Brainy Box to promote writing skills

One of the ways you can reinforce your students' writing skills in a fun way is by using Brainy Box. This is my suggestion on how one can use it.  Students upload six images of their favourite landmarks, types of food, sports or anything else they are interested in and write a short text below or above the image. At this point, you should make sure they are aware of the Creative Commons licences of the images they use; so they can either upload their own photos or Free Creative Commons ones. The site my students frequently use to download free domain photos is https://pixabay.com/.

This is how the task can be carried out:

The students visit the site: http://www.classtools.net/brainybox/

They click on page 1 and Edit. They upload a photo and write a short text below. They follow the same process for all 6 pages. Then they save the final product. They are asked to provide a code in case they want to edit their presentation later on. They shouldn’t forget to copy the url they are provided with after they have saved their work. This is an example http://www.classtools.net/brainybox/5_D6fmUU. I have taken down my code so that I can modify anything I wish in the future.
To view the presentation, click on the number of each page just below the 'brainy box'. 

 Notice: If you click on 'Share' you get an embed code. I like this feature as you or your students can embed their creations in  a class blog which looks really impressive. There are also more options such as a QR code, a short url and so on.

Images Credits (CC0 Public Domain)

Athens https://pixabay.com/photo-1594689/

Nafplio https://pixabay.com/photo-382583/

Crete https://pixabay.com/photo-497922/

Ioannina https://pixabay.com/photo-1024432/

Mykonos https://pixabay.com/photo-495848/

Meteora https://pixabay.com/photo-465923/

Goal: Introduce us to your School for #30GoalsEdu

I created a sway with my fifth graders to accomplish this goal: 'Introduce us to your school' for #30GoalsEdu

#30GoalsEdu: How blogging has transformed my teaching

How technology has transformed my self-esteem

Technology has made it easier for me to open myself to a wider ‘virtual audience’. The fact that I interact or share with others through virtual communities, social media, learning platforms without having to appear live has been a real relief to me; on the other hand, my online activity through these means has improved my social profile and has raised my self-esteem.

Besides my lifelong online learning, which is extremely significant to me, I feel I have something to offer to others, as well. There are so many communities which offer me the opportunity to communicate with like-minded people and maybe support others’ learning. It’s not that I am that knowledgeable or tech savvy; but if somebody is just a bit less experienced or less digitally literate than you, s/he can more easily be approached and supported by someone who has recently tried to figure out the way to accomplish a similar goal. I eagerly once served as a Teaching Assistant in a Coursera MOOC supporting the course participants with any knowledge I had. In many of my etwinning projects I usually took the lead to coordinate the work. I shared my ‘expertise’ and tips at a personal level. In this sense, I reckon technology to have played an important role in the way I perceive myself as an active person who does not only receive but also shares with others.  

How blogging has transformed my teaching

Technology and especially my ardent interest in its educational application sparked off my passion for blogging. I set up my first blog for the classes I taught English as a foreign Language in 2012. I perceived the idea of creating a blog as a two-way-process to approach my parents. They could see both my efforts and their kids’ work on the web and they could communicate with me online if they wished to by posting comments or sending me a message through the blog.

I additionally considered class blogging as a way to delight and satisfy my students with displaying their work online for a wider audience which I knew they adored. Besides, blogging was a great opportunity for me to provide my students with resources for extra EFL practice both at school and at home. I embedded or provided links to authentic and quality non-authentic material such as videos, songs, interactive games, online books and much more appealing stuff. I sometimes flipped the classroom by asking my students to watch a video or read an online book which we then discussed in class.  Finally, I made use of my blog as a means of generating collaboration and instant communication by embedding various web 2.0 tools such as padlet, linoit, google docs and forms inviting my students to work towards a common purpose. In short, the quality of my instruction improved, class relations improved and students got motivated in this tech assisted environment. Learning was ultimately enhanced in a fun way!  The class blogs I have created so far are http://blogs.sch.gr/acharou/ for years 2012-13 & 2013-14 and http://anthippi.weebly.com/ for year 2015-16. Briefly, here is the positive impact I consider blogging for my classes had on parents, students and myself (click to enlarge):

 My ambition is to get my students create their own blogs and to let them express themselves in a creative and constructive way!

Easy collage making

Creating a collage has never been easier! Through Google photos you can turn a number of selected photos into a nice collage. Click on the ‘plus button’ to create, select the ‘collage’ option. Pick the images you are interested in making a collage with and then ‘create’. You can edit your creation by clicking on the ‘pencil’ button.  

You can get a link to your collage, e.g. https://goo.gl/photos/MM2SUx8V6vDXmefn7

or using the ‘More’ function (the three dots) you can save your new image on your computer or mobile device.

P.S. I learned this tip from @mattbergman14  during a SimpleK12 free webinar!

Photosynth for a 3D effect of your photos

Photosynth is an impressive free web tool for capturing and viewing the world in 3D. The tool can convert a series of photos into a panoramic virtual experience for the viewers. You can share your special creations with your friends on Twitter, Facebook, or embed them in your blog or website.

It is such a pity that the Photosynth Windows Phone App and the Photosynth iOS App are now officially unsupported, and they have been withdrawn from their respective stores according to a blog post I read.

Naxos-Chora by Anthi2014 on Photosynth

#30GoalsEDU - Revamp a lesson

Learning Design for: Gamifying body parts in the EFL classroom

http://v.gd/39zhII

 

Context

Topic: Body parts

Total learning time: 90

Number of students: 20

Description: Year 4 EFL learners recycle and learn new vocabulary items related to body parts through the use of games

Aims

The students identify parts of the body and use the relevant vocabulary

Outcomes

Knowledge: The students will enhance their knowledge on body parts.

Synthesis: The students will create word search games and a class display of a monster town.

 

Teaching-Learning activities

Getting acquainted with body parts in EFL

Read Watch Listen        7 minutes        1 student         Tutor is not available

The students watch a youtube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaNiEku9Uk0) on body parts and verbs related to each part of the body. They take notes of vocabulary they are not familiar with for future use.

 

Practice                         10 minutes      2 students       Tutor is not available

Students practice body parts in pairs through the use of a three-level game: (http://www.funwithpuzzles.com/2014/04/body-parts-labeling.html)

 

Discuss                          5 minutes        4 students       Tutor is available

The students in groups discuss their scores and experience on playing the three-level game and talk over instances of difficulties they faced.

 

 

Gamifying body parts

Investigate                    10 minutes      2 students       Tutor is not available

The students familiarize themselves with and analyze word search games on body parts visiting a Teacher provided symbaloo link with a variety of relevant word search games (e.g. http://www.eslgamesplus.com/body-parts-interactive-word-search/)

 

Collaborate                   5 minutes        2 students       Tutor is available

The students collaborate to decide and agree on the choice of vocabulary they'll use in the word search game they will create.

 

Produce                         13 minutes      2 students       Tutor is available

The students produce their word search game (http://justwordsearch.com/create.html) which they embed in the class blog to be played by other students in future lessons and as homework pastime.

 

 

Extension

Produce                         10 minutes      1 student       Tutor is not available

The students are asked to create a monster town with characters they will make up. To do that, they individually visit http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/make-your-own/make-your-monster and finally print their creature.

 

Collaborate                   20 minutes      20 students     Tutor is available

The students describe their monsters and are asked to create a joint product of their monster town on a piece of carton which is being displayed on the classroom wall and the class blog.

 

 

Homework

Practice                         10 minutes      1 student       Tutor is not available

The students visit the class blog and try to search for the words in the games created in class. They can also play this unscramble game: http://www.spellingcity.com/unscramble-letters-to-form-words.html?listId=19020142

 

 

#30GoalsEDU - Design a Badge

Badges are an effective and appealing way to acknowledge somebody’s work, accomplishment or positive behaviour. So far I’ve used only edmodo as a resource to create and award digital badges to my students. Besides the ready-made badges offered on the edmodo platform, you can make your personalized ones following the detailed instructions offered by the edmodo support service.

This year I’ve come across several additional free online tools which help you create some really awesome online badges. 

My first favourite badge maker is http://www.onlinebadgemaker.com/, which does not even require an account. This makes it easy for my students to create their own badge, ribbon or heart and then download it on their laptop. One more interesting site which can help you generate attractive badges is http://www.typographyeditor.com/. You do not have to register for this tool, as well. One more badge creator site which does not require registration is https://www.makebadg.es/. Once you make your badge you can download it on your device or share it on twitter or facebook.

The next three tools demand the user to sign up for a free account. As a result, I personally use them to receive my professional development badges. I also use them to design my own badges and give them to my students for some sort of accomplishment. So, my third favourite badge creator is https://credly.com/. My fourth favourite badge maker is https://backpack.openbadges.org/backpack/login. Last but not least, Google Drawings is a handy tool which offers plenty of opportunities for increased creativity.

Below are some of the badges and some ribbons I have created and intend to award to my students for various types of accomplishments during the next school year.