my version of transparent, collaborative leadership...with a Teamann twist

5 days….

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This assignment has been beaten into the ground but it’s still pretty cool.  There are a lot of blank Facebook templates out there but this one seems all consuming.   This is a great assignment for students because they can relate to it and it gets you what you want.

Here is a Facebook Assignment page that has a very Facebook-like look and feel and only includes the basics.  It has a status update, place for a picture, five wall posts with five spots for a reply, information, friends, likes, and room for students to create ads. What if they created a fictional “Lion” account? Their fav teacher? Mr. Howard? The possibilities are endless! It might be fun to have them “interview” each other and you create a class book!

 

 

news feedN,

Amber

7 days…

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Thought about creating a class book?

It’s an old stand-by activity in primary classrooms – the class book.
If you’re a primary teacher, you’ve probably done this many times: all students contribute a page, staple it together with a cover, and display it on the class bookshelf.

It’s a great activity for encouraging young writers, but with modern technology at our fingertips, it’s time for this activity to get a major update! Self-publishing your class books adds a new level of engagement and pride for students. For older students, they can become fully involved in the technical side of self-publishing.

Why bother?
First, publishing transforms the traditional stapled book into what is perceived as “a real book” – and that matters to students! There’s something about seeing their work printed and bound that makes them identify as “real” authors, just like those they see in a bookstore.

Second, when you publish, each student can have their own color copy; seeing their faces while sharing their finished book with friends and families – pure joy and pride! In my class experience, parents order one copy (about $10), but when they see the final result, they rush back to ask if they can order several more to send to relatives and to save as family keepsakes.

More ideas:

  • Put a copy in your school library for others to sign out.
  • Share the pages (projected) at a parent night or assembly; each student can read aloud their own page.
  • Use the book as the springboard for other language arts or math lessons, just as you would for any author study.
  • Collaborate to create non-fiction book instead, based on any subject you are studying in class.
  • Create a class poetry anthology or short stories.
  • Older students could create a book for younger classes, following the structure of a specific picture book or author.
  • Create a time capsule book with each student writing about themselves and their hopes for the future; parents can tuck them away to read years later. If it’s done each year, it’s a nice keepsake for the teacher too, after many years.

Utilize your ipads or even ppt…you can do it!

 

AmBook

8 days…

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Played with Paranormal?

Xtranormal turns type (or text) into speech. Students create a monologue or incorporate a dialogue between characters to explain various concepts. Students can retell main parts of a book, report on a historical event, or explain steps in a math problem.
View a language arts example used for Erin Klein’s reading intervention class or a seventh grade student’s digital writing project example. Also, teachers can use these as engaging anticipatory sets to start a new lesson….start thinkingabout NEW lesson intros for next year, created by your experts that you have!

 

 

Normally,

Amber

9 days…

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Take a virtual field trip!

Here are 5 great ones…and a link to 5 more!

1. Arctic Adventure

Free to the entire K-12 community, this programming uses the allure of Arctic dogsled expeditions and Arctic research as the vehicle through which K-12 teachers and students gain an understanding of natural and social sciences while they experience the cultures of the Arctic. Since 2000, these adventurous learning expeditions have circumnavigated the Arctic to observe, experience, and document traditional ecological knowledge and collect previously unknown in-situ environmental realities–while collaborating with K-12 students and teachers in state-of-the-art online learning environments. Standard-aligned curricula are also available.

2. Global Trek

This adventure from Scholastic looks like Expedia or Travelocity, but is created for students eager to explore the world … from their computer. Student can choose from a list of countries and will be asked to keep a travel journal to write about different topics during their online trip.

3. Google Lit Trips

Google Lit Trips are free, downloadable files that mark the journeys of characters from famous literature on the surface of Google Earth. At each location along the journey, there are placemarks with pop-up windows containing a variety of resources including relevant media, thought-provoking discussion starters, and links to supplementary information about “real world” references made in that particular portion of the story. According to their creator, Google Lit Trips “three-dimensionalize the reading experience by placing readers ‘inside the story’ traveling alongside the characters; looking through the windshield of that old jalopy in The Grapes of Wrath or waddling alongside Mr. and Mrs. Mallard’s duckling family in Make Way for Ducklings.”

4. Hershey’s Factory

Sometimes students just want to explore something cool, like chocolate. Thanks to step-by-step videos on its chocolate-making process, Hershey’s gives students a fun virtual field trip … even if it’s minus the smell and taste of chocolate!

5. Le Louvre

Take a virtual tour of the Louvre to experience a 360-degree panoramic view of many of the museum’s halls. The virtual tour web page offers different departments and architectural views of the museum. Tours currently include Egyptian Antiquities, Remains of the Louvre’s Moat, and Galerie d’Apollon, as well as many other rooms included in the museum (some are even closed to the public!).

 

and five more…

 

AmTrip