Social Studies – iLearn Technology

Short Answer- Build better k12 writers through social, engaging writing activities

September 5, 2024September 5, 2024Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2575 views

I love technology built by teachers—it’s just different. You can feel the truth and passion behind it. It has features that you know were intentionally considered by someone who has been in the classroom. Short Answer is a fantastic writing tool that was obviously built by teachers solving real problems for real students. The best! With so many tech companies racing to put AI into classrooms in ways that don’t center learners, it’s nice to see companies like Short Answer who are starting with students. (Big congratulations to the Short Answer team, who was just named as a YASS Prize semi-finalist!)

What it is: Short Answer is a k-12 formative assessment and writing instruction tool that capitalizes on the learning potential of adaptive comparative judgment. It makes writing feedback more social, engaging, and effective for students. Watch the video above to see exactly how it works! With Short Answer, teachers can monitor written student responses and lead discussions to create a shared understanding. The tool encourages students to be central to constructing and participating in the learning process through discussion and debate of peer-constructed responses. Every student gets immediate, actional feedback through comments and class discussion. Students become active participators and evaluators of learning by giving feedback to others. I love the way that reflection is built right into Short Classroom…I’m a big believer that the bulk of learning actually happens in the reflection.

How to Use Short Answer in the Classroom: Short Answer makes it easy to get started as a teacher. You can quickly sign up for their Basics package, which is free and includes unlimited question launches and the All-In, Pair-It, and Battle Royale activities. The Basics package has some limits on how many questions can be saved, how many feedback criteria can be added, and there is no open feedback option for students. However, the Basics is the perfect way to dip your toe in and start using Short Answer in your classroom. The other packages are SUPER reasonably priced for what this tool adds to your writing classroom.

Short Answer has done a phenomenal job of creating interactive product walk-throughs to help you start using it effectively with your class immediately (again, clearly designed by a teacher!). There are also phenomenal standards-aligned subject guides to think about how Short Answer might be used in your classroom or a specific area of study. They’ve thought about it’s use in algebra, biology, business, calculus, careers, chemistry, computer science, earth science, economics, English, ethics, FCS, foreign language, geometry, neuroscience, physics, pre-algebra, psychology, SEL, social studies, statistics, trigonometry, US history, world history, and, of course, writing. No matter what subject matter you are teaching, Short Answer can be used to enhance and involve students in more nuanced and impactful writing activities. My favorite use is for inquiry-based learning since that is how we approach all learning at Anastasis. To see Short Answer in an inquiry-based setting, see the video above.

I love how this tool truly puts the learner in the center of the writing classroom by giving them authentic writing tasks, authentic audience and feedback, and competency-based instruction. It is brilliant. I know that a lot of teachers are feeling concerned about the ways that AI is impacting the writing classroom specifically. Short Answer is a tool that encourages authentic writing and feedback, which is made better because of its social aspect.

Tips: Short Answer has an incredible resource library for teachers. Don’t miss the classroom posters, which help promote a healthy culture of feedback between students.

Flipgrid for every classroom

April 23, 2018April 21, 2018Kelly Tenkely3 Comments157689 views

What it is: Flipgrid is a video discussion platform for your classroom that lets you engage and capture learning in new and awesome ways. It’s simple (and free) to get started, just create a grid and add a topic to spark some discussion. Students can respond with short video responses using any browser, Chromebook, iPad, tablet, or mobile device. All the students can view the videos and engage. You can moderate videos, provide custom feedback, and set the privacy rules. The free version of Flipgrid lets you create one grid (this is your classroom or community), unlimited student videos (up to 90seconds), simple individual student feedback, and private video sharing with families.

You are the Flipgrid Topic Designer (your students could be as well!). Embed YouTube or Vimeo videos, upload images for your students to discuss, feature a file or a weblink.

How to integrate Flipgrid into your classroom: Flipgrid is a great way to get your students reflecting on learning, collaborating, and providing peer feedback. Students can create and share a book talk or chapter reflection, discuss current events, delve into a topic, engage in an online Socratic seminar around a given topic, collaborate, verbalize their learning process, etc. Flipgrid works in any classroom, with any age student, and within any subject. The sky (and your collective imaginations) are really the limit!

Flipgrid is a fantastic add to the language arts classroom where students can: share a word of the week, complete a video chapter summary, create a character monologue, explore themes and ideas in a text, complete a book review/book talk, ask questions of the author, come up with alternative endings, make text predictions, dramatic readings, practice reading fluency/voice/tone/inflection, reflect or wonder during reading, make connections to other learning, explore metaphor, practice and reflect on presentation skills, collaborative Flipgridding with another classroom, explore perspective, or conduct interviews.

In the math classroom students can: talk through their process or problem solving approach, share examples of found math in context, number talks, weekly math challenges, find the mistake responses, student created math tutorials of new concepts they are learning, stump the class challenges, demonstrations with manipulatives, solving or creating their own “what doesn’t belong” challenges, or solutions to math challenges with multiple outcomes.

In the science classroom, students can: share each step of an experiment through the scientific method with each step being a new video, document dissection, reflect on failures, show the process of building or designing, make predictions, document process, demonstrate, post wonderings, or class challenges.

In the history/social studies classroom students can: do living history exercises where they take on the persona of a historical character, reflect on an era or connective topic like: “what are contributing factors to revolutions,” conduct interviews, explore perspectives, reflect on and discuss current events, create a video timeline of events, connect past events to current events, explore historical trends, connect with other classrooms from around the world, explore place and environment, teach classmates about a historical theme that they geek out on, explore social justice issues, or give a voice to those who historically haven’t had one.

Flipgrid makes for an excellent addition to the portfolio. I love the way it encourages collective intelligence and highlights the social nature of learning. Flipgrid is also a great way to build a growth mindset and self-assessment. As students complete any project or assignment, they could add their reflection on the learning as well as where they think they are currently in their learning journey (we use the progression of Novice, Apprentice, Practitioner, Scholar, Change Maker).

At the end of every year at Anastasis, we host an event we call “Storyline.” Flipgrid would be an excellent addition to that end of year celebration and review of the year. Students could use Flipgrid to document learning progress throughout the year and use it as a way to review their growth.

Tips: Flipgrid integrates seamlessly with other education products you are already using including WordPress, Canvas, Teams, Google Classroom, One Note, Edmodo, Schoolology, Blackboard, Sway, Brightspace, and Power school. The paid versions include tons of added features and are worth exploring more if you find yourself using Flipgrid regularly.

How do you use Flipgrid in your classroom?

How We Got to Now: 6 Innovations That Made the Modern World

November 5, 2014Kelly Tenkely2 Comments39451 views

At Anastasis Academy, we are in the middle of the inquiry block “Where We Are in Place and Time.” During this block our students are exploring orientation in place and time, personal histories, explorations and migrations of humankind, and the relationships between the interconnectedness of individuals and civilizations from local and global perspectives. Serendipitously, Steven Johnson’s new book “How We Got to Now” just came out along with a PBS documentary. The timing could not have been better!! Steven looks at 6 innovations that made the modern world. In his telling about these 6 innovations, he demonstrates the inquiry approach in really brilliant ways. The interdisciplinary nature of this series is fantastic! I’ve been reading “How We Got to Now” (I highly recommend it!) and the students have been watching the new PBS documentary series by the same name as part of the inquiry unit. In addition to the book and documentary series, PBS has a brilliant How We Got to Now website for the classroom!

What it is: How We Got to Now with Steven Johnson is a website from PBS. The resources on the site are meant to support the documentary series (or book) and recommended for 6th-12th grade. At Anastasis, we are using it with students as young as 3rd grade and they are all getting something out of it and loving the connections of history and these innovations.

How to use How We Got to Now in the classroom: I love the way that Johnson explores innovation through these 6 lenses. Instead of offering up the typical “heroes” of invention, Johnson introduces students to concepts that span hundreds of years of invention and many of the unsung heroes. The six innovations include: glass, time, clean, light, sound, and cold. I’m telling you, the way that Johnson helps kids see connections in innovation and invention is brilliant! So much the way that inquiry works. 🙂

The How We Got to Now site has a great “Big Ideas” section that leads students to dig deeper into the six innovations and has provocations for students to continue making connections, learning, asking questions, and even coming up with their own innovations.

Students can explore and discuss how change happens and think about how we get to “next.”

As I mentioned, our students at Anastasis are really loving this block. They are enjoying exploring Where We Are in Place and Time with the help of Steven Johnson and through the lens of these six innovations. It has led to a lot of additional lines of inquiry and has also prompted our students to create their own innovations and inventions for the “next.”

As I was reading “How We Got to Now,” I couldn’t help but imagine a set of dominoes. Each innovation connects to something prior that sets off a chain reaction like the domino effect. I suggested to our classes that the students choose one of the six innovations to illustrate this way. The students will create a mini museum for our families to go through that is full of large cardboard dominoes with the inventions and catalysts of the chain reaction. The last domino will be their invention. I’m excited to see this come together!

Tips: Watch full episodes of How We Got to Now online here.

Are you interested in learning more about the inquiry model we use at Anastasis Academy? Join our conference in February! Early bird registration now available.

Our Little Earth: Global News for World Citizens

November 20, 2013November 16, 2013Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment4415 views

What it is: Our Little Earth is a great international online newspaper for kids. It is delivered every two weeks directly to email and best of all, it is free! Past editions of Our Little Earth can be found on the site for students to read and explore. Each issue helps students stay informed about what current events are happening in the world around them. Every edition has a map showing students where the news came from for the issue. The articles are easy for students to read and do a great job of offering enough background information so that students can make connections to the text and better understand it.

How to integrate Our Little Earth into your classroom: I really like Our Little Earth kids news, it is simple in its delivery, but packs a substantial punch of great information. This is a fantastic source for students to read just-in-time, non-fiction text, at a level that is accessible to them. Subscribe to Our Little Earth and read through a story-a-day for the weeks following. Make sure to model for kids how to explore the themes, politics, geography and history that is related in each article. This is also a great starting point for kids to fact check, make connections, and confirm the reliability of a source. The news is current, so there is always something fresh!

I love using current news with students, it keeps the classroom relevant and touches enough transdisciplinary themes that students can make connections to other reading and learning they are doing. Combine Our Little Earth with @angelamaiers What Breaks Your Heart project. As students are more informed, they will be able to better articulate things about the world they would like to be a part of changing.

Use Google Earth to help students learn geography at the same time. Create a pin on the map for each story read. Ask students to come up with a title for each story (or use the title provided) to help them remember what they read about that location. Add to the same Google Earth map all year-long so that students can begin to see common themes by geography.

Tips: Use the search feature to help students dig even deeper into events and themes. What happened a year ago at this time?

What do you think of Our Little Earth? How do you plan to use it in your classroom?

If It Were My Home: Compare Countries Visually

February 11, 2013Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2685 views

What it is: We are just heading into a new inquiry block at Anastasis Academy. The kids are exploring world communities and our interdependence on each other. If it Were My Home is a fascinating website that asks students to consider what their life would be like if they were born in a different country. Would they be the same person? If it Were My Home is a country comparison tool where students can compare living conditions in their own country to those of another. When students select a country, there is a visual overlay comparison of maps. Students can easily visualize relative size of another country based on their own state or country. Students will also see a break down of death rates, HIV/AIDS, birth rate, electricity availability, oil consumption, economic comparison, health care, and class divide. Students have the ability to compare the country they selected with another country of interest. Students can learn additional information about the country and vote to show if they would rather live in the chosen country. Additionally, most countries offer a recommended reading list with books about the selected country. When students click on the mini-facts, they get a full description of the fact along with the original source. SO stinking cool!

How to integrate If it Were My Home into the classroom: If it Were My Home is an outstanding way for students to visualize and compare other countries to their own. I love that this site helps students with geography, but also reveals that there is a real world community that is interdependent and diverse. This site helps students recognize the unique place they are in the world and how it relates to other countries. I love the added awareness of human rights and social justice issues that this site encourages. In our inquiry unit, we are looking at what the facts listed on the site mean about the government, belief systems, human rights, equality, social justice and landscape of the countries they represent.

This is a site that can be used to help students ask bigger questions. To see a fact about another country, and ask what bigger problems might be revealed, what we can learn from other countries, and break down some stereotypes that students may have about other countries.

Ask each student to choose a country to compare to their country of origin. Have students pair up with a partner and compare their chosen countries to the country of origin.

Choose “Disasters” from the menu at the top of the screen to view some natural and man-made disasters that affected the lives of millions of people. Students can view the scope of the disaster in relation to where they live, helping them to better visualize the impact that man-made and natural disasters can have on a population.

Tie in a creative writing project and have students imagine that they are moving from their country of origin to their chosen country. Students can use the information and comparison as inspiration for their fictional story about what life would be like in their new home. Students could also write a short autobiographical story about growing up in their country of origin, followed by a short “autobiographical” type story about their life growing up in a different country.

Use the statistical data in If it Were My Home for some real world mathematical comparison between countries. If Rwanda has a 10.7 times higher chance of dying in infancy, how many infant deaths does it expect on average per year? If Rwandans make 98.06% less than Americans, what would you expect an average salary to be?

I used Rwanda as my example because Rwanda is where we started our first Anastasis sister school. Our 2nd-3rd grade class has been absolutely fascinated with Rwanda and poured over this site to learn more. 🙂

Tips: Encourage your students to read one of the recommended books about the country they chose. This will help them understand more about the country they chose, and give the people in that country voice beyond the facts listed.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using If it Were My Home in your classroom.

E is for Explore: discovery, science, math, art, literacy, social studies and more!

January 7, 2013Kelly Tenkely3 Comments4973 views

Happy New Year!! I have to say, I wasn’t heart broken to see 2012 go and welcome a year of new beginnings. 2012 felt…hard. And uninspired. I think that is what happens when you see a dream realized and then comes the part where you are in the middle of it, making it work and doing the HARD work. 2012 wasn’t a year I felt particularly creative. I miss that, it is part of my essence. I’ve been so incredibly busy, just working to keep everything going, that I had nothing left over. I’m hoping that 2013 is a different story. Step 1: the first post of 2013. Here is to creativity and passion!

What it is: I discovered a new blog that I am absolutely loving! It is hard to beat a place where exploration is not only welcome, but encouraged. E is for Explore is that place. Here you will find new learning activities and a fantastic collection of ideas from other sources. There is a handy-dandy index that helps you find just what you need quickly and easily. I’ve been working on collecting resources for this inquiry unit and E is for Explore has been an absolute treasure trove. Topics include discovery/exploration, science/engineering, mathematics, art, literacy, social studies and seasons/holidays.

How to integrate E is for Explore into the classroom: E is for Explore is a great tool for unit, center, and inquiry planning. I am really enjoying the huge bank of hands-on activities and projects all designed to encourage exploration in learning. The wide range of activities will keep sparking curiosity in a variety of disciplines.

As I plan out inquiry units and gather resources, I am always on the lookout for activities that will encourage students to explore and spark new curiosities. E for Explore made this process infinitely easier, bringing me an easy-to-search collection of activities, with great instructions, all in one place. Many of the activities are manageable enough for a center activity within the classroom…great for differentiation and individualization!

I shared E is for Explore with some of our students, they had a great time looking through the science experiments and learning about how to make mini robots and floam. This would be SO much better than a small tic-tac-toe board for students to choose an activity from. Students can explore the entire site and choose an exploration that is of interest to them and complete it accordingly.

Tips: My hope is that iLearn Technology does for you what E if for Explore did for me. Did you know that you can search by keyword (at the top of my website) or through a multi-category search (in the sidebar on the right)? Choose as many variables as you want and see what you can find! I categorize every post by keywords, Bloom’s Taxonomy level, Grade Level, Resource Type, and Subject Area. After 7 years of free resources, I’ve amassed quite a collection of awesome, free classroom tools. Go ahead, give it a try and see what new fun finds you come across!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using E is for Explore in your classroom.

myHistro: timeline/story/map/picture mashups created by you!

October 23, 2012Kelly Tenkely2 Comments8629 views

What it is: myHistro is a really great site (and app!) that lets students combine maps and timelines seamlessly into one great presentation of information and understanding. myHistro is more than just data collection, it is a way to share stories. With myHistro, students can create a rich timeline/map mashup complete with additional text, pictures and video. The result is truly incredible! It is easy to get started, just create an event and associate it with a time and place. Events can be gathered together and turned into stories. Stories, in turn, can be used together to create a collection. Stories can be viewed in multiple ways, by events on a timeline, in chronological order with a page flip feature like an album, or as a story summary of chronological events. Create as many events as you would like and add as many photos as you like, all for free! The finished product can even be downloaded into Google Earth format for offline storage. Completed Histros can be embedded in other blogs and websites for maximum usability.

How to integrate myHistro into the classroom: myHistro has SO many uses! At Anastasis, we just completed an inquiry unit on who we are. myHistro was a perfect tie in for students exploring family histories, heritage and tradition. Students could add pictures, and stories along with the interactive map of where events were taking place and a timeline where they could see it all unfold chronologically. This is like a family tree on steroids. Pretty outstanding. Even better? It ties directly into Geni (blogged about here).

myHistro isn’t just for family trees. It could be used for students mapping out history chronologically, mapping out a fictional story, creating a story map for their own writing, mapping how ideas and invention spread, looking at explorers, migration, etc. As I said, the options are endless!

myHistro is collaborative, students can create projects together and even invite parents to join in the learning. Pretty cool!

As a teacher, you can ditch the text book and help students really visualize that history in new ways. A completed myHistro can be embedded in your class blog or website for students to access without having to visit multiple sites or login.

There are a number of fabulous myHistro stories that you can borrow to share with your students. They can view these to learn more about events in history, or they can go on a fact checking mission to double check the validity of the stories created by others. Definitely worth doing!

Tips: myHistro also happens to be an app. Find it in the iTunes store. This can be your first download on your new iPad mini 😉

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using myHistro in your classroom.

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Piktochart: Create your own infographics

October 9, 2012Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment11202 views

What it is: Piktochart is a great web app that makes it easy to create your own infographics. Piktochart has free and premium options. With the free version, there are a handful of themes to choose from. Premium themes are also available, if you are so inclined. After you choose a theme, the next job is to change the mood and edit the information on the chart. Students can add shapes, graphics (uploaded), theme graphics, and text to the infographic. Students can add a chart where they manually input data or upload a cvc file. This is especially helpful if they have been data collecting in another program. There are some features that are only available to pro users. Not to worry, there are enough available for free that you can make a pretty rockin’ infographic that gets the point (or data) across.

How to integrate Piktochart into the classroom: Piktochart is a superb way for students to work on those statistics/probability standards. Being a visual learner myself, I love the way that infographics seem to make data easier to digest. Piktochart can be used to display any type of statistical or mathematical data in new ways. Students can show what they are learning in history, about the world population (miniature earth), science, in the book they are reading, geography statistics, etc.

The way that infographics allow students to blend learning across the subject areas is fantastic. It isn’t just math; it is math, and art, and science/social studies/history/geography/technology. Any time we can help students recognize the overlaps that exist in learning and subject area, it is a win!

A few weeks ago, students at Anastasis discovered that America’s biggest export is trash. They started digging and found statistics about the amount of trash Americans throw away each day (7lbs/person) and how much was recycled vs. what ended up in a landfill. They also looked at statistics of what receiving countries like China and India did with the waste being imported. It was fascinating! Students created infographics showing what they had discovered in their research. It was eye-opening when they translated that trash per person into a year’s worth of trash and figured out how many football stadiums that it would fill. When they could see it graphically, it had an impact on their thinking. The result was: “it is up to us to change this…”

Pretty amazing when the conclusion to learning is transformation…change.

Tips: In the free version: Basic themes, 5 image uploads, Piktochart’s watermark. Pro version ($29.00/mo): 80 themes (and growing), additional customization, more image uploads, no watermark.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Piktochart in your classroom.

Help me personalize education for EVERY child! Donate and spread the word about the Learning Genome Project.

The Miniature Earth Project

September 24, 2012Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment4337 views

What it is: The Miniature Earth Project is a great website that poses the question: “what if the population of the Earth were reduced into a community of only 100 people?” Based on this assumption, the site helps students understand what the breakdown of nationalities would be, religious representation, how many people would live in an urban area, how many people would have the majority of the world income, how many would live without clean world, those that live on less than $1.25/day, etc. The purpose of the site is to break our quickly approaching 7billion people in the world down to a number (100) that we can more easily wrap our minds around. The point of the site is to help kids (and adults) understand the real landscape of the world and cause positive action.

There is a video on the site that breaks down the infographic in a different way. Students can submit their own videos about the Miniature Earth.

How to integrate The Miniature Earth Project into your curriculum: Right now the Jr. High at Anastasis Academy is looking at the following line of inquiry: “Understanding our rights and responsibilities as individuals and the similarities and differences of others helps contribute to the development of world citizens.” The Miniature Earth Project is a great place to put the world’s challenges in perspective for students. We have been having fantastic conversations about the rights that we enjoy as Americans, and the responsibilities to others around the world that come with those rights. Students have also been exploring rights they believe all world citizens should enjoy and what responsibility they share in making those rights a reality for those who don’t currently enjoy them. As you can imagine, the discussion has been fascinating!

A great place to start this discussion is by asking students to create their own personal code of conduct. What standards will they hold themselves to? At Anastasis we talk often about managing our freedom. Freedom comes with responsibility, it isn’t a free-for all. We also ask students to think about what their actions would look like if it were multiplied by 7 billion people. What would the world look like? Is it a place they would want to live? The Miniature Earth Project is a great place for next steps. Looking at who makes up their world, what kind of challenges are faced. We ask our students to think about solutions to those challenges. They are NOT too young to come up with solutions!

Since the 100 person Earth is such a manageable number, ask students to create graphical representations of each figure presented in the Miniature Earth Project. What questions do they have based on the data? What challenges do they see? What common ground do we have? What are our responsibilities? What rights should we claim for all humans? What are ways that we can make the world a better place for all? What impact can a small change make on such a large population (does it change when you think about it on a smaller scale)?

Want to show students how their actions can change the world? Share the story of the 13 year old who has the world planting a million trees! The story of Felix Finkbeiner is an awesome one! Equally cool for our students: we have a Mr. Finkbeiner who teaches at Anastasis.

Tips: There are great links to more information about our population approaching 7 billion. Be sure to have your students dig into those resources to learn more!

***Want to do your part as a CHANGE MAKER in education? Check out, support and spread the word about the Learning Genome Project!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Miniature Earth Project in your classroom!

Scholastic’s Listen and Read: Free non-fiction ebooks for primary students

July 17, 2012Kelly Tenkely1 Comment4603 views

What it is: Scholastic is constantly sneaking new great resources for the classroom onto their site. The other day I learned about one that I haven’t seen before from @rmbyrne on his great blog Free Tech for Teachers. Listen and Read has fantastic online reading activities for early learners. There are 54 nonfiction read-along books that include words, images and sound. You can sort books by subject including: Community, American History, Animals, Civics and Government, Environmental Studies, Plants and Flowers, Science and Social Studies. You can also sort books by level (A or B).

How to integrate Listen and Read into your curriculum: Non-fiction can be hard to read in the early years. It often includes unfamiliar words and vocabulary and concepts that students don’t have a lot of prior knowledge of. Scholastic’s Listen and Read is fantastic because it helps students navigate their way through non-fiction with the support of a read-aloud, sounds and images. These interactive books help students better comprehend content because they aren’t focused on the words they are stumbling through. At the end of the book students can click on the unfamiliar new vocabulary to hear the word said again. This follow-up exposure reinforces word recognition, vocabulary and ideas.

Scholastic Listen and Read can be set up on classroom computers as a reading center. Students can read and listen independently with headphones. After reading through the story, students can discuss with a partner (or as a whole class) what they remember about each of the “sound it out” words from the story.

If you don’t have the ability for students to read these non-fiction books independently, use a projector connected computer or interactive whiteboard to read as a whole class.

Tips: Some of the titles are offered in both A and B level. This is great for a little differentiation within the classroom (while gaining the same concepts).

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Scholastic’s Listen and Read in your classroom!