07.27.08
Posted in Online Tools & Resources tagged Bob Smith, character study, Langwitches, LibraryThing, Pageflakes, wordle at 4:47 pm by sblovett
Literally.
With my Google Reader and Pageflakes accounts, the ideas have truly been rolling in. I’ve been especially impressed with news related to Wordle and I’ve tried to keep up with ways people might use this online tool in their classrooms. A post to the langwitches blog caught my attention in Pageflakes. The post, titled, “Digital Storytelling Part IX- Wordle” offered an excellent idea: use a word cloud to “showcase characteristics of a protagonist in a book.” I loved this idea! At my school we begin the year in reader’s workshop with a study of character; we dig into characters’ personalities, decision-making patterns, relationship histories, etc., and I think a Wordle project would be a fun, engaging way to share our thoughts about character and help students connect to the books that others read.
I just finished reading Bob Smith’s memoir, Hamlet’s Dresser, so quickly I created a sample word cloud using all the words I could think of that connect to my experience with the book:
I wonder if Library Thing would allow me (or my students) to upload a Wordle creation as part of a book review. That would be a great way to get a conversation around a book going on Library Thing…
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07.18.08
Posted in Online Tools & Resources, Podcasting tagged Chris Frederick, ColeyCast, David Warlick, History.org, Pageflakes, podcasts, Steve Dembo, The Tech Teachers, Vicki Davis at 6:19 pm by sblovett
In my last post, I sort of complained about the trouble I’ve had in the past with locating interesting and relevant podcasts for both my fourth-graders and myself. Well, I decided to dig a little further into the subscribing to podcasts thing, and I was pleasantly surprised by what I found with very little effort. Success! I now have a public page in Pageflakes with Steve Dembo, Vicki Davis, David Warlick, Chris Frederick, The Tech Teachers, ColeyCast, and History.org podcast subscriptions–all content I will be able to use one way or another with my students–and they play right in Pageflakes!
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06.17.08
Posted in K12 Learning 2.0 tagged Pageflakes, RSS, Vicki Davis at 12:06 pm by sblovett
What has struck me about subscribing to various RSS feeds is that I have instant access to changing and updated information. How cool! A post on Vicki Davis’ Cool Cat Teacher Blog caught my eye simply because it illustrated the essence of the RSS tool:
If I had subscribed–or even known that I could subscribe–to Reuters I would have learned that Pluto was relegated from its position as the 9th planet in our solar system back in 2006. Poor Pluto. Fortunately, now that I have a Pageflakes account, the news that small sphere-shaped celestial bodies will now be called “plutoids” was delivered directly to me. At least Pluto got to keep part of its name!
News: interesting, relevant, random, and fun sent to me as often as it happens. RSS. That’s how I blog roll.
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