I don’t think so. I’ve given it some thought here. The digital native is certainly not a digital expert.
The PBS Idea channel also has some ideas on this topic.
Tag Archives: Web2.0
Collaborative Tools online
Padlet
This is my new favourite collaborative software.
Richard Byrne did a great little video about how to start using Padlet and why you might use it in class. He talks about using this as an assessment for and assessment as learning.
The program allows people to log on anonymously or through an account. The Wall-owner can include images on the wall – perhaps an opportunity to annotate? You can also print out the contents of the wall for sharing in hard copy.
You can also add images from your computer or using a laptop camera.
Ways you could use this in your classroom
1) Collect information during student inquiry
2) use “layout modification” to force entries to be ranked in order of posting, and use as a debate
3) use as a Graffiti wall or as part of a jigsaw activity
4) Share links and ideas on a topic
5) Ask students to contribute personal connections to a historical theme – example: How is your life at home different in 2013 than when you were 5 years old?
Here are some other ideas by Cynthia Treichler. She even includes a tutorial on her website.
Let’s Play!
hey, PED3183, Let’s share some cool resources we’ve found and play with this resource.
http://padlet.com/wall/historytips – Groups 1 – 4
http://padlet.com/wall/historytips2 – Groups 5 – 8
Today’s Meet
A colleague introduced me to a neat tool called Today’s Meet. It allows students to ask questions, make comments and get clarification from a presentation. The beauty of the site? It doesn’t require someone to log into the site and the shared link is memorable. The wall owner can set the duration of time the link is “live” to prevent access to the wall after an activity.
Students can debate with each other using this venue and thus becomes an alternative to Twitter.
The transcript option allows the presenter to save the Room after a discussion. It saves in chronological order and there’s an easy copy & paste function.
The Today’s Meet Blog has some interesting ideas as well.
The website sells itself as a backchannel opportunity.
Twitter for Teachers
Twitter is a great tool for finding new and interesting resources, a cool way to debate within your classroom and to tell people mundane details about your life.
A wee tidbit: Perhaps we were programmed anthropologically to Tweet. CBC’s Spark did an episode/podcast about this very thing.
So, Why Do I want to have a twitter account?
I’ve managed to find of variety of educators and technology specialists who tweet resources and ideas on a constant basis. I occasionally go on twitter and see what has been shared. Then, I can assess my need for the site or skip it.
You can start with ‘@appledaughters’ iLearn list.
Become a follower to see the variety of specialist I follow. Then, check out what individuals tweet. You may like some more than others. Twitter also offers a ‘Who to Follow’ option once you have a few people you follow. This will give you another variety of people to choose from.
All things Twitter: twitter-guide.pdf View Download
here’s a great “GLOG” about Twitter for Teachers.
#EDCHATS: This CALENDAR gives you dates/times for twitter chats by teaching professionals around the globe!
Twitter Speak
hashtag: example: #educhat All tweets relating to the topic or ‘hashtag’ are available on a separate list when you click the hashtag link.
following/followers: the people who’s tweets show up on your home screen and your ‘followers’ see yours.
RAFT -Differentiated Instruction
RAFT (Role, Audience, Format and Topic) is a tool for demonstrated the mastery of content. Students are given one or two elements of the RAFT and are encouraged to choose the(ir) best way in showing their skill and knowledge development.
Students take on a particular Role (teacher, historical figure, leader of community group, inanimate object etc) and use a particular format (report card, song, mixed CD, letter, speach, powerpoint presentation) to convey information to a specific audience (student, newspaper readers, school principal, historical antagonist etc). The topic can be selected by the teacher or the student but the four elements will culminate with the student’s ability to show development.
It is differentiated as it allows students to show mastery in non-conventional forms as well as in the standard ways.
Recently, I had students complete assignments with these RAFTs:
THE GREAT WAR (CHY 4U)
| ROLE (option) | AUDIENCE (option) | FORMAT (option) | TOPIC- YOU MUST CHOOSE ONE OF THESE |
| Woodrow Wilson | Members of League of Nations (or non-members) | Reddit Forum | – Impact of Peace Treaties (be specific) |
| Georges Clemeanceau | Parties at the Versailles Conference | Powerpoint urging for the punishment of Germany | – Development of the League of Nations |
| WW1 Nurse | Her children | Scrapbook about the problems facing the Veterans in her care | – Great War Art re: Veterans (poetry, visual art, music) |
| Czar Nicholas | Russian Population | Apology letter about the failing to address population’s needs | – Short term consequences of the Russian Revolution |
| Lenin | Russian population | Mixed CD/iPod Playlist + letter explaining song selections | – treatment of Veterans by home country |
| Teacher | Student | test | |
| Veteran | 1920s Canadians | Painting re: suffering of Veterans |
Here’s what one of my students produced.
iMovie on the iPad- Trailers
iMovie Trailer Activity instructions
Our school has 20 iPads in the library. I have been trying to figure out ways to use them in my classroom. Unfortunately, the way our current system works, there are few apps directly related to Canadian History. I turned my sights on iMovie.
My Grade 10 Academic History class served as pioneers in developing an activity (and avoiding some of the bugs) revolving around the $5 iMovie app.
Students were asked to select a variety of images around a topic, in this case, an introduction to Canada’s involvement in WW2. Then, using the basic-pre-made trailer option, students’ text and images were animated, set to music and packaged in a really slick format.
PLUSES:
– the students LOVED this creativity.
– they love the iPad and the simple image save functions
– the trailers look professional
– because they couldn’t obsess about music choices of storyboard setup, they were able to start and finish a 1 min trailer in a 75 minute period
– easy upload to Youtube or Vimeo
CONS:
– because the iPads are shared with the whole school, the students couldn’t save work they haven’t finished
– YouTube can take a long time to upload and if students don’t have their own account, you have to provide them with a password.
– Students need to remember (and learn) to sign out the account they use to share the finished product
Here’s an example of what they produced.
World War Two: Raid On Dieppe from HTrinity on Vimeo.
Bridging the Gap – Student Success as Student Servant (technology) Leadership
Bridge the Gap between teacher knowledge and student knowledge through a technology they’re interested in playing with.
Why Are you (sometimes) hesitant to use technology in the classroom?
(this will take you to a Google doc and you’ll be able to anonymously contribute).
Student success is consistently tied to their connectedness to the school and classroom. They
Easy Ways to Include Technology in your classroom:
Want to try real twitter? See this post.
Online Comics:
Bitstripsforschools.com –> I have set us up with a class and an activity comic so you can have some fun playing with this amazing program.
•http://www.kerpoof.com — Better for a younger audience and creates .jpegs or can save if signed in
http://www.xtranormal.com – Requires log in
Mind Mapping
text2mindmap.com – takes text broken down through tabs and creates a mind map with associated sister and child branches
bubbl.us — Tool allows students to determine the space and orientation of their map, colours, etc
JUST PLAY.
Here’s a great fun activity to help your students engage with the interactive white board. –> www.drawastickman.com
Newspaper Clip Generator (and other things)
Other Neat Stuff:
http://waterlife.nfb.ca/#/ — An interactive multimedia presentation about Canada’s Waterways
http://flawed.nfb.ca/#/flawed — Body Image, Love and a beautiful multimedia story
Want further Inspiration? This is a great “catch all” site.
Google has created an interesting resource to help teach students how to “google” better. It’s American-centric, but you can adjust the concepts to make it more accessible in your classroom.
Avatar Building
When we work with kids, we have to be careful about what images of them go out into the universe. Here are some simple avatar building tools to help your students create an image of themselves without their real image.
http://www.buildyourwildself.com
Steph Pearson 