The Latest in Tech, Tools and Toys for Teachers. Lesson Plans, Classroom resources and ideas for busy teachers. iPad Apps and Android Apps for teachers and students.
Sometimes it is difficult to put the technology in your classroom into an educational context. This document contains many ideas for using a PC or mac in education.
Unfortunately much of it was written prior to the uprise of the iPad so there is no reference to it but nonetheless there is plenty of relevant content for teachers and students.
Many of the ideas come from the Victorian department of Education, Australia and can be downloaded here.
Thanks to schoolAtoZ for these great tips for parents, teachers and students about writing essays. Many students get anxious about how to approach an essay, but these ten tips will make it a logical and simple process.
If you would like some great essay topic suggestions be sure to check our recommendations here.
1. Examine the essay question carefully
o Highlight key words.
o Use the dictionary to check the meaning of any unfamiliar words.
o Identify the task words that indicate what needs to be done, eg ‘discuss', ‘explain', ‘compare'.
o Identify the topic words that indicate the particular subject of the essay, eg the character of ‘Juliet' in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the ‘causes' of World War 1.
o Identify any limiting words that restrict the discussion to a particular area, eg in ‘Chapters 1-3', during the ‘nineteenth century'.
2. Finalize any necessary reading or research as background to the essay
o Be selective: use sources which are relevant and accessible.
o Write notes in your own words.
o Write down quotations that may be particularly useful, but ensure the source of these quotes is acknowledged if they're used.
o Take note of sources so they can be provided in footnotes and the bibliography.
3. Brainstorm your ideas in response to the question
o Jot down any relevant points.
o Make note of any relevant evidence or quotes that come to mind.
o Use a mind map to help stimulate lateral thinking.
4. Construct a thesis (idea/argument) that encapsulates the response to the question
o The thesis should be a statement that strongly expresses the overall response to the question.
o Avoid a thesis that's too simplistic – show thought has been put into some of the complexities behind the question.
o The thesis is the backbone of the essay – it will be stated in the introduction. It also needs to be referred to several times in the essay before restating it and demonstrating how it has been proven in the conclusion.
5. Write a plan for the response
o Order ideas in a logical sequence.
o Make sure every point in the plan is relevant to the question.
o After the plan has been written it should be clear where the essay is going.
6. Write the introduction
o Open up the discussion.
o Introduce the thesis.
o Indicate how the questions will be answered.
o Name any texts to be discussed, if appropriate.
o Engage the reader.
7. Write the main body of the essay
o Ensure each point is given a new paragraph.
o Use words or phrases at the start of each paragraph that will indicate to the reader how it relates to the previous paragraph, eg, 'however', ‘in addition', ‘nevertheless', ‘moreover'.
o Start each paragraph with a topic sentence that clearly links the paragraph to the rest of the essay, eg "A striking example of Gary Crew's use of light and darkness imagery to suggest notions of knowledge and ignorance occurs in the scene on the jetty".
o Provide supporting evidence for each point that you make.
o Revisit the thesis, and express it in different ways if possible, to emphasise how the question is being addressed.
8. Write your essay conclusion
o Summarise the main ideas.
o Demonstrate how you have proven your thesis.
o Finish with an interesting or thought-provoking, but relevant, comment.
9. Edit the draft
o Check for spelling, punctuation and grammar.
o Delete any sections that are not particularly relevant.
o Change vocabulary to improve expression.
o Seek feedback from peers or a teacher before writing the final copy.
10. Write the final copy
o Add any footnotes or bibliography if required.
o Present a clean, neat copy.
o Submit on time.
Google Gooru is a great site for teachers to check out if they need to know more about integrating Google into their workflow and accessing all of those great collaboration tools which exist within Google Apps.
Below are 5 well organised tutorials that will make your understanding of Google Docs greater and allow you get more out of this great suite of tools.
Enjoy.
Learn how to transfer ownership of a Doc as a user or an admin. An ownership transfer can be performed as a user within Google Drive, while Admins can perform this task in the Google Apps Control Panel, or by using a 3rd party tool. In this video we highlight FlashPanel.
Google Plus Circles are one of the best ways to share and receive social content with the right people. A staple of G+, Circles allow you to segment your friends, family and co-workers into easy to manage groups.
For example, if you’d like to share an interesting article with people you work with, you can set-up a circle with all of your important contacts.
Posted on: May 03, 2012 | 42 comments
Printing your Google Calendar is super easy. All you have to do is:
1. Open up Google Drive
2. Check off the Google Doc that you’d like to save as your template
3. Click “More” on the top
4. Select “Submit to template gallery”
In this video, I show you how to add a table of contents to a Google Doc in two different ways. One way is by changing the specified text to “headlines” and then inserting a Table of Contents, which automatically creates links to your headlines. The other way is by making your headlines into bookmarks and then inserting links to your bookmarks at the beginning of the document.
The fact that you can create a table of contents on a Doc is one of the many benefits of using Google Docs and the fact that it is all on the internet. Once you watch this video, you’ll see how easy it is to add a table of contents to any Google Doc.
YouTube is one of the most underused teaching resources on the web. It offer millions of hours quality viewing made by some of the biggest names in the industry for free.
As a teacher it is your job to sort the good from the bad and define a purpose for this medium; which is in most cases a pretty simple task.
Below I have put together my top five tips for teachers to help them get the most out of YouTube as a powerful teaching learning tool.
Create a YouTube Channel of your own.
Let’s get one thing straight you don’t actually need to create your own videos to create a channel you simply need to add videos to your channel. This is really handy for teachers because it allows you to organize your favorite YouTube clips exactly how you would like them and you can invite visitors, pose questions and share comments without the rest of the world having their say. watch the video below.
Download your videos to watch offline in HD quality
You can download practically any video stream off the web with RealPlayer basic. In HD too. Install the program, and every time you load a YouTube clip it will have the option to download it locally to your PC.
Embed YouTube into PowerPoint Slides and web pages.
This is really easy to do. If you have a web presence or a presentation simply follow these guides below to ensure your video is accessible via your website, blog or presentation.
Add Quizzes to your Videos
“Now kid’s today we are going to watch a documentary. Please ensure that you take notes as there will be 5 questions you need to answer throughout the clip via a quiz.” This really enhances student engagement and gives teachers a greater purpose as to why you are watching a clip. Click here to see how to do it.
Add annotations, links and subtitles to your videos.
So you’ve just uploaded a YouTube video but forgot to add subtitles or annotations. Don’t worry; you can do all of this directly from YouTube by following this guide.
Google Docs for Teachers and Students
Google Docs has revolutionised the way we create and edit content on the web.
It is a genuine collaboration tool like nothing that has come before it.
Up to 50 people can simultaneously edit a spreadsheet, presentation or document at no expense, and it is available on all mobile and desktop platforms.
Today we are going to look at 20 great tips every teacher and student should be using to get the most of the collaborative learning opportunities Google Doc’s offers.
Allow editing without signing in: If you’re sharing a document with classmates who don’t have a Google login, just make it available to edit without signing in.
Chat away: In Google Docs, you can see anyone who is currently editing the document, and if needed, send a message to chat with them.
Embed Docs anywhere: Get a link to your document or spreadsheet, and you can embed or publish it anywhere, including Facebook or a class blog.
Insert facts: Using Google Spreadsheet, it’s easy to insert facts, like a countries’ population, which is simply pulled through the Google search engine.
Create graphs: Visuals are great tools for getting your point across. Using charts in Google Spreadsheets, you can create your very own information-sharing graphs.
Create forms: Gather research information; ask for opinions, and more by creating Forms in Google Docs.
Convert PDFs to images and text: Use Google Docs to make PDFs easily editable.
Save to different file types: You can easily save your documents and spreadsheets to commonly used file types like DOC, XLS, CSV, and HTML.
Automatically add email addresses: If you have Google Apps, the email addresses of the people who fill out the form will automatically be saved.
Hide chat: Keep everyone quiet during your presentation by clicking the left side of the chat module.
Track edits and changes: In Google Docs you can go back and forth between edits that you or collaborators made.
Remove collaborators: If you want to take someone off a project, click none next to the name of the person you want to remove.
Turn it into a webpage: Download your document in HTML, and you can share it as a webpage with a minimal amount of hassle. A great starting point for students wishing to create a website.
Change ownership: Switch ownership of Google docs as project leaders change. You might need to transfer ownership of a document to a staff member or student. It’s easy.
Share an entire folder: If you’ve got a collection of documents to work on together with students or staff, just open up a shared folder that everyone can access and contribute to.
Adding video: Remember Google owns YouTube, so they know video. You can embed video in documents, slides, and more to dress up your presentation.
Track visits: Using Google Analytics, you can track how much traffic a published document is receiving. This is really useful if you need feedback on whether your audience is actually getting involved.
Revert back to old versions: If your group doesn’t like a certain set of changes made, it’s very simple just to revert back to automatically save previous versions in the revision history.
Get Google Drive – Google Drive is the central place to manage all of your online profile with Google and syncs with a number of devices.
Google Docs and Google Drive is an ever-evolving product that has provided heavy competition for products such as Microsoft Office. I am sure there are many other useful tips you might be ware of and would love you to post them below.
