// Langwitches Blog

I have been planning with a second grade teacher to get her started in using the SmartBoard that just had been installed in her classroom.
She let me know that she was working on maps skills and wanted an activity to be able to reinforce and assess student understanding of cardinal directions.
I showed her how to [...]

Why do we so often encounter defensiveness among teachers?
Defensiveness

about the way they have been teaching for years the same subject, the same book, the same curriculum, the same tests, the same way…
towards someone who is willing and ready to help them plan, co-teach, model, mentor, coach…
about “doing” computers
when listening to the difference between computers [...]

Having written a few days ago about What is in a Field Trip?, it was time to put the theory to practice.
Gail Lovely ‘ s quote about “framing a field trip” resonated with me
framing the event in learning before and after – & give them something to do while there!
Our third graders go on an [...]

I believe that we need to teach our students to be able to extract information from a variety of sources. They do not only need to be able to read text, but they also need to be able to:

extract
comprehend
evaluate
summarize
re-use
re-mix

information from other forms of media. They also need to be able to choose, use and be [...]

I was asked by my principal to think BIG. What would a technology rich school look like?  My first thought was to correct the title of the assignment. Not a “technology rich”, but a technology integration rich” school. I wanted the emphasis shifted from technology (which is often set equal to hardware) to integration and [...]

We are in our second year of integrating technology. We moved from isolated and parallel “computer classes” to co-teaching with subject area teachers. THEIR curriculum drives what we teach, introduce, and reinforce in the computer lab. I am available full time (my colleague Paige M. part time)  to our faculty to plan, co-teach, and lead [...]

Third Grade studied endangered and threatened animals of Florida in their science curriculum. TechConnect, together with the classroom teachers planned to take this unit to the 21st century and have students, not only research facts, but become experts in their assigned animals and make a difference by share their knowledge with others. They were to [...]

All of our teachers are administrators of their own wordpress blog (hosted on our domain) As part of our monthly workshops, the past week “Embedding Media on Your Blog” was offered.
The definition of “embedding” is :
To enclose snugly or firmly.
To cause to be an integral part of a surrounding whole
In the world of our classroom [...]

It has been 2 years, since I was in the classroom teaching Spanish to elementary school students. I am often asked  if I miss it. I do miss having classes on my own, where I am the one who can decide on a project and see it through from beginning to end. Do I still [...]

This year the teachers at my school are taking off with video productions. This is mostly due to the 5 Flip Cameras we have available for checkout, every teacher having a classroom digital camera with video clip capabilities and the rise in their comfort level of using programs such as Microsoft MovieMaker and PhotoStory.
Film School [...]