PPS Instructional Technology

In honor of reading month, I recorded this short video of one of my favorite books to share with you all and your students. ​ If you would like to create your own video book library, like this video, here's how to get started. Step 1: Pick out your book Step 2: Get out your chromebook or PC with a Webcam attached Step 3: Open a video recorder.  There are lots out there, but I used: The Video Recorder from 123apps.com Step 4: Record your video. Step 5: Watch it and rerecord if necessary. Step 6: Save and/or download the video. Step 7: Upload to a Google Drive folder that is shared with your students so they can all view the videos. Step 8: ENJOY! Classroom ideas... Create a school-wide collection Have older students record themselves reading books for younger students Have family members record books for the classes Too shy to be on video?  Just use the Voice Recorder instead.

Our next post in our Learning Together at MACUL series, Sheila Clothier shares her MACUL experience as well as some great tech tools for supporting our readers. Sheila is a fourth grade teacher at Central Elementary School and is one of our Chromebook 1-to-1 Pilot teachers.  When you talk to Sheila, she will be the first to tell you that teaching in a 1-to-1 environment was a huge leap of faith for her.  She is an amazing, gifted teacher, but has never claimed to be on the bleeding edge of the tech world.  Anyone who states that they can't use technology in their classroom only needs to sit down with Sheila for 10 minutes or walk through her room and you will soon realize that tech isn't all that scary after all!  Here is Sheila's blog post on her MACUL experience.  Thanks for sharing, Sheila! I was amazed with all the possibilities of using technology in the classroom with language arts. During the conference, I refreshed my understanding of Google Cl...

When I was in Todd Chappa's third grade classroom yesterday, he was excited to share this new tool he has been using with his students to help them practice taking adaptive online reading comprehension assessments.   Read Theory Read Theory is an online tool that once students are loaded into the program, they can take online adaptive reading comprehension tests.  The tests adjust up if the student is doing well, or down if the student is struggling with the content.  The program then provides the teacher with the ability to track how the students are progressing. Cost: Free Device: Internet enabled device Use in the classroom: Great for getting students reading for online testing with quizzes that are short and sweet.

http://www.storylineonline.net/ Are you an Elementary teacher looking for some great online resources for listening to reading?  Do you want to expose your students to proficient readers reading great stories?  Then you need to check out Storyline Online.  This site, brought to you by the Screen Actors Guild, hosts videos of great actors reading 25 different stories.  Actors include greats such as Betty White, James Earl Jones and Melissa Gilbert. Check it out: All the YouTube videos have been added to our YouTubeEDU account, so students can access them when logged in with their PPS accounts. Uses in the Classroom: Expose students to quality reading during Daily 5 time, whole class instruction or the lab.  You can play the videos on your TEC, have students watch them individually with headphones in the lab, or set up a center in your classroom with a laptop/Desktop computer and some headphones.  Kids are sure to love listening to some of their fa...