IEARN Collaboration Around the World
I was reading an article in ISTE's magazine and came across something really intriguing. There is a web site, http://iearn.org/, that focuses on curriculum based collaborative projects with teachers and students from all over the world. If you click on the "Project Collaboration Centre" in the upper right hand corner, it takes you to a search box. It allows you to search through projects by age group, language, content areas and more. It's a very interesting resource that provides opportunities for students to connect with other students worldwide in a safe environment. It's worth checking out to see if there is something of value for your classroom.
Internet 4 Classrooms
https://www.internet4classrooms.com/ is another gem that I found from ISTE. It has free resources tied to the Common Core. There are printables, suggestions, links, and teaching ideas. All of it could be easily modified and built upon for your own needs. They also have "I can statements" and assessment tasks. Content is searchable by standard and grade level.
Search Twitter with Educational Hashtags
Twitter can be an amazing resource to find educational content, ideas and resources. goo.gl/4CVDW will send you to a resource that shows you the currently popular educational hashtags by subject matter/topic. Even if you don't like to use Tweet messages yourself, it's well worth going to twitter.com to check out what others are saying. There is an amazing amount of resources.
Today's Meet
If you've been to an education conference in the last year or two, chances are that you have seen Today's Meet. It is located at https://todaysmeet.com/ . This is a great, free resource that allows you to have an interactive class discussion. I created a short video that shows how it works here. I felt it would be useful because it is free, does not require an account and can be up and running in seconds. It could be useful for students who aren't comfortable raising their hand and answering, but are comfortable thinking through and typing out a reply.
If there is anything in this newsletter or on my web site that you need help with using, please let me know. I'd love to help.
How to schedule a time to meet?
The easiest way to contact me is through email at sean.whelan@westg.org. Please let me know what you'd like to meet about, your room number, free periods, and any other info that might be helpful to me in order to prepare for our meeting. I'd love to meet with you to see if I can help facilitate any issue you might be having.
