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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Can we just take a moment to talk about how neat Google Drawings is? Talk about graphic organizer heaven! Possibilities are endless for what you can do with it!
I'm currently working with my US History teachers and their students over civil rights. Another DLC, our librarians, and myself created stations for the students to research court cases, people, events, and speeches. For most of the stations, we used Google Drawings to have the students create things to demonstrate their learning. Here are a few links to show you how we used Google Drawings: Our Timeline Template Our MLK Speech Graphic Organizer Our March Madness Court Cases Bracket I've also compiled a folder of graphic organizers created with Google Drawings that I've gathered from websites and trainings, combined with some I've made myself. Folder of Graphic Organizers Take a look at these and let me know if you have any questions! Y'all! Spring break is just around the corner - literally A DAY AWAY - and I'm pretty excited about it! (could you tell?) Before I break for a week in Philadelphia, visiting my new niece, I wanted to share Adobe Spark with y'all. Adobe Spark is a great tool for curation and has three different presentation options that your students can pick from. I use "Post" with students when they're wanting to make an infographic for a project or when they're wanting to make something that will quickly grab people's attention. We've used it with Theatre productions, biography projects, quotes that they put on websites and in other projects, etc. It's easy for the students to create and share. Everything is customizable and doesn't require a lot of tech ability. I recommend using this when first starting your students out with tech.
"Page" is more used for portfolios, journaling, etc. I've used this with our Foreign Language department when students are creating travel guides for various cities, with Art when their students are showcasing their work, and with History classes when explaining events during a war or presenting information about a historical figure. Page allows students to present their information in a professional and creative way, all in one place. "Video" is great for students just starting out with video tools. It walks students through adding pictures, video, and/or text and allows for 10 seconds of voice over on each slide. I've used this with Speech classes, Spanish classes, Art classes, ELA classes, etc. Great easy tool and it's easy to download or share via a link. Check out the Spark Inspiration Gallery, here. ....Not like the Xanga blogging experience of your High School days, but blogging in the sense of student creation for the purpose of active engagement, learning, and global communication. Students can create a website or blog about a particular topic and then add information to it. This lets the student have a purpose and reason for doing the assignment other than just getting a grade. They're getting the opportunity to share their ideas with the world. They're feeling a purpose behind the assignment. They're engaged. Here are several ways you can incorperate blogging into your classroom. MathJournaling and blogging in Math is becoming more and more popular. Students are learning through explaining concepts and thinking outside the box. They can blog about vocabulary words - write what the term means and any prior knowledge they have. They can incorperate videos that explain what the term is and/or websites that offer tutorials or help on the term. They can also blog about how they're solving particular problems and how they worked through the different steps. They can include memes and gifs to make it fun and interesting. The possibilities are endless. ELAThere are so many ways that a blog or website would be a great tool for students to use in the ELA classroom. Students can create blogs that compare different works. They can keep a creative writing blog and see their progress from the beginning of the year to the end. Students can create blogs or websites instead of doing a traditional book review. They could also create a blog or website that simply analyzes or explains a speech, poem, etc. Foreign LanguageStudents can create blogs about cities or countries they're visiting. They can write in Spanish and create a professional looking website/blog instead of doing a poster or powerpoint. For Spanish classes that will take an AP test at the end of the year, Science & Social StudiesScience and Social studies could do this as well with a scientist or historical figure. They can make different tabs for various things about the person. Blog or create a website to explain cells or battled during the Civil War. Blogging or creating a website can really be used for any project in any subject. What they would put in a powerpoint have them put on Weebly, Blogspot, Google Sites, etc. Let your students get creative and think outside of the box in a new and exciting way. Twitter is more than just for following celebrities. It can be used to promote your personal business, to connect with friends and family, or to see what is going on in the world. Moreover, it can be used in the classroom.
Here are my top 10 favorite ways to use Twitter in the classroom 1. Class Chat - Create a unique hashtag so that your class can have a running forum to discuss projects, concepts, and ideas. 2. Class Assignments - Have your students tweet and hashtag authentic experiences for an assignment using a class hashtag. For example: Have your students find geometric shapes in the real world for a Geometry assignment and tweet pictures with their understanding and class hashtag. Here's an example: #cavgeom 3. Online Tutorials - Host a Twitter chat about a topic and have your students ask questions with the unique class hashtag and have yourself and other students answer questions and link resources, videos, etc. 4. Projects - Create a unique hashtag for a project and have students share projects on Twitter and hashtag them with the project hashtag. 5. Go Live - Tweet live projects, experiments, field trips and more to have parents keep up with what your students are doing. 6. Role Play - Have your students tweet as characters from a story they're reading in your ELA class, a Historical figure in your History class, etc and create a unique hashtag to collect all of the tweets in one place! 7. Bulletin Board - Tweet updates about your class, assignments, tests, projects, etc so that your students and parents can stay up to date. 8. Backchannel - Have your students tweet questions and comments about a lecture. This can be used for Socratic Seminar. 9. Creative Writing - Begin a story and hashtag it. Then have each of your students finish the story and use the same hashtag. They'll be able to see multiple endings and variations of the story! 10. Connecting with Primary Sources - Your students can follow people that are important to science, history, math, ELA, etc. They can learn from them as well as connect with them. Twitter allows students to have a voice and a connection with the outside world. It allows for connections between what they're learning and themselves. It's a great way for your students to exchange ideas and learn in a creative way. |
AuthorDigital Learning Coach & technology lover. Constantly looking for innovative ways to engage students and facilitate 21st century learning. Archives
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