Wednesday, September 22, 2010

My Favorite Curriculum Integration Video

I like to share this video with teachers when I  hear, "I can't!"  This 4-minute video is worth your time and is heart warming, along with being a great example of what young kids can do with adult support.  I would love to see a video of the same students in 10 years.  I would expect this small project will still be a vivid memory for them and isn't that what we want and need for students to keep them engaged and believing in their power to learn and grow. 

I congratulate the folks who assisted this group of Washington, DC elementary students in adding to the body of information on Wikipedia.  It's not about the technology, it's sound pedagogy.

Enjoy!

Building Legacy with Wikipedia from Brian Mull on Vimeo.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Follow-Up to Tagxedo Post on 9/14

Last week, I shared a word cloud site, Tagxedo.  Although I am not a fan of 100+ slide presentations, I have an Tagxedo resource I want to share.  Here is 101 Ways to Use Tagxedo.    If you've checked out Tagxedo and find it a useful resource, here are some ideas on how to use it.  You are bound to find one or two you like!! 
Enjoy!

E

What Do You Get When You Combine Words and Pictures? PICLITS!

I came across Piclits, inspired picture writing, when I attended a Classroom 2.0 webinar in the spring.  I checked out the site and immediately wanted to share it in my work.  I love great photography and the Piclits folks definitely have the best pictures to start your creative juices flowing.  The next thing that I really liked are the "categories" of parts of speech.  This site provides a easy way to view and "play" with parts of speech. 
Here is my Piclit for today! PicLit from PicLits.com 

Keeping it simple

  • Check out the Pitlits website
  • Use the arrows to change pictures or click "explore the gallery."  As I said, the photographs are amazing!
  • Try dragging words from the word bank into a picture.  The drag and drop feature is so easy to use.
  • Check out the "learn it" tab from the tool bar at the top of the page.  There is much more to learn about this tool.
  • Decide if you want to join the site with an email and password.
Do you think your students would engage with this creative writing opportunity?  How could you use this site to support your curriculum?  

As with all online tools, students need to understand the responsibility of online publishing, cybersafety, and protecting one's identity.  If you save your Piclits, they are published online and viewers can comment on them.  Make sure you follow your school's policy on this issue.

I hope you enjoy this tool as much as I do.  Let me know what you think.