Exploring New Technologies

Yesterday as I was working on this assignment, I stumbled upon a great source full of posters that teachers can use in their classroom. I can't believe I did not know about this before. These classroom posters are offered by Google for free and are designed in such a way to help students and provide them with handy tips on improving search results. They can also help your students learn about Google services that can help them in their learning such as Google Scholar, Google Book Search, Google Quiz, Google Quiz Answers and many more. I am sharing with you a snapshot of these posters below and you can click on any title to see the original size of the poster in PDF format and also in print format.

www.google.com/educators/posters.html

There are 8 really nice posters!

 New Technology

Popplet

Pros: When you first look at Popplet it seems like just another mind mapping tool like Inspiration or MindMeister, but it has four other features that make it superior to the other apps like it

            Free

1.            You create popples that not only include text they include links, images, drawings, videos etc… And if you are using a chromebook to work on Popplet you can insert images directly from your Google Drive account!

2.            Even with the Popplet Lite free account, you can share Popples in much the same way as you do a Google doc, so collaboration can take place as well as shared design.

3. Completed Popples can be published with a link or embed code making it easy to share via the web.  Popples can also be used in programs such as Schoology and Edmodo.

 Cons: The challenges that might come with adopting this wonderful tool for the classroom. access the online features, you must have an email address, most schools do not assign emails for students Teachers, and students would have to learn to use the app in order to use this app and take advantage of all of the features, teachers would have to receive training and have a good understanding of how the app works and be proficient in using Popplet

This is an example of one I created for demonstration.

Icivics

www.icivics.org

Games are already created, you add your name and it becomes personalized, and what student wouldn't enjoy that.

Students learn about the rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and other important constitutional amendments. First they consider what rights they believe are important, and then they read and analyze the real text of each amendment. This lesson also helps students analyze the impact that the Bill of Rights has on their daily lives. Completing this lesson prepares students to play the game Do I Have a Right?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

The student will be able to…

·         Describe the circumstances and debate that led to the Bill of Rights.

·         Compare and contrast the positions of the Federalists and Anti-Federalists as to the Bill of Rights.

·         Identify the rights granted by the Bill of Rights and key later amendments.

·         Categorize rights in the Bill of Rights as individual freedoms, protection from government power, or rights of the accused.

·         Predict what might happen if key rights were missing from the Constitution.

·         Each game is personalized