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I just attended two of SimpleK12's free Webinars. The first one was about vocabulary and the second was about integrating technology and kinesthetics AT THE SAME TIME.
The vocabulary webinar highlighted Quizlet.com. At this free site, you are able to create custom vocabulary lists and have your students study and play games online. You can track your student's progress (if they have accounts), print flashcards, embed the games on your classroom website, and test spelling skills. Something else that is kind of cool is that students can access your vocab lists on their iPod or iPad.
This might be something I will use. I'm not sure yet. The presenter included other, similar sites that might be more appropriate for younger students. This included SpellingCity.com (with which I am familiar) and Wordia. Wordia is new to me, but has many different games and activities. I'll have to look into it.
The tech and kinesthetics webinar was FANTASTIC. Our presenter was from Honduras and works with high school students. Many of the things he said and suggested would be for high school, exclusively, for the use of Smart Phones (QR Codes, access to Twitter during school hours, etc). However, many of the members of the webinar gave great ideas for use in the primary grades. One thing Jose (our presenter) suggested was adding icons in a PowerPoint/Mimio/SMARTBoard presentation that give students the signal to do something physical every time they see it. For example, there were icons for "jump," "hug someone and tell them they matter," "send a message" (could be a Tweet OR a handwritten note), "change seats," and "share a thought or idea." I use Mimio almost exclusively in my classroom, and would love to add these icons to get my students moving. A member suggested playing 4 Corners as a game where each corner represented a different answer to a multiple choice question. I LOVE BrainPopJr. and my kids LOVE taking the quizzes at the end of the videos. This would be a perfect physical activity during these times. Jose also suggested giving students the option of solving a problem you give the class OR choosing to do a physical activity. Not sure how this would work, but I think the members were saying this would be a great option for questions that have no right or wrong answer. Jose reminded us that neither the technology nor the physical activity is the focus of the lesson. That SEEMS like a "common sense" comment, but it's a nice reminder.
Finally, and I'm pretty sure this was very unintentional by Jose, but I learned so much about TweetChat.com. Previously, I had no idea how people followed conversations for #edchat or #2ndchat or any other chat. DUH! There had to be an easier way than what I was thinking. Lo and behold, there is! TweetChat. I LOVED it. I can't wait to participate in more chats.
SimpleK12 has so many FREE webinars... They're worth a look. I learned a lot in my two, half-hour sessions.
Just a thought :)
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