Thanks to my pal, Daryl Jones, who suggested this site when I was looking for a simple way to add pop-ups to a photograph. ThingLink allows a student to add video, images, audio, links and text to photographs to enhance their digital storytelling projects. It’s perfect for those with younger students or who are starting down the road to more complex digital storytelling tasks.
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The URL: http://www.thinglink.com
Forbes staff writer, Jacquelyn Smith, put together this interesting list of faux-pas to avoid in the workplace. It would make for some interesting discussion in high school career and life management classes. Students could role-play, discuss, formulate alternate scenarios and generally appreciate the sound advice offered. There are some pesky click-through ads you’ll need to deal with as the page loads.
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The URL: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/02/15/13-things-you-should-never-say-at-work/
The title of this post says it all – it’s a quick brainstorming effort by a group of English Language Teachers. There are ideas here that would work outside of the English classroom too. The authors state, “The ideas are presented in the order they came to us, so there is a kind of logic to the list but it certainly isn’t in order of effectiveness. We would simply like to present them here with a little commentary on each. None of the ideas is anything new; the fun is in seeing them all together and realising how much more we can (and sometimes actually) do with texts in the classroom. Neither is the list exhaustive, we are sure that you will have come up with ideas that we do not mention here. If you do, we would love to hear about them so please drop us a line at the email address at the end of this article.”
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The URL: http://teachertrainingunplugged.com/other-writing/40-things-to-do-with-a-text/
My pal, Rob Petrovic, told me that he’s using Wix.com to create websites with his students. While there are plenty of add-on features with a price tag, there is enough in the no-cost profile that is useful to teachers. For example, students can control the design of their site via css. I looked through the Terms of Use and can only find the typical “13 years of age” clause and it is clear that all user-generated content is owned by the user, not by the company.
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The URL: http://www.wix.com
Welcome back! As we get settled back into our routines and look forward to 2013, I wish you all an excellent New Year. You probably saw this making the newsroom rounds last week but it’s worth a look as schools and parents start to seriously integrate the use of personally-owned devices in classrooms. Of course, this always works better if considered before implementation. I’m not sure if a lot of these guidelines could be expected to be followed after the proverbial horse is out of the barn.
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The URL: http://www.neatorama.com/2013/01/02/Moms-18-Point-Terms-and-Conditions-for-Sons-iPhone/
This is usually a week that I search for light-hearted and fun resources as we gear up for the holidays however it would not seem right to not acknowledge the tragic events of Newtown last Friday. There isn’t a teacher out there who didn’t stop their lives this weekend to try to imagine what the staff, students and parents of Sandy Hook Elementary school went through. While there is a lot more broken in America than hearts this week, it will be important to be able to field questions from your own students if and when they come up, no matter where you teach today. I thank List member, Jillian Innes, who passed on this National Association of School Psychologists resource that offers tips for parents, teachers and schools in how to approach questions from students about national tragedy.
In the meantime, for those who have connections to this event, please know that everyone in my circle is thinking about you and offers prayers and support in the coming weeks.
-Pete
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The URL: http://www.nasponline.org/resources/crisis_safety/terror_general.aspx
One way you can help me out is to use my link to sign up for DropBox. If you sign up from here by clicking the link above, the bonus for me is that I get a bit more space to use in my work. And I'm eternally grateful for the boost! -Pete
Pete MacKay has taught in Alberta since 1990, across all grade levels, all of which have had a technology-based approach. Currently seconded to the 2Learn.ca Education Society from Edmonton Public Schools, he applies his range of experience to professional development activities for teachers across the province of Alberta.
In November 2012, members of the Belize Ministry of Education, principals, and lead teachers met in each of the six districts for two days of conversations and discussions around the challenges and next steps in integrating technology to support teaching and learning in Belize. The sessions highlighted global trends and challenges from the K-12 Horizon Report, the National Education Technology Standards (NETS) for students, teachers, and administrators, as well as an overview of the content from the August 2012 technology workshop for teachers.
Learn more about this Rotary initiative
The archival version of the iPad App I created for this conference in August 2012 in Banff, Alberta is available at the iTunes store.
Are you looking for those telecollaborative projects that I used to do with Sandra Gluth? We've gathered up as much as we could find and put them in a final resting place.
Check it out here:
http://projects.resco.ca
