Blended Learning Vocabulary Practice 4 Ways!

Vocabulary: every content area has it and students need to practice it. What kind of options can you give as a way of showing understanding? Use the below 4 as options in an iPad center, warm-up, or closure activity. 

Option 1: Doodle Buddy (App)/Aww App (Web 2.0)
Create a visual representation of your vocabulary word. Using the text feature label the vocabulary
word and type the definition in your own words

Option 2: Chatterpix (App)/Blabberize (Web 2.0)
Make or take a picture associated with your vocabulary term and make it talk and tell the listener the vocabulary word and the definition in your own words

Option 3: Make Beliefs Comix (app or website)
Create a comic in which one of the character uses the vocabulary word correctly. Make sure the context clues reveal the meaning of the word.

Option 4: RWT Crosswords (App) or Crosswords Puzzle (Wed 2.0)
Create a crossword puzzle for your vocabulary words with synonym or synonym phrases as the clues.


When students are done they can submit to the LMS of your choice. If all words will be done of the course of several days, have students curate their word into a presentation tool like Google Slides, Sway, PowerPoint, or even iMovie.

Share additional ideas below!

Embed in Sway

One day, I dream Sway will support any embed code! Until that day, here is a quick tutorial featuring how to embed Office 365 documents as well as Padlet! Squee! The Padlet brings the interactivity component that I so love! 

Found other cool things you can embed that isn't on the official list? Share in comments!

Sway in ELA

Spring Break is here! I’m setting myself for a writing challenge: 9 posts in 9 days! First up, a tool for any mode of writing!

Digital Tool: Sway
Publisher: Microsoft Office 365
Device: Any! (Although the app is needed for video files)
Type: publish or present
Similar to: a webpage but can be used like PPT
Features I love: Students can collaborate on the same Sway and embed documents

Template:

Create a template in Sway and share it so anyone with the link can view. Then have students save the Sway in their own Office 365 account. They will be able to edit it once it is their own.

 Writing Modes:

Expository:

Have a research project for students that includes a lot of extras? Sway embeds pretty much anything! From Tweets to Excel to other Sways, Sway not only creates a visually stunning final product, but also one that is perfect for any sort of long range project. Group research? Have students collaborate on the same Sway!

Persuasive:

Argumentative writing and media literacy tend to go hand-in-hand. Students drawing ads, making a persuasive commercial, or creating their own infographics? They can embed media files with ease. If they draw by hand, have them take a picture with an iPad and upload into a Sway. Because it is device agnostic, students can switch back and forth between iPad, computer, their BYOD or home device.

Narrative:

Sway allows students to create a link or QR code, which allows for an amazing way to publish. Students can incorporate drawn pictures or photos for creative or personal narrative. Have them print out the QR code and shorten the link and post to classroom or lockers.

Poetry:

Create a poetry anthology! Create a classroom Sway for students to contribute to or for more prolific poetry units, each student creates his or her own portfolio.

Writing Process:

Conferencing: Students can create QR codes or post links to their draft typed in Sway. Others can fill out an online feedback sheet.

Publishing: This is the tool for you!

Accessibility:

Do you have students who need high contrast, no animation, and/or screen readers? With Accessibility check – something you can use to modify your Sway to be more accessible – and accessibility view – something anyone can enact when viewing a Sway.

Universal Theme Collage

After students come up with a theme (see video of strategy here), I like to hit home the universality
of what a theme should be. What better way to have students realize that theme is true across time and space than to apply the theme to the past and across the world. I have my students use online research  (DE Streaming) to find a historical example of the theme being true and then a current event example (using Gale) to find it true in another place. Using those and text evidence along with a pic collage app, students make a visually stunning study of the theme and learn a little bit more about the world they live in. The instructions for this is in my shop.

Doodle Buddy and Chatterpix Math App Smash

I know, I know, I'm all about ELA, but seriously, I had to share this.For Pre-K, Kinder, and 1st convert number sentences into images using Doodle Buddy and then have students record themselves telling the story.

Too adorable, right?

Quick steps:
1. Practice a couple times students writing the number sentences, using the stamps, and then writing the solution. DO THIS VERTICALLY! Chatter Pix Kids and Doodle Buddy are designed with cell phones in mind.
2. Have students write their own number sentence. Leaving aome room at the top.
3. Save image
4. Open ChatterKid, upload image and center
5. Draw a mouth
6. Record story
7. Add ChatterKid stickers and filters if you want (this is where the lips came from)
8. Save to device.
9. Love how adorable this is!

Easy ELA adaptation: Have students write spelling word in Doodle Buddy. In ChatterKid, student says word and spelling aloud. Multi-sensory!

Inforgraphics Made Easy

Easel.ly not only provides students with easy to create inforgraphics perfect for the classroom, it also provides teachers a very handy e-book guide. The guide shows teachers how to set up groups for students to login without providing an email address. All you have to do is create a login and they send you a link.

Additional tips and ideas:

• Have students start with a template if they have not had infographic-making experience
  
• There is already a place to insert a list of resources. My favorite resource for students to create MLA format is Purdue's OWL Lab.*
• Encourage students to link images and information back to their source material 
• Because students can get bogged down altering the aesthetics, create a classroom procedure of needing teacher approval before playing with color schemes and extras
• Because some tech- and content-savvy students finish early, I like to offer lesson add-ons for students. These are challenges for students to take and incorporate into their projects. It gives students another skill, keeps them engaged, and won't result in kids trying to rush through their work to get the opportunity to play a computer game. These are sort of like those 5 minute filler lessons that we teachers have when a class finishes a lesson early, but individualized. A great add-on for Easel.ly is asking students to Blabberize on of their images. They create the Blabberize and then hyperlink the image on the Easel.ly to the Blabberize. Students could also create a Vocaroo to hyperlink. 

*I know that many people like Easy Bib or Citation Machine, but I find that students tend to still have errors in their bibliographies AND no understanding of how to read the information in the bibliography. If I want my students to be able to use bibliographies as readers, I have to teach them how to write them. I would personally rather a student make an error in a bibliography entry they wrote than an error is one from Easy Bib. Just my two cents for my middle school ELA classroom.

Open-Ended Responses for Plickers

One of the biggest drawbacks of student response systems is that often in ELA I want my students to do more than just answer multiple choice. How to get students to write answers while still taking advantage of the data these response systems have to offer? Simple: don't put answer options down!

I create the questions like above where A is a, B is b, C is c, and D is d. In groups, have students answer the question (or in the case of the above, finish the sentence) on a sentence strip. While the view is NOT on bar graph, have students put their sentence strip next to a letter. Students can then vote on the best answer. When done, flip it over to the bar graph view. Have students talk in groups about the results and then share out.