Blog #2!  (November 6, 2014)

I have just read Adele Raemer's  "Digitally Yours"   about using the app, NearPod in class, which enables the sharing of Power Point Presentations via SmartPhones. Her PP gave her students instructions on how to do their oral component for their book task!   First of all, this solves the problem of classrooms that don't have SmartBoards or projectors and screens,like my school, for example!  In addition, getting them to speak for 1-2 minutes about their books is a win-win situation; we get to hear all of our students speak and each student gets to practice speaking!  It all sounds great.. now I need someone to push me and show me how to actually do it!  I do not have spare time to play around and learn all the things I want to learn; I'm sure most of you have the same problem!  I need a F2F demonstration!

I liked Richard Byrne's suggestion in his "Free Technology for Teachers" blog          He gave 5 different ways of collecting student feedback, which I have just learned is called, "exit tickets"! The students respond to 2-3 questions, asking if they understood the material taught that day and what questions they had for the next lesson. The two that appealed to me the most was "Socrative" and "Poll Everywhere". I MUST try one or both of these!

The third Blog I read was Lisa Nielsen's "The Innovative Educator" . Since it was on Interactive whiteboards, I just glanced at it because my school doesn't have those..... yet!

Reading about all the new (and free) technology and  how to use it in our classrooms is very exciting, but, at the same, I find it all so overwhelming!

In any case, I hope I'll be writing soon, that I've not only learned how to do some (all????!!) of the above, but that my classes have been enjoying the fruits of my newly obtained skills!

Till the next blog....