What it is:MeeGenius is an outstanding site I just learned about from @NMHS_Principal on Twitter. MeeGenius is an online library of picture books that kids can read independently or as a read along. Books can be personalized with students names, just answer a few quick questions and the book is rewritten for you. Each book comes with audio playback and word highlighting, perfect for beginning or struggling readers to read along.
How to integrate MeeGenius into the classroom:MeeGenius is a nice web library of picture books that can digitally expand your classroom library. Students will love the way they can personalize books using themselves and friends as characters in the book. Personalized books can be saved and shared with friends. Set up MeeGenius on classroom computers as a listening and reading center. Students can practice their reading, vocabulary, and fluency.
Begin the school year by making personalized books that contain your students names in them. Read them throughout the first week as a class on the interactive whiteboard or projector connected computer.
Older students can use MeeGenius, too! If you have students who are learning a foreign language, have them listen to or read a story and translate it into the language they are learning.
Tips:MeeGenius is also available as an app for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.
Please leave a comment and share how you are using MeeGenius in your classroom.
What it is:Robot Obstacle Course is an excellent introduction into programming for young kids. Students are presented with an obstacle course made up of colored blocks and keys. Students must program the robot to jump over the obstacles and pick up the keys to complete the course. Through the obstacle course, students are introduced to basic programming language and learn how to think like a programmer. The obstacles get progressively more difficult and more variables are added.
How to integrate Robot Obstacle Course into the classroom:Robot Obstacle Course is a fun way for students to get an introduction to programming skills. The Obstacle Course includes a lot of logical/mathematical thinking as they decide which variables to adjust to get the robot through the course. For students younger than third grade, consider completing the courses as a class using a projector connected computer or interactive whiteboard. Talk through each problem and ask students to offer possible solutions before you test out your robot. For older students (third through fifth grade) the courses can be completed independently on classroom computers or in a computer lab setting. As students test solutions, discuss why the solution works, or how the solution should be adjusted for the robot to preform successfully.
Tips: This game will put students observational skills to the test! If you don’t have time for a full game, this is a great thinking activity for those few extra transition minutes in the classroom, project the activity on the board and if they are ready for the transition (for example lining up) they can come up to the board and test their solution on the way to the line.
Please leave a comment and share how you are using Robot Obstacle Course in your classroom.
Today’s #edchat discussion on Twitter was all about training kids as critical thinkers. I believe that we are losing students as critical thinkers because in our current model of education, where we are standardizing education with tests, we teach kids that there is one correct answer to every question. We limit their thinking to what we have already determined is an acceptable answer to the question. This is extremely limiting. Critical thinking means that we aren’t satisfied with the easy answer, we think about multiple solutions to the problem and even think of additional questions. We approach a problem differently, more creatively.
In today’s TED Talk, Tim Brown talks about his journey in design and his tendency to think about problems on a small scale, limiting himself to the obvious answers and a single solution. Design wasn’t always this way, design used to be big. Design thinking solves problems and works to create world changing innovations. It seems to me that there is a strong correlation with what Tim refers to as Design Thinking and what we call critical thinking. Roger Martin calls this integrative thinking, the ability to exploit opposing ideas and opposing constraints to create new solutions. Isn’t this what we are asking our students to do when we are looking for critical thinking? What we really want students to do is think as designers. When I watch children who haven’t yet entered the classroom, I notice a strong correlation between the way a child thinks and the way a designer thinks. They are questioners, tinkerers, and are never satisfied with one solution.
Design thinking could be our model for critical thinking in the classroom, but beyond that design thinking could be our solution to reform in education. Exploiting opposing ideas and opposing constraints to create new solutions.
Design is human centered, it starts with what humans need or might need. It means understanding culture and context. From destination to active participation that is meaningful and productive. Value is added through collaborative experiences and not through monetary gains alone (think Twitter). In times of change we need new thinking and new ideas. We are in the midst of massive change and we need to rethink what we accept as basic fundamentals. We need new choices because our current options are becoming obsolete. We need to take a divergent approach and come up with something that hasn’t been done before. What is the question we are trying to answer? What is the design brief for education.
The first step is to start asking the right questions. (I think #edchat does an honorable job of this!) What are the right questions?
What it is:The Mystery of the Poison Dart Frog comes from the North Carolina Museum of Art. Students are introduced to three characters in an online picture book. Zoey and Zeke are visiting their cousin Camilla who works as a curator at an art museum in Costa Rica. Soon students are swept away in a mystery and adventure as they must use clues and match up the Costa Rica art pieces with the notecards that were written by the donors of the art. Along the way students learn to read for information, and learn about art, science, history, and culture of Costa Rica.
How to integrate the Mystery of the Poison Dart Frog into the classroom:The Mystery of the Poison Dart Frog is a fun way for students to practice reading for information and practicing the inferring reading strategy. As students work through the mystery, they will also be learning about art, science, history, and the culture of Costa Rica. This is a great activity for students to complete independently in a computer lab or 1-to-1 setting, it is a little long to be completed as a center activity. If you teach younger students, or students who may not be able to read the story independently, read the story as a class or small group using a projector connected computer or interactive whiteboard. Students can work together to solve the mystery using the available clues in the story. Before students begin reading the story, they can build background knowledge by using the built in research guide. Students can learn more about Costa Rica with an interactive map, learn about the works of art they will see in the story, and the different animals represented in the works of art.
The story can be read in either English or Spanish. For older students learning Spanish as a foreign language, the activity could be completed in Spanish. This would be a fun activity to test their skills of reading for understanding in the Spanish language.
Tips: For more great related links, click on the “more” drop down from the home page. Happy solving!
Please leave a comment and share how you are using Mystery of the Poison Dart Frog in your classroom.
What it is: Eco Kids is a website with a great collection of ecologically focused games and activities. Students can complete interactives on wildlife, climate change, energy, the North, water, waste, land use, and more. I was hunting down a good interactive for students to learn and practice the food chain. Build a Food Chain has students order the elements of a food chain. Along the way, students learn why each animal within a food chain is so important. In addition to learning the basics of a food chain, students will learn about bioaccumulation.
How to integrate Eco Kids: Build a Food Chain into the classroom:Build a Food Chain is a fun way for students to learn about and practice building a food chain in an interactive environment. First students are led through the process of a food chain. The interactive helps students to understand the job of each animal or element in the chain. Students can then put their understanding to the test by putting together a food chain of their own and testing it. Students receive immediate feedback on the chain. If the food chain is broken or won’t work, students are given an additional clue and opportunity to try again. Build a Food Chain could be used as a whole class with a projector connected computer or interactive whiteboard. Choose students to be guides at the board as they navigate through the parts of a food chain. Then, call up a student to put the first element or animal of the food chain in place and pass on play to another student until a working food chain has been constructed. Build a Food Chain can also be used as an independent learning activity on classroom computers as a center or in a lab setting. Because the site provides students with feedback as they construct the food chain, students can navigate the activity easily on their own.
Tips: Before you begin the game, you will notice a box labeled “More About This Topic”, here you will find additional resources, printables, and games that are related to food chains.
Please leave a comment and share how you are using Eco Kids: Build a Food Chain in your classroom.
Since I won’t be with the CHC staff hosting Webspiration Wednesday lunches, I thought I would institute TED Talk Tuesday and share an inspiring TED Talk each Tuesday with all of you. TED has a great tag line “ideas worth spreading”. This non-profit brings together people from Technology, Entertainment, and Design. (The scope of the talks is actually much, much wider.) TED.com is a free collection of the very best talks with new talks are being added all the time. TED believes “passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world.”
Todays TED Talk Tuesday is dedicated to Sir Ken Robinson. You may remember this Webspiration Wednesday sharing of Sir Ken’s Schools Kill Creativity. This is Sir Ken Robinson’s newest TED Talk, Bring on the Learning Revolution.
Sir Ken Robinson has such a way with words, the message he shares is profound. I agree with the summation that reform is of no use, the evolution of a broken model isn’t going to get us where we need to go. We need a revolution where education is transformed into something else entirely. I have watched this video several times since its release, about a month ago, and each time I am struck by something new. This time what stood out most for me was the talk about innovation. Innovation is hard because it means doing something that is challenging, it isn’t the easy or obvious solution. It challenges what we take for granted, things that seem obvious. Just before beginning this post, I read an excellent article by Blogging Alliance member Chris at EdTechSwami. He writes: What Educators Can Learn From Steve Jobs. I think Chris makes some excellent points in his post, it all comes back to innovation. Apple doesn’t usually do the expected, in fact sometimes they purposefully step away from what is expected and what seems logical. The reason is that they are finding new solutions and even creating new problems. They are looking to the future and anticipating what is coming next. Sir Ken helps us to see that innovation is difficult because there are so many things in this life that we take for granted. We don’t even think about them any more because they are the way that we expect them to be. It is only when someone comes along and points out a new way of doing something that we realize we have been taking it for granted. In schools we take for granted that there is a linearity to education. We start in kindergarten and move through until we reach the 12th grade, at which point we are encouraged to attend college. What else do we take for granted in education? Classrooms, grades, tests, desks, handwriting, curriculum, blackboards (IWB’s), policy makers, NCLB…
Today I was able to join in on the midday Twitter #edchat discussion. The topic was reform in education and how teachers could be a louder voice. The discussion was a great one with a number of good ideas. I wonder if we are approaching the topic in an innovative enough way? We tend to frame our answers with what we think might be possible. We frame our answers so as to play nice in the policy makers game. What if we didn’t do things their way? What if we came up with a new way? What if we taught kids how to be advocates for their education and learning and gave them a voice? I threw this out there during the #edchat and @bliarteach reminded me of the big push there was for learning about recycling in school. Kids became passionate about recycling and saving the earth, they took it home with them. Soon families were recycling and changing their garbage habits. This worked. I was one of those kids who made my mom wash every piece of aluminum foil so that I could bring it to school and add it to our big ball of recycled foil. I was the kid who was adamant about separating plastic, glass, and paper. I became the adult who still does this. Involving kids in advocating for their own education and learning has the added benefit of helping them to realize the importance of their education. Suddenly they aren’t learning because we tell them to, they are learning because they believe in learning. They have a pride and ownership in their own education. The great thing about involving kids in the discussion is that they don’t take so much for granted. They ask questions and challenge the way that we think.
So, lets figure out all the things we take for granted in education. When we have a clear picture of those things, lets work together to find new solutions. Lets revolutionize education together, lets make the revolution viral. If you can think of something that we take for granted, leave it in the comments below.
(Raise of hands, how many of you are wearing a wrist watch?) 🙂 Yeah, me too.
What it is: The Branches of Government and their roles can be tricky to learn. Branches of Government interactive is a good way for students to familiarize themselves with the branches of government. The activity is a simple one, students are given a leaf and must decide which branch of government it best describes. Students receive immediate feedback about their answer. If students dragged the leaf to the correct branch, it will stick. If not, the leaf returns to its original location at the base of the tree.
How to integrate Branches of Government Interactive into the classroom: The Branches of Government Interactive is a great one for interactive whiteboards. As your students are learning about the different branches of government, they can practice what they are learning with this interactive. I like to make everything into a game, students are more engaged in the activity and must work together to solve problems. Split your students into 3 teams (one for each branch of the government). When a new leaf comes up, teams discuss if they believe that the leaf is describing their branch of government. If they believe it is, the team sends one team member to the board if they are correct, the team earns a point. If teams send up a member incorrectly, they lose a point. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.
Branches of Government Interactive could also be set up for students to play as a center activity on classroom computers. The activity is self directed and provides students with enough feedback to navigate it quickly and independently.
Tips: This would be a good way for students to study for a test on the branches of government. Be sure to send a link home with students, parents always appreciate help in the studying/homework department!
Please leave a comment and share how you are using Branches of Government in your classroom.
What it is:The BBC has excellent educational games, activities, and resources. The BBC Science Clips are a collection of science related activities and games for students who are 5 to 11 years old. Students can grow virtual plants, experiment with pushes and pulls, hearing and sound, forces and movement, electricity, rocks and soils, simple machines, light, solids and liquids, friction, habitats, life cycles, changing states of matter, reversible and irreversible changes, forces, and much more. The site is organized well, by age group, and has several activities at each level.
How to integrate BBC Science Clips into the classroom:BBC Science Clips has a little of everything science. It is sure to have some great interactives that correspond to your science curriculum. Each of the interactives is high quality and lets students experiment with new concepts that they are learning. The activities are short enough to be used as a science center on classroom computers where a few students complete the interactive as part of a rotation. The activities can also be used for whole class demonstration and experimentation using an interactive whiteboard or projector connected computer. If you use the interactives with the whole class, have the scientists who are observing take down some observational notes in a special science journal. Often, real life experiments can be too quick moving for young students to write or draw observations as they are happening. This site lets them work on those observational skills at their own pace. This is also great for those experiments that may take too long to observe in a classroom setting. Each activity includes a short online quiz that students can go through to check understanding. The quiz can be read independently or students can click on the speakers to have the quiz read to them. This is a great feature for struggling or non-independent readers. A “what’s next” button at the bottom of each activity encourages students to keep exploring. Students can self level by choosing an activity that is a little easier, harder, or the same.
Tips: Check out the resources for teachers page. Here you will find online and offline lesson plans related to the activities, an accompanying worksheet, activity and quiz.
Please leave a comment and share how you are using BBC Science Clips in your classroom.
What it is:Think U Know Cyber Cafe is a virtual environment where students can practice their online safety smarts. In the cafe, students will help virtual kids make good choices when using email, texting, instant messaging, web browsing, creating an online personal space, and chatting in a chat room. Students are guided through a variety of scenarios where they must help the virtual kids make the right decisions about using the Internet.
How to integrate Think U Know Cyber Cafe into the classroom: Kids spend an enormous amount of their time online. Just because they use the Internet a lot, doesn’t mean that they are good users of the Internet. Many students haven’t had adequate practice with protecting their online identity, keeping track of their digital footprints, or using proper netiquette. Students need to learn the appropriate way to use online spaces. The Think U Know Cyber Cafe is a great place for students to practice and learn how to stay safe online. Use the Cyber Cafe scenarios to guide a whole class discussion with a projector or interactive whiteboard. Discuss the different options that are presented and why one answer is better than the others. Students can also complete a tour of the Cyber Cafe on their own in a computer lab setting. Internet safety should be an ongoing discussion, we can’t assume that students will get it all the first time. Visit the cafe throughout the year for a refresher.
Tips: Check out the rest of the Think U Know website for fantastic activities and information for kids from 5-16.
Please leave a comment and share how you are using Think U Know Cyber Cafe in your classroom.
What it is: There are several url shortening tools out there that let you shrink down a cumbersome url into something more manageable for sharing. Trick.ly is a url shortener with an added feature: it can be password protected. When you share the url, you can add a clue and a password that has to be used in order for the shared website to be accessed. You may be wondering why you would want to password protect a url in the classroom, I’m glad you asked…
How to integrate Trick.ly into the classroom: I am constantly sharing shortened url’s with my students, it makes it easy to get all my students to the same website quickly. Trick.ly adds the ability to password protect the url. This could add a layer of learning and fun to accessing websites in the classroom. Give your students a Trick.ly shortened url with a secret clue that helps students “unlock” the website. For example, if you are using National Geographic Maps website with your students, don’t just send them to the website, give them a clue that is related to the website such as “Capital of Colorado”. Students have to correctly solve the puzzle to unlock access to the game. The password “Denver” would provide students with access to the website. Create Trick.ly shortened url’s with math, geography, history, spelling, vocabulary, science, or foreign language problems built in. Make the clue to solve related to the end website that students will access. Kids enjoy solving problems, adding a puzzle to a website gives students a sense of anticipation for the activity they will be completing. Trick.ly urls take just seconds to create, they are a fast, easy way to direct your students to a website.
Tips:Trick.ly would be a great way to share websites and web pages that you create for your classroom. We have a school Facebook and Twitter account. If I wanted to share pictures I took of our school carnival, I could share them with Trick.ly, adding a layer of protection.
Please leave a comment and share how you are using Trick.ly in your classroom.
