kbkonnected:

Superb Storytelling Tool: Sketch Star

Easily create online animations with this fab tool for kids!

Via @ICTMagic

Tell stories using text, objects, puppets, and your own drawings. Lots of neat tools to choose from.Tutorials are great and get you going on your first animation right away.

Must use email to save project. Animations can then be viewed online via url.

Don’t miss!

ABCya! Animation Tool

2 Cool Tools for School (stop-motion animation)

neoK12 Excellent Science Site! (Students can create cool presentations plus lots more!)

Write On! 4 Kids

kbkonnected:

lhuddles:

Authentic instruction: Using the idea that schoolwork is not merely used in school, authentic instruction aims to mesh work for school and work for the real world.

In my content area, authentic writing means kids don’t only write for their teachers—they write for real people….

Great idea!

world-shaker:

A fascinating (if not slightly eyebrow-raising) post on student writing for digital media. Here’s an excerpt:

Don’t use long blocks of text

Chances are that your teacher told you to use long paragraphs so you can explain your points in great detail. Long blocks of text are easy to grasp on a piece of paper, but not on a computer screen.

Use a maximum of four to six lines of text per paragraph.

Don’t use complex language

In real life, using complex language doesn’t make you smart, it makes you a smart alec.

Simple words are better for getting your point across quickly.

Don’t wait to deliver your main point

The whole trick of online writing is to deliver your point early on. People simply don’t have time to read 600 words of your article to get to the point. That might work in school, but it doesn’t online.

Deliver your point in your second paragraph (unless you’re creating a list post).

kbkonnected:

#edtech #ntchat #stem #sschat #scichat #artchat

kbkonnected:

Looking for some cool new blogs to follow. Check out the fab linky party thrown by Grade Three is the Place for Me. A ton of awesome teacher blogs await you!

world-shaker:

teac259wilsona:

post on Education Week’s blog on reading strategies for students with Dyslexia

There’s also a special typeface called Dyslexie that you can use.

world-shaker:

This was a great article, with more information than you’d expect. Here are two of their ideas:

How the Instructor can establish presence

1. The professor as a real person: Our instructors create a one to two minute welcome video. Students watch the clip during the first few days of the class. Instructors create a YouTube video clip (can be private), or create a .mov file on their laptop and upload the clip to our Learning Management platform. I love these clips – each are unique as the professor.  Some are filmed in the instructor’s office, outside, or even in a coffee shop. These clips make the professor ‘real’ and set the tone for an open and interactive learning community.
2. Communicating regularly: Posting a weekly announcement with course updates, web resources, commenting on course discussion boards and/or upcoming assignments also seems to be an effective method by the instructor communicating ‘en masse’. Using humour strategically can also break the ice and make the class fun, with a humourous YouTube clip or comic.

kbkonnected:

Love this printable “Anger Map”!

via @edtechchic #behavior #elemchat #spedchat

Added to  Classroom Printables

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world-shaker:

I can’t stop watching it.

kbkonnected:

The Story Starter Jr.

2,340 Story Starters

#elemchat #spedchat #storystarters

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