Yesterday afternoon, I had a long conversation with a friend who is excited about moving into a new school in which all of her students will have iPads. One of the things that we talked about was the challenge of getting teachers to use iPads for more than just "drill and kill" types of activities. To that end, I pointed my friend to Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano's blog where I had just seen her post titled What the iPad Is and What It Isn't. It
In addition to reading What the iPad Is and What It Isn't I recommend looking at Silvia's entire collection of presentations about iPads. If this school year is the first time that your students will have iPads in your classroom, scroll through I have iPads in the Classroom, Now What? You may also find iPads in Education - Examples from the Classroom to be a good source of direction for you and your colleagues.
Showing posts with label Langwitches. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Langwitches. Show all posts
Monday, September 2, 2013
Friday, February 22, 2013
Spark Your Students' Imaginations With Wonderopolis
Wonderopolis is a fantastic site that I learned about through Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano's current series of blog posts about embedding visuals into teaching and learning. Wonderopolis currently offers nearly 900 "wonder" prompts. The prompts cover topics in science, social studies, mathematics, and language arts. Each of the prompts includes a short article, a video, an image or two, and links to additional readings. Learn more about Wonderopolis in the video below.
Wonderopolis from NCFL on Vimeo.
Applications for Education
Wonderopolis could be a great resource to prompt a research lesson or discussion in your classroom. You could include Wonderopolis in a lesson on web research by asking students to pick one of the "wonders" to research in more depth.
Wonderopolis offers an option for teachers and students to submit a "wonder" of their own. You could have your students work together to create a wonder to submit to Wonderopolis. Ask them to create a wonder about something unique to where they live. Perhaps a unique plant, historical landmark, or geographic feature could be the focus of their wonders.
You can put Wonderopolis on your school or classroom blog by using the Wonderopolis daily wonder widget.
Wonderopolis from NCFL on Vimeo.
Applications for Education
Wonderopolis could be a great resource to prompt a research lesson or discussion in your classroom. You could include Wonderopolis in a lesson on web research by asking students to pick one of the "wonders" to research in more depth.
Wonderopolis offers an option for teachers and students to submit a "wonder" of their own. You could have your students work together to create a wonder to submit to Wonderopolis. Ask them to create a wonder about something unique to where they live. Perhaps a unique plant, historical landmark, or geographic feature could be the focus of their wonders.
You can put Wonderopolis on your school or classroom blog by using the Wonderopolis daily wonder widget.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
A Nice Guide to iPad App Evaluation
There are plenty of places to find reviews of iPad apps, but how do you decide which ones are right for you and your students? Silvia Tolisano has some suggestions for you. Silvia recently published a nice guide for evaluating iPad apps. The guide walks you through six themes of the selection process before concluding with a checklist that you can use when it is time to choose apps for your classroom. Click here to read Silvia's full description of the guide. Click here to download the guide as a PDF.
iPad App Evaluation for the Classroom
iPad App Evaluation for the Classroom
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Vodburner - Free Skype Call Recording

Applications for Education
Skype is a great tool for connecting classrooms to each other and bringing other visitors into your classroom from anywhere in the world. Recording your Skype call allows you to reuse the conversation and information in the call. For some ideas about using Skype in your classroom visit Skype an Author or watch the following video about Silvia Tolisano's Around the World With Skype project.
Around the World with Skype from langwitches on Vimeo.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Skype Introduces Group Calling

It's important to note that Skype's five way calling is a beta product so you might run into some bugs. Skype also reports that five way calling will require a relatively new computer and a fast, uncluttered Internet connection.
Applications for Education
Classrooms participating in programs like Around the World in 80 Schools, could benefit from five way calling in Skype. Now more classrooms can connect in less time. Perhaps in the future we'll see Around the World in 800 Schools.
If Skype isn't an option for you, you may want to explore 3 Ways Other than Skype to Bring Experts Into Class.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
How to Track Topics With Google Alerts

Google Alerts is a great tool for tracking your name online, tracking work you've posted online, and tracking the topics in you have an interest. You can create a Google Alert for any search term(s) you like. Once you've established an alert, you can choose to have Google send you an email anytime your chosen terms appear online. Alternatively, you can choose to have your alerts delivered to your Google Reader account.
The image below outlines how to create Google Alerts.
(click to enlarge)

Applications for Education
Google Alerts can be a great way to find resources you can use in your classroom. For example, if you're a mathematics teacher, set up an alert for "mathematics lessons" or "mathematics games" and new content will be delivered to you. In a course that requires students to share current events stories, Google Alerts could be useful for students to track stories on a particular news topic.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
An Awesome Free Guide to Digital Storytelling

Digital Storytelling Tools for Educators also provides a good explanation of digital storytelling in general and the benefits of using digital storytelling in your classroom. You can download the ebook for free on Lulu. You can also purchase a paperback copy of the book for $8.50. I think $8.50 is too low of a price because I bet most people would happily pay twice that price.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Langwitches Blogging Unit Available As a Download

Thursday, May 15, 2008
Stimulate Imagination with Books and Google Maps Combo
Applications for Education
Using Google Maps in the manner that Silvia has could be a great way for a literature class to track the books they read throughout the year. With Google Maps' new "explore this area" feature students can quickly find more information about the geographic settings of the stories they read. Students could also add a short summary or review of the books they read right on a Google Map placemark.
Another method of using Google Maps alongside literature is to have students create maps of a character's travels in a story. Students could also create a map of an author's life on a Google Map.
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