Monthly Archives: November 2009
Timers in the Classroom
Below you will find a list of timers that I have used in my classroom. I really feel privileged to have a smartboard in the classroom where I can use all these tools.
Class Tools Timer (Classtools.net)
Sandfields Timer (games@sandfields.co.uk) You need to download the counter in your computer. You will find several very intersting games for your classroom.
Classroom Timer You will find a wide variety of times. All of them need to be downloaded.
Santa Claus welcomes you
Thanks to a tweet by @ShellTerrell I discovered this nice tool to make a recording from Santa for children. My daughter was thrilled to listen to Santa!!
Thank you Santa!!!!
Using Interactive Whiteboards
A beginner´s Guide to IWB
Interactive Whiteboads are a phenomenal tool. Have you ever heard about them before? Did you know that most school in the UK have one in their classroom? According to an organization named Futuresource Consulting, one in seven classrooms in the world will have interactive whiteboards by the year 2011.
There are many different brand names:
SMART Board,Promethean, eBeam, Mimio, and Webster are some of the most widely used.
They replace the traditional blackboard or whiteboard. In Argentina most schools still use chalk therefore this new board is really a big step towards integrating technology in the classroom.
Two months ago I was hired by a school in the Northern Area of Buenos Aires. They were really interested that I knew how to use Interactive Whiteboards because they had one 4 year in the school basement!!!!
A new journey started. I took a course long time ago and had to refresh my knowledge. Luckily with the advent of the web 2.0 we can nowadays become autonomous learners. The biggest advantage of being a networked teacher is that with a great webhead Joao Alves we are both investigating and learning how to integrate IWB in our daily teaching. Therefore we created a wiki to jot down our discoveries. Please join us in this conversation by joining our wiki.
Why do teachers love Smartboard? Check this wall wisher.
Listen to this inspiring podcast on how different teachers discuss the advantages and disadvantages of IWB.
http://www.whiteboardblog.co.uk/2009/11/whiteboard-debate-online/
News stories in Photographs
Have you ever thought about looking at news stories in photographs? The boston.com offers this possibility to its readers.
Below you will find an example.
Next week I will show some of these pictures to my students on the Smartboard. They must guess what news story is being told with the photograph. A great activity to enhance writing skills and their imagination!!!!
Mindmapping for teachers
My 12 hour teacher training course at Essarp finishes on Monday. Therefore I have been looking for online mindmapping tools for the classrrom. Jesper Isaksson created a wonderful mindmapping chart called ” E-learning and Web 2.0 tools for schools” . He used Mindomo that is a web-based tool to collaborate and create mind maps online.
Maria H. Anderse created a wonderful mindmap on “Teaching & Learning in the Digital Age“.
Other online mindmapping tools to explore include:
Web Donations
This year we used a private Ning with my students. In one of the blog posts I added different ways to learn vocabulary. I shared with them the website Free Rice. They really liked it!!!
Take a look at some comments.
They started to investigate other Web donations websites and compiled this long list.
Donations: Only 1 click
http://clicknfeed.t35.com/searchtoaid.php
http://clicknfeed.t35.com/charitii.php
http://clicknfeed.t35.com/charityfusion.php
http://clicknfeed.t35.com/neoaid.php
http://clicknfeed.t35.com/freerice.php
– Free Rice
http://clicknfeed.t35.com/freeflour.php
– Libre Pan
http://clicknfeed.t35.com/freepoverty.php
– Lotes de agua libre!
http://clicknfeed.t35.com/helpthirst.php
– Libre agua
http://clicknfeed.t35.com/bhook.php
- Solo Clic!
http://clicknfeed.t35.com/givingbutton.php
- Solo Clic!
Dar
http://clicknfeed.t35.com/smallthingschallenge.php
25 centavos GRATIS!
http://clicknfeed.t35.com/pajacyk.php
- Haga clic en el botón verde!
http://clicknfeed.t35.com/ripple.php
- Solo Clic!
http://clicknfeed.t35.com/feedsa.php
– Haga clic en el botón blanco!
http://clicknfeed.t35.com/hungerfighters.php
– Haga clic en el cuadro verde!
Google Wave Presentation
Do you want to learn how to use Google Wave? If your answer is yes you can´t miss the presentation Martin Nostrala will give on Google Wave.
When: Sunday, November 15
At the same time webheads meet every Sunday. 12 GMT
Check your local time for this event in this link.
Where: At Elluminate. Please remember that you will need to have your own Elluminate account.
Using Elluminate
Elluminate is graciously provided to the Webheads as a professional courtesy by Learning Times (
http://learningtimes.org
).
Vance has already registered the session at
http://my.calendars.net/eslhome_conferen
If this is your first time using Elluminate please follow these steps:
1. Join or Log in at
http://tinyurl.com/y3eh
2. Click the big green ENTER button.
Warm regards
Jennifer
Social Networking 2009 Online Conference: a big success!
Closing Words for this Conference
I am very happy with the success of this Conference. Not only we were very delighted to have our guest speakers who made this Virtual Event a special and unique one, but we also had forum sessions that were quite attractive and lively on very interesting topics. I hope you leave this Virtual Conference with the idea that we are connected to the world and that we want to maintain the channel open to learn together how to integrate technology into our language classrooms.
We are delighted that there have been 672 participants from all continents registered in the Social Networking: Thriving as a community of practice Virtual Conference forums in moodle. During the numerous online presentations several key concepts have been shared and conversations are still carrying on in our Forums.
I would especially thank all our guest speakers and everybody who gave so much of their time and their capabilities to organize the conference: AVEALMEC and ARCALL members, moderators and the technical supporting team.
Among the key concepts, Etienne challenged us by introducing a key concept that will certainly help us understand how technology needs to meet the communities of practice needs and his members would need to become “Technology stewards in order to have enough experience of the workings of a community to understand its technology needs, and enough experience with or interest in technology to take leadership in addressing those needs. Stewarding typically includes selecting and configuring technology, as well as supporting its use in the practice of the community.” We also need to remember Siemens´words “the limits we´ve known in the past are no longer limits” and Vance`s ones “Knowledge dissimenates through communities and networks”.
I would like to finish with a combination of Nik and Nicky Hockly`s talk “Teachers are like sharks. If they don´t move forward, they die.” Let`s keep moving in this wired and socially connected world.
I cannot close without thanking all of you again who have participated in this conference. We hope you have enjoyed this conference as much as we did. Looking forward to continue learning and sharing together in several social networks.
Teadira Pérez President of AVEALMEC
Jennifer Verschoor President of ARCALL
