Resources >> Browse Articles >> Utilizing Technology
Top 10 Technology Tips for New Teachers
Featured Author:
Mrs. Kelly Tenkely
Kelly Tenkely is a technology teacher in a private school. Kelly also trains teaching staff on integrating and implementing technology into the classroom. In addition, Kelly is the author of iLearnTechnology blog.
The opinions and statements made in this article are solely those of the author and do not represent the opinions or representations of the University of Phoenix.
About University of Phoenix
Since 1983, the goal of the College of Education at University of Phoenix has been to prepare great teachers. The College offers bachelor’s and master’s degree programs that are designed to meet state-specific requirements in select states. We also provide a wide range of continuing education courses for teachers and administrators across the country.
Whether you are pursuing a teaching credential or seeking to enrich your professional experience, our distinguished faculty will provide the expertise and guidance necessary to complete your course of study.
University of Phoenix is the largest private university in North America with more than 200 locations, as well as a flexible online learning format available in most countries around the world. Although widely available, not all programs are available in all locations or in both online and on-campus formats. For more information, please check with a University enrollment advisor.
University of Phoenix is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the North Central Association (ncahlc.org). For more information regarding state licensure, please click here.
Kelly Tenkely | TheApple.com
5. Keep yourself organized.
During the first year of teaching you will find a lot of new great resources, keep track of all these great finds in one easy to manage location. Delicious.com is a bookmarking website that allows you to bookmark and organize websites and webtools as you find them. Bookmarks can be collected and shared with others educators through Delicious. Be sure to install the Internet browser plugin so that you can easily bookmark a site with the click of a button.
6. Find educational blogs to discover new ideas, encouragement, and educational news.
I have found some educational blogs written by other educators that make me laugh, keep me current, and encourage me on tough days of teaching. Below are some of my favorite blogs, you can find other great blogs by clicking on the links in each bloggers ‘blog roll’. These are the blogs that the blogger is reading.
NCS-Tech- http://www.ncs-tech.org
Three Old Farts- http://threeoldfarts.com/
Cal Teacher Blog- http://calteacherblog.blogspot.com/
Always Learning- http://mscofino.edublogs.org/
Once Upon a Teacher- http://onceuponateacher.blogspot.com/
Regurgitated Alpha Bits- http://regurgitatedalphabits.blogspot.com/
Smart Education 1 to 1- http://smart1to1.blogspot.com/
The Cornerstone Blog- http://thecornerstoneforteachers.blogspot.com/
The Strength of Weak Ties- http://strengthofweakties.org/
Bestest PE- http://bestestpe.blogspot.com/
Confident Teacher- http://confidentteacher.blogspot.com/
iLearn Technology- http://ilearntechnology.com
7. Get to know your students.
Nothing means more to a child than getting to know them individually. Find out about their likes, dislikes, family, pets, friends, and hobbies. Technology can make it easier to get to know your students. Sign up for a classroom http://think.com account. Each student will get a protected web space. Here they can create school related web pages, and interact with you and other students in the form of debates, votes, blog posts, and online collaborative projects. Pose questions on your think.com space for students to answer. In my experience, even shy students are willing to share with you in this type of environment.
8. Work smarter not harder.
Use websites like Scholastic’s Book Wizard that will help you work smart and maximize your time. Scholastic Book Wizard helps you to find just the right books for your students. Level your books, find booktalks, author information and lesson plans. Search books by level, author, title or keywords, or find similar books at the reading level you need. http://bookwizard.scholastic.com/tbw/homePage.do?ESP=TBW/ib/20081222/eng/tbw_logo///thlp/img////
9. Don’t reinvent the wheel.
There are a number of free lesson plans available online for every topic and grade level. These can be excellent, creative supplements for school curriculum.
Scholastic Lesson Plans- http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/lessonplans.jsp
LessonPlanz- http://www.lessonplanz.com/
Hot Chalk’s Lesson Plans Page- http://www.lessonplanspage.com/
The Apple- http://theapple.monster.com
Teachers.net – http://teachers.net/lessons/
Lesson Plan Central – http://lessonplancentral.com/
teach-nology- http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/lesson_plans/
A to Z Teacher Stuff- http://atozteacherstuff.com
10. Always be prepared.
Plan out lessons, and keep them organized. Discovery School has a great online lesson planner where you can create and store your lesson plans. Lesson Planner lets you edit, print or download your lesson plans while linking to puzzles, worksheets, and quizzes that you have created with the teacher tools on DiscoverySchool.com. http://school.discoveryeducation.com/teachingtools/lessonplanner/index.html
kimtaylor
about 1 month ago
268 comments
Being a first year teacher can be overwhelming to say the least. There is new curriculum to learn, unfamiliar school policies, classroom management challenges, and new teammates.
external hard drive
jonathanwylie
2 months ago
18 comments
A good article for new and 'old' alike. There are lots of good tips, some of which we veterans forget about over time or just bever ran across before. Zoops for example is a good thinking skills site I had never used before. I linked this article from my blog - www.educationtechnologyblog.com to share it with others.
bohemiotx
3 months ago
24 comments
I reviewed this fine article in stumbleupon--made some notes too.
MikeB
3 months ago
2 comments
This may be the most resourceful article I have read as of yet.
abeam
4 months ago
2 comments
I would recommend Plurk.com over Twitter for educators.
kells
5 months ago
4 comments
i disagree with john. i use twitter, follow only other educators, and never use the "everyone" option, so only "hear" the people i'm interested in talking with about things i want to hear about. have found twitter to be highly beneficial and it has opened opportunities for me and my students.
JohnRoss
5 months ago
2 comments
Twitter is total crap for teachers. The signal vs. noise ratio is way to high. We already suffer from information overload and don't net yet another distraction.
Regards John
simpleleap
5 months ago
4 comments
Very awesome article. Now I have hours of link-a-tainment!
Kammy989
5 months ago
2 comments
Engrade.com
This is an amaaaaaaaazing tool for teachers, students and parents. Just watch the video, you'll see. And it's FREE!
sanjeev77
5 months ago
2 comments
Great article, thank you for the useful links.
coll1278
5 months ago
8 comments
Thank for the information.
CA2GA
5 months ago
4 comments
Really useful article!