Some Fun Ways to Use Technology
Prezi
Pro: A new, fun, and creative way for students to make their ideas visual. It can be made to physically demonstrate the point the student is trying to make and as a power-point along with a lecture it is eye catching. It is also free for educators.
Con: It can get too distracting, I have even heard a student say that it makes them sick to watch Prezi's. It can also be distracting from the point of the presentation because they are so much fun to watch and make. Some students get easily confused by the system and find Prezi's difficult to make (and give up) and it ends up taking them more time to create a presentation than it should (thereby turning them off). Educational Benefit: It forces students to think about the bigger picture of their presentation and allows them to use their creativity to visualize their ideas (which helps turn explicit knowledge into implicit). It can also be fun once you get the hang of it and anything that keeps the students engaged is worth a second look. Class Limitations: It requires computer access in the schools for students to create it and it requires some kind of hook up to a monitor for it to be effective as a lecture tool. Table Top Movie Making
Pro: Students get to act out entire plays, create scenes, dress characters and understand what goes into the creation of a play by helping to act one out.
Con: It limits the students to acting out the play through stick figures that don't really move while preventing the learning that takes place simply through acting out scenes. Educational Benefit: This is a great tool for letting students create their own version of a play when schools don't have the accommodations for stage drama or there isn't time in your curriculum. Class Limitations: It is not free and requires a lot of technology (camera, computers, video editing programs, and ability to burn and play the movies for the classroom) which might not be available. Good Reads
Pro:An online bookshelf that you can share like a facebook.
Con: Can be an often slow moving website that glitches and is still in it's early stages of development. Educational Benefit: With good reads students have the ability to create bookshelves, bookclubs, and share beloved quotes. It a way to see what your students have read, explore what you are going to read and create a literary community. Class Limitations: This program requires the internet and computers and for students that have not read very many books and are just beginning to love literature this could be an embarrassing assignment. Wiggo
Pro: You can manage a group calendar, create do-to-lists, poll your group, send out reminders and upload documents all for free.
Con: The program is finicky and sometimes a reminder is sent out but not everyone on your shared calendar will get it. Educational Benefit: Your students will always be able to access a calendar with upcoming homework, assignment dates, and units on it. You can send out reminder e-mails and txts about big assignments over the weekend or over break (summer reading). You can poll your students and upload documents for students that missed class. Class limitations: If your students don't have a home computer or cell phone with an unlimited text plan (they can sign up to not get the txts) than it's main purpose is destroyed. Basically you would be unable to rely on it for getting an assignment out, sending out a lesson changing poll or getting documents to students because you can not be sure that all students have access to a computer. |
Table Top Movie Making in Schools Table Top Movie Making Training for Teachers An Example of a Students Original Movie |
Some Other Helpful Links:
Webpage for MLA Formating Guide - Purdue Owl
Webpage for Creating Citations - Easy Bib
Webpage for Beginning Teachers - Ctteam. org
Webpage for Shakespeare Activities - Stratford Players
Webpage for finding clichés- Westegg.com
Webpage collection of puns- University of Penn
Webpage for creative writing teachers- Poem Starters
Advice for Fiction writers from Fiction writers- Writing World.com
Flash Cards- Quizlet! an amazing webpage that allows students/teachers to create
flash cards, quizzes, movies, spoken vocabulary review and more
Wordle -A toy for making word clouds
Glogster- online poster making
Hello Poetry - platform to share, organize & publish original and classic poetry
Webpage for Creating Citations - Easy Bib
Webpage for Beginning Teachers - Ctteam. org
Webpage for Shakespeare Activities - Stratford Players
Webpage for finding clichés- Westegg.com
Webpage collection of puns- University of Penn
Webpage for creative writing teachers- Poem Starters
Advice for Fiction writers from Fiction writers- Writing World.com
Flash Cards- Quizlet! an amazing webpage that allows students/teachers to create
flash cards, quizzes, movies, spoken vocabulary review and more
Wordle -A toy for making word clouds
Glogster- online poster making
Hello Poetry - platform to share, organize & publish original and classic poetry