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17 Ways to Meet Individual Learning Needs in the Math Classroom

February 15, 2011Kelly Tenkely12 Comments5385 views

Cross-post of an article I wrote for The Apple, you can read the original article here.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, The Apple is a social network for educators that is also a great resource for inspiration, lesson ideas, educational news, videos, and job postings.

Kelly Tenkely | TheApple.com

Differentiating instruction can be challenging. Student’s educational strengths and weaknesses can be widely varied, making it a difficult task to meet each student’s needs in any given lesson. Math is one such subject area where student skill levels can be very different. Some students have their basic math facts so well mastered that completing more complex tasks isn’t hindered. Other students have a logical mathematical mind and math just seems to click for them. Then there are the students who really struggle with math facts; they just can’t seem to get them down. Every other area of math feels painful because they don’t have the building blocks mastered. Still other students have no trouble solving equations but when a story problem is introduced, they are stopped dead in their tracks.

For most students, math takes a lot of practice. Unfortunately, the students who need the most practice are the most reluctant to do so because they haven’t been successful in the past. Many of these students have convinced themselves, through negative self-talk, that “I’m just not good at math.” What is a teacher to do with such a mix of skill and comfort levels in the math classroom? Technology can be a great equalizer in the classroom. It provides struggling students with extra support and attention at exactly their skill level, and makes it possible for the student to pace their own learning. Students who have mastered the basics and need to be challenged, can attend to tasks that require them to think in new ways using the skills they already have. The Internet abounds with outstanding free math resources that can be used to encourage struggling students and challenge students who are excelling in math. These websites can be used as a center in the math classroom that is limited to a few computers, for individual learning and practice in the computer lab (1 to 1 setting), or used with the whole class and an interactive whiteboard or projector. The sites are well designed to meet the various learning needs in your classroom, and motivating enough to keep all of your students engaged in learning and practice.

Offline Math Practice:

1. If you are lacking student computers for math practice, consider visiting iPlay Math Games. http://iplaymathgames.com has a collection of printable math games for students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. The games are easily searched by grade or skill level. These math games can be played using common items like dice, cards, and other manipulatives. The games have been created to build skills such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, percents, algebra, long division, measurement, graphing, exponents, problem solving, puzzles, geometry, probability, logic, reasoning, numeration, patterns, and counting. Search for games that will meet your different learning needs. Next, group students together to play the games. Grouping students with similar learning needs helps students practice the math skill with others who are in need of the same practice. Create a math learning center where students can easily access the games and manipulatives needed for the games. Hold a math mania day once a week where students can practice the skills they have been learning in math class by playing these fun games.

2. 3D Vinci (http://www.3dvinci.net/ccp0-display/freestuff.html) has downloadable pdf lesson plans to teach math concepts using Google’s Sketchup. The site also has an impressive collection of printable puzzles and mosaics for students in kindergarten through twelfth grade to solve. This site helps bring 3-D concepts to life in a way that textbooks can’t. 3D Vinci also has a YouTube channel where students can watch several ModelMetricks projects.

Math Fact Practice:

Nothing is more motivating than a little friendly competition. Several sites offer competition that helps students practice their math facts, some are seasonal competitions, while others are available year-round. These sites make it a breeze to differentiate math practice. Each student can play games at their own ability level. This keeps the lower math students engaged and feeling successful in their math skills while the higher level students are challenged.

3. Math Mania and World Math Day– Vmath Live hosts these online competitions each year for students around the world to compete in. Math Mania (http://www.voyagerlearning.com/mathmania.do) is a back to school challenge where students compete against other students in real time using the Vmath Live math program. Students face off with other students from around the world while practicing their math facts. As students answer questions, they can see, in real time, how other students from around the world are doing answering the same questions at the same time. The goal is to answer all of the questions as quickly as possible (correctly) and finish before the other students. The live competition is highly motivating and has students asking, “can I play this at home?” World Math Day (http://worldmathday.com/) is a competition that is held each year in March. Just like Math Mania, World Math Day is a competition between students from around the world. Each math fact game lasts for 60 seconds and improves student’s mental math. The World Math Day competition is for students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. Visit both competition sites for more details about the competition and dates.

4. Make 5 (http://www.fi.uu.nl/toepassingen/00091/toepassing_wisweb.en.html) Make 5 is a fun way for students to practice addition, subtraction or multiplication. Students can play this game individually or against another student. This game provides a great platform for students to practice math facts and to start recognizing relationships between numbers. Students are given a target number and a goal to choose an equation on the grid that equals that target number. There are multiple correct answers on the grid. The goal of the game is to get 5 answers in a row on the grid (like Tic-tac-toe or connect 4). If you don’t have access to classroom computers to play this game, split your class into two groups and play with the whole class with an interactive whiteboard or projector. Each student should be given the chance to represent their team and match an equation with a target number. Give teams 30 seconds to plan their move before sending up the representative.

5. Arcademic Skill Builders (http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/) is a collection of fun arcade-like games that help students practice their math facts. Students can play games for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fraction, and ratios. The games are research based and standard aligned. It blends the fun of arcade games and key math skills into fun online games that engage, motivate, and teach students. All games have the option of single or multi-player mode.

6. Tut Pup (http://tutpup.com) is a free math fact practice website. Students are matched up with other students from around the world where they play fact games and compete in real time. This site does not collect personal information about students and there are several games to choose from, each with multiple levels. Students can practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, algebra, and a mixture of those skills.

7. Free Rice (http://freerice.com) is an amazing website that helps students practice math facts, it has the added bonus of donating rice for every correct answer. Students can choose to practice basic math facts or multiplication. For each answer that is correct, grains of rice are donated to hungry people around the world. Add some additional math practice by figuring out how many grains of rice are needed to create a bowl of rice, and keep tally of how many total grains that your students have earned.

Math Puzzles:

Math requires students to look at the world in different ways than they may be used to. It is about seeing relationships and patterns. Students may not be used to thinking in this way. Math puzzles can be a great way to help students start to think about relationship and pattern. This is a fun way to get your students in the math mind set. Your reluctant math students won’t realize that they are practicing math skills as they complete these puzzles.

8. Tangram House (http://games.ztor.com/tang/) This Chinese puzzle challenges students to create a shape using only 7 tans (shapes) to complete a puzzle. The tans can be rotated, flipped, and dragged into place. Tangram House can be used as a math center on classroom computers, completed individually in the computer lab setting, or used as a whole class activity with an interactive whiteboard. To play as a whole class activity, split students into teams that will take turns at the board forming the tangrams. Students who are not at the board can help their teammate using good directions and clues for the student working on the puzzle. This is a great way for students to practice giving and receiving quality instructions and descriptions.

Better Than a Text Book:

Math textbooks can be very dry and hard for students to read for understanding. So much of math involves relationships, patterns, and 3-D objects that a static textbook just can’t do justice to. Online supplements can give students a better understanding of relationship, pattern, and 3-D objects with video and animation.

9. Number Nut (http://www.numbernut.com/index.html) is an interactive math textbook, there are multiple pages for each math concept and each page is followed by two interactive practice areas. Topics on Number Nut include shapes, color, numbers, counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, order of operations, date, time, fractions, decimals, percent values, estimation, rounding, ratios, and money math. The site is standard aligned and has an exceptional math glossary. Number nut is an excellent alternative to math textbooks because students get immediate feed back as they practice a skill they have just learned. With traditional math textbooks, a student doesn’t know if they understand a concept until they turn in their math worksheet or test and get it back a few days later full of red marks. Often they will not go back and re-practice unless they are required to. This site is ideal in a computer lab setting where each student can work at his or her own pace.

10. Learning Clip (http://www.learningclip.co.uk/index1.aspx) is a collection of interactive activities for primary math. Resources and activities include topics such as using and applying math, understanding numbers, number facts, calculating, understanding shape, measuring, and handling data. Each activity includes a brief description, a pdf of notes that accompany the activity, the age appropriateness, and a corresponding worksheet that can be printed out. When an activity is loaded, a video clip explaining the math concept plays. Each activity includes a game or interactive space for students to practice what they are learning. This site is ideal for struggling students, they can replay the video portion of the lesson as many times as they need to so that they understand the concept. The practice area is a great place for students to try what they have learned.

11. Harcourt Multimedia Math Glossary (http://www.harcourtschool.com/glossary/math2/index3.html) will help students in kindergarten through sixth grade understand math vocabulary. The glossary is easily searched by grade and alphabetic order. This glossary is not your typical textbook glossary, it doesn’t just define math terms, it actually shows them what it looks like. Each word and definition can be read aloud to students by clicking on the speaker icon next to the word.

12. Math TV (http://www.mathplayground.com/mathtv.html) is a series of video story problems for math. Each math problem comes with a step by step video solution, followup problems, an online calculator, and a sketch pad. Word problems include topics such as fractions, percentages, ratios, probability, geometry, averages, and algebra. Story problems are often a source of anxiety and frustration, these videos are perfect for visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners. You can’t go wrong!

Real World Math Practice:

“When will I use this?” is a common phrase muttered in math classrooms around the country. As students advance in math and learn more complex skills and equations, they are often puzzled by how it relates to real life. Students want to know that what they are learning is relevant to their lives. Bringing real world math practice into the classroom helps students relate what they are learning with how it is applied in life.

13. The Stock Market Game (http://stockmarketgame.com/) gives students a chance to practice hands on real-world math. Each student gets the chance to invest a hypothetical $100,000 in an online portfolio. While playing the game, students learn economic and financial concepts that they will use the rest of their lives. The game is intended for students in fourth through twelfth grades.

14. Kids and Cookies (http://www.teacherlink.org/content/math/interactive/flash/kidsandcookies/kidcookie.php) is a flash game that teaches students about fractions in a real-world situation. Students choose characters to be their friends and then choose how many cookies they have. Students must evenly share their cookies with their friends and can use different cookie cutters to divide them up. This is a great introduction to how rational number fractions are used in life.

Interactive Math:

15. Illuminations Resources for Teaching Math (http://illuminations.nctm.org/Activities.aspx?grade=1&grade=2&grade=3&grade=4) is a treasure trove of activities for the math classroom. The site has more than 100 interactive math activities for teaching and practicing math in the kindergarten through twelfth grade classroom. The activities help students understand concepts that can be difficult by inviting them to interact with the concept. These activities are ideal for an interactive whiteboard but can also be a wonderful math center activity.

16. Math Arcade (http://www.funbrain.com/brain/MathBrain/MathBrain.html) is a website where students in first through eighth grades can practice math facts and math skills through fun interactive games and activities. Math Arcade plays like a board game, each space on the game board is another activity that must be completed before students can move on. Students receive a special password that they can write down to return to their saved game. There are 25 games at each grade level to play. Students can play games that build skills at the specific level they are at.

17. Math Playground (http://www.mathplayground.com/index.html) is packed full of games, videos, and puzzles all centered around math for elementary and middle school students. The games are interactive and a great place to practice the skills they are learning. Students get immediate feedback as they play the games and go through the activities. If they are correct, they can move on to the next game or problem. If they are incorrect, they will try again. The word problem section is divided up by grade level, ensuring that students are challenged at an appropriate level. The Math video section contains videos that introduce students to math concepts.

There are oodles of other ways to meet the needs of your individual learners in math, check out these posts for some more ideas!

Planet Foss: Investigating Science by Taking Pictures

February 9, 2011Kelly Tenkely7 Comments5234 views

What it is: Planet Foss is a science photo sharing website for students. Students are enlisted to help capture science in the real world through pictures and share them with other students around the world. Students choose a science course to investigate, see what photo challenges exist within the course, and then take a picture of science as it happens. Each course comes with several challenges; the challenges are all based around themes that tie into the FOSS investigations. When students have taken their photos, they can upload them, tag them, and record observations about the science they captured in their picture. Students can also head over to Planet FOSS just to check out the photos taken by other students, they can search by the date that the picture was uploaded, by tag, keyword, or search by location using a Google map. Courses on Planet FOSS include Chemical Interactions, Diversity of Life, Earth History, Electronics, Forces and Motion, Human Brain and Senses, Planetary Science, Populations and Ecosystems, and Weather and Water.

How to integrate Planet FOSS into the classroom: Planet FOSS is an excellent way to involve students in science exploration and discovery in the real world. The great thing about the site is that it helps students discover the science that it all around them. Through the photo challenges and investigations, students learn to view the world through a new lens and begin to understand that life is science. That isn’t a concept I understood until I was out of school (for me science usually meant filling out a worksheet or memorizing science vocabulary-sad). Don’t have access to digital cameras at school? Students can still use Planet FOSS by exploring other student photos. The photos are a great way to introduce science concepts and illustrate concepts in a way that is more authentic than the textbook offerings. As students view others photos, they can leave feedback about the photo, observation, or comment on the similarities or difference to where they live using a set of virtual “stickers”.

Tips: To protect student privacy, Planet FOSS does not accept any photos that includes pictures of students. Planet FOSS has a great introductory video that will have even the novice computer user uploading photos in no time!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Planet FOSS in your classroom

History for Music Lovers: Brilliance

February 8, 2011February 8, 2011Kelly Tenkely7 Comments6607 views

What it is: Thanks to a tip from Jan, an iLearn Technology reader, I learned about the History for Music Lover’s YouTube channel yesterday. Oh. My. Goodness. Instant love. Seriously, if I had learned history this way, I would have rocked it! As it turns out, I actually met @amyburvall, the genius history teacher behind History for Music Lover’s at ISTE 10 in Denver and didn’t make the connection (feeling like a jerk for not figuring that out!). I starred in a video with one of the stars of the MansaMusa video “Magnus” the fashion police guy at ISTE. Small world. You MUST check out this YouTube channel, even if YouTube is blocked in your building. (As a side note…someone remind me WHY we block students from learning opportunities??)

History for Music Lovers is a collection of music videos (high quality I tell ya!) centered around events and people in history set to popular songs. Amy Burvall, IB high school history teacher, is the creator and star of the videos. Coolest history teacher ever. My high school history teacher sang one song to us: I’ve Been Working on the Railroad. True story. It was not engaging, inspiring, or helpful in my learning of history.

On the History for Music Lovers YouTube channel you’ll find:

I think it is awesome that the 80’s is so well represented in this list 🙂 that Amy Burvall is one talented girl!

How to integrate History for Music Lovers into the classroom: This is my new favorite way to introduce a history topic. If this doesn’t grab student attention and leave them wanting to learn more, I don’t know what will. The collection of videos is a fantastic place to start learning. The lyrics give students just enough information that when they begin fleshing out the period or figure in history with additional reading or research they will have a solid base to build from. The lyrics are catchy, students will forever associate William the Conqueror with Sexyback.

Students can embed these videos in their own history Web 2.0 creations and presentations. I’m currently using Capzles with a group of 8th graders and imagine them embedding these videos in their timelines along with images, and their blogged reflections.

Are your students as inspired by music as Ms. Burvall is? Encourage students to tackle a figure or historical time that hasn’t been done yet and create their own historical song parody.

Tips: For those of you who don’t have access to YouTube in your building (again I have to ask why?) you can still use these awesome videos in your classrooms with a little bit of pre-planning. Download and save YouTube videos so that you can show them at school without accessing the YouTube site. Use KeepVid, YouTube DownloaderHD, Kick YouTube, SaveVid, or Zamzar. Some of these tools will even let you download at school if you know the YouTube url. The downloaded video should have no trouble playing at school!

Follow History For Music Lovers, historyteacherz on Facebook and Twitter.

Also, did you know you can become a fan of iLearn Technology on Facebook? It’s true! I don’t have a fancy dancy Twitter account especially for iLearn Tech but feel free to follow me on Twitter. I like talking education, technology, and am in general a geek 🙂

** This is the LONGEST it has ever taken me to write a blog post, I got sucked right in and watched each and every video. On the bright side my knowledge of history has increased substantially today.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using History for Music Lovers videos in your classroom!

Enter the Group: Making Group Project Easier

February 7, 2011Kelly Tenkely7 Comments3752 views

What it is: Enter the Group is a fabulous online tool that makes it simple to work with, and organize, groups online. The tool has similar functionalities to Wiggio. Enter the Group includes shared calendars, site email, file sharing, instant chat and message boards, the ability to create private groups and classrooms, tasks and assignments, polls, blogging, Twitter, and question/answer forum, and best of all: it is totally free! Enter the Group has some really nice classroom features that other online group management sites like Wiggio don’t have. The built in blog feature is useful for the classroom setting, it provides students with a place to reflect that can be set as “private” so that it is a closed network for your classroom or school. This is especially helpful in schools where administration and the school community is hesitant to enter the world of blogging! Enter the Group Classrooms provides a virtual classroom space that can act as an extension of the physical classroom. Teachers and students can interact, keep track of due dates and special events, share files, post messages, and more. Students can take their learning with them anywhere and access the resources they need anytime. Enter the Group is easy to use and has really helpful tips and video guidance throughout the tool. No matter what your technology ability level is, Enter the Group has made it easy to get started.

My favorite thing about Enter the Group? They understand that the classroom is about learning, from the classroom page: “What do we do in classrooms? Simple answer is we learn. The longer answer is we; listen, ask questions, start debates, get group feedback, work on assignments, take tests and exams, present our work and perhaps many other things I haven’t thought of as well. Should all these things stop once the bell sounds and the students walk out the door? We all know the answer is no.” Enter the Group isn’t about the technology, but about the learning opportunities that it enables.

How to integrate Enter the Group into the classroom: Enter the Group is a way to extend learning beyond the walls of your classroom. Use it to extend conversations, debates, and offer support through online discussion; help students (and parents) keep track of assignments and classroom events, keep track of and share files so students who are absent are never left behind, to collect shared resources and information (a kind of “digital textbook” that you create for/with your students); to expand on class topics with video; and to create a collaborative learning environment. Students can use Enter the Group to plan and organize projects that they are working on in groups, providing a virtual meeting space outside of the classroom to collaborate. Enter the Group is perfect for students who are out with an illness or to continue learning opportunities when pandemic illness or bad weather keeps us from the physical classroom (anyone had SNOW problems this year? 🙂 ) Enter the Group provides a platform where students can continue learning and collaborating from any Internet-connected computer.

Do you have students collaborating with another class in another state? Another country? Enter the Group is a great place for students to work together, discuss, debate, and share. The ability to create a private network adds a layer of security and manageability to the online group.

Enter the Group also makes a great platform for working with colleagues and for professional development. Share important dates, files, and reflections within the group. Enter the Group is a nice way to gather and share resources from one centralized location making it easy to add to, and grow, year after year. No more, “remember that great lesson we used last year? What was that site/resource again?” (I cannot tell you how many times I have had THAT conversation!)

Tips: Enter the Group provides a few options for sign-up. Teachers, parents, and students can sign up with an email address (don’t forget to use tempinbox.com or mailinaitor.com for temporary inboxes for students who don’t have an email account), Twitter, or Facebook. It would be nice if Enter the Group had a feature like Wiggio where group members could join without registering-this is really helpful in elementary classrooms.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Enter the Group in your classroom

Capzles Interactive Timeline Tutorial

February 3, 2011Kelly Tenkely15 Comments6628 views

Capzles is a site that I have written about and recommended many times (you can read one of my original posts about it below). I am currently working with a school that has zero technology. When I say zero, I mean they don’t even have over head projectors. This is a NO tech school. They recently enlisted my help in taking their eighth graders from no tech into a one-to-one environment. Each of the students will be receiving a laptop to use during instruction. The challenge: the computers aren’t all the same age, make, or model. No problem, we will use web 2.0 tools! The benefit of going from zero to fully immersed: no bad technology habits to break, we are staring from a clean slate!

Last week I met with the eighth grade teacher to talk about what learning is currently happening in the classroom and took a look at the scope and sequence of learning for the next semester. I asked a LOT of questions and together we mapped out a plan for integrating technology that would support and enhance the learning that was already happening. We decided to begin by adding technology into art, composer study, history, astronomy, poetry, and literature. I thought about having the students create blogs or wikis to chart and reflect on learning, but in the end decided that Capzles was the best tool for this job. Capzles lets students organize learning in the form of an interactive timeline. Students can upload a variety of documents to the timeline including images, videos, documents, and slide shows. They can also blog directly to the timeline (complete with comments!). The blog feature also provides a way for students to embed other web 2.0 creations. For the learning that these students will be doing, the visual timeline makes the most sense. Students can create multiple timelines or compile all of their learning into one timeline. If students create these timelines based on actual historical dates, they will begin to see the overlap in history, astronomical discoveries, composers, and artists of the time. This leads to a more complete understanding of how the world that they know has been shaped.

Students can also create a timeline based on their learning, each day adding learning to a virtual “journal” of events.

I have created weblists of the links these students will be using as a part of their learning over the next semester:

To Kill a Mockingbird

The tutorial above is a brief introduction to using Capzles, you will have to forgive the drowned rat look…that is what happens when you shovel snow in a blizzard 🙂

Original post from July 22, 2008:

What it is: Capzles is another interactive timeline maker. I really love all the little extras that Capzleshas! With Capzles teachers and students can add photos, videos, audio, and text to their timeline. Themes, colors, backgrounds, and background music can be added to the timeline making it unique and personalized. Capzles also provides options when sharing your Capzle, it can be private with a specific list of who can view the Capzle or made public for the world to see.

How to integrate Capzles into the classroom: Obviously Capzles is a great way for students to create timelines about any subject. The web 2.0 collaborative aspect of Capzles makes it very appealing to students. I think Capzles could also be very valuable in the primary classroom. Students probably won’t be creating their own timelines in Capzles at this age, parent helpers paired with students to create simple timelines would be appropriate. Because Capzles has the capability of adding audio, photos, and text, it would be the perfect place to record students reading throughout the year. As you assess student reading through reading records, record the students using a program such as Gabcast, Gcast,Audacity, or Garageband. Take a digital picture of the student reading. Throughout the year, you can make a Capzle for each student. This is an excellent motivator for students, especially your struggling readers. Students can see their growth throughout the year in pictures, and hear their reading progress made throughout the year. You can share the Capzle with parents (they will go crazy for this keepsake!) and with the students future teacher. How much would you love getting a timeline of your students from the previous year? You would have a jump-start on their struggles and strengths in reading as you quickly flip through their timelines. Cool huh?!

Leave a comment and share how you are using Capzles in your classroom.

Color in Motion- Exploring Color

January 31, 2011Kelly Tenkely9 Comments3783 views

What it is: Amazing really doesn’t do this site justice. No really, this might be my favorite site of the month…that is saying something! Regardless of if you teach about color or art, Color in Motion is a must see just for the creativity and brilliance of the site. Color in motion is a wonderfully animated and interactive experience of color communication and color symbolism. Have you ever looked at an art website and thought, “really, this is the best they could do? It is a site about art for crying out loud!” No? Just me? 🙂 Color in Motion is not one of those sites. The minute you begin exploring you know that this isn’t just a site about color, it is a work of art. There are three activities on Color in Motion. The Stars introduces students to the color stars (primary and secondary colors personified). When students click on a color stars profile they learn about their blood (the color(s) that make them up), what the star is hired to represent (the feelings the color gives), the positive and negative traits, and what the color represents around the world. In the movies, students can sit back and enjoy the show as they learn about the symbolism of each color in a fun animation. In the Lab, students have the opportunity to interact with the different stars. Students can direct a scene acting as a movie director based on a word that represents the color choice. In project 2, students are a color star manager. It is up to them to decide which production their star is going to participate in based on what they learned about color symbolism. Project 3 is a kaleidoscope where students can just have fun and “play” with color in a virtual kaleidoscope.

How to integrate Color in Motion into the classroom: Color in Motion is a fantastic place for students to learn more about color in a highly interactive, engaging, and fun way. Students learn about color through story. They meet each of the colors as a different character being cast for a production. The site is great for any art or design class but could be equally wonderful for a creative writing project. After your students have had some time to explore the site and interact with the different characters, ask them to choose a character to write a story about. Students should write the story based on the character traits they know about the color.

As a getting-to-know-you activity, students could choose a color that they feel best represents them personally. Students can list all of the color attributes that they feel describe them. Are they a mix of colors? Have students write down what the mix is and why.

Looking for a way to spice up spelling/vocabulary practice? Have students assign each word a color based on the word meaning and the color character traits that match. Students can compare and contrast the colors they chose for the words with the colors other students chose for a light persuasive argument.

As students study historical and literary figures, they can assign each a color based on the matching character traits. It would make a really neat bulletin board to have a color wheel with pictures of historical/literary characters on each color based on the similar character traits. These types of activities help students draw parallels and think about history and literature in new ways.

Younger students can think about what color an animal would be if it was the color of its color character traits. The creative possibilities with Color in Motion are endless.

Oh yeah, in addition to all of those “spin-off” ideas, there are great creative activities right on the site many of which would be great for whole class with a projector-connected computer or interactive whiteboard, for small groups in a center activity, or individually in a one to one computer situation.

Tips: Color in Motion can be viewed in both English and Spanish. If you have students learning English or Spanish as a second language, the colors and adjectives on this site are wonderful!

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

Extreme Planet Makeover: make a planet

January 28, 2011Kelly Tenkely2 Comments2397 views

What it is: NASA has some really fantastic resources and activities for use in the classroom. This week I am creating a customized integrated technology plan for a local elementary/middle school. One of the subjects we are integrating tech into is astronomy. NASA was, of course, my first stop for finding some resources we could use. While I was there I came across Extreme Planet Makeover where students can try their hand at making their very own planet. In this fun interactive, students can control the look and habitability of their own world. Students use the controls available to adjust the planetary attributes. They can change things like size, distance from star, star type, planet age, and even start their planet based on different presets. As students are adjusting their extreme planet, they will start to understand the differences between earth and the other planets in our solar system. When students are finished, they can download a picture of their custom world.

How to integrate Extreme Planet Makeover into the classroom: Extreme Planet Makeover is a neat simulation where students can design a custom planet. As they create their own custom planet, they will begin to notice what makes a planet habitable or not, and the unique features that must be in place for life. Extreme Planet Makeover can be used with the whole class using a projector-connected computer or interactive whiteboard. Invite each student to make an adjustment to the planet. With each adjustment, students can describe the ways that the planet has changed. The finished class planet can be used as the base for a creative writing prompt.

Set up Extreme Planet Makeover as a center activity where students can create a planet and download to save. The finished planets can be shared on a class photo stream, website, or blog where students can compare and contrast the features of each planet.

In a one to one or computer lab setting, students can each create a planet that they use for a compare/contrast to an actual planet in the solar system and as a creative writing prompt. Who lives on this planet? What galaxy is their planet in? How do you get there?

Tips: One of the features I really appreciate about the Extreme Planet Makeover is the explanations that pop up over each planet attribute. Students learn about how atmosphere, size, different stars, the distance from the star, and the age effect a planet.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Extreme Planet Makeover in your classroom.

Announcing: Voki Education!

January 26, 2011Kelly Tenkely11 Comments3345 views

What it is: Voki is a free web tool that let’s students create personalized speaking avatars that can be used in a variety of online formats (blogs, email, direct link, social network profiles, etc.). Now, Voki has released an exclusive education edition of their service. Voki Education has some additional features that make it even more useful for the classroom. Sharing is now easier than ever. Students and teachers can embed their finished Voki in webpages, email, and social network profiling, they can also share using a “Voki link” which will allow students to share a simple URL to a Voki page. Students no longer need access to a website or blog to share their Voki scene! Voki also provides custom links for educational partners like SymbalooEdu, very handy. A new lesson plan database provides teachers with a searchable database of lesson plans that utilize Voki for learning. Teachers are encouraged to share their Voki enhanced lesson plans. In the new Teacher’s Corner, teachers and “expert” users can discuss anything related to Voki. There is even a Newbies corner with a series of discussions in Q&A format. Voki is now ad-free, this makes it an even sweeter deal for the classroom!

How to integrate Voki Education into the classroom: Voki lets students create custom characters that they can personalize and make speak. These speaking avatars can be used in a variety of ways in the classroom, now that Voki Education includes the ability to “Voki Link” it is easier than ever for students to create and share. Students can make their characters speak by recording a voice via phone, text to speech, record by microphone, or upload a sound clip. Students can use Voki to create characters modeled after historical or literary characters. Students can bring those characters to life-a virtual wax museum of sorts! Those finished Voki’s can be embedded in a class website or blog, or shared by a Voki Link. In math, students can create Voki’s that speak a riddle or word problem. The Voki’s can be shared with other students in the class with a challenge to solve the problem. At the beginning of the school year, students can create Voki’s to introduce themselves to you (the teacher) and classmates. Are your students learning how to speak a second language? Voki’s are a fun way for your students to practice that second language. They can record by classroom phone or built-in microphone. Throughout the year students can add characters to their new language and hear the progress they have made. Voki’s make a great accompaniment for the beginning reader. Students can create a virtual character and record themselves reading. They can play back their Voki to listen to their fluency, pronunciation, and annunciation. Once again, these recordings can be collected throughout the year as a way for students to track and hear their progress. Students can use Voki characters to summarize any learning (how about a summary of the State of the Union Address?). Have a science fair coming up that needs a little tech infusion? Have students create a virtual scientist that describes their experiment or the science behind it.

In my last post, I talked about how I integrated technology in my 2 computer classroom with a tub system. Voki’s would be an outstanding way to record instructions for students that can be played back. Because they can be saved with a Voki Link, the speaking character can be open along side other activities. It will be like having a virtual teacher there next to them! Voki recordings are perfect for transitional instructions. These can be put up on a projector-connected computer or an interactive whiteboard to be played back for students.

Tips: When students publish a Voki they can choose to login or register to save it, or click “No Thanks” to go directly to the published Voki with embed codes and links.

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

How to make a 2 computer classroom work for you: tech integration and classroom management

January 24, 2011February 10, 2012Kelly Tenkely12 Comments16774 views

I often get asked how I managed to integrate technology into my classroom before I was a technology teacher teaching computer classes in a lab (with every child on a computer). I must preface this post with: I am not an expert. I taught second grade for one year and had two computers in my classroom and no computer lab for the school. I used what I had and found a system that worked for me. With that in mind here is how I made my 2 computer classroom work:

My goal as a teacher is to individualize instruction whenever possible. I am very aware that each of my students comes with different strengths and weaknesses, learns differently, at different rates, and with different interests. I remember looking at the curriculum I was provided with by the school and feeling a distinct disappointment in it. I knew as I read through the lessons each week that some of my students just weren’t going to get it. I knew that some of them would love the subject if it was approached in a different way. I knew that some would just need it at a different pace. With this in mind, a few weeks into my first year, I decided to structure my class around centers.

My problem: space was an issue. With 26 seven and eight year olds, supplies, and 26 desks, there was little room left for individual center areas. Since I couldn’t have my students physically moving around from center to center, I decided that I would create a system where the centers came to them. With 26 students and five days in a week, I split my students into five groups for each subject. These groups were created by grouping students by similar ability levels. Throughout the day the groupings would change (I used colors because it made sense to me). For example: one student might be in the blue group for language arts/reading, red group for math, and green group for science. I saw every single one of my students in their small group of 5 in what I would call my “conference” center for every subject, every week.

At the beginning of every week I would introduce the whole class to the concepts we would be learning over the course of the week. I introduced students to their “tubs” (colored plastic tubs that were full of necessary supplies for each center) and we discussed the “big ideas” of the week. I had 4 tubs (and my conference center) so that each day my student groups were working on a different task but by the end of the week all of my students had completed the learning for the week. My desks were grouped into 5 clumps in the room. Because the groupings changed, a group of desks didn’t necessarily equate to all of the group member sitting at the work space. For each subject we usually started class as a whole group, we would play a game as a class, watch a video clip, do an experiment, or learning something new together. After the initial introduction, I had a leader from each table pick up that table’s tub for the day. I met with the fifth group in my conference center where I could work with students in a 5 to 1 grouping. If you aren’t doing something like this, I HIGHLY recommend it. Meeting with my students in smaller groups several times throughout the week gave me huge insights into my students and made me a better teacher.

Tubs had a variety of activities and prompts in them. All activities were designed for self-guided learning and flexibility. I had a rule that unless someone was barfing or bleeding (the 2 b’s…if you’re in elementary you know what I am talking about) they were not allowed to disturb my conference group. This cut down on the distractions and let students know it was okay to make mistakes in their learning. One of my “tubs” always held instructions for a computer center. With two computers and 5 students, this meant I could find activities that were short enough for each student to successfully complete them in the time they had, or I could find activities that they could complete together. For skill building games and activities, students usually held a mini relay race. The first student would complete a level or set number of problems and pass play to the next student. This worked really well and kept students from getting too out of control because the wait time was minimal and they were “silent cheering” the other students on. (I had “Go Team” signs that they could hold up next to each computer so they could cheer without disturbing anyone else). For activities that needed to be completed by each individual student, I added a secondary game or activity to the tub that could be completed while students waited. For example, if it was a skill building game or activity, I had students who weren’t at the computer play a file folder game together while they waited for their turn within their small group.

For writing activities or activities where students were going to use the computer to create something, I made another tub activity that would prepare them for their computer time. For example, if they were going to create an animation on something like The Zimmer Twins, I would use another tub for them where they would prepare by writing a script and planning the storyboard. Because of the way the tubs rotate, it was easy to ensure that every student had done the prep activity before the computer center.

My other tubs had a variety of activities in them, each one of them was flexible in the way it worked. Students might perform an experiment and write/draw/discuss as a group, practice their spelling words in a way that made sense to them, play a math game, write, etc. For each subject I had a standard tub where the activity didn’t really change from week to week. For example, language arts had a spelling practice tub every single week. Math had a fact practice tub every week. In the standard tubs I included a Tic-Tac-Toe activity board where students could choose which activity they would complete to practice. This let students practice basic skills in a way that was fun and made sense to them.

At the end of every day, I would re-fill each tub with the necessary resources and supplies so that it was ready for the next day. On Friday afternoon I would fill all of the tubs up for the following week. At the beginning of the year the tubs were extremely time-consuming to keep up with. I got smart second semester and enlisted my students in helping me create the tubs for the following week on Friday afternoons. (duh!) By the end of the year it was part of our routine and didn’t require so much prep on my part.

Because I was working with second graders, I knew that not all of my students would be able to read directions for the tub or remember the directions from the beginning of the week. For detailed tubs, I included a tape recorder (iPod, what was that?) with recorded audio instructions for the tub. This helped tremendously when their were multiple steps involved. Students knew where they could help themselves to extra supplies like paper, crayons, books, scissors, dictionaries, etc.

On Friday I spent some time at the end of the day to meet with each group so they could show me their mini portfolio of learning for the week. This gave me a chance to do some formative assessment and plan any adjustments that were needed for the following week.

I didn’t have the luxury of a projector that first year of teaching. If I had a projector, it would have opened up the learning opportunities greatly! I am a big believer in playing to learn and technology lends itself so nicely to both. When I help teachers integrate technology into their lessons I often recommend creating a game where a game wasn’t meant to be played. For example, when we were studying paleontology and dinosaurs, my students and I went on a virtual dinosaur dig. I found a great virtual dig that we could do as a class. We pretended to get in our jeeps and travel to the dig site. Each student received a “special” paleontologist journal where they could record observations. Students took turns coming to the board during the dig and helping unearth the dinosaur. The other students sketched what they saw and took careful notes so the dinosaur could be reassembled later. This was a grand adventure for my students that made for a fun day (digging M&M’s out of cookies didn’t hurt either.) I look for opportunities to play with my students whenever possible. Even older students love this (anyone want to solve a forensic case as a class?). Play and learning are closely connected. I am always looking for ways to make learning fun and engaging whether we are limited to a class of 26 and one projector, or 26 students and 2 computers. You can do it!

Using the tub system meant that I got to spend a lot of time with my students. That conference time was so valuable. It let me meet all of my students exactly where they were at and provided the opportunity to work with them on a more individual basis. As I said before, if you don’t have something like this in place, I highly recommend it!

After I developed my Bloom’s re-imagines, I started including them in the tubs. As part of the tub work, students could talk about the learning they were doing and what categories it fell into in Bloom’s Taxonomy. Back then my Bloom’s wasn’t as fancy as it is today, it was hand drawn and copied 🙂 My how times have changed! I find that students learning is even richer when they are thinking about their learning. Bloom’s Taxonomy gives students a nice framework to do this in.

How about you all? What technology resources do you have available to you and how do you utilize them?

Phile: Create a crowdsource guide around any passion

January 21, 2011Kelly Tenkely1 Comment2258 views

What it is: Phile is a fantastic new way for communities to “create a useful, lasting body of knowledge just by talking about the stuff you love.” Phile makes it easy for groups of people work together on building collections and discussions based on shared passions. Phile turns knowledge, opinions, and discussion into useful websites. Turn any passion into a community of collaborators by creating one place for them to gather. Phile lets you structure your site to gather the information that matters to your community of learners. Phile does an outstanding job of keeping your site organized as people add to it. Phile is truly as site all about conversation and sharing information. Phile automatically keeps all information organized and easy to find. A group creator creates and customizes the “stack” (site) design. Group members add and edit pages in the stack. Members can share resources, discuss in forums, on stack pages, etc. Recent activity is populated on the home page including new pages, reviews, comments, etc. Phile is currently a free service, the plan is to keep a portion of the service free with ad support and a paid service that has additional functionality. For now, Phile is in beta and completely free. Phile is fairly easy to navigate and has an intuitive interface. There are helpful hints and tips on ever page directing you in the use of Phile (great for those of us who are too busy to endlessly play!). I created a Phile for edreform, feel free to join me in collecting resources, article, videos, etc. relevant to the education reform discussion!

How to integrate Phile into the classroom: Phile is a great way for teachers to collaborate and share information. Phile could be used for starting a variety of groups that would help organize information in one, easy to access, place. Phile could be used to start a Children’s Literature group where members submit children’s books along with reviews, ratings and comments (any book-a-day people want to jump in and create that?).

Older students could join the group and add their own reviews, ratings, and comments on the books they are reading. This could become a place where teachers could quickly find literature that has been reviewed by other teachers, students, and parents.

Phile would make an excellent directory for ed conferences (and virtual conferences) held around the world. Because many of these conferences happen year after year, it would be a great place for new teachers to learn what is available to them and for veteran teachers to continue conversations and learn which conferences are rated as the most worthwhile and why.

Phile would be a great place for teachers world-wide to share, collaborate, and rate lesson plans, websites, videos, etc. in their area of specialty.

Phile is ideal for sharing iDevice apps for education, with the built in rating system and excellent organization it would make sharing and finding educational apps a breeze!

How about creating Phile’s for the discussions that happen in our education chats on Twitter every week? The Phile could contain information and links about the chat, important ideas and information that was shared during the chat, and give us a place to expand the conversation beyond the 140 characters when it was over. I’m imagining this for #edchat, it would be wonderful to have a place to send those who are new to #edchat to get a feel for the topics that we cover.

The possibilities with Phile are really endless, it is a fantastic platform that is like a mashup of a Ning and a wiki. The interface is really well designed, it makes information so easy to find and sort through.

As I said above, I created a Phile for edreform to be a collection of resources, articles, links, and discussion. Feel free to join and help me add to it. A Phile is only as good as its community!

Tips: Phile does require an email address for sign-up, it may not be appropriate for use with elementary students unless you are accessing it as a class.

Please leave a comment and share ideas for how you might use Phile in education. Anyone want to start a Children’s Literature Phile? I think it could be great! Let me know if you are interested and I will be happy to pass your name onto the developer of Phile.