* This is a work in progress...please forgive any tardiness towards
writing about resources/useful links I've found in the past. *
Thank You to all those people on Twitter who have given me lots of different websites to look at
and ideas to help with my teaching.
Thank You to all those people on Twitter who have given me lots of different websites to look at
and ideas to help with my teaching.
I'll be adding links to sites I have found helpful/useful in the past, along with a slight critique on how I've used them, or what to avoid when using them. Hopefully this will be helpful to others out there in the same predicament I've been in at times when I've not been able to find something relating to the syllabus.
Catchment Detox - appropriate for a wrap up of Land and Water Management, Geography, Yr 10 (NSW)
This game is actually quite good at getting the students to put into action the knowledge and understanding they have gathered about land and water management over the topic. You can base the winner on who has the most amount of points, no matter what, at the end of the 100 years, or have it on the environmental health of the area, instead. You can set the students to reach a certain amount gained by you (I have made 300 000+ on the game, and achieved roughly 70% on the environmental health tally at the same time) to make it a competition as "Who can beat the teacher?" - just make sure you print out certificates to prove who has won. What is also good about this game is that you can also save the game if you get interrupted, such as the end of the lesson.
One bad thing about this game, though, is that the DER laptops did not like it back in April/May, when I wanted to have my class have a go at it. It might have changed by now - don't know. Trial and error, I guess.
DIY Demotivational Posters - The students (especially high school) love a good, ironic poster. Year 11 Ancient History loved the one on Otzi the Iceman they found (here), so why not try your hand at creating your own? It's worth while, especially to capture their attention at the beginning of a power point presentation, or a nice way to round of a topic/unit, or presentation.
Myths and Legends Story Creator 2 - This is a great, easy-to-use, cartoon-style storyboard creator that students can use in English or History, especially if you want a creative assessment method. Just make sure you have your school join up with them first (easily done, just contact the people and make sure your register early before wanting to use it!). The students can put their own comments in, design their own story layout, etc.
Comic Master - This could be really good for English teachers, especially when you're teaching different narrative styles, as well as for an assessment idea that is different to the norm. History teachers - don't think it is really appropriate; nor Geography.
Storify - Make stories - Haven't used this yet, but it looks really cool and simple to use from the video on the home page. The idea is to use different social media sources (such as twitter, facebook, youtube, etc. - all the ones that kids know about!) to combine them to create a story that people can comment on directly from each different media source used...Or something like that...
SchoolHistory.co.uk - A really good website with tonnes (!) of useable things for medieval history (Year 8 - NSW), as well as some ancient history work. Lots of downloadable things, including lesson ideas/plans, worksheets, powerpoints, etc. Go for your life!
The CIA World Fact Book - A very handy site for Geography lessons where you have to find out stats on different countries, especially for equality (or rather inequality) for life expectancy, infant mortality, literacy rates, and the economy (such as the GDP). They are fairly well kept up-to-date, and fairly reliable. No real noticeable on the US, either. The tabs across the top of the map (on the home page) are really good to easy navigation of the website. Used it with Year 8, and they had no problems with it.
freerice.com - A very helpful website: students can improve their knowledge in a fair range of subjects while donating rice to those who need it. Unfortunately, the 'Subjects' button doesn't seem to be working at the moment; they may be upgrading the site. There was a 'Geography' option before where you could test yourself on the countries and capitals of the world. Now, it seems one is only able to test how good one is at words and their synonyms. However, still a good site, no matter what - helps students learn about citizenship and donating easily.
Britain's Bayeux Tapestry - A very good site for students to learn about the Bayeux tapestry, what it depicts (scene by scene!), and how it came about. It also includes activities for students, such as creating their own Bayeux Tapestry (perhaps this is one way they can summarise the story and indicate what they have learned), as well as a sequencing activity of before the invasion and the battle itself. Very useful for medieval history (Year 8 - NSW). The website, too, is really easy to navigate around, and produced by the Museum of Reading.
TimeToast - A brilliant new way of creating timelines - all on the internet. The students can create their own timeline of a particular topic, including as many important points as they (or, rather, you) choose. What's also great about it is that they can add pictures to each event that they record on their timeline to job their memory. On top of this, they can upload this timeline to somewhere else on the internet, including blogs, twitter and facebook <== every student's life, it seems! Very useful tool for all History teachers (and possible English for novel/movie timelines of events).
Geocube - This could be a very useful tool for both Year 7 and Year 8 Geography (NSW). It could pave the way for further investigation with a basic outline of some of the topics learned (such as Deserts and Mountains in Year 7; Global Inequalities in Year 8). Very easy to use, and the idea of spinning the cube around it fun in some ways. Just make sure the students stay focussed, and not just keep spinning the cube!
Changi (TV Series) - This is one of the best TV series produced by Australian television depicting Prisoner of War (POW) life in the World War Two Prisoner camp Changi. Very relevant to Year 9 History: Australia in World War II - Prisoners of War section of the syllabus. When kids are so attuned to the different types of media they have available to them, why not provide something online as well as video (DVD)?
ItalyGuides.it - This is a website for taking tourists through Italy, especially the major tourist towns. It gives some information on the cities and their sites. Why include it here? Because it also shows some images of Rome 'then and now' - as in back in ancient times in comparison to the modern day. Not very many images, but still, they could come in handy. Also, it has some 360* shots of the forum from up in front of the Temple of Concord, as well as the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina. Might be worth showing kids that can't make it to Italy a few pictures of 'real time' in The Forum?
Mummification Walk-through - This is an interactive website where the students can perform mummification without getting their hands dirty. It explains things, and you can probably come up with some activity where they can be assessed on what they have learned from the mummification process afterwards.
Herculaneum Virtual Tour - this is always a great way of getting HSC Ancient History students to look at the town of Herculaneum from all different types of perspectives - conservationist, archaeologist, historian. They can wander through the city, viewing different areas they learn about, understanding through the visual aspects just what this town could have looked like in ancient times. I've used it before, and the students enjoyed it and gained a greater understanding and knowledge of the area due to it.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - This may be another odd choice to put up on this page, but it is something that all students and teachers should learn about to become better at what they are capable of achieving. Teachers where I used to work were trained in this and we tried to instill some of the methods/habits into the students to make them more capable of achieving their best. Maybe it's something you could read and undertake as a challenge this year in your life/classroom.
Classroom Management techniques - This site is useful in refreshing/gaining ideas on classroom management, as well as finding out any new techniques that may have come along that might be worth putting in. It should be useful for new teachers to check out. It has topic titles to help you figure out which you would like to check out first.
Weebly - This is a website that helps you create your own website which also contains a blog section. This means that students and teachers can create websites easily - the layout creation options are very use-friendly - and students can comment and help in the creation of the website. Useful if you want students to interact with their learning.
Xtranormal - This is a movie-making creator that puts texts to cartoon creations. You can have famous people playing the roles of the actors, or choose the everyday kind of person to represent yourself, and maybe a classroom full of students. Create all sorts of set layouts, write up the dialogue, add actions for your 'actors', and, hey presto, you have your own little movie that can help students learn about something. Would also be useful in having students create something to demonstrate their learning. Well worth persevering with in the long run.
Zamzar - This is a great site to use if you want to convert certain video files into a new format. Helpful if you find that you can't play something on your computer, but want to use/see it somewhere anyway.
