Subject – Page 44 – iLearn Technology

Map a List

May 6, 2010May 6, 2010Kelly Tenkely9 Comments1882 views

What it is: Map A List is a neat tool that combines the power of Google Spreadsheets and Google Maps or Google Earth. Using Map A List, students can create and customize Google Maps of addresses or locations. In a few easy steps, students can visualize geographic data on a Google Map or in Google Earth. First, students enter a list of addresses or places in a Google Spreadsheet, as addresses are updated or modified in the list, the map is automatically updated. Maps can be saved to be private or public. The maps can be exported as KLM files for viewing in Google Earth.

How to integrate Map a List into the classroom: Map a List would be a great tool for keeping track and mapping a Flat Stanley project. As Flat Stanley visits locations, students can keep track in a Google Spreadsheet and view the results on the map. Map a List would be useful for tracking locations as student read any literature. Track history events and battles using Map a List, helping your students to visualize the learning. Have students note their ancestry in a Google Spreadsheet and turn it into a map. It is so easy to update the spreadsheet and see the results immediately on the map.

Tips: Thanks to @dgrice who noted a drawback to Map a List, even if you have multiple spreadsheet entries for the same location, only one representation will show up on the map.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Map a List in your classroom.

Stage’d

May 4, 2010May 4, 2010Kelly Tenkely10 Comments4854 views

What it is: I am constantly learning about cool new website tools for the classroom from my PLN (Personal Learning Network), today I learned about an animated comic creator called Stage’d from fellow Blogging Alliance member @MrR0gers. Stage’d is a tool that helps students to tell digital stories in a new 3-d way. Students can create a stage full of characters and dialogue as if they are directing their own digital play. They can choose characters, costumes, animations, set design and provide characters with dialog. When the 3-d comic has been saved, it can be emailed or linked to with a unique url. Stage’d is perfect for use in any classroom, to save a comic requires no personal identifying information or even an email address. All students have to do is type in the name of the director (first name only or a pseudonym).

How to integrate Stage’d into the classroom: Stage’d is a seriously fun creation tool, students are going to love directing their own 3-d comic plays. Stage’d makes a great digital story telling tool.

Students can:

Publish their own fiction (or non-fiction) writing pieces as a 3-d play
Re-tell a story to demonstrate comprehension
Illustrate vocabulary words
Illustrate historical events
Create mock public service announcements
Create mocumentaries
“Interview” an important person of interest
Create short persuasive video commercials
Illustrate story problems in math
Practice a foreign language dialogue and vocabulary

Stage’d is very easy to use and the results are absolutely fantastic. Create your own Stage’d creations to introduce a new topic or concept to your students. This is a fun introduction that will grab their attention in a hurry.

Tips: The creators of Stage’d are constantly adding new features and options so check back often.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Stage’d in your classroom.

Do You Want to Form an Alliance With Me? (Take 2)

May 3, 2010May 3, 2010Kelly Tenkely21 Comments4548 views

In March, I posed the following question: Do You Want to Form an Alliance With Me? I asked educators around the world to join me in an exercise of blogging, commenting, and encouraging other blogging educators. The response was amazing. 74 educators signed up to be a part of the alliance. We committed to commenting on each other’s posts, following each other on Twitter, and encouraging one another in teaching and learning. In the past two months I have grown immeasurably as a result of the alliance. I have been introduced to exceptional resources, forward thinking teachers, new friendships, an incredible support system, and had the opportunity to peek inside of classrooms around the world. I believe that those involved in the alliance have been equally inspired. I asked the members of the current alliance to weigh in with their impressions of the alliance. We compiled the answers on the following Wallwisher (click to enlarge).

I have had many requests for an expansion of the Educator Blogging Alliance, today I am opening the alliance to other interested educators. Before you fill out the form to join, I would ask that you read my original post about the alliance here.

Here is a snip from the original post:

“The Alliance…

After reading the alliance article an idea began to take shape. What if we, educational bloggers, were to form an alliance. No need for the secrecy. This alliance would be a group of educational bloggers who are committed to working together for the mutual benefit of all the members in the alliance. We all have something valuable to add to the conversation of education and learning. Each of us has a unique voice, outlook, approach, skills, strengths, and focuses.

The goal of the alliance is two fold:

1. To encourage educators in their blogging endeavors whether they be new, established, or otherwise. There are so many valuable additions to the conversation that are being overlooked.

2. To create a united network of educators working toward the larger goal of being heard by those not in education. It is time for the general public to see us for the highly qualified professionals that we are.

How the Alliance could work…

1. Commenting on each others blogs– in the Problogger article, those in the alliance committed to commenting on each others blogs at least once every week day. The comments should stimulate interesting discussions, and encourage those involved that someone, is indeed, reading their blog.

2. Linking to One Another- This could be linking to related posts on another educational bloggers website, adding them to your blog roll, or naturally as a result of subscribing to one another’s blogs.

3. Social Bookmarking and Tweeting- This is my personal favorite suggestion, Twitter has done wonders for iLearn Technology as my PLN passes on my posts to others. Promoting posts on Twitter, Digg, Delicious, and StumbleUpon increases awareness of what educators around the world are doing that works. It also connects those new to educational blogging.

4. Guest Posts- Guest posting could be an opt-in option for the alliance. I know that it isn’t always possible to find time to write a blog post for your blog, let alone polish it enough for someone else’s blog.

5. Thank You Page Promotions- When someone signs up to receive your RSS feed, they are generally taken to a page thanking them for subscribing. This Thank You Page could also be used to promote other education blogs. For example: “If you like iLearn Technology, you should also be sure to check out blog A, B, C, and D.”

I hope you will join us in this undertaking, I believe that when educators work together, we become an unstoppable force for change. I am putting a time limit on the enrollment so that we can get a good group together that is committed to supporting and encouraging one another. If you would like to join us, please do so before May 21, 2010. I will organize the group and have us up and running by May 28, 2010. So, do you want to form an alliance with me? If you are in, please fill out the following form (inactive after May 21st).

Venture into Student Blogging Risk Free!

April 29, 2010Kelly Tenkely3 Comments2560 views

My edublogger alliance friend Christopher Rogers at EdTech Swami has made an incredible offer:

“If you have students interested in blogging but for whatever reason have not set one up, or perhaps the prospect of administering a student blog seemed over whelming I have a deal for you. I already have a blog set up and running. I have quit a bit of experience blogging personally and with students. I have hard core spam protection set up. I will administer, moderate and commentate on the posts. If you have students interested in blogging they are welcome to join my students (who are desperate for other writers to interact with). Registration is open. All high school students are welcome. Just direct your browser to this address and click register. http://www.rogersenglish9.com/studentvoice”

If you have high school students who are interested in blogging, but you aren’t ready or can’t go there on you own, take Christopher up on this incredibly generous offer. Give your students access to an incredible teacher and resource for growth in writing and higher-order thinking.

Kerpoof: Make a StoryBook

April 27, 2010April 27, 2010Kelly Tenkely12 Comments20544 views

What it is: Kerpoof is a website that I use often with my students, I like it so much I have written about it a few times before here and here. Kerpoof has just added a brand new Make a StoryBook tool. Kerpoof’s Make a Storybook is an excellent addition to the already great lineup of Kerpoof tools. Here students can create their own picture and story books. They can use Kerpoof’s backgrounds, props, and characters or draw their own illustrations. Students can write their story in both text boxes and speech bubbles. The interface is extremely user friendly, kids will pick it up in no time! The sidebar has thumbnails of each page that students have created, making it easy to see their progress. Students can save their finished Story Books on their Kerpoof account to share with other students, download the finished Story Book to their computers, or print out their completed stories.

How to integrate Kerpoof’s Make a StoryBook into the classroom: Kerpoof’s Make a StoryBook is a fantastic place for students to “publish” their written work. Students can practice writing fairy tales, poetry, collaborative stories, fables, math based stories, illustrated science journals and non-fiction books. Kerpoof offers the freedom of creativity, students are only limited by their own imaginations. Set up your classroom computers as a publishing center where students can create a finished, published piece of work. Create collaborative class stories using Make a StoryBook on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Print out finished stories and add them to your classroom library for other students to “check out” and read.

Tips: In addition to the new Make a StoryBook, Kerpoof has added another fun activity called Spell a picture. Students can choose a background for their picture and use the letters below to practice spelling words. As they spell, pictures pop up that begin with those letters. As they continue spelling, Kerpoof narrows the pictures down to the one that a student has spelled. For example, when students select “c” pictures of a cow, cat, corn, car, cab, and cap pop up on the scene. As they continue selecting letters, the pictures get more specific and Kerpoof points to the suggested pictures of what has been spelled.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Kerpoof in your classroom.

Lightning Bug

April 26, 2010Kelly Tenkely9 Comments11072 views

What it is: Lightning Bug is a fantastic resource for the writing classroom. The tag-line of Lightning Bug is, “Your writing partner, helping you write a story from beginning to THE END”. That is exactly what it does. For each stage of the writing process, students have access to excellent guides and resources to aid the process. Students can get help finding a story idea, developing the idea, and finishing the story. Students can even have a look at what kind of writer they might be based on their personalities. Lightning Bug has a great collection of writing resources. Students can explore author blogs, search for character names, get some exercises in creativity, get help with grammar and spelling, and even get help for publishing their written work. The teacher resources are equally helpful for teaching writing.

How to integrate Lightening Bug into the classroom: Lightning Bug is a great resource to have going on your classroom computers as a writing/publishing center. Students can visit the site to get help with every stage of writing. This is an excellent site to send home and alert parents to, it would be enormously helpful for at-home writing projects. If you have access to a computer lab or 1 to 1 setting, allow your students to walk through this website as they work on any piece of writing. The site is organized really well and easy to navigate independently. Be sure to take a look at the teacher resources.

A few of the recommendations for the writing process include worksheets such as mind maps. Instead of using a worksheet for students to map their ideas, consider using online tools that will let students organize their thoughts and collaborate with others as they write. Try using online mind mapping tools such as Creza’s Mindomo or Comapping. Students can use tools such as Zoho, Google Docs, or Kerpoof to collaborate as they write.

Tips: Many of the ideas and resources found on Lightning Bug are useful for digital storytelling.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Lightning Bug in your classroom.

Game for Science

April 23, 2010Kelly Tenkely4 Comments4118 views

What it is: Game for Science has to be one of the coolest virtual worlds for kids. This virtual world is dedicated to getting kids excited about science and technology. Students can explore various virtual islands where they will learn about health, aeronautics, genomics, environment, engineering and more. Students can learn more about science careers, what scientists do, play games, learn interesting facts, and explore science photos and videos. Students can play the Game for Science as a tourist without registering, or they can register for an account (this requires an email address with confirmation). This is an outstanding way for kids to get excited about science and technology. As students travel through the virtual world, they can collect neurons (smart stars) by answering questions and playing games. The neurons can be used to purchase items for their avatar.

How to integrate Game for Science into the classroom: Game for Science is a great way to introduce new science topics or areas of science. The virtual world will capture interest and keep students wanting to learn more about each topic. If you teach younger students (without email addresses), visit the virtual world as a class on the interactive whiteboard or the projector. Give each student a turn to direct the journey through Game for Science. The rest of the class can jot down observations in a science notebook that can be used in later learning and experiments. Students who can read independently can visit the site individually on classroom computers as a science center or in a computer lab setting. Older students can register for an account and earn neuron points for their characters. This is a fun site for students just to explore and interact with; however, for use in the classroom, you can direct students to specific islands to study. For example, as you begin a unit on the environment, students can visit the corresponding island. Game for Science makes for a great jumping off point that will grab students attention and interest in the subject they will be learning about.

Tips: There is a chat feature on the registered version of Game for Science, this allows students to interact as they discover new islands and talk science.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Game for Science in your classroom.

ePub Bud: ePublish Yourself

April 22, 2010April 26, 2010Kelly Tenkely2 Comments28061 views

What it is: ePub Bud is the YouTube of Children’s eBooks. The site is YouTube-like in that anyone can create and share their own children’s ebooks. The goal of this not-for-profit website is to provide an easy way to find, share, and self-publish children’s ebooks. ePub Bud lets you create an ebook for a small audience, or for the whole world, digitize a real book by mailing in a physical children’s book and having it “digitized” for the iPad, upload an ebook file that you can read on the iPad, or download an eBook (classics and books others have shared). Best of all, everything you do on ePub Bud is completely free!

How to integrate ePub Bud into the classroom: ePublishing is quickly becoming popular and more eReader devices are showing up in the classroom. While there is nothing like holding a paper back book in your hand, their is also nothing like holding a good ebook in your hands. Whatever we can do as teachers to get students reading, I say use it! Use ePub Bud in your classroom to “publish” student stories. The books can be shared with other students, parents, and schools. Publishing an eBook of their own is highly motivating, and will have your students eager to write. With ePub Bud, your students could construct their own text books. Have them create ebooks about what they are learning to share with others.

If you have access to the iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad, consider sending in some of the books from your classroom libary to be digitized. Many sites have free ebooks for kids, make them iPad, iPod, or iPhone friendly by uploading them to ePub Bud. You can also search the extensive collection of classic children’s eBooks that are on ePub Bud and download those for students to read. You will find children’s favorites from Beatrix Potter, Lewis Carrol, A.A. Milne, Frances Margaret Fox, Milton Goldsmith, and many, many more.

This is such a neat website and it is really and truly free. You won’t even find advertisements on this site!

Tips: If you send in a book to be digitized, ePub Bud cannot send the original back for copyright purposes.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using ePub Bud in your classroom.

Webspiration Wednesday: Sleedo

April 21, 2010April 21, 2010Kelly Tenkely2 Comments3948 views

Today, I am doing something a little different for Webspiration Wednesday. As a staff, we still gathered for Webspiration Wednesday finishing the Guy Doud video from last week. Since I have already summed that up in this post, I thought I would write about a webspirational website instead. Sleedo is a great Webspiration Wednesday website.

What it is: Sleedo is a search engine that I learned about from @cspiezio today on Twitter. This is a search engine with a mission to better the world with each and every search. Every time you search using Sleedo, 10 grains of rice will be donated to help feed the poor. Sleedo is a Google powered search engine. Sleedo makes money through advertisements and donates that money to the World Food Programme, feeding those in need. So, for every search you do, you are helping improve the lives of people around the world. Pretty cool right?

How to integrate Sleedo into the classroom: Set up Sleedo as your homepage on classroom computers. When students perform searches, they can be doing double duty: searching and helping the hungry around the world. Sites like Sleedo are wonderful vehicles for teaching students about empathy, world issues, and compassion. Have your students dig in and learn more about how the World Food Programme operates or take a closer look at how website advertising works.

Tips: I have found that students are passionate about websites with a cause (Free Rice, Free Corn, Aid to Children, Free Kibble, Free Kibblekat). Often students feel helpless to do something important that makes an impact on this world. Sites like Sleedo help students enact real change that they can feel proud of.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Sleedo in your classroom.

Bomomo

April 20, 2010April 20, 2010Kelly Tenkely1 Comment3951 views

What it is: Sometimes students just need a place to get out some creative energy. Bomomo is the perfect place to send them. Bomomo lets creativity run wild with a new kinds of painting tools. Students imaginations will run with the possibilities that this site offers. There just isn’t any other painting program like it. Try it out for the full effect. Student masterpieces can be saved to the desktop offline, these would make great customized desktop images.

How to integrate Bomomo into the classroom: Allow students to create their own desktop images for classroom computers using Bomomo. Teach your students about abstract artists and art, then let them create their own with Bomomo. Ask older students to describe (in writing) what each tool does, how it works, what happens when they click or move their mouse. Have students compare their finished descriptions finding common language and differences. Students can come up with common definitions for each tool. This is a great exercise in descriptive writing, explanatory writing, and observation. My students asked if they could use Bomomo to create CD covers for the music that they created in GarageBand, of course I said yes! This is a fun site to explore as a class using an interactive whiteboard or projector.

This site is so calming and captivating, I wonder if it would be a good one for students to play with before taking tests?

Tips: There are two ways to save student creations: normal and high quality. Normal saves as a jpg and high quality saves as a png image.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Bomomo in your classroom.