterteacher.com that teachers can use for drilling math facts.


A number of science activities have been added as well. First, there is a set of activities that teach students about thermal energy and temperature. Next, students will be able to define reflection and refraction after completing activities on the properties of light. Finally, activities on forces will teach your students about contact and non-contact forces like air resistance, gravity, magnetism, and friction.

Resources to Become a Teacher

There are many programs on the Internet that offer education degrees online. You can attend classes from your own home and work at your own pace. This is a decent alternative to going to a campus university for your teaching degree.

SMARTBoard Mini-movies


There are few new SMARTBoard mini-movies for math teachers. You can find one on parallel lines and two on parallelograms: one that shows congruent angles and one that shows congruent sides. Two new probability mini-movies are now up: coin flip and roll of the dice.

I've added a K-2 section to the library. Here you'll find mini-movies on recognizing patterns, addition and subtraction, and adding doubles. The
re will be many more mini-movies to come for this section.


There are four new science mini-movies, all on the topic of simple machines. Teach your students about the three classes of levers with two simple animations. Also, be sure to download both inclined plane movies to teach about the relationship between length and effort force.

COMING SOON! More mini-movies on K-2 math concepts, probability, and patterns (more advanced).




If you like the resources on misterteacher.com please share this post.

Please help me improve the resources on misterteacher.com. I welcome feedback and I do take suggestions on content that you would like to see as a mini-movie or student activity. Email Jamie Tubbs.




Check out: Everything Geometry Alphabet Geometry Social Studies Resources

Goal for 2009-2010: Integrate iPods into the Subject Areas

A few years ago another teacher and I received a grant from Best Buy for the Online Science Fair. After purchasing the materials, we had quite a bit of money left over and decided to buy three iPods. Unfortunately, because of other priorities, the iPods were put in a box and set aside for the past three years, wasting away.

NO MORE! This year I have decided to put these tools to use. One of my goals for 2009-2010 is to find the best ways to use these three iPods in my classroom. At this point, my goal is to have my students consume information from the iPods rather than produce information for them. In other words, I have no plans to have my students create podcasts, videos, slideshows, or any other content. Instead, I'm looking to use the iPods in the following ways:

• Math Intervention: Students will view video podcasts and Unitedstreaming videos on topics that they are struggling with in math. For instance, say my students take a quiz on prime factorization and a few don't do so well. During a specified time they will be invited to my classroom to watch a video on an iPod that teaches prime factorization. After viewing the video and completing some more practice, they will be allowed to retake the quiz for a better score.
• Math Enrichment: It's unfortunate, but we math teachers often are so busy teaching our students the required concepts that we often don't get a chance to show them how cool math can be outside of the classroom. I'd like to have several videos/podcasts on the iPods that show situations in the real world where math is involved (like the Fibonacci sequence in nature, Game Theory, etc.). There are a few on the Math Guy Podcast.
• Science Enrichment: If a student shows an interest in a topic we are studying, I'd like to be able to find a podcast or video for him/her and have it ready for them to watch on an iPod. HowStuffWorks has a content channel on the Apple Learning Interchange with some interesting videos.
• Social Studies Enrichment: Current event videos come to mind here.

After doing a simple Google search (ipods classroom) I found some sites that will be helpful to any teacher looking to integrate iPods:

• Learning in Hand - Here I found out how to download a video from UnitedStreaming, add it to iTunes, and then convert it to a format that the iPod will understand.
• Education World has a nice page of links to some sites on iPods in the Classroom.
• Apple Learning Interchange

I Need Your Help

I don't get a ton of comments on this blog, but I'd like to ask if any readers have other ideas for using iPods with your students and/or if you know of other resources where I could find some. Thanks!

Check out: SMARTBoard Mini-movies Student Activities

New Teaching Resources on misterteacher.com

Student Activities

On the Everything Geometry website you'll find several new student activities on Angles. With these activities kids can learn to identify and describe the relative size of acute, obtuse and straight angles with respect to right angles. The activities begin by defining what an angle is and how they are measured. From there, students can navigate through three additional pages on right, acute, and obtuse angles. There are several mini-movies throughout the activities and quick quizzes to check understanding.

Coming Soon! Student activities on integers, basic geometry terms, forces, kinetic and potential energy, thermal energy, and light!

Mini-Movies

The SMARTBoard mini-movie library continues to grow with mini-movies on angles mentioned above as well as science movies on thermal energy and properties of light (reflection and refraction). Use them to teach your students the following:

• Temperature is a measure of thermal energy.
• Light bends, or refracts, when moving from one medium to another.
• Law of reflection - light reflects off an object at the same angle it strikes it.

Remember, to preview the mini-movies, just click on the link of the movie you'd like to see. To download them, right click (control-click on a Mac) on the link and download the movie to your computer. To insert it into a Notebook file, open Notebook and simply go to the INSERT menu and select FLASH FILE. From there, just navigate until you find the file you downloaded.

Coming Soon! Mini-movies on simple machines and probability.

If you like the resources on misterteacher.com, please share this post.

Check out: Rainforest WebQuest | Constitution WebQuest | Bright Ideas

Using Google Map Mashups for Social Studies Projects

I just assigned a social studies project to my fifth graders this week on Westward Expansion. It's a collaborative project that requires them to take the role of a character (a prospector, a settler/pioneer, or a mountain man) and describe a trip west that this character would take during the 19th century.

While researching routes, one group decided to use Google Maps to see if they could find the Oregon Trail. I thought this was a cool idea and wished that I had thought to include that web tool in the project. Since then, I've been thinking of ideas for how I would have used Google Maps with this project. Unfortunately, the power of the software I think is creating your own maps & Google requires users to create an account to do that. A Google account offers a few too many features (since it provides an email account, search history, and more) than I feel my students need.

There are however quite a few Google Maps mashups on the Internet that teachers can use in place of Google Maps itself. They also require an account, but to get one students would only need to create a fake email address and username and password. After searching through my bookmarks, I found a couple that I think would work very well in a classroom environment.

• Quikmaps allows you to perform many of the functions that Google Maps does: add markers, connected lines, and text labels. I created a map below using every function available except for scribbling. Click on the markers for descriptions.
  

I could easily envision having my students create a map for social studies. A number of topics in history would lend themselves to a similar type of map as the one above: The Underground Railroad, The Trail of Tears, Westward Expansion (trace the path of the famous wagon trails, Age of Exploration (trace routes of famous explorers like Magellan), and much more. What a cool way to integrate geography with history!

I can also see using these maps on my SmartBoard. I'm wishing I would have created one when I taught my students about the Erie Canal. An interactive map in the front of the classroom that traced the route of the canal--complete with markers--would have been extremely helpful to my students.

• Wayfaring is another Google Maps mashup that I've tried out. This one provides essentially the same features but in a different manner. After signing up, you create your maps in a series of guided steps. Whereas Quikmaps provides the tools (map in the center, markers to the side, etc.) with little guidance, on Wayfaring you must use a map editor that directs you through a series of steps to create markers and routes.
  

I prefer learning to use the mashups without the guidance and I think my students would have no problem figuring out how to use them. As a result, Quikmaps seems like a better fit for the classroom.

Technorati Tags: Google Maps | learning | Quikmaps | Wayfaring

Mini-Movies for Your SmartBoard

By far the most popular site on misterteacher.com is Alphabet Geometry.  The mini-movies there attract a large number of visitors.  What is a mini-movie? It's a Flash-based animation, often interactive, that lasts just a few seconds. The mini-movies on Alphabet Geometry make geometric concepts alive by showing how they relate to letters of the alphabet. 

It dawned on me the other day that the mini-movies that appear on AG are the same type of movies that SmartBoard users can insert into their Notebook files. So I decided to make the mini-movies on AG available for download so that teachers can grab them and use them offline.  They are free and as long as they are used for teaching lessons in the classroom, you can use them without restriction. 

I've been looking around the Internet for a site that offers something similar, and I have yet to find one.  Teachers Love SMART Boards has a page that links to SmartBoard Web resources, and those resources have Flash-based movies, but it appears that one must be online to use them. I can't believe that nobody has thought to provide movies that teachers can download and use without going to the Internet.

Check out the mini-movies here: Mini-movies for Your SmartBoard


Check out: Alphabet Symmetry | Symmetry in Nature | Teaching Resources

Smartboard, education, teachers. learning, Flash

Smartboard and Inspiration: A Perfect Match

Do you have a SmartBoard? Do you use graphic organizers? Want to combine the two? Then it's time to begin using Inspiration on your SmartBoard. If you want to see student engagement soar (even for a lesson involving the interactivity of a whiteboard), open up Inspiration and have your students create a bubble map (as they are known to my kids).

During my first years of teaching, Inspiration was a tool that I used all the time. Over the past few years I rarely used it at all. Last year I switched to a room with a SmartBoard and rediscovered the program. Not only does it engage my students, but it forces them to think and apply their learning. Below is a completed example of a concept map that my math students made on measurement. It was not this neat when I first projected it. The bubbles were scattered across the screen and there were no connections. Over the course of about 15 minutes, my students came to the SmartBoard, organized it, and made the connections. There were some mistakes and it was pretty cool to watch the kids correct them.


In science, I had my students construct a complex food web with a dozen animals. I'm not going to post it here because I took all of the photos from the Internet (you can copy and paste photos to your maps), but below you'll see an example of a food web made with the program:

Check out the Inspiration website and download the 30-Day trial. The site is also full of lesson plans and other resources.


Check out: Alphabet Symmetry | Waves of Immigration | Slavery in America

Technorati Tags: education| learning | Inspiration | technology

SnagFilms Film Widget

Last week I wrote about the educational value of some of the videos that you can find on YouTube. This week I'm writing about another video sharing website, SnagFilms. From the site:

SnagFilms is committed to finding the world‘s most compelling documentaries, whether from established heavyweights or first-time filmmakers, and making them available to the wide audience these titles deserve.

SnagFilms.com is a website where you can watch full-length documentary films for free, but we’re also a platform that lets you “snag” a film and put it anywhere on the web. With a library of nearly 450 films, and rapidly growing, you’re bound to find films that resonate with your interests. We make it easy for you to find a film that shines a light on a cause you care about. You can then open a virtual movie theater on any web site, so any one can watch your favorite SnagFilms for free.

The site has films from National Geographic, PBS, and much more. Any number of films from the site are curriculum related meaning you're bound to find something there that you can show in your classroom.

The film below, Paperclips, is a video that I felt I had to share. You may have heard the story--a middle school class in Tennessee collected 6 million paper clips for each victim of the Holocaust. A great documentary that I found, watched, and snagged.





Technorati Tags: education| learning | SnagFilms

Check out what's new at misterteacher.com: Grants 101 | Bright Ideas | Learn about Pi

The Problems with 1:1

Think 1:1 computing is all that? Check out this post from Joe Wood about the issues teachers in his school are having with students and laptops. Very insightful...


Check out: Nature in the Classroom | Photosynthesis and the Fall Leaf Change | Constitution Webquest

Technology as a Mind Tool

Click here for the source of the writing below.

Doing a little research and wanted to put it here for quick reference. Author David Jonassen defines a Mindtool as “a way of using a computer application program to engage the learner in constructive, higher-order, critical thinking about the subjects they are studying.”

He discusses the differences between learning from computers, learning about computers, and learning with computers. Learning from computers is when the computer is programmed to teach prespecified knowledge or skills. This is known as computer-assisted instruction (CAI). Learning about computers is the old notion of computer literacy. Jonassen is advocating that we learn with computers. That we use them as cognitive tools for learning, or Mindtools. They should engage and facilitate critical thinking and higher order learning. These tools include databases, spreadsheets, semantic networks, expert systems, computer conferencing, multimedia and hypermedia construction, computer programming, and microworld learning environments.

Jonassen makes a distinction between Mindtools and productivity tools. He says that when the computer is being used as a medium to help the user accomplish some task, helping to produce work, it is a productivity tool. He does not include such applications as word processors, or graphics and paint programs in his book as Mindtools. Useful as they are, he says that they do not significantly amplify and restructure the thinking of the learner.