Monday, March 28, 2011

Vocabulary Activity

So I was looking for an engaging activity to have the students do the Friday before Spring Break.  We have been studying East Asia and they had already completed an initial Vocabulary Activity.  I had heard about Quizlet -- this is a website where students can create flashcards and play vocabulary games. 



I had to do a bit of setup to have it ready for my students.  A couple days before the activity I created an account with quizlet and then created my set of vocabulary words.  I could have had the students use my log in and use the set directly from there - but since I work with mischievous 7th graders I figured that someone would figure out how to edit the set and mess things up for the other students.  So I created a link from my web page - I designed my web page earlier this year and would like the students to access it on a regular basis.

The thing I liked the best about this website was that the student has a variety of activities that they can do.
They can flip through the set like flashcards, take a test, and play games using the words.
This activity kept the students engaged for about 25-30 minutes - which is a perfect Friday activity at our school.  We have have a slightly shortened schedule for teacher collaboration.  There were only a couple of students that got bored (one of them was my daughter!) but I would challenge them to beat their previous scores on the games - most students are pretty competitive and want to keep trying to see if they can improve their time or score.

There were a couple of features to this site that I did not utilize but I think would be useful.
  • print the cards
  • listen to the pronunciation of the words
  • link to facebook
One of the best things about this activity was that one student asked me how to create their own account so that he could use it for his PreAlgebra words that he had just received in the previous class. 

I will definitely use this site again!  :)

Friday, March 25, 2011

Education and Technology Adventure

I am a bad teacher! Yes I said it!  I recently discovered twitter and have begun developing my PLN.  And this is what I have learned --- I am a bad teacher...okay maybe bad is the wrong word.  How about old? No that's not right either, I have not yet seen 40 (of course I am awfully close).  How about antiquated? All I know for sure is that I have not embraced all of the wonderful web 2.0 tools that are available to teachers to help students achieve to their highest potential.  Well that is about to change.  Now that I have been educated in many of the available emerging technologies that are out there I am on a journey to become a better teacher.

A bit about myself ---I teach 7th grade geography at Jerome Middle School in Southern Idaho.  I teach 5 core classes a day and a projects class. I have about 115 students.  In my classroom, I have two student computers, but I also have access to two 7th grade computer labs. 

I also teach history online for Idaho Digital Learning Academy. I generally have one class each session consisting of approximately 25 students.  The class comes ready to go so my main role is to facilitate the course and help students as needed.

I recently completed a blended learning course which has really got me thinking about the potential of taking my class into that blended environment. I truly see the value of utilizing the web for learning and want to move my teaching in that direction.

My goal in starting this blog is to catalogue my experience as the teacher trying new things.  I will share what worked and what didn't work and hope for some constructive comments along the way.

Okay....Here Goes!