Quick Byte: Seedlings Wraps Up Another Great Season

Awww....summer is upon us and it is time to relax and catch up. We each just finished listening to Seedlings @Bit By Bit podcast  “Wrap-Up” Show for the Season 3!  We loved hearing that Bob is having lunch and learning with his kids. You can read the Let’s Have Lunch! post here.  He also posted a helpful TED outline complete with links and summaries.

One of the underlying themes that stood out in this podcast is empowering students.  It ties back to our TEDx Redmond talks post.  This all relates to social justice, students taking learning into their own hands, and students doing amazing things with topics of relevance to them like bullying, etc.  It's powerful stuff!

Another concept that caught our attention is how quickly learning can spread when the right apps/tools are placed in the hands of students!  Hmmm... it sounds simple.  Could it be possible that we've got it turned around in part?  We're trying to educate the teachers how to use the tools, but they don't spread them at the same rapid rate and in the same way the students do.  We shouldn't stop educating ourselves as teachers, but there seems to be something to empowering our students to discover the apps/tools in ways that are relevant to their lives and learning.  We've seen evidence of this in our own students and teaching.

Quick Byte

As always, these are just a few of the interesting take-aways we gleaned from the podcast.  Seedlings, thanks for sharing, and congratulations on three seasons!

*This is one Quick Byte briefly highlighting podcasts, sites, etc. of interest.  More are on the way.

Co-post KK and CA

Illuminated Text and Kinetic Typography Bring Reading Alive

CLICK HERE ON THIS LINK. (Click here to watch the PowerPoint version.)  You won’t regret it! What you just watched (or should watch) is an illuminated text depiction by Jenny Lee of Ernest Hemingway’s short story, A Cat in the Rain.  Illuminated text is also sometimes referred to as kinetic typography.

There’s more where this came from. Watch THIS illuminated text using one of my favorite poets, e.e. cummins. Now, for the kicker.  Middle and high school students are making illuminated texts such as these.  Think of all the learning involved!  What a great alternative to demonstrate comprehension of a text.

Want to learn more?  The site AwaytoTeach is where to start.  It has examples, lesson plans, forums, and more.  Digital IS NWP National Writing Project has more examples and discussion as well.  Plus, it's a wonderful site to explore.

Every now and then, I find myself taken back to my roots as an English major, drawn to the classics.  The sites AwaytoTeach and Digital IS NWP National Writing Project  took me back, and I’m glad they did in a way that adds a simple twist to the greats!  Illuminated text such as these also connect to the quick and effective word clouds in my previous post.  I can see using this concept in many different content areas.  How could you use it?

Here is one called Language I show in one of my university classes when discussing standard English. Take a look at Typolution; the idea of raining punctuation captivates me-- who wouldn't want to catch an exclamation mark or splash in a comma? Partners could watch and describe it as part of a language development activity.  Below is a a typography based on a classic, Who's on First.  It made me think it would be fun for ELLs to create one of these based on a Jazz Chant.

“This is crazy awesome,” she said. “Go explore more!”

Word Clouds: Tagxedo, Wordle, Tagul, and Wordlings

Online word clouds and Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs fit perfectly into my beginning ESOL unit on food. (Mmm, hmmm… not only does that bring back memories of one of my favorite classes, but it also makes me hungry.)  My students took unit vocabulary and created word cloud word wall art with it.  That was the first time I used word clouds, and I haven't looked back since then.

Word clouds are simple to do, but effective.  In the most basic sense, they involve taking text or a URL  address, running it through a word cloud site, and magically beholding beautiful word art that makes the most frequently used words pop.  They can typically be linked to, embedded in a blog or site, and displayed in a gallery. The apple on the upper right hand corner of this site is an example of a word cloud made on Tagxedo.  Wave your cursor over the words to watch them enlarge.  Go ahead.  It’s fun.

So, how can word clouds fit into the classroom? Student use. Teacher use.  Brainstorming.  Previewing vocabulary.   Analyzing your own writing, blog or website.  A comparison of the “K” and the “L” in a KWL (Know, Want to Know, Learned).   The list goes on and on.  Check out some ideas and contribute your own to the LinoIt online sticky embedded below.  (It is easiest to view and add to it HERE. Create a new sticky note.  Use the hand to drag your sticky to a new place.)

Here are a few sites that generate word clouds: Tagxedo, Wordle, Tagul, and Wordlings.  I listed Tagxedo and Wordle first because they are the two I use the most frequently.  I particularly like Tagxedo because of all of the shape options it offers.

This Teacher Challenge blog post gives an overview of Wordle and some good example of how to use it. Here is a Google docs that gives 50 interesting ways to use Wordle in the classroom.   This slideshare gives 101 suggestions for using Tagxedo.  Here is a slideshare that shows how to use Tagul and describes some of its uses.


On the left is a Tagul word cloud I made using this blog. On the right is a Wordlings word cloud I made with this blog. 

 Go creative-crazy.  Happy creating!

Digital Curriculum Discussion

What is digital curriculum? Has it’s time arrived?  In this discussion post, explore some ideas with us revolving around these questions.

Cheridy:  I have used digital curriculum virtual textbooks issued to me in higher ed. Currently, I integrate my own digital curriculum into my online and face-to face-classes.   Some of what I do is reflected in this blog.  However, it feels like we are only on the brink of discovering what is possible in this arena.

by  lib-girl

Michael Gorman at 21^st Century Educational Technology and Learning blogged about Flexbook in his post entitled Part 2: The Digital Curriculum… Textbook To Flexbook… Free, Open Source, Engaging!   My finding of this post was timely.  I discovered it just after posting What’s A Book?  Is This A Book?  With thoughts of digital curriculum and virtual textbooks fresh in my mind, I found his post intriguing and motivating.  Rather than restate what Michael has written so well, please take the time to read it HERE!  He gives an explanation of the CK-12 organization and Flexbooks, provides helpful links for getting started, and more. 

Kacey:  Interesting. I've considered digital texbooks for some time now and know that we are getting there as the technology is finally coming to fruition. I have yet to see anything in our elementary setting. The publishers are beginning to include some digital components to supplement the texts. The closest I’ve come to experiencing this concept is on my iPad, enjoying digital books and using Flipboard. I can’t wait to see what’s next. Can you explain more about Flexbooks and digital curriculum?

Cheridy:  My understanding of  Flexbooks is “flexible” textbooks in online format.  At this point, CK-12 Flexbooks are mainly engineering, math, science, and technology.  You can browse them HERE. I did a search for English and found a couple for composition.  They even have Flexbooks in Spanish.  Here’s a link to Biologia.  There are some teacher editions and student editions.  They are currently available for 6th-12th, but it appears that they have future plans to expand K-12.

Kacey: I love the idea of having differentiated material for students. It would also be fantastic to have updated material at your fingertips rather than having to wait for the creation of “hard text.” The whole concept is exciting to ponder. It will be interesting to see the K-5 Flexbook material when it is available.

Cheridy:  Yes, differentiation is a positive with Flexbooks.  They can be tailored to the needs of the students.  Specific chapters can be selected to create a curriculum.  Videos are embedded within some of them.  The content can be edited and added to following the licensing agreement.  I could quickly go into the text, highlight key vocabulary for my ELL students, etc.  There is also potential for students to interact with the texts.  I could have my students link to new vocabulary words using an online dictionary.   They could even run the text through Lingro to make it into a clickable dictionary. (See previous posts on Lingro.)  This type of set up could really work well for sheltered language instruction. 

In looking beyond Flexbooks at the larger picture of digital curriculum virtual textbooks in general, there are possibilities.  I can imagine movement in the direction similar to interactive e-readers where students can take notes, add stickies and interact with the texts in a variety of ways.  The change to the cloud or thumb drive devices will lighten up the backpacks. Cost will be a key factor too.   Oh, and I may be jumping ahead and overly optimistic, but I think augmented reality is on the horizon in education.   Imagine the possibilities of augmented reality as part of digital curriculum virtual textbooks!  Below is a video on  AR. (*Update note: Video removed.) This Wired article puts it into a bit better perspective in the context of books.  We’ll explore it more in another post.

Cheridy: Although digital curriculum textbooks are promising, there are some aspects to consider. A few include equal student access to technology outside of school, learning curve and time to implement for teachers, and the cost if tablets are involved.

Conclusions:  We are at least beginning to employ digital curriculum when we integrate technology into our classes-- technology such as what we are exploring in this blog.  An added component that Flexbooks address is this idea of virtual textbooks.   There are more out there as well such as Science Techbook on Discovery Education  and 150 Free Textbooks: A Meta Collection.

What’s the future of digital curriculum?  It’s fun to imagine.  Happy exploring! 

*A thank you is in order to Micahel Gorman for his post on this topic that spurred our conversation!              

What's A Book? Is This A Book?

I was excited when I found this TED Talk (see below) where software developer Mike Matas demos Al Gore’s book “Our Choice”. This is the first full-length interactive book for the iPad.   It made me recall numerous discussions Kacey and I have had about the need for publishers to catch up with technology integration in education.  I've taught online classes for the last few years and have felt this need for awhile.  In addition, listening to podcasts such as Seedlings and reading articles in ISTE have opened my eyes to the future possibilities of augmented reality.  So when I saw this TED Talk, I was excited but not too surprised.

What follows next is how this video clip played out in my ESOL class.  (It reflects the dogme 2.0 teaching in collaboration with critical pedagogy that I've been exploring.)  In the larger scope of a unit, I showed it to one of my classes comprising of adult students from around the world.  It sparked an interesting discussion about how technology and learning environments are changing.  As a natural part of this discussion as I was writing new vocabulary words from the TED Talk video on the board, one student asked, "Is that book available to purchase now?"  A second later, another student held up her smart phone and exclaimed, "Yup... It's here on iTunes available for $4.99.  I looked it up while we were watching the TED Talk."

A third student jumped out of his seat and asked for permission to pull up a related video clip for us to discuss.  Within seconds, we viewed this two minute clip. (See below.) It was followed by a related discussion about how books were once viewed as new technology, and I recorded more new vocabulary words from the discussion on the board.

We rounded out the discussion with a review of the new vocabulary words and a short discussion relating back to our previous day's lesson on how online dictionaries and games are shaping our learning.  In addition, students made connections to an earlier discussion about the disparity of technology in the hands of children from different socioeconomic backgrounds.  They then related the video back to a previous lesson in the term on second language acquisition.  With promises from them to continue to think about ways that technology helps them and limits their language learning and promises from me to listen to them-- really try to listen, we concluded class.

What do you see happening with technology and literacy?  Where does all of this fit into the classroom?  What’s a book?  It’s A Book.

“We live in an exciting time of human history and tech integration,” she said as she tucked away a hard covered book and an e-book reader in a bag for a weekend camping trip.  “I’m turning off all electronics with the exception of the books.  Don’t try reaching me!” 

Links of the Month: May

This month, Kacey highlights Keith Schoch’s blog, Teach with Picture Books, and shares interviews with John Merrow, Kevin Kelly, and Sir Ken Robinson. Cheridy focuses on bookmapping  and a Seedling’s podcast that in part explores the topic of the balance between banning technology and integrating it.  Our links include sites that we see potential in or that have worked for us in our own classes. 

PODCAST PICKS

Kacey’s picks:

John Merrow:  Here is Harvard Graduate School of Education EdCast interview with John Merrow.  John discusses how the teaching career has changed over his time of reporting on education. He also discusses his new book, The Influence of Teachers. More Harvard EdCast interviews can be found here.

The Future of Education:  Steve Hargadon conducted two great interviews for his current interview series called The Future of Education.  One was with Kevin Kelly and the other was with Sir Ken Robinson. Sir Ken Robinson talks about promoting creativity in schools and organizations and about his revised book, Out or Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative. In our previous posts Brain Food and Changing Education Paradigms: Sir Ken Robinson, you can read more about Kevin Kelly and his new book What Technology Wants and link to the amazing RSA Animate  video with Sir Ken Robinson.

Cheridy’s picks: 

Bookmapping:  My first podcast explores bookmapping.  It's a short 15 min ISTE Podcast interview with authors Terence Cavanaugh and Jerome Burg about their book Lit Trips and Beyond.  Listening to this podcast gave me the push to explore a bookmapping site that I’ve been interested in for awhile, Google Lit Trips.  Check it out!  There are some great examples for K-higher ed.  I’ve highlighted some of my favorite books:  K-5 Flotsam, 6-8 The Slave Dancer, and 9-12 The Grapes of Wrath. Here’s more information on bookmapping by the American Association of School Librarians.

Ban or Integrate?: I also enjoyed listening to this Seedlings podcast 113 with guest Rebecca Peterson.  It includes an interesting conversation about schools’ attempts to ban laptops, smartphones, and other electronics.  The conversation carries into thinking of ways we can use these as tools to engage our students rather than banning them. There is also discussion of the need to be aware that as our students face change due to new technologies, this creates the necessity for some emerging pedagogy to meet their needs.  In addition, there is some practical discussion of things to consider when using iPads in the classroom.

LINK PICKS

Kacey’s picks:  Teach with Picture Books and Teaching That Sticks are blogs by Keith Schoch, an educator in New Jersey. I enjoyed Keith’s post, Make Language an Adventure: Learning Grammar with Picture Books.  Be sure to check out Keith’s links to blogs he reads.

A picture book I was reminded of after viewing Keith’s blog is a book recommended at the Oregon Reading Association Convention by children’s author George Shannon. The book, Three By The Sea by Edward Marshall, is an easy reader but has a wonderful lesson on writing a good story. Three friends at the beach each tell a story. Each one becomes more detailed, and the final story by Lolly has lots of details and is actually a bit scary. It is fun having students try their hand at “writing like Lolly!”  I’ll be adding this to the list for a beginning lesson on writing next year.

Cheridy’s picks:  ClassTools.net.  If some creativity is employed and it is selectively used, this site has potential to add some simple technology spice to the class.  Some of their links that I have used are fakebook, random name picker,  countdown timer, and some of the graphic organizers such as the venn diagram and the hamburger diagram. 

The Seedlings Geeks of the Week inspired me.  I want to explore Storify.  Perhaps this will be a future post.  I used this TED Talk by Eric Whitacre in one of my classes.  It will be a part of a future post.  

Happy listening and exploring!

Online Dictionaries and Vocabulary Games Part 2: Lexipedia, Lingro, Shahi, Wordia

Online dictionaries have stepped dictionaries up a notch.  They are interactive and visual, contain audio, etc.   Here is a list of online dictionaries that I refer my students to and use during class.

Watch this Jing screencast where I give an overview of some of the features of online dictionaries by looking up the word education in each of these sites:  Lexipedia, Lingro, Shahi, and Wordia.

I find it useful to take a step back and see how my students are naturally using the technology and what their thoughts of it are. Here are some reviews from my Advanced level ESOL students.  

Lexipedia (There is also a Spanish Lexipedia site):  Type the word you want to know and it will give you the definition, the part of speech and related words. It gives colors that show the parts of speech and relationships to fuzzynyms, synonyms, and antonyms.  This site has six languages, but no Arabic or Chinese.  (reviewed by Mo  and  Karl)  

Shahi: This site has very easy definitions with simple examples.  Just type the word, and you can get the meaning of words with visual photos.  The best quality of this site is that I can understand new vocabulary even if I cannot catch their meanings by the text definition because of the useful pictures.  I think there is one small problem. Sometimes the wrong pictures appear.  I strongly recommend this site.   (reviewed by Ryan)  

Wordia:  On this site you can put the word and see the videos that complement the meaning of the words. The best quality is that you can understand the meaning of the words and improve your skills because you can listen to the word in context. A first drawback is it´s incomplete. I put the word “drawback” and they don´t have video for this word. The second is that the process to get to know the word is long.  (reviewed by Felipe)   

Lingro: (See review in this previous post.)

 
Other applications:  I’d like to experiment and have my students make videos such those on Wordia to share with future students.  What are some ways you or your students use these types of online dictionaries?

*This is the second in a series that outlines a few online dictionaries and vocabulary games to give a flavor of what is available out there.  Feel free to pass on additional quality vocabulary sites that are not included in our Students tab and tell us how they are useful.  Stay tuned for some upcoming posts including a guest post about Wordsift and some online vocabulary games.   Here is a link to part 1 in this series.  Thanks to all of my students for their reviews and good discussions this term! 

  photo by  practicalowl

Online Dictionaries and Vocabulary Games Part 1: Lingro

Lingro.  It claims to be “The coolest dictionary known to hombre.”  What do you think?

When I started teaching ESOL, my students toted around bilingual dictionaries.  Over the years, I watched the book dictionaries disappear as students appeared with their own pocket translators.  Lately, it appears these translators are being replaced by smartphone apps, ipad apps, and online dictionaries.  I see students automatically turning to these devices to look up words for meaning, pronunciation, parts of speech, practice and more.

Although it still is in its beginning stages, I created a list of online dictionaries that I refer my students to and use during class.  When I say online dictionaries, I really mean dictionaries on steroids compared to the paper ones toted around not all that long ago.  Even Merriam-Webster has received a makeover.  These dictionaries are interactive and often contain visuals, videos and vocabulary games.

Lingro is my most recent discovery.  My initial reaction to exploring it was, “This is a gold mine!”  You can take any website in a fairly wide range of languages and run it through this site.  It basically turns any site into a clickable dictionary.  Click on a word and it gives you its definition.  You can save it in a personal word list, see it used in the context on the site, and then create a flashcard game with it and other words on your word list.

These videos by Russell Stannard demonstrate Lingro and its uses.  They can be accessed here.  Russell says, “This is without a doubt the best website I’ve found in 2011.” (As a side note, Russell  Stannard’s site, Teacher Training Videos, has an extensive and impressive number of useful teacher videos such as these.) Watch, explore, and see what you think about Lingro!  

*This is the first in a series that will outline a few online dictionaries and vocabulary games to give a flavor of what is available out there.  Feel free to pass on additional quality vocabulary sites that are not included in our Students tab and tell us how they are useful.  Stay tuned for some upcoming posts including a guest post about Wordsift and some reviews written by students in one of my ESOL classes.   If you liked this post, you may also be interested in this post.

  photo by  practicalowl 

Just For Fun: Mother's Day

The ability to share and interact in real time online is a feature that has been around for quite some time, yet we are just at the beginnings of realizing its use in education-- both in face to face classes and in online classes.  This post deviates from education, but I will return to this topic of online interaction in an upcoming post.  I couldn’t quite resist making a little something for my mom on the New York Times online Health page on this Mother's Day.

My mom is currently story 64 of 7881 and counting, but obviously #1 in my book.  It’s not too late to contribute or read.  Submit your own six word description by clicking here.

And here’s one of the “big questions” my class has been exploring this month:  Does technology bring us closer together or push us apart?  What do you think?

ESL/EFL/ELL Blog Carnival Special Edition and Other Young Learner Sites

The latest ESL/EFL/ELL 23^rd Blog Carnival is up.  It is a special Young Learner’s Edition posted on Shelly Terrell’s Teacher Reboot Camp.  I am happy to pass this post on to my College of Ed students who work with the little kiddos in ESOL and bilingual settings.  The post can be accessed here; it is divided into two parts: 1. Tips, Lessons & Issues and  2. Teaching YL’s Effectively with Technology.  

The next Blog Carnival will be hosted by Eva Buyuksimkesyan in September.  You can see all the previous editions of the ESL/EFL/ELL Blog Carnival here.  We were pleased to be a part of the 22nd Blog Carnival.

Shelly Terrell’s Teacher Reboot Camp is worthy of a post in itself.  She is a prolific blogger with an amazing presence on twitter as well.  In keeping with the theme of ELLs, here are some of her posts related to What Works for English Language Learners .  I particularly liked her Let’s Play! 20+ Sites for Young Learners post.

Grammaropolis, GoAnimate4Schools,  Into the Book, International Children’s Library (for teacher use), Kindersay, Learn English Kids, Little Bird Tales, Picture Book Maker, Mingoville, Smories, Storybird, Storyline Online and Zoo Burst are a few more sites that look promising for young learners.  Let us know about your favorite sites for young learners.

Happy exploring!