WebQuests are great interactive tools that motivate students to learn!  WebQuests are so powerful because they are student-centered in nature. Students enjoy delving deeper into a topic through WebQuests because they are not teacher-directed. Rather, students are given a purpose and task to encourage them on their WebQuest journey.  During WebQuests teachers facilitate the learning [...]

The purpose of this chat was to discuss how the arts can improve upon literacy instruction within the classroom.  The discussion was led by BJ Berquist.  (She actually led my Tips and Tricks session as well.)  In addition to myself, two other teachers joined the discussion.  One was a technology teacher in an elementary school and [...]

This week I worked on creating an interactive PowerPoint for my fourth grade students.  I was very nervous about completing this assignment, because I have never made a PowerPoint before.  I was especially nervous about making the PowerPoint interactive.  However, this proved to be a very worthwhile assignment, because it forced me to learn how [...]

Last night I created my first podcast.  I think that podcasting is  a great idea.  I plan to use my podcast to introduce my science WebQuest on animal adaptations.  I think that my auditory learners will especially appreciate being able to hear important information on adaptations prior to beginning the WebQuest, since this is their [...]

Critical thinking requires that students closely work with given information and apply it using higher level thinking skills.  This means that rote memorization and basic comprehension will not be enough.  In the Eduscape write up on critical thinking, it discussed how Benjamin Bloom developed six cognitive levels of thinking.  From basic to complex they are:  knowledge, [...]

Screencasts are an asset to our auditory and visual learners!  Fortunately, screencasting is relatively easy to do.  I developed my first screencast on how to make a pie chart using Excel.  This allows the viewer to note the step by step procedures involved in developing this type of chart.  Students and teachers could develop similar screencasts to [...]

During the Tapped In Tips and Tricks tour, we were able to learn how to navigate through this online resource available to teachers.  We were able to edit our information and enter different group rooms.  We also learned how to use the calendar to set up dates for future chats with groups of interest.  Our [...]

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