Language+Arts

=__ Resources for Language Arts Teachers __=

What is the unit, lesson, skill you want to teach? Don't start with the tool!

Remember Student Motivators and life skills:


 * 1) Giving choice
 * 2) Having purpose
 * 3) Remembering one's audience

__Smartboard Notebook Resources__

 * [[image:Music_Search_Notebook.png width="800" height="401" caption="Notebook_Search.png"]] ||

Tools:
Lesson Activity Toolkit

[|Smart Exchange]- Great place to find other teachers' lessons Kevin Sullivan's Games - Shown at NJEA 2010 My Posterous Site - Links and information for using the Smartboard and Notebook software [|My Diigo Sites] tagged Smartboard [|Delicious] - All items tagged with Smartboard and LA
 * Resources: **

~Remember basic file management. When you find something save it in a place where it's easy for you to find again. For example: Create a folder called Smartboard Lessons, then another folder inside that one called Notebook Templates. Store all the games/resources made by others that you find there. When you find a need for one, open it up, edit it to fit your lesson, etc. and then re-save it in another folder based by the class/lesson. Your templates will always remain but now you have ready made games that work too!

__Internet Searching and Information Literacy__
You need to remember the Grammar of the web and how it works to search on various search engines. [|Google.com] - Use the [|Advanced Search] feature until you learn the nuances. MAKE sure you teach the kids too! Typically people only look at first 5 websites that come up in a search.

Glossary of Symbols/codes:
" " = Phrase - = Eliminates Site:edu = searches only university sites Site:uk = searches only uk (Great Britain) sites [|Root Database]= site for finding country codes

Search Terms to add:
Interactive School or Schools "Online Resources" "Technology Resources"

~Don't forget to search by STATE as well. You can find great things like this School created Wiki for Texas with great resources for anyone!

===**Language Arts **Publishers' Resources:=== [|McDougal Littel] [|McGraw Hill] [|Holt, Reinhart, & Winston] [|Houghton Mifflin EduPlace] [|List of many Publisher Online Resources] - Addison Wesley links do not work

**__Some Great Teacher Resources__**
[|Common Errors in English Language Site] [|Read Write Think] - Terrific templates to use with kids and a great place to find lessons [|Kathy Shrock's Guide for Rubrics]- Most are teacher made

[|Skype a Teacher] - Check out this great list of other teachers who will Skype with you - Check out the Directory and then the comments at the bottom Think school to school debate! [|Skype an Author]- Reach out to book authors

[|Google Lit Trips]

__**Creating Interactive Documents**__
Find a pdf on the web - paste into Word ~Remember to view your activity from the back of the room Change the font size, color, spacing, etc. and save to a base folder ~Open it up and use the Smartboard Pens and then re-save it in a folder you have created if that class You can upload it immediately for absent students on their class page off your Teacher Page. ~Terrific for teaching note taking!

__**Writing Workshop**__
~Create a JING to show kids how to edit a document/story/writing piece Google Docs - Kids create their assignments here then share with you. You edit with review tools and they are immediately notified so they can go to the next step. ~USE our "cheat sheet" of terms and what they mean SP = spelling U = Proper noun V = insert some key information (tell them they need adjectives, etc)

~Create deadlines for when steps should be complete so you know you can edit and they know they can make changes.

__Digital Storytelling Presentation Tools__
[|Glogster EDU] [|Prezi] [|VoiceThread] - [|Great Sample] by a 5th grade class OR this one created by a student all about [|Global Warming] [|Animoto] [|Xtranormal for educators] [|Photopeach]

 Pics you can use in projects

 * [|Pics 4 Learning] **
 * [|Flickr pics under a creative commons license] **

__Other Web 2.0 Tools__
[|RCampus] - Create rubrics and search through hundreds already made. Easy to post to your website too. [|Recipes4Success] - Create your own Rubrics and then edit with standard suggestions ~Create these as a whole class with your kids on the Smartboard

[|Quizlet] - Terrific for making quizzes and practicing vocabulary [|Study Stack] - Another Vocabulary tool [|Spelling City] - You can create an account, set up your spelling units, and then have the kids take quizzes and play games ~Any of the above three could be created by a student for extra credit or you could just have it be a job for every unit

[|Polleverywhere] - Terrific for gathering questions on an assignment or engaging students in a thoughtful discussion [|ietherpad] - Interactive, synchronous tool for collaboration [|Wallwisher] - Like an online bulletin board for ideas [|KidBlog] - You can set it so kids' comments are immediately up without your moderating their comments first. Just make it private. [|Nice Net]

**__Teacher Pages__**
Remember to link everything up here! New websites, notes you write together, etc. Keep your hierarchy simple and easy to navigate

__Community & Funding__
[|Donors Choose] [|Digital Wish]

**__Management - Classroom and Home__**
Raise up laptops on textbooks Have them close laptops (at least part way) when you need to teach Make sure you keep track of where they are on various online projects - check list of some sort Turn off projectors when not in use - Bulbs are very expensive

Remind parents: 1. Only 50 minutes of homework a night 2. Children should be using computer in a family area; not their bedroom 3. Think about charging their laptops in your room at night or at least have a "Homework/laptop Drop Spot" where everything is kept 4. Review doing homework and avoiding/eliminating distractions

~Send home a flier reviewing these ideas and others to be signed showing they have read the document.

__Publishing Kids' Work__
Wikispaces