Friday, December 9, 2011

December Instructional Resource Update # 2


Hello Teachers! I hope you are doing well. Here are some more great instructional resources that I have seen lately. Maybe there will be one that you can use for a project before or after winter break! 

Websites:
http://yaptime.com/ "YapTime is a free, PRIVATE gathering place for the important GROUPS of people in your life to have discussions, share photos, videos, files and group calendars and to do lists." There is also group email and group polling. This looks like a great site for group work. I really like the group polling feature as well. Try having your students poll each other in French or Spanish and then write about their results in the target language!

class.io | your class everywhere "class.io helps teachers share course resources with students in a simple way. It integrates with Google Apps, Facebook and other web services that teachers and students use." At my school we use Engrade, which I think is a great site, but we also use Gmail. I love that class.io integrates with Google Apps!



Online NotePad "Notepub is the easiest way to manage all of your information". Once signed in, you are presented with an easy to use text editor that is great for student journal entries. This would help teachers to not have to carry around journal notebooks to grade, and save money for teachers that buy journal  notebooks for their students to use. Each note can include images, links and attachments as well as tags to help with searching.


OhLife helps you remember what's happened in your life Once signed up, you receive an email every day asking to reply with your thoughts. If your students have access to the internet at home, this could work for homework assignment journal entries. You could have your students write about a novel they are reading each night, or use it as a formative assessment to have them journal about what they learned in your class that day. Have them journal in French, or Spanish to improve their writing skills!

Collaborative lists, collect and organize information: Knowcase "A fast, easy, and FREE tool for capturing and organizing information". Knowcase would is great for pair work and group work, but can also be used by individuals. On the site students can take notes. I like that they can also "prioritize and hierarchically structure information using drag'n'drop". This might be good for a pre-writing activity or for making outlines. Students can also share their lists with the partner or group members



Popplet | Collect, curate and share your ideas, inspirations "Popplet is a platform for your ideas! It can be used to outline, create mind maps, take notes, and collaborate with others!!". I love that this site is like a virtual graphic organizer! I would be great as a pre-writing activity for research papers, or projects for gathering information on the web. In a French or Spanish class have your students explore a cultural topic or a country and make a Popplet about it. Then they cause use the Popplet to teach their classmates what they learned.




Articles/Blog Posts:

Free Technology for Teachers: Ten Steps to Better Web Research


7 Tips for Overcoming Teacher Burn-Out - Washington, DC, United States, ASCD EDge Blog post

Strategies for Students Who Refuse to Work

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