Thinkfinity

We spent most of Thursday going over a web-site called Thinkfinity.   This was one of the most useful class periods we have had so far in the course of the program.  I found several cool ideas that I plan on using in my classroom.  I currently teach an American Institutions class and we are going over a brief history of the Presidents.  I plan to incorporate the Presidential commercials into my lessons.   However, I am still brainstorming as to exactly what that might look like.  I was also able to share some of the sites shared in our class with math teachers at Cedarburg High School.  Specifically, the mathematics animated site.  So it is cool that some of the information that I am sharing I can pass on to other teachers I work with.  

I also would like to comment on how I was able to use the advanced google search.  I used it for personal gain looking for a possible place to fish in Canada.  Prior to class I was looking for resorts on a large lake in Canada called Lake St. Joseph.  According to a regular google search there was only one resort on the entire lake.  Anyway, after class I decided to do an advanced search to see if there were any other resorts on the lake.  To my surprise an additional resort came up that looks cool.   

I have also spent a little more time on Thinkfinity just seeing some of the different ideas for lesson plans and getting a feel for the layout of the site.  Some of the interactive sites are really cool.  National Geographic had some cool stuff and there was also a cool lesson that deals with tracking an around the world sea voyage (seeing as this is something I personally would love to do I spent most of my time on this interactive site).  I am starting to narrow my focus for next weeks lesson plan.  My biggest decision is what class I want to create the lesson for.