Spring Break at E^2 -- Tune up those minds!

Well it's Spring Break at Stevenson, and hopefully teachers and students are being energized for the end of the year learning. I recently read that many exciting and memorable projects often take place at this time in the school year. Right now, the push is for testing... so, here's a resource that appeared in the Six Pack two years ago, and unlike many web resources, has survived the test of time, and remains a valuable learning tool.

Quiddler Student Worksheet
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Looking for a simple way to introduce brain boosters and critical thinking into your everyday activities? Try this daily Quiddler worksheet to get your students thinking about words in a whole new light. Visit: http://www.setgame.com/puzzle/quiddler_work_sheet.htm or http://www.setgame.com/quiddler (either print it out or "play" online).

Revisting an old favorite: HPR*TEC

HPR*TEC stands for High Plains Regional Technology in Education Consortium.
http://www.hprtec.org/

While I am hooked into learning about emerging technologies, I sometimes forget about resources that have survived beyond the commercialization of the web, and the "dot.bomb" age and still provide access to wonderful (and still free) resources for education.

Some of the HPR*TEC resources include solutions such as ...

4Teachers:
4Teachers.org works to help you integrate technology into your classroom by with tools and resources such as RubiStar, QuizStar, TrackStar, NoteStar, Project Poster, and more! This site helps teachers locate and create ready-to-use Web lessons, quizzes, rubrics and classroom calendars. There are also tools for student use. Discover valuable professional development resources addressing issues such as equity, ELL, technology planning, and at-risk or special-needs students.
http://www.4teachers.org

and...
Casa Notes:
Designed to allow teachers to quickly make, and customize, typical notes that are sent home to parents or given to the students. This is done by using templates and allowing the teachers to customize some of the content, choose a color scheme and add a graphic. The notes can be printed in English or in Spanish.
http://casanotes.4teachers.org/

View the complete list at: http://www.hprtec.org/solutions/

Listen to some Poetry !!

I have recently discovered the Poetry Archive (http://www.poetryarchive.org) -- the largest online collection of recording of poets reading their own work. You can listen to writers such Langston Hughes, Rudyard Kipling, Alfred Tennyson, William Butler Yeats, plus dozens of contemporary English-language poets. There’s a special area for children’s poetry, plus resources for teachers. Oh, and it's free!!

IL-TCE Presentation -- Online!

Last Thursday and Friday (3/2 & 3/3/2006) I presented two sessions at the Illinois Technology Conference for Educators in St. Charles, IL. This year, more than 1700 attended (and that was just the Thursday count)! My session on Thursday was titled, "Social Technologies for the Classroom?" in which I shared a number of web resources that can be used for collaborating between teachers and students.

Please feel free to check out my "online handout" which includes an audio file of the presentation, so you can listen and follow along by clicking the webpage links with me.

We are truly living in an "information age" -- more than ever before, teachers and students have access to an abundance of resources that make it easy to contribute to the "education conversation" as producers and publishers of knowledge!!