15 Minutes to Shine
Someone recently asked me what I would show a group of tech-savvy teachers if I had 15 minutes with them?
I started spinning out ideas and thought I would share mine. Then ask the collective what they think they would show?
1) I would show Wordle.net which has some interesting things to show with the Obama Inauguration Speech. Visual themes in written word. A teacher at the high school today had her kids finish out their poetry theme by posting their poems in Wordle and getting an instant peek at the most repetitive words. A quick peek at visual themes and then generating their own.
I think as an addition to this I would add oneword.com – which challenges visitors to type in a box on screen based on a one-word prompt. The site even times down on the screen so you only have 60 seconds to type on the topic. I would combine the two by typing a 60 second prompt, copy and paste into Wordle to see it play out.
2) Wikipedia – The Discussion Tab – Show the back-end of how the discussions between the authors of information collaborate to post accurately. This is the history of the collaborative process of creating the world’s largest and most current encyclopedia. Pick a few research topics and lead a discussion with the teachers to find out how this could be used in their classrooms. What are some ways this could be used? Also see if they can cross-collaborate with these tools. How could you combine this tool in an English class? Math class? Science? etc.
3) Google News Feed – Go to Google News and search a topic. Then you can sort by year, by blogs that are on that topic, and you can even subscribe to RSS/Atom feeds for receiving the most up-to-date information on the topic. If not ready to get into RSS/Atom? Click on Google News Alert and put in your email address. You can receive email alerts when a new story breaks on the topic. Instant news!
For research topics, students can not only research archived data but they can receive the most current information as well. And with cell phones in the classroom…..updates to their topics could be filling up their phones (while they are turned off or silent in their backpacks). Click on Mobile Updates and put in your cell number. Instant text updates.
15 Minutes to shine. What do you show to a group of tech-savvy teachers? Tech-savvy Administrators? Counselors? Librarians?
