So we've all seen the funny videos on Facebook & other social media websites about texting conversations back and forth between two people. What I had NOT thought about was how it could be used for education!
TextingStory is an app that lets you create a conversation between two characters. Think about using it for two people in history! Your students could demonstrate what they're learning by creating a conversation between Thomas Jefferson & Alexander Hamilton! How cool is that!? Also - where was this when I was in the classroom!? This would also be great for characters in ELA, to have conversations in a foreign language, for Science to impersonate a scientist and talk about a topic, etc! Super fun app that would engage students while still assessing them! Check out this classroom example from some of our DLCs: TextingStory Example
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I've talked about Google Drawings before and how great it is for graphic organizers but what I didn't write about is how it can be used like a Thinglink.
If you haven't used Thinglink, it's great for using with your students. It takes an image and makes it interactive. Students can create hotspots over the image that link out to YouTube videos, pictures, text, Google Docs, websites, etc. The thing that limits you, however, is the customizable options. You're limited to only a few hotspot options and it's not collaborative in real-time. That's where Google Drawings comes in. You can insert images (whatever images you choose) and link them to websites, pictures, videos, etc and have your students collaborate on the same image at the same time. Here's an example that I've created. All hotspots have a yellow boarder around them for easy viewing. Happy Drawing! If you haven't tried Goose Chase, I would say to stop now and look it up. SUPER fun scavenger type game for your classroom that gives students points depending on the task. Pair them up into teams for a little competition and you have yourself a highly engaged and excited classroom. I presented at Region 10 this week and we started off our presentation with a Goose Chase. Since we were talking about reaching Gen Z, our teams were based on generation. All they had to do is sign up, enter our game code, and then pick their team based on when they were born. They had various tasks that gave them points. Great icebreaker and we were able to model the level of engagement they would see in the classroom. This would be great for centers around the room or various tasks that you want your students to compete. Principals and Admin - this would be FANTASTIC for staff development! If you try it in your classroom, tag me on twitter or reach out. I would love to know how you liked it! The App is available on iPhone and Android. If you're interested in our Region 10 presentation, here's the link to our site! If you'd like to see it in person, we'll be presenting at TIA in Denton this July!
Let's talk Flipgrid.
Super awesome video discussion tool that can SUPER enhance your classroom. Students record their answers to a question you've posed or share what they're thinking in a discussion on your class Flipgrid. Then, they can watch their peers' video posts and even comment back! Talk about upping the game when it comes to classroom discussion! Instead of having one topic discussed at a time, students can watch various viewpoints from their peers and have multiple conversations going on at once. Think of the possibilities of this when it comes to Foreign Language when you have your students talk to one another! You won't have to walk around to each individual group any longer - you can have them talk to one another and see the videos as soon as they post. I thought this was similar to Recap at first, but it's a different beast for a different purpose. Here, the students are posting to a grid that their entire class can see. They can comment back and learn from each other. Recap is fantastic - but for the purpose of assessing students in a manner that only the teacher sees. Flipgrid has paid and free versions, but the free version will do everything you need it to! |
AuthorDigital Learning Coach & technology lover. Constantly looking for innovative ways to engage students and facilitate 21st century learning. Archives
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