Tag: lists

A digital story is a series of images connected with text and/or a narrated soundtrack — captured by a digital device such as an iPad or smartphone — that tell a story. It can be fiction, non-fiction, narrative, biographic, expository, or even poetry. Think of Ken Burns’ The Civil War, or Colin Low’s City of Gold. Because of its multimedia approach and appealing blend of text, color, movement, sound, and images, it has fast become one of the most popular writing exercises in schools.

According to Center for Digital Storytelling, there are seven elements critical to a good digital story:

1. Point of View — What is the perspective of the author?
2. Dramatic Question — A key question that keeps the viewer’s attention and will be answered by the end of the story.
3. Emotional Content — Serious issues that come alive in a personal and powerful way and connects the audience to the story.
4. Voice — personalize the story with the author’s unique writing style to help the audience understand the context.
5. Soundtrack — Music or other sounds that support and embellish the story.
6. Economy — Using just enough content to tell the story without overloading the viewer.
7. Pacing — The rhythm of the story and how slowly or quickly it progresses.

These elements are the goal and may not be included in the first digital story written by a kindergartner, but by middle school, using the vast swath of multimedia tools available in digital storytelling, students will have no problem including all elements.

Writing a digital story includes five basic steps:

1. Research the topic so you are clear on presentation.
2. Write a script, a storyboard, or a timeline of activities.
3. Collect the required multimedia parts — text, images, audio, video, oral selfies, and more.
4. Combine everything into an exciting story.
5. Share and reflect on the completed story.

These five steps are stepping stones for beginners and critical to experienced storytellers.

There are so many online options for digital storytelling, rarely is there a student who can’t find a webtool that fits their communication style. Here are nine of the most popular. Try them all and then let students pick the one that works best for them:

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Here are ten of the top grammar/word study/vocabulary tips according to Ask a Tech Teacher readers:

• Website Review: Grammarly
• 3 Apps to Combat Grammar Faux Pas
• 50 Sites to Add Rigor and Authenticity to Word Study
• Monday Freebies #32: Color my Grammar
• #32: How to Use Art to Teach Grammar
• Weekend Website #91: 16 Word Study Websites for 2nd Grade
• Dear Otto: How do I teach vocabulary?
• 5 Sure-fire Ways to Teach Vocabulary
• Weekend Website #92: 43 Language Arts Websites for 3rd Grade
• 50 Word Study Websites

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Here are the top ten problem-solving tips according to Ask a Tech Teacher readers:

• Tech Tip #108: Got a Tech Problem? Google It!
• What to do when your Computers Don’t Work
• 25 Techie Problems Every Student Can Fix–Update
• How to Teach Students to Solve Problems
• I Can Solve That Problem…
• Let Students Learn From Failure
• Let’s Talk About Habits of Mind
• Computer Shortkeys That Streamline Your Day
• #81: Problem Solving Board
• 5 Ways to Cure Technophobia in the Classroom

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Memorial Day is the time we remember all of those soldiers (and anyone in the Armed Forces) who gave their lives in the defense of American freedom. In war and peace, they made the ultimate sacrifice, and because of them we are privileged to live the American Dream.

Once a year, we honor them, their sacrifice, and those they left behind. Here are some activities to help students understand the import of this day:

1. Folding the American flag
2. In Flanders Field--poem
3. Memorial Day Messages, Speeches, Oaths, Poems, Anthems, and images
4. Memorial Day Poems
5. Memorial Day Poetry–poems
6. Memorial Day Prayer
7. Memorial Day puzzle I
8. Memorial Day Puzzle II
9. Memorial Day DigitPuzzle
10. Memorial Day Quiz
11. Memorial Day Word Search
12. Primary source recollections of War
13. Quotes about Memorial Day/Wars
14. Remember our Warriors
15. Who you are remembering–Americans killed in action

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Here are twelve of the top slideshow tips and free lesson plans, as ranked by Ask a Tech Teacher readers:

1. Tech Tip #54: How to Auto Forward a PowerPoint Slideshow
2. #47: Tour the World—with a PowerPoint Slideshow
3. Dear Otto: What Can I Use Besides PowerPoint?
4. Dear Otto: PowerPoint or Publisher?
5. Intro to PowerPoint–with KidPix Pictures
6. Teach About Inventions with PowerPoint
7. Teach PowerPoint in Elementary School
8. A PowerPoint Slideshow for Third Graders
9. Create a Storybook
10. What Do I Want to Learn
11. Famous Inventors and How They Invented

Here are some of the projects:

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Rubrics are a well-accepted, even transformative tool for assessing student knowledge over a breadth of criteria. Their deep granular detail enables students to quickly understand what is expected of them, teachers to receive critical feedback on student learning, and both sides to benefit from an agile yet objective tool for measuring workflow competency.

But they are not without their problems. The pre-online versions weren’t dynamic or flexible, couldn’t be re-used, and few teachers had the time or energy to build these summative, purpose-built assessments. That changed with online rubrics. These webtools offer standard topical text that can be quickly personalized, saved for re-use in the future, and easily updated year-to-year to reflect changes in the curriculum and desired learning outcomes.

There are many online rubric creators, each with a little different twist on the norm. Here are three that fill different needs. Decide which works the best for you:

Rubistar

Free

Rubistar is the gold standard of online rubric creators. It lets teachers personalize categories and qualifications, save, and then edit for another class. You can use the site rubric templates or modify them to better serve your particular needs. Rubrics can be created in English or Spanish, in ten different subject areas, with ten or more skill categories (this varies depending upon the subject chosen).

Here’s how it works:

• Set up an account so you can save your rubrics, making them available to be re-used and edited for future needs. This is optional–rubrics can be created without registering.
• Pick the subject category you wish to create a rubric for.
• Start with a generic template or from scratch. Alternatively, search by keyword or topic for rubrics other Rubistar members have created and remix those.
• Pick a grading scale–either numeric or descriptive.
• Pick a category for each row from the drop-down list and the rubric automatically populates with language defining what the category would look like based on the rating.
• Edit criteria so it perfectly fits your needs or accept the well-considered defaults.
• When you’re done, submit.
• Once the rubric is rendered, you can print, download, or make it available online to your account.

Educational applications

Rubistar is invaluable in creating personalized, quick rubrics that are easily edited for varied needs. For registered users, there’s a vast library of rubrics created by members that can be used. Teachers can also use the rubric to evaluate student performance. For example, if a third of students scored poorly on ‘Diagrams’ in the math rubric, the teacher knows immediately this is an area that requires review.

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April 22nd is Earth Day. Celebrate it with your students by letting them visit these websites:

1. Breathing earth– the environment
2. Breathing Earth YouTube Video–of CO2 use, population changes, and more
3. Conservation Game
4. Earth Day—NASA Ocean Currents
5. Earth Day Printables
6. Eco-friendly house
7. Ecotourism Simulation–for grades 4 and above
8. EekoWorld
9. Electrocity
10. Footprint calculator
11. History of Earth Day–lots of reading
12. Home of the Future
13. My Garbology
14. NASA City

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Many Christians celebrate Jesus Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday. The Easter date depends on the ecclesiastical approximation of the March equinox. This year, it’s March 31st. Here are some websites your students will love:

1. Easter color-me (for Kindergarten/first grade)
2. Easter Color Me to print or import to drawing program
3. Easter games II
4. Easter games III
5. Easter games IV
6. Easter poems and songs (to play online)
7. Easter Puppies–video
8. Easter puzzles and games
9. Easter songs for kids
10. Easter story--the Easter Egg–video
11. Easter Word hunt (Starfall)

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Getting ready for St. Patrick’s Day? Try these fun websites:

1. Color the shamrock
2. Color the Pot-o-gold
3. Color the leprechaun
4. Games–St. Pat’s games and activities
5. Puzzle–St. Pat’s Puzzle
6. Puzzle–St. Pat’s puzzle II
7. Puzzle–St. Pat’s drag-and-drop puzzle
8. Puzzle–St. Pat’s slide puzzle
9. Puzzle–St. Pat’s slide puzzle II
10. Puzzle–Leprechaun jigsaw puzzle
11. St. Pat’s math
12. St. Patrick’s Day history–video
13. St. Pat’s Day songs–video
14. Tic tac toe
15. Webquest for St. Patrick’s Day I
16. Webquest II
17. Wordsearch

If you have iPads at your school, try these three apps:

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Fifty years ago, Albert Einstein warned ‘Imagination is more important than knowledge.’ The ability to solve problems by thinking creatively is more important than knowing how they were solved in the past. Now, in today’s connected classroom, creativity has become the newest transformative tool, the buzzword that indicates a curriculum is on the cutting edge, that teachers are delivering their best to students and differentiating for varied needs.

Art and music have long been considered the doorway to creative thinking. Here are three suggestions that will help you across that threshhold painlessly, even if you aren’t an artist.

SmartMusic

I teach technology, so I asked Lawrence Auble, a musician friend I’ve known for years, what he uses for tutoring. His recommendation: Smart Music. It’s one of the 2014 category award winners by School and Band Orchestra magazine and the industry standard for teaching band, string, and vocal of all ages and all skill levels. The app gives subscribers unlimited access to SmartMusic’s extensive library of over 50 method books, nearly 50,000 skill building exercises, and 22,000+ solo and ensemble titles by major publishers.

Here’s how it works:

• Students sign into class and receive materials tailored to their needs by their teacher.
• As the music appears on the screen, students play or sing along with the background accompaniment.
• SmartMusic provides an immediate assessment.
• When satisfied, students send a recording to their teacher who can assess, score, and build a portfolio to track their progress over time.

It is available on PCs and Macs as well as iPads.

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