Tech Tips 13: Planbook.com

Tech Tips 

Issue 13

This Tech Tip will look into a great program for making and sharing your lesson plans.  There are many great lesson plan programs out there, but my favorite is planbook.com. This lesson plan book is easy to use, has many features, and has a low cost!

Quick Overview of Great Features:

Attach Files to Lessons:  Teachers can attach files (Word Document, PowerPoint presentation, PDF, etc.) or web inks to lessons. This makes it a one-stop storage for all your lesson materials.

Standards Reporting:  Teachers can run reports on the standards they have covered in lessons. They can view national, state, or local standards, and report by specific subjects, categories and date ranges. The reports will also tell the number of times each standard was taught.

Teacher Notes:  Teachers can have a running “To Do” list (make copies, get supplies, call parents, etc.) available right form the plan book.  Notes about student performance, ideas for new teaching approaches, etc. can be stored here as well

Forwards and Backwards Bump:  Didn’t get to a lesson or maybe covered it earlier than expected?  Lessons can be bumped into the future from one to ten days, or into the past from one to ten days.

Customize your Lesson View:  Week/day/month views are available, as well as color coding and font sizes. You can also choose to show or hide many parts of lessons (standard IDs, standard descriptions, materials, homework, notes, etc.).

Share Lesson Plan:  Lesson plans can be shared with other teachers, administrators, or parents if needed.  The teacher can select what portions are shared and what are kept private.

And Much More…

Create an account and get started:  http://www.planbook.com 

Tech Tips 12: Khan Academy

Tech Tips

Issue 12

This Tech Tip will look at a great online teaching resource.  Khan Academy has thousands of videos and online learning activities for all ages.  These resources can be used at school or home for introduction, review, or reinforcement of Math and Science skills.   

What is Khan Academy?

The Khan Academy is a “learn at your own pace” Math and Science resource web site.  It started out when the founder Sal Khan was helping his cousins with math classes and posted some of the videos to YouTube.  Since then it has grow to thousands of videos and many self-paced online activities.  The videos and activities cover everything from one-plus-one to Calculus.  Some teachers have even been using Khan Academy as homework and having the students practicing the concepts in class the next day (flipping classrooms).

Visit https://www.khanacademy.org/about for a great overview.

For Teachers: Khan Academy offers great introduction, review, and re-teaching videos and activities for all ages.  These are fantastic resources to see a lesson in a different way or have unlimited access to teaching resources.  Khan Academy can be used by the teacher to show instructional videos to the whole class or even have individualized instruction through student accounts.  Once a teacher sets up an account it can be used to monitor student progress.  Teachers become “Coaches” in Khan Academy and have access to view all activities and progress of students. 

Below is a link to view videos to set up student accounts and have students add you as their coach.

http://tinyurl.com/GLTechCoachHowTo

For Students: Students can revisit concepts they may have difficulty with or just need to review.  Also, they can learn upcoming concepts and to prepare for future class lessons.  Khan Academy engages students of all ages with rewards such as Badges, Avatars, and Points earned.  These are un-lockable through completing activities and viewing relevant instructional videos.

For Parents: Parents can see student progress the same as teachers can, as well as view additional help in math and science concepts. 

Visit Khan Academy to get started: www.khanacademy.org