Skype to Be...

Skype is a phenomenal tool.
I have used it on mission trips, catching up with friends - it helps people to connect. 

So why not use it in a classroom?
Earlier in my posts, I mentioned a program that connected different schools and cultures and learning environments.  Skype could easily be used to connect with these foreign people and culture.

But what if I'm not in a school system that supports (or can afford) such a program?

Well, I am personally blessed with an immensely divesified family.
On my unit on Australia or marsupials, etc., I could use Skype to call or webchat with my uncle and aunt who live there.  She could show us around her spectacular garden.  They could both talk about the enviornment they live in.  The kids would love their accents.

Or when I do a unit on Civil Rights or oppression in history, I could tie it into apartheid South Africa.  I could skype with my dad who grow up in Rhodesia, another country that struggled with white/black prejudice and oppression or I could talk to my cousin who grew up during the new era of Nelson Mandela. 

The possibilities are endless - all I need is a reliable internet connection... right?

A,B,C... Easy as 1,2,3...

http://www.ezschool.com/EZSheets/index.html
What a practical website - for a teacher, parent, or student!  This website has free worksheets in all subject areas and all grades. 
My coworker, Linda, is a homeschool mom and when I asked if she recommended any websites, this was one of the first.

I love the way everything is organized.  It's clear, easy to see and easy to navigate.  If I have a student struggling in an area, it would be easy to find a worksheet (or even mroe than one) here to use during tutoring sessions.

I know some people (students, mostly...) are opposed to worksheets - that they are busy work.  But if they help the student reinforce what was learned - isn't that the whole point of education?  To discover a thirst for learning and to retain what you have found!

Googlemaps.com

Googlemaps is a very useful tool, used most often in traveling or finding businesses.

AND it can be useful in the classroom as well.

After the group presented in class today using googlemaps as a way to research a field trip, I brainstormed other ways I could use it in my own classroom.

What about teaching a unit on our town's history?  We could look up various places on Googlemaps, such as our courthouse, police department, city parks, and so on.  We could then similarly plan a day trip or even a morning trip and catch as much history as our town could provide!

And away we go!

Another Pluto Moment

Remember when some brilliant scientists discovered that Pluto wasn't really a planet?  That we had all been deceived - that we now had to come up with some new acronym to remember the planets' order - because suddenly our "mom" was no longer giving us "pizza"?

I had a similar moment the other day.

When I was in kindergarten, we each had to write our own original stories.  In those days, I still believed I could earn big bucks writing books.
I know better now.
But after I had written my kindergarten story of Nancy, the pink bear, I (and the rest of the class) were given the opportunity to "publish" our own stories.  I chose the cover and the pages and our stories were printed - in a real life hardbound book!
I also illustrated my story myself.  What an adventure for a kindergartener!

http://www.storyjumper.com/
This website is the twenty-first century version of "your very own" storybook.
Any and every child in your class can make a book - more than one.  Cost is not a factor here - only computer time!
In this creativity focused website, children can create their own books, inserting pictures, icons, and text to make it their very own. 
What a reminiscent tool of my own childhood - yet unlike Pluto, this advances education and adds to it.  Storyjumper does not eliminate books or even drawing or writing on paper. 
Rather it gives students and teachers alike a new and different creative outlet for arts and language.

Blogging?

Blogging is an interesting past time to me.

I journal – as in I keep a tangible notebook of paper where I write my thoughts.  I let very few into those pages of my most intimate thoughts – and those few I let in rarely see inside all the pages – perhaps just a few select ones.

            People tell me that blogging is similar to journaling.  It may well be for them – but not for me.  Blogging for me is very public.  Expressing the overflow of my emotions, the passion of a heart-wrenching day, venting my concerns and frustrations are not something I necessarily want to share with everyone.  Rather I want to write them out – usually as a prayer although sometimes I think I am too ashamed to address my petty concerns to my God.

            But those thoughts are not the ones I want to share with the world.

            With the world I want to share my discoveries – the joys in my life; the people I love; the God I serve; inspirations, helpmeets, treasures I have found in His scripture.

            And blogging is a way of connecting anyone around the world with access to a computer and the internet (perhaps not deepest darkest Africa, although sometimes a small light can shine even there!).

            What a blessing is our technology – and how we tend to ignore it sometimes….

Journal Galore

My Hebreos teacher is an interesting man. Mr. Roeder is full of energy – and fun.
This semester he assigned a daily journal to our class. It did not necessarily have to be from the book of Hebreos (Hebrews – in Spanish), but it did need to be from the Bible and it did have to be a daily journal. Neither did it require no minimum entry length.
The class produced a wide variety of them – not just of notebooks but of styles. Some had more trouble (the boys usually – perhaps girls are just more used to keeping something like a journal).
But it has helped not only with our discipline in reading our Bible but also in our discipline of training our thoughts in English into thoughts in Spanish.
Journaling is something we are allowed to make our own – to write questions and thoughts, prayers and challenge. It has opened our minds, not only to a panorama of the Spanish language but also of God’s word.
It has made us sink our teeth into Spanish and into the text of God’s word – intertwining it into our own lives.
Why not include such a journal in my classroom? That’s what Erin Gruwell did in inner city Los Angeles – when no one else could or would teach those underprivileged teenagers.
Isn’t that my job as an educator – to challenge my students to incorporate what is taught in class into their lives – to allow them to develop their own personalities and to help them form morals, ethics, and respect for God and for people?

Steering in a Sky of... Word Clouds

I know of the existence of word clouds (our university's iKnow program has a link, which can be used, I suppose - but quite honestly only one of my teachers for the past four semesters has used it).

In a tweet by Dr. M. Tatum to the site http://unhub.com/gBPh, one teacher compares four different word cloud tools.  Each seems to be a good and different variant for brainstorming with reading, literature, etc activities.

Can these be integrated into the classroom?  Yes, if a teacher thinks to do so.  Are they any more helpful?  Is it really any more effective to include a word cloud in a lesson?  To have students create their own word clouds?

Yes and no.  For instance, this could just be a phenomenal waste of time.  We could play around on our computers, spend hours "brainstorming" activities and never actually do anything.  Or we could only use word clouds for such miniscule activities that do not warrant that much of our attention.
But I think that's unfair.  After all, a blackboard is just as un-useful to a teacher who does not care enough to prepare and provide good and helpful tools for students' learning.

After reading a Shakespeare play, each student could send a word describing themes to create a word cloud.  They could quite literally see the main themes.  Divide the students into groups and have each come up with proofs for each theme.  Or you can choose a couple of main themes and assign an essay writing on it.

The possibilities are endless to a mind open to opportunity.