Handwriting in the Digital Age

Because we spend so much time typing into our digital devices today, we may think that handwriting is a dinosaur that we don’t need to bother teaching. Research, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal (October, 2010), tells us that learning to write “is more than just a way to communicate”, because it “engages the brain in learning” in ways that keyboarding doesn’t. To learn more about the importance of handwriting and how to encourage students to develop the fine motor skills needed for good handwriting, subscribe to Zaner-Bloser’s free online newsletter, Write On!

Digital Storyboards

The ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) book Serious Comix: Engaging Students with Digital Storyboards, by Eydie Wilson, shows how struggling learners progress by creating their own comic books. Wilson used the technique when teaching students with special needs in New York City; her book details how it helped them improve in reading, writing, and analytical skills. “Illustrating a story,” according to Wilson, “helps students with visual literacy, which in turn helps them express their thoughts” and create their storyline.

Tellagami: Fun with Short Stories

What fun! Tellegami for iPads and iPhones is a free app, which lets you and your students create stories called Gamis. With the app, you can customize characters and personalize them using your voice and your photos. There is absolutely no learning curve. In fact, it’s so easy to use that a kindergarten student sent a Gami to me. Backgrounds (see below the background with my Corgi) can be changed, characters can be resized, and Gamis can be share on Facebook, Twitter, through eMail, and SMS. Think of putting Tellegami to work in student projects, invitations, journals, and content review.

Good News: Students & Math & Science

A new report from the National Center for Education Statistics relates the good news that more students are opting for rigorous courses in the STEM subjects. For example, the percentage of students taking calculus increased from 7% to 16% between 1990 and 2009. The percentage of those taking chemistry in 1990 was 49% and in 2009, 70%. Percentages of students in Grades 9-12 taking physics went from 21% in 1990 to 36% in 2009.  Racial/ethnic group percentages for math and science increased during this time period, as well. The report also found that students enrolled in private schools were more likely to select advanced level STEM courses than those in public schools.

iPads in Special Education

iPads in Neil Virani’s Special Education classroom at the Mulholland Middle School in Los Angeles are helping disabled students find success in learning.  Called his “secret weapon of accessibility”, iPads give his students the individualization they need. Virani’s using apps such as Day On (journaling), Popplet (mindmapping), and Toontastic (animation and storyboarding). For recording and sharing his lessons, he use Aver’s document camera software. To Virani, the iPad is a powerful classroom tool which helps his students “believe in themselves.”

Apps for Non-Verbal Students

The Tech & Learning Advisor Blog piece by Vicki Windman, Best Speech and Language Apps, offers suggestions for iPad apps, which will help students who are unable to speak, have speech disorders and/or have other communication problems. The apps are available at prices from $4.99 to $99.99. Examples of the apps are:  Avaz for Autism, with picture and text options; Speech Flipbook, designed to help children with Apraxia (problems saying what they want to say), and those who have difficulty with articulation, phonological awareness, and reading; and Is That Silly?, which helps children understand spoken and written word meanings.  Other apps appropriate for students with speech and language disorders include: URtalker Pro, Voice4u, and Speech Therapy Apraxia Words. All of these apps can be customized for specific student needs

A Look at Ed-Tech Tools of the Past

It hasn’t been that long since we used filmstrip projectors, overhead projectors, 16 mm projectors, and cassette recorders in our classrooms.  Some of us may even remember the old mimeograph machines we used for making copies of worksheets. eSchool News offers us a backward glance to the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s to see how far we’ve come with ed-tech resources in just over 40 years. 

Take yourself back to the days of Lemonade Stand and Oregon Trail to see the forerunners of today’s digital games, and to floppy disks, Nano Pets, and the search engines, “Ask Jeeves” and “Ask Jeeves for Kids.”  Younger teachers may not have heard of the popular devices and software of the past, but as we enjoy our interactive whiteboards, educational apps, and mobile technologies, it’s good to remember that not that many years ago, we were working with games that were animated with little squares put together to resemble pictures.  Maybe we don’t have all the educational tech tools we want, but at least we don’t have to struggle with broken film when showing a 16 mm movie, fighting mimeograph machines in an effort to print out decent copies, or breathing in the dust from chalkboards and dry erase boards.

iCreate to Educate with myCreate

With myCreate ($4.99), your students can get started designing their own video stories on their iPads. They’ll put their iPad camera to use and play back pictures in stop-motion animation.  After adding audio to go with their story, they can send their completed product to Facebook, YouTube, or Vimeo.  myCreate is a perfect hands-on tool to enhance curricular content for just about any subject. Watch myCreate on YouTube; it will make you want to download it right away.

Time Tech’s 50 Best Sites & Services of 2013

TIME magazine gives an annual salute to “sites and services that keep you entertained and informed, save you time and money—and maybe even change your life.” Some of the recommended sites that may be of interest to educators are:  the TWiT (This Week in Tech) network, which keeps you up-to-date with what’s happening in technology; Feedly, an RSS reader for sharing what you read/and or saving it to read at another time; MyPermissions that helps you discover what permissions you’ve allowed and lets you revoke them if you want; Office Web Apps, which may be “all the Office you need”; Pixlr, a photo editor that works with your browser; Forvo, like Wikipedia for pronunciations; Super Simple Learning with its focus on math and phonics through video and song; and Distance to Mars, which lets you and your students travel through the universe to Mars—428,000 pixels away.

TED Ed: Lessons Worth Sharing

Take the tour of TED Ed to see how you can use videos that are on the Internet to create super lessons.  On the site, you can also look at lessons others have created, and if you think you can use them in your courses, you can change them to fit your students and your curriculum. Lessons are listed by category such as mathematics, health, literature and language, social studies, and science and technology. Some of those that are called “Best Flips” or exceptional lessons featured are: Atoms from A to Easy!, Pi with Pies, The Secret to Rising Sea Levels, The Dawn of Art, and What is Nano?