Integrating Technology in the Classroom

1.  Magnifier – The magnifier is a tool that can be used to help in the classroom for computer presentations.  It will make the text big enough that everyone can see.  It can also be used for students that have vision impairments.

2.  Hide Tool Bar – The hide tool bar can help clean up your icons on the bottom tool bar.  It will hide the icons that you do not use very often, or put icons that you use frequently.

3.  AVG antivirus – This is a free down loadable program that can help students or teachers protect against a virus. 

4.  Speech from the Computer – This is a program found on the internet.  It is good to use with students with vision impairments.  The program will allow the computer to read to the student.  It will also help in reading classes to help give students practice in reading or phonemic awareness.  It can be found at Read Please or Says Me.

5.  Minesweeper – Minesweeper is a game that could be useful for older children.  It can be used for math and critical thinking skills.  It could also be used for deductive reasoning.  The numbers in the game represent the number of mines that surround a box.

6.  Narrorator – This is located in program accessories.  This can be used in the classroom for blind or vision impairments.  This program says each letter as you type on the computer.

7.  Microsoft Publisher – This program can be found under Publications for print.  This can be used in the classroom to print awards, calendars, and newsletters.  In this program you can edit the font, or color all in one click.

8.  Sound Recorder - This program is in accessories under entertainment.  This program can be used to record sounds or words and let the students listen.  It can also be used to let the students record and listen to their own pronunciations.

9.  Spider Solitaire – This program is found in accessories under entertainment.  This can be used for critical thinking skills and counting backwards.

10.  Free Cell - This is found under games.  It can be used as a reward system.  It will help the children learn strategies, patterns, shapes, and sequencing.

11.  Thesaurus – This is found in the Word Program.  This can help find the synonym for words for students’ writing papers.  It also has a translation feature which will check errors in another language.

12.  Favorites –This is a quick way to access selected sites for your students, or you as a teacher.

13.  Header/Footer – This is good for students learning how to write essays or research papers in school.  It is found in Microsoft Word under view.

14.  Word Research Button – Allows you to type a word and research information about this word on the internet.

15.  On-Screen Keyboard – This is found under program accessories and accessibility.  This is a keyboard that you can click instead of type.  This could be good for some children with disabilities.

16.  Tables - This is found in Microsoft Word.  You can draw a table or insert a pre-made table.  This is good for grade and activity inputs in the class.  This will help you keep track of student progress.

17.  Tabs – This is found in Microsoft Word.  This is good for setting up columns with decimals.  You can align the decimals and you can also set other tabs to align the text in other columns.  The students can use this when they are comparing sales.