Some teacher’s give Wikipedia a hard time for it’s openness but it does a much better job at showing us the more interesting and human elements of historical figures.
Two more things that annoy me…
We pay for Britannica while a simple search at Google or Wikipedia is free and provides richer results.
Britannica provides MLA and APA citations at the bottom of each article. Since when is it a good idea to cite an encyclopedia? I wish they would provide references (like Wikipedia does) so students can cite the primary sources that are related to the subject and more authoritative.
The one-stop-shop argument…
Others defend resources like Britannica because they are an easy-to-use place for students to find things without having to search all over the web for what they need.
But isn’t the skill of effectively searching all over the web what our students need?
If your students are elementary level…
Then I take it all back. Britannica does a nice job getting little kids started with material that is written at their level. They also have some quasi-educational games at the Britannica Learning Zone that are worth a look.
A survey by Common Sense Media of more than 1,000 students ages 13 to 18 found that 48% of teens with cell phones call or text friends to warn them about pop quizzes.
I say, “who cares?”
If a pop quiz is given to offer students a chance to review past material or to provide teacher feedback on how the class is doing then the text warning is only going to trigger more students to study. That’s a good thing, right?
However, if the pop quiz is given to punish students who haven’t been studying, stifle bad behavior or just take up some class time, then Who’s Cheating Whom?
Have you tried Wordle? If you provide the text, Wordle will create a word cloud that will display each word used in the source text in a font size based on the frequency that the word appears in the source. The more the word is used, the larger it appears. Take a look at Wordle’s gallery to see some examples.
Some have criticized Wordle by suggesting that Wordle’s only attribute is that it is eye-catching.
I’m okay with that. I can work with eye-catching. Below is a Wordle I made using all the text from a recent test.
Wordle the test at Wordle.net
A few days before the test, I shared this with my students. They were eager to hypothesize as to how words like “astronaut” or “gravy” would be used to access there knowledge of friction and momentum. Some student suggested possible questions that used the terms from the word cloud. A few of their questions were so good that I plan to use them next year.
While Woodle wasn’t able to teach physics, it was able to start a conversation. That’s perfect. I can take it from there.
Well, it happened. Our school finally upgraded to Office 2007. I was reluctant to be happy about the switch. The new version took away all the menus just when I was starting to figured out where everything was.
However, after a few weeks of use, I have grown to like the new Office. Yet, I still get stuck from time-to-time with the new version.
The good news is that Microsoft has a real treasure trove of demo videos on all sorts of things within the entire Office 2007 package. The sad thing is that they hid them away at there website where you have to download each video one-by-one to view. (Come on Microsoft, streaming video online was innovative in 2005. Where have you been?)
Usually, I never do this. But recently I didn’t have time at a computer to type up a quiz for my physics students so I did it the old fashion way. I (gulp) hand wrote their quiz.
Sure, it is faster sometimes- especially if you have an elaborate drawing or graph. However, revising and archiving materials is not easy unless you start with a digital copy.
Nevertheless, the quiz went out to students and I jokingly made the comment that I used a special font for this week’s quiz.
There’s no software to download and install, all you need is a printer and a scanner. Simply fill in the font template, scan and upload it to our website, and download your completed font. The fonts you create using fontcapture.com can be used on both Windows and Mac computers.
As I typed out my own letters for the first time, my seven year old son explained to me that he could do a better job with his letters. I think this might be a fun activity for elementary students too.
Basically, you research a historical hero, one of those unimpeachable people students have been forced to memorize facts about since kindergarten. Only this time you’re researching the figure as if you were a reporter for a semi-sleazy tabloid. Let’s keep it semi-sleazy so there’s a core of fact to anything reported.
I think this could work in several subject areas. I personally would like to see glossy covers with Newton, Einstein or Curie. You could also have students write exposés for famous fictional characters.
It appears that more and more people are buying laptops over desktop PCs. With feature-rich laptops selling for less than $500, I can see why. But there is one thing my laptop is missing- the numeric keypad. I didn’t even miss it until I started enter grades one afternoon.
Trying to enter grades on a laptop is a nightmare and it really slows you down. But never fear, there’s always a gadget to the rescue.
Pick up one of these keypads to give your fingers the extra space they need.
Between fatherhood and teaching, Dale Basler is
a Technology Curriculum Integration Specialist, independent consultant, podcaster, and web page designer who specializes in work for
institutions and organizations in education.
