Graphic Organizers for Content Instruction One of our roles as ESL and bilingual specialists is to encourage mainstream teachers to employ teaching techniques which make content area information more accessible to second language learners. Content materials present text which is too dense for ELLs. Teach your students to use graphic organizers such as webs, Venn diagrams, and charts to help them better comprehend these texts. These are visual tools that help ELLs understand and organize information. They are like mind maps which promote active learning. One of our goals in teaching our English language learners is to help them summarize and interpret text. Download the PDF files listed below or try a customized graphic organizer at Teach-nology.com.
Five Free Web 2.0 Tools to Support Lesson Planning "Teachers need to integrate technology seamlessly into the curriculum instead of viewing it as an add-on, an afterthought or an event." -- Heidi Hayes Jacobs, Educational Consultant, Curriculum Designers, Inc. Web 2.0 tools are online software programs that allow users to do a number of different things. They can be used to teach curriculum content, store data, create or edit video, edit photos, collaborate and so much more. These programs are often free and are used by teachers, students and sometimes parents, both in and out of the classroom, on a pretty regular basis. The question then becomes: are educators prepared to use these tools? Are educators, especially new ones, ready to incorporate Web 2.0 tools into their classroom? Embracing the use of Web 2.0 tools in lesson planning may still be new to many educators. As we talk about Web 2.0 tools, here's one point I want to stress. 1. If you've not heard of Pinterest, what rock have you been hiding under? 2. 3. 4. 5.
Better Teaching: Why You Bore Students & What You Can Do About It Preface: You don’t mean to bore students. In fact, sometimes you’re downright interesting–the students are engaged, the buzz in the room is palpable, and even the hesitant students are asking questions. But the fact of the matter is, even the most charismatic and experienced teachers bore students sometimes. by Judy Willis M.D., M.Ed., radteach.com Better Teaching: Why You Bore Students & What You Can Do About It A few thousand years ago, in 360 B.C., Plato advised against force-feeding of facts to students. “Elements of instruction…should be presented to the mind in childhood; not, however, under any notion of forcing education. We now have neuroscience of learning research to support these recommendations to avoid forced instruction and provide children with the best environment and experiences for joyful learning. Social, emotional, hormonal, and nutritional influences are overtaking the attribution of intelligence to primarily genetic factors. Now What? Curiosity
Class Hacker: 3 Tools To Help You Begin Learning Outside of the Classroom This article is written by Top Hat’s student blogger, Josh Birdwell. In this post, Josh goes over three tools that will help you become a better lifelong learner or begin learning outside of the classroom. These are tools that have helped him! Today, I want to share three resources that helped me become a better life long learner. 1. Degreed is a tool that allows users to track every video you watch, article you find, and book you read. 2. Interest in MOOCs has been growing really fast lately. 3. Lastly, Trello is an organizing tool like sticky notes on the web. Explore. Comment on how you are already learning outside of school / are learning after your degree or planning to start. Image courtesy of www.evolllution.com The following two tabs change content below. Futurist, Learner and Doer these are attributes that I have chosen to live out.
Six Strategies for Differentiated Instruction in Project-Based Learning Project-based learning (PBL) naturally lends itself to differentiated instruction. By design, it is student-centered, student-driven, and gives space for teachers to meet the needs of students in a variety of ways. PBL can allow for effective differentiation in assessment as well as daily management and instruction. 1. We all know that heterogeneous grouping works, but sometimes homogenous grouping can be an effective way to differentiate in a project. 2. Reflection is an essential component of PBL. 3. This is probably one of my favorites. 4. Another essential component of PBL is student voice and choice, both in terms of what students produce and how they use their time. 5. Formative assessments can look the same for all students. 6. Teamwork and collaboration occur regularly in a PBL project. As you master the PBL process in your classroom, you will intuitively find ways to differentiate instruction for your students. Please share some of your successful strategies with us!
Teach with Your iPhone: Apps to Use in the Classroom You don't need a class set of netbooks or iPads to integrate technology into your daily instruction. There are some fantastic, free iPhone apps that are perfect for teachers who are looking to change up their daily routine. These apps can make everyday tasks easier, simplify what you're already doing, and maybe just inspire others to make an investment in technology at your school. Common Core MasteryConnect has designed a wonderful app to keep the Common Core State Standards at your fingertips. Pick a Student It's important that all students are held accountable during class discussions and everyone has a chance to speak his or her mind. Timer, Sand Timer and Traffic Light Whether you're preparing your students for state exams or feel that they need to practice their pacing and stamina, use the timer on your iPhone to keep them on task. BookLeveler If you're organizing a classroom library or helping a student find a "just right" book, the BookLeveler app will definitely come in handy.
The 20 Best Pinterest Boards About Education Technology Pinterest is quickly becoming one of the biggest sources inspiration and innovation when it comes to cooking, design, and education. That’s right, education is a prominent fixture on Pinterest now and that, of course, means that education technology plays a starring role. In an effort to help curate the massive amount of Pinterest boards about education technology, you can use the following list as a jumping off point to start your Pinterest journey. The following boards are curated by teachers, admins, and other education enthusiasts. You’ll likely find some new blogs, tools, and ideas among them. Don’t forget to check out the Edudemic Pinterest board where you can keep track of all the stuff we’re up to. Patricia Brown: Patricia showcases a myriad of videos, articles, tutorials, and lots of other resources all about education technology.Vicki Davis: We love Vicki! We want to see what YOU are pinning!
Create Flashcards from Google Spreadsheets If you browse through the Google Docs Template Gallery you will find a bunch of templates for creating flashcards in Google Spreadsheets. There is also a flashcard script available in the script gallery (open the insert menu in a spreadsheet to search for the script). None of those templates nor the script is as easy to use as Flippity. Flippity is a free tool for creating flashcards from data in a Google Spreadsheet. Flippity provides clear directions for the simple steps to take to create your flashcards. Applications for Education Flippity is a good tool that you and or your students can use to create flashcards for any number of topics.
Disruptions: Minecraft, an Obsession and an Educational Tool Michael CitroneLuca Citrone, 8, and his sister Willow play Minecraft before they go to bed. If you were to walk into my sister’s house in Los Angeles, you’d hear a bit of yelling from time to time. “Luca! Get off Minecraft! Luca, are you on Minecraft again? Luca is my 8-year-old nephew. For those who have never played Minecraft, it’s relatively simple. Unlike other video games, there are few if any instructions in Minecraft. The game was first demonstrated by Markus Persson, a Swedish video game programmer and designer known as Notch, in 2009 and released to the public in November 2011. While parents — my sister included — might worry that all these pixels and the occasional zombie might be bad for children, a lot of experts say they shouldn’t fret. Earlier this year, for example, a school in Stockholm made Minecraft compulsory for 13-year-old students. A history teacher in Australia set up “quest missions” where students can wander through and explore ancient worlds. Mr.
Creation Apps Used On The iPad My technology integration specialist asked me to provide a list of creative apps that we have used in our classroom. All the apps are in our tool box, have been used, or will be used. I have included some of the many videos that show students actually using the apps. I have also included the original post if you would like to read the details surrounding the use of the app. Important! I have two folders with creative apps on my iPad. ShowMe (Free) One of the free apps that allow for students to verbalize about a concept. SonicPics (2.99) Photography effects PhotoComic (1.99) Creating comic strips from our own photos. Whiteboard (Free) Original Post Allows for a white blank screen for writing and for importing photos. Pic Collage (Free) Original Post Original Post Combine multiple photos onto one screen.Pottery HD (4.99) Original Post Create pottery and sell it! Scribble Press (Free) Write a digital book complete with print and pictures. Sock Puppets (Free) Create your own lip-synced videos.
Food security What is food security? Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to enough safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy lifestyle. World Food Summit, 1996 To be food secure means that: food is available – The amount and quality of food available can be affected by many factors including climate, disasters, war, civil unrest, population size and growth, agricultural practices, social status and trade.food is affordable – When there is a shortage of food, prices increase and while richer people will likely still be able to feed themselves, poorer people may have difficulty obtaining sufficient safe and nutritious food without assistance.food is utilised – At the household level, sufficient and varied food needs to be prepared safely so that people (male and female) can grow and develop normally, meet their energy needs and avoid disease. What is the impact of food insecurity? Poverty Health Trade
10 Apps for Documenting Learning One of the things that really excites me about the iPad is the ability of the students to show their learning. I am not talking about the end product here, I am talking about the act of learning that can be shown by students recording their processes. It is often about the student putting the information they have learnt into a context. It is this contextualisation that helps the students create meaning. Here is a perfect example from a young 1st grade student who talks us through his investigation into transport. This is where we really see the mechanics of a student's learning and how this can be individual for each student and in the case of a tool like the iPad, individualised for each student. Here are a couple of apps that give students the opportunity to showcase, share and then reflect on their learning. ShowMe: FREETurn your iPad into your personal interactive whiteboard! Educreations: FREEEducreations turns your iPad into a recordable whiteboard.
25 Question Stems Framed Around Bloom's Taxonomy 25 Question Stems Framed Around Bloom’s Taxonomy While critical thinking is a foundation rather than a brick, how you build that foundation depends on the learning process itself: exposing students to new thinking and promoting interaction with that thinking in a gradual release of responsibility approach. Question stems can be a powerful part of that process no matter where the learner is. Assessment (pre-assessment, self-assessment, formative and summative assessment), prompting and cueing during discussion, etc. Image attribution flickr enokson; 25 Question Stems Framed Around Bloom’s Taxonomy
Haiku Deck, a super easy and cool way to create presentations on your iPad! « Blog Picture courtesy of NASA Godard Space Flight Center Are you sick of crappy, text-heavy presentations? Are you sick of giving a presentation where your audience just silently stares back at you? Want to present your ideas in a more creative way than the next guy? Haiku Deck is very easy to use and fast. The beauty of Haiku Deck is that it shifts the focus of your presentation from words to pictures. Notice that some of pictures have dollar signs; these are the ones you have to pay for as an in-purchase. In addition to slides with great, context-appropriate pictures, Haiku allows for multiple sharing opportunities including posting to a blog, facebook or email. Maybe I never noticed this before in Pages for the iPad, but Haiku has some simple chart creation capabilities. Haiku Deck makes it easy to organize your slides according to the information you need to present without wasting time futzing with formatting. Have you tried Haiku?