77 Educational Games and Game Builders
I'm often asked if I know of any games for subject "x," "y," or "z" for a particular grade level or age group. My answer is usually yes, but I need to search my archives. Therefore, I've gone through my archives and dug up many of games that I've mentioned over the last four years that are still active online. Consider this my humongous list of educational games. 1.
I-PICK Book Tasting
Before I get any farther with this post, I need to give credit where it’s due: thanks to Mr. Plemmons at Barrow Elementary for inspiring this lesson! You can read more about his I-PICK activity here.
10 Best Free Listening Websites with Quizzes to Practise for Listening Exams
So what do you do to practise listening for exams? Growing up, I never had the opportunity to do any extra practice to improve my listening skills. We didn’t have the Internet and the thousand possibilities it offers to learners of any language nowadays.
The Best Story Structure Tool We Know
By Glen C. Strathy Of the various story structure models or theories that exist, we have chosen to focus mainly on Dramatica, which was developed by Melanie Anne Phillips and Chris Huntley.
Level the playing field
Veteran journalist and documentary filmmaker Soledad O’Brien tells how technology can help overcome barriers and close achievement gaps. “Education is the next civil rights,” said Soledad O’Brien in her opening keynote address at ISTE 2015. This story appears in SmartBrief’s digital publication, SmartReport on ISTE 2015. To see more features, tips and our Tech Showcase, download it now. Seventeen-year-old Maria Castro had a dream: to attend Stanford University and study solar engineering. The sixth of seven children in a working-class immigrant family, Maria was a standout honors student at Carl Hayden Community High School in Phoenix.
TED talks for autonomous listening: ten activities
The first week of the Electronic Village Online is in full swing! I’m co-moderating the session on teaching listening, and this week, under the guidance of Lizzie Pinard, we’ve started out with the topic of encouraging learner autonomy. One great thing about online sessions like this one is that there are a lot of participants who share a wealth of tips about the activities and resources they use. From what I’ve read in our discussion threads, it seems that a lot of teachers encourage their learners to watch TED talks out of class, and the participants have suggested a variety of ideas for activities based on the talks. What also often happens, however, is that the teacher recommends this resource but the learners don’t start using it – and the teacher kind of knows that they don’t, but they don’t even ask because that would be admitting failure (oh haven’t I been there a lot of times?) So, if we get back to TED talks, this means that
The Golden Rules for a Good Plot
Writing a novel can be a daunting task. Here are some helpful tips to ensure you write
Water May Erase These Pacific Islands but Not the Culture
Boys on a seawall on Tarawa atoll watch a squall approach. The warming atmosphere is predicted to bring heavier rainfall to Kiribati and other island nations in the central Pacific Ocean. By Kennedy Warne Photographs by Kadir Van Lohuizen
Why we have been teaching listening skills wrongly for decades'
Introduction Listening is often described as the ‘cinderella skill’, as it is by far the area of language instruction that language teachers neglect the most. The reasons for this neglect are manifold. First and foremost, as much research has shown, listening is the skill MFL teachers understand the least and consequently do not feel confident teaching. Add to this the fact that instructional materials are often uninspiring, poorly designed and usually under-exploited by course-books.
How To Structure A Story: The 8 Point Arc
By Ali Hale - 3 minute read One of my favourite “how to write” books is Nigel Watts’ Writing A Novel and Getting Published. My battered, torn and heavily-pencil-marked copy is a testament to how useful I’ve found it over the years.
Creating a Classroom Library
Here's how I organized my classroom library. There is no right or wrong way to organize your library and these ideas are simply how I choose to organize mine. Just below is a picture of my second grade library in progress.
Storytelling in the Classroom
Why Storytelling? Educators have long known that the arts can contribute to student academic success and emotional well being. The ancient art of storytelling is especially well-suited for student exploration. As a folk art, storytelling is accessible to all ages and abilities.