Why Reinvent the Wheel?

Hello Bloggers,

There are times when I come to a lesson and think one of two things: 1) How can I make this lesson more relevant for this year's group of students or 2) I have taught this lesson roughly five million times and I want to change it up a little. In an attempt to remedy one, or both, of these dilemmas, I often get on the web and open up Google. I always think I can quickly search the web for a simple addition to a lesson plan, but more often than not this consumes much more time than originally planned. This leads us to the focus for this week.

Teachers First is a teacher resource site that can eliminate the pain and agony of investing a great deal of time trying to figure out how to spice up a lesson. The resources found on this site are endless; from entire grade and subject-specific lesson plans to the "Featured Sites" section. This is a website that should be on your favorites list.


Your assignment for this week is to check out the website and post about a tool, lesson plan, or idea from the site you found useful or that you could possibly use in the future.

Discovery Education Streaming

Discovery Education Streaming (or as you may remember it United Streaming) is a great resource for integrating media into our curriculum. DE is not just videos. There are images, songs, sound effects, presentations. The list just goes on and on!

The first step is logging in to the site. If you do not remember your username, click on forgot username and try entering your old wednet.edu e-mail address IF your current e-mail address is not recognized. If you have never used DE before, there are directions here. Click on the Discovery Streaming new account setup document.

Once you log in to the site , click on SEARCH without even putting anything into the search bar. On the left you will see multiple ways to refine your search. Not only can you search by subject and grade level, but you can refine it even more by selecting the media type.

Once you begin to find media you would like to use, save it to "My DE" for future use. I created folders for reading, math and integrated units. Within integrated units I created three seperate folders for each unit full of age appropriate resources! Teachers can download these resources and insert them into PowerPoint presenations or other software/Web 2.0 tools. You can allow your students to access DE from home by requesting usernames and passwords. Students can download resources and use them for presentations as well. (Please Note: Teachers and students may NOT post any of DE's media resources online such as on blogs or websites. DE's resources are for classroom use.)

When sharing DE videos in the classroom, you will want to make sure you have your Ethernet cord plugged in or that you have downloaded the video to a CD, DVD or external drive to play the video from your computer. Otherwise your video may not buffer properly. (For instance, your audio and video may not align.) View the video in segments instead of full video so that the video will stop and allow you to discuss information with your students. We all know how important it is to stop and process information.

For this weeks post, tell us how you use or plan to use DE in your classroom. Explore the site first and search for various subjects and/or integrated unit topics. Ask your colleagues how they use DE and share their ideas with us as well!

Using Your Teacher Website to Provide Information and Resources

Every teacher in our district has the ability to create a teacher website. Teacher websites can be used to communicate information to parents and students, provide information and resources as documents or links, and to create discussion through a discussion board. Also, photos and videos of students can be added for families to view. (Check with your building secretary to make sure that your students have the electronic permission form on file. Never label a photo with the student's name.) Events can be added to the calendar, practice quizes can be created, and grades can be shared as well.

Did you know that there is a SWIFT user guide online? It is located under Programs & Services, TSD Staff Access. (Check with your BTS to see if there is a printed copy of the guide in the lab.)

The great thing about SWIFT is that you can decide what you want on your website. When you first login, you see your Profile. On the right you have the option to turn on or off each tab/section. Once you click save changes you will have the tabs at the top of your screen. (Be sure to update your e-mail address to @tahomasd.us.)

Did you know that you can lock a document? Any file that is uploaded to the documents section can be locked by clicking on the padlock to the right. You will be prompted to create a password. This password can be shared with individual parents so only they can access the file (audio, video, word document etc.). When someone clicks on the file, they must enter the password in order for the file to open. Remember, when uploading files it is a good idea to change them to a PDF so that parents can open them without needing Word, PowerPoint etc.

For this weeks post: Look at how other teachers in the district are using their SWIFT site. Look at other teachers in your grade level/specialty. Report back how you currently use your site and what you would like to add to enhance your site. (Consider adding links to the sites you explored from the Technology Resources for Tahoma Elementary Teachers website and to the new Tahoma Parent-School Partnership website!)

Visit a few SWIFT sites to see a variety of uses:
Glacier Park

Rock Creek

Lake Wilderness

Shadow Lake