Take Teaching to the Next Level
Where Microscope and Mouse Meet
Connecting to a Global Community of Educators
Matt’s Media Tips 11-14 Things I Stole from Our Community
Ok maybe “stole” is a bit of an exaggeration but I like the title. As you know I am part of the Discovery Educator Network (DEN) which is a global community of educators supporting one another by sharing best practices both online and in person. This community is inclusive, free to join, dynamic, meets in-person and online, and maintains an absolute treasure trove of ideas. The number of things that I have learned from the DEN are...well let’s just say that there isn’t enough space on this page. I always include a link to the DEN on the second page. Go ahead, take a gander and click on the link that says “What is a DEN Star Member?” Welcome back! What did you learn? A lot right? I told you that you would. So I thought it would be cool today to share with you some of the tips, tricks, and ideas that I have learned from the DEN Community. Wordle.Net to create new tags for your room door I saw our Vice President, Lance Rougeux, share this idea in a session (Lance learned of this idea from his wife - a six grade teacher). I love this idea for it’s simplicity and creativity. Wordle creates a graphic image/word cloud from text that is entered into its interface. The more frequently a word is used, the bigger it will appear in the Wordle image. Lance explained that right about now the door tag outside of his wife’s classroom door was getting a bit ragged. Using that word cloud principle, Martha simply entered her room number three or four times and then entered her students into Wordle. She then printed out the image that Wordle created and hung it outside her door!
Good Google-ly Moogle-ly • A Google A Day (agoogleaday.com) - a great tool to validate information and hone research skills. • Google Earth to explore four different countries and their folktales using Discovery Education clips and Glogster - wow! Click here to download the Google Earth .KMZ file. • A Social Media, Global Connections and You Expository Writing Prompt - way cool. • Google Safe Search - SafeSearch for Kids is the child friendly search engine where safe search is always 'on', powered by Google. The safe browsing feature allows your kids to safely surf the web with a much lower risk of accidentally seeing illicit material.
What is a DEN Star Member?
Discovery Education Webinar Schedule Dates
Animoto.com
TED
This weekend I learned that Animoto.com has an app that is formatted for the iPhone and, by extension, the iPad. If you haven’t had a chance to play with Animoto you should and here’s why. Animoto will convert images stored on your device (computer, iPhone, iPad, iTouch, etc) into very cool professionallooking movies. And here’s the best part - it is super easy and engaging!
Their tagline says it all - “Ideas worth spreading.” So I’m doing my part and am spreading the word about TED.
How could you use this in the classroom? 1. Highlight group work and/or a field trip 2. Use as an activator before a lesson 3. Use as a unique way to assess students after a lesson. For example; after teaching a concept, have your students show that they have synthesized information by creating their own images and/or combine them with images from Discovery Education to create a video that explains or expands upon the concept. Here are some great examples
Initially the non-profit organization was created to celebrate and share best practices and innovative thought in technology, entertainment and design.
Time (EST)
11/14
7pm - 8pm
Discovery Education Science 101 This webinar provides an overview of the Discovery Education Science for Elementary service.
11/15
7pm - 8pm
Discovery Education and Bring Your Own Devices: Learning Gone Mobile. Join us as we explore techniques for building a mobile learning toolkit powered by Discovery Education content.
11/15
7pm - 8pm
Reading and Writing in Science using Discovery Education SCIENCE TECHBOOK Educators will understand how the Discovery Education’s SCIENCE TECHBOOK helps students to analyze and write about their understanding of the science concepts
11/16
8pm - 9pm
November Seasonal Science Stream: Holiday Lights Spectacular - A lesson on on electricity. Join us for a webinar where we will share lesson resources to prepare your students for the Seasonal Science Stream broadcast taking place on November 30, 2011 at 1pm ET.
However; it has morphed to include fantastic examples of education, poetry, art, science and more. The TED Talks app includes short (usually less than 5 minutes) talks that often explore the intersection of technology, education, entertainment and more. They are phenomenal, inspirational and I highly recommend you check them out! Here is one of my favorites: Sir Ken Robinson- Bring on the Learning Revolution!
Link