Next year my school will start the process of moving to Infinite Campus. It won’t be an easy switch, as it seems that we still have to do training for the old system quite frequently. For the tech-savvy, it looks to be an incredible leap forward, but for the rest it could make for a rough ride in the beginning. To help out, I’ve found an incredible resource of tutorials and tips on the District 300’s website. It has all of their resources broken down and listed in a nice …

Consistency can be a good thing. People rarely like change, and students often find it calming when they walk into a classroom knowing what to expect. But sometimes this same consistency causes ruts that keep student brains from having the proper traction for learning. If you happen to find yourself in one of these ruts, then Teachley’s Amazing Talking Brain has some amazing tips to spice your teaching style. It’s a handy site that takes brain research and applies it to teaching strategies that improve student learning.
Their tips section have …

Sorry for the absence of content lately. TTB Headquarters has sprung a leak(literally). So while we’re bailing out the water and cutting out the carpet, you can check out this list of the 13 most overlooked Tax Deductions. My personal favorite:
2. $250 educators’ expenses. Teachers and their aides can deduct up to $250 they spent in 2007 for books and classroom supplies. If you qualify, put your deduction on line 23 of the Form 1040. You get this deduction regardless of whether you itemize.
Other tax time tips? Leave them in …

If you are unfamiliar with HotChalk, it’s a free, web based course management solution that allows teachers to create dynamic lessons and content in a online environment. Beyond just allowing teachers to create their own lessons, HotChalk also lets you share lessons in their Swap Shop. Meaning that teachers can access many quality lessons created by educators in the same field of study.  Some of the other features available on HotChalk include;
Creating Lesson Plans
Making Web Based Quizes
Management of quizes and assigments through their built in grade book
Easily communicate with students …

We’ve covered a few tips for making your classroom more “green”, but the free product, GreenPrint, offers a unique solution to cut back on the wasteful printing.
GreenPrint gives you more control over what you print by allowing you to easily manage the documents you have in your cue. You can choose to not print individual pages, images, and text with the ease of a couple clicks. The biggest factor being those annoying pages at the end of your documents that only contain a url, disclaimer, or other unnecessary text.  Beyond …

Jason, over at Techfortress, has found another way to take Youtube content into the classroom using Miro Media Player. Looks like he’s got some good content happening on his blog. Check him out here.

I had a moment to sit down with Ken Kay, the co-founder and president of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and talk a bit about the implementation of the 21st Century Skills.

Today’s teens are constantly surrounded by visually stimulating, interactive content. Television, portable digital content, and websites all seem to reach out to their young audiences with eye-catching material. So it’s no surprise that today’s learners expect to be encountered the same way in the classroom, which is why Brainpop’s education strategy is a good one to mention.

-Windows Only-
If you find yourself typing repitive text a lot while working through your emails or mountains of paperwork, maybe you should consider saving some time with the handy application Texter(FREE).

There are few people these days that don’t know about YouTube. People from almost every background are using it to express their own ideas, remix other material into their own, or even follow the election. It currently hosts so many videos that it would be hard to search for any given keyword and not come up with relevant results.
YouTube has a dark side, though. A side that hosts many videos that are highly unsuitable for school audiences. You would be hard stretched to find any school that did not block …