Work smarter not harder Quizlet has a feature that they call “diagram.” It’s pretty darn cool. You upload a photo and then place dots on it and student identify the dots. The implications for language learners to practice identifying vocabulary are clear. Here I am using it not so much as a “diagram,” but as …
Using Video for Input A couple of weeks ago I happened across some absolutely adorable videos on YouTube that I wanted to use with my Novice Lows because the videos all started with a short introduction. Video can be a powerful tool in the language classroom for communication. Alternately, it can easily become background noise …
It’s Back to School time!! Officially school started over a week ago at the high school and I don’t go back to school at the college for another week. Here are three no/low prep activities you can do with any class, but the newbies. (For my take on starting with the with the newbies see …
Tech Support – How may I help? If there’s one thing I dislike it’s taking up precious class time to do tech support and answer technology questions. It my seem ironic, but for an Instructional Technology Coach and teacher in a paperless classroom, I’m pretty picky about what type of tech I use in class. …
Using Art in the Classroom I love art! Love it!! I can spend all day in a museum looking at everything. The back wall of my classroom is filled with art reproductions from students and posters that I’ve “borrowed” from the art teacher. (Two art teachers ago, so I think they’re mine now.) If I …
Not every activity in a textbook is awful. And sometimes, with just a small tweak, they can be pretty darn good. The Tweak So my friend Lewie (You know Lewie, right? Everyone knows Lewie!) Lewie has been talking a lot about giving a real purpose to student communication. I took this idea and tweaked the “interview your …
This one was tough, which is why it is weeks late being posted. I couldn’t come up with one thing that would be interesting to give away besides ideas. Here’s what I settled on…. a giveaway of an incredibly short activity I am going to do on Monday based on an video I happened upon while …
I love using Google’s Q and A feature to get students talking. In a 1-1 classroom it’s an efficient way to ask a question and elicit a response from the entire class; or rather from each student. Here’s five ways you can use Google Slides. Last week we were working on questions. Students wrote questions …
If you school is like mine, Valentine’s day is a difficult day to get anything done with the constant interruptions of singing grams and Valentine’s deliveries and no one can see because one kid has a bouquet of balloons that covers half of the class and half the class is all hopped up on chocolates …
I’ve been working on a presentation on reading strategies and updated my “Open Mind” Template for Google Slides. An “Open Mind” activity is pretty simple. Students insert words or images into the mind of a character or person they’ve been reading about. (For example for Romeo Montague a student could put a heart and say …
