National Geographic for kids as an ICT resource

My choice of an ICT resource is a website, http://kids.nationalgeographic.com. It is a website sprung from the magazine, National Geographic. They have a special website for kids. On the site you can learn more about our planet, Earth. We can learn about animals, cities, countries, climates and much more. This site is probably suitable for children from ten years and up. It is a well-filled website with lots of different functions and activities. To use this site you need a computer with a web browser. At the start side of national geographic for kids there are ten different headlines. There are games, videos, animal and pets, countries, fun stuff and more. They are all useful for different purposes. I am going to present some of the possibilities that you can find on this site:

Games: on this side you can play many different games. You can also quiz your noodle on many different subjects. The quiz side is kind of a quiz game, were you play and learn things at the same time. I think this part can be useful if you have a group of pupils that could work by themselves as a group and answer the questions together.

Video: amazing, funny and beautiful short movies. Some of the videos have an informative text, and some of them are without text. I think these movies might be nice to use when you are training pupils in English reading comprehension.

Animals & Pets: facts and photos on wild animals and pets. In every class or group of pupils there are often some of them who have animals as an interest, or passion. This side is great if you want them to do some research about a certain animal. They can write a short summary of their favorite animal and then make a presentation to their classmates.

Countries: facts and photos on countries and cities all around the world. It could be useful in your geography education. The pupils can do some research practices. Could also be a platform for an ICT-based presentation, for example PowerPoint. It can also be good if you want to put the emphasis on training the presentation technique instead of emphasizing on the research itself. You could use a projector or a smartboard to make a nice presentation around.

Fun stuff: Here are nine subheadings with fun stuff kids can do at home or in school. For example; cartoon pictures where you fill in your own text, craft activities and science experiments.

How the resource can be useful for teachers. One great benefit with this website is the possibility to train pupils’ presentation skills. Another great benefit is the opportunity to use the website for learning the pupils some new words.

I think this is a quite nice web site to work with. Of course the site has some flaws, but all in all a positive and useful site, that have a place in my ICT-based classroom.

By: Carolina Carlsson

A website that gives you easy access to several useful links in the English classroom

Agenda web is a website where you can find links to several other websites dealing with English in different aspects. You can choose from topics such as vocabulary, grammar, reading, listening and songs. It is possible to find exercises suitable for elementary or lower intermediate level up to advanced level for most subjects. 

What you need to use this resource

You need a computer with access to the Internet in your classroom to be able to use this site. If you have a projector that will enhance the value when listening to nursery rhymes and songs, since most of them are linked to YouTube. The pupils enjoy looking at the movies as they sing along. An interactive board is not necessary, but makes it possible to do exercises with the whole class. Some exercises are more suitable for whole class teaching than others though. Otherwise you do not need anything but time to get familiar with the site, and how to find what you are looking for.

How teachers can use this resource
Teachers can easily find songs and nursery rhymes they want their pupils to practice. Singing a song is a suitable exercise for whole classes, and a good way to start a lesson. My experience is that pupils love nursery rhymes. One classic is: Humpty Dumpty

One can also find listening comprehension exercises that can be used in different ways. Some of them could be appropriate for whole class listening, and some could be of more use for single pupils. Whether one likes to use them in whole class, or not, often depends on what level the pupils are, as well as the purpose of the exercise. Follow the first link for an example of an exercise where you should find out what zoo animal they are talking about. This could be appropriate for beginners. The second link takes you to an exercise where you should answer some multiple choice questions after listing to a story. This one is suitable for more advanced pupils.

Listening comprehension - elementary level
Listening comprehension - advanced level

There are also lots of vocabulary exercises. If one has an interactive board in the classroom these exercises could be used as with the whole class. The pupils can take turns going to the board, or telling their classmates what to do to practice their speaking. The first link leads to an example of an exercise where the pupils should drag the right word to a picture of a pet. The second link goes to a classic memory card game where one should find matching pairs. When these cards are turned they can also listen to what the word sounds like.

What pet is it?
Animal matching game

How pupils can use this resource
When there is only one computer in the classroom there will be a restricted use of this website for the pupils. If the teacher finds a suitable exercise pupils can take turns at the computer while the rest of the class do other exercises. If the pupils have access to the Internet at home they can listen to songs and rhymes to get more practice. They can also practice grammar, vocabulary, listening and reading comprehension for homework.

Considerations before using this resource
However, there are a few things to consider before using this web site. There is a lot of advertising which can be annoying, or even inappropriate, in a classroom. When you chose from nursery rhymes or songs you will be linked to YouTube most of the time. I recommend listening to the songs yourself before letting the pupils listen since the pronunciation is not correct at all times. The country of origin for this website is Spain. Hence it follows that a lot of the links are to Spanish sites, where the instructions are in Spanish. This might not be very helpful when teaching English in a Swedish classroom. One other backdrop is that it is hard to remember where one found a good exercise, so it might be a good idea to mark the best sites as your favorites.

Having all this in mind, I still think it is a very useful source for my English classes.


Lena Rosvall

SmartBoard-an interactive Whiteboard

SmartBoard is an interactive whiteboard. It has a soft screen. You can navigate on the screen with both your fingers or use pens that come with the screen when you buy it. You also need a projector that can show the things you want from your computer at the SmartBoard. You connect your computer to the SmartBoard and then you will have access to all the games and exercises on a bigger screen. You will need a computer program that will make your computer compatible with the SmartBoard. Everything that happens on the computer will be visible on the SmartBoard. A good pair of speakers and a small amplifier makes sure that you will get a good sound. For installation of all these things you could use skilled persons. The company you buy the SmartBoard from, usually install all these things. Sometimes you need an electrician if you have to install new electrical wires.

You can do a lot of things with your SmartBoard. You can look at programs, surf at internet or use purchased interactive teaching materials. Use your imagination and you can make different tasks yourself whit the SmartBoard program that comes with the SmartBoard. And the more you use the SmartBoard , the more functions you will learn.

How the resource can be used by teachers

By using the SmartBoard, lessons get more varied and many children appreciate using it. It feels stimulating to use the SmartBoard when the children are curious and want to use it. There are several ways of using it, and it’s only your own imagination and time that sets the limits.

You can use the SmartBoard as an ordinary whiteboard and write text on it through the computer while the whole class can see it. It’s perfect when the children in the class are learning to read. The things children say can be written like the text in a book. You can also use the pens and write down words with them, and later convert them into printed text. You can also use the pens to underline or draw circles round words and letters. If you want, you can draw pictures as explanations. The main advantage is that the class can interact with what is on the screen while you are writing and don’t have to look down to the teachers computer and they control the screen by using their finger and the pens.

You can use the SmartBoard’s software to do different kinds of games yourself. There are different kinds of games and one of them is like a memory. You can also match sentences and words, use text, numbers and pictures when you do your games. I have used these kinds of games to practice math and English and you can probably make a game for every school subject.

There are interactive educational programs that can be bought and be used to have joint briefings with different groups or classes. With all the different colors and sounds it will be a nice experience. Different companies who make schoolbooks have these kinds of programs.

As a teacher you can become a member on a website about SmartBoards, for free. On the website http://www.smartboard.se/ you can find various SmartBoard’s exercises and games categorized under different topics. Teachers have made them and submitted them to the website. Often you can download these games and exercises and use them for free. You can also submit your own work. If you google IWB’ project in schools, you probably can see what kind of projects is going on and get inspired.

How the resource can be used by pupils

What can the kids do? The children can use the SmartBoard in many different ways. They can watch movies, write texts in groups. They can also use the Internet and access YouTube and daily news. Exercises shown at the SmartBoard can be practiced over and over again.

The exercises can be done by the teacher, or it could be purchased from a company or downloaded from the web. The children can play different kinds of games and compete, by using the pens or pressing their fingers on the SmartBoard, registering their answers. If they have done a power point, a word document or a Photostory film, they can show their work in the class.

Other considerations when using the SmartBoard

If you want to buy a SmartBoard and a projector it is not so cheap. My advice is therefore that your school tries to make a purchase of several items at one time. Then you have the opportunity to cut the price. If there are more dealers in the same area, take the opportunity to compare them and see where you can get the most. Since the investment is costly, discuss this with the children. We have made up rules together with the children and everyone takes care of the things and follows what we have agreed on. They all understand that we will not be able to make such an investment for a longtime.

When you have bought your SmartBoard, the seller often offers some training courses for a certain cost. Sometimes you can get a lesson for free. Do not use this opportunity directly, save this until you have familiarized yourself with the SmartBoard. Collect all the questions you have and problems you encounter. Then you don’t need to waste a lot of precious time to listen to things you can figurate out yourself. Instead you can get help with the things you wouldn’t manage to learn on your own.

Be sure to have locking devices to the projector when you install it. At a burglary the projector is often taken. The SmartBoard is fixed at the wall and can’t be taken. Turn of the projector when you are not using the SmartBoard. Otherwise you will need to replace the lamps in the projector very often and they are not cheap.

A SmartBoard offers fantastic opportunities. The wow affect is high. I think it is important to use it very wisely and to think through how you are going to use the games, so that the children don’t lose interest for the subject because you are using the same games and learning technique over and over again. Sometimes the lessons seems to be too much directed by the teacher, so take some time to think how to make the children participate more, so there will be an interplay.

Finally take the time to ensure that the technology works before you use it, and have a plan for what to do if the technology doesn’t work. Also consider if you want to invest this amount of money, or could another more simple solution work almost as well.

Photostory

Photostory is a software from Microsoft that is free to download from their homepage. You only need a version of Windows and windows Mediaplayer installed on your computer. In this programme you can do presentations very easily. You add pictures; choose from internet (but be ware of the copyright), use a digital camera or draw your own pictures and scan it. To each picture you add text, voice and music. Photostory is not difficult to learn. You just follow the step- by- step instruction. While you are working with your presentation you save it as a project. When you are ready and you want to show it on computers that doesn´t have access to the programme then you have to export your file into a mediefile. Then it is much smaller and you may show it on any computer or put it out on the internet

How Photostory can be used by teachers and learners
When I first came in contact with this software my colleague and I were doing a work with our students in Swedish folk-tales. Our students were supposed to do their own stories and then present them to the rest of the class in some way. That lead us to photostory. I didn´t know anything about this programme before so I was a bit scared of using it but my colleague and I supported each other and it turned out to be a success. The pupils loved it! They made their own pictures which they scanned, they recorded their tales with their own voices, wrote texts and finally they added music effects to their tale. When they showed their movie to the whole class using the projector, they were very proud.

After that first meeting with photostory I have used it many times in my teaching. I have for example made an introducing to a history part: "The bloodbath in Stockholm". If you have a day out with your students don´t forget your digital camera and take pictures during the day. Back in school you and your students document the day in Photostory.

I Think Photostory is very useful in learning English though you record your voice and the learners actually hear themselves talk. The pupils have time to prepare what to say and you may record over and over again until you are satisfied. This is a good chance to work with pronounciation. When a movie is ready the classmates can watch it all together if you have a projector connected to a computer. When they watch it they have to listen carefully to each others movies and then they train the listeningskill as well. The movie can be put out on the school website or on Youtube. It is very motivating for learners to get others than the teacher and classmates to watch their work. The students really want it to be good so they might even put in a bit of extra effort to make it good.

Other considerations
I think you should have in mind that not everybody are comfortable in hearing their own voice at the movie so you have to be really sure that they want the movie published on for example youtube. Another problem with getting the movies available on youtube is that anyone can give comments on the piece of work. All comments are not nice. That can on the other hand give a good discussion on behavior on the internet.

The access to computers are often a big problem. You may only have access to five computers at the same time. I think it´s a good idea if the students can work in pairs or three but it´s not ultimate to be more than that. Then you may have to divide it into separate and smaller sessions.

I think this software is very useful and it´s up to you and your imagination what to do with it.

Carin Jonasson

Art-inspired storymaking on storybird.com By: Malin Ljungström

http://storybird.com/
Storybird.com is an american website. The only thing you need to use
it is a computer with an Internet connection. If you want to print
something you will also need a printer.

The basic idea of storybird.com is to make it easy for anyone to
read, create and share a story, or a storybird. The storybird
can best be described as a short art-inspired story made to share,
read and print. It's like a digital book with text and images. Anyone
can read a story or make a storybird on this website, but in order to
save or share the work or to make comments etc. the student needs to
create an account.

Once an account has been created the student gets access to a
dashboard. Here the student can see the stories she is working
on, already published stories, a reading list and comments made by
other members. If the student is working together with someone on a
storybird, she can use the dashboard to remind them that it's their
turn to write.

There are two main sections on the page, the
read section and the create
section. The read section is a public library where the
student can read and comment on other storybirds. It's also possible
to send a storybird to a friend. In the create section the student
creates his or her own storybirds, either by choosing a theme or an
artist. If the student wants to start by choosing a theme, she clicks
on one of the tags (for example ”monster”, ”animal” or
”sun”), and artwork assosiated with the keyword appears. If the
student wants to start out with an artist she will find a whole
album, from which she can choose pictures.

When starting the storybird, the student starts with a
storymaker-wizard, which is very easy to use. She writes the
text in a textbox and adds images by dragging and dropping. Pages are
simply added by pressing a button. If the student wants, she can
visit the invite page and
invite a collaborator. If the invitation is accepted the students
work together on the same storybird, taking turns to write and add
images. The students can save the storybirds to pick up later, or
publish them. The stories can also be shared in blogs or sent by
e-mail to friends and family.

The teacher can use storybird.com for creative writing tasks. She may
set guidelines for the work depending on the purpose of the task. For
example the student can be asked to write a poem or a story for a
specific target group. The student may be instructed to practice how
to use different tenses. Storybird can also be used to practice
digital publishing, as well as a way of teaching about nettiquette
and how to give constructive feedback. As
always, the teacher needs to consider the purpose of using
storybird.com for a task before getting started. Just because it's
fun and easy to use doesn't make it appropriate for all writing
tasks. Perhaps it works well for some students, while other prefer
traditional ways of writing?
I will now discuss some of the pros and cons I have found while
exploaring the website.

Storybird.com has many benefits. It's a good tool which may inspire
students to write, and it might be especially useful for students who
have a hard time finding inspiration. The many picures available save
time for the teacher, who otherwise may spend time trying to find
good pictures to use without breaking copyright laws. It's easy to
use and I think the students find satisfaction in how easy it is to
create a product they can feel proud of. Sharing the stories with
others is cheap and easy, and the possibility to cooperate and
comment on other students' stories adds another dimension to writing.

There are, however, some disadvantages. First of all, there must be
many computers available if a whole class is to work with storybird
at the same time. Even though it's easy to use, the teacher must be
prepared to spend time instructing before and during work. The broad
choice of pictures may make the process of choosing pictures time
consuming. This may take focus from the actual process of writing.
Although there are many pictures available they could in a way limit
the students' imagination, and the format may imply a specific genre,
that is the picture book. Another disadvantage is that it's rather
expensive to print the storybirds. One may also object to the fact
that the storybirds available for reading may not all be very good.
They may also contain errors. The teacher doesn't have the same
opportunity to control the stories the students read in the same way
as if she buys books or checks them out from a library. Although the
possibility to comment on storybirds may be confidencebuilding and
increase the sense of participation, this might also present problems
with nasty comments.

Is anything missing on storybird.com? Well, one function which I
would find very useful is the possibility for the teacher and the
students to upload their own images. In that way, storybird could be
used in a wider range of subjects. For example, the teacher could
upload images of different animals/artists/composers for the students
to research and write about. The students could upload their own
photos to write about their family or their holiday. Still, there are
other software with those functions, and I think storybird is a good
and modern tool which can be used for students almost all ages.

Malin Ljungström

Photostory-a fun and easy way to make presentations with pictures, texts, your voice and music.

This is a software program from Microsoft, it’s free to download from their homepage (if you are a Microsoft customer). It’s good if you also have Windows Media player but it’s not necessary.
You can use your own pictures, cartoons or photographs or pictures from samples on internet. You make stories or presentations with the pictures and you can add text, your own voice and music. Then you can decide how the pictures will be showed, details or the whole picture at once or a little bit at the time and for how long. You can also make different kinds of transitions between the pictures.

What you need to make it work.
You need a computer, the program Photostory, a camera if you want to use your own pictures and a headset with a microphone. If you want to show the project as a film you also need a projector.

How the resource can be used by teachers.
You can make presentations when you start a new work or as a result when you finish something. It’s also possible to do fairytales, and other kind of stories. I think this program is good to work with if you have children that don’t like to talk in front of others, they can talk without standing in front the class. I usually use Photo Story with the whole class the first time so each pupil makes their own picture in a project.

How the resource can be used by pupils.
The pupils can make presentations of their work, an actor, an author, their favourite pet, their interest or whatever they like. I think it’s good if the children work in pairs, they can support each other and cooperate. It’s also make them confident with the computer and how to handle pictures both their own and those from internet samples.

Other considerations when using this resource.
It’s easy to learn, you have instructions in each page what to do. The first time you use it with the children I think it’s best to show one or two and then the children can teach each other. Otherwise you can show the whole class at the same time if you have a projector in the classroom. When you have create the presentation you save it as a project which you always can make changes in, and if you have access to Media player you save it as a film.
When I have use this ICT recourse in a class a lot of children want to do their own presentation and though it’s free to download, several of them continued the work at home and came back with a new film to show us! When you have made a presentation with the children they can take it on a USB and show their parents. It’s also possible to e-mail the files.

Ylva Lindberg

Things to consider

So far, we have seen some very good ideas presented on the blog, with a number of aspects considered. With regard to web sites, you will, of course, find many available, often with approaches that are specific to various learning needs. If you think that a web site is too narrow in its uses, don't be afraid to say so, because that could be as important to know as the age-group that a site is aimed at.

Something else to consider is: How long will be required to learn to use a particular aid? Web sites are generally fairly easy, but software may require more time, particularly to learn the more advanced features.

Another thing that is sometimes forgotten when considering software and devices is: How much will it cost? Someone always has to pay the bill: the school, the teacher, the student, the parent. So, always keep that it mind. Will the cost be justified by the potential benefits?

Illustrations on a blog are always good to see, because they will sometimes make a device or software program far easier to understand in a short time. Clear, simple diagrams and photos, with labels when necessary, will sometimes save a lot of words - and a lot of time for the blogger and the reader.

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