Jux- Super Sleek Presentation Tool jux.com

Cool Online Stopwatches

I love it when I stumble upon (thanks to Michelle Ayala's pin)a super cool practical tool for my online classroom. These collection of stopwatches surely beat the timer that Blackboard Collaborate provides. These are so fun! I cannot wait to use them and HAD to share them! Check out my demonstration: I think that my favorite is still the rocket. Although the swimmers are a close second (Get it? Second...hee! hee!). Enjoy! Colleen

I Miss A Hot Classroom in July

I was driving with my husband today and we passed a small elementary school. There were three cars in the parking lot. Some of the classroom windows were open. As I drove past, I remembered what it was like to head into my brick and mortar classroom at this time of year. I had to be careful to make sure that the hallway leading to my classroom had already been waxed and polished otherwise, I could not go in that day. Once I was able to go in, I remember the smell of the room. The old wood,fresh wax, dusty paper and books. When I opened my cabinets, the paper smelled so good. Funny how that in any other environment, these smells would not bring back good memories! I would look around at the empty bulletin boards and boxes and boxes of books and materials to be put back away on shelves. I would imagine how this classroom would look different this year for this group of students. What could I provide that would inspire them to read something new?, ask more questions? or understand an unfamiliar concept? How would the furniture be arranged? What other furniture would be needed to create the atmosphere of learning that I wanted for this room. So much anticipation about the possibilities for this classroom would make me stay and work for most of the day and look forward to coming back another day. As a virtual educator, I am still lucky enough to have a classroom. Just like my previous classroom, I am not able to "get in" this one until necessary software upgrades are completed this weekend. Unfortunately, there are no comforting smells that accompany my online classroom. However, each year, I look forward to creating my welcome screens, birthday and student interest spreadsheets and scouring my training files for interactive whiteboard files of games or lessons that I have learned about. I also look forward to finding more web 2.0 tools that will allow me to emulate traditional classroom based activities (calendar time, centers, circle time, reward charts, etc.) in the online classroom. Oh, yes, and I get to do this from my air conditioned home office in Whitewater, WI. I will not lie, this has been nice the past few days (ugh!) I will look forward to passing along those online tools that I find to make a memorable start to the school year for virtual teachers as well! Stay tuned! Colleen