CALL_IS_VSL

Click on a right to find which country has it. Could be useful in civics class.

A great resource for listening-speaking skill development. Includes 4 posters with expressions to use for conversational interactions.

"Short videos from YouTube and other sources can be quite helpful in introducing topics to students and or reinforcing concepts that you have taught. Watching the video can be enough for some students, it's better if we can call students' attention to specific sections of videos while they are watching them. " R. Byrne discusses helpful tools for commenting on video. These can be great for flipped/blended classrooms as discussion starters.

This looks like a fascinating game system that includes physics (Newton), drawing (Masterpiece), increasingly difficult puzzles (Tangram), and words and numbers for game practice. It uses both physical and digital elements -- e.g., drawing on paper, and moving letters and numbers around. I haven't had a chance to try it out, but it's one of "TIME's [popular news magazine] best inventions of 2014." The only catch is the $99 to buy the app. You will then need to spend a little more for some of the apps. For 9+.

This short video (7+ min.) explains what social bookmarking is and how to use Diigo for education. It starts with a walk-through of creating an account, selecting and using tags, installing a Chrome extension (also works well with Firefox) or diigolet on your browser, and how to actually bookmark a page. Other video tutorials explain the lists function and setting up groups.

"A community of scientists, engineers, and children, creating together.' The site offers videos in a number of STEMS areas, and shows children how to build, e.g., a honeycomb structure, a wind-powered pump, a waterwheel, etc. This is an interesting way to get students interested in invention and engineering.

"Seesaw empowers students of any age to independently document what they are learning at school. "Students capture learning with photos and videos of physical work, or by adding digital creations. Everything is uploaded and kept organized for teachers. "Teachers can invite families to Seesaw so parents get an immediate, personalized window into their child's learning." A mobile app to help create student portfolios Part of the maker-spaces movement.

This app lets you peek into students' minds as they are in the process of learning a subject. Distribute tests or problems and then see each students' answer real-time. Students can enter text, draw pictures, use math symbols, etc. You score on a slider and they receive instant results. The animation on the sign-up pages gives some examples of each type of student response. The only problem might be that learning really takes place over a long period of time -- you can "know" some things, but not really understand or learn a subject.

Please join me on my blog at Scoop It: I consider new tools and uses for technology and try to give them a pedagogical consideration, not just what works and what doesn't, but why and how.

"HOW TO USE MAKEBELIEFSCOMIX.COM TO TEACH ESOL "Comic strips provide a perfect vehicle for learning and practicing the English language. Each strip's three or four panels provides a finite, accessible world in which funny, interesting looking characters go about their lives. And students with limited reading or speaking skills are not as overwhelmed in dealing with the size of a comic strip as they may be with a book of many pages." A good addition to a nice comic strip starter/creator.

Good ideas and links to references. Blogs might be a way to connect your students to each other, and it gives them a voice and a venue for writing practice. Includes ideas on netizenship, Internet safety, and how to comment properly.

A collection worth exploring.

"Formative assessment: you've heard about it, you've read the research, and you've probably tried it out in your classroom. "Whether you're a formative assessment newbie or a veteran, these techniques can help spice up how you check for understanding in the classroom. They range from the classics, like exit slips, to ideas you may have never thought to try. "This post was inspired by Todd Finley's big, printable list, "53 Ways To Check For Understanding"." Interesting ideas for formative assessment that also involve the students in their own assessment.

"Students use PeerWise to create and to explain their understanding of course related assessment questions, and to answer and discuss questions created by their peers." Register yourself as teacher and then sign in your students. Instructors easily view student participation. The site has screencasts to show what students do and what instructors think about their work.

"By revealing his own numerate inadequacies, this author describes a grading system where students accumulate points over a semester of assignment submissions and re-drafting. He claims it offers students more autonomy in controlling their "earned" grade as well as incentivizes their investments in the revision process. In contrast to the normative percentages approach to grading, this point accrual system not only gives students a less ambivalent form of grading but, also, moves them past surface-level revision and into rhetorical re-structuring." This article shows how to "gamify" the writing process.

The National Education Network Gallery has thousands of copyright free image assets appropriate for students to use in presentations and projects. You can search by topic, and you can embed the gallery directly on your Website.

Each of these links leads to another set of links, so you will have to pick and choose and explore to find what is appropriate for your students.

Designing 3-dimensional, hands-on experiences for the classroom. Explains "flipping" in the original sense: students explore first, then hear what it's all about through discussion with other students. Works well with science, but how to translate it into the language classroom?

"One of the most important information literacy skills for students is learning how to critically evaluate information found on the Web. This page includes forms for teaching the process, articles for learning about the aspect of literacy, and a list of bogus sites to use to showcase that all things on the Web are not real."

"Part of the strength of the TELL Project is its built-in ability for teachers to self-determine how well they currently meet the criteria defined in the Teacher Effectiveness for Language Learning Framework, relative to the growth they would like to make. To assist teachers in this aspect of reflective practice, TELL makes available self-assessment documents that allows an educator to pause and consider their current practice to identify possible areas of professional growth." The subtitle of this article is that "People don't learn from experiences, they learn from reflecting on their experiences." Has downloadable worksheet to help you find out if you have a safe and supportive learning environment.