Group items tagged

WeSpeke is an app that enables students in US language classes to be matched with a native speaker anywhere in the world. It is a curated program, with special privacy safeguards built in at the HS level.

iTalki has been my go to for finding language exchange partners but the fact that there are safeguards built in for the HS level makes this an attractive option to use at the secondary level, thanks for sharing this!

Good resource. This is definitely an aspect of my teaching that needs more work, especially in lower-level classes.

An alphabetical list of suggestions for the novices in the group (myself included).

Fascinating interview of Michael Horn (co-founder of a non-profit innovation think tank) and Vibhu Mittal (CEO of Edmodo) on the impact of social learning networks such as Edmodo on the classroom. Some topics covered: blended learning, privacy and student data, collaboration between teachers and between students, personalized learning.

Resources for Public Domain media

includes ideas for using Diigo in the classroom

Google Search tips - lesson plans for teachers

Links to free tools for teachers

Many teachers have also suggested that you have a "personal" Facebook page, and a "teacher" Facebook page, and ne'er the twain shall meet...

For those of you who have YouTube blocked in your schools

From Richard Byrne's blog: "Own Your Space is a free, sixteen chapter ebook designed to educate tweens and teens about protecting themselves and their stuff online. This ebook isn't a fluffy, general overview book. Each chapter goes into great detail explaining the technical threats that students' computers face online as well as the personal threats to data that students can face online." It's free, downloadable, and it looks to me like it should be read by any student with internet access - and their parents and teachers!!!

what StarTalk is doing for technology integration units

Some ideas for the online summer course?

for teachers who would like to build a digital portfolio - LinguaFolio is a good online app to do this - and here is set of free, online modules to teach you how to do it.

Might be a useful tool for a class/lecture where students need a place to ask questions that they either can't or won't ask in class.

Students create facebook pages for characters, historical figures, objects, etc and then interact with each other.

Yes - I thought this looked like an interesting project! Thanks for adding it!

Little is known about the population of educators who teach online, especially with relationship to preparation from their teacher education programs. This article discusses the results of a national survey of K-12 online teachers from across the nation to ascertain how prepared they felt they were with regard to three key areas: technology, pedagogy, and content, including combinations of these domains, as described by the technological pedagogical content knowledge framework (Mishra & Koehler, 2006). Overall, K-12 online teachers indicated that they felt the most prepared in the areas of pedagogy, content, and pedagogical content. They felt least prepared in the areas of technology, including technological pedagogical knowledge, technological content knowledge, and technological pedagogical content knowledge. Implications for the field of teacher education are discussed, including the need to more fully integrate technology within the coursework and field experiences of teacher candidates, and the need to create courses, or specific modules within existing courses, to address topics of importance to virtual teaching.

YouTube video about using Edmodo and Chalk for FL Storytelling

Today there are lots of creative blogging tools for students to use at school, but the five below are specifically catered towards a K-12 audience and come with lots of useful features for teachers and students. So, if you are itching to get your students online, consider the following options.

If you're looking for a school or classroom for your students to partner with, there's no place like the World Wide Web. "People need to get out there and form an online presence," says high school French teacher Toni Theisen. There are online communities everywhere just waiting to be blasted with your callout for a sister classroom.