Babel - Bringing Teachers Together

Almost all of the computers at my school are old. They're underpowered Macs running Mac OS 9.2. They're good for some things, but the browser they came with - Internet Explorer 5 - just plain sucks. No two ways about it.

After some searching, I found a new browser that I love - iCab. I use it whenever I'm on a computer, and I plan on trying to convince the tech coordinator to put it on all of the laptops.

Ever wish you could narrow down the internet and restrict the number of sites your students can search? Now you can, with Google's new Custom Search Engine tool. Read all about it in this article on Google Custom Engines.

Want to create a resource list for students? Want to create a department list of online resources? What about having students create an annotated bibliography?

These all sounds like great uses for del.icio.us - a web innovation in social bookmarking. Read the full article for suggestions on using this free resource in your school.

There are plenty of ways to write up your lesson plans. Some teachers and administrators like long, detailed lesson plans complete with an outline of information to be delivered. Others like the short and sweet one week summary, with objectives, activities, and assignments.

In this article, you'll find two formats - a compressed weekly lesson plan template created with a spreadsheet program and a detailed daily lesson plan template created with a word processing program.

Timing is key... right?

Sometimes students - and teachers - forget all about the time, though. It helps to have some kind of tool, like an egg timer, to tell everyone with finality, "Time's up!"

With the online stopwatch, you can do this in a new, hi-tech way.