Using Technology to help Differentiate Instruction

The Apple: Where Teachers Meet and Learn has posted a helpful article - Using Technology to Differentiated Instruction - that references specific Web 2.0 applications and how they can support the needs and strengths of students according their intelligences (Multiple Intelligences - Gardner).

For me this is where my particular interest lies in regards to technology in the classroom. The TVDSB has also started charting its own experience (DIA and TECH project) in using and embedding technology within the fundamental ideals of differentiating instruction.

Encouraging Good Questions

I wanted to add this blog entry that I found posted on Digygogy. It served as a reminder for me that formulating good questions applies in my own use of technology in the classroom. We need to invest time to ensure that we formulate learning tasks, challenges and questions that ignite curiosity and promote student engagement. Furthermore, we need to provide students with tools, skills and prior knowledge that allow them to attempt and answer the question presented.

http://whatedsaid.wordpress.com/2010/10/10/10-ways-to-encourage-good-questions/


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Join Me - A quick and simple way to share your desktop with others

I was skeptical of this web app, but Join.Me really works.  Having said that, Join.Me is created by the folks at LogMeIn which is a fairly well known application that provides remote access to your computer - so perhaps it is not surprising that have developed this application.

The process is fairly simple... go to https://join.me/ and select SHARE.  It will provide you with a 9 digit number.  Other users then open their browsers and navigate to https://join.me/ and select JOIN.  After entering the same 9 digit number they will be able to view your screen.  I have only played with the free version which allows users to send messages, share files and remote control - that is pretty impressive.

Join.Me

Gapminder - Looking and Playing with Data

I found Gapminder through Edutecher.net.  This is simply a great way to look at and play with data dealing with global trends and topics.  Health, education, climate and poverty are but some of the few areas of research that have been collected and compiled into these interactive graphs.  When you launch Gapminder World, you will be able to select values and indicators charted on the graph axes as well as identify and track specific countries.

Basically - it is just too hard to describe the power of this online tool.  Any teacher that deals or refers to current and historical events and trends will definitely find Gapminder to be compelling tool!

Gapminder.org

Share Your Links with Live Binder

LiveBinder is a free webapp that allows you to add in bookmarks directly from your browser. The links can be viewed by others as they access your LiveBinder. His presents an interesting way for teachers to share useful and informative websites with students and/or other teachers. The ability to add in websites directly from the browser is key as it does not require a lot of set up afterwards.

LiveBinder.com

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The Future of Notetaking

Having recently completed a PD session on literacy and how to support and teach literacy throughout different subject areas and disciplines, the topic of notetaking came up.

Taking notes is a skill in itself and as with any skill the process of notetaking needs to be practiced and developed.  However, with technology changing the way we document and communicate with the world around us, it is only inevitable that it will change the way students regard their notes and how they create them.  

Recently, I have started to dive back into a notetaking tool called Evernote.  It is by no means the only tool out there that performs the following features but it helps to illustrate the power and potential of this and other notetaking utilities.  

No pen... no paper.

I can access evernote on my iPhone and on any computer with an internet connection.  I don't need to carry a pen with me, I have a smartphone that I can type on, save and then send wirelessly to someone via email or store in 'the cloud' for later retrieval from another computer.

Why type when a picture will do?

Attaching a picture, audio or video is another common feature found on many of these notetaking applications and software.  Nearly all modern day smartphones, netbooks and laptops have the ability to record pictures, voice and video. Evernote provides the ability to include this media as another method of documenting and recording your notes.

Search your notes

The use of tags allows for the fast and easy search of documents and media later on.  Essentially, you search your notes as you would if you were searching on Google, Bing, etc.

Access your notes from anywhere

Having your notes stored in 'the cloud' provides access to your notes from any computer and mobile device that has a connection to the internet.  

I am not an English teacher by title and I am not advocating that the practice of writing pen to paper be phased out of classroom completely.  However, when it comes to notetaking as a way to document, record and store information for use as a future reference, technology provides a compelling alternative to the traditional pen and paper. 

Curious?  Check out Evernote.com

Other similar services include...
Simplenote
OneNote (Microsoft)
Zotero (Firefox) Open Source

Time Lapse Software Free

A request from a school that wanted to document the 'hatching' of a cocoon.  The biggest concern was that they would miss the big event while school was not in session.  As a result, a possible solution was to set up some sort of time lapse rig.

I came across Timershot for Windows XP.  Simple to set up and the interface is fairly straight forward.  You can set how long between shots and you can determine where the shots (jpegs) are stored.

Another option to consider is using your document cam.  We currently use ELMO Doc Cams - using the Elmo Image Mate Software (free download) allows you to record timelapse.

New Resources Posted on the Learning Classroom Website

We have recently updated our teacher resources webpage with some new resources and materials. Information on tiering, energizers and teambuilding activities. As well as the posting of our DIAmond in the Rough Newsletter.

Check it out!
http://www.tvdsb.ca/programs.cfm?subpage=91461



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Discover Useful Web Apps for Educators on EduTecher

Edutecher.net is a website that collects a variety of web 2.0 applications for educators.  It organizes apps into subject areas and also provides a free iPhone app that allows you to search out apps on your iPhone.  I will be visiting this site often.


Edutecher.net

Differentiated Instruction: Effective Classroom Practices Report (NCAC)

The Effective Classroom Practices Report from the National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum provides a detailed description of differentiated instruction.  The report outlines the components and features (content, process and product) within the framework of differentiated instruction.

Differentiated Instruction: Effective Classroom Practices Report

A Detailed Description and Breakdown of Teaching Learning Critical Pathways (From LDCSB)

The London District Catholic School Board has created a comprehensive guide to TLCPs called Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Beginning a TLCP.  This resource comes with samples, photos and templates.  If you are engaged in TLCPs, this is a great opportunity to see what other school boards are doing in meeting their 'big ideas' and instructional objectives.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Beginning a TLCP

TLCP Planning Framework

A quick video on motivation - from Daniel Pink.

Daniel Pink author of "Whole New Mind" and "Drive" has produced a quick 2 minute video which presents 2 questions that link to our own motivation in work and life.  It is an interesting video which can be used as a great discussion starter with students.  However, it is used as a bit of teaser for Daniel Pink's book, "Drive" so there is a quick plug at the beginning and end of the video.  Check it out.

Two questions that can change your life from Daniel Pink on Vimeo.

Quick and Easy Screen Casts to TWITTER with Screenr

Screenr is a very easy way of creating screen casts which can be easily posted to TWITTER quickly and easily.  The recorder can be accessed right away without having to create an account.  You are able to record up to 4 minutes of screen footage.  If you have a microphone enabled, you are able to simultaneously record a voice-over for your screen cast.

Screenr

The Learning Classroom Program - Strategy on a Page: Graphic Organizers

Here is a resource designed and used by the Learning Classroom Program on Differentiated Instruction and Assessment.  This one-page reference talks about Graphic Organizers and how they can be used to help differentiate instruction in the classroom.  We briefly outline and describe 5 common graphic organizers.

Find this one-page reference sheet plus many others on our Learning Classroom Resource Page.

Strategy-on-a-Page: Graphic Organizers

Tiering - A Quick Explanation on Tiering Assignments (from Suite 101)

Tammy Andrews writes a quick article explaining the idea behind tiering assignments and how it can help students engage materials at a level that best suits their level of understanding and readiness.

Be sure to check out the other related links which explore areas of assessment, learning technology, classroom management and classroom activities.

How Tiering Helps Differentiate Instruction

Using pictures and media in VUVOX

Vuvox is another free Web 2.0 app that gives you yet another cool way to display pics and videos in an interactive and animated montage. Navigating your way through the application is fairly straightforward and there is the option of using wizards which automatically arrange photos and media for you.

For students, this would be a spin on creating an informational poster on a particular subject or concept but instead of creating, arranging and displaying their information on a piece of Bristol board, they are now creating it on a scrolling and interactive medium.

Check it out - very slick.


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Great Ways to Start a Lesson... (from Faculty Focus)

Here are some interesting ways to start a class and prepare your students to learn.  This article comes from Faculty Focus and it outlines 3 opening strategies Round Table Review, Piece of the Puzzle and Who's You Partner.

Creative Ways to Start Your Class


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Plenty of PowerPoint Presentations from Pete's PowerPoint Station

Pete's PowerPoint Station provides an impressive collection of PowerPoint presentations that are sorted into a variety of categories and subject areas. There are presentations supporting Phys Ed, Math, Science, English, Spec Ed... the list goes on. You will also find a collection of clipart as well.

Thanks to Amanda K from the Educational Software Blog for providing a list of the Top Sites for Lesson Plans - you need to check this site out as well!


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A Learner Profile Template from Dare to Differentiate

daretodifferentiate.wikispaces.com contains a variety of different resources, templates and materials for the differentiated classroom.  This site provides a long list of strategies where you can find Word, PowerPoint and PDF documents and resources.

Take a look at this student learning profile that was posted on this site.  It is interesting to see the variety of information that goes into developing a comprehensive learning profile.

Spend some time browsing through the variety of resources at this site.e

Web 2.0 Tools from Recipes 4 Success

Two interesting tools from the website Recipes 4 Success. (Thanks to Digygogy for their post on webstuff.)

Recipes 4 Success gives some online tools which could be helpful for the classroom. Another 'plus' is that you do not require a login account to use these tools.

Rubric maker - a fairly simple rubric maker but it may be useful in making a quick rubric or to allow students an opportunity to make their own.

Graphic Organizer tool - this quick and easy tool allows you to add a title and instructions to some common graphic organizers. This can be helpful if you to quickly print off a customized organizer.

Check it out

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Tools for the Differentiated Classroom

This site provides instruction on Podcasting, Blogging and RSS feeds; and how they can be used to help differentiate instruction.  There are instructions in using Google's blogger (free) and how to first navigate your way through opening a blog of your own.  For Podcasting, the instructions provided are really for Mac users.  Those of us who operate on PC computers will not have access to the software described in this website.  There are some detailed instructions about RSS feeds and how to set up a feed for your blog.

Tools for the Differentiated Classroom

50 Best Blogs for Education Leaders

A lot of material to check out here.  50 blogs in subcategories: education news; subject specific; inspiration and motivation; education policy; education technology, etc...

http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2010/02/50-best-blogs-for-education-leaders/

Digygogy - Where does a Teacher Start with Learning Technology?

Another informative article from Didygogy outlining some of the things that we as educators should keep in mind as we dive into the deep and diverse pool of technology.

http://digigogy.blogspot.com/2010/01/where-does-teacher-start-with.html

It is easy to get overwhelmed with tech that is constantly improving and evolving. Where do you start? What should you do? Michael Fisher gives you some suggestions.

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Children's Storybooks read by Celebrities

Here is an interesting website from the Screen Actors Guild Foundation that may be of interest to those who make use of children's books in the classroom. Storylineonline.net lists a number of popular children's books read by celebrities. Each book that is read is accompanied by illustrations as well as links to related activities as well as an activity guide which you can download.

Learn more about tech with Good-Tutorials.com

A great resource on photoshop, photography, HTML, flash, java script, etc.  If you have access to photo editing software or web-design software through your school but have no idea how to use it - start looking here for some help.

http://www.good-tutorials.com/

Interesting Facts and Trivia from Mental_Floss

If you are looking for some interesting facts and trivia to help generate interest and attention at the beginning of a class or unit, check out Mental Floss.  This site interesting articles, top 5 and top 10 lists as well as quizzes and amazing facts.  A 'must-have' resource for a teacher webpage or jump-page.

http://www.mentalfloss.com/

Make Interactive Timelines on Dipity

Here is a webapp which allows you to make nice looking timelines and enables you to make links to other websites and media.  Using these timelines presents a very interactive and informative experience.  For students it can serve as another great way to organize and connect events as they create their own timelines.

Check it out...  Dipity.com

Here is a timeline (from Dipity) outlining the events and efforts around Haiti...

Haiti Earthquake on Dipity.

Teacher Tools from Scholastic Canada

Check out this site for a variety of tools and templates of organizers (Venn Diagrams, KWL chart) as well as resources on reading comprehension, story elements and assessment.

Teacher Tools from Scholastic Canada

Thanks to Sandra B for the link (follow Sandra on Twitter).

Graphic Organizers - from Classroom Toolkit

A wide array of organizers and templates organized by subject area in this visual organizer 'starter kit'.  This 'starter kit' is a section from this online e-book.  Check out the rest of the sections on this website for more information on Higher-Order Thinking, Multiple Intelligences as well as a variety of links to free and trial software.

Graphic Organizer Starter Toolkit

Strategy-on-a-Page Series

We are posting some resources that help explain some of the strategies used in helping to provide differentiated instruction.  Here is a 1-page hand out on Foldables.

Foldables are a great way for students to organize, plan and/or document new material and concepts.  It is a visually engaging resource that allows students to physically manipulate materials as they make connections between concepts and ideas.

1-page on Foldables

For this and more from our Strategy-on-a-page Series, come visit us at

The Learning Classroom - Classroom Resources

An Essential Tool... The Online Stop Watch

There are several of these tools online, but if you have never tried to look for them... you would never know they were there.  This site also allows the user to set up and customize a countdown timer or stopwatch.  Better still, you can embed this tool onto your website and even save it to your computer so you can use it when you are not online.  Bookmark the link because it is a tool that always comes in handy!

http://www.online-stopwatch.com/

Differentiated Instruction and Assessment Newsletter (1st Issue)

A quick link to a newsletter on DI.  This was created by members from our Differentiated Instruction and Assessment Task Force.  This issue offers a description of DI, a overview of the Learning Classroom Program and a look at Choice Boards.

Differentiated Instruction Newsletter from the DIA Task Force

Lexipedia - defining words and terms through mindmaps

A great way to visually show the meaning of words and terms through their connection to other words.  Great for the visual learner...

http://www.lexipedia.com/
 
Showing a few examples from this site also serves as a great way to start discussion and to have students generate their own definition from the mindmap.  Constructing mind maps can be challenging for many students - particularly when they are just starting out with this type of visual organizer. Lexipedia offers students the opportunity to see mind maps in action and also highlights the benefit of using visual organizers to help deepen understanding and retention.

Creating Lessons that use Multiple Intelligences

Understanding and identifying the multiple intelligences within our students is one thing, addressing these intelligences within our lesson plans is another challenge on its own.

The challenge is in finding effective and appropriate strategies that engage a variety of intelligences while delivering curriculum. The following article from Tammy Andrews (suite101.com) begins the conversation in designing lessons that engage these multiple intelligences.

http://teaching-strategies-mentorship.suite101.com/article.cfm/creating_lessons_that_use_multiple_intelligences

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Graphic Organizer Templates

Graphic organizers present another way for students to arrange and organize ideas, concepts and terms.  These tools present a wide variety of uses in the differentiated classroom.

Graphic organizers can be used to:
-  identify relationships and connections between terms and concepts
-  provide a visual alternative to written notes
-  promote understanding and retention
-  generate and brainstorm new ideas

Freeology has posted a number of free resources for educators including printable graphic organizers.

Online sharing and collaboration

It is amazing to see the incredible variety of web 2.0 apps that are available for teachers and students to use in their teaching/learning.  With this incredible variety it will interesting to see how these social networks are used to inspire and educate students.  Here is another: Voice Thread - this allows participants to share, post and collaborate on a variety of different media (video, docs, audio, etc).

http://voicethread.com/#home

Pathway to Big Ideas - TLCPs

Teachers who are engaged in conducting a TLCP (Teaching-Learning Critical Pathway) should check out this website.

http://pathwaytobigideas.wikispaces.com/

Teachers have begun posting their 'big ideas' and describing their learning pathways. The wiki or blog or social networking site provides a great opportunity for educators to share and collaborate. I would be interested in seeing how this forum evolves.

Make Your Online Quizzes!

A nice web application from STUDIYO.  Interface is nice and easy as it walks you through the steps.  It allows for the use of pictures, videos and other types of media.  They also provide the ability to distribute the quiz via weblink or by embedding it on a webpage or blog.

http://www.mystudiyo.com/
A great idea - thanks to DigiGogy for the link.  By the way, this is a great site as well!

More on Multiple Intelligences

Here is a website listing some more ideas/activities for lessons and lesson starters according to the different intelligences.  There is a lot of information here as well as a link to more resources and information.

http://lth3.k12.il.us/rhampton/mi/LessonPlanIdeas.htm#Intrapersonal

(Thanks to Diana for the link!)

Classroom Activities Arranged by Multiple Intelligences

A Handy Reference - Classroom activities arranged according to Gardner's Multiple Intelligences.

MI Chart

This chart is based on Robin Fogarty’s chart from her book Integrating the Curricula © 1991 SkyLight Training and Publishing, Inc.
Mindblue has been remixed, revamped and elaborated on the chart with their ideas as well as the ideas from classroom teachers they have worked with between 2000-2008

Web Resource - Wallwisher (an online, interactive bulletin board)

I'm just playing around with this web 2.0 app and it is pretty cool.

www.wallwisher.com

Quick to set up and the interface is easy to use. You can send out the 'wall' as a link and have students post ideas, words, etc. on the wall without having to login or open an account. As an adminstrator of a 'wall' you can select the option to have all posts approved by you first. The wall itself can be made public or only visible to you. You can also embed it or follow it via an RSS feed.

A great little tool - it will be interesting to see how teachers can use this in the classroom.

Here is one that I have started...

My wall on Differentiated Instruction

Turn any webpage into a PDF

A unique tool that allows you turn any webpage (URL address) into a PDF. Best of all - no account needed and it's free! I have tried it with a few websites and it does what it claims. Simple to use.

http://pdfmyurl.com/


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The Learning Classroom Program

For more videos, podcasts and materials on differentiated instruction, visit us at the Learning Classroom Webpage

http://www.tvdsb.ca/programs.cfm?subpage=82973

Beyond Monet - Instructional Intelligence

Here is a link to the instructionalintelligence.ca website. There are a variety of data sets for concept attainment posted here.

Concept attainment is "an indirect instructional strategy. Structured inquiry drives the strategy. Learners look at groups or categories comparing and contrasting the groups that contain the attributes with groups that do not contain the concept." (http://www.lovinlearning.org/concept/)

ReadWriteThink.org

This is another website presenting ideas on differentiated instruction and the use of technology in the classroom. A great place to start...

http://www.readwritethink.org/professional-development/strategy-guides/

TED Talks: Mae Jemison on teaching arts and science together

Although this video was originally filmed in 2002, the message still applies today. A great message - connecting content to prior knowledge, the bigger picture and student interest.

iPhone App - Dragon Dictation

Now available in Canada, Dragon Dictation from Nuance is on the iPhone.

The software itself works fairly well. The accuracy is pretty good with speech that is clear and slow. The fact that this tool is now available for a handheld device is fantastic. And the price is right - free.

http://www.nuance.com/


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Teaching Learning Critical Pathways: Getting Started

A great series of videos on TLCPs from the Curriculum Services Canada website.

http://www.curriculum.org/secretariat/september8.shtml



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Still Tasty - a classic...

Stilltasty.com is a website where you look up different foods and determine how long they typically stay safe to consume. A cool site of interest where one can link safe food handling and the chemical changes linked to food spoilage.

My Day at London South

A special thanks to London South! It was a great chance to talk with teachers and students regarding differentiated instruction and assessment.




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DI vs traditional instruction

A nice place to start. Sometimes it is easy to get caught up with all of the terms, abbreviations and acronyms but when we compare differentiated instruction with traditional instruction, it highlights the solid underpinnings behind this effective teaching practice.

Check out the link for the quick article...

Updates to the site

Four new videos and another podcast can be found @ http://www.tvdsb.ca/programs.cfm?subpage=82973


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The First Post

First week of 2010 and we are off and running! Add us to your feeds as we will be listing updates and news surrounding DI and The Learning Classroom Program as well as resources, articles and information from around the web.

Stay tuned!


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