How To Make Your Classroom A Safe Haven For Your Students. We know about the public cases, those gossiped about so offhandedly—the homeless student, the one whose mother is in jail, the two with drug dealing fathers no longer around. But what of the others? What of the secrets hidden and locked away, keys all but resting on an ocean floor? What about the shy boy seated near the front who won’t look you in the eye? He appears well taken care of—clean clothes, hair moussed, new sneakers. But what you don’t see is waiting for him at home. The truth is, despite our vigilance, we don’t know what happens when our students leave our classroom. They put on a good face, these heroic students, and bury their secrets well. We can make sure our classroom is a place where our students can exhale and know they’re loved, wholly protected, and free to learn and enjoy school without looking over their shoulder.
We can make our classroom a safe haven. Here’s how: Rely on schedules, routines, and procedures. Maintain a clean, organized classroom. Be kind. A Safe Haven. 10 Technologies to Use in A Laptop/Tablet Classroom. As more and more work migrates to the web, these ten+ technologies are particularly effective for classrooms and schools with one-to-one programs. They could be used in traditional classrooms with some modification too. 1. Blogs—Teachers can create a blog for use in the classroom or students can create a blog as part of their learning/assignments. A blog is a website where entries are written in chronological order and commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. Blogeasy Bloglines Edublogs Del.icio.us EdBlogger Top 100 Educational Blogs 2. The Free Dictionary from Wikipedia 7 Things you Should Know about Wikis Wikispaces 3. Digital Ink, Breakthrough Technology in Tablet PC, Brings the Power of the Pen to the Desktop A Study of Digital Ink Student Artifacts to Inform the Scaling of a Classroom Interaction System Digital Ink for Online Teaching Mobile Devices in Education Is Digital Ink All its Cracked Up to Be?
4. Teach-nology Teacher Resources Online Google for Educators 4 Teachers Worksheets 5. 6 Reasons Tablets Are Ready for the Classroom. Vineet Madan is Vice President of McGraw-Hill Higher Education eLabs, which works with colleges and universities, professors and students along with technology partners to develop innovative, cutting-edge digital educational tools to improve the way instructors teach and students learn. Since the debut of the iPad, tablets have captured the imagination of consumers. In just one year, the iPad surpassed even the most optimistic of projections to define a brand new product category and become the best-selling gadget of all time, and Forrester analysts project that in 2011, tablet sales will more than double.
But are tablets ready for the classroom? Though tablets have caught on with consumers, the higher education market has been slower to adopt, and understandably so. From grades to degrees to job placement after graduation, the devices that are used in classrooms are tied to important outcomes. 1. Tablets are cable of offering enhanced ebooks featuring images, video and audio. 2. 3. 4. 9-Point Checklist for 1:1. Check this list before you start your 1:1 program -- or to improve an existing program. Search for more funding: The state may be providing machines and some training/support but I will guarantee it will not be enough. Questions to ask yourself: What extra financial resources can the school deploy? How much can the photocopying/textbook budget be scaled back? What needs to be done to the infrastructure of the school and classrooms? Support Professional Development. Training must be innovative, especially in the creation of time and space to learn.
Create a small, motivated team to do some thinking and proposing to the whole staff. The team could include the librarian, a classroom teacher, and member of the senior executive as well as the “tech brains” at the school. Create high expectations of, and from, the school leadership. Create Procedures and protocols. The devil is in the detail and it is essential that the practical reality of ubiquitous laptops usage is given a high priority. Tablet - Overview - Hatch Early Childhood - Innovative Classroom Solutions - Instructional Technology & Educational Materials. 1 to 1 Schools. One-To-One Computing: Pitfalls to Avoid. Just because a technology is available for students doesn't mean it has to be used all the time. Find out what the research says about the benefits of one-to-one computing, and read about educator concerns about the overuse of technology.
Included: Ten Web sites offering research, concerns, and tips on one-to-one computing! One-to-one computing means putting a computer -- a PC, laptop, handheld, or tablet PC -- into the hands of every student. While many educators say that one-to-one computing is transforming education for the better, others say it's making the classroom teacher's job harder than ever. In this, the second of two articles on one-to-one computing (See The 411 on One-to-One Computing), we look at reasons to consider one-to-one computing in the classroom, research data on the impact of technology on student achievement, concerns about technology's overuse in the classroom, and tips to ensure that classroom computing helps, rather than hinders, the learning process.