Sunday, February 20, 2011

Thing 18

Students love to click on images, and widgets posted on a classroom wiki grab their attention. Before they even know it, they are engaged in an interactive, educational experience where learning can take place. The widget below is an example that pertains to the subject I teach --English Language Arts. I will often use interactive activities such as these on the Smartboard in my classroom as either a way to introduce or culminate a lesson. I am always looking for interactive, online activities that will support writing and especially grammar and convention usage for the 5th-8th grade levels that I teach. I find that a lot of widgets on this subject area are geared toward lower elementary levels and would love to find more that are appropriate for the upper elementary/junior high levels.



The Clustr Map widget is a cool tool that allows my students and me to see who has visited our wiki. Students are always interested in seeing where visitors are coming from, especially when the Clustr Map shows activity outside our country. I will occasionally take a few minutes to view the map with my students (5th grade) and locate and name the countries of visitors to our wiki! My students always keep me updated, so I know that they are looking!

2 comments:

  1. I will confess that even I get excited when I view my own Clustr Maps and see the pushpins from countries around the world.

    How great would it be if someone from that country left a comment, or somehow interacted with your students!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am pretty sure that my high school students would enjoy clicking on the different things to. You have some great ideas!

    ReplyDelete