TheApple

The most dreaded word in school reading for students: book reports. Teachers assign them, viewing them as a necessary component of assessing reading comprehension. Book reports can be a contributing factor to 'readicide'. "Read-i-cide n: The systematic killing of the love of reading, often exacerbated by the inane, mind-numbing practices found in schools." http://stenhouse.com/html/readicide.htm. So, how can we as teachers continue ...

As summer break approaches, we teachers start thinking about how far we have come during the school year with our students. We also dread that they will be on their own for the summer and may or may not be reading. Shelfari is a virtual bookshelf that you create to show off books that you have read and recommend. It is ...

If you're wondering what "Web 2.0" is, then keep reading! It's time you learned what you're missing and how many great (and free) applications that you can utilize. Make reading, language arts, and even communicating with parents easier and more enjoyable. Below are five great ways you can get started found by TheApple featured writer, Kelly Tenkely. If you are already ...

Middle Spot is a spectacular new search engine for teachers, librarians, and students performing research. Middle Spot lets you see your results, you can pan and zoom individual website results. Workpads allow you to save and annotate results and sort by collections. Workpads can also be shared with others (colleagues, students, or professional learning communities). What I love about Middle Spot ...

A Library for the World's Children URL: http://en.childrenslibrary.org/ Intended for: Kids ages 3 – 13 and Adults As a reading and ESL teacher in Cairo, Egypt, I was constantly on the lookout for interesting books that would appeal to the diverse group of students that I taught. I liked to think I was pretty up-to-date on what was available online. Without ...

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. Technology can help to ease some of these first year growing pains. 1. Develop a Personal Learning Network (PLN) on Twitter. Twitter is an excellent place for new teachers to connect, collaborate, share ideas, ...

The internet is the way of the future for technology-savvy educators. Creating a website for your class can be a worthwhile tool to connect and share with members of the class, parents, other teachers and the world! Post news, photos, links and other useful tools. If you want to create a website for your class but don’t know where to ...

I have found this year that I have been making a lot of progress on my own personal teaching style. It’s my 6th year to teach, and I begin what could be seen as the downhill slope of teaching. Now that I am pretty adequate at getting children to be and stay quiet throughout class so that I can teach them, ...

There is a myth, a common misperception, that teachers’ use of technology is a relatively recent phenomenon.  However, the great teachers in my life have all had one thing in common; they all used the technology of the time to encourage and enhance learning. When I was growing up this rarely meant computer use—computers were still relatively new to education at ...

One of the best resources I have found for students to use is from The National Archives Website. When we think of the National Archives we immediately picture the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, etc., and we should because these very important documents are housed under the care of the National Archives. BUT….they have sooooo much more, and you can see ...

What it is: There are some really neat online tools that I find that live in my Google Notebook for a long time (I have upward of 800 links for educational websites yet to post to iLearn Technology…and growing daily!) Some get pushed aside for my newest cool find, and some move to the bottom of the list because, while they ...

One of TheApple’s members, John Slattery of Santa Fe, NM, touched our community with his post of how he helped get 50 laptops donated to children in third world countries. This story warms the heart and reminds us that simple actions can have profound effects. You may have heard of the fabled "$100 laptop" that's been generating buzz for several ...

One of the major benefits of using technology in the classroom is the ability to differentiate instruction to meet the needs of every student in every lesson. Just as every student grows and develops at different rates, they learn in different ways and at different speeds. Technology makes it possible to pace lessons appropriately for each student's learning level and can ...

Kido’z is a web browser specifically designed just for kids. The Kido’z browser is a completely protected environment where kids can surf web sites, watch kid appropriate videos and play games. Kido’z has an incredibly simple interface that is even appropriate for non readers and writers. The browser blocks links, scripts and other opportunities for kids to be lead to websites ...

It can be challenging to find time to engage one-on-one with each student daily, but active learning is important for student comprehension and retention. When you can't reach every student every minute, let technology step in to help. There are several free websites that offer curriculum integration with videos, games, and interaction in a variety of subject areas. Some of these ...

What it is: Google comes out with some really incredible tools and Google Sky is definitely one of them. Think Google Earth for the Sky and you will get a pretty accurate picture of what Google Sky entails. Students can get up close and personal with the Solar System, Constellations, the Hubble Telescope Showcase, Backyard Astronomy, Chandra X-Ray Showcase, GALEX Ultraviolet ...

Do you consider yourself a technology novice or an expert? No matter what level you are, using technology to connect with your students can be an important tool. It may be easier than you think to incorporate into class. Web 2.0 applications are a fairly new trend that aim to facilitate creativity and collaboration- a perfect pairing for a classroom ...

Wordly Wise 3000 is a vocabulary curriculum that can be purchased, any time I see a website mentioned as part of curriculum, I always take a look. While the Wordly Wise 3000 curriculum costs, the website activities are free! Students are told to choose their vocabulary book (I just choose the appropriate grade level). Students can go through a word list ...

What is it? I have posted before about a website called Free Rice. This vocabulary game has the added benefit of donating rice to help end world hunger. For each correct answer, Free Rice donates 20 grains of rice on your behalf. This isn’t the only website with a cause. Aid to Children is a vocabulary game like Free Rice — ...

The latest issue of "Technology Counts" released a study that grades state schools on technology in three different areas: access to technology, use of technology and their capacity to use technology. It seems that no one mentions education these days without talking about the use of technology, so the study drives home how far education has come. Since 1994, schools overall ...