Stepping Stones for teachers

This website (http://www.teachersdomain.org/) is a growing collection of downloadable multimedia resources and lesson plans. Currently the majority of resources are in the Science field (listed below) but they are planning to add Language Arts, Social Sciences and Mathematics resources. It has a free registration although you need to align yourself to your educational institution.

I am not a huge fan of downloadable Lesson Plan websites but this site has suggestions which are not only practical and constructivist but also resources and links which students could use. For instance, the Polar Sciences Special Collection focuses on issues relating to Global Warming effects on the Arctic and Antarctic.  The collection includes a fabulous range of interactives, documents, lesson plans and video clips which can be viewed online, with some downloadable. Each with a brief description and suggested year level e.g. Earth as a System (Grade 6 - 12) is a visualisation adapted from NASA maps and shows progressive global changes on a rotating globe. You can also turn captions on or off to accompany the clip.

The collection groups resources in 5 areas: Atmosphere, Ice, Oceans, People and Land.

Earth and Space Science (292 resources) i.e. Earth in the Universe, Earth System, Structure, and Processes, Water Cycle, Weather, and Climate

Engineering (204) i.e. Engineering Design, Materials and Tools, Systems and Technologies

Life Science (399) i.e. Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Genetics and Heredity, Organisms and Their Environments, Regulation and Behavior, Structure and Function

Physical Science (395) i.e. Energy, Fundamental Theory, Matter, Motions and Forces

Thanks to Dean Mantz for sharing this website via Diigo.

http://voicethread.com is a free Web 2.0 tool which provides easy-to-use features for students to create multimedia projects. This is exciting in itself, but even more motivating for students is that viewers of the project can leave comments via the internet. Look at this example to see how it works: http://voicethread.com/share/107896/

The online media album can hold essentially any type of media (images, documents and videos) and allows people to make comments in different ways - using voice, text, audio or video. They can even be exported to an Archival Movie for offline use on a DVD or video-enabled MP3 player.

Comments: as seen in the little thumbnails down the left and right side of the example. Simple voice recording within your web browser allows students or viewers to add their voice. All you need is a microphone! Comments can also be written or recorded on video.

Doodles: the Doodler is a way of annotating the presentation. It captures drawing as an animation and synchronises it to the voice or text commentary. See the red circle drawn around “name” in the example.

Identities for easy classroom management: to leave a comment, you need an identity and be logged in. One class account can have multiple identities so  a number of students can easily switch identities on-the-fly without having to sign-out.

Sharing your VoiceThread

It is totally safe for your students. You can set the access privileges - from completely private to completely open and variations in between.

Moderation: comment moderation puts the teacher in charge of the conversation. Only the comments that are deemed appropriate are exhibited on the screen.

A family picture was the inspiration for VoiceThread. One of the program’s creators was looking at the photo and thought it would be really great to hear each person commenting on the picture. They would all have different stories. This thought was a spark for the creation of the Web 2.0 tool. It is an extremely easy online application that allows you to create multimedia using your own photos, video clips, audio, etc… and then allows others to comment with text or audio in a way that will play along with your presentation.

It has been enthusiastically used by many teachers all over the world as a simple way for individuals and groups to work together on a presentation and storytelling. Visit VoiceThread to see more great examples!

Dipity is a Web 2.0 application which allows chronological information to be entered and displayed as a timeline. It can then be shared via a blog or other website. The news headlines about our Olympics team below is an example of one your students could make. It is a ‘live’ timeline in that as events are reported, they are added to the timeline automatically. Any RSS feed can be used and I’m sure there will be heaps during the Olympics. Students could also research Olympic data from the past and enter manually … for instance, host countries, records for 100 metres, etc.

Spurred on by Lucy Gray I decided to experiment with embedding a survey in a blog. It is a quick easy process to create a form in Google Docs . Open a new spreadsheet, click the Share tab and choose the option to create a form. Questions can then be written. You can send the link to the form via email or embed ina website. Data collected through the form is automatically entered into your spreadsheet.

Here is my first attempt - I would love you to fill it in so I can use it in my PD sessions with staff. TIA!!!

 

Notebook 10 and the Lesson Activity Toolkit are not just excellent tools for the teacher but can also provide a basis for creative activities for the student. When students are given the challenge of creating a puzzle or activity for others to solve, there is a high level of engagement. Not only are they applying the knowledge they already have or need to research, but they will also ’step up’ the difficulty level so as to create a challenge for their peers.

SMART Notebook 10 provides a range of tools in their toolkit which teachers and students can use to create interactive activities for the SMARTBoard. Along with the wide selection of games, like sudoku, anagrams and word guess, there are also other activity templates like multiple choice, matching activities and sentence arrange.

Activities are easy to use - just drag from the Gallery and click the Edit button to add your own content. They can be used in all subjects and KLAs, and in all year groups. The activity can be saved and ‘played’ by other students. They are self-marking so students receive immediate feedback and reinforcement.

Thank you to Bob Sprankle at Seedlings for this great Web 2.0 tool. Students can type in text or upload Word or pdf documents to the Read the Words website. A ‘voice’ is chosen to read the text. The resulting sound file can be embedded into a blog (as I have done to the right) or downloaded as an mp3 file to listen to. A great motivator for students to encourage a more effective proofing and editing process as well as providing a bit of a giggle :-). Free registration provides a wider range of voices. Below is the text from my Read The Words audio - a reworked excerpt from a paper Lesley and I wrote for AAEC conference in 2006.

The use of ICT tools such as word processing, graphics packages, database and spreadsheet applications, has often been proposed as evidence of technology uptake and integration into learning and teaching. While many worthwhile uses have been made of these tools, their integration has largely been as an optional ‘add-on’ to an unchanging traditional teaching environment (Bottino, 2003). In contrast, I recommend educators take advantage of the potential of new technologies, including Web 2.0 tools and provide a variety of multimodal ICT project-based learning activities to enhance children’s learning. There are many benefits associated with this approach. Students have a high level of engagement while they are actively designing and making multimedia presentations for real audiences. Teachers report that not only are students gaining a greater depth of understanding of curriculum areas but their collaborative, communication and problem-solving skills are also being developed. Research also testifies that students display increases in mental effort and involvement, interest, planning, collaboration and individualisation (Lehrer et al, 1994). The acquisition of ICT skills and confidence, independence and risk-taking when using technology were also a valued consequence.

New media, Web 2.0 tools and software have many beneficial impacts in the classroom. Key aspects of this kind of learning is not so much the technology itself but the interaction of the learner with the technology (Gros, 2003). Using ICT has tremendous potential for reaching, motivating and fully involving learners. Any teacher who has used ICT project-based learning strategies should be able to attest to the power of a project topic to capture a student’s energies and enthusiasm for exploring knowledge (Richards, 2005). Project-based activities encourage collaborative talk around the computer screen. Students also freely and easily share resources and skills. Multimedia projects can encourage students to be better learners as they are getting immediate feedback as they work through their project and reflective evaluation from peers and audience when they have completed their product.

The most successful classroom projects involve the interweaving of learning, student engagement and presentation. Teachers provide a framework for students to scaffold their learning by balancing support and the explicit teaching that needs to occur. The result is not only improved learning outcomes but your students will learn to use these emerging technologies and communicate effectively in ways that are visual, dynamic and interactive.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

The World Factbook contains up-to-date information about all countries in the world. This includes information about geography, government, transportation, communication and the people. It also has useful graphics for student research projects e.g. flags and maps.

The factbook provides an excellent source for data activities in Numeracy. It lists statistics related to a country’s geography as well as many other data lists e.g. population, birth rate, unemployment rate, oil production, mobile phone statistics and transportation figures. It also has Rank Order pages which lists the countries in order of a particular data field. Did you know that Andorra has the highest life expectancy? Where do you think Australia is on the list?

Do you have only a few computers in your classroom? Do you want to engage your students in a motivating project? Why not think about having your students create a multimedia slideshow which interweaves words and pictures, movies, voice narration and music.

ICT projects provide excellent opportunities for group interaction, which improve students’ collaboration, communication and decision-making skills. Multimedia learning projects provide an especially useful focus for reflecting on the interactions between individual and collaborative or team efforts (Richards, 2005). A group project relies on constant communication and understanding between team members as they work together to produce their final product. This builds a sense of worth and belonging as well as engagement in the project.

By collaborating, students can develop thinking and problem-solving skills. Specifically, students can learn to approach and solve new problems as well as project and time management skills. These skills will transfer across all Key Learning Areas and many related concepts and processes. Collaborative multimedia projects can be projects which have a duration of several days to lasting the whole term.

Another important aspect of a  collaborative project is the final product.  Student groups should publish their  multimedia project to an audience, whether that be their classmates or more preferable via CD or the internet to a wider audience. This  encourages greater application and commitment to the project and motivates students to improve the quality of the work.

Suitable software for collaborative projects can include PowerPoint, PhotoStory, imovie and Moviemaker. It could also involve collaborating with online Web 2.0 tools, like Google Earth, Google Docs, Picasa and VoiceThread.

Richards, C. (2005). The design of effective ICT-supported learning activities. Language Learning & Technology. 9 (1) 60-79.

Can you believe there was actually a time when teachers depended on specialty stores for awards and certificates? Today, we can quickly personalize and print a host of unique awards for students, thanks to online tools. In no particular order, listed below are 10 awards generators for primary and secondary educators.

1. Award Maker at Lakeshore Learning – These colorful awards offer an alternative to standard certificates. Become a hip teacher by presenting awards with messages like “You Are Awesome!”
2. KidBibs Awards – These highly personalized awards can be created in five easy steps. You will have the choice to print or email them when you are finished.
3. Award Certificate Maker – Although the clip art images found here are rather generic, the tool is very simple for quick printing.
4. Certificates & Memories – There are some very professional designs on this site and it also offers tips on how to print them on high-end paper for maximum effect. These would be great for the end of the year.
5. Education World Award Certificates – Here are some very attractive student certificates. Other useful teacher templates can be found on this page, so it would be a great resource to bookmark.
6. Preschool Printables – Aimed at younger students, both preschool and elementary school teachers should find these adorable awards handy.
7. My Award Maker – This is a useful site for building many types of awards. From education templates to business templates, there is a certificate here for every occasion.
8. BillyBear Award Maker – Offers several simple steps for building a cute award. Little touches, such as teddy bear borders really make this one stand out.
9. Quick Certificate Maker – Here is an easily personalized printable for older students who have achieved a goal.
10. DLTK’s Custom Printable Awards – This tool lets you personalize every aspect of the award from the main image to the border. It is very user-friendly and results in a stylish certificate.

By-line:

This post was contributed by Heather Johnson, who is an industry critic on University of Phoenix reviews. She invites your feedback at heatherjohnson2323 at gmail dot com.

Below are some more links ..
 

Olympic symbols: http://www.usfieldhockey.com/games/oly_symbols.htm

Brief overview of the meaning of the various symbols of the Olympic Games, including the Olympic rings, the Olympic flame, medals, and the Olympic oath. Includes images of Olympic mascots from summer games going back to 1972. 

BEIJING OLYMPICS: olympics.com.au/portals/3/pdf/teacherguide_beijing_final.pdf
The Beijing 2008 Olympic Resource is a national resource produced by the Australian Olympic Committee in consultation with teachers and educational advisors. The resource contains over 60 primary cross-curriculum topics and activities themed around the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.

Edgate: Gateway to the Summer Games - http://www.edgate.com/summergames/
A US site but with lots of ideas about cross-curricular Olympic-themed lessons. It inlcudes about Athens, Olympic facts, Parade of Nations and Paralympics sections.

Timeline of Summer Olympics: http://www.xtimeline.com/view.aspx?q=History-of-the-Olympic-Games&c=timeline

Moveable timeline with accompanying facts.

Canadian Olympics resources: http://www.olympicschool.ca/default.aspx?PageID=1001&LangID=en

Their K-6  curriculum features a series of Olympian athlete stories that focus on the Olympic Values of excellence, fairness, respect and leadership. The secondary curriculum is comprised of cross-curricular project packs where students solve real life Olympic Games problems. Each project pack contains hand outs, teaching tips, an evaluation rubric and a list of links to provincial learning outcomes.

World Almanac for Kids - The Olympics: http://www.worldalmanacforkids.com/WAKI-ViewArticle.aspx?pin=x-ol017600a&article_id=612&chapter_id=13&chapter_title=Sports&article_title=The_Olympics

Background and heaps of facts on general Olympics information e.g. individual event winners, times, dates, etc .. especially suitable for primary students.

Kodak Olympic History: http://www.musarium.com/kodak/olympics/olympichistory/ 
Text enhanced with moving multimedia video and still images from the Olympics, 1896 to 1996. Use the timeline to access the historic photos.  Links at the bottom of page do not work.

NBC US TV network Olympic site: http://www.nbcolympics.com/

Loads of current news, photos, videos, although with a slight US bent. Contains blogs and users comments which may not be appropriate for young eyes.