E-WOT

How to draw apps

sally07 — Mon, 28 May 2012 10:00:44 +0000

What I like about my iPad is it enables me to do the things I might not be able to do without it. As such it has an invaluable place in my life. I am surrounded by artists and people who are good at art. I’d like to be able to draw because I think with tablet devices it would open up some new avenues for teaching and learning and get away from the all too easy cut and paste non thinking approach. I am ever grateful for cut and paste but how wonderful it would be to create my own creations, no matter how simple. I downloaded two free drawing apps. I started with the cup on the Easy Drawing Lessons app. I drew a mug which I could actually show to others this morning. I had used my stylus and by the time I had finished I actually felt like I’d be able to get a pencil and paper and draw it myself. This was a major breakthrough. There must be students like me who feel like they just cannot draw. The other app I downloaded was How to Draw. This is a series of video lessons. They are explained so well and then you can see what is being done. It inspires confidence. I can look at the videos as much as I want to learn. I felt as though I’d be able to replicate some of those techniques. I feel happy now. I feel like I have something which can move me forward and enable me to explore tablet applications for teaching and learning in a different way.

Little Red Riding Hood goes 21st Century

sally07 — Sat, 26 May 2012 09:07:58 +0000

As an English teacher one of the most successful assignments I did was to look at what made a fairy tale and then get students to create a modern one. It was always fun and great marking. That was pre computers. Look at it now. Look at how inspired students can become through technology and with technology.

Holographic keyboards

sally07 — Thu, 24 May 2012 02:11:50 +0000

The future had better hurry up so we can get there and have these cool holographic keyboards. No battery life but cool keyboards. I am sure the boffins will sort something out about battery life. I was reminded of this clip because some boys had typed some of their Puppet Pals’ dialogue in Notes and then just wiped it and shut down the app. They then got out pens and paper and said it would be quicker. They weren’t comfortable with the touch keyboard and thought it slowed them down. I find the touch keyboard fine. I said as digital students the touch keyboard should be their thing. They wanted a proper keyboard. That surprised me and then I remembered this video clip and showed them the opening picture of a holograph keyboard. Their eyes lit up. They thought it was so cool and I could imagine my school desks being full holograph keyboards. The students had loved the lesson the student teacher had planned with them on an iPad so it was interesting to see some digital students reject touch keyboards when they love tablet and mobile phone technology and are growing up with it. Until the future is here I am wondering how much bluetooth keyboards would be at school prices.

Something fishy

sally07 — Wed, 23 May 2012 07:08:59 +0000

Sometimes you just have to stray off the path and take a pleasant detour. Fish Hooked is the very thing and its 261 followers are not wrong. As a Piscean I took straight away to the fishy cartoons. It was a nice break, a pleasant surprise and it gave me a chance to stop being so serious! The site also welcomes fishy jokes and puns if you want to actively engage your brain and contribute to the mirth. The Net can be very encouraging like that. It is very much about shared experiences, knowledge and engaging with others. The mobile floating at the top of the bowl reminds me just how many people seem to get their phone wet! I dropped mine into the bucket of water I was using to wash the car. I never panic when I do that sort of thing. I took it indoors and opened it up. Took out the sim card and wiped it. Blotted as much water out of the phone as I could then propped front and back of the phone up with the open side facing the fire at about a meter’s distance. I rested it on a tea towel. I let it dry for about 3 days. I don’t cry if I lose access to a phone. I have the internet! I have Facebook…I have other phones! When I put it all back together again it was fine. Same with the cordless that I also dropped onto the bucket of car washing water! Don’t let them get too near to any heat source. Just gentle heat and plenty of careful blotting.

Blog Challenge #3 – Blog a topic plan

sally07 — Tue, 22 May 2012 08:46:14 +0000

I want you to blog a topic plan for something you teach. Mine is constructed according to Bloom’s Taxonomy and Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy. Some of the materials I created. Some have been mustered. I then made sure I had a visual representation of it which you can see left. Why? People can take things in quickly visually and then will make their own decision as to whether they will follow up with reading your post. As they read your post they will then make a decision as to whether they will follow your links. Bit like a treasure hunt , really. I also think we need to get our lesson, unit and topic plans out into the ether so we can share. Teachers need to show what they are doing so others can see, but they also need to share so that when they are pushed for ideas they can find something which will help them get through a long , demanding day…year in, year out. My blogpost about teaching er verbs in French is here on my ah oui? blog.

Teaching Ideas

sally07 — Mon, 21 May 2012 09:10:31 +0000

Teaching Ideas is a site by Rob Smith which demonstrates clearly that you do not have to do complicated and difficult in order to share and stimulate ideas from the classroom. What I like about the site is each post has a video from a different cultural background and then some thoughts and ideas about how that can be translated into a viable lesson. Each choice is very unique and given Rob Smith has already done some thinking groundwork, then it is not hard ,as a teacher, to add your own slant and create your own lessons suited to your own purposes. If we all did this we’d have so many resources and a constant stream of ideas which would regenerate us. Blogs like this need to be housed somewhere centrally so we can go and have a look when we need inspiration. Some of the videos have no language component and so can be used in different language settings and at any level of learning. The site makes a sound contribution to visual literacy and linguistic development.

Add an image

sally07 — Sat, 19 May 2012 23:31:44 +0000

Doesn’t matter whether it’s a blog post, a presentation or a worksheet, images always help to get your messages across. It’s nice to find a site with a lot of simple but effective images which have been kindly categorised. These images are also designed for colouring in exercises too. Bookmark Supercolouring. I have!

A Gracious Guide to Benevolent Blogging -- Five Tips

sally07 — Thu, 17 May 2012 23:04:21 +0000

Reblogged from Brigitte's Banter:

I’ve been in the blogging world for almost four months now, so I don’t claim to be an expert at this way we find ourselves communicating in the 21st century. I do, however, consider myself a gracious and nice human being and try to extend courtesies when someone takes the time to acknowledge my work.

With that in mind, I’ve come up with a few tips that I believe all bloggers should keep in mind when they have something to say, whether that be from their own writing or when they comment on others.

FatWorld – nutritional politics

sally07 — Thu, 17 May 2012 22:56:54 +0000

FatWorld is a free game which can be downloaded for PC, Mac or played online. It has a complexity which encourages to think about the economics and politics of nutrition as well as the impact of individual decision making. The blurb on the site explains it well and then you can watch the trailer. As a game it is cross curriculum and looks at nutrition, exercise, genetic disposition to certain diseases, food choices, subsidies, economic decisions. It covers traditional content in a game arena and therefore might be more capable of getting the messages across in the digital age and could well provide a useful adjunct to the teaching and learning of content. It relates to America so this would form a useful basis for looking at cultural comparisons in health and nutrition.

Digital Literacy

sally07 — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:02:04 +0000

Everyone has their favourite way of developing digital literacy in the classroom. Now is the time to share all these efforts. We needed some time to get used to it, to trial software, to have a chance of taking risks and seeing what we could do and then exploring the impact of that on our students. By now it is clear we have moved forward so making sure we can see how others are putting it together, how they are using technology in the classroom, is an important next step. This video was created in Animoto and has some clear messages. Classroom videos need to be short, they need to have clear messages and they need to be eye or ear catching or both.