Loopy: Can You Digg it?

Not too different from April 21st's headline
on CNN: "Russians Fly Off  US Coast".
photo courtesy of Pixabay

I stumbled across this really cool web-based thingy on my news aggregator site Digg.  Digg is pretty cool.  Before I get into Loopy (which is the name of the cool web-based thingy) I want to talk about Digg.  If you are not familiar with news aggregators or RSS feeds you need to be.

Digg's tagline is: "What the Internet is talking about right now," and that is exactly what it is.  Digg filters news articles based on your interest just like Pandora does for music.  Man, I love me some Digg.  If you do not know me you should know that I am a serious news junkie -- which is probably why I am so cranky all the time.  I should give up the news -- I would probably be happier.  Just kidding, I would find some other way to be cranky.

Last thoughts on Digg: as awesome as it is it is not really kid friendly.  For every great article about "How to Save the World's Most Trafficked Mammal" (a real article) there are 5 containing words or images that are inappropriate for school.  So, long story short, filter through and find the current and relevant articles to support your curriculum and stay away from:"The Sexual Politics of 'Chasing Amy' 20 Years Later" (also a real article).

Whew!  That was a bit long-winded.

LOOPY is a cause-and-effect-flow-chart-tool thingy.  Or, as the creator says, "a tool for thinking in systems" which is much more succinct than cause-and-effect-flow-chart-tool thingy.  Teachers or students can create custom flow charts showing cause and effect relationships between two or more....well, two or more anything.  There are really cool samples on the website and I even made one, quickly, demonstrating my relationship with the news.

Padlet is My Homeboy

How many times have you had a pre-unit brainstorming session where only three kids participate?  Probably a bunch of times.  We all have those three kids who shout out a bunch of answers while their classmates are quiet as church mice.  God bless those three kids, but, in order to accurately survey the class, we need everyone's input.

Luckily, I have a solution -- Padlet! 

Padlet is an online whiteboard app/website where students can post notes, pictures, and videos.  Just double-click to start sharing.  Try it out now! 

Padlet is very easy to use and can be incorporated into lessons you already teach.  

Here are some examples:

Actual picture of a brainstorm in-progress

Example #1: In preparation for writing a college essay, students read an article giving tips on how to write the essay and then posted the tips they felt were most important -- College Essay

Example #2: Prior to watching Death of a Salesman, we brainstormed what students knew about the 1950's -- 1950's Example

Example #3: Here is a brainstorming session on where to find credible information and why we use those sources --- Credibility 

Sure, sometimes I get goofy pictures and or comments, but what is important is that Padlet gives every student a voice -- even those kids normally too shy to speak up. And, to be honest, even the goofy answers often give us grounds for discussion.

Just do it already!

Digital Photos

I haven't posted in a while because the end of the 3rd 9 weeks was not kind to me -- too much grading in too little time.  A brutal 3rd 9 weeks was followed by a super spring break so all is forgiven.  

Just before spring break, I was asked to proofread/advise on a book about technology integration so, naturally, I said yes.  Now I do not get paid for helping with this book, but I do get a behind-the-scenes look at some of the tools, tips, and techniques the author(s) intend to share.  Also, this is a blind review so I do not know the authors' names and I do not have any publication data (because the book has not been published yet) so I will have to come back and cite my sources at another time.

That being said, let's talk about pictures!

I like pictures.  In fact, I took a picture of a six-toed cat at the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum on spring break (the cat's name is Daisy, by the way).  If you are new to this planet you should know that kids take pictures of everything: what they eat, what they wear, what they are doing. They make goofy duck-faces; pose like models; and Tweet, Flickr, and/or Instagram their pictures to the world (with filters and dog faces of course).

When it comes to technology, kids are masters of distraction.  We need to be the ones to teach them to use technology in productive ways.  So, I stole some ideas from this book I am reading and present them to you.  Side note: I would recommend using Google Images for digital image searches because most everyone is familiar with it.

Math: From the authors: "[h]ave students read an explanation of what it means if a quadratic function has no real solutions, one real solution, or two real solutions."  Send your students on a hunt to find pictures symbolizing or representing these solutions. Take it to the next level by having your kids explain how/why this image is appropriate.

Social Studies: Use the Gale resources located in our very own library (Hoover High School) to find an article on the Dust Bowl, or the different types of government, or whatever.  Read the article with the class and have students find digital photos to improve their understanding on the topic.  Again, take it to the next level by having your kids explain how/why this image is appropriate.

English: Give students a short story with no images.  Have the students search for images to help other readers better understand the story.  Again, take it to the next level by having your kids explain how/why this image is appropriate.

All of these ideas could easily be incorporated into lessons you already have.  And, of course, you can twist and mold any of these ideas to fit the needs of your students.  Shoot, you could even have kids draw images (like with crayons and stuff) just like our ancestors did in the olden days.

Go find some pictures!