Free Educational Technology Journals and Resources

These magazines/web sites are all great sources of information, resources, tips, lesson ideas, and more and are all FREE.

Tech&Learning Magazine - free print or electronic subscription to educators. Magazine and web site have product reviews, best practices, thought provoking articles, education and technology news, blogs, and more.

(I am a TL Advisor and write a blog for them and I have published articles. )

Edutopia - is a free web resource from the George Lucas Educational Foundation. There are best practices, lesson ideas, project based learning resources, videos, blogs and more. Edutopia showcases schools, districts, and classrooms that are increasing student achievement and decreasing issues and problems.

THE Journal - is another great educational technology resource. They offer free print or electronic subscriptions and the site has a lot of great resources. There are articles about what is working in schools, technology reviews, news letters, and more.

In the February 2010 Edition, on page 17, there was a feature about #edchat on Twitter. I am a strong proponent of Personal Learning Networks, and #edchat on Twitter is a great place to start and grow your PLN.

They are all free, so why not check them out.

Please share any of your favorite free journals/magazines/web sites with us.

TechForum NE 2009 was great!

This past Friday I attended TechForum Northeast 2009. Techforum is run by Tech&Learning Magazine and is a great educational technology conference. They hold other ones around the country also.

The keynote speaker for TechForumNE was Chris Lehmann, principal of the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, PA. The Science Leadership Academy (SLA), is a public, magnet high school that opened in 2006. The school uses technology to the fullest, with every student and teacher having their own laptop. SLA is based on understanding of concepts and project based curriculum, centered around the five core values of inquiry, research, collaboration, presentation, and reflection.

Mr. Lehmann spoke about SLA and it's vision and how it works, but also addressed some global issues for education. He said that school should be a fun, exciting place so that learning can truly exist. A better environment leads to better learning. He said that schools should be creating citizens, not a workforce and that we need to integrate understanding, projects, technology, and collaboration throughout a school. The curriculum should be interdisciplinary so that what happens in period 1 fits with what is happening in period 3. SLA's vision is supported by all of the staff. They "teach students, not a subject". They believe that education should be student centered with teachers as mentors. They believe that learning should be relevant and that students should work in teams to solve problems. To do this, they have created a unique project based curriculum. I was very happy to hear how SLA was implementing project based learning so successfully. I am a big supporter of project based learning and have written extensively about it. http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/search/label/project%20based%20learning

After the keynote speaker, there is a short break for refreshments, visiting vendors, and networking. Then there were breakout sessions. I attended one entitled "Walking the walk" which was a panel discussion about embedding technology directly into the daily life of a school. The panel consisted of Chris Lehmann from the Science Leadership Academy, Alisa Berger and Mary Moss from the iSchool in New York City, and Kim Carter from the Monadnock Community Connections high school in New Hampshire. They all talked about how technology and project based learning have enabled their schools to be successful. I was very interested in the SLA and iSchool and I recommend that all teachers and administrators visit their web sites and see the wonderful things that they are doing.

One of the fun events of the day is the Round table session. This year there were 20 different topics to choose from. Participants choose a topic and go to that table were a facilitator give information and guides the discussion about the topic. This was my second year as a round table facilitator and this year my topic was Google Apps. I also had a co-facilitator, Beth Richards from New York City. The discussion was fun and lively, with advice, tips, and information coming from all participants. You can visit the wiki page, which has links and information, for this discussion HERE.

Every year there is a great variety of vendors present. They have booths set up, where you can try out their products and get more information. The vendors also do presentations during the day to showcase their products. I have found them to be no pressure and very easy to talk to. The vendors also sponsor the end-of-the-day reception (free food and drink is always nice) and have give-aways for the raffle. SMART raffled off a Smartboard/Projector/Speaker system and Quizdom had a wireless tablet. There were also document cameras, books, and DVDs raffled off (free).

In the afternoon break out session, I attended one by Scott Meech, entitled "Life Long Learning Toolbelt." In his presentation, he spoke about how technology professional development is typically run and how it is not successful, and how he thinks things should change. It was a very interactive presentation and the discussion brought out some great ideas for changing technology professional development.

The event is held at the Palisades Conference Center. It is such a great place. It is absolutely beautiful, with high tech meeting rooms and facilities. The food was great. The conference registration fee includes morning snacks (pastries, muffins, coffee, tea, and more), a buffet lunch, dessert, afternoon snacks, and the vendor reception. The food and facility add to the great experience.

Techforum Northeast 2009 was a great day, filled with learning, exploring, and networking. Pictures, videos, and downloads from presentations are available at the conference vault. This year's conference files will be there shortly. You can find some of them HERE. You can also look at resources from past conferences.

I highly recommend these conferences for all teachers and educational technology leaders.

They also have a Virtual TechForum conference coming up on November 17th, 2009. This is a free, on-line conference, that will have presentations, forums to connect with other teachers, and vendor information.

My Top Three Resources

I was recently asked to list my top three resources / technologies that I use in school. It was very hard to narrow it down, but I came up with the three listed below. To that list, I would also add the internet - this is where I find more resources and how to use them.

1. Google - http://www.google.com/educators/tools.html - Google has internet search, educational search, free blog hosting, Google Docs, free web site hosting, and more. There is a huge amount of tools and resources available from Google for free for educators. There is also email, calendar, and task lists that are all free. These applications can help teachers and students.

2. Evernote - http://www.evernote.com/ - Evernote has a free account and is a great resource to take notes, clip information from the internet, and stay organized. Keep your lesson plans and other notes on here and have access to them from anywhere.

3. Tech & Learning Magazine - http://www.techlearning.com/ - this magazine has a huge amount of resources, links, and articles about technology and education. There are news articles, how-to articles, blogs from ed tech leaders, and reviews of educational technology, along with other links and resources. It is free to subscribe and you can get either print or electronic copies.

What are your favorite/most useful resources?

New Teacher Advice

WELCOME NEW TEACHERS!

As I was realizing that summer was almost up, I also realized that there will be a new batch of teachers to join our distinguished profession. So here it is, my advice to new teachers.

Your best resource as a new teacher is yourself. Use what you learned in school. Seek out more information from colleagues and the Internet. Use your creativity. Remember what it was like to be a student yourself.

Ask for help. Don't be afraid to ask other teachers for help. Do not isolate yourself in your classroom. Make connections with other teachers, whether it is in person, by email, Facebook, Ning, Twitter, web sites, or blogs.

Don't reinvent the wheel. Use the resources that are available to you. Most textbooks now come with instructor resource CD-ROMs and companion web sites. Use the resources that they have and then modify them as needed. Search the Internet for lesson plan ideas, activities, classroom management tips, and other tips and tricks.

Stay organized. You need to stay organized. Make sure you have a lesson plan guide and calendar of some sort. You can use a paper based planner and lesson planner or use an electronic or web-based system. Smartphones, such as those from Palm (Centro), RIM (Blackberry), and Apple (iPhone) are great for staying organized. You can also use online resources like Google, Yahoo, Evernote and others to keep your files, calendar, tasks, and lesson plans organized.

Write things down and make sure you have your classroom materials organized and labeled.

Take advantage of professional development opportunities. Your district and school will run professional development sessions, but don't limit yourself to those. Look for free online sessions, webcasts, conferences, and sessions run by your local educational resource agency.

Join a professional society in your area. As a physics teacher, I have joined the National Science Teacher's Association (NSTA) and the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT). Find out what organizations are in your area and join them. You will find resources and contacts through these organizations.

Read journals. Subscribe to and read educational journals. Most are free, so you don't have to worry about the money. There are journals on general education, educational technology, pedagogy, assessment, and just about every other area of education.

Be creative with your lessons. Think outside the box. Come up with new, fun ways to teach the students. Use projects and project-based-learning as a way to engage and teach your students. You can find a huge number of resources and ideas for projects on the web.

Read some books on education. My personal favorites to start with are "First Days of School", by Harry Wong, and "Your First Year as a High School Teacher", by Lynne Rominger, et al.

Don't pay for things if you can get them for free. There are tons of free resources, from software to web sites, that can help you in your classroom.

Make connections with the secretaries and custodians in your building. They will be some of your best resources for supplies, ideas, and help.

Make connections with local businesses, especially those that are related to your subject area. They can be a huge resource for guests, supplies and equipment, and funding. Many local businesses, such as Staples, have Teacher Appreciation Days with discounts and free gifts. Find out about these. Remind businesses that instead of throwing out things, they can donate usable items to your school as a tax write-off.

Get to know the publisher's representative for your class's textbook. They can get you a lot of resources.

Be flexible. Remember Murphy's law. Have plans for when your lessons run short or long, to deal with interruptions and fire drills, assemblies, and days when much of your class is absent because of a field trip. Have back up plans for everything and especially have backup plans in case of technology issues.

Know your local and State curriculum. Know what is expected of you. Know what is expected of the students.

Track your personal expenses and save receipts. There is a tax deduction for educators.

Copyright issues - be careful and make sure you know about Educational Copyright issues

Keep up on your certification requirements.

Ask for help, and look for help. Again, don't be afraid to ask for help.

Good luck and welcome to the profession!

Here is a list of my favorite sites and resources (all are free / have free versions)

Google for Educators: http://www.google.com/educators/index.html

Evernote: http://www.evernote.com/

SugarSync: https://www.sugarsync.com/referral?rf=c6g3ccjrtagq2

Tech&Learning Magazine: http://www.techlearning.com/

THE Journal: http://thejournal.com/Home.aspx

Engrade: http://www.engrade.com/

Free Educational Technology Magazines

There are a lot of educational and educational technology journals and magazines out there. I have two favorites, both of which are free.

The first one is Tech&Learning magazine, which I am a TL Advisor for. I write a bi-monthly blog and do product reviews for them. The magazine has a lot of great articles and resources for teachers. They also run educational technology conferences around the country. The conferences are a great way for educators to see what is new and how to integrate technology into their classrooms.

The other one is THE Journal. THE Journal is another great resource with some really good articles, tips, and information for educators.

Both magazines also have great websites with a plethora of information. You can subscribe to either an electronic or paper version of the magazines.

The articles and information in both magazines are well written, timely, and relevent and well worth reading.