Tomorrow We Appreciate Teacher Heroes with a Sale!

It’s snowing out where I am at right now.  My Facebook page is full of school closings, but it is also full of my teacher friends talking about the work they will be doing today.  Planning lessons ahead, getting caught up on grading, writing out IEP notes, cutting out lamination!  Seriously, the teachers I know (myself included) so rarely take days off that they must be superheros!  Luckily, Teachers Pay Teachers has recognized this fact and so the entire site will be 10% off tomorrow just by using the coupon code HEROES.  (If you received my TPT Note to Followers, please make sure you have the coupon code as I accidently entered the wrong code and can’t get back in to correct it!) 

Of course the majority of Teachers Pay Teachers sellers are using this opportunity to give teachers additional savings.  My Teachers Pay Teachers store will be on sale an additional 20% giving you a full 28% off of anything purchased from our catalog of 587 quality teaching resources, including these newly released items:

 

Enjoy the sale!  (And the snow days if you’re getting them!)

Using DuoLingo in the Classroom

There are so many benefits to teaching our students a second language.  As they learn a second language, not only are they stimulating new parts of their brain, but they are also building new background knowledge and making connections to vocabulary they already know.  For example, while learning the word for ice in French (glacier), students should make the connection to the English word glacier.  This connection helps them to remember the word longer and be able to retrieve the word quicker – in both languages.

While we as teachers often understand the growth our students can make by learning a second language, we don’t generally have any control over their access to said language classes.  However, there is a way to use technology to give this possibility to our students.  It’s called DuoLingo and it’s the perfect place to start learning another language.  The program has an app (both for iPad and Android) and a website that provides amazing help with learning a language.  Because DuoLingo can be used on computer, iPad or Android tablet, it is a perfect app for any classroom because it allows us to do more with the technology we have, rather than requiring the purchase of new technology, which is a personal pet peeve of mine – see my post on why we don’t always need to buy new technology for the classroom.

The DuoLingo program includes all of the elements of learning a language – reading, writing, listening and speaking.  (Unless you are working on a Kindle with no microphone where the speaking part is automatically turned off.)  Unlike other language programs, if you have previous experience with this language, you can take a screening test and move quickly through the more basic levels, which means you start exactly where you’re supposed to. 

The courses are broken into small sections, each of which includes you listening to, reading, writing and speaking your target language.  Once you have reached mastery of a specific set of skills, you are automatically moved on to the next.  In addition to the activities, within each small section you will find a written “lecture” that explains the topic to you in English, with written examples.  Each “lesson” within DuoLingo takes about 20 minutes, and does not necessarily have to be done every day (although no less than twice a week would be suggested, so students don’t forget what they have learned).  This could easily be fit into your literacy centers, be morning work or become a part of any checklist.  (See my post on using checklists instead of centers.)

You can choose to have all of your students learn the same language, or let each student choose a language based on their background and interest.  With 18 different languages including Spanish, French, Russian, Italian and Vietnamese, there really is something for everyone on this site.  In addition, this program would be great for English Language Learners.  Instead of learning another language, students can log-in in their home language and practice their English vocabulary and grammar.

 My sons in grades 2 and 5 use this program to enhance their French vocabulary and grammar and love the interactive pieces that allow them to “power up” as they get correct answers.  I personally use it to review the grammar rules I have forgotten from in class lessons and I find it much easier than many other programs I have used.  Oh, and the best part – this is a FREE program and they even recently added a place where you can sign up as a teacher and monitor the progress of your students!  No money needed to try this out in your classroom and start helping students make connections in new parts of their brain!

 

What is Everyone Saying About Math Tiling Puzzles

When I was in the classroom, tiling puzzles were my absolutely FAVORITE math activity.  I started out each trimester giving each student a stapled packet of 10 tiling puzzles, which they worked on whenever they finished work early.  If they finished the entire packet before the trimester was done, there was a no-homework pass available as a prize.  Not only did this keep the kiddos focused and prevent management issues, but the tiling puzzles forced students to work on math facts, math concepts and critical thinking all at the same time.  Plus, because I had puzzles for each operation, I could easily differentiate by simply giving different students different puzzle packs.

   

I am not the only one who loves these packets.  Here are some comments that I pulled from the various packets I have available:

“I absolutely love these! The students have to look at multiplication in many different ways to solve the problems. Sometimes they have to reverse the process. Sometimes they must think of possible multiples and eliminate the ones that won't work. Excellent for encouraging them to think "outside the box". Taught them to eliminate as many choices first with reasoning skills and using guess & check with the final possibilities. Thanks for an excellent resource:)”

“Great for students who finish early!”

“High praise from students... I tried your freebee and was impressed with how it kept my more skilled mathematicians engaged. One of them just saw me printing this packet and said, "Oh I love those!"

“I downloaded the sample version and I love it! I have 6th grade students who are having difficulty with multiplication so this is a great tool to have them self-check!”

“This is great! Just challenging enough to work as a math center yet not too challenging that they will give up. What a creative idea! Thank you for providing.”

“This will be a great bell activity and refresher after the long weekend. Thanks”

 “This is genius! I love how critical thinking is needed to only use each tile one time - along with the addition practice! Thank you for a great product.”

 

At my Teachers Pay Teacher store, I have 50 Addition & Subtraction puzzles and 50 Multiplication & Division puzzles, but I also have 10 different puzzles available completely FREE, so feel free to grab some free puzzles and see if your kids love them as much as mine did.

 

2,000 Follower Giveaway – Major Freebie Alert!

In my January Newsletter, I announced that when I hit 2,000 followers in my Teachers Pay Teachers store, there was going to be a BIG giveaway.  Well, I opened my store today to help a customer and found out that I am only 8 followers from that giveaway.  So here are the details:

 

Now that I know I’m close, I’ll be checking – a lot!  Once that ticket clicks over 2,000, We’re there!!! I’ll have set my entire store to 20% off AND I’ll make one of my biggest sellers – my Online Portfolio Packet (normally $6.00) for free.  The sale will remain for two days, but the packet will only be free for 2,000 minutes (33 hours and 33 minutes) from the time I set it as free, It will be available free until midnight on February 17th.so be sure to keep checking back.  Also, feel free to pass this on to your friends and colleagues.  The more people who know about it, the sooner everyone will be able to download their free version of my Online Portfolio Packet and save money with 20% off!

 

 

 

 

Are You Sure You Need That New Technology?

Anyone who has read more than one blog post on this blog knows that I am a proponent of technology in the classroom.  I think that each student in each class needs to be using technology to create as often as possible.  However, I have seen a disturbing trend in technology recently.  This trend involves buying new technology because it is new and fancy, not because it is needed, or will even be used.  Often technology is purchased, but not followed through on.  Teachers aren’t trained properly.  Technology isn’t used or does not get maintained.  It begins to gather dust.  Then a new technology comes in and we spend a fortune investing in it while the old technology goes to the scrap metal bin.

 

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge proponent for making sure that every classroom world wide has technology.  Students need technology that allows them to:

- access information available on the internet

- create videos, websites, projects, blog posts etc.

- interact with - learn from and teach to - others around the world

Students don’t NEED the newest technology that just came out – whether we can afford it or not.

When I attended the ECIS Technology Conference in London a few years ago, Marc Prensky reminded us that technology is NOT about having the newest and greatest technology tool.  Using educational technology should be about teaching students how to use technology – whatever technology they have – to expand their learning opportunities, connect with others and create things they couldn’t have created otherwise. 

Buying new technology is expensive and often left underused.  Instead of constantly purchasing new technology, we need to start thinking about how we can use the technology we already have.  Personally, I believe we need to spend more money on training teachers to integrate and better use the technology that is already in their classrooms, rather than buy a new tech tools if the situation doesn’t call for it.  Additionally, teachers need time built into their schedules to explore technologies – new and old - so that they can feel comfortable implementing these technologies in their classroom.

We should also be considering how the technology will be used before buying the technology.  If a teacher is only going to be using the technology for students to play games, then students could continue to play those games on a classroom desktop rather than buying new iPads.  However, if the teacher plans to include video creation, app creation or podcasting in their lessons, than they would be using the iPads at a different level and the expense could be better justified. Unfortunately, teachers are rarely involved in the conversation about what technology should be included in their classrooms and we don’t buy technology based on the individual teacher or individual student’s needs.  Because of this, I go back to training.  If we can train our teachers to use their existing technology to the fullest capacity, then both our students and our budgets will benefit.

Most professional development programs are not training our teachers how to integrate.  That is part of the reason that I continue to publish blog posts and resources geared to helping teachers best use the technology they have.  That is the reason that my Internet Scavenger Hunts have three different possible options, allowing them to work if you have laptops, iPads, tablets, or a mixture there of.  That is the reason that my Online Portfolio Program and most of my projects – including my Online Book Report and my Historical People Research Project give teachers (and students) options on what technology they will use to present their information.  That is the reason that I have written blog posts both about Creating Videos on an iPad and Creating Videos on the Computer.  My focus – as a teacher and as a blogger – is to help students and teachers utilize whatever technology they already have to the fullest capacity of that technology.