Sunday, December 13, 2009

Tagul

I have been experimenting with a tool very similar to Wordle, but find it to be much better. It is called Tagul.

Tagul is a web service that enables you to create beautiful looking tag clouds and embed it on your web page, blog or wiki. This service was created by Alex from Russia who has a passon for technology. Currently the site is in beta form and like alot of services, this one may end up costing a fee in the future. From what I have read, he will charge businesses but is trying to keep it free for nonprofit. But for now, while it is free, take advantage of it.

How is Tagul different from other cloud tags? This service lets you customize your cloud to meet your individual needs. That's what is so cool about it. Tagul will allow you change the font and color of individual words. It will also let you create various shapes as well as rotate the the words if you like. The the neatest feature of all, is that each word in your tag cloud can be linked to a website. For example: by default all words in the cloud you create are linked to Google's search page about that particular topic. So, if blogging is one of your words in your tag cloud, then when you clicked on blogging, it would take you to Google's search engine results page yielding additional links for you to learn about blogging.  If you don't want to use the default, you can customize it to whatever page you desire, like your delicious bookmarks. If you really wanted to get creative, create a website with all the links to the desired sites you want your students to use for research and link your tagul to it. Give it a try, I think you will be just as impressed with this tool as I am.

Writing Prompts for A Christmas Carol

I was reading about writing prompts the other day on TeachHUB website. The first lesson I discovered was for Disney's A Christmas Carol. This lesson started out by having your students watch the movie trailer, then offered various curriculum ideas for grades K-2, 3-5, and 6-12.
Here are some of their suggestions.
For K-2: Pretend your school has a ghost. What is his or her name? What does he/she look like? Draw the ghost and write his/her name under it.
For 3-5: First, put three columns on your paper and label them "past," "present" and "future." Then, write 5 action verbs that you "do" during the holidays.  In each column, write the verb in proper tense (past, present or future).
For 6-12:  Disney wants to release a sequel to A Christmas Carol. Describe three new ghosts they could create for Scrooge's next story. (9-12) Write a one-page pitch to persuade Disney to use your plot for the sequel.
Thanks to TeachHub for great curriculum ideas

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Flickr Storm

Just the other day a colleague of mine shared a website that I feel will benefit classrooms in a tremendous way. Many times teachers require their students to incorporate photos into their class projects but are worried  that they won't be able to find any or they could possibly stumble across ones that are inappropriate. This is where Flickr Storm can help.

To begin, you will need to type in the topic/subject for the photos you need. For example I typed in Washington Monument. Then the website will yield photos that fall into this category. Next, click on the bottom button on the left-hand side of your screen and your tray will open. When you find a photo you would like to add to your tray, simply like on the photo and a larger size will appear on the right. You can then open it up in Flickr, add to your tray and some photos you can download. Once you have all the photos you need, simply click the download and link to your tray button and a new window will open called your Flickr Storm Photo Set. You will then be able to see the link to this photo set that you can copy and paste into your website or add to your delicious or diigo site. These photo sets will stay available as long as Flickr itself. Make as many as you need, store the address and you will be ready to go next time your students need easy access to a collection of photos in a safe environment.

Check out one of my trays.....Washington Monument

Note: Some photos are copyrighted and a message will appear stating you must contact the photographer and ask about rights.

Drop.io

What is Drop.io and how can I use it in my classroom?

Drop.io is a free online collaboration and file sharing service. It is provides users a private way to collaborate on a project by allowing the sharing of audio, video, images, documents and other digital content. It is called drops because the unique user can create and share points "drops". You have the ability to upload content via the web, e-mail, phone, and fax inputs. It can also be shared through various outputs like web, e-mail, iTunes, fax, and more.

This tool does not require registration and each drop is non-searchable and non-networked in which each can be password-protected. For the free service, the user/guest has a 100 mb storage limit, the creator can give out a guest password and then decide what options the guest user will have such as being able to add files, delete them, download, or even comment. The length this stays active will be determined by the creator.

Educational Uses: I see this tool being implemented in the classroom as a way to collaboratively work on an online project with another class in another part of the country. For example: I have a teacher who teaches a unit on migration. Currently she is corresponding with a class in Italy via e-mail, but with this tool, they could interact in real time discussing and addressing the objectives and/or essential questions the students seek to learn from one another. Each class could get immediate feedback or access to relevant information about each other's country's similarities and differences in migration patterns.

This would even be useful within your own school building or district. Teachers could set up a drop for students to access important documents/paperwork/ missed homework assignments, or even for students to
add their homework assignments.

Another way for using this tool would be if you have family that lives in another part of the country or state, you could share photos or videos in a secure private setting. You could also coordinate group trips by creating a quick space where everyone can share travel plans and photos in real time. Or by making this a true private blogging space or journal you can share your thoughts and family information safely.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Artsonia - Just another online gallery or not?


I ran across an article by Theresa McGee discussing the use of Artsonia in the classroom. She is an art teacher that uses this online environment as a place to showcase her student's artwork. This gives students an opportunity to not only share their artwork with friends and family but the world. After reading a bit, I decided to investigate it some more.

So what is Artsonia? It is the world's largest online are museum. A place for student's creativity to soar. The beauty of this site, is that it will store work forever. Your post will never expire. The artwork stays online forever. If a someday a 2nd grade student wants to show his/her artwork to his/her children, it will be possible. Another nice feature is the parental control. If someone leaves a comment, then the student's parent is notified for approval.

This site also has a store which will allow friends and family to purchase items displaying the student's artwork. An added benefit is the school will receive 15% of all sales. If you are not sure how to get started, this site even provides you with the important documents such as: how to get started,  parental permission forms, benefits as well as a certificate in recognition of the student whose work is being published.

Setting up an account is simple. First find your school, add your name and email, choose a password, and finally agree to the terms. Then your ready to being sharing your student's work via the web. So what are you waiting for?  Give it a try...... I believe this would be a great movitator for students to excel in the area of art.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Online Visual Storybooks

Last week I talked about integrating comics into the curriculum as a good way to help encourage lower level readers as well as a great motivator and tool to help engage all types of students.


Today I ran across a website that allows students to create visual stories to share with friends and families called Storybird. Due to the design of the site, it is geared more towards elementary but I could see anyone enjoying using it. You will have to register, but it is free. Stories are created by choosing either a theme or artist's drawings. It's as simple as dragging and dropping the chosen image onto the page in the book. When finished, you can choose how you want it published, either public or private.

Classroom Application: 
This site allows students to take the drawing aspect out of it so they can focus on their writing. By being able to publish this to the web, others can then leave a comment. Since this site allows for collaboration, I could see a class that has a penpal, work together to create several books to share. This would allow the students to get someone else's perspective and their creativity could blossom.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Comics in the Classroom

For the past year or two, I have been reading about the use of comics in the classroom. Comics are a great way to get students interested in reading and writing. Comics usually include character, setting and plot. Because this is a condensed form of writing it helps them to focus on the main points. Whatever you decide to use these for, the students will enjoy them as well as develop better reading and writing skills.

Here are a few online comic creator websites that I have been experimenting with: The first one is free and it is called pikistrips. The creators also have another site but geared towards a younger audience called pikikids. Both have the same interface and are easy to use. Both sites will allow your students to do the following: create a one cell strip all the way up to a nine cell strip, change the color of the border, cell and background if you desire, upload your own pictures then you can add special effects to it. You can also add clip art to your photo like glasses or a new crazy hair style. Next you can add your dialog. Just have fun with it. When you are finished creating your comic, you can save it to your account (must be a registered user). At this point you must decide if you wish to make the comic public or private. If you choose to make it public then everyone can see it as well as comment on it. This would make a great visual literacy activity or use as a gallery of student work that could be added to their blog or website. The uses are limitless. You can also print or email them to friends and family.

I like both of these sites, but the biggest draw back is that anyone can post anything publicly, which means students could stumble upon questionable material, so you might want to use some precautions when using this site. Keep in mind you only need to register once because you can have multiple logins.

The next comic creator website I discovered was makebeliefscomixs. This site gives you the option of choosing comic characters, adding minor effects and dialog. This site also gives you the print/email option. You won't be able to save these like you could if you were using the piki site. Ideas that the author gives for creating comics are things like: telling your life story, traveling to a mysterious place, making wishes come true, a day at work/school, create a new song or a new fairy tale. Just use your imagination.

Another site that might interest some of you is the Pixton for schools, this site does cost which is around $1.00 per person per month. "Pixton is officially accredited SMART™ Board interactive whiteboard 'Ready'". The nice feature about Pixton is it offers a "private virtual classroom".

Artisan Cam The Super Action Comic Maker is a free comic strip maker which has a super hero theme. You create a comic strip, send it to the gallery for others to view or print it.

I also used toondoo, as it was a free service, but just recently they now have a fee for use. This site had comic type characters you added to your cells in which you could add backgrounds, props, effects, text, etc.

Comiqs is another free site. Currently it is in beta form and I have noticed some problems with accessing certain features, but don't let this stop you from experimenting with it. I like the interface and the ease of use is a nice feature.

Welcome to my blog. I will be sharing some resources on technology tools that can be integrated into your curriculum. Please feel free to comment or make suggestion. Hope you enjoy and find some new tools to help you implement technology with your students.