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Teaching is the Highest Form of Understanding

Aristotle says:

Teaching is the highest form of understanding

Alan November, in the book Curriculum 21 by Heidi Hayes Jacobs,  lists “Tutorial Designers” as one of the six new roles to develop empowered learners.

If these two educators , separated by over 2000 years in history, are right… then we should be pushing students to do just that. We need to give them opportunities to become teachers.

The creation and maintenance of the Math Wiki by our Middle Schoolers was the perfect platform to expose students to an array of design tools to create tutorials for their classmates and other math students around the world.

Take a look at the following tools used and student examples.

Animoto

Microsoft PowerPoint

PowerPoint

SmartBoard Notebook

SmartBoard Notebook

SmartBoard Notebook

Skitch/ Jing

  • Screenshot software

Using Skitch

Google Docs Drawing

Google Docs-Drawing

Google Earth

Google Earth

iMovie/MovieMaker

Student Created Tutorials from langwitches on Vimeo.

Garageband or Vocaroo (web based recording)

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Wallwisher- Collaborative Post-it Board

Another tool popping up in the web 2.o ocean of web based collaborative tools: Wallwisher

I usually sign up for most tool that come around so I can try it out at least once. I believe, that the best ideas on HOW to use a tool, come about when you are in the process of using it, not just thinking about it.

So Wallwisher says about themselves:

Wallwisher is an Internet application that allows people to express their thoughts on a common topic easily.

wallwishercom

One thing, I was not happy about from the start: There is a limit of characters in your USERNAME. It was the first time that EVER happened to me. “Langwitches” was considered TOO long of a username.  I was stumped, what was I going to do? I sat there and contemplated if I should even bother signing up if I could not have my name!!! Wallwhishers, if you happen to read this, could you allow longer usernames, pleeeeaseeeee :)

Once I got over it (well not really, since I am blogging about it), the rest was  easy and intuitive. I created a wall, chose the background, gave it a title and subtitle and double clicked to add my first stickie :

  • 160 characters or less
  • Add a link to an image, audio or video link

I grabbed the URL of my wall, twittered about it and asked others to add their own thoughts.

I see this as a potential for professional development as well as in the classroom. An advantage for working with students (especially elementary age ones) is that:

  • you don’t have to be a registered user in order to post a stickie
  • set preferences who can view and edit the board

Here are some potential uses I can envision:

  • any kind of collaborative brainstorming
  • virtual announcement board
  • create collaboratively a visual of relevant and supportive resources of a topic (bookmarking)
  • Get students /teachers to PARTICIPATE with their opinions

Larry Farlazzo listed a few potential uses on his blog post Wallwisher is a Winner:

It can be a great place for students to use higher-order thinking by creating categories of images (and descriptions) or short texts they copy and paste (or write themselves). It can also be used as a site for social bookmarking of websites if you just right-click the website you put inside the sticky-note and then click on “open in a new window.”

On Nik’s Learning Technology blog a lot more uses and examples of boards are listed. I especially liked his ideas about using the wall for:

Creating video and image activities or a space for debates

What uses to you envision or have used Wallwisher boards in your school with other teachers or students?
Here is my first board:
Building a Learning Community-

PhotoPeach- A New Animoto-Type Tool?

I checked out PhotoPeach.

Our idea is to help users tell better stories online using photos. Our inspiration for this service came from enjoying sharing photos with friends in real life.

You can create a rich slideshow in seconds to engage your friends or family in a natural way. This is done by allowing two-way commenting right at each photo in the show and automatically pausing so you have time to express yourself before continuing.

We also support zooming comments, sound-effect smilies, and music so you can elaborate on your story further.

You have heard again and again: “A picture is worth a thousand words” but what if you could add a thousand words to your photos, and some music? We think the whole slideshow is greater than the sum of the photos, words, and music.

The concept is similar to Animoto. You upload images from your computer, Facebook, Picasa or Flickr, then pick a song and PhotoPeach will automatically create a video that you can e-mail or embed easily. The catch is that the slideshow has to be public in order to embed it on a classroom blog for example. Before I can use a service like PhotoPeach with my students, I need to investigate a little further.

From their About Section,  I found out that :

Visitors without an account can write their name and comment on your slideshow without signing up.

This concerns me, since I will have no control over who can and will add what . The chances that something inappropriate will end up on something that is intended for academic use are too great. Is there a comment moderation feature before ANYONE can leave a comment on students’ slideshows? I am looking for a feature similar to VoiceThread .

Another issue that we, who deal with younger students, have is the e-mail issue. Does PhotoPeach allow multiple sign-ins under the same username?
photopeach-create-new-slideshow

I tried it out with my photos of the 366images from January 2009. There are two choice to embed the slideshow, as a Story or as a Spiral show.

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Digital Storytelling Tools for Educators

Guest Posts

Teaching English through Film and Screenwriting…

YouTube

I am honored to be able to cross-post Stephen Wilmarth’s blog post below on Langwitches. If you are interested to read more about Steve’s International Experimental program at the Number One Middle School in Wuhan, China take a look at: Take a Peek into China’s First 1:1 iPad Class Learning…Young …

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Guest Blogger- Heather Durnin On New Forms of School and Learning

Holocaust-Skype-Call

Heather Durning who blogs on Mrs. D’s Flight Plan has graciously allowed me to cross post her latest post here on Langwitches. I believe her blog post is invaluable as it fulfills the need to document, summarize and assess learning outcomes when leading your students with new forms of teaching …

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Sowing the Seeds for a More Creative Society

Fantastic Contraptions-1

I am thrilled to be publishing a guest post by Andrea Hernandez, cross posted from EdTechWorkshop Blog on Langwitches. In an earlier post, The Science of Play, I shared my ideas about the importance of playful learning, the type of learning observed in very young children. In my personal experience …

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Professional Development

Walking the Walk: Action Research

back-up-tak-with-action

I have been blogging for 6 years now… I have written extensively about blogging (131 posts categorized “blogging” on Langwitches) I have shared two guides for teachers to start blogging with their students “Stepping it Up: Learning About Blogs FOR your Students” Part I: Reading Part II A: Writing Part …

(2 Comments)

Learning About Blogs FOR your Students: Part VII – Quality

blogging rubric

This is Part VII in the series “Stepping it Up: Learning About Blogs FOR your Students” Part I: Reading Part II A: Writing Part II B: Student Writing Part III: Commenting Part IV: Connecting Part V: Reciprocating Part VI: Consistency Reading, responding, assessing and monitoring our students’ progress on their …

(22 Comments)

Learning About Blogs FOR your Students- Part VI: Consistency

consistency

This is Part VI in the series “Stepping it Up: Learning About Blogs FOR your Students” Part I: Reading Part II A: Writing Part II B: Student Writing Part III: Commenting Part IV: Connecting Part V: Reciprocating I have seen many teachers start blogs (professional and classroom ones), only to …

(7 Comments)

What am I Reading?

Silvia's bookshelf: currently-reading

Catching Up or Leading the Way: American Education in the Age of GlobalizationLost on Planet China: The Strange and True Story of One Man's Attempt to Understand the World's Most Mystifying Nation, or How He Became Comfortable Eating Live SquidThe World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First CenturySECRETO BIEN GUARDADOThe Digital Diet: Todays Digital Tools in Small BytesFacebook Marketing: An Hour a Day

More of Silvia's books »
Silvia Tolisano's currently-reading book recommendations, reviews, quotes, book clubs, book trivia, book lists

21st Century Learning

The Digital Learning Farm and iPad Apps

iPadApps-DigitalLearningFarm

I previously published a chart of Bloom’s Taxonomy and iPad Apps, which I use regularly when planning projects or look to reinforce certain skills and literacies. Since I also rely heavily on The Digital Learning Farm concept (based on Alan November’s work), I felt it was time to create a …

(23 Comments)

Continuing to Learn with the iPad- Storytelling

5th graders-storykit

In an attempt to document the trials and errors of using a classroom set of 20 iPads in our K-8 school, I am adding a new post to the collection of iPads in the Classroom: Transliteracy- QR Codes and Art Working on iPad Fluency with Lower Elementary Students Step-by-Step: How …

(29 Comments)

Learning About Blogs FOR your Students: Part VII – Quality

blogging rubric

This is Part VII in the series “Stepping it Up: Learning About Blogs FOR your Students” Part I: Reading Part II A: Writing Part II B: Student Writing Part III: Commenting Part IV: Connecting Part V: Reciprocating Part VI: Consistency Reading, responding, assessing and monitoring our students’ progress on their …

(22 Comments)

The Digital Learning Farm in Action

The Digital Learning Farm and iPad Apps

iPadApps-DigitalLearningFarm

I previously published a chart of Bloom’s Taxonomy and iPad Apps, which I use regularly when planning projects or look to reinforce certain skills and literacies. Since I also rely heavily on The Digital Learning Farm concept (based on Alan November’s work), I felt it was time to create a …

(23 Comments)

Screencasting Apps for the iPad

Explain Everything

Teaching ourselves, our students and other educators how to use screenshooting (images) and screencasting (video) tools is a relevant skill to have that integrates in so many areas. Think Tutorial Designers (A role from the Digital Learning Farm) or the Flipped Classroom model. Being able to create, share and take …

(7 Comments)

The Teacher as a Conductor of an Orchestra

Slide14

Should Teachers Be More Like Conductors? This bog post from 2009 took me to the following TED talk by Itay Talgam. Although I am not a musician, nor listen to much classical music, I was mesmerized. This TED talk was geared towards organization leaders, but I so agree with Tania …

(4 Comments)

Global Education

Walking the Walk: Action Research

back-up-tak-with-action

I have been blogging for 6 years now… I have written extensively about blogging (131 posts categorized “blogging” on Langwitches) I have shared two guides for teachers to start blogging with their students “Stepping it Up: Learning About Blogs FOR your Students” Part I: Reading Part II A: Writing Part …

(2 Comments)

Curriculum21 Podcast Episode with Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay

c21-podcast

I had the opportunity to speak to Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay. Two educators who are making a difference in their students’ lives as well as thousands of other students and teachers from around the world. Vicki is a teacher from Camila Georgia. She blogs on the Coolcatteacher blog and …

(1 Comment)

TED Talk- Raghava KK: Shake up your story

Raghava KK- Shake up your story

  This is a short TED talk by Raghava KK, the illustrator of the iPad book POP-IT – Raghava KK Inc. This video is not a commercial about the artist’s iPad book though, but shares a message about the importance of raising our children with PERSPECTIVE. In his book, children …

(No Comments)

Blogging With your Classroom

Walking the Walk: Action Research

back-up-tak-with-action

I have been blogging for 6 years now… I have written extensively about blogging (131 posts categorized “blogging” on Langwitches) I have shared two guides for teachers to start blogging with their students “Stepping it Up: Learning About Blogs FOR your Students” Part I: Reading Part II A: Writing Part …

(2 Comments)

Learning About Blogs FOR your Students: Part VII – Quality

blogging rubric

This is Part VII in the series “Stepping it Up: Learning About Blogs FOR your Students” Part I: Reading Part II A: Writing Part II B: Student Writing Part III: Commenting Part IV: Connecting Part V: Reciprocating Part VI: Consistency Reading, responding, assessing and monitoring our students’ progress on their …

(22 Comments)

Learning About Blogs FOR your Students- Part VI: Consistency

consistency

This is Part VI in the series “Stepping it Up: Learning About Blogs FOR your Students” Part I: Reading Part II A: Writing Part II B: Student Writing Part III: Commenting Part IV: Connecting Part V: Reciprocating I have seen many teachers start blogs (professional and classroom ones), only to …

(7 Comments)

iPads

The Digital Learning Farm and iPad Apps

iPadApps-DigitalLearningFarm

I previously published a chart of Bloom’s Taxonomy and iPad Apps, which I use regularly when planning projects or look to reinforce certain skills and literacies. Since I also rely heavily on The Digital Learning Farm concept (based on Alan November’s work), I felt it was time to create a …

(23 Comments)

Continuing to Learn with the iPad- Storytelling

5th graders-storykit

In an attempt to document the trials and errors of using a classroom set of 20 iPads in our K-8 school, I am adding a new post to the collection of iPads in the Classroom: Transliteracy- QR Codes and Art Working on iPad Fluency with Lower Elementary Students Step-by-Step: How …

(29 Comments)

Transliteracy- QR Codes and Art

qr-code-jamie

Transliteracy is defined on Wikipedia as The ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks. The modern meaning of the term combines literacy with the prefix trans-, which means …

(11 Comments)

Digital Storytelling

Transliteracy- QR Codes and Art

qr-code-jamie

Transliteracy is defined on Wikipedia as The ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks. The modern meaning of the term combines literacy with the prefix trans-, which means …

(11 Comments)

Why and How to Participate in Teddy Bears Around The World Project?

TBAW-project

I posted a few weeks ago about the ongoing Teddy Bears Around the World (now in its fourth year) project. The project blog and hub can be be found at http://www.langwitches.org/blog/travel/teddybearsaroundtheworld/ I have created a How-to-Guide in order to articulate how and why to join such a project, to make …

(3 Comments)

Teaching English through Film and Screenwriting…

YouTube

I am honored to be able to cross-post Stephen Wilmarth’s blog post below on Langwitches. If you are interested to read more about Steve’s International Experimental program at the Number One Middle School in Wuhan, China take a look at: Take a Peek into China’s First 1:1 iPad Class Learning…Young …

(No Comments)