The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education In 2011 It’s that time of year again when I start posting year-end “The Best….” lists. Coincidentally, this one is also the eight-hundredth “The Best…” list I’ve published! You can see them all here. I figured it was appropriate to make number 800 one that is likely to be the most popular post that I’ve published since I’ve begun this blog — the annual one highlighting The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education. As usual, in order to make this list, a site had to be: * accessible to English Language Learners and non-tech savvy users. * free-of-charge. * appropriate for classroom use. * completely browser-based with no download required. It’s possible that a few of these sites began in 2010, but, if so, I’m including them in this list because they were “new to me” in 2011. You might want to visit previous editions: The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education In 2011 — So Far The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education — 2010 The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education — 2009 Number Forty: AV By AIM Caffein
Top 10 Educational Videos of 2011 Another year is coming to a close. And with the New Year approaching, it’s a great time to reflect on topics and issues that impacted our learning in 2011. I traveled all over the country again in 2011 speaking to K-12 educators on the power that video can have on student learning. I have personally witnessed the amazing influence video has had on my own students’ learning during my past nine years in education. 2011 was no exception in the diverse and powerful videos that some of our world leaders, or future world leaders, created. Therefore, I have decided to list the top 10 educational videos I watched this past year. Now, I will concede that there may be better videos in our global stratosphere. 10. Grades 1 And 2 At Ancaster Meadow School 9. Sir Ken Robinson on SchoolTube 8. Cultural Anthropologist Mimi Ito on Connected Learning, Children, and Digital Media 7. iPads in the classroom are becoming increasingly more popular. iPad in High School English 6. Meet Videolicious 5. 4. 3. 2. 1.
80+ Google Forms for the Classroom Google Forms is a great tool and I hope to use it more throughout this year. Take a look here for a more detailed introduction and guide to using and creating a Google Form – this was written prior to Google bringing forms into the NEW menu. I have created example forms for each of the different topics, follow the links in each of the ten sections. With help from a Googler I have included a link so that you can get your own copy of the form – click on the appropriate link and it should open in your docs home. 1 ) Get to know your class Use this form to gather some indication from your new class about their likes and dislikes, their favourite lessons or after school clubs they enjoy. 2 ) Emotion graph An emotion graph is a simple line graph comparing a range of happiness to sadness against different points (time) in a story or film. 3 ) Spelling test 4 ) Comprehension questions 5 ) Weekly reading record 6 ) Maths data handling 7 ) Guided reading record 8 ) Prior learning assessment
Free Technology for Teachers/ Videos Summer is a time when many of us are thinking about and planning professional development workshops for our schools and for other schools. I've always found that a short 3-5 minute video can be a good introduction to a PD sessions and or make for a nice thought-provoking break during a PD session. Here are seven videos that I think serve those purposes well. The "classic" of course is the various incarnations of Karl Fisch's and Scott McLeod's Did You Know? Educational Change Challenge is a video that I came across just last week on the first day of ISTE 2010. Here's another "classic" in the field. Social Media Revolution is a must-watch for all of those who think social media is nothing more than a time-sink. And when you're wondering what teachers make, Taylor Mali has some answers for you. Here's a good one produced by Kevin Honeycutt about the need for teachers to continuously improve, adapt, and adopt new strategies for reaching their students.
Differentiation: The Dirtiest Word In Education Today Be Different It’s like a few people sat around a table, steaming mad at their own opposing views on the direction of education, and said, “What’s a good word that we can all hold our hands around?” The minute they spread the word around, it became the go-to word for evaluators and validators across the country. People began to set up stations all around their classroom with no rationale for their stations. Teachers sat down for hours of PD on the word “differentiation” where people heard that this word, vital for the 21st century classroom, ought to appear out of thin air with no concrete examples to follow. Some person who is equally as qualified in differentiation (meaning, not at all) with a clipboard might come in your room and rate your differentiation skills on a rubric created by one of your favorite validators, too. As “differentiation” suggests, no one ought to be against differentiation. That sounds great … except for the following contradictions: Mr. Related
This Year’s 10 Best TED Talks To Share With Students In honor of the recent TED Live announcement , I thought it’d be a good idea to remind you why TED rocks. Below is just a small fraction of the amazing presentations put on by the folks over at TED. Each one of the presentations embedded below is perfect for sharing with students and showing in class*. Heck, assigning the viewing of these TED talks as homework isn’t a bad idea. Do you use TED in the classroom? I’d love to hear about it if you did and I know the rest of the Edudemic community would too! *There are of course many more presentations but I picked these because I thought they resonated with me and would do the same with students. Philip Zimbardo: The Demise of Guys? Philip Zimbardo was the leader of the notorious 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment — and an expert witness at Abu Ghraib. Pavan Sukhdev: Put A Value On Nature! Annie Murphy Paul: What We Learn Before We’re Born Pop quiz: When does learning begin? Joe Sabia: The Technology of Storytelling Allan Jones: A Map of the Brain
Civil War Newscasts: Part III So I finally have some time to finish this three part post on a major collaborative project that my classes did over the Civil War at then end of the school year. If you haven't had a chance please check out my first two posts here and here. Immediately after filming was completed, students began the arduous task of editing their work. The students had an option on what type of editing software they could use. The first choice was an online editing service called Jaycut. Another editing choice was Windows Movie Maker. Options three and four were two bits of editing software using the Mac: Final Cut (more expensive) and iMovie. The final part of the project was to have the students present their newscast. All in all, this was a great cumulative project to end the year.
Reading Lessons: 12 Ways to Scaffold Texts for Students Would you dump a load of building supplies on a lot and tell a random person to "build a house"? Hopefully not! For the same reason, it is unwise to deposit an academic novel and some study guide questions on a student’s desk and say, “read it.” Getting students to read academic novels can be difficult. 1. they lack prior knowledge to support their comprehension,2. they don’t know the words on the page and3. they don’t understand the format of the particular genre. If we are going to really teach, and not just assign, we have to do some prep work. Let’s face it, interested readers are better readers.Students of all levels need some scaffolding; they need a plan and some knowledge in order to build a foundation for deeper understanding. According to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, educators should... How do Asian nations make it to the top educational spots, and how does the U.S... Here are some useful links to hope your students comprehend this difficult... Read Aloud
A Conversation Starter Hello & welcome! ... Please comment. My goal: Create a three minute video , using other videos. Here is what I came up with: ( Watch on YouTube ) For ease of use here are the links. – Alan November: Myths and Opportunities: Technology in the Classroom – Diana Laufenberg: How to learn? – Adora Svitak: What adults can learn from kids – Chris Lehmann: School 2.0 – Creating the Schools We Need – Chris Kennedy: Students Live! – Tom Grant – (Disclosure: This actually goes to a video created by me for the K12Online Conference, Tom Grant is my Superintendent and this is his interview excerpt from the video): Transforming Education – Stephen Heppell: Learning Conversations – Mitchel Resnick: 2011 Prize Winner – This post, for easy access to the links above.
pechaflickr iPad Curriculum 100 Awesome Classroom Videos to Learn New Teaching Techniques With so many good teachers out there, it’s fortunate they can share their knowledge via video on the Internet. From the funny to the poignant, these glimpses into the lives of teachers and their students will keep you entertained while learning a little something as well. Whether you are a new teacher storing up tips and tricks or an experienced teacher who could just use a fresh perspective, you are sure to find something helpful among these videos. The Basics Reading, storytelling, math, and science all get coverage with these videos that show how some Teaching Storytelling in the Classroom. Watch children tell stories as a backdrop to educators talking about the storytelling experience. Myst ‘Exile’ in the Classroom. The Arts From visual arts to music to drama, these videos will offer suggestions and stimulate creativity when teaching art to your students. Footprint dancing at the Nest. Getting Physical Movement doesn’t have to be reserved just for PE class. Education and Technology
Keeping Students Engaged in a 1:1 Project-Based Classroom [guest post] Image approved for copy by Creative Commons. Source: When laptops first arrived in my classroom, I worried about classroom management. How could I create an environment where students used their computers as tools rather than toys? I was worried for nothing. The following are suggestions for keeping students engaged in a project and accountable for their time with computers: Students make a plan. Much of the time, students think they have a plan. Instead, ask What are you trying to learn? When you ask about learning and communication, you are signaling that the content is more important than the technology. Students set time-bound goals. Create an outline for my essayWrite my introductionFind three pictures about…Do my voice recordingFinish four slides of my Power Point/KeynoteFind at least three database articles on…Draft at least three paragraphsUse Google docs to peer-edit so-and-so’s essayUpload my story to Voicethread Tasks should be specific.
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