After an exhausting day on Thursday,
I sat at my desk and looked at some old Friday Five Newsletters. I began reflecting on my favorite tools that
I have written about since 2008. I sat and wondered what got in the way of
using some of the great tools that I had written about and praised through the
years. Where have they gone? How have they changed? In reality, the tools have only gotten
better. I on the other hand have gone
the easy route at times. Adding
technology to enhance lessons is hard work.
Well, that is about to change. It
is time to add my passion back to my lessons on a more frequent basis. It will all begin today. Here are some tools that will make an
appearance in my classroom soon.
1.
Scratch: This is one of the
most creative tools available. It is a
programming language that allows the youngest users to create games, stories,
animations, and much more. It is a free
program developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten group at MIT. To make a scratch program you drop and snap
virtual “Lego” like blocks. There are
endless resources on their site that gives sample lessons. After the sample lessons, let you kids
create. Scratch 2 is now in Beta testing and will be available soon. Scratch Jr. is also a project that should be
available this year.
2.
Educaching: This is a GPS based
geocache activity for educators. This
high tech game of hide and seek has a lot of uses in the classroom. This activity is no longer limited to owners
of GPS. The availability of GPS apps
makes is more accessible for everyone.
There are Educaching lesson plans available or you can Google Educaching
lessons to find many free lessons that are available. Use your campus to hide clues. Let teams of students find the clues to
review a concept or build a project. Let
your students get active and have fun.
3.
Build Your Wild Self: This is a
great tool for students to use to learn about animals. Students create and name new animals. Each body part comes with a description of
why that part is important. After
students create an animal, they can create a habitat where that animal can
live. You could also give a habitat and
have students create an animal that would survive in that habitat. The New York
Zoos and Aquariums sponsor this free site.
4.
Storybird: This is a
collaborative storytelling site.
Students chose artwork hosted on the site. Then they build a story around the art that can be shared
with family and friends. The final product can be printed, watched on screen,
or shared in an online library with the world. You also have the option to keep
it private on the network.
5.
Voki: This was the very first
tool that I used when I first began integrating technology in the
classroom. It is one I still use
today. How I use it has changed through
the years. In the beginning students
created Voki avatars to showcase a character or a biography. I will still use Voki
to create biography avatars. I plan to
have students create Vokis to have a conversation. Today my students are creating a Voki to use
vocabulary words in conversation. Now
isn’t that more fun than a vocabulary test?
Have a great Weekend!
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