Monthly Archives: June 2010
Top 100 technology blogs for teachers
OnlineDegrees created an annual list of the Top 100 Technology Blogs for Teachers. I feel really honored to have my blog added to this list because there there are so many wonderful educational blogs of most of the teachers I daily follow, admire and learn to become a better teacher.
Using Flickr in Education
The presence of visual elements in today’s teaching and learning is increasing as the integration of images and visual presentations with text in textbooks, instructional manuals, classroom presentations, and computer interfaces broadens (Benson, 1997; Branton, 1999; Dwyer 1999)
The use of images in teaching and learning makes most students react positively. Everybody can get different things out of images. How can we embrace visual enhancements in instruction? Flickr is an online photo management and sharing application that allows educators to play with many different tools.
Let´s take a look at some of the visual possibilities we can include in our teaching scenarios.
FlickrStorm - a website where you can find creative common copyrighted photos and create a tray of photos you choose.
Flickr Toys - a website where you can create trading cards, movie posters, picture cubes and lots more with your photographs
Flickr Related Tag Viewer - a website that offers ideas of other tag words for the word that you type in.
Searching tools that use Flickr
Compfight Find and share Creative Commons images with this tools.
Flickr Storm Search on Flickr with some magic.
FlickRiver A great search option to view photos quickly and easily, in one seamless “river of photos” view. Browse images by group, by tag word, by user and by place.
World Cup teaching themes using Flickr images
Bubblr Is a very simple and easy website. Drag speech bubbles onto the photo and add text. Students have to describe their favourite football player.
Big Huge Labs This website allows you to create several things with your Flickr images and even the images uploaded from your own computer.
My students used the following options:
Imagine that the World cup has just finished. Create a magazine cover informing who won the world cup.
Create your World cup billboard
Create a map with the countries that are participating in the World cup
Add special effects to the picture of your favourite football player
Turn words into pictures Write down the name and last name of a famous football player. This application will turn the words into letter pictures from Flickr cc library.
Other applications that use Flickr images
Picnik This online editing tools allow you to use your Flickr photos to edit them and add special effects. No registration required and you can save your edited picture into Flickr.
Splashr Search for Flickr images via tags, user ID, photo set ID or email address. The result obtained can be embedded to another site.
Retrievr Sketch a shape and then explore Flickr images that have similar shapes and colours.
Fastr Nice game to guess the tags of the different pictures shown.
Check this flickr image to see what esle you can do with flickr.
Teaching parts of the house using games
Purpose games makes learning fun. There are four games to revise the types of houses, the types of rooms & furniture.
Using Flashcards
Free ESL Flashcards: Rooms in a house.
Mes English: Offers two sets of flashcards.
Crosswords
Create you own crossword http://www.puzzle-maker.com/CW/index.htm
Printables
Teaching spelling to young learners
Too much that is known about how to teach spelling isn’t being put into practice. I can think of no subject we teach more poorly or harbor more myths about than spelling.—Richard Gentry, 1987
Teaching spelling has always been a concern for most teachers. Nowadays in the day-to-day change that occurs in education we are able to involve students in their our spelling using different Web 2.0 tools. They become autonomous learners and acquire spelling skills through games and they can even create their own spelling games.
Find below a list of different website to enhance spelling and feel free to use them with your young learners.
Spelling Time: Offers two different ways to learn spelling. The Spelling Program where you learn, practice and test your own word list and LiveSpelling Bee with word lists by grade level. Grade 3 and up.
Spelling City Create your own spelling list and allow students to choose from the great variety of games. Grade 1 and up.
Interactive games and activities: Choose from a wide variety of online games to enhance spelling.
Spelling Wizard: Enter 10 words to study. This websites offers to possibility to create Spelling Scramble or a Word Search. Grade 2 and up.
Everglades Spelling: Students must choose the animal they want to race with and they must figure out the missing letter. Grade 4 and up.
Kid Safari: Create your own game using only 8 letter words. Choose the game level and use the arrows to move the boy with the balloon towards the correct letter.
Steller Speller: Take a look at the picture and spell it. Grade 2 and up.
Spelling Connections: Choose three different ways to improve spelling. Spelling and Thinking, Spelling and Writing, Spelling and Reading.
Language Arts Spell it!: Offers a wide collection of spelling websites.
When it comes to spelling there are students that are great spellers. Take a look at some wonderful online examples on how to use different Web 2.0 tools to teach spelling.
Create your own spelling activities with Quia. Take a look at 5th grade spelling activities using Quia.
Edugloster spelling Alphabet.
Use Voki to help your students spell.
Make your students add the new words they are able to spell in a Wallwisher.
How are you teaching spelling? Are you using Web 2.0 tools to motivate your students?
