Warm Ups & Exit Tickets

Warm ups and Exit Tickets

Warm ups and exit tickets provide a way for teachers to determine prior knowledge and understanding of subject matter. This can guide future lessons in the class (i.e. if everyone knows what hardware is there will be no need to spend time on or reviewing that material). 

Differentiation comes in many forms when discussing warmups and exit tickets. The differentiation can be in the type of activity/tool used such as blog post, Socrative, Google Form, etc. Tools such as a game or quick quizzes can allow students to work at their own pace demonstrating knowledge when they complete certain tasks. Polls and back channeling can allow anonymous responses - eliminating the fear of "answering" incorrectly in front of the entire class. Rotating the use of various tools gives the opportunity for each student to use a tool/s that matches his/her learning style/s. 

Game On!

Differentiating with Games and Simulations

MTI 563

As I explored different games and the topic of gamification in the classroom this week I have discovered incorporating games (gamification or game-based learning) provides many opportunities for differentiated learning.

Most games allow students to work at their own pace and require the application of critical thinking and problem solving skills.  Students can work to their strengths and develop new skills all while “playing” a game.  Many of the games allow for individual or team play.  There isn't always be a correct answer or there may be several different ways to "move" successfully through the game or complete tasks. These types of "choices" can provide different learning experiences for students.

Do You See What I See?

MTI 563 The Differentiated Teacher  

Week 2 - Visual Learning 

Visual learning tools such as graphic organizers allow us to visually connect ideas and information. Students can use mind and or concept mapping tools to organize information and demonstrate knowledge. These tools can help students formulate their thoughts in a logical manner. A mind mapping tool could be used to outline/storyboard the slides/clips of presentation/video project. 

Differentiating with Audio and Video

MTI 563 The Differentiated Teacher

Week 1: Compare and Contrast Web Tools  

Link to doc

My First Interactive Image with ThingkLink 360

Having fun with #ThingLink360 during week 1.

iFake Text

iFake Text This tool taps into students’ love for text messaging and allows them to get creative in the process. Have students create fake texts without using their phones.

Virtual Bulletin Board with Padlet

Go to padlet.com

Padlet is a free online virtual wall for users to collaborate by adding post-it notes with videos, links, files and text.

You can project the Padlet Wall onto screen to see real time activity

Random Name Picker - Tech Tip

Quick and Easy to Use Random Name Picker

Try this web tool that selects a random word from a list that you provide.

This could be a great way review vocabulary words, concepts or pick student names from a list.

I've recently used it to select the order of student presentations. I projected the Name Picker on the wall and used the fruit machine to choose the names. The students really liked this method!

Answer Garden

Answer Garden is a free easy to use tool for gathering information and brainstorming. You don't have to resister either.  You basically type in a question or topic and share.

There are a few different Answer Garden "modes" which provide varying degrees of control over the responses.  I tend to use the "brainstorm" or the "classroom" mode most often.  Both allow an unlimited number of answers - brainstorm mode also allows repeats of the same answer while classroom mode only allows one of each answer.

Emaze Presentations

Emaze is just another online presentation tool.  Kind of a cross between PowerPoint and Prezi.  It is fairly easy to use and offers several appealing templates.

Some of the difficulties we ran into; students forgetting login information, Emaze on occasion was slow to load although this could have been a result of our bandwidth at school, a couple of the templates did not load at all and students had to change mid-stream.

Click here for the assignment instructions.

The object of this Emaze assignment was for students to get familiar with this online app and learn these tech terms!

Here are a couple of Emazes created by students:

Student 1
Student 2

Pinterest as a Place to Share Resources

Using Pinterest as a place for students to share resources.

As part of a Cyber Safety assignment students were required to:

• Locate at least one relevant source from the web (something from the past two years) and pin it to the board.  This can be a website, video, infographic, etc.
• Write a brief description of the source when you pin to board!

Here is our Online Safety Board

Follow Debbie's board Online Safety on Pinterest.

I liked this activity and the resources that students shared were useful. I had never used Pinterest in this way before and will definitely use this tool more often as a way to engage students.

Create a Timeline

This week the students and I created interactive timelines using the site. TimelineJS
The Timeline Project required students to research a topic of interest and collect pictures to incorporate in the timeline.

There was some time spent going over how the TimelineJS website works especially the spreadsheet portion.  The timeline is actually generated by data put into Google Spreadsheet (the website provides a template).  As I worked through creating my sample timeline I discovered some tips to share with students.

Here is a link to the iPod Timeline on the website.

Overall, I would recommend the TimelineJS website for anyone wanting to create an interactive timeline that students can present.  

About Me Haiku Deck

Mrs. Klier - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires

Last week the students and I created "About Me" presentations using the online tool Haiku Deck. This web 2.0 tool is easy to use and allows the user to create visually appealing presentations. Basically, you select a background image, a limited amount of text (a few words at the most), and the desired layout - that's it!

I encouraged my students to use their own images whenever possible for this project and to be concise with the text on each deck (slide). "The images will help tell the story and convey the message." Students presented their Haiku Decks in class - adding more detail to each slide.

Glogster Glogs

Here is a "Glog" I created with Glogster showing images from my travels to Italy and France this past year!  I wanted to provide my students a sample "Glog" for a project they would starting.

Glogster is a free web 2.0 tool that allows you to create an electronic poster that can easily be shared with a link or embedded on a website or blog.  There are many different elements that you can add to your electronic poster such as text, images, links, audio and video files and attachments.  Students can create their own free account and quickly get started creating their Glog.  Teachers can also set up a classroom account and assign usernames and passwords to students if they'd like.  I had my students set up their own accounts as they might like to use this tool in other classes (hopefully).

Using Glogster in the classroom was fairly easy.  Just a short introduction to the online web 2.0 tool was all that students needed.  Most students were able to find and use all the tools that Glogster provides.  One area that proved difficult for students was including a YouTube video (not their own) in their Glog.  I updated the Electronic Poster instruction sheet to include these directions.