blog.classroomteacher.ca

Hi everyone, my name is Kisu Kuroneko and I teach Grade 7/8 literacy (English, History, Geography, Drama) in Ontario, Canada.
Over the past few years, I’ve been experimenting with integrating a variety of different tools in the classroom, including Google Docs, online literature circles, twittering in the classroom, wikis and blogging. Here are my professional blogs to [...]

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We’re currently experimenting with online literature circles at our school.
Certainly literature circles, book clubs, and discussion groups aren’t new tools for many teachers. For example, the Saskatoon Public School Board has some great resources on their website about different ways to run literature circles, as well as assessment and evaluation considerations.
However, the idea of running a [...]

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At the end of June, our Grade 8 Language Arts (English) class experimented with using Twitter in the classroom.

What is Twitter?
Why use Twitter in the classroom?

Examining Twitter in the classroom to see how social media tools are changing the way the world communicates.
Using Twitter in the Classroom as a collaboration tool

Review of using Twitter in the [...]

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We’re trying to get a class set of laptops for student use. We use a lot of technology in our grade 7 and 8 classroom: blogging, homework websites, class wikis, audacity podcasting, twitter, dance dance revolution in the classroom and more.
Like many schools, our computer lab is chronically over-booked. In other words, the technology isn’t [...]

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Classroom technology is great… but where do we get the money to fund the educational technology? I would like to have a class set of laptops for my Grade 7 and 8 students to use: 

4 Reasons why I would like to have a class set of laptops
How much will a class set of laptops cost? Where [...]

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Classroom clickers are a piece of educational technology that allows you to get your students more involved. You put up a question on your computer and students use the classroom clickers to vote in their answers.
SMART technologies has a SMART Response student response system (formerly called Senteo) that has caught my attention.
I’ve heard people talking [...]

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This week, we brought in Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) into our classroom as a class reward for our Intermediate students as well as for our daily physical activity (DPA) requirements.
We’ve been thinking about bringing in Dance Dance Revolution into our classroom since last summer,  but didn’t actually start to research specifics and the benefits of [...]

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“Educators and parents may have been too quick to dismiss boys’ preoccupation with computers as a diversion from their own book-based literacy, not recognizing the computer’s capacity to empower users to gain access to, and control of, information. It is imperative that educators and parents be aware of the impact of the multimedia world, and [...]

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Consider your own experiences with communicating with parents about your reading program. What are the key barriers to parent involvement in your teaching situation?
Personally, I’m big on integrating technology into my classroom practice.

Over the summer, I started a list of 101 ways to bring technology into the classroom (in meaningful ways). Not upto 101 ways, [...]

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UPDATE: We tested Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) in our classroom. Read our review on using DDR in the Classroom. 
I’ve decided that I’d like to experiment with Dance Dance Revolution in my classroom.
Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) is a video game by Konami that was released in the arcades of Japan in 1998 and is now [...]

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