My Padlet is Your Padlet

In my last EDUC 584, last I was introduced to a new collaborative tool called Padlet.  By far this is one of the easiest online tools that I have used.  Padlet has many user-friendly features and you can get started using it immediately.  You just need to create an account and you’re on your way.

First, I love the auto save feature, however, this takes some getting used to because I am programmed to always save my work before I exit out.  Second, you can easily attach a link to YouTube or any other website.  You can upload pictures and word documents right onto the wall.  Third, you can create a private wall for only your students to post on and can open up the permissions so that others can change what you have written.  Lastly, I love the layout and wallpapers they provide.  You can allow students to post in a free form or stream layout.   

I love Padlet so much I decided to try it on my return to school.  I asked my students what were there plans for the summer.  I wrote the URL I created for their class on the board and they quickly figured out how to post and move their post around the wall.  Here is a screenshot of what they had to say about their summer plans.

Core 1/5 Padlet

For more ideas on ways to use Padlet in your classroom, look at Three Good Ways to Use Padlet in Your School.  The author suggests several ways to have students collaborate using Padlet that I plan to try before the end of the school year.

My only concern with Padlet is that if my students were to create their own accounts they could potentially use Padlet to send each other messages without my knowledge.  Nonetheless, I still think this is an effective collaborative tool.  I hope you decide to try it in your classroom. 

Storybird Time

During my last EDUC 584 class, I had the opportunity to create a story with my peers Michelle and Juan using the online digital story-telling tool Storybird.  It was the first time I had used a tool such as this to create a story.  It was difficult to create a story on the spot based on someone else’s pictures.  However, once we selected an artist our story came together quickly.   

I am proud of our accomplishment, so proud that I showed it to my six graders the next day.  I wanted to show them what I created in class the night before and to get some feedback.  I told them that we created the story off the top of our head and had it done within a half hour of starting.  After I read the story to them, they asked when they would get the opportunity to make one of their own!  They did say they thought the story was nice and immediately noticed the students on the cover page.  They had so many questions about the artwork and where did we get the names for the characters.  I reminded the students about the short stories they wrote at the beginning of the year.  I told them if I had known about Storybird before, they could have used it to create their original stories to share online.  I definitely plan to use this tool with students in the future. I can see them selecting pictures first then building their story using a plot chart.  They can practice including conflict, dialogue, characterization, and setting. As an ELA teacher, I see the many possibilities for using Storybird in my classroom.

Animoto by Design

In my EDUC 584, I am required to create an Animoto video and I had never heard of this technology before, but I am willing to try using it once.  I played around with it during class creating an extremely short video with images of friends and family using the music they have available to play along with the video.  The video was brief.  Now that I had gotten my hands wet, it was time to decide on a focus for my Animoto.

Every two weeks my students are given five focus vocabulary words.  I decided to create an Animoto to help them review next week’s vocabulary terms.  I plan to share this Animoto with my students and my grade level partners.  I will have students watch this and stop to give them time to write forms and sentences for the vocabulary words. 

The easiest part of creating this Animoto was the terms and examples.  The difficult part was finding images that related to the vocabulary.  I had fun selecting the style and the music for this video.  I will share t

Please enjoy this Animoto and feel free to make any suggestions to help me make improvements. 

Reader's Theater

This Monday I will begin my mini-unit with Reader’s Theater.  I decided to mention this to my students today and they immediately became excited.  They wanted to know what scripts they would be reading.  Several of my students remembered when I did Reader’s Theater with them last summer during Summer Academy.  The first Reader’s Theater script we will use is called The Millionaire Miser.  Prior to reading the actual script, students will read the read the fable The Millionaire Miser and discuss.  Then I will assign roles for the actual Reader’s Theater version of The Millionaire Miser. 

While I have used this script in the past my issue with this particular script is that there are only thirteen parts and several of those parts I can easily require one student take on two roles.  This script is fun and teaches a great lesson on stinginess, however if you know of any other resources or websites that have leveled Reader’s Theater scripts please let me know. I am always on the lookout for engaging and scripts.

Art Inspired Poetry

Recently my sixth grade students went on a field trip to the New Britain American Art Museum.  We go on this trip every year during our unit on poetry.  The students took a docent-led tour of the various art exhibits.  After the tours, each student selects their favorite piece of art to write a sensory poem from notes they collected that day. 

When students returned to school, they began working on brainstorming and creating their art-inspired poems.  I showed students my favorite piece of art and the poem I created from it.

Before publishing the final copy of their poem, we practiced looking for boring plain words to change awesome adjective and vivid verbs.  I demonstrated with a sample poem by circling words that I thought were meaningless or boring and used a thesaurus and www.thesaurus.com to find words that were meaningful.  The students loved using the thesaurus and readily shared the new words they discovered.  I stopped here, passed back their museum poems, and allowed time to circle boring words and replace them with ones that are meaningful.  Some students said that they could not find any words in there writing they wanted to change.  I suggested they have a friend look for words they thought might need improvement.  This worked for them, because their classmates saw something they had not. 

Students then typed up their revised rough drafts and shared in small groups in the class. 

Here is one art inspired poem:

 Photo Credit : Adam Field http://www.pinterest.com/pin/76913106110192169/

Written by: Lily

Beach in Hawaii

Inspired By: Heesoo Lee

Hibiscus flowers which are as garnet colored

as a cluster of cherries on a bleached porch on the fourth of July.

Brownish-greenish stems and plum colored leaves

shaped like a fuchsia colored surfboard lying on the soft sand in the early morning sun.

Cobalt colored, frosty froth covered

ocean waves crashing against the gray, rocky shore.

Tiny hummingbirds chirping an energetic melody on a white birch branch in the magical time between dawn and morning.

Soft, smooth, scarlet petals of the Jatropha flowers

waving in the breeze like ripe, ruby colored tomatoes waiting to be picked.

The cool summer breeze blowing my ebony colored, glossy, wavy hair

like I’m on a boat at dusk.

Fresh mango jam, the color of a softly lit flame

in a obscure cave on the cold mountain side.

Fresh golden, clover honey, dribbled over a refreshing fruit salad

waiting to be savored and consumed.

Golden lemons being cut and squeezed into a

frosted glass pitcher full of pure, tasteless water and sweet, white sugar.

A emerald colored garden full of pearl-white jasmine flowers

swaying as the summer breeze pushes them to release their sweet-smelling fragrance.

I feel safe, calm, and free like a bird.

Love's first blog attempt

My first blog?!  I never thought I would actually create a blog.  I am nervous because I feel like I am standing in front of my colleagues doing a presentation where I am speaking fast with an uneasy voice.  I can feel my hands twitching and I am praying that this experience with be over soon.

However, I must say I am secretly excited for this opportunity.  I have always wanted to have my own “space” out in the World Wide Web created by me.  To have my own stage in which I perform my greatest hits. 

 Without further ado,