I used to keep neatly organized binders for each class that I taught - way more practical and efficient for me than the file cabinet system. My "tweeps" recently introduced me to livebider.com and I am completely hooked. It is an online binder system where you can create an organized binder of websites and lesson ideas in one handing "binder" online. I have been creating a binder for my journalism classes http://livebinders.com/play/play/125501 and adding to it throughout the summer. I recently learned I would be teaching English 11A (I taught 11B last year, but I have nothing for 11A) so I started creating a binder. http://livebinders.com/play/play_or_edit?id=149984 In livebider you can keep the binder private, make it public, or share it with a select group. I made mine public. These are works in progress and I am thrilled to get feedback and suggestions from others for what to include in my binders. My English 11 binder is obviously in the early stages at the moment, but I will continue to add to it as I develop ideas and plans for the school year.
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The Twitter-verse keeps talking about QR Codes. I had heard of them. I knew they existed, but using them for educational purposes had never occurred to me. Then I started following links that discussed some of the amazing ways to use these codes in an educational setting such as http://k20center.publishpath.com/Default.aspx?shortcut=schools-use-qr-codes-to-embed-learning. I am thinking of posting a few of these codes around the school next year and see what happens. On my Droid, the Google Goggles App takes you right where I intended. If you are an iPhone person apparently they have an app called i-nigma. Walking down the hall a student will see this little box and wonder... random pieces of educational information embedded in QR codes - the mystery of what's behind the code will entice students to find out. Engaging students natural curiousity could have some wonderful random effects in the building. We could even create a bit of a "treasure" hunt around the building. I am looking forward to trying this out when the school year begins. Have you ever seen those teaching videos where the screen moves as the author talks and explains how to do something? Well I wondered how they did this and I discovered Jing. It is a free program that lets you capture whatever is happening on your computer screen while you narrate. When you upload it to share, it goes to its hosting site screencast.com. From screencast.com you can share whatever you have created in a number of ways. I used this method for the quick intro video on the opening screen of my blog. My first real attempt at capturing and narrating is the following rough screencast I put together. With Twitter I feel that I am constantly learning and being inspired in my profession. I have discovered that some of my best Twitter learning moments come from principals, even though I am not one, and I started following a number of these educational leaders. One of my favorites to follow is @ToddWhitaker. I appreciate his positive outlook and forward-thinking point of view. With that in mind I decided to buy one of his books to read for the summer (he has written a plethora). I "tweeted" him for his recommendation as to which book to read and he recommended "What Great Teachers Do Differently." The book arrived in the mail last week, and this week I read a tweet that lead me to a group of other professionals reading the same book and getting ready to engage in an online summer book club. This will enhance the professional development quality of reading the book for me and increase the chances of direct application in my classroom. Feel free to join the discussion at http://wwfsummerbookstudy.weebly.com/index.html
Add your answer to my question... if you could only add one new tech tool to your classroom, what would it be? Let's see how many answers I can get. RT for me :)
Borrowed the title of this post from @TeacherNextDoor during and #engchat session. Another great discovery from Twitter has been the amazing chat sessions with teachers across the nation and even outside of the United States. So many great ideas and experiences are shared by people who know because they practice what they are discussing. Questions are open and ideas are flowing. So far, the best chat I have discovered for me has been #engchat, I also like #edchat for more general discussion and #leadershipchat and #cpchat because we are all leaders in our own classrooms I find much of what is discussed for administrators can be applicable to my classroom. #TitleTalk is another good chat to get ideas for books to read and use in your classroom.
Austin and Aaron are two boys in my regular English 10 class who always have something to say, but aren't always very directed in how and when they say it. We were reading The Hobbit and out pops Austin's phone. I noticed it was a smart phone. So many mobile devices running around the school in the hands of our students - why not put them to work? I decided to try my hand at having a twitter discussion about Tolkein's The Hobbit. It was messy, fun, and engaging. I typed up my process in a Google Doc. Feel free to read about the experience. If you have had any Twitter Chats in your classroom - add to my document :) http://tinyurl.com/3d33q42
I had seen this idea before, but hadn't thought about it in a while. I was scanning my Twitter posts and came across the reference with a link. I went in and read through the information and decided to have some of my students complete the exercise. It is always enlightening to think about life lessons and it was a positive way to finish up the year. The following are some of the results:
Aleigh (age 15) Never let go of the things you love without saying goodbye Chocolate goes with both tears and smiles You really can learn how to get out of a situation from watching tv and movies. Katie (age 15) I have learned that you can’t always be apathetic I have learned: Quality over quantity – always Gage (age 16) I’ve learned you shouldn’t laugh at a policy debater. Jessica (age 15) Bad things happen to good people. Matt (age 16) I have learned to work hard and be committed I have learned that by taking a girl to my house more than once parents assume we are dating. Mark (age 15) I’ve learned that sometimes it’s yourself that is wrong. Sam (age 17) I’ve learned that ignorance never is bliss. Brandon (age 17) I’ve learned not to jump out of a truck while listening to The Lonely Island. Erin (age 14) I’ve learned if you don’t express yourself, you get walked on. Natalie (age 17) I’ve learned to do what is best for you, the result will be that everyone is happy when you are. Gennavie age 16) I’ve learned that happiness is a choice, not the outcome of events I’ve learned that true trial of life is your attitude. My students and I are constantly looking for the "right" book. I have students compete in a speech event where they present an interpretation of a book. This means the book needs the right level of humor or sadness or both. It needs strong characters and dialogue. When I discovered a link to http://whichbook.net/ on Twitter and found a perfect site for exploring books I would have never discovered otherwise. I passed this site on to my interpers and let them loose with it. They love it!
One of the first lessons I grabbed from Twitter was the World Question. The 2011 question was WHAT SCIENTIFIC CONCEPT WOULD IMPROVE EVERYBODY'S COGNITIVE TOOLKIT?
http://www.edge.org/q2011/q11_index.html I followed the link and read through the responses. What an excellent set of ideas from around the country. I posed the question to my competitive debaters and shared a number of my favorite responses. The class discussed the possibilities and each student came up with their own philosophical responses to the question and shared them with the class. It was a great discussion. |
AuthorEnglish, Debate, Yearbook, Newspaper Teacher. New to Twitter. Archives
August 2013
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