Stephanie+H.

Hi! This is Stephanie. I'm hoping to get a lot more comfortable with this stuff. Ok. Now that I know what I am doing, I will write more about myself. I teach biology and chemistry at the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Performing Arts (LVPA). My brother is an engineer, and he gets a big kick out of telling people that I teach chemistry to performing arts teenagers. I admit that the motivation to learn science is not particularly high for most of my students, but there is truly never a dull moment for me at school. When I tell my own children (ages 17, 14, and 11) that I burst into song or dance during a lesson that day, they shake their heads and say, "That would never happen at my school."

When I'm at home, I am kept busy with the care and keeping of our many animals (4 chickens, 5 ducks, 1 duck who thinks he is a chicken, 1 rabbit, two cats and a dog). My mother-in-law bought me a lighthouse two years ago, and my husband converted it to a three-story office/hide-out for me. I wish I could spend more time there, reading, writing, or just enjoying the quiet.

http://horvathscience.wikispaces.com/

__5 New Technologies to Try__ //5 New Technologies to Try//
 * 1) Wiki Spaces //pod casts//
 * 2) Google docs //voice thread//
 * 3) Social Bookmarking (Delicious.com) //interactive textbook//
 * 4) Moodle //Use of cell phones as data retrieval tool//
 * 5) Google sites (sites.google.com) //Virtual Archive website//

__4 Ideas to Share with Others__ //4 Ideas to Share with Others//
 * 1) Try a combination of media technologies for one lesson in order to reach more learners //Edutopia.org as great website for all subjects//
 * 2) Integrate brief videos from You Tube to keep students engaged. //Smart Exchange website (all our classrooms have Smartboards)//
 * 3) Allow students choice in assessment //Use standards to set clear goals, not to dictate how those goals have to be met//
 * 4) Try starting a Wiki page for yourself. Then gradually add things to it and invite students to it. //Use google docs for times when students who live far apart must work on a project together outside of school//

__3 Principles of Universal Design for Learning__ //3 Principles of Universal Design for Learning//
 * 1) Multiple means of representation //I can teach a lesson using words (lecture and reading), pictures, video//
 * 2) Multiple means of expression //I can allow students to show what they know using written responses, pictures, graphic organizers, other creative projects//
 * 3) Multiple means of engagement //I can guide my students to websites that have alternative explanations, demonstrations, and activities that pertain to the topic at hand//

__2 Changes in Your Teaching to Reach all Learners in the Digital Age__ //2 Changes in Your Teaching to Reach all Learners in the Digital Age// __1 Big Idea to implement "on Monday"__ //1 Big Idea to implement "on Monday" **1 Big Idea to implement ASAP**// 1. Use "In Search of Giants" series from YouTube to support lesson on atomic structure. //Use interactive "Molecularium" website to help students see how compounds are composed of individual atoms of the same or different elements. **Introduce students to wikispaces and get their ideas on how we could use it as a class**//
 * 1) I will subscribe to the textbook website so that all of my students can access the multimedia options provided by the publisher. //I will post things on the internet that my students can access when they are trying to do their homework on their own.//
 * 2) I will use the recommendations from the link on the UDL website for teaching STEM images to visually impaired students. I think this will actually benefit all of my students, as many of them have trouble getting information from diagrams in the textbook. //I will model the use of technology as it pertains to my subject area on the smartboard during classtime.//

I've come upon a way we can cut expenditures while bringing our students to the cutting edge of education in the 21st cen t ury! Since our primary goal is to educate, we can do this through technology. Vast technology is being discovered at lightning speed, whi ch is exactly how our students are seeking knowledge. We can cut down the amount of paper and books to be purchased by using ebooks wherever possible! We can differentiate projects, engage students globally and prepare individuals for the digital age by increasing the amount of technology used in every class. All of our academic teachers agree that we have a tough time keeping students engaged in the subjects we teach. Wouldn't it make sense to try to engage them in ways that they already find appealing? For example, what if, instead of banning cell phones, we come up with assignments that use them? And instead of spending thousands of dollars a year on heavy textbooks that are hardly ever opened by students, what if we purchased Apple's new interactive textbooks? These interactive textbooks are available for trial now (I have sent you a link with this email) and cost only $15 each (as opposed to the $85 per book we paid for the new chemistry texts last year).
 * Deb and Stephanie write:**

Of course, traditional paper and pencil will still need to be a part of the curriculum but isn ' t it exciting to know there are new options for educators to reach students who are already more technologically advanced than when we were in school.