Stanley Crawford

Bio

A super nice member!

Reviews

August 31, 2012

I have used iTunes university to help sharpen my skills with statistics and marketing concepts. It is a great tool. In the classroom, it would be a great enrichment tool for your students. In some cases you might want to recommend specific courses for students, that you have screened. This will depend on the age of the students who will be accessing iTunes U. The good thing is that the courses can be downloaded to you iPhone or iPad.

August 31, 2012

A great application that can be used on multiple platforms. Motion Math Zoom will engage students. It will make learning Math more enjoyable for your students. Motion Math Zoom uses neat pictures of animals in order to facilitate student learning of Math concepts. In addition, students' number sense will be improved with regular use of the software. Motion Math Zoom would make a great addition to a classroom center. It could be used as a source of student enrichment, as well.

August 31, 2012

Great for enhancing and editing your photos. In addition, you will be able to create cards and photo books. For the classroom, students will quickly learn to use the software. Also, iPhoto helps to spark your students' creative side. Students will be more engaged in the learning process as a result. Students will be able to imbed the photos in reports, posters, Power Point presentations and much more. As a teacher, you will have easy access to a method of editing photos for use in class newsletters and more.

August 31, 2012

EasyBib: EasyBib formats your bibliography for you in the American Psychology Association (APA) format. This is outstanding software, as it will save you time in your writing. You will be able to concentrate more on your content instead of worrying about whether your bibliography is in the proper format.

For students in the classroom, once you have shown them what goes into writing citations and annotations of bibliographies, you can then introduce them to time saving technology, EasyBib.

August 31, 2012

GRE Flash Cards is a great way to help prepare students for the GRE. They can learn the words through the use of electronic flash cards. In addition, the application makes use of tests in order to assess your progress. Also, the application has the ability to record your progress as you learn the words and their meanings. This would be a great tool for high school juniors and seniors. In addition, students in a community college might want to sharpen their skills. I use the GRE Flash Cards in order to improve my vocabulary.

August 31, 2012

This site a free online flexible textbook for various subjects. The textbooks are aligned with the curriculum standards of various states. The content of the textbooks can be moved around in order to meet the needs of the teacher.

TED
August 31, 2012

TED is a great source of thought provoking talks, speeches and presentations. A teacher should browse through the various talks and find one that relates to a topic that they want to discuss with their students. After the teacher listens to the talk, the teacher should decide how to best use the talk with his students. The teacher could use the talk as an attention getting device. The teacher could use the talk as a prompt to spur the thinking of his students and then ask the students to write their thoughts, views or perspectives about the talk.

August 31, 2012

TED-Ed is similar to TED. However TED-Ed's main focus is on educational thought. In addition, TED-Ed is able to produce lesson plans for the various presentations. These plans are of benefit to the educator in covering a particular topic with students. The lesson plans used revolve around the "flip teaching" concept. This teaching concept is a significant change from the traditional teaching method. Also, this site could be very beneficial to professional development planners, as well.

August 31, 2012

Provides a resource for students and teachers on several education topics. A teacher could use the various videos for capturing students' attention, clarifying a concept, or introducing a new concept. In addition to watching the video, comments can be posted about the video or topic being discussed. An individual is able to practice the various concepts. The activities can be shared on Facebook and Twitter.

August 31, 2012

A great game! It helps you to develop your vocabulary. In addition, each correct answer earns 10 grains of rice that are donated to the United Nations World Food Program. Students in a class would enjoy improving their vocabulary while helping others. On the site, they display the top players of the game for the week. A teacher could have this game as a choice in a center. The teacher could ask student to record their scores on a chart or graph. The information could form the basis of a lesson.

August 31, 2012

Grammar App could be used by students in order to improve their grammar skills. You could use this application in a center. The use in a center will allow you to facilitate student engagement. The application has a diagnostic test. In addition, Grammar App uses proficiency test.

August 30, 2012

Google Earth is a tool that could be used by a science teacher, history teacher, language arts teacher, or mathematics teacher. For instance, the science teacher might want to talk about a particular lake and the animals that inhabit the lake. The teacher could check Google Earth for pictures of the lake and use these as a hook to grab students' attention and get them engaged in the learning process.

In another example, a language arts teacher might want to develop students writing ability. The teacher could use a Google Earth source (visual) in conjunction with a verbal prompt to spark her students' creative juices. Here the teacher uses a visual and verbal strategy to facilitate student learning.

August 30, 2012

Skype is a very useful communication tool for me. I have used it to conduct interviews with teacher candidates and paraprofessional candidates, as well. Usually, these candidates have been in another state, or quite a distance from my location.

Skype can be used by teachers to connect with other schools in other states or other countries for that matter. For instance, a history teacher is able to make use of Skype by locating students or educators in other countries that they are studying about in class. The time zone difference might be a challenge depending on the location of the other country. The teacher should communicate with the educator from the other country prior to the class session. The purpose of the preliminary communication is to clarify the educational objective of the communication between the two groups.

August 30, 2012

I have used Google Books to locate a few full text books for research purposes. In addition, I have used the site to preview books, as well. It is a good site. The site has a feel similar to some of the book selling sites. The big difference is that Google Books doesn't sell the book directly to you; Google Books will tell you where the book can be purchased. It does this by providing a list of sources for the book. Also, you are able to see if the book is available in a library. This site can serve as a research source for students who are trying to locate books or magazines about a particular topic.

August 30, 2012

National Geographic serves as a great interest generator. The key is locating a clip that matches your particular subject matter. The video provided by National Geographic is rich in color and has great sound. The professional quality of the videos is evident.

August 30, 2012

: An online thesaurus that makes it easy to look-up synonyms for words. Allowing students to use this electronic version of the thesaurus will free the student's mind, so that she can focus on writing content and not get bogged down searching through the pages of a traditional book.

August 30, 2012

A quick way to look up words. Dictionary.com will give you a definition and a brief history of the word. This is a great tool for students. This tool like a lot of technology based tools requires a shift in some teachers thinking from traditional vocabulary and spelling strategies to technology based methods.

August 30, 2012

This is a great source of ideas. You can randomly go through various sites or you can set preferences or particular topics/subjects. Using Stumbleupon in either way can prove to be a great brainstorming method.

For instance, as you look at the different sites presented by Stumbleupon you can write ideas that come to your mind as a result of viewing the various sites. This activity could be done by an individual or it could be done as part of a whole group activity. As a whole group activity you would project the sites onto a screen so that the entire class sees the site. In addition to projecting the web sites, you should have someone recording ideas that are generated by the group. Next, you could vote on what idea is the best, have students select one idea and write about it, or just enjoy the activity for itself.

August 30, 2012

I use Facebook to maintain contact with colleagues and friends. I post information about some of the significant events in my life. In addition, I will browse profiles of my friends and post comments or click on the like button. On the business side, I have started a couple of fan pages in order to promote some of my poems, web site, and other writings.

August 30, 2012

Google Maps is a great way to find locations. In addition, it will give you directions between two locations. If you look for directions between two locations on your home computer or laptop, you can send the directions to your cell phone. Also, you have the ability to print your map, if you wish. When you map your directions, you have the ability to toggle between by car, by bus, by bicycle, or by foot routes.

August 30, 2012

Microsoft Power Point: Students quickly learn to use Power Point and some of its easier features. Also, students are able to supplement project work with brief presentations. Usually the older the student the more elaborate the work.

I have used Power Point for numerous presentations. I have used the slide looping ability to showcase student art work, student group work, and other educational activities.

In addition, I have used Power Point presentations during professional development activities with teachers. The ability to include clipart and pictures in my slide presentations allows me to create engaging presentations.

August 29, 2012

Excel is a powerful spreadsheet. I have used Excel to crunch numbers for budgeting, statistics, and modeling. Also, Excel can be used to quickly produce charts and graphs. These charts and graphs can be imbedded in other documents. Students quickly learn to manipulate the various parameters for charts and graphs

August 29, 2012

I have used Livemocha to help me learn a second language. I am not yet proficient, but this site will really help you sharpen your language skills. You are able to contact native speakers of other languages. You help them with speaking, reading, writing, and listening. In turn, they will help you, as well. It is a great way to improve your second language skills. In addition, Livemocha serves as a social media source. If is great for learning a second language. Since it is serves as a form of social media, it is important that the educator use precautions that they would use with any social media.

August 29, 2012

I use Word daily. It has great flexibility. I am able to insert pictures, clipart, tables, charts, and other communication tools. In addition, the ability to save documents as document files or pdf files is very beneficial. I use this particular feature to publish a newsletter that can be downloaded from my web site.

August 29, 2012

Great for engaging students in the learning process. In addition, students will learn about the scientific concepts, as well. This site can be used as part of whole group instruction or it may be used as part of a center, for self-study or review.

August 29, 2012

This is a great tool. I have used it when doing teacher observations. I script part of the conversations that the teacher has with students, as she facilitates student learning. I embed pictures from the observation into the document. When I review the observation with the teacher, I have visual and verbal information to share with the teacher.

August 29, 2012

Dropbox is an outstanding tool. I have used Dropbox to access files from my home computer, work computer, iPad, and iPhone. The ability to access these files without downloading them to each device is a great time saver.

August 29, 2012

Twitter is a great platform for communicating with other people about any topic that you choose. You can connect with people from around the world. Twitter messages, known as tweets, can be added to a web site, as well. In addition, Twitter can be used as a platform to send information to individuals who choose to follow you. I have used Twitter to make connections with other educators from across the United States.

August 29, 2012

Make Use of blog site will benefit students. Students can use this blog site to get ideas for various topics. For instance, a student could use the blog site to help her decide on an essay or research topic.

August 29, 2012

Make Projects can serve as a resource for science and mathematics teachers. Teachers can search for projects that support their curriculum standards. These projects can be a key to getting student engagement.

Shelves