3.12.2009

Link Love: SMART Boards and a Simple Number Line Tool

Great resource from James Hollis.  Interactive number line tool to use with the Smartboard.  Great for Everyday Math lessons.

Teachers Love SMART Boards: SMART Boards and a Simple Number Line Tool

http://smartboards.typepad.com/smartboard/2009/03/smart-boards-and-a-simple-number-line-tool.html

3.05.2009

Link love: Inspired Classrooms » home

What a great idea!  Found this site via Learning is Change (great blog).  Inspired classrooms is about finding the middle ground between having computers in the classrooms but not yet having a 1:1 computer situation.  Simply by placing a few computers in an accessible manner where students can access them regularly can cause a huge shift in instruction.  Make sure you check out the videos on the philosophy behind Inspired Classrooms -- good stuff, especially for elementary classrooms. When I return from maternity leave, I can't wait to try to implement this!

http://inspiredclassrooms.wikispaces.com

3.03.2009

Link Love: Ideas to Inspire


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Why I haven't blogged in 6 months


While I've been actively reading other edutech blogs this school year, I have not posted much. That is because in June 2008, I found out that I was pregnant. And on Monday, February 9th at 6:07 AM, my husband and I welcomed our first child, Charlie Star, into the world. Charlie is named after my maternal grandfather who passed when I was young. My husband picked her middle name. She is my heart! Although, I'm suffering from a bit of sleep deprivation, we are all doing well. Of course, Charlie has totally changed my outlook and schedule (I'm stealing time now while she is sleep to post this.) But I would not change this experience for anything. Hopefully, as things settle down, and I get back to work, I can rejoin this digital conversation.

What type of blogger are you?

Just heard about this neat site called Typelyzer via the Cool Cat Teacher Blog that will analyze your blog writing style and theorize your personality traits. Here's what it said about me:

The analysis indicates that the author of http://thehappyhappyapple.blogspot.com/ is of the type:

ESTP - The Doers

The active and playful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.

The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.


While not totally accurate, this analysis does hit pretty close to home. I think I'm more of a creative-type than an active outdoorsy-type. But the "impulsive, starting something new" description was dead on.

The other good thing about this post was that I found out about another blog, The ETLMS Blog which is sponsored by Oakland Schools -- my district! I don't know how long Oakland Schools has been offering the option of starting a blog on their site, but I think it's a fantastic way to keep the dialogue about educational technology open -- especially at home. And I can't wait to explore the other blogs on the site. Thank you Cool Cat!

Typealyzer