Category Archives: Language Arts

Winter Traditions Collaboration (Grade 1 and High School)

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Winter_TraditionsToday, my new friend, Brenda Cleland and I wrapped up a collaborative project that my ComTech 10 class and her Grade One class did together. The Grade One class (the Clients) have hired the high school class (the Freelancers) to animate their drawings. The students were paired up and assigned a blog post in which they were able to have a conversation in the comment section. The Freelancers asked the Clients how they wanted their drawings to be animated. They were not allowed to change the artwork in any way; it would be like changing a client’s logo! We hope you enjoy the results below. Be sure to read the comments in each blog post to get a feel for how well the two groups communicated without meeting in person.
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The URL: https://sites.google.com/a/epsb.ca/winter-traditions/home

And on that note, Mrs. Teacher List and I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and all the best in the coming year! Rest well and we’ll connect again in January.
– Pete

Polona Typo Project

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polonaMy work pals, Noel Taylor and Karly Kulpa, passed this one on. The Polona Typo project, based on the new Polona API, (Polona.pl is a National Library of Poland website) makes it possible to type, share and print your own sentences using thousands of letters from the books, posters and maps created over more than six centuries.
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The URL: http://typo.polona.pl/en/

Culture Unplugged

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Edmonton teacher, Corey Lee, suggested this site quite some time ago and it got lost in the shuffle. CultureUnplugged.com is a grassroots collection of new media stories told by global citizens. From the site: “In brief, Culture Unplugged, by and for global community of conscious storytellers, culture explorers and world citizens to reflect on issues and life experiences in contemporary world – a new media studio focused on producing as well as promoting socially & spiritually sensitive stories/films that does not merely express but pulsate to energize, enchant, enlighten, engage or embrace the humanity in us all.”

Given the content of socially conscious storytelling and film, please take the time to preview any content that you plan to use in your classrooms.
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The URL: http://www.cultureunplugged.com/

App – WordLens

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wordlensOntario List member, Jason Yeoman, suggested I have a look at WordLens, an iOS/Android app translates text between different languages in live-time. Jason explains, “The app opens the devices camera and will translate english to spanish or german to english. The best part is that you don’t require an internet connection.” I had a look at this app last year and was turned off by the in-app purchases required to add language capability to it but when I reviewed it this week, it appears that for an undisclosed time, the language packs are being offered at no cost. That changes my initial rejection to a conditional (and possibly time-sensitive) recommend. I installed all the language apps and tried it out – its accuracy seems to fluctuate but it’s close enough that I could interpret Google images of road signs easily.
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The URL: http://questvisual.com/