Integrating technology in the classroom
So, here I am listening to a podcast of Tech Chick Tips in iTunes while I update my blog with Mapness and what should I hear but a shout out for iLearn Technology!! So much fun to know that I have a hand in (sort of) creating episodes of Tech Chick Tips! If you haven’t subscribed to Tech Chicks yet, it is a great blog/podcasts all about technology in education. Episode 45 is the one that mentions iLearn Technology. Check it out 🙂
What it is: Mapness is a site, still in beta, that students can use to make interactive, virtual travel journals. First students add points of interest to a map, then they can add descriptions, photos, and videos right on top of the map. As virtual travelers visit the map, they are led on a virtual tour depicted on the map. This is really neat!
How to integrate Mapness into the classroom: Mapness is perfect for integrating into the geography classroom. As students study different parts of the world, they can create their own virtual tour of that place by collecting photos and videos during their online research and embedding them into maps. Split students into several groups, each group can be assigned a different place to create a tour for. When the tours are finished, hold a vacation day where students can visit each other’s assigned places. This would be an ideal day to reserve the computer lab! Students can also create literary tours. As they read a book or learn about an author or genre, they can pinpoint places on the map and add descriptions and pictures. This would also be a wonderful opportunity to map out historical events. Bring events to life for your students and weave in some map reading skills while you are at it! Mapness sure beats the maps I completed as a kid, labeling places on a 8 1/2 x 11 photo copy that always looked sloppy after trying to fit in all of the requirements.
Tips: After students create an account, they can add several map tours to their account making it a nice place to save up work throughout the year. Mapness does require a working email address to activate the account. If your students don’t have an email address they can create a temporary email address at a site like Mailinator. (As a side note, if you regularly give out your email address on websites a Mailinator account would save you from a lifetime of spam.)
Check out my Mapness map of my recent vacation to California.
Leave a comment and share how you are using Mapness in your classroom.
I won a grant trip for a Tour of Technology in California, while there I visited Apple, Google, the Tech Museum, and Exploratorium. We stayed in Napa which was fabulous! All in all an amazing trip! You can take a look at my virtual trip at Mapness, you will almost feel like you were there with me. Mapness is a great website which I will review in depth later this week.
Well, it is taking me longer than expected to blog my recent vacation to California where I visited Apple, Google, Exploratorium, The Tech Museum, and Napa. Sorting through 800+ photos and embedding them in a virtual tour is taking FOREVER! So, in the meantime I thought I would give you a glimpse into the future. Meet the Flowlight, essentially a blackboard with lasers. I read about this concept on Gizmodo last week and I have to say, I think this ‘blackboard’ could hold students attention. Basically, “a base station would focus a laser beam 100 times a second into a point in space, creating small plasma points that glow in mid air. Users could then use the pen to draw and write, making doodles look like some sort of fantastic light show.” While I don’t think this will be in your classrooms in the forseeable future, it may be a glimpse into classrooms to come.
Over the past week I have been re-vamping my websites. Tenkely.org is a site that I created for my students to use. I have pages for first through fifth grade with links to all of the sites that we use in class throughout the year. I also have a page for parents about how my classroom runs and tips for keeping kids safe online. The teacher site for tenkely.org has also been completely re-done. I added TONS of new goodies for teachers. Obviously, I created these sites with my students and colleagues in mind but I hope that they are a source of inspiration for you too! I am already keeping tally of links that aren’t working right so if you run across any, leave a comment so I can get them fixed up.
What it is: Capzles is another interactive timeline maker. I really love all the little extras that Capzles has! 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. Becasue 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. Througout 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?!
Tips: When assigning students to create a timeline, direct them to concentrate on the “meat” of the timeline first. Then they can go back and design their timeline with themes, colors, and backgrounds. If you don’t specify they will spend all of their time tweaking the look and run out of time to add the content.
Leave a comment and share how you are using Capzles in your classroom.
Teaching Tips has a new post called 50 Useful Blogging Tools for Teachers. These tips and tricks will get you up and blogging in no time. Check out the post here.
If you have an education blog, share with the class and leave a comment telling us where we can find you! 🙂
What it is: I have posted before about a website called Free Rice. This vocabulary game has the added benefit of donating rice to help end world hunger. For each correct answer, Free Rice donates 20 grains of rice on your behalf. This isn’t the only website with a cause. Aid to Children is a vocabulary game like Free Rice, for every correct answer $.25 are donated to children in need through World Vision. Free Poverty is a world geography game. See how many cups of water you can donate by testing your knowledge about the world. Each correct answer means that 10 cups of clean water have been donated on your behalf. Free Corn is another vocabulary game like Free Rice, for every 25 visits to the website, 1 kernel of corn is donated. Free Kibble is a trivia game. Every day your students play Bow Wow Trivia 20 pieces of kibble are donated to Animal shelters to help feed their hungry dogs. Free Kibble Kat also donates 20 pieces of kibble per player each day…this time students are raising kibble for cats.
How to integrate Websites with a cause into the classroom: Each of the above websites offers a wonderful opportunity to teach students to look outside their own needs to the needs of others. Use these websites to teach your students compassion, about other cultures, and about helping those less fortunate. The websites will also be a great way for your students to practice vocabulary or geography. Encourage your students to play these games from home when they are “bored” or just for fun. See how much rice, money, corn, water, or kibble you can raise as a class. Use these figures to teach graphing and charting. You can also use the sites to teach persuasive writing. Students can create a “commercial” for the site, a poster advertising the site, etc. (I found a commercial that I made as an example for my students on Free Corn…small world!) Using these websites with my class taught me just how compassionate and concerned my students are. It was wonderful to see my students come together around a common goal. Using these websites with a cause in your classroom is a real life character education lesson!
Tips: Bookmark these sites on classroom computers, kids who finish their work early can sit and play one of the games while they wait for the next activity.
Leave a comment and share how you are using Websites with a cause in your classroom.
What it is: ipopetz.tv is a fun web 2.0 site that your students will love to use. Students can create their own 3-D mini cartoon show by selecting a puppet, creating and recording their show (with their own voice) and then sharing their show. The puppets that students have to choose from are a lot of fun. The shows are easy to create, students make their 3-D puppet move by using their mouse and keyboard and record their voice using the microphone. The puppets lip sync to the words your students say!
How to integrate ipopetz.tv into the classroom: The ipopetz.tv puppets would be the perfect way for students to display knowledge. They can use their ipopetz character to give a book report. Instead of standing up in front of the class and reading off of their book report, students can “advertise” a book using an ipopetz puppet. Because they can record their own voice and manipulate their puppet, they display their knowledge in a new and fun way as well as become the directors for their own 3-D cartoon. So much fun! Have students create shows about any subject. For example, students could create a show about a current science topic. Instead of studying from a text book before a test, students can watch eachother’s informational cartoon shows. If your students are like mine, they can’t recall facts from a textbook at the drop of the hat but they can all quote Kung Foo Panda. Let them create and learn in a way that they love. I garuntee this will be a huge hit with your students! It is easy enough for as young as first grade but will hold the attention of students through middle school (maybe even through adults…I am throuroughly entertained!) Create your own cartoon to teach a subject for a change of pace, it will give you a break and the students will enjoy something new. You can create your show, save it, and use a projector to teach the whole class. If you are lucky enough to have a projector in your classroom you could even start out each day with a message or brain teaser for your students.
Tips: ipopetz.tv does require a download plugin for Quick Time. It is a quick and small download. Make sure to download the plugin for every computer that you will be using ipopetz.tv on. Also be aware that this site has advertisements, be sure to use this opportunity to teach your students about online ads and set up the rule that they not click on them before you start a project.
Leave a comment and share how you are using ipopetz.tv in your classroom.
What it is: The Library of Congress has a photostream on Flickr. If you aren’t familiar with Flickr, it is an online storage/community for photos. Anyone can obtain a Flickr account and now it appears that The Library of Congress has joined the Flickr community and will be sharing some of their most popular images.
How to integrate the Library of Congress on Flickr into the classroom: You can’t get more convient that Flickr for images, and now that the Library of Congress has a photostream, you can get quality historical images to share with your class. These are really incredible photographs that will bring history to life for your students. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words and after seeing this photostream, I believe it! As an added bonus, many of the photographs have no copyright restrictions which means that it is a great place for your students to find images for projects that they are working on. The uncopyrighted photos are also wonderful for you to use in your classrooms in presentations, and as printouts for bulletin boards.
Tips: Here are some fun facts about the Library of Congress: They serve as the national library for the United States, they are based in Washington DC, they have more than 134 million items preserved on 530 miles of bookshelves, they are the world’s largest library, they hold books, photos, maps, databases, movies, sound recordings, sheet music, manuscripts, etc., they have been collecting photos since the mid 1800’s.
Leave a comment and share how you are using the Library of Congress photostream on Flickr in your classroom.