Random Items

I thought I would just keep it light today with a few things I have seen lately.

Today everyone commemorates life through photos.  Well almost everyone.  The funny thing is we are looking at this through a photo.  

Might fit in your class.

Have a nice holiday as I will not be posting next week.  I will continue posting in the New Year.

Are you being evaluated this year?

If you are being evaluated this year, you may find this video funny.  The video is from BoomWriter and you can go to this site by clicking here.

Highbrow

A five minute lesson can be delivered to you everyday in your email on a selected topic.  Some lessons are: "Most Famous Works of Art",  "The Most Influential Speeches in World History", "Great Surrealist Painters of All Time" and "The Most Powerful in History" to name a few. 

To sign up go to Highbrow.

Were are teens going?

Teens are leaving Facebook.  Where are they going? Forbes knows.  Click here to see.

Quizlet

This is an online flashcard site.  You can make cards to practice parts of the cell in science class or anatomy in exercise science.  You could have flash cards for vocabulary in French class.  Any factual piece of information in Geography or History.  Now you can make up your own cards with your own pictures or text, however there are thousands already made up.  My kids can practice their times tables with this now.

Here is the front of a someones flash card on the skull.

Here is the back of the card.

To see the website click here.

Curiyo

This browser extension for Chrome and Firefox allows you to click on a word you don't know or a person's name so you can get more information about them from sites you would probably search for information from anyways.  The thing is this information pops up in a a little box so you don't have to open up another window.

To see Curiyo's website just click here.

Free Comic Book Day

Guess what this Saturday is?  Yes I know Friday is Kennedy Relays, the greatest track meet in the Universe but Saturday is Free Comic Book Day!  To get more information on this great event click here.  English teachers, maybe you can work this into a class assignment.

Kahoot - Game Based Learning

Have you ever played one of those trivia games in a restaurant (one with a license for adult beverages).  Time ticks down and you have only 4 or 5 choices.  You get scored on how quick you answer.  Well Kahoot is a way to teach and learn with a phone or tablet using  game based pedagogy.  

You need to register but it is free.  To see the site click here.  Maybe everyone in your class does not have a smart phone but I am sure you could do this in groups where at least one student has a phone or mobile device.

Watch these grade 9 students using Kahoot.

Otter

Create an easy webpage for handing out and collecting assignments.  This is a free site that is basically, well basic.  It allows you to do only 4 things and that is probably a good thing if you just want to start trying to have a web presents with your students and join the 21st century.  You can host documents, so post your course information sheets for parents, post your homework and assignments for students.  Students can upload their assignments to you.  You can maintain a classroom calendar and lastly you can send announcements out to parents and students.  To see the site click here.

5 minute lesson plan

The 5 minute lesson plan original came from the above site, click here.   Here is a brief video about it.                                 

This template can be found at this link by clicking here.  Others can be found there. I like this one below by Collen Young.  It can be downloaded by clicking here.  

The template above was modeled after Emily Hughes' template that follows.  It can be found by clicking here.

 

The last one below is from Just Math. To download it, click here.

Word Cloud

Hopefully you have got yourself back into the swing of things after the March Break.  To help you here is something you might use in your class.  The above are examples of word clouds.  I posted previously about wordle, see November 22, 2012 by clicking here.  Tagxedo is another word cloud site that allows you to pick outlines to place your words in or to frame with (see above). To see their site click here. Some examples used in  a foods class are shown below.

Here is an example that I made using a list of award winning books we have in our school library.

Some other ways that are used in class are (thanks educatorstechnology.com):

Use word cloud tools to brain storm a topic or create a discussion either inside the class or online
Use them to teach vocabulary
Use them in reading activities to promote comprehension
Students can use them to feature important ideas from a  discussion or a video content
The entire class can use word clouds to react to a certain topic
Have students create word clouds that generate understanding of a concept, standards or vocabulary word.
Illustrate classroom thoughts or views using a word cloud to survey students.
Create a class word cloud that highlights class expectation
Post students first names to create a class or group word cloud
Bio for Students as an Introduction to Wordle/Tagxedo-"All About Me"
Create a marketable product to present and sell to the general market.
Create Job Descriptions/Responsibilities for Career Pathways
Vocabulary Words from their core subjects
Introduction to Resume and Job Interviewing Skills

Ashton Kutcher Teen Choice Award Acceptance Speech

Ashton Kutcher's acceptance speech has a message to teens.  Maybe share this with your class.

PD Driven by Assesment

ASCD Smartbrief had a recent poll of teachers about PD.

Wow, roughly 46% of those polled had little or none of their PD driven by assessment. As teachers our instruction of students is driven primarily by assessment of our students.  If we don't we have some serious explaining to do.  However it does not look like some boards have the same consideration for their employees when the shoe is on the other foot.  I know our board does once a year when we have PD by department but how about the other PD days.  Just a thought.  What do you think?

Stipple

I posted about ThingLink on Friday Nov 21 2012.  You can see the post by clicking here.  Stipple is an alternative to ThingLink.  It is away to make interactive pictures.  You can have your pictures have links or videos that are pinned to your pictures.

Ukranian Protest

Seeing what happened in last weeks uprising in Ukraine, I thought I would share this video I saw on Youtube.

eQuiz show - Jeopardy

Jeopardy is a great way to review for a quiz or test.  I posted about Jeopardy a couple of times.  See here or here .  Today I am showing another one.  You can make up your own or browse others that have been made up.  Just make up a title and your self made teacher password and you are good to go.  Pretty much easy as 

that.  No downloading anything.  To see the website click here.

Project Based Learning

 

The following video and link is for a senior academic class.  The main concept used is Project Based Learning.  From Edutopia, "To succeed in today’s complex, dynamic, and globally connected world, students need to have a depth of understanding and learning that is far more than memorization and recollection of facts and figures. Rigorous project-based learning (PBL), as well as the skills and resources for achieving it, offers a promising pedagogical approach to helping all students succeed".  To see the article click here.

Always Proof Read

Take a look at these reasons to proof read your work by clicking here.
For example

However making mistakes is all part of learning.  See the following classic video on failure.

Speaking of failure and rejection, take a look at these authors who were rejected by clicking here.

Infographics

I have previously posted about making Infographics, see my post on December 19 2012 by clicking here or my post on September 13 2013 by clicking here.  In these previous posts I discussed three different sites to make infographics. If you don't know what an infographic is then here is an example.

by yodalondon.

Explore more infographics like this one on the web's largest information design community - Visually.

 Thanks to Richard Byrne for the following two sites that you can make infographics.

Using Presenter you can make interactive Infograpics.  To see their site click here.

This is a drag and drop presentation tool where you can make graphics, presentations, flyers, business cards etc.  To see the site click here or see the video below.

Timeless Truth

When you are running short on time, what should you do first?  If you are a student, your week may be something like, I have homework due in Math class, a quiz in Biology, a test in English, track practice after school every night, work three nights a week, group project due, your hobbies and your cousin is coming in from out of town.  You get the picture.  Teachers you have similar things like make lessons, mark tests, coach in the morning, pick your kids up after school etc. Watch this video as it helps put things in perspective.

It is a powerful message to put the big rocks in first.  When kids get stressed, just remind them of that.