Amazing Example of Sportsmanship

Comic Strip Creation App: "Strip Designer"

The majority of the time our iPads are being used for the internet. They are great for that since they are mobile, easy to handle, and fast. Kids can walk around with them (if they are near the wireless signal) and have the internet at their fingertips. The iPad is more than just the internet, and even though I am not a fan of the iPad in education, there are some apps that make the iPad more meaningful, more dynamic than simply an internet device. 'Strip Designer' app allows you to create comic strips on your iPad or iPhone. This app allows the user to use pictures from their album or the internet and upload them into your comic. The user can also add speech bubbles to give it a truely comic strip look. This app is $2.99 but could have many benefits for kids creating, writing, reading, and sharing.
Application for Education: Make comic strips for your students! Invent a character and have that character help you teach the class important concepts. Put the iPad in your students hands (when available  and have them do the creating. Have them show a particular sequence of events in a story, the steps to solve a math problem, any topic of the social studies, or the steps of a science experiment. The pictures and comic strip like speech bubbles produces a unique way to learn and review. 

Interacting with the Public

During our Ancient Greece Unit, we learn/talk about Democracy. Athens started it as a form of government and we have that as our government, so there is an obvious connection. I am having my students interview the public to see what they actually know about democracy. So to get things started, I went to the mall in Sioux Falls and asked random people some questions to see for myself what people actually know. The video above is my experience at the Sioux Falls Empire mall. It was an interesting day, to say the least. 
 Application for Education: I think it's great to have your students go out into the public and interview people, ask them questions, and teach them about what we are learning. For this example, my students are essentially "teaching" the adults about democracy and in particular, what questions they get wrong. It gives them purpose in the assignment and in the learning. They need to learn the material so they can go out and help others. In a history class, there could be many different things you could have your students go interview people with: civil war information, american revolution information, government, etc. Reading: have students interview adults about their favorite books, why they like them, etc. English: have students give a grammar test! Any topic could be turned into an opportunity to interview the public.

Infographic: What if the World was only 100 people? (fascinating)

If the world only had 100 people, what would it look like? Breaking the world's population down to only 100 people gives us a MUCH clearer picture of what this world is like. This interesting inforgraphic was published by 100people.org 
Some highlights: Only 7 people would have a college degree. Only 5 people would be living in North America. 48 people would be living on less than $2 per day yet 75 of the 100 people would be cell phone users. Check out the infographic for me.  
Application for Education: This could be a great discussion starter, writing prompt, or a tool to have your kids practice analyzing or interpreting data from a graph.

If the World were 100 People infographic by KVSStudio.

ReadWriteThink your way to a better experience

Today's post is more of a resource than a tool. ReadWriteThink.org is a great teacher website that provides many resources. On this site, you can search for a specific topic, search based on grade level, resource type, or learning objective. This site has printouts, student interactives, and lesson plans. Within the site, you will also find some online activities games that you could use. Simply put, this site has a lot of resources. I am not big on solely relying on websites like this for lesson plans and materials. However, this site can serve a purpose if you are looking for a new idea, new approach, or a supplementary piece. Search through the site for your content and see what you can find. 

Topic Sort Without a Computer

Ideally, we would all have computers everyday, or everyday that we wanted them. As we all know, this is far from reality. Because of our pathetic computer availability, some of our computer/internet ideas must be changed into a non-computer/internet activity. I've posted before on using Lino and Wall-Wisher to post random facts about topics and then having your students sort them into categories. If you do not have computers available or just don't want want to use them, you can create a "topic sort" without the technology.
Topic Sort is a good way to get your kids thinking about what you've been teaching and a good challenge for them (I always make it into a competition). Think of 4 or 5 categories of information that you've been learning about. Then, you, as the teacher, list a bunch of facts for those topics. Cut them out, mix them up and put them all together in an envelop. Give each group (2 or 3 per group) an envelop and so "Go." The challenge is for them to obviously be the first group with all items organized into their respective topics. You could also have a specific sequence of events for each topic, so not only does each group need to sort the items, but they need to be in the correct order as well. This would raise the "challenging" factor. Have groups check each other's work for accuracy. The more items they need to sort, the better because it makes it harder. 
Ideas/Application for Education: Civil War Battles, Civil War Generals, Presidents, Parts of Speech, books you've been reading, etc. 

Get Pinterest-ed in Education

Pinterest is NOT just for females. Pinterest is a great resource for teachers because it's essentially a huge sharing virtual world of ideas. If you are not familiar with Pinterest, here's how it works: You sign up for an account. Once you have an account, you are given a "virtual board" that you can "pin" things that you find interesting and/or want to use in the future. It's kind of like a "to-do list" only virtually. Pinning things on your board helps you not forget what you want to do in the future. You can also "follow" other people's boards. This feature is what makes Pinterest a good teaching resource. There are tons of education boards on Pinterest. You can search for education-content related boards and see what other people are doing out there. You can find activity ideas, projects, technology tools, etc. You can also "pin" your own ideas and share with other users. I signed up for an account last night and realized two things: it's a great place for teacher resource sharing/ideas and its a huge "time drain." I browsed around for a while and just kept hopping from board to board, searching for good stuff and soon I realized I had spent an hour looking at Pinterest. Sign up for Pinterest and do some browsing. What can it hurt? If it's not for you, than just delete your account. However, I am confident you will find something worthwhile that could help your teaching.  

Source: teachgennow.com.au via Heidi on Pinterest

True Inspiration-Amazing Story

I came across this video on Facebook the other day and thought I would share it. It's the story of Conner and Cayden, two brothers that compete in triathlons together. However, Cayden has Cerebral Palsy, so Conner, his brother (9 years old) pulls him with his bike and then pushes him while running. They finish last in every event, but they finish, together, as brothers. It's a amazing story and truly inspiring. Every kid with a younger sibling should watch this to see what it's like to watch out for and take care of younger siblings.

13 Photos that Changed the World

While browsing the internet, I came across an interesting post from an author, Ransom Riggs, of one of my favorite books (Miss Peregrine's School for Peculiar Children). He is not only a writer but also does a lot with photography. He compiled 13 photos that "changed the world." I think its fascinating to look at this list and just think about these pictures and the circumstances surrounding them. Whether you agree with the list or not, you can't argue that these pictures are very significant and bring about a lot of emotion. 
Application for Education: This list could be a great tool to get your students thinking and writing. Explain the circumstances of what this list is, and then show them a picture from the list. They can write about what they see, what it is, how they feel, etc, then discuss. Very thought provoking. 

Click Here to see the 13 photographs that Changed the World 

Second Look: Animaps-Bringing maps to life

I posted about Animaps last week and it was posted during a no school day, so I thought I would repost it in case you missed it. This is a great, powerful tool that I think you should check out!
Animaps is a website that allows you to make animated, interactive maps. This is NOT just a geography tool, it can be used in any content area. With animaps, you design your route/path and can show points of interest along the way. Animaps uses google maps, so you are able to use real streets, towns, countries, etc.  It is a great tool for showing a path or route and what happens along the way. I used it to show my students the Silk Road path and things that happen along the way. It would be a cool tool to use to show a character's journey in a book or the spread of a disease. Animaps does take some time to figure out how to use it and make your product, but it is worth the time. Let me know if you would like me to show you how to use it. Once you get the hang of it, it is a lot of fun.