The Best Tools To Make Online Flashcards There are an incredible number of free sites where you can create and study flashcards online. In reviewing many of them, I looked at this criteria: * Is it available free-of-charge? * Is it easy to use? * Does it provide some “value added benefit” (besides just sticking a word on one side and a definition on the other of a virtual card) that would make it particularly accessble and engaging to English Language Learners and others? I was only able to find three sites that met this criteria, and they’re the ones that made this “The Best…” list. Here are my picks for The Best Tools TO Make Online Flashcards: Study Stack: The online flashcards are indeed very basic (and very easy for both students and teachers to create). Quizlet is another addition to this list. Memorize.com is not fancy at all, and it’s more complicated than most other online flashcard sites to create anything more than a rudimentary mini-flashcard system. Easy Notecards is a new online flashcard-making site. Related
The Best Places To Learn Web 2.0 Basics When it comes to technology, I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer (not to mention being sort of a Luddite). I need things very, very simple. I thought it would be helpful to a list of the sites that I’ve found most helpful and accessible in explaining how to use key Web 2.0 tools like blogs, wikis, Flickr, social bookmarking, RSS readers, etc. You can also find links to the sites I list here, and many more, on the Teachers’ Page on my website. There are three sites that I think stand above all the others. One is Sue Waters’ Mobile Technology In TAFE Wiki. It would probably be okay to stop reading right here, since these three sites more than likely can provide you with all the information you need. However, there are a few more excellent resources you might want to check-out if you have the time. There are two other places that offer exceptional information on a number of Web 2.0 tools. Other sites have good resources for specific tools. (I’m also adding John Pearce’s Tutorials) ).
The Best Resources For Learning How To Best Give Feedback To Students I’ve been thinking and writing (in my forthcoming book to be published by Eye On Education) about the most effective ways to give feedback to students. I’ve obviously been trying to apply what I’ve been learning in the classroom, too. As a one sentence summary, as I’ve posted about previously, the research says it’s best to praise effort and not intelligence. Here are some resources I’ve found helpful: What Kind Of Feedback Should We Give Our Students? The Difference Between Praise & Acknowledgment is another older post. The Perils and Promises of Praise is an article by Carol Dweck. Pondering Praise is a nice essay by Joe Bower. It’s Not About How Smart You Are is an article by Carol Dweck. Goodbye to “Good Job!” “The Praise Paradox” is an excerpt from the book Nurture Shock: New Thinking About Children, written by by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman. New Marzano Study On “Effort & Recognition” The words that could unlock your child comes from the BBC. Dr. Quote Of The Day: Giving Feedback
The Best Ways To Use Photos In Lessons | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... Edutopia has published Using Photos With English Language Learners, an excerpt from the recent book on teaching ELL’s that Katie Hull Sypnieski and I have written. Check out my New York Times post for English Language Learners is on protest movements and using historical photos for language development. It includes a student interactive I Explain The Picture Word Inductive Model In My Latest British Council Post There are obviously plenty of ways to use photos effectively with English Language Learners and other students. I’m going to share some ideas here, and hope that others will chime in with comments. Of course, photos from the Web can have some use restrictions. Online “virtual” corkboards are great tools to use with online images. And check out The Best Online Tools For Using Photos In Lessons. Using Freire & Fotobabble With English Language Learners Also, The Best Ways To Modify The Picture Word Inductive Model For ELLs. Here are my choices for The Best Ways To Use Photos In Lessons:
Tips for Improving Feedback at the Middle Level By Debbie Silver, Ed.D. Studies on motivation theory have taught us that the most effective feedback for any learner is that which actually helps a student get better. Value judgments and labels (both affirming and negative) do nothing to help the learner long term and are often counterproductive. Overwhelmingly research argues that learners acquire improved self-efficacy and make greater achievement gains when their adult advocates focus feedback on things the student can control rather than on their innate talent, skills, or other externally controlled factors. As a middle grades teacher it was hard for me to consider that my perpetual cheerleader style of teaching with a barrage of compliments was not the best method. In truth, our job is to build relationships with students that promote them in becoming self-sustaining learners who believe that hard work is a good thing and achievement without effort has little enduring value. Tips for Improving Feedback 1. 2. 3. Dr.
Digital Humanities Resources, Part 1: Organizations and Coding Back in 2011 (you know, last month), I stated that I wanted to become a digital humanist (if that’s what it can be called). Over the past month, I’ve collected a number of resources in order to try and make this a reality. As just about everything I do professionally now, I’m sharing them with you. The first place to start would be the Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations (digitalhumanities.org). You can find a great deal of information and resources, as well as an open access book, The Digital Humanities and Humanities Computing: An Introduction. Another great resource hosted over at ADHO is DH Answers. The National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education ( is another good place to find resources for aspiring and established digital humanists. Also useful is the Office of Digital Humanities over at the National Endowment for the Humanities. This is starting to look like an awful lot of travel, isn’t it?
Home The Best Sites For Learning About The World’s Different Cultures I’ve compiled several “The Best…” lists that sites where you can learn about the geography, data, languages, and holidays of different countries around the world. Those resources are important, but I think it’s like learning the words, but not the music, of a song. So I thought I’d develop a separate list just focused on helping students learn about the cultures of different countries, and would love to hear additional suggestions. You might also be interested in The Best Travel Photographs Of The Year. Here are my choices for The Best Sites For Learning About The World’s Different Cultures (and are accessible to English Language Learners): Culture Crossing is a unique resource for information about different countries. What The World Eats is a TIME Magazine slideshow with family photos from around the world and the food they eat. Food Photos is a similar slideshow from NPR. Learn about Celebrations Around The World. EL Civics has a nice lesson on Clothes Around The World. U.S. via Pimsleur
All My Sons Suggestions - Tricksters.Org - Lord of Roads The hugest component of municipal garbage across the whole globe is cardboard. This reality by itself means that it is vital that cardboard is recycled, even if it is on a smaller scale at home or on a broader level in the form of an industrial approach. It is a good idea for children to begin to learn how to go about recycling cardboard as early as is possible in their young lives. While there is the hazard that recycling can be looked at as something of an oppressive chore or even a duty, children can utilize cardboard in an entertaining manner by making stuff out of it. What follows next is a very comprehensive walkthrough on cardboard arts and crafts for children. For Children Cardboard and Crafts Page of Projects: Website that offers children a lot of arts and crafts projects involving cardboard. Website for Arts and Crafts of Cardboard: This website features projects involving arts and crafts of cardboard that are good for teachers to use in the classroom. More Fun with Recyclables
The Best Resources On Teaching & Learning Critical Thinking In The Classroom Teaching and learning critical thinking in the classroom will be the topic of my next Education Week Teacher column (contribute your ideas there, please), so I wanted to develop a “The Best…” list with supporting materials. I put out a call on Twitter and Google Plus for people to make suggestions, but unfortunately didn’t do a great job of keeping track who made the suggestions. I apologize if I did not credit you for your suggestion. I hope readers will contribute additional suggestions. You might also be interested in: The Best Sites For Cooperative Learning Ideas The Best Resources For Helping Teachers Use Bloom’s Taxonomy In The Classroom The Best Sites For Students To Create & Participate In Online Debates The Best Tools To Help Develop Global Media Literacy I also included a chapter and several lesson plans related to critical thinking in my book, Helping Students Motivate Themselves: Practical Answers To Classroom Challenges. The Critical Thinking Community What Is Critical Thinking?
Top Free Presentation Software - Top Free Software Picks: Presentation Software Top Free Presentation Software Google Drive: Presentation (Web) Like any good office suite, Google Drive has the three top tools: a word processor, a spreadsheet, and of course, a presentation package that we'll call Presentation even though it doesn't seem to have a specific name. Coupled with the service's online storage capabilities, it's a hard package to beat. Flexibility abounds. Perhaps most useful is the collaboration—multiple users in multiple locations can work on the slides simultaneously (something Drive also does with aplomb with word processing and spreadsheet documents). Haiku Deck (Web, iOS) One of our Top 100 Websites from 2013, Haiku Deck is well worth considering for all it can and can't and won't do. As it states in an introductory deck of slides, Haiku Deck is shooing for 33 percent simplicity, 33 percent beauty, and 34 percent fun (as much fun as prepping for a meeting can be, anyway). Continue Reading: Other Free Presentation Software>
English Resources - list of online tools