I was reading through a thread the other day and I was utterly shocked at how many teachers were actually here on vizzed.  I think it's so totally awesome, and I think they deserve some pretty decent shout outs. That being said, there's a lot of opportunity for networking, here.  Although we all probably teach different subjects, there are MANY things we can help each other out with.  Moral support, classroom management ideas, or even a good laugh every now and then.  Perhaps when the ability to rent forums is opened again, we should invest in one?

Anyways, this is what I'd like to see from this thread:  IDEAS.  What are some great pieces of technology you use in your classroom?  Are you struggling with a lesson plan, or need a creative idea for a certain topic?  What are some little things you do to save yourself time and energy?

One thing I'd definitely recommend to all teachers is Remind 101.  If you don't know what it is, it's basically a texting alert system which you can have both students and parents register to.  I use it to send my students reminders of their assignments, and to let parents know what their children should be working on.  It's a great thing to use as documentation of ways you've reached out to help your students, and it takes very little time.

This is a really good idea. Maybe, not just for teachers, but for jobs in general. I can't wait until David allows renting forums again. This is a forum that deserves to be made.

And, Remind 101 is something most of my teachers, even in 11th grade, use. It's pretty useful for tests and stuff if you forget easily. It's worth it for most teachers.

goodboy : Huh. Most of my coworkers hadn't even heard of it until this year, but I do have to say it's completely awesome.

I hadn't thought of your idea, either.  You're right.  I'd love to hear from students who have good ideas too.  After all, it's the students we cater too.  If you guys have great ideas that will make our jobs easier, make learning for you a lot more fun, and just make the classroom a better experience, let us know!

If your teacher does something awesome that you think other teachers should do?  PLEASE share!  Even us teachers still learn things every day!

rcarter2 :
play4fun :
kramer4077:
Light Knight : (I know you teach college, but still.... )

Sorry for summoning you if you already saw this thread, but I just realized I meant to summon you here and never did.

Do you have any tricks or resources or ideas that you can share with other teachers on vizzed? I do really recommend Remind101. It's a quick and easy way to prove your put forth effort in the communication department. Also, I need a more complete list of teachers on vizzed. *goes to snoop and stalk*

Singelli : Of course you'd snoop and stalk. My teachers do it all the time when I do a test- ALWAYS MEEEE.

Anyways, I like the idea. Maybe I can find some of the teachers from my schools on here.

And annoy them online. YEEEAH!

Great idea singe. I won't be able to contribute as much, as I would imagine teaching adults is VERY different than children. Also I have no diploma in education. So I will happily learn from you real teachers.

kramer4077 :  Failed summon.

Also, to any teachers here on vizzed, I'd recommend a game called "Will the Winner Lose". You can see my discussion on it here. It went very well and makes a GREAT game for test review.

I am familiar with Remind 101. I kept meaning to do that, but I feel it is pretty late to implement it now. I fully intend on doing so the next semester though. Also have a separate one for my theater kids so I can update them on rehearsals and other reminders for the play and drama department overall. 

Hmm... yea, thats a pretty good idea! Teachers should deserve even more appreciation on vizzed! They can discuss stuff and education and certain subject for school! even help out each other on certain stuff or help students!

I think that would be a great idea! I am going to try to learn about teaching!

Yeah, I think a thread for teachers sound like a really great idea because if gives you guys to talking about teaching-related things.

Singelli : That sounds like a great idea for test review and I can add some "little kid" items to it.  This is a nice thread, especially since I always go to in-services or trainings, learn new ideas, and say, "That sounds like a great idea!"  But then never use it or think about it again.  This way we can have a running list of good teacher ideas
I love learning about new websites, so throw those my way!  Some great websites I use (that require a login unfortunately, but are still great):

IXL (math games for grades K-12)
http://www.ixl.com/promo?partner=bing&phrase=Search%20-%20IXL%20-%20Branded&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=search%2B-%2Bbranded

Sumdog.com (math games for elementary grades)
http://www.sumdog.com/

Spellingcity (type in any list of words you need to learn to spell and play some games for free or some games for a fee)
http://www.spellingcity.com/

kramer4077 :  Oh, thanks for the links! I totally agree with you, though I hadn't thought of this thread to that extent!  Do you think I should add a list to this thread intro and edit it as teachers or kids offer stuff?  Or should I start a new thread and make it a kind of collection, with a 'title of contents' in the first thread?  I kinda like the second idea, personally.

Even the sites like you gave can give high school teachers.  And stuff we do can give YOU guys ideas.  Great thinking!

Light Knight :
I was thinking about you earlier today. I know you teach at a college, but what exactly do you teach?  I apologize if you've told me before.

Singelli : I think this could be a great sharing thread or you can start a new thread and edit a contents page for us.  I'd like to hear what educational websites other teachers and students on here enjoy playing at school.  I am sad that we can't played Vizzed at my school.  I really wanted my third graders to play Number Munchers and Words Munchers, but the games wouldn't open up when I tried them.  Probably something my school blocks.
But I am always looking for new website or classroom game ideas.

kramer4077 : Hmm... I'm actually thinking about renting a forum JUST for teachers whenever David opens the offer back up. It'd be pretty awesome to have just a forum dedicated to teachers... they can share ideas, lessons, strategies, war stories, etc.

I don't know many math games, but allowing students to play those math games here would have been pretty epic! I bet David would have loved to hear about vizzed being used in a classroom.

I think I'm either going to create a separate threads just for recording lesson ideas at a later date, so that they can be organized and cataloged by various categories like age and subject.

Until then, keep the ideas coming, all you teachers!

And
Davideo7 :
although I know you're busy (don't rush answering this!).... I'm just curious... have you even thought about opening rented forums again? I doubt it since all the current ones seems busy and that would be added stress on your part.... but is there any remote possibility? I've been hanging onto my rented forum idea for awhile now.

Singelli : Managing the Rented Forums is too time consuming for me so therefore the offer probably wont be available for quite a while. However, every once in a while I auction off old rented forums so keep your eyes open for that opportunity but prepare to spend a lot of Viz since a lot of users tend to throw a lot of Viz at those auctions.

Sinelli: Not that Viz will be a problem because I can outbid almost any individual user here. Anyone gives you a bidding war, I will just announce that I will help fund the bid war in your favor. That should scare off most of them

rcarter2 : I was thinking about how I couldn't afford it. XD I've given away over a million viz, I'm sure.  Now I'm not so wealthy.  LOL  Thanks so much for the offer!  Now I just have to keep my eyes open for a dead rented forum . *sniffles* I don' think that's likely to happen soon, but I can hope!

Pretty much if all the teachers put in an amount they are willing to spend of their own Viz first, we put it all together; and I will then look at our list and match the highest one to add to the pot. Then, anytime someone bids higher than that (which I doubt would happen if we get at least a few teachers contributing), I will just keep outbidding them.