Strip Generator is a great tool that allows even the most artistically-challenged students to create stunning comic strips. Students use a simple drag-and-drop interface to select from various customizable characters; then, they can add thoughts, words, and titles. Students can also customize the slide layout. There is no need to create an account, unless students want to save projects for accessing later on. If the project is simple and can be completed during one trip to the computer lab, accounts aren't necessary; however, some of my students created accounts because they liked the website and wanted to continue work on comic strips from home. Also, there aren't many options for adding color, but because the computer labs at my school aren't equipped with color printers, this is a bonus, in my opinion. Students can create their own original comic strip stories, or comic strip versions of stories that they read in class; my students create comic versions of myths that we read during a mythology unit.
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Online Magnetic Poetry: http://play.magpogames.com/ Everyone has seen--and maybe even played with--the tin can of magnetic words that you can arrange to make poetry. Recently, my sister gave me her Office Magnetic Poetry and, after removing any words that could be put into compromising situations, I threw the words on my dry-erase board and waited. Now, my magnetic poetry seems to have a group of devoted followers who enjoy coming in at the beginning of the hour to arrange the magnets and have their words represented throughout the day. On a hunch, I searched for an online version and found that the makers of Magnetic Poetry will let you try before you buy on their website. You can also view submitted poems created by others. What a fun end-of-the-hour activity! Or an interactive writing prompt! Or a fun National Poetry Month activity! This would work really well with a Smart Board. Mighty Optical Illusions make great writing prompts. I'm always on the lookout for interesting or strange paintings, photographs, etc. to inspire student writing. I have the MO Illusions widget installed on my iGoogle page, so I get a new one sent to me every day. For more fun writing prompts, I recommend Googling the terms "Guinness Word Records" or "Ripley's Believe It or Not." You can also check out the Snopes website; they have some interesting pictures under the Fauxtos section. If you want something less strange, but equally inspirational, check out the Photo of the Day on the National Geographic website, and search their database of past photos. The inspiration for this post about Search Stories comes from the Stretch Your Digital Dollar blog. The basic concept is to create a story through a series of Google searches. After watching a few sample videos, I decided that I had to try it out for myself. This was a lot of fun, and I think that my students would really love this as a brief writing assignment, possibly to review the plot pyramid (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution). This would also be an interesting addition to student e-Portfolios. Below I'm embedding my first ever "search story." I hope you enjoy it, or (better yet) you create one of your own and then contact me so that I can add a link to it on my blog. View my students' search stories on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/user/pilgreenenglish ZooBurst is "A digital storytelling tool that lets anyone easily create his or her own 3D popup book." This a fun tool that would really get students engaged, and eager to share their work with others. Books can be viewed later and controlled via keyboard commands or webcam. (Let's face it, though--the webcam option is so much more fun!) Below, I'm embedding a Screenr screencast of myself interacting with a very simple pop-up book that I created in about 10 minutes in order to "test drive" ZooBurst. My Fake Wall allows user to create fake Facebook walls for fictional (or nonfictional) characters. The fake wall to the left is from the website's "Favorite Fake Walls." This would make an excellent exercise for introducing characterization. I would love to see a chemistry teacher have students create fake walls for different chemicals, or see a math teacher have students create walls for different geometric shapes or theorems. Books of Hope is a wonderful nonprofit organization that assigns schools in the United States to schools in Uganda. US schools then create educational books for their sponsored schools overseas. There is a $200 participation fee per school. In the past, when my school district was able to cover the cost of the project, this was one of the most fulfilling projects that my students participated in all year. Books of Hope does a wonderful job of providing background information for multiple age levels, in order to provide a context for students to better understand their audience. Students will truly enjoy knowing that they are creating a valuable tools that will affect the lives of others. While Kelly Gallagher may not be a "Web 2.0 Tool," his website is a wonderful resource. I had the pleasure of attending one of his workshops on reading comprehension strategies, and I have been using his Article of the Week database ever since. Gallagher and his coworkers post PDF files of nonfiction articles on current event topics. I have students highlight main ideas, new words, and areas of confusion; they also annotate passages in the margins and then write a brief response to the articles. This is an excellent source for "beefing up" the nonfiction component in your curriculum. Quick and Dirty Tips offers some wonderful podcasts by experts. I have used Grammar Girl and The Public Speaker in my classroom as bellringer activities by writing my own questions and having students write their responses on note cards. Podcasts can be downloaded as an mp3, streamed from the website, or printed as a transcript. Most of the podcasts are broken down by subject area; for example, Grammar Girl's podcasts are organized into categories including punctuation, usage, and style. Other experts that look promising include the Math Dude and the Nutrition Diva. Webspiration is a free "online visual thinking tool." Create mind maps, webs, graphic organizers (whatever you like to call them). Webspiration will even convert your creation into an outline for you. You can toggle between Diagram view and Outline view, save, print and export. |
AuthorDr. Jessica Pilgreen, Ed.D. Archives
December 2020
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