10 Great Sites in Ten Minutes For Educators

Below you will find Ten Great Sites that educators could use to improve their teaching and engage students.

0. Garrison Sites: The inspiration for this list

1. Prezi - presentation video creator
2. Taggalaxy - great pictures from Flikr. Read our review!
3. bridgeurl - create a slideshow of websites
4. wordle - create word clouds
5. jigsawplanet - create a puzzle out of a picture
6. qwiki - uses wikipedia and pictures and graphics to create a short interactive video about a topic
7. dabbleboard - easy way to make webs, doodles and graphic organizers
8. caffein - free video chat with multiple people
   
9. Thinkfinity - a great website with lots of lesson plans and ideas that integrate technology into teaching.
10. Glogster - create posters and
    
11. Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day - Amazing resource with tons of great links and resources
12. SLPTECH Blog - My own website, with lots of resources for teachers.
13. SLP 21st Century Technology Website - District website with lots of great resources for elementary teachers.
    

BridgeURL of Sites.

5 Tips on getting Students Using the Smartboard or MOBI

“Your students are tired of watching their teacher use the smartboard.” - TIES Trainer

1. If you expect most or every student to use the smartboard, keep the activity quick and easy. Instead of having students write with the MOBI or Smartboard, have them just move an object or make a mark.
2. The first few times a student uses a MOBI or Smartboard, they will be very slow. Therefore, allow time for students to play and explore the smartboard during a time when you can help them, like indoor recess or morning work.
3. Morning Sign in: Using the shapes toolin Smartboard Notebook, you can quickly create a shape with the students name on it. Then when they arrive in the morning, they can do their lunch count, make a graph, or even put their name in a Venn Diagram.
4. Have your students use the smartboard or MOBI as a Center. After you have taught a lesson or activity with the whole class, you can begin assigning it as a center. At first, the rest of the class will be a bit distracted by this, but after a few days, it will become just one of the centers they will rotate to.
5. During independent work time, have a few students write their answers on the smartboard or MOBI. This way, when everyone is done, you can go over together the answers together, and you don’t have to make your class wait while the student writes their answer on the board.