Streamline Time and Have Some Fun

 Streamline Time and Have Some Fun!

As teachers we are constantly busy and moving from project to project and lesson to lesson. I am always looking for new tools that not only enrich my lessons and projects but also make them interesting and streamlined. One tool that I have found to be very helpful and fun is Pinterest. Pinterest is a social networking site where you can organize and share things you like, in other words, an online pinboard. I have used Pinterest to create book lists for classes. The benefit of creating the list through Pinterest is the visual component where students can see the book covers. Students and teachers can write a summary about the book and others can comment to give their opinion so it becomes interactive for participants.

An assistant superintendent in Rhode Island recommended LessonWriter to me. The state is piloting Lesson Writer for all it’s schools. Teachers choose content from any digital source, and copy and paste it into Lesson Writer. Lesson Writer will then create vocabulary and lesson plans etc using Bloom’s prompts. Using Lesson Writer, a teacher can: “make lessons with twice as many words, differentiate instruction and include Common Core Standards". There is a great demo on how to use it on their website.