Waitin' on the World to Change..... or at least for my oil to be changed!

Hello!

I was listening to the radio today and heard John Mayer's song "Waiting on the World to Change." If you haven't heard it, I suggest you listen to it. At least just for the experience, it is one of my favorites. When it comes right down to it though, the lyrics are a little depressing. Basically, he talks about this generation just waiting for the world to change because "the fight isn't fair," and "we don't have the power." It makes me think of those middle-schoolers that we are preparing for in these last couple of weeks of summer. Power may be lacking and the fight may not be fair, but I hope that my students don't ever feel like they just have to wait and hope for the world to change. I hope, that when they leave my classroom, they feel empowered to make the world change!

All that aside, I am not actually waiting for the world to change, today, I am waiting for the oil to be changed in my car. As I wait in Caribou, what else would I be doing but Summer Camp 2.0? (After about 15 minutes on Pinterest of course!)

So, study tools it is. I have to be honest, I wasn't blown away by any of these tools. They were good and interesting in their own ways, but I am not sure that any of them are the cure-all for students and their studying habits. I am hoping I don't sound negative, because I honestly came up with some good ideas to use with each of these study tools, but I am not convinced that any of these tools are "whole-class approved." They may work for some, but not all. I guess that is the reason we are spending all summer looking at different technology tools. Technology, like any other facet of our teaching, has its moments of great effectiveness and its moments of flops. Nonetheless, I did enjoy the tools that I worked with today.




#1 - StudyBlue

I did my best to stay with the Literary Terms as seen in my YouTube post. What I liked, above all, about Study Blue is that I didn't need to come up with the definitions myself. I could personalize the flashcards for my students but the website offered up many other flashcards with the same vocabulary word and definition!! This is simple and streamlined and a huge time saver!! My favorite part about StudyBlue is the mastery level. Students can test themselves with the flashcard and rate their mastery level. This builds in good, authentic accountability for students as they study. I don't feel like I got a great picture of how this really works, however, because I was only able to create and view the cards for myself. It will be interesting to explore this a little more when I actually have a classroom of students to test it out.

I only made 3 cards, but, here you go!

http://www.studyblue.com/#flashcard/view/3320769


#2 - Tagxedo

Ok, I have to admit that I totally love the whole word-cloud fad that has taken over the education world. It seems as though everybody is trying to figure out how to authentically integrate word clouds (like Wordles or Tagxedos) into their teaching. I mean, honestly, it is basically art made up of words.....what self-respecting teacher wouldn't LOVE that?!?! :) Anyway, last year I attempted to use Wordle a few times in my classroom; and, while it was fun and provided a good talking piece, I never really pushed it to an academic level that would justify using it on a regular basis in my classroom.

Today as I played with Tagxedo, I tried to imagine how it could fit into a study of main idea and, I think, I got it! Often times in Language Arts we ask students to read a text (fiction or non-fiction) and identify the main idea or main purpose of the text. While we can have some rich discussions about the main idea of a text there is never really a visual representation as confirmation. Until now!!! I read an article in yesterday's Pioneer Press about Jack Jablonski (the injured high-school hockey player) visiting  Vikings training camp. As I read it, I tried to come up with what I thought the main idea or main purpose of the text was. Basically, in my own words, it was that Jack Jablonski, after visiting with Adrian Peterson and Chad Greenway, is going to blow the Gjallarhorn at the first preseason game.  After reading the article and coming up with what I thought the maid idea of the article was, I typed the article in to Tagxedo, take a look below to see what it came up with.....(with a little bit of creative genius on my part!!)

I am excited about this!! The words used the most in the article are the biggest. So, you can verify main idea with the kids. 

I also thought this could be an exercise in creative writing. You could give kids a Tagxedo and have them write an article or story, making sure they used the largest words the most!!! WOW!! The possibilities blow my mind!!! :) 

Anyway, that is all my ramblings for the day. The phone just rang and my wait is over.... at least for now!!! 

Happy Friday!! 

- Stacey