Mind mapping with SpicyNodes

I have been tempted to try SpicyNodes for a while and eventually I have done it.
The site offers a tool for making interactive presentations, mind maps, visualizations or organizational charts. The process of creating a map is simple and straightforward. The result is attractive and cool.

Having my students in mind, I made a very simple visual map of English tenses in the active voice. What they usually forget is the formula of each tense. Now I have put the basic rules into this map. Click on the bubbles to see what is inside.

Word search creator on Busy Teacher

There are various word search makers on the net but the Busy Teacher site offers a tool that instantly attracted my attention because of the cool look of the puzzles and the simplicity of the tool.

Busy Teacher is a site which has a vast collection of teaching ideas, worksheets and lesson plans, and now - a word search generator.
Mind you, I have not been paid to advertise the site, nor the new tool. I just happen to like it.

Word Search Creator lets you choose the size of the grid and the level of difficulty from easy to moderate to difficult. The best thing is that you can print your word search or save it and play online.

Here is the link to the puzzle SPORTS which I made for my younger students.
Feel free to download it. It comes with the solution to make the teacher's life easier!

Summarizing skill

Since students have been asked to make a summary of a short text at the state exam, the teaching of summarizing skill has come to the fore.
It has turned out to be a tedious job because summarizing skill is not easy to teach. It actually involves many skills - reading for the gist and detail, concentrating on the main points, seeing the key words and getting the central message of the paragraph, being able to join many ideas in one.

Why is it for a student sometimes easier to write a passage of 200 words instead of 100 as required by the task? What if they just do not know how to curb their imagination and control their flow of thoughts? That is where summarizing skill becomes essential. I believe, it can be developed through practice but it takes time. And it is a very creative process, I'd like to add.

Here are some links to useful web pages about writing summaries.

• Summary writing by Drew University
• Summarizing by Reading Quest
• Summarizing skill by Googol Learning

I have prepared a worksheet for practicing summary writing.
 


Here you can access it on Google Docs and download it for the use in the classroom. It consists of five paragraphs taken from the internet and a space for writing a summary. I have also added sample summaries for each paragraph but they are not absolute. The teacher can accept many different variants.

Earth Hour 2011

I find it awesome that at 8.30 PM on Saturday 26 March 2011, lights will be switched off around the globe for Earth Hour. The campaign is organized by World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Just imagine all the lights as seen in this satellite image of Europe, Middle East and North Africa going out one by one until this part of the globe lies in the dark... Incredible!
I wish I could see it from space!



Apart from experiencing emotionally beautiful moment, we can use this action to teach the students some facts about this campaign or attract their attention to protecting and saving the planet which is our home.

Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million individuals and more than 2,000 businesses turned their lights off for one hour to take a stand against climate change. Only a year later and Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries participating.
(Quoted from the Earth Hour website. Visit the site to read on.)

my lantern

Younger students can go to the Earth Hour website and create a virtual lantern which will float around the virtual globe and  serve as a symbol of their care and devotion.
              

Download an excellent resource pack for primary students here (pdf). 
Do an online exercise here.

Finally you can watch the official Earth Hour video and it will speak for itself.

Reading stuff on YUDU

I regularly frequent the YUDU site which boasts a huge variety of online magazines and other reading stuff.
I recently discovered the magazine BRITAIN which should be of interest to every English teacher because of its wonderful materials about Britain, its geography, history, culture and people.

To view the magazines you need Adobe Flash.

The latest issue of the magazine April/May 2011 contains articles about the Royal Wedding (about to take place), Wales, City of Bath, the War of Roses and a lot more. Colourful 100 pages with loads of information!


Click to launch the full edition in a new window
Publishing Software from YUDU


February/March issue

Read BRITAIN Magazine Feb/Mar
Digital Publishing with YUDU

Widgets with images

I tried out GoodWidgets to see how the images work if put in a widget.
There are 8 styles to choose from. This turned out to be my favourite because of the smooth and inconspicuous image transition.

There is only one drawback to the site - it is rather old and looks a little forgotten.

These are my students getting ready for a big school event.

EDIT:  Just noticed today (3rd April) that the widget with the pictures of my students has disappeared. Checked the home site - gone! No wonder the website looked a bit sad, no one cared about it until it vanished completely.

Instant web hosting

The web offers a wonderful opportunity for everyone to create a simple instant web page for temporary needs. They are extremely convenient for posting some information which will expire or is intended for a small audience. There is no registration, no password, no login, just a blank page and a web address.

What you have to remember is save the address in your bookmarks or you will never be able to see it again (unless you have a brilliant visual memory).

One of the simplest tools is http://write.fm which at the moment of its opening has already created a new unique site. That's why I have not linked the address to the actual page because then you would be taken to MY page.

QuietWrite is described as a peaceful place to write. Just click and write.

Entri is useful for writing rough drafts of articles, jotting down ideas and sharing them with a specific group of people. Direct access to Twitter. No signup required.

Stashsite is advertised as a site for making a downloadable page for an e-book or presenting schoolwork to the teacher in a nice fashion.

Update: Stashsite is gone!

Jottit works in a similar way - you can write or post a text and edit it. The site also lets you format the page - you can change the background colour and fonts.

ShortText is an extremely simple tool, it lets you type or paste any text. There is also a possibility of adding a link to a video or an image. You can allow comments on the page.

DinkyPage looks a little more complicated but it serves the same purpose as the sites mentioned above. There are more formatting options than with other sites and you can get a fairly nice web page with images and links if you spend some time on it.

There are a lot more sites which offer online writing possibility but either they are more complicated or require sign up, that's why I have not mentioned them in this post.

Reading stories differently

I like to play with Wordle and admire the awesome word combinations this tool can generate. On one of such occasions I created a worksheet using Wordle clouds to mix together two stories about animals.
The students' task is to separate the stories and reconstruct them both. Of course, in the creative process of "sorting and combining words" new incredible stories may appear. That is what makes this method really exciting.
There are instructions for the students and some writing space. Finally there are both original stories which should be kept secret until the very end of the activity.

Online message boards with sticky notes

Many people like sticky notes. I love them too and use them as bookmarks or reminders.
Today we can use virtual sticky notes on virtual message boards. The choice of the tools is rather wide. Here are my favourites - all free to use.

The simplest message board is Corkboard which is what it says it is - a corkboard with plain yellow notes.
The tool is so down-home that it does not even have its own logo.
No registration is required. Open the page and start posting your notes. It can now be embedded on your site.

Another message board which does not ask for registration (and can be used instantly) is the well-known Wallwisher. It has a small range of features (variable background, changeable colours, the possibility to add links to images, videos, music.

One more message board which uses a virtual corkboard (and looks confusingly similar to Corkboard) is Listhings but it has taken one step towards more variable notes - you can change their colour.
You have to register to use Listhings.

The site for online stickies Linoit stands a level higher with its appearance (a variety of colours and shades) and features - you can add an image, upload a video and attach a document. You can create a group and use the canvas together, embed the canvas on your blog or send the stickies by email. To use it you have to register but it is neither complicated nor tedious.

Pindax is a fun real-time alternative to the traditional message board. You have to sign up for free and start posting. It has a lot of features, like posting images, files and polls in real time. You can send your posts by email.  There are various options for using your message board. 

As the creators have stated, Pindax can be used as

1) a forum for your website
2) a collaboration tool
3) a portfolio for your designs
4) a place to chat with friends
5) a place to exchange ideas
6) an internet clipboard
7) a comment collector
8) an event planner
9) an alternative to E-Mail.

Finally, my latest "discovery"  Squareleaf is a simple and intuitive virtual whiteboard, complete with all the sticky notes. It is not as versatile as Linoit or Pindax but it is perfectly usable for the usual purpose - to remind, organise, keep up-to-date, track things etc. Registration required.
 

How to quote in style

There are some web tools that let you add a quote to your web page in an unconventional way.

One of them is Kwout which offers an add-on to your Firefox browser (which you have to download) and then you can start quoting any piece on any website you wish.

 Here is an example of a paragraph taken from the website mentioned below.

Six favourite teaching online activities – e-moderation station via kwout

Another web tool for creating and publishing quotes is Citebite which works online. You have to copy a desired piece of text from a web page, paste the URL and you are given a unique web address which you paste on your website.

See the example.

http://pages.citebite.com/g3d4o1j5tvnq

It opens directly to your selection and highlights it.

These tools allow the teacher to attract students' attention to the page or paragraph they need to read or work on. Useful for doing research or gathering material for a report.