Content Literacy

Unfortunately, this guy, Shawn Wheeler, just stopped his podcast and changed jobs, but there are some great resources for designing and creating your own podcast. Yet, another resource for delivering content to students that I think teachers would do well to explore.

Another digital storytelling resource. This resource focus' on using the modality for content storytelling, so if you've been reluctant to explore digital storytelling in your classroom, then think again. It's a great set of ideas for developing rigorous stories for content of multiple grades and content areas.

Nice little set of quizzes that students can take quickly. Helps memorize some of the features and other facts students need to know for unit study. Interactive and fun. I took two of the quizzes and need to work on my great lakes. How well can you do?

Interesting blog from a fellow Classroom 2.0 member. He is interested in math, technology, and is working on his masters in technology integration. A worthy read if you are looking for someone to stretch your thinking.

Wake Forest is espousing using wikis with their students. The article does a good job of describing the issues involved in using a wiki for instruction. What I really like about the article is that it is almost all about rigor, high expectations, and relevance. Gosh such problems to have to think about when designing work for students. Maybe more of us need to consider what this article is describing.

A must read for anyone interested in technologies in education. Working my way through it. Maybe a bookstudy? Anyone interested?

Great example that social networking is not just playing.

Another example that conceptualizing the network helped draw her to the engineering field.

WorldWide Telescope is Microsoft's answer to Google Earth and Google Sky. It's pretty cool and does a lot of stuff that I don't understand but am sure someone interested in astronomy would love. I look at it and think about using the zooms of planets to have student calculate the size of some features knowing the scale. It's not utilizing the total power of the software, but it gets me in the door, makes it a cool activity for the students, and creates a little love to science in a math class. i can live with that!

A member of the Content Literacy Ning Sean Nash started this group to connect biology teachers from all over together. I love one of the premises of the group: "Step one in participation within The Synapse: read & explore. Step two: share. Be a resource. Help to create a synapse that communicates in both directions!"

Another digital storytelling site. I've not gone through the process with this site, but sharing it.

Have been looking for more cc (creative commons) or copyright free photos to use in the work I'm doing. Catherine Rubin and I have been discussing the issues involved in cc. Here's another site that might provide more options to teachers looking to include images in the work they are doing.

Using music to make connections in content learning, most specifically social studies. The non-profit organization works to design lessons that get permission from artists for students to use their lyrics as the basis of their writing. I like the idea and think it fits well with the type of thinking we use at CTL so I'm sharing it!

OK, this is a pretty cool game site that is all about teaching and learning. I played the multiplication game longer than I should have and even played with the pet hamster for a while. He runs on that whell a long time. From the website, "All games here were made by Exuberant Games. Each game goes through important information for a certain subject matter for grades Kindergarten through 6th grade. The math games are great if you need to review your math facts for addition, subtraction , or division. Be sure to check out our new games for other subjects.

Looking for a great interactive venn diagram activity then look no further. Students can work on their multiples/multiplication/lcm skills in an interactive way. If you have a smartboard then just imagine the fun students can have.

Great site if you are looking for significant problems to let your students (higher level) ponder. Also, the organization of the site is impressive.

Another description of the creative commons discussion and working with students to develop their understanding of what they can and 'should' do when creating classroom presentations.

"A story is told by one person or by a creative team to an audience that is usually quiet, even receptive. Or at least that's what a story used to be, and that's how a story used to be told. Today, with digital networks and social media, this pattern is changing. Stories now are open-ended, branching, hyperlinked, cross-media, participatory, exploratory, and unpredictable. And they are told in new ways: Web 2.0 storytelling picks up these new types of stories and runs with them, accelerating the pace of creation and participation while revealing new directions for narratives to flow." Storytelling is changing how are you going to let your students tell stories? Great article, especially if you've never thought about digital storytelling before. I like the idea that storytelling is no longer a passive reception, but an inclusive/participatory activity when expanded into remixing or open-ended. Presents lots of different possible modes, so you can pick one and go with it, open it up for students, and expand your horizons as students use tools differently than you to achieve their story.