Group items tagged

Another of Nik Peachey's excellent blog entries, this one included ideas for teaching and an example activity for students: "I've found that in class most students enjoy lessons based around songs or music. More recently I've been trying to discover and develop activities that students can do online to actively engage with the vast variety of resources that are available. "These are six things that I have discovered so far. Each one links to an example activity that I have developed for students."

Another way to use tagging. if it can be found in a search engine, you will see it displayed on a visual wall, as in this example from the Webheads in Action: http://spezify.com/#/webheads Makes using tags of all kinds even more important. Be sure your students select really unique tags. (In this example, there is a YouTube video and other materials related to Spider-Man, whose fans are also called "Webheads.") Extra nice feature--click an image to expand. If you click elsewhere, the video or whatever will stop playing.

This is a great set of podcast questions by students to be used as the basis of a cross-cultural exchange. Nice examples to get your students going. These examples are from 16-17-yr-olds. Students get some writing practice, too, by inputting the questions they read aloud.

"The Technology Integration Matrix (TIM) provides a foundation for professional development for technology integration and a common vocabulary for talking about effective uses of technology in teaching and learning.... The newly revised TIM was launched in February 2011, and features 100 classroom video example lesson plans, revised and expanded descriptions of student activity, teacher activity, and instructional settings for each TIM cell, focus pages for each characteristic and level, new professional development resources, and indices for grade levels and digital tools. The site includes 25 videos lesson examples in each of four core subject areas - math, science, language arts, and social studies. These lessons were videotaped in classrooms across Florida. "The Technology Integration Matrix (TIM) illustrates how teachers can use technology to enhance learning for K-12 students. The TIM incorporates five interdependent characteristics of meaningful learning environments: active, constructive, goal directed (i.e., reflective), authentic, and collaborative (Jonassen, Howland, Moore, & Marra, 2003). The TIM associates five levels of technology integration (i.e., entry, adoption, adaptation, infusion, and transformation) with each of the five characteristics of meaningful learning environments. Together, the five levels of technology integration and the five characteristics of meaningful learning environments create a matrix of 25 cells. " This is an amazing resource for teacher training. TIM is easily accessbile and recommends you look at grade levels beyond your own for ideas.

Excellent website If you type a verb, you get its conjugation in affirmative, interrogative and negative forms in all tenses, get examples of its most common uses . A marvel

Excellent website If you type a verb, you get its conjugation in affirmative, interrogative and negative forms in all tenses, get examples of its most common uses . A marvel

A great example of a clearly defined lesson in guided reading and thinking in an historical context (Ghandi v. Ho Chi Minh as protest leaders). Ms. Duvoor models how to think like a historian as you read original documents.

This web resource is for teachers of high beginning and intermediate writing courses and intermediate ESL learners. The resource provides 8 units that 1) teach about paragraph structure and paragraph elements: topic sentence, supporting sentences, and concluding sentence 2) introduce transition words and coherence in a paragraph 3) provide the opportunity to learn about and practice basic writing skills such as making an outline and staying on topic. Clear explanations are supported by examples; therefore, teacher can use this resource for class preparation, and ESL learners can use it as additional material to learn about paragraph writing. Practice activities provided by the website are not interactive; however, most of the assessment tasks have answer keys. In addition, each unit provides lesson in a PDF format that can be used by a teacher as a handout. -- From Lena Shvidko For ESL K-12 learners, but would be useful for adults as well. Focuses on the paragraph, rather than the essay, so makes a good beginning set of lessons.

Very short videos--36 sec--may be good for low level students to practice initial speaking/listening. Also has apps for various smart phones. Might be good for a quite pronunciation quiz, for example. The teacher can then send back a short video message with corrections, modeling, etc.

Listen, create and share FREE geolocalized audioguides. Share your voice and make the world a more interesting place.

This might be a great tool for an extended project, e.g., have your students create an infospot audio guide to their local community. Lots of examples are linked on the front page, and there is an iPhone app to scan, listen, and record wherever you happen to be. There are currently over 1300 guides created by users, and more coming.

"Drawing and recording your voice is not an easy task. What I've discovered is that once you start drawing, and your focus shifts to the image, there are few barriers to speaking. "The tool I'd like to share today is EDUCREATIONS (http://www.educreastions.com). I haven't explored it to its full potential but what I've seen so far is good enough. The free tool allows you use your mouse or your finger (ipad) to draw stick figures while you record your voice. You can also upload an image and draw and record your voice at the same time. Once finished, look at the right side below the twitter and facebook buttons for the URL and the embed code which allows you publish the recording." This tutorial shows how to sign up and use the tool, and there is an example from an EVO participant.

"City College of San Francisco ESL students explore the Living Roof at the California Academy of Sciences with its 1.7 million native plants and exciting green technology which controls the building's temperature. Instructor: Cora Chen (visit Cora's ESL Page)" This is a nice example of how a day-trip can be combined into a media and reading-writing project for adult students.

This is a great digital images project using photos of graffiti on Flickr, and a spreadsheet of questions on Google Forms. Students sign in to select images that will support the ideas they write about. Thanks to Webhead Sasa Sirk, Carla Areana, Bee Dieu, and Rita Zeinstejer!! Also included are links to posts that Sasa's students made and responses from Rita Z's student sin Argentina. Nice example of collaborative Web 2.0. (Caution, some graffiti have adult language and themes!) See also http://wallstalking.org/.

Grammar-Quizzes contrasts points of grammar and provides examples, explanations, practices and interactive quizzes for adjectives, verbs, prepositions, clauses, phrases, expressions and much more!

Describes LinoIt and how to use it--a nice brainstorming and student collaboration tool, but it's great to see examples and how it can be used with students. Free.

TimeToast is a way to create historical timelines. Could be used for project- or content-based learning, or for personal autobiographies. Also has several good content examples, such as Moon Landings, The Great Gatsby, and Western Civilization. You place points on the timeline and then add text and pictures to go along with the dates.

"Digital stories-short and economical personal narrative pieces that use image, voice, sound effects, and music to convey meaning-can be a powerful form for creative and engaging student projects." Describes why digital stories make good collaborative projects, and how to do it, with examples and students' journal reflections.

A social blog oriented to middle-school learners. Teacher can set questions and request students to join. Free. Nice instructional video at the >Learn more about link. There are also many teacher/school district blogs to view as examples.