It’s always important to remember that our students listening skills are in need of constant development. I’m a huge fan of Listenwise and Flocabulary, but I recently came across the app, Leela Kids. The app is full of podcasts organized by age group. These podcasts are organized by age group and by category.
English/Language Arts
Emoji Madness
Emoji Pics Composer
Emojis are ubiquitous. Even Duolingo has a emoji course. They are a modern take on hieroglyphics that give learners the ability to communicate their feelings and understandings VISUALLY.
Here are three ways to utilize EMOJIS in your classroom:
- Telling stories- Including stories during writing is magical especially if students blog regularly. Emojis can be accessed through the keyboards on mobile devices and with hotkeys on computers. Using apps like TextingStory, will allow students to write including emojis in a very fluid way.
- Health Checks- Emojis are great to display quickly how one is feeling. Using them to determine how students feel at different points of a lesson or a day can be both impactful and fun. Apps like Assembly, Emoji Me , and Emojify=You + Emoji , allow students to customize their emojis to insane levels.
- Exit Tickets- As aforementioned, emojis are visual. They are so concise. Leveraging these allows one the ability to create exit tickets that can be created quickly, delivered quickly, and assessed quickly. Emojis are versatile enough to be used in any program or app that allows access to the keyboard. In addition, tools like Emoji Pics Composer, gives one the ability to create a visual timeline of learning that can be turned in at the end of the lesson.
Interland: Internet Safety
image via Interland
Interland is Google’s new tool to teach children about internet safety. You take the role of an explorer trying to avoid phishing attacks and being a good navigator of the internet. It’s aesthetically pleasing and game based as well. Looks like Google has a hit on it’s hands. I’m already integrating it into my first month’s lesson plans!
DESIGN.
Kung-Fu Kenny inspires us so we had to drop some heat. Channelling our inner K.Dot, this project is an explanation of design thinking in our view. You can take a look at the project by visiting here or download it by visiting our Gumdrop shop.
Follow up: Follow up
Last episode, I talked about inboxing.
Once you have the list of all the things rattling around in your brain, you have to sort through it. Set aside an hour or so the first time you do it so that you’re not rushed.
The #1 rule is NOTHING GOES BACK IN THE INBOX.
This isn’t like going through Grandma’s attic where you can just put something back once you’ve touched it. If you look at an item, it gets dealt with in one of four ways.
DO
If it can be done in less than 2 minutes, do it right now.
DELEGATE
Can you or should you assign the task to someone else? Then, compose an email, make a call, send a text and let that person know. Record who was delegated the task and make a clear deadline with deliverables.
Example: Janine, Will you please contact Moore’s Ice Cream Parlor about providing ice cream for the Harvest Festival by Wednesday morning’s committee meeting? We will need to know how they charge and a ball park figure based on their rates for the 3 hours of the Harvest Festival. You’ll be sharing with the committee on Wednesday. Contact me if you have any further questions.
DEFER
Don’t need to do it right now? Set the due date to one week from now and check in on it again then.
DELETE
Things have changed or the deadline passed, delete the item so it’s not taking up valuable list real estate.
There you have it. How to deal with the inbox list. The first time it might take a while. However, you should spend 5-10 minutes at the end of the day reviewing your inbox and you’ll find it will go faster and faster.
Increased Apptitude: TextingStory
APP
TextingStory is an app that allows one to simulate a text conversation between two parties.
Price
TextingStory is free with the resulting video containing a watermark from the app. If you’d like to get rid of it, there’s a $4.99 fee.
Uses
The app can be applied in a number ways.
- Exit tickets
- practicing dialogue
- interviewing experts
- book reports
- explaining processes
- add to larger projects
In a box
Inboxing.
Dumping all those thoughts that bang around in your head out into a place.
It could be an analog place like a dedicated notebook (bujo anyone?) or a collection of sticky notes affixed to your desk or monitor.
It could be a digital dumping ground like Omnifocus, Habitica, or Todoist. Maybe even the good old reminders or notes app or a cloud solution like Google tasks or keep.
What matters is that you do it consistently.
To the same place anytime you think of something. Then, you revisit that list. That is for another post though.
Choose your weapon right now.
Paper and pen will do.
Write down everything rattling around in your head no matter how big or small.
Great job.
Now grab some hot chocolate and watch some Hulu.
Increased Apptitude: VixT
Video Mashups are fun. You see them ubiquitously strewn throughout social media spaces. They make us laugh. They make us think. They make us want to create one. Why not use them in your classroom for instructional purposes? VixT allows you to do just that easily on your iOS or Android device.
Having students create video mash up poems, exit tickets, or answers to questions could add a little extra spice to lessons with minimal investment.
Need help getting started? Check out their Youtube Channel!
Anchor Yourself
You came back!
I’m excited you’re here.
Let’s talk anchor charts.
Why are they good practice?
They reference processes, procedures, and concepts.
They are easily accessible.
How would going digital extend their effectiveness?
They would be accessible when kids (and you) are not in the classroom.
They won’t get damaged or lost.
They can be remixed.
What tools would you use to build them?
Powerpoint/Keynote/Slides
Try one of those. Tomorrow.
Build one chart. Take something you already made and make it digital. Don’t feel like it has to be brand new.
Oh and good job today. You nailed it.
Dynamic Duo(Book)
Though the selection of text is a bit scant at the moment, this app has some serious potential. Duobook allows you to alternate between reading a story and having it read to you.
The only real impediment to use in a classroom is that one must create an account via a phone number. This could potentially complicate the use of the app in a K-8 classroom as I’m unsure at this point the maximum number of devices one (the teacher) can be logged into at once. In addition, the stories have to be downloaded which could present issues for 16gb devices.
Overall, it’s a solid product that would only get better with more offerings, especially those geared toward early readers.
Intelligent Hoodlums 