The New Assessment

Tired of legal pads filled with teacher evaluation scribbles that are impossible to turn into a cogent teacher-evaluation report? LookForApp has a new way that involves observing a teacher’s classroom activities and recording impressions on a phone or iPad. In addition to district- and state-mandated items, a school or administrator can add personal comments. It costs $50.

 

 

Instant Animation

There’s nothing that lights up the eyes of students like an animation sequence used in teaching, and iCreate to Educate can help make these classroom items easy to build. From a cartoon version of photosynthesis to letters organizing themselves as words and sentences, the possibilities are endless. The program lets you do image capture, frame-by-frame editing, time lapse sequences and the ability to work with a variety of audio and video formats. It works on PCs and Macs ($30 per client) as well as the latest two generations of iPads ($4.99) that have cameras; The company offers volume discounts, district licenses, a free download and online demo videos.

Freebee Friday: Special Apps for Special Kids

Common Sense Media has a free guide for apps that can help with teaching students with special needs called PowerUp! While it’s set up by ability, the site has listings in six functional categories: Communication, Social Interaction, Organization, Reading, Math and Motor Skills; each has three levels of proficiency. The site has links to everything from cutting and pasting activities to flash cards for understanding the emotions of others. A big bonus is that the whole thing can be printed out and given to kids or parents.

Share and Share Alike

At a little over two years old, it is the right time to update and upgrade Adobe’s Education Exchange. The new Exchange now has streamlined navigation, making it easier to find and use what you’re looking for. Plus, many maneuvers don’t even require you to log in. Those who use the Exchange can follow the goings-on of other members via popular social networks

 

Freebee Friday: Instant Curriculum

Whether you pick and choose from its 22 major topics or use the whole curriculum, CK-12 has enough lessons to keep any class working hard and learning. It’s heavy in lessons for math and the sciences with everything from geometry, calculus and the secrets of mental math to how photosynthesis works, but there are also sections for U.S. history and economics. Many of the lessons have discussion topics and assessments built in. All are available online, but some have .pdfs and ebook files available as well as interactive material and videos.

FETC 2013: Soft Skills

Teaching reading, writing and arithmetic isn’t enough in today’s tough job market and including the soft skills of collaboration and team-building are a must. That’s where Win Learning’s Soft Skills comes in. The personalized, activities-based program is distributed over the Web so it works on a variety of computing platforms. After an initial review of the student’s strengths and weaknesses, Soft Skills goes through a sequence of four instructional modules that cover everything from effective communications and conveying professionalism to promoting teamwork and critical thinking and problem-solving.

FETC 2013: A New Story Starts

Lego’s StoryStarter kits are now available. A great way to get the creative juices flowing, StoryStarter comes with Lego building blocks so that kids can develop their story by making a model of the scene and then turn it into an essay or comic book with included StoryVisualizer software. The StoryStarter kits range from $115 to $800 and can be seena t booth 1323.  

FETC 2013: Build Your Own Lesson

Tired of canned multimedia lessons that leave the class yawning? NewPath Learning’s Online Learning Program has a slew of ready-to-use interactive elements and the tools needed to bring them together in a compelling lesson plan. The system is aimed at elementary, middle- and high-school classes and has projector-ready material for everything from science and math to language arts and social studies. The basic version is free to use but for $100 per year, you get access to the company’s extensive library of interactive lessons, activities and assessments.

 

FETC 2013: Edu-Search

There are too many general search engines out there to name, but Noodle has one just for students of all ages. The service can help match the right student to the right school, whether it’s an elementary-, middle-, high-school or even a college. There are also study abroad programs and the site offers access to a slew of free online learning and test prep materials. Just fill out a quickie questionnaire to get started and you could win a $4,000 scholarship.

 

Financing the Future

With the emphasis on teaching, schools often are behind the eight ball when it comes to financial considerations. EduTuit SFS can help by tracking a school’s finances, including the ability to charge students for everything from tuition to the cost of field trips, all without the need for paper invoices. The system costs $12 per student.