// Langwitches Blog

I have been enthralled watching the following TED Talk (Ideas worth Spreading) How to Listen to Global Voices by Ethan Zuckerman: Sure, the web connects the globe, but most of us end up hearing mainly from people just like ourselves. Blogger and technologist Ethan Zuckerman wants to help share the stories of the whole wide [...]

I am seeing more and more “InfoGraphics” springing up everywhere. They are catching my visual eye immediately. As a native German speaker, I love compound words and it comes naturally to me to want to take them apart in order to create meaning of the word: “Info” and “Graphic”- Information that is written or drawn… [...]

Visual literacy is defined by Wikipedia: Visual literacy is the ability to interpret, negotiate, and make meaning from information presented in the form of an image. Visual literacy is based on the idea that pictures can be “read” and that meaning can be communicated through a process of reading. I believe that visual literacy cannot [...]

Cross posted on TechLearning Advisor Blog I believe in sharing. Really I do… I would like to propose a Challenge to Share…for two reasons… Image licensed under Creative Commons by ryanr (Thanks for sharing!) Sharing is defined on Wikipedia as: Sharing is the joint use of a resource or space. Reason 1: Many in the [...]

One of our first grade classes read the book Flat Stanley by Jim Brown. They sent paper Flat Stanleys to relatives and friends around the country and received images and stories back. Then, inspired by the “worldwide” success” of the “other first grade class’” podcast episode of the Magic Tree House, the six year olds [...]

Using visuals to create and support stories is a skill we should encourage and nurture in our students . It should be obvious by now that I consider storytelling an integral part of a teacher’s toolbox. You can read about the Need for Storytelling and Why Storytelling Can/Should Be Anywhere/Everywhere and will understand why storytelling [...]

As I was writing my last blog post about “The Need for Storytelling Skills“, the connection to the problem of Information Overload surfaced. Wikipedia attributed the term “Information Overload” to Alvin Toffler: which refers to an excess amount of information being provided, making processing and absorbing tasks very difficult for the individual because sometimes we [...]

During my first year of teaching, I also assembled a teaching portfolio of my work. I wanted evidence of my work in planning, in the classroom, at professional development opportunities as well as projects I created and participated in. I wanted to grow my portfolio as my teaching experience grew. I used a binder and [...]

I have created several charts for my students with the table feature of SmartBoard Notebook. Although working with tables is not very intuitive, nor can they be as easily manipulated as in MS Office products, they have produced nice results with students. Students took ownership in their own learning and were actively involved in creating [...]

I enjoy creative images, creating visuals from ideas and connecting quotes to a visual representation. When I found Famous Quotes: Educational Quotes for the 21st Century- Quotes to “Re-Imagine” Schools for the 21st Century, it literally begged me to “Re-Image” these quotes. You can find them on a Quotes Set on my Flickr account. They [...]