WordSift: VOICE

What's more powerful than WORDLE or Tagul? What's able to access related images altogether on a single webpage?

Well, it's WordSift, an ELL resource, created by a research team at Stanford University. The image to the right is a representation of the WordSift of my blog post, Tuesday Trait: Voice

This web application was created to enhance student opportunity in learning English, yet WordSift can make a wonderful addition to any classroom, from kindergaten to college. This web application contains various tools you can use to more effectively teach lessons using the strategies discussed and explained in Classroom Instruction That Works: Research Based Instructional Strategies, written by Dr. Robert Marzano and his research team.

Try out WordSift! Only your imagination can limit your uses for this application.

12 Views in Animoto

Using this sample Animoto video as a guide, you may see how to use the Animoto web application to build a video from images and videos. Add your own music, or use the music available on the web application. Twelve images and one video clip were used to create this thirty second video that was packaged for Youtube.



The video you create can represent one part of your Biodiversity presentation and can be transferred to Youtube or other presentation media.

Technology and the Source

Dr.Fifer1863, officially Dr. Jim Beeghley, shared a wonderful posting on technology and primary source photographs. Any teacher who wants to learn more about using technology and primary sources to teach the American Civil War or any other educational topic, should read and learn from his blog. I also would like to direct you to another colleague who teaches using primary sources, Nancy Bosch. Her work in CSI is one of my favorites among her many project ideas.

Many of us are interested in using primary sources in our work and the work of students. I am especially reminded of our friend Nancy Bosch and her excellent work with students as shared with us in A Very Old Place. Many of us would like to use primary sources in teaching our students. We may need a bit of guidance, so I would refer you to Nancy's blog and the efforts of Dr. Jim Beeghley.

Primary sources can be more interesting, and are usually without bias, but not all. Dr. Jim Beeghley explains in his Teaching the Civil War with Technology blog post,Using Photographs from the LOC, that sometimes even primary sources can be flawed when the author inflates or changes the story in some small way.

Some authors of Civil War photographs, including famous ones such as Alexander Gardner, manipulated the scenes to make the photographs more graphic or exceptional. Their view of the "scene" may have been different than we think of today.

Dr. Beeghley provides several excellent ways that you and your students can use modern, available technology to lead "...our students to some analysis of these photos..." He explains how to access the wonderful resources of the Library of Congress photographs and their activities.

These lessons and related activities are ready to roll. I don't think you need to know much about photography or technology to achieve good results in the classroom. Just follow the directions, practice before and then use the tools and guidelines with your students.

Photograph Bibliography:
Photographed by: Barnard, George N. Compiled by:Hirst D. Milhollen and Donald H. Mugridge. Atlanta, Ga. View on Decatur Street, showing Trout House and Masonic Hall. 1864. Selected Civil War Photographs, 1861-1865. 1977. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. No. 0698. March 29, 2009 Electronic address.

BubbleSnaps: Quick and Easy

BubbleSnap was recommended by a colleague in Plurkadia, so I tried it out. Whether you have unlimited time to think of a clever saying to go in the bubble, or you need something NOW, BubbleSnap will work for you.

My colleague used shared how she used BubbleSnap to develop an introductory letter for her students. I think another use would be to develop a captioned BubbleSnap picture to be used as an anticipatory set, questions on a test or any number of other educational ideas.

I downloaded, captioned, emailed, saved and copied my sample BubbleSnap to blog in under 5 minutes. You can also use your Flickr pictures.

BubbleSnap is easy to use, and the steps are very straightforward. You can email, print or blog your BubbleSnap. I recommend it for anyone, but especially for teachers and students.

On a Trip To Peru

Pictures from one of my favorite fossil hunting spots with my best assistant and friends. This area is located in the layer referred to as the Pennsylvanian. Lots of invertebrate fossils, including a variety of clams, coral, and trilobites.

Tip My Hat to Twitter

I took advice from another teacher, @Helenotway, to check out Animoto You can use this website to make videos from pictures and images.

Then add music and Voila! you have a video that you can download, embed or put on YouTube. This is so cool.

This is my first trial, and it took about 30 minutes to complete, from start to finish. Oh, what I can do with this awesome web application. Thanks Helen.

PageFlake Focus on Science

When I locate new science rss feeds, reputable resources, I add them to my public N2Teaching Science PageFlake. Earlier this month, I found websites that relate to Biology, Chemistry, Oceanography, Physics and other sciences. I hope you will take a moment to look over the other rss feeds in my public PageFlake Focus on Science.

Images created are referenced to Joe Landis, of the National Science Foundation. The original websites fed into this Science PageFlake belong to very reliable science research groups who are participating in the US Polar Year 2007-2008. There is an rss feed for the general public, and you can also find several rss feeds intended for teachers.