Ivan's Katherine Applegate

Pernille Ripp did such an outstanding job with the Global Read Aloud project, and Katherine Applegate--author of The One and Only Ivan--noticed her hard work.  Katherine Applegate answered several student questions about Ivan.  Take a look at this video and see if it something you would want to share with your students.  

She makes some good points.  I like what she says about being a writing.  She doesn't lie when she states, "It's difficult!"  I think students should hear this from an author.  Writing isn't about completing an assignment and being "done."  It's a long thoughtful process that develops the perfect message for an audience.  I cannot count how many times students just did not want to rewrite a "final" draft.  After the second time, students always grabbed the standard operating comment--"but, I've already written the final copy"--and threw it in my face.  Students don't "own" or see value in the writing.  Instead, they are merely completing an assignment.  

Once I had my students create blog posts, this started to change as students relied on an audience to motivate them to produce better work.  At first, writing is limited but it soon starts to grow into a well-thought-out message.   Have students blog!  Use Kidblog, EduBlogs, Wordpress, or Blogger.  Create writers not second copy completers.  

Presidential Resources

So, what resources are out there for the Presidential Election?

Searching the for reliable sources can sometimes make your head spin, but what a great way to make students' heads spin.  Teach students to evaluate a website's validity.  To take it a step further, students can also learn the meaning behind biased content.   After researching content, students should create a persuasive product that extols the merit of their party or candidate.

Because a Romney vs. Obama debate could get too heated and their are only so many Romney/Obama presentations one can take, some teachers are using historical figures as presidential candidates.  From this, students must persuade their classmates to vote for their chosen candidate.  For instance, one group of students is constructing a persuasive product to convince others to vote for Michael Jordan.

• What are you doing in for the election?  
• Are students relating to this current event or are they apathetic to the 2012 Presidential Election?  
• How can you leverage this current event to create authentic learning experiences? 

TED-Ed

TED-Ed came out a little while back.  I took a look, and I dismissed it.  Then, @jtwillmann reintroduced me to the site and I saw some value.  It's still developing and like an awkward teenager some features could be improved.  But, I developed one of my first lesson and found a love for the process.

Why reinvent the wheel?  Just steal other teacher's wheels.  Huh?  Well, as a teacher, we can be overwhelmed with responsibility, and it can be difficult to find time to create perfect TED-Ed lessons.  That is why you can just recycle or reuse other teacher lessons by pressing the Flip This Lesson Button.   

I really liked Carolyn Mohr's lesson entitled, The power of a great introduction, but I can tweak the lesson to fit my students' unique needs.   Check out my first lesson from the "Flip This Lesson" option. I created this lesson from a Myth Busters clip, which was focused on Diet Coke and Mentos.  What student isn't motivated to cause an explosive reaction?

Like reaction that occurs when Diet Coke and Mentos are combined, an explosion went off in my head where I thought to link these TED-Ed mini-lessons to my classroom Kidblog posts or Edmodo posts.  Then, students can review these mini-lessons prior to attending or at the beginning of class.  These lessons could just be used to provide me with student responses, which allows me to glean student 

Take the tour by watching TED-Ed's multimedia enriched lesson, which explains their version of a "flipped" lesson design.  Watch the video below and tell me what you think below the video.  After watching some of the TED-Ed animations, I think it will be inspiring for students to create visually appealing projects.  

Web 2.0:List.ly

I'm killing two birds with one stone: List.ly and SMART Resources with a blog post.  Please read on for instructional ideas.  List.ly is an interesting web-based tool that allows people to contribute to a list of online resources.  Basically, it is a form of collaborative social bookmarking.  

I can see List.ly being used with students to...

• Generate writing ideas
• Share lists of inspirational online resources (images or writings)
• Cite resources they used for a project
• Generate research lists
• Create lists of website that they use at home 
• Create a list of links to images that describe their lives
• Create a list that helps tell a story

Okay, pretend you are the student.  What additional resources have you found on the subject below?  Click the "Add to List" button to add your ideas to the resource list.  

SMART Resources

View more lists from Daniel Gibson

Global Read Aloud Voice Thread

Web-Based Technologies

Here is a list of various web-based technologies to utilize during the Global Read Aloud:

1. Glogster
2. KidBlog
3. Twitter (To connect with other teachers)
4. Google Tools (To collaborate and connect)
5. Google Hangouts (Through Gmail) or Skype (To connect with other classrooms)
6. Animoto (Check this overview of the GRA with Animoto)or Videolicious 
7. Voice Thread or Audioboo
8. Vimeo, SchoolTube, or YouTube (upload videos)

What did I miss?  What web-based technologies should we use during the Global Read Aloud?  Add to this Voice Thread to voice your opinion.