Five Ways to Create Word Clouds This morning at the Massachusetts School Library Association's conference (a fun conference that I highly recommend) Pam Berger presented some good ideas for working with primary source documents and Web 2.0 tools. One of the ideas that she shared and others elaborated on was the idea of using word clouds to help students analyze documents. By copying the text of a document into a word cloud generator your students can quickly see the words that appear most frequently in that document. Here are five tools that you and your students can use to create word clouds. ABCya! offers a beautiful word cloud generator. Tagul is a free word cloud generator that offers the option to link every word in your word cloud to a Google search. Word It Out creates word clouds out of any text that you paste into the word cloud generator. Tagxedo makes it very easy to customize the design of your word clouds. Wordle is regarded by some as the "original" online word cloud generator. Disclosure: ABCya!
PBL Made Easy With Blended Learning What is Project Based Learning? “Project-based learning is a dynamic approach to teaching in which students explore real-world problems and challenges. With this type of active and engaged learning, students are inspired to obtain a deeper knowledge of the subjects they’re studying.” Common Characteristics of PBL: Hands onInquiry drivenCollaborativeStudent centeredRelevantTackles real world challengesShared with larger community or audience How is PBL aligned with Common Core? Emphasizes communication Stresses real world relevance Encourages higher-order thinking skills – analysis, synthesis, evaluation & creation! Goals of PBL: Develop flexible knowledge & adaptive expertiseMotivate self-directed learningTeach effective problem solvingDrive inquiryLearn how to communicate & collaborateImprove intrinsic motivationShift to active learning Web 2.o Tools to Support a Blended Approach to PBL: Project based learning by nature takes time. Google search - search engine for finding great information.
Teaching Writing and Learning With Graphic Organizers For some reason, writing tends to be the task many students dread the most. As a result, teachers are always on the lookout for ways to make the assignment more enjoyable – or at least less despised! Incorporating graphic organizers into the writing and learning process is a great way to get students to think outside the box and engage more willingly in the process. What Are Graphic Organizers? Concept Mapping A concept map creates a visual representation of the relationship between ideas. Webbing By creating a web, students will see how their central idea is linked to supporting details. This brainstorming process is perfect for launching a writing project. Mind Mapping A mind map is the visual representation of hierarchical information. Students can replace traditional note-taking techniques with mind mapping for a much more visually stimulating result. How Can Graphic Organizers Help Educators Teach? Another great benefit of graphic organizers is their flexibility. About Steve Aedy
4 Essential Rules Of 21st Century Learning 4 Essential Rules Of 21st Century Learning by Jennifer Rita Nichols The term “21st century” has become an integral part of educational thinking and planning for the future. Educators and administrators are actively searching for ways to prepare students for the future, and the educational system has been evolving faster than ever before. Various studies have shown us that rote memorization is not an effective learning strategy, and that teacher-centered classrooms may not be the most efficiently structured ones for student engagement. However, despite learning about the skills that students will need to develop to become successful in the 21st century, as well as what beliefs about education may be worth hanging onto or throwing away, schools and teachers are left trying to figure out what their role needs to be in the education of their 21st century students. Nowadays, we don’t live in the same world. So then, what is the role of education in the 21st century? Society has changed. 1. 2. 3.
National Gallery of Art NGAkids Art Zone SEA-SAWS SEA-SAWS is fun for kids of all ages. Select photographs of natural and man-made objects, then arrange the pieces to create a seascape or an abstract composition. The BUILD tool helps you construct animated characters and set them in motion. FACES & PLACES helps children of all ages create portraits and landscape paintings in the style of American naive artists. Photo Op is a large program and it may take some time to download. The NGAkids Still Life (Shockwave, 8 MB) helps you create interactive art that mirrors the paintings of the old masters. A still life slideshow (Flash, 32K) features photographs of real paintings and art objects in the National Gallery of Art that were the inspiration for this interactive. BRUSHster is a painting machine for all ages. In Holland during the 17th and 18th centuries, the "poppenhuis" or dollhouse was an adult diversion, but our online DUTCH HOUSE is fun for kids of all ages.
Five Ways Neuroscience Will Change Education | Our Kids Blog Neuroscience isn't just for scientists anymore. The way experts study how children's brains develop over time is influencing classrooms and education overall, and here are the five ways education will begin to change because of it. Neuroeducation will play a key role in the future of education, with curricula based not just on teaching subjects but on preparing brains for learning. Neuroscience is coming to the classroom. Over the last decade, our ability to study how the brain works has dramatically improved. Here are five ways that education will be changed because of what we've learned about a child's brain: 1. In the future, we'll hear a lot about neuroeducation, and we can expect to see curricula based not just on teaching subjects, but on preparing brains for learning.If you think of the brain as a tree with branches, neuroeducation is the process of adding more branches. 2. 3. 4. Similar to music, learning a second language has a direct impact on how the brain develops and grows.
Story Map - An Interactive Story Planner Story Map is a free interactive story planning tool from Read Write Think. Story Maps provides four templates for outlining stories. To use the templates students title their stories then choose one of four templates to outline their stories. The four template choices are conflict, setting, character, and resolution. Students can print their completed templates. Applications for EducationStory Map could help students get their stories organized before moving onto doing the actual writing of their creative stories. H/T to Ana Cristina Pratas. Resources for Idaho Teachers We know that students learn best when they are truly engaged in what they are learning, when they have the opportunity to explore, debate, discuss, examine, defend, and experiment with the concepts and skills they are ready to learn. Students learn best when instruction is: Appropriately Challenging Kids (and adults!) learn best when they start at their current level of understanding and are challenged - with support (teacher, peers, materials, etc.) - just beyond what they are comfortable doing on their own. (See Zone of Proximal Development) The student's background knowledge and current skill level are more important than their age/grade level in determining what they are ready to learn. Based on Real-World Problems and Situations Students need to understand how the skills and concepts they are learning fit into their lives. Purposeful You (and your students) should be able to explain the purpose of each activity or assignments. Meaningful and Interesting Strategy Ideas: Prep Time Varies
April 27, 2013 Ticket sales are now open. Please click here to buy your ticket to TEDxNYED. What is TEDxNYED? TEDxNYED is a New York City-based TEDx event focused on education. What is TEDx? In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx.