My Old Blog

Since my last post about using Storybird in the classroom, I must admit that the excitement among students in using this site has begun to wane.  What is interesting to note is that it seems the male students in my class are the ones expressing dissatisfaction.  My female students, on the other hand, seem to generally still show enthusiasm about it all. When asking some of the girls in the class why they like Storybird, the common response is the illustrations.  They love the colorful, cute images.  This got me thinking about what it is the boys would find appealing.  I have boys in my class who love to draw in class.  One of my students has even gone to the lengths of drawing a character representing every boy in my class! So after some searching, I stumbled upon Story Jumper.  This site allows students to design their own illustrations and write stories.  The boys were all over this new site!  Everything from wizards to robots appea...

shawnzrossi (Flickr) When I introduced the site called Storybird to my students, I wasn't completely certain of how they would receive it.  Would they like the wide option of images offered on the site?  Would they think it would be too "juvenile" given most of them are around 12 years of age? They have been so excited about using this tool since I mentioned that we would start publishing their stories on our wiki.   Last week, my students were working on their Harry Potter Book project in Edmodo.  One of my students, who loves to write, approached me and asked "could I please go to the Storybird site?".  I casually responded with a "yes".  Shortly after, I heard a flurry of whispering among the students and a few other students then approached asking the same question.  They were eager to write stories! So what does this experience teach me?  Apart from the fact that Storybird has become a popular tool in my classroom, it is teaching m...

I have begun creating podcasts for students in my French course. Although they have access to our class recordings, I thought they might appreciate having podcasts which briefly re-cap key vocabulary we have learned. I am using Podomatic to host my podcasts. It is a free service that gives you up to 500 MB of storage for podcasts. You can upload files from your desktop, publish podcasts from your Podomatic media library, or create podcasts using a webcam or microphone which Podomatic will access with your permission. If you want more features and storage space, you can choose the "Pro" option. For information, you can visit this link. There are language education podcasts at Podomatic at this link. They are also ranked within the category of languages. I am liking Juan France's Chansons podcast for French language learning. I think it would be really suitable for Intermediate and Advanced learners.

I found this link thanks to @Alice Ayel who re-tweeted José Picardo's update on this Teachers TV video. I particularly like the segment where José's students demonstrate how they use ICT to improve their spoken language skills. What is taking place in Mr. Picardo's class is a prime example of disruptive innovation in teaching. I have just completed reading "Disrupting Class" by Clayton Christensen, Michael Horn, and Curtis Johnson. In this book, the author speaks to the need for public schools to engage in disruptive innovation, whereby they begin using ICT to support personalized learning environments; furthermore, the teacher's role becomes a facilitator and coach, providing more one-on-one assistance to students. Rather than batching students together during instruction, students could work individually at laptops or desktops using software that helps them strengthen their skill level in a subject area whilst utilizing their strongest "intellige...