Different ways of Saying... (word lists for English Language teachers )

The Internet is amazing! I saw one of these word lists that primary school teachers love on Twitter and that sent me exploring for more! I  started off by looking up a list of alternative words for ‘nice’, as one always needs that at school, and came across all these lists of alternatives in different locations. Take a look! There’s no doubt - teachers of English can find some amazing stuff when they surf the Internet…or use Twitter!

Alternative words for ‘nice’ from http://goo.gl/DGmBk6

http://goo.gl/NtW6hf	http://goo.gl/3LuAnB
http://goo.gl/3hVA2Y	http://goo.gl/8d3ipr

http://goo.gl/Js7jSK

http://goo.gl/XZSSb5

http://goo.gl/QGE3lH

Word lists like these displayed on a classroom wall could be an excellent way for any teacher to help the students develop and reinforce their vocabulary.

[Grade 9] Using Diigo for bookmarking websites? It’s a must!

 

My Grade 9 students use Chrome and today we made sure that each one of them has the Chrome bookmarklet on his/her browser bar. Since we use Chrome we added the Chrome extension called Diigo web. Learning proper bookmarking skills is an essential skill for everyone in my opinion. 

My discussion with the class
What do you do when you find a good article on the Internet and you want to keep a record of it it later use? The best way is to ‘bookmark’ it quickly and simply. Bookmarking is an online process. So the question becomes ‘How do you bookmark sites when you are surfing the Internet?’ 

There are so many superb ways to do this ‘bookmarking’ but one of my favourite bookmarking sites is Diigo (http://diigo.com) because of all the amazing options that it offers.  A really great thing about using Diigo to bookmark a site is that once you have bookmarked it (and it takes about one or two seconds to do this), it will be available on all the devices that you use simply because it is done online.

How to use Diigo
As soon as you click on the little blue Diigo icon a window opens and from there you stay simple and simply 'save' and give it a name or category when the save button opens up;  or you can go further and use some of the useful options such as seen on the image on the right..

I found a really good YouTube Diigo video tutorial on 'How to use Diigo' by David Knapp (6 minutes in length) and I have embedded it below.  It elaborates really well on the following:

• how to sign up for Diigo.com
• how to create tags to categorize the websites you save so you can easily search for it later i.e. Science, Maths, reading etc
• how to add the Diigo bookmarklet to your browser menu bar for easy capturing
• how to add your bookmark to a list
• how to also save your bookmark to a ‘group’
• how to add a Diigo extension to Chrome for easy bookmarking
• how to annotate  a website while you are reading it
• how to add a sticky note to a website
• how to easily navigate to the sites you have saved
• how to share lists with others

Take a look at the tutorial  here:



Classroom use for Diigo
Diigo is a useful tool to introduce to your students if you are a teacher. Apart from simply saving a website they find online they can study the content online using the various options of annotating, highlighting, creating sticky notes etc.

Watch how this second grade teacher uses Diigo with her class! The video is called ‘Diigo how to homework for 2nd grade’.




There’s so much more you can do with this amazing bookmarking site – but this is a good beginning. Really, you must give this site a try. Whatever device you use, knowing how to bookmark using Diigo is a must for productive Internet surfing!

Further reading PLN Challenge #7: Using Diigo as part of your PLN

[Grade 3] Using PowerPoint to teach an activity on adjectives

Earlier this term, whilst researching on the Internet, I came across two posts on adjectives that fascinated me. The first was a post in a Grade 3 blog showing two photos of an activity on Adjectives  http://goo.gl/2BtmFo (see one of the photos below). The second post was a video on the use of adjectives in descriptive writing found at http://goo.gl/OmZ77H  This gave me the idea of doing something similar to both of these posts with a Grade 3 class and including technology.  The students enjoyed the activity so much that I decided to write a blog post about it.

Step 1: Create a template for the students to use
I figured this could be created on two A4-size pieces of paper joined together with a piece cut out for the head. I created the template for the students and it can be accessed here.



Step 2: Explore adjectives with the class and how they can be used in descriptive writing
The next step was to talk about the importance of adjectives in writing.  We revised the meaning of adjectives. I read the class a very plain paragraph that had no descriptive words and asked them to draw a quick picture using a drawing programme they were familiar with (in this class Paint). All the pictures were different. Then I read the same paragraph but this time with lovely descriptive adjectives and asked them to draw the picture. This time the pictures were very similar because the adjectives had led a much clearer image being imagined.
Download the adjectives template as a PDF

Step 3: Brainstorm positive adjectives that can be used to describe other students in the class. 
We now had a brainstorming session on adjectives that could describe others in the class. The instruction was that the class should use only positive words but that no names should be mentioned.  As the students called out words I typed them out and displayed them on the screen via the data projector. These were left on the screen as prompts for words during the remainder of the activity.

Step 4: The students think of 20 adjectives to describe themselves and fill them in on the provided template
Since the school I volunteer at uses Windows computers we used PowerPoint for this lesson. However Keynote on an iPad or a Google Presentation on an Android tablet would have done the trick as well.

Step 5: The templates are completed and printed
As far as technology skills are concerned this was a good way of working creatively with font types, font size, colour and font position. As far as using adjectives is concerned the students enjoyed thinking of positive words about themselves.

Step 6: Print the templates, cut out the head space, glue the two pages together and draw hair using regular crayons
Here is a photo of some of the final results of this activity.

Step 7: Create a description of oneself using the selected adjectives
In the next lesson this part of the lesson will be tackled.

Love this - The Five Minute Lesson Plan from @TeacherToolkit

cc: http://chriswallace.net/category/blog/icons/

(This is a cross-post from  a post I wrote on the Schoolnet blog)
Twitter is definitely a teacher’s best friend! The ideas…and CREATIVE ideas at that… that come from one’s Twitter PLN are phenomenal. For example in a recent tweet I saw that Mark Anderson (@ICTevangelist) recommended #FF (which means ‘follow’) @ict_magic and @teachertoolkit. Now I know  the wonderful @ict_magic (Martin Burett) virtually and follow him,  but didn’t know @Teachertoolkit so I looked at his profile. It turned out to be Ross Morrison McGill, an assistant Head Teacher from the UK, who has developed the popular 5 minute lesson plan to help teachers with the Ofsted teaching assessments in the UK.

I really liked the sound of a five-minute lesson plan because... this sounds like the answer to a busy teacher's life - a great lesson plan in only five minutes!

What is the five minute lesson plan?
This 5 minute lesson plan has turned out to be hugely successful. Tes Resources advertise it like this “Now that Ofsted requires evidence of a ‘planned lesson’, you can reduce your lesson planning time and stay focussed on key learning phases within a lesson with this simple 5 Minute Lesson Plan resource.”

Here is a video explaining the five minute lesson plan from @TeacherToolkit (he presented it at a TeachMeet in the UK)


Hello everyone...

A closer look at the 5 minute lesson plan 

Take a look at @TeacherToolkit's website on the five minute lesson plan:
http://teachertoolkit.me/the-5-minute-lesson-plan/

This is how he explains the various parts of the five minute lesson plan:
The big picture : How does the lesson  fit into your scheme of work / topic? What knowledge are pupils coming to the lesson with already? What links have you made / can you make? Describe the lesson in 30 seconds!
Objectives : Your objectives for the current lesson. The arrow is just a visual reminder that your lesson is building on what’s gone before. I’d always try to incorporate at least 2 different leveled objectives – perhaps allowing students to choose their own.
Engagement : What’s the hook? How will you gain student attention at the start and throughout the lesson that is exciting and meaningful (without you working to hard!) that you’ll be using to lure pupils into learning? it’s not needed every lesson….but a good story often is enough!
Stickability’ : What will stick in pupils’ minds as they leave your lesson? What key point(s) do you want them to remember and bring back to the next lesson?
AfL (Assessment for Learning Strategies): How will you assess where your learners are at during the lesson, so as to know how to take them where you want to go? What AfL strategies are you going to use? What key questions will help you to lure pupils into learning? Plan for various (AfL) Assessment for Learning strategies to allow students to see progress. Use a Targeted-Question grid to help frame higher-order questions. Where possible, use the Pose Pause Pounce Bounce AfL strategy to stimulate discussion.
Key words : Literacy has never had such a high-profile as it has at the moment. Encourage students to read lesson objectives out. Pick out keywords and extrapolate their meanings. Use techniques to break down the phonics of each word and encourage visual recognition to reinforce. Plan what key-word you want students to learn. This promotes high levels of literacy which is an Ofsted focus. YOU COULD ALSO ADD NUMERACY TO THIS SECTION. Every lesson should involve some mathematical reference of link.
Differentiation / Groupings : Plan – at a glance – what activities you will provide for gifted and talented students; students with SEN/D and EAL. What sort of groupings are needed, what are they doing and when? Do you have this mapped to a seating plan with current levels of progress?
Learning episodes : What is going to happen in the lesson from start to finish? Identify as many opportunities for pupil-led learning as possible. The four boxes do NOT denote a four-part lesson. Just fill them up with what needs to happen.

Adaptations of this five minute lesson plan
Sparky Teaching has recreated this for elementary teachers and Ross gives the link on his website.

http://www.sparkyteaching.com/creative/the-5-minute-primary-lesson-plan/

How popular is the 5 minute lesson plan?
!37+ countries are using this lesson plan already.How do we know? Ross has created a Google map with pins. He asks folk to pin the whereabouts of their school if they are using this lesson plan and he gives a hyperlink to the Google map on his website.. So if you decide to use it let Ross know! 

The link to this map can be found here

Resources to take note of
1) Tes Resources has a link to this lesson plan 
Lesson plans for school teachers: 
2) The lesson plan as it stands on Tes (you'll need to join - free - first)
3) How to move your lessons from good to outstanding

My conclusion
I just love this idea. It all happened in a day’s tweeting. A teacher cannot afford to be without Twitter these days.

[Grade 9] Learn about Google search using the Chrome browser

Google Chrome is a really good browser to use and I want ot make sure my students know all its benefits. Today's task centred around learning how to use Google Chrome to search for information one needs for completing school tasks.

Here is the presentation we used in class



Exploring Google Chrome
a) We signed in to Google Chrome yo create our own profiles
b) We added some useful extensions - Diigo bookmarking, Google Dictionary, Text to Speech, Google Translate, Basic calculator, Google similar pages,
c) We tried out some of the useful search tips using Chrome's omnibox

Short Videoclips we watched today
These are lovely. The students enjoyed watching both of them.

a) Chrome fun




b) Google search highlights 2012

[Grade 9] Using Padlet to get to know my Grade 8&9 students

Today I had my first lesson with my Grade 8 and 9 group and of course it was a day of using ice breakers to get to know them. I also told them about about using Padlet as a way of interacting with others, and to demonstrate this I showed them the presentation I had created on Padlet. Padlet is a great way to get discussions going and if you would like to create one yourself sometime please follow the instructions on this presentation. 




Both classes then introduced themselves on the Padlet wall. I think they also enjoyed reading what their peers had written.http://padlet.com/wall/rockacademy8and9  

Have you spoken to your students about Online Safety/Digital Citizenship?

Logo Design by FlamingText.com

When practising online digital writing or digital storytelling it is useful to consider issues around online safety (or Digital Citizenship as it is called) especially when working with students. 

Digital Writing: the art and practice of preparing documents primarily by computer and often for online delivery.
Digital Storytelling: Digital Storytelling refers to using digital tools for writing stories

A consideration of online safety is always good place to start now that the world is becoming increasingly digital, and connectedness with others via social media grows.  The Internet is an incredible resource – one of the greatest inventions of mankind in my opinion -  but the main thing for anyone to realise is that once one starts working online they develop a digital footprint and an online reputation. Best is to keep it good right from the start.

So it is a good idea to now and again chat to your students about the significance of a ‘digital footprint’, including what things are appropriate to post online, how to protect your identity and ways to interact with others in an online space. 

Useful informative blog posts about online safety
1) Jacqui Murray has a whole list of useful sites for teaching Digital Citizenship to students of all ages.

2) For older students this post from Lisa Nielson has a useful infographic to look at 4 things you need to know to help your students manage their online reputation

This is really just an information post, but I would love it if you added any comments about this subject in the comment box below. 

Please visit e-classroom.co.za - a wonderful South African resource site for R-3 teachers

Do take a look at our wonderful ‘proudly South-African” site, http://e-classroom.co.za,  that provides a delightful array of FREE beautifully created worksheets for our South African teachers. This site, e-Classroom,  has reached over 500 000 hits and is the number one “e-classroom” website on Google!

e-Classroom is a portal which provides free support resource material for educators and parents and is aimed at learners in Grades R-3. Their content is very much in line with 21st century learning, and the worksheets are creative and promote motor skills.  These cover the subject matters of Maths, English, Science, Health and Nutrition, Life Skills, Art and Craft. This is all open source and provided to users via their website at no cost.

Do take a look around. You’ll see the Foundation Phase CAPS documents have been posted there, and the worksheets are out of this world! These worksheets could save teachers a LOAD of time…something every teacher needs! I am sure the learners will love using them as not only are they beautifully presented, but they are fun to work with.

One of the new sections that I absolutely LOVE is called ‘Learn to draw’. The learners can practise drawing all sorts of animals using these methods. This is found within the ‘Latest Content’ section where you can browse and see what is on offer that might interest you.

Save our elephants petition 

I noticed this petition form called ‘Save our elephants’ petition on the website on behalf of the IFAW Animal Action Team, encouraging world leaders to uphold and enforce the ban on ivory trade. That’s a good cause to make known to our learners and be involved in right now.

The site owners say “This initiative is open to all primary schools nationally in South Africa and we welcome constructive feedback participation from educators and parents.”  I am sure they would welcome your comments.  Let them know what you think.

A fantastic way of integrating technology into your Social Sciences curriculum

Recently I have taken interest in integration the curriculum with Social Sciences so I started doing a websearch. Its amazing what treasures you come across when you do that. After looking through and bookmarking an enormous amount of sites including the Edublogs 2011 winner sites, I came across a social studies Ning site that had won one of the Edublogs awards.

http://sschat.ning.com/


After looking around the Ning I came across a family, the van Soyes,  who will be taking a 400-day around-the-world journey to raise geo-literacy in K-12 students. They will be publishing emails, photos and video from 50 counties and 6 continents.  Wow, they already have an enormous collection of amazing stuff from just preparing for their travels and they have documented it so well. I thought I would record some of it here as it gives great ideas for the classroom.

Embed PDFs into blogs or wikis

Here is a sample from where they plan to be in February. They have created their documents colourfully in a word processor it seems, and have then converted them to PDFs. They then embedded them into their website. 

http://www.trekkingtheplanet.net/docs/W02_Hawaii_Education_Module.pdf


Actually it looks as though they have been very busy with their planning as they have already done all their research and documented it ready for when they actually get there.



Classroom idea
This gives me the idea of getting the learners to study a country using a programme like Microsoft Word to record the details details. They then turn it into a PDF and place it on a blog or wiki.

Make use of podcasts

The van Soyes have a beautiful website for recording their travels with podcasts, webcasts etc. This will be a good website to keep in mind. They would also like to visit schools along the way. I have just checked and they won’t be visiting South Africa unfortunately or we could have arranged for them to visit a school or two!

http://www.trekkingtheplanet.net/


Classroom idea
This gives me the idea that using audio podcasts and getting the learners to make short videos about various aspects of a trip can add great interest to classroom work.

Make use of webcasts

I see on their website that they made a webcast giving background to their intended journey. You can view it here:

http://www.spreecast.com/events/trekkingplanet



Classroom ideaThis gives me the idea of using a programme such as Spreecast for webcasts, (http://www.spreecast.com)  I have just taken a look at it, and it is a social video platform that allows  people to broadcast together.  It says:
Up to 4 people on camera at once.
*Unlimited number of people can view (can also be private).
*Recorded live and immediately available for playback.
*Viewers: Chat, ask questions, join in on camera!
*Creators: You control who goes on camera and when.

Well, this is a project I for one will take a great interest in next year. Why not join me?

A lovely South African site with free downloadable worksheets in several subjects

Isn’t it great when right here, in South Africa, you come across a site with lovely, free, downloadable worksheets in : Mathematics, English, Science, Environment, Health, Nutrition, Hygiene, Arts, Crafts and Colouring.


This site is called the e-learning classroom  and it can be located at:
http://e-classroom.co.za/

When you explore the site you find so many excellent worksheets and other classroom aids.

Take a look. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed!