Task 10- Too Many Tools!

Last summer, I enjoyed surfing through the myriad of resources on Discovery Education.  I found many and was excited to go back today to look for more.  I'm having a bit of trouble viewing the videos, though.  I hear them playing after I click the play button, but the picture doesn't change.  It looks as if things are continuously downloading while I'm waiting to view.  Perhaps I should download and save these videos for easier playing ability.   Wait...after playing with it a little, I think I've figured it out.  :)

I played one of the "Horrible Histories" episodes for my students last year and they really enjoyed it.  It was age appropriate, entertaining, and they learned something.  Go figure! I plan to show this video this year to my teaching partners to see if it might complement our studies of the ocean.  The only thing that periodically comes up on DE are the kind of films I used to watch as a child with a blah-blah, monotone narrator spitting out facts that go in one ear and out the other.  We'll have to preview them to make sure they'll be engaging for our kids.

Thanks to Sandy's class, I now regularly read a few blogs and receive email updates from groups on Diigo.   Through both resources, I've been able to find up-to-date resources and kid-friendly websites to use with my class.  I don't often have the time to pour over these blogs, but even in a quick read-through, I can find 2-5 sites to bookmark for use on an upcoming project or lesson.  It has enriched my teaching immeasurably.

Imagine my surprise when I went to Google Reader and found that all of the blogs I follow were already logged in.  I think I have 180 unread posts.  Ooops.  The good news is, the blogs I had subscribed to have already been sending me emails each time a post is added, so I've read those!  (Luckily, that counts for about 115 of the updates on Reader.)  I'm so glad I've figured this out.  There were plenty of blogs I had found last year and kept forgetting to check them out...problem solved.  Sometimes I just wish my brain could hold 10x more information so I could absorb it all...and not forget it!

I've started taking notes on ideas I've come up with this summer.  Ones that can't be completed overnight and will take some preparation.  I hope, Sandy, we can continue to work together on my journey to incorporate these ideas.  I'm so very grateful for all you've done to put this course together.  It fills me with such inspiration!  I know the reason we can claim to be cutting edge is largely because of you!  Your hard work pays off in the end for our students.  I just wish you could work with me every day!  I have plenty more questions and am excited to get to work!  

This was fun! - Go Animate!

This would be a great "reward" for kids.  I had fun, too.
DomoNation.com: Silliness by nealkel


Like it? Create your own at DomoNation.com. It's free and fun!

Task 9 - Tools for your Toolbelt

Last year, I found Kubbu, a website that allows you to create online crosswords or flash cards for a review of whatever topic you choose.  I utilized it to encourage my students to practice reviewing their Wordly Wise definitions after they'd been introduced to them in class.  I could keep track of which students participated with Kubbu as well as their success rate with the game.  The students who used it seemed to like it, but I worried that after a few lessons, the format might have gotten old.

I was thrilled to try BrainFlips!  I loved that it allowed for you to upload pictures to go along with the flashcards.  I worried that it would be time consuming for me to create using Wordly Wise lessons, but since I had already collected clip art for each of the lessons already (see the power point below), all I had to do was quickly save clipart from each slide and upload it onto BrainFlip.  If you click here, you can play my new version of flashcards with Wordly Wise.

Wordly Wise Lesson 1

View more presentations from Kelly Neal.

The only downside to uploading to Slideshare is that the animations are not visible.  When you look at the slideshow above, it looks ridiculously easy.  Here is a bunch of clipart with the vocabulary word right next to it...what's so hard about that?!  The slideshow is presented and reviewed differently in the classroom:  the words aren't visible on the slides, only the pictures, at first.  All in all, when posted to my blog, it provides pictures the students can refer to to help them review and remember the meanings of the newly introduced words.  The flashcards provide the same kind of review as Kubbu, but with more animation.  They will really enjoy it!

I started using Slideshare last year to upload slideshows and homework sheets to my class blog.  I was amazed at how frequently my students utilized the uploaded documents.  It also allowed me to place lessons in the blog so that students who were absent could access them easily.  Previously, I had emailed assignments to families individually, which took as much time and could result in a need for me to resend if lost. 

I also like Slideshare because you can search through the bank of presentations.  I've found quite a few teachers have posted that I modified for use in my classroom.  It is a great resource!

I didn't even check out any of the other flashcard sites, Sandy, because I loved Brainflips so much!  It was so user friendly and appealing for kids.  I'm glad you shared it!  I can also see it being used to review other areas of study in class.  Math concepts (names of angles, polygons), review of social studies and science facts learned, parts of speech...

I have listened to Podcasts before (though not many) and had directed students to them when learning about the Grand Canyon National Park.  However, I hadn't really thought about creating one myself.  After searching through Sandy's links, I found the Our City Podcast program.  As I've mentioned in a previous post, my students are going to be collaborating with another class in California, hopefully sharing information about the areas we live in.   I had considered using Photopeach and blogging, but had not considered Podcasting.  There are a great number of samples made by students across the country.  I listened to this fantastic one about Honolulu. 

Having never created a podcast before, I have lots of questions.  I downloaded Tony Vincent's guide for Podcasting so I can research the steps necessary to create one.  I'm particularly interested in how the students wrote their script.  Perhaps Gail Driscoll could help me build up to this.  I'm not sure if a podcast has to be created in one recording or if pieces can be merged together.  Whatever the case, perhaps teams of students could create "units" of Tampa/Florida history to share.

I'm definitely excited about the prospect of creating a podcast with the students and need to start outlining what kinds of things we can do/manage this school year.