12 Easy Ways to Use Technology in the Classroom (Article)

Technology has entered into classrooms like a storm, but many teachers are at a loss when it comes to knowing how and when to use technology.  The article titled 12 Easy Ways to Use Technology in the Classroom, Even for Technophobic Teachers provides tangible, accessible examples that can be implemented in the classroom.

1. Do a PowerPoint "Game Show" review game
2. Have the students create a blog where they can post about what they are learning
3. Have the students create a twitter account and they have to tweet (create a post that summarizes the lesson in less than 140 words)
4. Use Webquest
5. Use technology as a topic for a writing assignment
6. Create a class website
7. Use an online grading system
8. Do an email exchange
9. Give multimedia presentations (or have the students do it!)
10. Supplement lessons with internet searches and virtual tours
11. Listen to, or create a podcast
12. "Publish" your students' work on the class blog/website so parents can see the students' progress and projects 

Plan for Next Year: Organize the Year, Topics, and Daily Lessons

The online article titled Plan for Next Year: Organize the Year, Topics, and Daily Lessons provides examples, ideas, and motivation for teachers as they begin to plan out the daily routines, monthly themes, and yearly goals.  The author suggested that teachers complete three plans (maps) for the year: a year-long plan, topic outlines, and daily plans.  The year-long plan will assist teachers as they make sure that all the necessary material and curriculum is properly presented, taught, and understood by the students.  The topic outlines take the year-long plan and divides it into units that will be completed every few weeks.  The author views the daily plans as the "backbone" of the classroom.  The daily plans provide detailed lesson plans, questions for students, and classroom procedures.  All three are needed to have a successful, organized classroom.    

Marzano Research (Website)

Marzano Research is a website that provides countless resources that can benefit administrators, teachers, and classroom assistants.  Marzano Research has conducted case studies and action research studies which analysis and evaluate strategies in leadership and classroom procedures.  Marzano Research has also conducted studies in the following areas: assessment/grading, Common Core, educational technology, student engagement, teacher effectiveness, and vocabulary.
     

Balanced Leadership for Powerful Learning: Tools for Achieving Success in Your School (Book)

     The book titled Balanced Leadership for Powerful Learning: Tools for Achieving Success in Your School is a beneficial resource for school leadership who desire to make positive changes in their schools.  Modifications must happen in schools because the world that surrounds the students is constantly changing.  Below is a description of the book that can be found on the ASCD website.
     "What makes a great school leader?  Contrary to what many believe, the answer is not tied to a certain kind of personality but to specific behaviors and actions that have positive effects on student achievement-behaviors and actions that any school leader can learn and put into practice.
     Over the last decade, thousands of school principals have done that, by implementing balanced leadership, an approach that recognizes the need to both maintain and challenge the status quo in order to move schools forward.  
Building on the analysis that was first reported in School Leadership That Works, the authors of Balanced Leadership identify the 21 responsibilities associated with effective leadership and show how they relate to three overarching responsibilities:

• Establishing a clear focus-keeping the work and the conversations targeted on the issues that matter most;
• Manage change-understanding how to skillfully steer through the challenges associated with making improvements, both large and small; and
• Developing a purposeful community-creating a sense among all teachers and staff that they are invested in student outcomes and that they make a difference."

The Twelve Touchstones of Good Teaching: A Checklist for Staying Focused Every Day (Book)

     The book titled The Twelve Touchstones of Good Teaching: A Checklist for Staying Focused Every Day is an excellent resource for all teachers who desire to have a focused and academic driven classroom.  Below is a description of the book that is found on the ACSD website.
     "There's no way to boil everything teachers must do in the classroom down to simple, step-by-step directions.  But some days, there's so much going on in schools and classrooms, it's tough to focus on the bog things that absolutely, positively must get done.  Here's help.  Find out how a simple, practical checklist-distilled from thousands of research reports, books, and articles-can help you cut through the clutter of information and make more deliberate, thoughtful decisions in your everyday practice.  Bryan Goodwin and Elizabeth Ross Hubbell explain that-just like doctors and nurses use checklists to make medical decisions-educators can use the same tool to take the right actions and engage in more thoughtful behaviors.
     Discover why the complexity of teaching drives the need for checklists that

• Develop a teaching theory of action that helps you filter and assimilate the barrage of new ideas coming at you all the time. 
• Help you stay focused on what matters most: being demanding, supportive, and intentional.
• Support professionalism among colleagues, share best practices, and identify exemplars to follow."

Tips for Curriculum Planning {Mapping, Long Range Plans, Year-Long Planner}

As teachers are planning out their entire year of their classroom curriculum, they need to be thinking of the big picture.  The article titled Tips for Curriculum Planning {Mapping, Long Range Plans, Year-Long Planner}  provides templates and examples for teachers.  Below is an approach that the author uses while planning out the curriculum.

• "Begin by jotting down all of the major themes and big ideas that you'll be teaching.
• Think about read alouds you want to share with your class.
• How long will they take?
• When would be a good time to read them?
• Do they align with any concepts or themes? 
• After you have established the "Big Ideas" you can start looking at the nitty-gritty: specific standards, lessons, and pacing.
• Consider your district's requirements.  If they have created a pacing guide you'll want to use it to form your own long-range plans."

New Teachers: Lesson and Curriculum Planning

It is overwhelming for teachers to plan out units, activities, lessons, and learning stations at the beginning of each school year.  The article titled New Teachers: Lesson and Curriculum Planning provides advice, examples, and links to assist new teachers as they plan out their school year.