Kicking Around Ideas About Classroom Technology at MyClassHQ
Posted by Katie on June 25th, 2012
Summer is here! School is out! Now what? Summer is a great time to extend learning with hands-on activities at home. One of the best resources for obtaining ideas for summer enrichment is BrainPopJr. Click here to access a comprehensive list of topics. BrainPopJr. provides background information and multiple family activity suggestions for each topic. Not sure where to start? Since there are a multitude of topics to select from on BrainPopJr., picking one might…
Posted by Kenny on May 22nd, 2012
Popplet is a tool designed to visually organize ideas. Teachers and students can use Popplet to make timelines, graphic organizers, mind maps, storyboards, presentations, galleries, diagrams, and more! Popplet has a user-friendly vibe, and a fun interface which makes it an excellent choice for the elementary classroom. Fun Features: • Easily insert content from Flickr, YouTube (please keep in mind that some videos from YouTube may not be appropriate) and Google Maps • Collaborate with…
Posted by Kenny on May 11th, 2012
If you haven’t heard Bill Gates’ talk on “What Makes A Great Teacher,” now might be the time to watch. He gave this talk a few years ago, but the points made in it are both surprising and view-changing.
Posted by Kenny on May 1st, 2012
I read a brief but insightful opinion piece on test scores this morning, and just had to contribute. Standardized testing is something I’ve always worried about — primarily the assumptions people gather from it when evaluating teachers. Are standardized tests an accurate way of measuring a teacher’s effectiveness based on student’s performance increases year-to-year? The LA Times seems to think so, because every year they publish the “Teacher Ratings,” an index of LA-area teachers with…
Posted by Kenny on April 27th, 2012
Man, how I loved my TI-84 graphing calculator. It was my trusty sidekick in high school algebra. It travelled with me to pre-calc, throughout college Calculus I, II, and III, and linear algebra. And right when I was off to conquer Differential Equations, the unthinkable happened — it was stolen — or borrowed for an indefinite period of time by an unknown person. What was I to do? Shell out another $100 for a calculator?…
Posted by Katie on April 4th, 2012
Field trips seem to provide one of the most memorable experiences for students — Given all of the technology and great resources, the definition of class trip has now expanded to include online or virtual class trips too. Although this doesn’t truly replace the conventional class trip, online trips can be a way to enhance learning and classroom engagement. Using technology, the opportunity to “travel” beyond the walls of the classroom can be accomplished using…
Posted by Katie on March 23rd, 2012
YouTube is a bit of an internet staple at this point, and there are so many ways that it can be applied to education. One of the most beneficial aspects for teachers is a recent launch called YouTube for Schools, which has made it exceptionally user-friendly and school appropriate. Similarly, YouTube Teachers has made accessing relevant content to use in your classroom a quick and simple endeavor. Both additions to YouTube make this resource a…
Posted by Kenny on January 29th, 2012
Today’s an exciting day because it’s the day we’re kicking off the MyClassHQ Classroom Technology Blog. We want to write about some of the technology-related ideas we think up or hear about that can be used for the classroom. So what’s MyClassHQ all about? A few years ago when Katie, an elementary school teacher, told Kenny, a professional software engineer, how difficult it was for her to set up a website for her classroom. She…
MyClassHQ is a web engineering company devoted to helping teachers bring technology into the classroom with our easy to use classroom website builder.