Cell Phones in Education - The Journey Begins

My Web Wandering Wednesday post got me thinking about cell phones in education.  Although I believe there is a place for them, the mom in me worries about what we are exposing kids to when we begin to more openly allow them and encourage them.  How many more predators have access, how many more bullying incidents can occur, how many more unwanted video clips will be turning up on youtube and how much more time will be spent facebooking rather than working?

As with any new technology there are always the questions and the concerns.  I have begin looking into what people are doing and what those results are.  How do the schools and teachers using the technology deal with the downsides and make the incorporation worth it?  The technology is coming and we must be ready.  The reality is that kids are using them in class anyway, why not direct them to use them in more productive ways?   Even with my own kids if they want to know something we get the phone out and google it.    At ages 3 and 5 this is the world they know.   What kind of technology and access to technology are they going to want when they get to middle school and high school?   If I don't learn how to use it wisely now, I will surely be at a disadvantage when my kids reach that age.

So the research begins to educate myself on the realities of cell phone use in class and not just the fears or hopes.   I look forward to the journey.

Here are 3 sites I found interesting on the topic:

Cell Phones in the Classroom - The results of a pilot program that gave phones to students and what was accomplished.  A great discussion continues in the comments following the article as well.

From Toys to Tools - "A conversation about integrating student cell phones into classroom curricula."   This is a blog site dedicated to the integration of cell phones into the classroom.  The site author also has a book out by the same name.   Lots of posts and links about phones in schools including in the recent post, statistics about cell phones and kids.

Teaching Today - Cell Phones in the Classroom - A brief overview of what is happening with phones in classrooms from a textbook publishers' perspective.

Web Wandering Wednesday - Apps

WolframAlpha - http://www.wolframalpha.com/ -  describes itslef as " the world's first and only computational knowledge engine."  Enter in a location and learn the population, elevation, unemployment rate, etc for the area.   Enter in a math problem and see the solutions appear.  The help page give examples of searches to try.  This is also available as an ap for iPhones and Androids, so download the ap on the school iPod Touch for a good resource for students.

While we are on the subject of  apps...

Top 50 Free Education Apps:  http://www.appstoreapps.com/top-50-free-education-apps/ - pulled from iTunes - this site lists the best/most popular free apps for education.   Some seem a little more gamey than educational, but the list is worth a look.

Droid does Education - http://www.iste.org/connect/iste-connects/blog-detail/10-03-24/Droid_Does_Education_Android_Applications_for_Teachers_and_Learners.aspx - ISTE compiled a list of the best android apps for education.

Free Education Apps for Android OS - http://www.mguhlin.org/2010/07/free-education-apps-for-android-os.html - this list is broken into grade levels.

What are you favorite sites and apps?

Idea #5 - Make a Video!

Today's idea makes use of the document camera as a convenient digital cameras and video recorders for the classroom.

Consider some ways a camera would come in handy, take a picture of:

• Classroom notes for students who are absent or need to review them later.  Post that picture on your webpage for easy access.


• Each step of a process to show the steps involved.


• A student's work for use as a sample later on, or to email home with notes on student progress.


• The white board to record the information presented in class


• An example project to show how a completed project should look.

Video cameras are also very handy to have in the classroom.  Here are a few examples of things to video:

• An explanation of how to complete a problem or assignment.  Post it online (teacherweb, youtube, etc) for students to have access to at home.


• Class instructions for a substitute.   Give the lesson yourself so the teaching continues while you are gone.


• Lab experiments for absent students.


• Student presentations - Turn the camera to record students presenting for the classroom.

What could you add to these lists?   Please leave ideas in the comment section below.

Your document camera needs to be connected to your computer with a USB cable and the software should be installed.  Download instructions for creating a video with the Samsung Document Camera 860 - Instructions - pdf

Idea #4 - Concept Mapping with Inspiration

Want to increase brain activity in your students,  encourage active comprehension and step-up dynamic discussions in the classroom?  It all can be done with one simple activity of concept mapping.

Today’s idea uses  the software Inspiration 8 (installed on all teacher machines on campus) and your projector.  The document camera can also be incorporated as student's share the maps they have created.



Why use Inspiration?

1. It's easy and already loaded on all teacher machines on campus.


2. Inspiration provides pre-made templates to get the concept map going for the big screen (choose New - From Template to see the options)


3. Keeps the map organized and easy to read for the class.


4. Circles can be changed to clip art for more of a visual impact.


5. Brainstorming is easy with the lightening bolt icon.


6. Maps and ideas can be easily rearranged without starting over.


7. Finished products can be saved as Word files and placed online for those who missed the class.

Ideas on How to Use Concept Mapping in the Classroom:

As a reading strategy:

1. Pre-reading:  have students brainstorm what they know about the items listed on the skelton concept map.  Add those ideas in and have students record on their own papers.

2. During Reading - Students then read the assigned passage and add in more details as they learn them.

3. Post reading - Compare maps with the class and add in details students might have missed.  (Use the document camera to show student's original maps.)

Extension:

• 
  
  
  
  • Sub-topics can be recorded on note-cards and students can add in more details about that topic as they read/learn more
  
  
  • Cards can then be turned into a paragraphs within a research paper.
  
  
  • Each sub-topic could become a research topic for the class.
  
  
  
  

As a note-taking strategy:

1. Give students a partially filled concept map and have them add to it as you discuss, research, etc. the topic given.


2. Have students create their own map of the story/event with main characters/main events in ech sub-circle and details surrounding from there.

Getting Started:

Download a how-to guide for Inspiration 8:  How to Use Inspiration 8

Watch a quick tutorial on the software here:


Documentation and research on using concept mapping in the classroom is based from "Classroom Instruction that Works" by Robert Marzano and Project Criss.

Idea #3 - Read a Children's Book

Our third idea for using projectors and document cameras in the classroom is incorporating Children's Picture Books into lessons.

The Technical Side:

Before Doc Cameras:  When reading a book to the class you had to stop and hold the picture up as you walked around the room, or panned the room for all to see.   Most of the meanings in the pictures were lost on the students who could not see the image well enough or long enough to derive meaning from it.

With Doc Cameras: When placing the book under the document camera the entire class can see the pictures as you read the story aloud.   Students can look for meaning in the illustrations and how that meaning matches, or does not match with the text.   With the zoom feature you can focus in on details of the pages they would have never seen before.

Why read picture books in middle school?

Research shows that reading aloud to students is an important way to build their vocabulary, reading and comprehension skills.

Here are some of the highlights of an article written in the Middle School Journal on why you should read picture books in middle school:

• Provides students with an opportunity to read a variety of texts


• Increases and enhances the reader's personal connections with the subject matter


• Picture books are now being written to address middle school needs and interests.


• Many picture books can be interpreted on several levels.


• Students are visually oriented and are accustomed to using visual images to assist in learning new concepts


• Good activity for English Language Learners - it reduces the word load for students while keeping a high level of comprehension needed

Things to consider when choosing a Picture Book:

• How enthusiastic are you about it?  The more you like the book and are excited about it, the better reception the students will give it.


• What are your learning objectives?  Books should always be chosen to help meet those objectives.


• What is the quality of the book?
  
  
  
  • Does it have rich information?
  
  
  • Does it meet high literary standards with it's vocabulary and author's style of writing?
  
  
  • Look for awards such as the Caldecott for indications of a good book.
  
  
  
  

A great place to start when choosing a picture book is your library! use the librarians expertise in helping select books that meet the needs of your classroom.



For more details on choosing books for each academic subject area see  A Middle School Teacher's Guide for Selecting Picture Books - Middle School Journal.   Half way through the article they break it down for each academic area to choose books.    You can also search for "picture books in middle school (insert your subject here)."

Resources:

• Great Picture Books for Middle School - Amazon


• A Middle School Teacher's Guide for Selecting Picture Books - Middle School Journal


• Teaching with Picture Books

Idea #2 - Word Clouds

Today's idea uses the projector and your computer connection.  Word clouds are a visual representation of the chosen text.

The more often a word appears in a text, the larger the word will appear in the cloud. Word clouds also fit in nicely with Marzano's "Nonlinguistic Representation" being a strategy that works in classrooms instruction.

Resources:

There are 2 internet sites that make word cloud creation very simple:

Wordle:  http://www.wordle.net/ - Creates freeform clouds and can be printed, saved to a public gallery, or you can take a screen shot of the image to use in classes later.

Tagxedo - http://www.tagxedo.com/app.html - creates word clouds in different shapes, colors, fonts, etc.  You can create straight from a websites, copy and paste text from any source, or type original text into the creator.  Results are interactive and can be saved as a jpeg or png file.

Ways to use this in your classroom:

1. Introduce:
   
   
   
   • Vocabulary - enter in the vocabulary for a unit and display for students to discuss what they know, what they don't know, etc.
   
   
   • People -   Take a biography of a famous person and have the student make inferences about what kind of person this is and what important things did they do?  Or have student write about themselves and turn it into a wordle as a way to learn more about them.
   
   
   • Unit/ Syllabus - make it more interesting - ask what do you think you are going to learn about in this unit
   
   
   
   


2. Analyze:
   
   
   
   • Author's Diction - Take a passage from the reading and have students analyze word choice before reading the passage.
   
   
   • A Reading Passage:  Based on the word cloud have students:
     
     
     
     • predict main ideas
     
     
     • write a title for the passage
     
     
     • identify vocabulary that is unfamiliar
     
     
     
     
   
   
   • Survey Data - copy and paste survey data in to see what the reoccurring ideas are.
   
   
   • Lyrics of a song
   
   
   • Current Events
   
   
   
   


3. Create:
   
   
   
   • Poster of class rules or school expectations as a way to review
   
   
   • Character Map - as a class brainstorm words that describe a character (or historical figure) and create a word cloud for that person.  You can do the same for additional characters and ask  why do we have more information about one character over another.
   
   
   • A Word Cloud Word Wall - enter in the vocabulary term multiple times to make it larger and then the definition - print to place on the wall.
   
   
   • Poster from an Essay
   
   
   
   


4. Summarize a Famous Speech - what ideas are important


5. Generate Ideas for Research - take an article about a topic and create a word cloud.  From that word cloud have students generate research ideas for further study.


6. Compare and Contrast - 2 word clouds from two different passages or different points of view


7. Writing Prompt: Have students being to write based on the word cloud.  Clouds could be based on vocabulary from the unit, a passage, a poem, etc.


8. Guided Reading: Take 2 sections from a text and create a word cloud.  Have students decide what passage comes first and why.

Tutorials:

For more information and ideas about word clouds in the classroom check out:

• http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2009/07/more-wordle-in-classroom-ideas.html


• http://peterpappas.blogs.com/copy_paste/2009/01/build-literacy-skills-with-wordle.html


• http://thecleversheep.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-20-uses-for-wordle.html


• http://www.angelamaiers.com/2008/11/wordle-in-the-c.html

Idea #1 - Teach Students How to Read the Textbook

With the addition of document cameras and ceiling mounted projectors in the classroom, the challenge is learning to use this new technology to it's fullest.   This is the first in a series to offer teachers ideas:

Idea #1:  Teach Students How to Read the Textbook

Students do not automatically know how to read any given  textbook.  Each book is different with it's own structure and style.  Using a document camera and a projector, teachers can teach students to analyze the structure of their textbooks so that they can better comprehend what they are reading.

Students who have more knowledge of text structure learn more from expository material that students who are not aware of text structure.

The document camera makes it easy by allowing the teacher to project the textbook onto the screen for all to see, instead of having to hold up the book and hope students are looking at the same place they are.

The video walks you through the basics of teaching students to evaluate the structure of a textbook and to identify the resources provided.



For more information on teaching students how to read a textbook see:

• http://www.addchoices.com/reading_text.htm


• http://www.brighthub.com/education/k-12/articles/25816.aspx

YouTube Video Tools for Teachers

Here are a few video tools for YouTube  all teachers should know about:

YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/

TubeChop - http://www.tubechop.com/ - Ever had a video on Youtube that you only wanted to show part of?  This website helps with that.

1. Find a YouTube Video you want to clip


2. Copy the URL - and go to http://www.tubechop.com/


3. Paste in the url into the provided box on the webpage


4. Select video and choose "Chop It."


5. Choose the portion of the video you want to keep by dragging the markers on the beginning and end of the clip and click on "Chop It"


6. The website then provide you with a link to your chopped video as well as an embed code to place that clip on a webpage.

Kick You Tube - - Download YouTube videos for future use.       You have options on what format you want to save the video and downloaded videos can be stored on Thumb drives or DVD's for access when the network is down or you don't want to rely on streaming.  Basically you type in the work "kick" in the url before"youtube" and follow the instructions.

A great tutorial on how to do this can be found at Tammy Worcester Tip of the Week.

YouTube to Mp3 Converter - http://www.video2mp3.net/ - convert video clips into mp3 clips.  Good when looking for sound bites for instruction.

Wallwisher in the Classroom

I started to title this blog post - A New Way to Brainstorm - but then I realized that Wall Wisher offers so much more than that.

Wallwisher is a free internet application that allows you to build a wall that then you or you and others can post notes on.   To build a wall you will need to log in with an email account but an email account is not needed to post notes on that wall.  Good news for those of us working with students under the age of 14.    Privacy levels can be set for each wall and posts can be moderated.

Once a wall is built there are a number of ways to distribute or share your wall.  Walls can be embedded into a webpage, blog or wiki.  You can link directly to the wall for users to go straight there.  It also provides an RSS feed so walls can be monitored through your RSS readers, such as iGoogle.

As I started looking for how others were using this tool I found the ideas fit into a few categories.  (This was easy to do as I took the ideas that were posted on the wall and started moving them around to create the groups!)

• Brainstorming/ Idea Gathering


• Homepages - a place to gather resources, post announcements, leave messages, provide homework help, etc.


• Skill building - note-taking, vocabulary, sorting and summarization work wonderfully on this.


• Portfolios of Student Work - either as a class or an individual.

I created a wall with all the ideas of classroom use I have found by searching the web and have embedded the wall below.  Please feel free to add to it!

Get Started:

The best way to learn to use this tool is to jump in and get started!

Go to my wallwisher sandbox and make your first post: http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/RobinySandbox

Or go to: http://www.wallwisher.com - log in and build your first wall.

Please share your ideas for wallwisher or the walls you build!

Glogster - Create an Interactive Poster

Making a poster, creating a model, or drawing a picture all help increase activity in the brain by having students take information in one form and transform it into another. Classroom Instruction that Works indicates that using nonlinguistic representations achieved a 27 percentile gain  As a history teacher I also found those assignments more enjoyable to grade than essays where they students copied information from books and online resources without ever thinking about what they were writing.

So how to make use of this technique using technology?  One way is Glogster.

What is Glogster EDU?

Glogster EDU is the educational version of the Glogster site.  Teachers and students can design interactive posters that incorporate artwork, videos, music, links to other websites, wordles, etc.

Sample Math Glog:

Teachers are given 100 free student accounts to allow students to create their own glogs under the teacher's account.  User names and passwords are automatically generated and sent to the teacher's account.

Finished products can be embedded into wikis, webpages, or teacherweb sites using the provided html embed code.  You can also link to the glog itself.

The site provides background templates and frames to get you started in all sorts of themes.

See this glog on Glogster EDU for more info: http://thilby.edu.glogster.com/glogsteredu/

(Warning - make sure you are using the EDU version for your students.  Glogs found on the original site may not be suitable for all audiences.)

Getting Started:

If you are ready to try this resource out, go to http://edu.glogster.com/register/ and register for an account.

For a step by step tutorial check out - Glogster Tutorial Page - by Traci Blazosky

Uses in the Classroom:

• Create a glog as the homepage for a class project with all the info.


• Using a projector use the glog as a the home base for your lesson or discussion in class.


• replace traditional poster board projects with a glog


• group images together to set the tone for a historical unit or a novel's setting


• gather all the notes together for a math concept so the formulas and examples are all in one place.


• Create a glog to replace a research paper. (If they are copying all the info from online anyway - why not show them how to link to those sources and write a summary that introduces the link?)

Sample Glog for To Kill a Mockingbird:

Resources:

• Hooked on Glogster by Brenda Dyck

Animoto - Hook Your Class!

How do you get your student's attention? We used to call this the anticipatory set, the hook or now the popular term is the engagement piece.

Consider showing this video to introduce a unit on Sharecropping and Cotton Production in Texas:


Set the stage by asking students to describe the images and the faces.  How are the the same or different from their lives today?  What assumptions can you make about life during that time?

Images are powerful.  In our digital age students are used to seeing the images to help them identify and connect with the events being talked about.  Think about how fast images can be broadcast about any event that is occuring.

How to Make Videos:

Animoto helps present those images in a way that is easy and interesting to your students.

Animoto is a web tool that allows users to create videos using your own images, video clips (up to 10 seconds) and music.  You can also choose from their collection of music that includes tracks from popular artists.  Animoto then analyzes the media you have chosen to create a custom video.  Transitions and videos are adjusted to fit the music chosen.

Finished videos can be played from the website, embedded into other webpages (think wikis, blogs and teacherWeb),  emailed out or uploaded to YouTube.

The best part is that now Animoto is providing unlimited access to educators. This means you can create unlimited videos with various lengths and your students can too.

To create your own Animoto Account for Educators go to: http://animoto.com/education

How can You Use these Videos in Class:

• Commercials for upcoming Events


• Book Trailers


• Videos of Class Field Trips


• Summarize a Class Project


• Interpret a Topic you are studying with images.

Remember these videos could be student created or teacher created.

Other Examples:

Avatars - Your Virtual Self

Creating avatars in education can help get the creative juices flowing and create safe images to post of the students online.    Here is a list of ideas for using avatars in classrooms:

• Create book trailers with the avatars representing the characters


• Teachers can put their avatar in their powerpoints to get the kids attention.


• Create a new character and create a story about it. (Great for the Build Your Wild Self website)


• Write instructions on how to create a character - swap descriptions to see if they can recreate it


• recreate characters from the novel.  What do you picture that they look like.


• All about Mii poems with picture of the avatar attached


• Use the avatar to represent the student online.


• Put the avatars in famous places and points in history.  Have student write about the place and or event from a first person point of view.

Here are three kid-safe resources for creating avatars:

Mii Avatars

If you are a Wii user you have created a Mii before, the avatar that represents you in playing the games.  There is online option to create Miis that can be saved as jpgs or png files. Export the avatar as a transparent png file and put yourself in famous places. by placing the Mii on top of a photograph.  I've used PowerPoint for this since you can group the two images and then save the group as a picture file.

Create your own Mii - http://www.myavatareditor.com/

Directions to create famous Miis:  http://www.miicharacters.com/

Lego Avatars:

Mini-Mizer -

Allows users to create a Lego Avatar complete with accessories custom and backgrounds.  To save the creation you have to do a Print Screen and then paste into another application like PowerPoint to crop the image and save it as an image file.

http://www.reasonablyclever.com/mm2/mini2.swf

Become an Animal

Build Your Wild Self - Start off designing yourself as a human then you can add animal parts and set a background.  Final Products can be printed with information about the creature you created and a name for your creature.  Another option is to save a version as a desktop backgrounds.  You can right click on the print version and save the image as well as doing the print screen option as with the Lego character.



This was really my favorite one as the art work is beautiful and the ties into science are amazing.  One idea:  Have students create a creature for their habitat and explain how that creature lives.

__________________________________________

I'll be adding to my avatar resources at: http://www.diigo.com/user/robiny/avatars

Any other ideas for using avatars in class?

TCEA - What I learned today

What did I learn today?  I think I will let the word cloud speak for me.

This was created with wordle from my google docs notes taken during my workshop today with Tammy Worcester.

Ideas for Providing Feedback

Want to make a difference in your classroom? Let your students know how they are doing!

The most powerful single modification that enhances achievement is feedback. [Hattie, 1992]

According to Robert Marzano's Classroom Instruction that Works -providing feedback to students can be the single most important change you make in your classroom.  Research shows that:

1. Feedback should be corrective in nature - Let's students' know why what they are doing is right or wrong.


2. Feedback should be timely - the more the delay the less effective it is


3. Feedback should be specific to a criterion - Focus on how they are doing based on the skill and not in relation to other students.


4. Students can effectively provide some of their own feedback - Students can track as their learning occurs - ex.  accuracy and speed

Technology can provide new and innovative ways to provide this for students.

• Rubrics
  
  
  
  • Rubistar - free online rubric tool - can copy and paste rubric into Word for further editing.
  
  
  • Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators - Assessment and Rubric Information
  
  
  
  


• Online Publishing - Blogs
  
  
  
  • Blogger - hosted by Google - also free to use.  You can take the "next blog link" off the top banner with some simple coding.
  
  
  • ePals - provides safe email and blog platforms for schools
  
  
  • Edublogs - free blogs for classrooms.  They are running google keyword ads now so be careful.
  
  
  
  


• Polls
  
  
  
  • Turning Points - Clickers - RRISD created tutorials for Turning Points - https://rrisd-teacherguides.wikispaces.com/TurningPoint+2006
  
  
  • Quia - free 30 day trial version is available
  
  
  • Survey Monkey
  
  
  • Google Forms - create online quizzes for free.  Responses are stored in a spreadsheet for further analysis.  Must have a Google account.
  
  
  • Poll Everywhere - create polls that participants can respond to via, text, twitter, smartphone, or web.
  
  
  
  

Note about Cell Phones:  We are a ways away in our district from asking students to pull out their cell phones to text in answers, but this is a technology worth watching.  The polls on Poll Everywhere allow for web voting as well.   Polls can be embedded into webpages and blogs to see instant results, as well as downloadable PowerPoint slides.

I built some sample text polls with Poll Everywhere to test it out:

Build television sms voting polls at Poll Everywhere

Make a live audience poll at Poll Everywhere

Resources:

All my resources for this post can be found on my diigo account. http://www.diigo.com/user/robiny/feedback

I'll continue to add more as I find them.

Embedding YouTube in PowerPoint 2007

With the upgrade on campus from Office XP to Office 07 there was a need to rewrite the directions on embedding YouTube into PowerPoint.

Embedding a video allows for the presenter to stay within the PowerPoint environment and to filter out the ads and info that may surround the video on the internet.

Here is a powerpoint with the YouTube Video linked and the video embedded:   embed

Directions to Embed in PowerPoint 2007

Note: Your computer must have internet connection when showing the PowerPoint in order for the video to work.

1. Look to see if the “Developer” ribbon is available on your toolbar.  If it is NOT:
   
   
   
   1. click on the Microsoft Orb (see red arrow)
   
   
   2. Click on “PowerPoint Options” on the bottom of the window.
   
   
   3. Under the “Popular” tab check S”Show Developer tab in the Ribbon”
   
   
   4. Click “OK”
   
   
   
   


2. Open the Developer’s Ribbon and click on the “More Controls” option in the Controls box.


3. Scroll down and select the option “Shockwave Flash Object” and click “OK.”


4. On the PowerPoint slide click the mouse and draw a box where you want the video to be.


5. Right click on the box you have just drawn and select “Properties.”


6. Open Internet Explorer and find the video you want to embed in your presentation:
   
   
   
   1. Copy the URL in the address bar by highlighting the address and Ctrl + C
   
   
   
   


7. Return to PowerPoint


8. Paste the URL in the Properties Box in the “Movie” section.


9. Change the URL by:
   
   
   
   1. 
      
      
      
      1. Delete the “watch?” portion of the address
      
      
      2. Replace the “=” with a “/”
      
      
      3. Example
         
         
         
         1. From: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSVfYwdGSsQ
         
         
         2. To: http://www.youtube.com/ v/aSVfYwdGSsQ
         
         
         
         
      
      
      
      
   
   
   
   


10. Other items to change in the Properties Box:
    
    
    
    1. Loop – If you want the movie to play through once and stop select “False”
    
    
    2. Playing – If you want the movie to start automatically when the slide loads – “True” – Otherwise change to “False” if you want to click on the movie for it to start.
    
    
    
    


11. Save your PowerPoint.


12. Run the presentation and you should see the movie begin.

Here are the directions with screenshots in pdf Form: Embed a YouTube Video into PowerPoint 2007

Olympic Lessons

The Winter Olympics are 10 days away.  Soon the TV airwaves will be full ofwinter sports, some of which we only get to see every 4 years.  So how can you incorporate this historic event into your classroom?  I've gone through several websites (listed at the bottom of this post) and grouped some ideas into different subject areas to get us started thinking about it.

History:

• Research the history of the Olympics


• Compare and contrast the ancient Olympics with the modern day ones


• Research the customs of different teams at the Olympics or of the Host Country


• Tie Black History month in with the Olympics by researching African American Athletes - such as Jesse Owen and Muhamed Ali


• Character Education lessons

Science:

• Explore the engineering of a sport and the equipment that is used in the sport.


• Anatomy of an Athlete - what makes some people "super" athletes?  Scientists study the human body to understand how it works and how  athletes can be better


• Weather - track the weather throughout the area.  What influences the weather in that region?  What about the weather in that area makes it ideal for the Winter Olympics to be held there?


• Check out - http://www.lessonopoly.org/svef/?q=node/9086

Math:

• Chart the results of the games


• Use statistics from the games to work math problems.


• Measurement - How far is it to travel to the games?  How much would it cost?

Language Arts:

• Write biographies of Olympic Athletes (past and/or present)


• Summarize the events of the game or the results of an event.


• Research a sport and how it has developed over the years.


• Cover an Olympic Event as a sports reporter

Art -

• create posters to illustrate the history of the game.


• Design icons for each event


• Design a tickets to events to represent Canada and the sporting event.

Resources:

• Education World - Countdown to Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games - great collection of lessons and links to complete the lessons


• EdGate Summer Games Ideas - Ideas can be transferred the the Winter events very easily.  Many of the resources are not specific to the summer time


• Collection of Lessons Compiled by the Saskatoon Public School Systems - http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/de/resources/olympics/


• TeacherVision - Olympic Games - Resources for Teachers


• teAchnology - Winter Olympics Teaching Theme

More resources will be added here as I find them.  Be sure to check this Diigo account as we get closer to the games for more ideas.

Diigo Account: http://www.diigo.com/user/robiny/olympics

More Super Bowl Lesson Ideas

I've found a few more resources/lessons that use the Super Bowl or football as the jumping point for the lessons and wanted to pass them on:

• Education World  - http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson096.shtml - lessons for art, social studies, math and science based on football and the SuperBowl


• Lesson Planet - http://www.lessonplanet.com/search?media=lesson&keywords=football&commit=Search&grade=All+Grades&rating=3&gclid=CIGYpP73tZ8CFQUhDQodKC2r4Q  - Football lesson plans


• Football Math - http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/3150

Super Bowl Commercials in the Classroom

It's almost Super Bowl time! Appointment television at it's best with the thrill of the game and the fun of the commercials!   Why not use this important social event in American culture to pull students into learning? 

What has caught my attention the most right now is the use of commercials in the classroom.  Several websites have collected the "Best of the Best" of Superbowl commercials from over the years.  You can search by year or by product to choose attention grabbing hooks to your classroom.

Commercials can be hooks into your assignment, examples of what students can create themselves, or elements of it can be analyzed to illustrate what is happening in the classroom.

Take this Coca-Cola Commercial:


Science teachers could the laws of physics that were involved in moving the bottle and the insects that were used and what natural characteristics of that insect made it useful for each step of the heist.

Watch a propoganda ad to discuss what techniques were used to make their point.

Look for persuasiveness in an ad to see how you could use those techniques in your writing.

Any subject can have students make their own commercials based on what they are studying.   A few ideas are:

• Ad for why the Constitution is important today


• Show an M&M commercial and talk about the personification of the candy.    Apply that to the study of chemical elements.  Give your element a personality and it's own commercial.


• Persuade people to read your book

Any other ideas?

To find superbowl ads check out these resources:

• http://www.spike.com/superbowl - Ads that can be sorted based on year, product and popularity.


• http://www.superbowl-ads.com/index.html - Also based on year, the display of these ads are smaller and they cannot be embedded, but they do not have the related videos at the end of each one.


• http://www.frankwbaker.com/super_bowl.htm - has links to ads and facts and figures from throughout the years.

Some of these ads may not be appropriate for all grade levels.   Please preview all sites before using in the classroom.

Skype in Education

Here is the presentation I used recently to introduce Skype to teachers on campus:



I am looking forward to what they decide to do with this great FREE tool.