Resources

Below are some articles that I think will be useful when I am incorporating technology into my classroom.

This article highlights the use of video taping students in the classroom as an ice breaker. The students in the article really enjoyed that activity on one of the first days of school. What really excited the students in a special education classroom was the chance to be part of a production crew that filmed two of their classmates racing their dirt bikes. The teacher used the fact that the students were very intrigued with their classmates' dirt bike stories, and rather than try to force the focus back to the lesson at hand, she tapped into their interest by creating this project. The students had a great time and were very focused.

This article showcases a Fourth Grade Social Studies unit on pirates. The teacher used technology throughout the unit via Internet research and blogging. This allowed students to find out more information that what could be found in a textbook alone. It also helped familiarize them with the tools that they will need later in life. In today's technological society, integrating technology into lessons at a young age is an important life skill.

This article presents a new and exciting way for students to present oral reports and tell stories. It is called digital storytelling. Digital storytelling incorporates sounds, music, artifacts, and art into a person's story. It provides a new approach to writing and allows the students to really express themselves in a variety of ways. Although digital stories typically run from only two to five minutes, the multimedia approach provides the opportunity to share a lot of information in that time frame.

Below are some videos that I will find helpful when teaching lessons to elementary students:

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