Group items tagged

Gives examples of very young learners using blogs as digital portfolios. Good discussion of formative and summative assessment as well.

Gives lots of examples on how to use Evernote. Also links to discussions about similar applications. The more you use it, the more you need it.

"Mind mapping is a visual form of note taking that offers an overview of a topic and its complex information, allowing students to comprehend, create new ideas and build connections. Through the use of colors, images and words, mind mapping encourages students to begin with a central idea and expand outward to more in-depth sub-topics." Gives some tips on the pedagogy of using mind-maps and how to teach it to students.

"The Open Educational Resources Research Hub (OER Research Hub) provides a focus for research, designed to give answers to the overall question 'What is the impact of OER on learning and teaching practices?' and identify the particular influence of openness. We do this by working in collaboration with projects across four education sectors (K12, college, higher education and informal) extending a network of research with shared methods and shared results. By the end of this research we will have evidence for what works and when, but also established methods and instruments for broader engagement in researching the impact of openness on learning."

Continuing improvements in speech recognition technology may lead to some useful CALL applications to ESL/EFL: "By the use of automatic speech recognition (ASR), oral tasks can be practiced more easily because it is the computer itself which understands and gives feedback to the learner so that the learner feels much more involved, and in contrast to traditional methods, a learner can enjoy engaging in activities more."

An interesting argument that the flipped classroom is really a stepping stone to students doing their own learning/research. Very thought-provoking about the role of the teacher in a classroom or online: "Ultimately, we have realized that three fundamental questions should drive the teaching and ­learning experience: What are you going to learn? How are you going to learn it? How are you going to show your learning? As this new way of learning has played out over time, my students have found that they no longer need me to locate or create videos for them. They can find their own resources and direct their own learning. My goal as a teacher is to help them become independent learners, to give their learning a purpose that is apparent to them (beyond simply passing the unit exam). I prompt them to reflect on their thinking and learning while sharing stories of my own journey as a learner. I help them develop skills, such as finding and evaluating sources and collaborating with their peers."

Over 8,000 websites created by students as part of the ThinkQuest Competition. Should give you ideas for projects in all the various content areas. Browse by age group, country, or subject matter.

Addresses the Common Core Standards, which the teacher gives to the students as a handout. This lesson in reading literature prepares students for a writing assignment. Useful for EFL as well as for ESL teachers in the U.S. Models questioning and defining vocabulary through images and real-life experiences.

Some alternative ways to get students to focus on you, not the distractions out the window: ask them to make a prediction (take a poll); use a pause and chunk technique with breaks to process; give hints and teasers to pre-focus attention; get them to buy in to the content with a hook or personal investment; do a physical activity (Simon Says or moving around puzzle pieces) to strengthen connections. Burns also suggests high interest materials that compel attention and using fast writing/free writing to get focus, using art work, drama, etc. Good ideas for the teacher.

This is a funny tool for turning normal text into a pseudo-text message. The author, Deb Norton, suggests using it for kids to write messages from two characters in a novel, or to give advice as language practice, etc. Cute idea.

A free visual dictionary and online thesaurus. Enter a word to see related vocabulary. R Byrnes: "Snappy Words could be a good resource for students that are stuck in the rut of using the same words and phrases repeatedly in their writing. Snappy Words will give those students access to alternative words and their definitions much faster than thumbing through a thesaurus."

"Skype gives students and teachers the ability to connect with the outside world without leaving the classroom, allowing them to meet face-to-face with the subjects of their learning or with students from other cultures. Teachers across the world have already arranged many enlightening and unforgettable conferences, demonstrating the extraordinary potential of Skype in the classroom." Lots of good ideas for using Skype to practice authentic language with authentic audiences. Also points to Skype' "in the classroom" page that helps teachers connect with experts and other classes looking for exchanges.

"Swift Playground is an iPad app to learn Apple's Swift coding language which underpins apps on iOS. The app has engaging lessons and different levels to play." I think learning an app language is appropriate for many levels of students. It gives them control over the games and processes as they think about how the app should go and what it should do.

"We all want our feedback to be encouraging and constructive, yet it can be misinterpreted as judgement and criticism. So how you save yourself - and your students - from potentially damaging comments?" Several good suggestions.

Offers 4 different tools than can help you and students with video and Web work: Scrible to annotate electronic texts lets students work collaboratively and teachers can use annotations for formative assessment and comments; VideoAnt lets you use video as texts to timestamp video for access later, type up notes in a sidebar, and share annotations; Kaizena Shortcut is a Google extension that allows detailed feedback, and can also be used for recordings; EDPuzzle lets teachers create lessons for instructional videos like Khan Academy and give feedback on students progress. These all sound worth a try.

"Session Description: Creating comic strips can be a great way for students to tell stories, express understanding of content, give reports, and be creative. There are many tools available for making comics, but a great one is Google Slides. Learn how to use Google Slides, including many of the newest features, for your students (and you) to create online comic strips. Presenter: Eric Curts Date: December 15, 2015 - 3:30pm to 4:30pm EST" This is a talk given not too long ago. All resources and the talk itself are linked from this page.

For very advanced students only. Gives sample thesis statements and sample discussion questions, but the site is not interactive at all, and not reading based.

This visual index might give ideas for content- and project-based projects around the climate, geography, maps, environment, conservation, etc.

"...There is scope to engage the pupils in a structured debate to challenge misconceptions, structure arguments and encourage independent study. Additionally, participating in debates can develop confidence and public speaking skills." A good practice for critical thinking and listening speaking skills. This article does not give classroom tips for setting up debates, but you might want to have a judging panel, and also help students prepare while focusing on the factual as well as the rhetorical side of debating.

"Wordle is a toy for generating "word clouds" from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends. " Really simple, easy to use. Create from a URL or type/paste in text. Can be a useful way for students to think about important new vocabulary they are learning, the meaning of a book or essay they have read, etc.