Deb Norton Tech

If you are finding yourself teaching the same lesson year after year with the same materials and teaching style; then it's time to add some new technology and spice up that boring lesson.  It's refreshing and motivating for students to see a teacher using new instructional strategies and materials in a lesson. Here are a bunch of ideas: 1)  Involve the students - Use an online poll or backchannel to interact with your students during your lesson. This gives every student a voice and builds character and understanding amongst peers.  a.   Poll Everywhere b.   Tally.tl - Click here for my blog post. c.   Today's Meet d.   Padlet e.   Geddit - Click here for my blog post. 2)  Student Choice - Allow your students to show their learning with these choices. Giving students a say in how they show their knowledge is empowering. a.  Mindmapping with Slatebox or Bubbl.us - Click here for my blog post b.  Creat...

Just recently I had my reading students use Bubbl.us to create a mindmap of a non-fiction text.  They did a really great job and totally enjoyed using Bubbl.us .  I had them set up their own account, which involved entering their email and creating a password (which I made for them).  There was no email verification needed. I was impressed with the newest features in Bubbl.us 2.0. My students were impressed with the ability to change bubble colors, as well as change text colors.  They also liked the easy click and drag options.  Connecting bubbles was also easy for them to get the hang of.  I explained parent, child and grandchild bubbles. Here is an example of a mindmap from one of my students.  To take a closer look, just click on the + and - .  Click on the background to move around. The only feature that we didn't use with Bubbl.us is the ability to collaborate and work together in real time.  In order for us to work with a pa...