Maps & Memories

For those of you who know me, you know we are working on assignments for the “Feather Circle” this year–only this year we are using Think.com to publish, peer edit, and brainstorm online. In order to catalogue a bit of what we have accomplished, I’ve uploaded some of the materials I am using to carry out this writing assignment in the digital realm. We are finishing our final drafts this week, so hopefully I will be able to report back on our success once we’ve completed this assignment.

Maps & Memories (materials):

• The Assignment
• The Rubric
• The Memory Map
• Concept Map
• The Rough Draft
• Final Draft

Filed under: Publishing, Writing

Textbook Revolution

Textbooks 2.0

 

Thanks to Scotsman On A Horse for this post:

Looks like we have a grassroots effort to provide textbooks that are free and not controlled by school boards or worse

Textbook Revolution

Textbook Revolution is the web’s source for free educational materials. This is a student-run, volunteer-operated website started in response to the textbook industry’s constant drive to maximize profits instead of educational value.

Filed under: Reading

Lit2Go

A colleague of mine sent this my way today:

“If you need audio versions of books, stories, poems you are reading, this is a free resource with audio for LOTS of lit. Here is the link to the webpage, but I’ve found it easier to download the podcast on itunes: http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/

U of South Florida  divides their lit between the grades a little differently, so if you’re looking for something in your grade on ITunes and can’t find it, look in other grades, or look it up on the website, where you can search by author.

Have a great week!”

More about Lit2Go:

Lit2Go is a free online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook) format. You can:

• Download the files to your Mp3 player and listen on the go,
• Listen to the Mp3 files on your computer,
• View the text on a webpage and read along as you listen,
• Print out the stories and poems to make your own book.

Filed under: Podcasts

nickname project

Check out the nickname project. I tried to embed the video in this post, but WordPress wouldn’t cooperate.

Download Video: Posted by scttwisdom at TeacherTube.com.

Filed under: Videos

Tech Stuff, Tzunami Information Works

Article excerpted from Tzunami Information Works. Read the complete article.

Brainstorming and Mindmapping

Mindmapping software is great for brainstorming, organizing information hierarchically, creating advanced to-do lists, planning and much more. Unfortunately, brainstorming software can also be very expensive, and far less convenient because it can’t easily be shared with other collaborators. By contrast, these webware alternatives are not only free, but also provide the added benefit of being accessible from anywhere.

1. Bubbl.us. Bubbl.us is a basic mindmapping app with an easy to use interface, is multi-lingual, and allows maps to be embedded in web pages.
2. Comapping. Comapping takes mindmapping one step further, allowing simultaneous use by multiple users.
3. Kayuda. Kayuda is a mindmapping-plus app, good for developing “campaigns”. Maps are shareable and serve as navigation. Add text and details to each node.
4. Mind42. Mind42 (“Mind for two”) is another collaborative mindmapping application that is a bit closer to its desktop cousins, and throws in web sticky notes as well.
5. Mindomo. Mindomo might make you forget it’s a webware app in terms of interface and mindmapping functionality. It has non-real time collaborative features.
6. Mindmeister. Mindmeister offers non-real time collaboration and many of the import/ export features of Mindomo. The interface lies between Bubbl.us and Mindomo in feature quantity.

Diagramming

Whether you’re trying to organize a team or just organize your thoughts, diagramming software is probably currently in your list of desktop software essentials. While web-based diagramming tools are not quite yet as sophisticated as their desktop cousins, a few are getting close.

1. Flowchart.com. With Flowchart.com, choose a chart type, then drag and drop nodes, lines and clipart onto the canvas. Share charts or export to PDF or PNG formats.
2. Gliffy. It’s not quite as full-featured MS-Visio but Gliffy offers many of the same types of diagrams in a similar interface.
3. Swivel. Share your data charts and visualizations on Swivel, which is sort of like a Flickr or YouTube for charts. (API currently in invite mode only.)

Filed under: Uncategorized

PB Wiki

“Use a wiki for easy web pages that let you collaborate. If you’re looking for an easy way to get your syllabus online and a tool to let your students collaborate online, PBwiki is for you. No more IT headaches. No more worries about safety. We handle all the technology so you can run your classroom.”

Filed under: Wikis

Self Image

Doll Face

This video relies entirely on the reader to infer the rhetorical message. As we move toward our persuasive unit this year, I’m looking again at making media literacy the focus of study. It’s a challenge for some students to see that images alone have the power to intentionally convey messages. I hope this clip might serve as one compelling example of how images have the power to communicate complex and sophisticated persuasive messages. I may havee my students write what they perceive as the narrative to this and several other persuasive narratives in place of a persuasive essay for their portfolios this year. This would call for a synthesis of persuasive and narrative, as well as responding to a “text.”

Related to the topic of self-image, I found this documentary film last year entitled “Thin.” For a preview (movie clip) click on the following link: http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/thin/. I may suggest self-image as a topic for research, or combine research with the media literacy… I’m still not sure of the best way to work it.

On another note, related by not entirely the same — I’m also toying with the idea of having them read websites. To alleviate the problem of blocked sites, I may capture screenshots (press the “Function” key–a.k.a the “Fn” key on some keyboards–and “Prnt Scrn” which is another key on the keypad) and assemble them for student review. D gave me the idea with his GCTE presentation last year. Here’s the PowerPoint from 2007 for those that are interested: cyber-selling-gcte-2007-v1.ppt.

Filed under: Videos

TeacherTube

Have I mentioned TeacherTube at all? Have I mentioned that I won a laptop from TeacherTube? Have I mentioned that I am continually uploading videos to TeacherTube?

Filed under: Videos

Second Life

Interested in virtual classrooms? Check out Second Life: http://slbestpractices2007.wikispaces.com/

Filed under: Resources, Wikis

Think.com

My county offers this service — Think.com – seems like a parallel package for Gaggle.net.

Filed under: Publishing, Reading, Resources, Writing