Life Science with Ms. Oxford
Communications and Collaboration Tools to Be Used in Class
Dear Parents,
This year your 7th grader will be using several technology tools in my class to develop and use communication, collaboration and technology skills. I wanted to share information with you about each so that you can be more involved in your child's learning. Children are more likely to succeed when parents are encouraging and willing to help. Do not worry if you do not have a computer at home. Students will not be asked to complete things outside of class that they do not have the resources to accomplish. I really look forward to working with your child. Please connect me if you have any questions, concerns, or need anything at all.
Sincerely,
Ms. Bethany Oxford
Schoology
Schoology is an innovative learning management system (LMS) and social network that makes it easy to create and share academic content in a safe environment. Students can submit their homework, take quizzes, participate in discussions and more with this site. It is easy to use for teachers and students. Students in this generation are so technology-driven so this site provides a great hook for them.
Chartle
Chartle is a website that allows you to easily create and share charts. It features a really great feature set that allows teachers and students to really create complex charts that are not difficult to make. Students in a science classroom could use this to make a chart showing data they collected from a lab. Students would have to be taught how to use the site.
Drop Mind
Drop Mind is an excellent mind mapping program that is available both as a desktop installation and as a web-based application. The interface is well designed and offers teachers and students the ability to create simple or complex graphic maps with lots of different options for customization. This is a great tool for use in and out of the classroom.
Whey are these important?
These tools will be very important in our science classroom. Schoology will allow students to engage in the class and content in new ways through technology. It also allows students to communicate with each other through discussion boards and posts. This will be less threatening for some students than a whole class, verbal discussion. It will also be very important for students to learn how to represent data in chart form. The tool Chartle will provide a fun and technological way to do that. Charts are an important form of communication and students can collaborate and make them in groups. Lastly, Drop Mind will help students organize their thinking and self-assess what they know. This is an essential part of learning. Feel free to explore these resources so that you will have a better idea of what your child will be doing in class and be better prepared to help them. Again, please let me know if you have any questions!