Since its introduction three years ago, special education teachers have hailed the iPad for its usefulness in the classroom. EducationWorld has combed through the App Store to bring you five of the best that are designed specifically for students with learning disabilities and challenges. (Full article behind the jump)
Middle school students love catching my typos and grammar mishaps on assignments and tests. They also love competition. In the fall, I’m going to implement “The Great Editing Race.” Students will need to submit pictures of typos and grammar mistakes they discover in their everyday lives (billboards, menus, letters, etc.). In class, they’ll share them, and explain why the writing is erroneous. Each marking period or semester, I will recognize the top scorers. Perhaps we’ll even keep a score sheet in class.
Maybe bonus points for students who notify the establishment of the error and offer the correction? That could be cool.
This would stress the importance of attention to detail in editing their own work and their peers’ and provide substantial practice. Hopefully, it will be successful.
Let me know if I made any mistakes…
I love this idea.
Read Part 1 - Introduction
Read Part 2 - Why is Vocabulary Instruction Important
Read Part 3 - What Vocabulary Instruction Should Look Like
Read Part 4 - Activities and Tips (non-tech)
So, those of you that have followed me on tumblr know that I love to use this platform to collect online teaching tools, resources, and class activities. Therefore, I really enjoyed this article: eVoc Strategies: 10 Ways to Use Technology to Build Vocabulary, Bridget Dalton, Dana L. Grisham, The Reading Teacher, February 2011 the following activities/sites were listed in this article (read the article thing to see all of the tools/sites)
Wordle and Word Sift are similar tools — Wordsift provides related words, which I really like. I’ve heard of Wordle a number of times, and have used it to introduce a new unit in math before. This article pinpointed questions that should be asked when using these tools to build vocabulary such as:
- what does this image suggest the passage / text will be about
- what are the most important words
- how do you think these words will go together
- why do you think this shape was selected
and to follow-up after reading:
- what words would you add or take away
- are there certain words that should be given more space
Trackstar allows you to collect websites, videos, add annotations and create a digital field trip to help build vocabulary and prior knowledge. What I like is that there are a lot of lessons already created that you could use or tweak for your students.
Also noted in the article were digital translators, digital texts, and text to speech tools which can be particularly helpful for struggling readers and ESL students.
The following sites come from my own explorations on the internet, tumblr, twitter, etc.
Word Stash allows you to create separate lists to share. The site acts as a dictionary and a thesaurus. It provides a sentence for most words that you look up, the pronunciation (actual sound), the latest tweets that have the word, and recent articles that have the words. You can also quiz yourself on word lists. I like to have my students use this as a resource when creating word expert cards or completing vocabulary graphic organizers.
One Word One word provides you with one word to write about for 60 seconds. I have not used this yet, but I think it could be a good vocabulary builder to gage vocabulary knowledge.
Vocabulary Games has… you guessed it! Vocabulary games.
Spelling City has vocabulary and spelling activities.
My Vocabulary has activities with root words, SAT words, themed word lists and more.
Vocabulary.com has discussions on how our lexicon changes. It also has quizzes, word lists, and quizzes.
Finally, Qwiki can be an excellent way to find related words and learn vocabulary — especially for visual learners!
Also I really love the vocabulary concept maps that can be found on Busy Teacher’s Cafe .
Reblogging myself because all 5 parts were such a labor of love on my part. And then I got switched grade levels, and didn’t get to use most of what I learned.
I like this guide because I’m a visual learner, and I’ve always wanted to do more with Google Docs!
With both web20classroom.org and Free Technology for Teachers putting their heads together to write this FREE resource on ed tech, you know it is going to be good. I’m adding this to the things I need to read over this summer, and deciding what to add to my repertoire.
Hi Tumblr!
I have a technology question for ya’ll. This year I will have my own classroom (yay) in a computer room. The downside is that the computer room does not have that awesome function where the teacher can lock all students’ computers and display whatever powerpoint/document/ website that the teacher (me) wants to display.
Does anyone know of any free technology that can be downloaded in order to have this control? Or even fairly priced technology for this function? Your answers would be greatly appreciated. <3
P.S.: I’m ok from Irene. A ton of trees fell down or were ripped out from the ground, but thankfully everyone I immediately know is ok. I hope that anyone else who is in Irene’s path is ok too <3
Signal boost.
Definitely a list to explore. I’ve been looking for ways to include art in my computer center.
TEACHER DARE DAY!
What are some projects that you’ve assigned to your students (or have done yourself) that incorporate technology while teaching them about a subject like ELA or literacy or history etc?
Also here are the rules for teacher dare day if you want to get involved
Making timelines on Time.com and looking up vocabulary words on wordstash.com
Keeping parents up-to-date on what’s going on in the classroom can sometimes be difficult. Fortunately, there are many free tools on the web that can help teachers streamline the communication process and get parents the information they need. Here are 10 online tools that are free, helpful, and…
(Source: thelessonmachine.com)
New Discovery: GOOD’s Infographics
I’ve been watching these infographics pop up all over tumblr and I have absolutely fallen in love with the idea of visualizing data in this way. Here’s a little list of some of the education-related infographics I’ve stumbled upon today:
- How do teachers think we should fix American education?
- Are teachers willing to go the extra mile for their students?
- What can we give to teachers to make them better teachers?
- How do teachers think we should measure student achievement?
- Shown above: How teachers think technology works best in the classroom
For those who hadn’t heard of this news source, here is a little blurb from their website: “GOOD is the integrated media platform for people who want to live well and do good. We are a company and community for the people, businesses, and NGOs moving the world forward. GOOD’s mission is to provide content, experiences, and utilities to serve this community” (About GOOD). There’s a magazine, too!
Keep questioning & keep doing GOOD,
Sara
I am always looking for age and reading level- appropriate texts for my students. A serious problem I find in my classroom is that students know very little about current events and real-world problems. However, many news stories contain language above my 7th graders’ abilities (keeping in mind that most of them are NOT reading at grade level). Please reply with sources you find useful for teaching elementary-middle students about current events. Media is great, but written texts would be ideal.
I will post the responses I receive!
We’re excited to see what you come up with!
You could also use Twurdy to search topics — it will give you the reading level of the site.
Students ask each other for feedback. I see netbooks and headphone being handed over quite a bit during work sessions. How often do we see this happen with draft books or worksheets?
This is what makes me excited about technology in the classroom.
