Vocabulary, boring???

Twitter hashtag:  #bergvocab

No matter what your content area is, you have vocabulary the students need to know to be successful in your class.  Teaching vocabulary words and definitions takes up valuable class time that can be used for other higher level activities, and quite frankly, it is boring for the student AND the teacher.

With so many technology tools available, introducing, practicing and/or testing on vocabulary can be quick and entertaining while often adding another level of thinking to the lesson.

1.  Online Dictionary:

• Rewordify --change words and text to easy to read and understand.
• Lit2Go
• Visuwords --Online graphical dictionary
• Vocabulary.com

2. Padlet   padlet.com (formerly WallWisher)

• My Honors English class worked on this Padlet Wall (password is sat2.1).  Using a list of 9 SAT vocabulary words they were to choose 3 words and do one of the following with each word:  write the definition, write synonyms, write antonyms, use it in a sentence, or write the other word forms.  They were to try to not repeat what someone else had done.
• OERI Padlet wall

Animoto animoto.com

• My Honors students created an Animoto video using their SAT vocab words then uploaded it onto a Padlet wall.

3. Kahoot.it

• Teachers go to create.kahoot.it
• Students go to kahoot.it 
• Look up the "Public" Kahoot.it's and favorite the ones you like.
• Kahoot.it is usually used to review words, but I also like to use it to introduce words.  The students get really good at using their reasoning to determine the meaning of words.  I use the words several times in one quiz to give them time to really get the definition down.
• My Honor's students created Kahoot.it's using words from their vocab list.  They were very creative in their question and answer choices.

4. Answer Garden  answergarden.ch

• This is a fairly new site.  You ask one question and everyone puts in their answer.  
• OERI Answer Garden

5. iFakeText  ifaketext.com

 

6. Boom Writer/Word Writer http://www.boomwriter.com/

• Student example

7. Storybird  storybird.com

8.  Comic Strip Creator

• Make Belief Comix  http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/
• Honor's students created a comix using at least 4 of their vocabulary words.
• Storyboard That   http://www.storyboardthat.com/

9.  Quizlet  quizlet.com (works with the iPad app Flashcardlet)

• Quizlet for my Honors class
• I sometimes print off the test as the quiz for my students.
• Students create quizlets for other students

Writing and Collaborating

No longer are students bound within the classroom walls.  Technology allows them to collaborate and work with students all over the world.  There are many places to find projects that connect classes together.

I have used ePals before to find short term projects or just to have year long writing buddies.  One year my students were pen pals with a class in Italy only instead of exchanging letters, we exchanged emails.

A couple of years ago a 4th grade class I worked with wrote stories using Storybird. This is a great book authoring site where you choose beautiful artwork from the site and write a story inspired by that artwork.  The book these 4th graders wrote were to be sent to Haiti.  One of the official languages on Haiti is French.  So the 4th grade students collaborated with a high school French class about 60 miles away through Skype, email and through the Storybird account.  The French class edited the books, gave suggestions on the storyline and then translated the book into French.  The books were bilingual books with and English page and corresponding French page.

There are so many ways to collaborate with other students.  It will take a little up-front work from the teacher, but the benefits are so HUGE.  The students are writing with and for a real audience.  They take more pride in their work.  The younger student love meeting and talking with the older students.

Here is another example of an 8th grade class working with a  3rd grade class.  Check out their writing project Writing Project.  They used 2 apps Book Creator $4.99 and Scrap Pad $4.99 that do cost, but I think the results were very worth it.

Comm Arts Teachers with iPads...Listen UP

This app is a Communication Arts teacher's dream.  Or, I guess any teacher who has to grade papers. The app is called MarkUp; it is created by the developers of ShowMe (another great app).   When students write a paper, they email it to your MarkUp email address and when the teacher opens the paper in the app she can annotate over the paper (this is easier to do with a stylus) and then emails the paper back to the student.  The apps is $1.99 right now, but no more taking home bags full of papers.  Check out this video and information on MarkUp.