Shelfari

For those of you that keep a webpage or blog, Shelfari would be a good way for you to share the books that you would like to read, are reading, or have read.  It will display the books on a virtual bookshelf.  Your visitors can then hover over the book and get some information about it.  When you click on the book it will take you to Amazon where you can of course get all the advantages of Amazon.

You could use this in your classroom by linking textbooks that you will use in your class as well as books that the students will be reading in your classes.

You can view the books that I want to read in the sidebar of my blog.  Most are History by Howard Zinn, and the other is a book about teenagers and technology, "Digital Natives."

Alphabet Photography

When trying to think of a a project for Math for students to do involving technology, it can be kind of difficult.  Now, Alphabet Photography is to fold.  One, you are studying and learning math terms, and two, you can be using the letters you find to study shapes, angles and real life applications.

Alphabet Photgraphy is taking everyday natural or man made structures to create letters.  So, take the words Algebra, Calculus, Tangent, Cosine, etc. and find structures in your town that you can use to spell those terms out.  Once your kids have done so, paste the pictures in Word and us the formatting software to create a frame and then you have your Math Terms in a creative way.  Now you can of course use this across any curriculum and subject.  It helps your students learn about their home cities, as well as create a real connection to the assignment.  Below are some samples from the website.  It might be a new way to get a poster of your name for your classroom as well if you want to order from the site.

So How could you apply this to your classroom?

- All subjects could be done using vocabulary

- It would be great for Foreign Language, because you are using American buildings to spell foreign terms.

- Famous Presidents, Artists, Authors, Scientists

- Famous Document titles, Books, Magazines

- Do your students names as an icebreaker activity

Basically use the site as a guide for ideas, and then use your home town to find and create your own.