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For a social studies or history teacher, blogging offers a unique way to really stimulate students’ minds using a variety of media. With the presence of video sharing sites such as YouTube, we are able to present students with topics through a different kind of medium thanks to the Internet. It’s not that video hasn’t been around for years, it’s just that we haven’t been able to offer it in such a direct and immediate way. Links, podcasts, video and images can all easily be embedded into a blog. This offers a teacher a variety of tools to choose from when approaching a lesson.

This first example really shows us what one can do with multimedia and blogs in the social studies classroom. The creator of the blog, Mr. Shelnutt, offers up images, videos, poetry and lots of questions for his students to comment on.

To view Mr. Shelnutt’s blog, click HERE.

This next example comes from Lea Hansen-George and her high school social studies class. She takes a similar approach as Mr. Shelnutt, offering lots of visually stimulating material for her students to consider. What I think stands out is that she offers lots of project ideas for her students by pointing to various resources on the Internet.

To view this example, click HERE.

I’ll leave you with a video and link to a blog that showcases how Eric Langhorst, a history teacher at South Valley Jr. High in Liberty, MO, uses blogging to bring his students together for a common project about the Civil War. The focal point is book called The Guerilla Season and it is discussed over a four week period among students via the blog. The video says it all.

To view the blog, click HERE.

While blogging offers science teachers a way to offer a platform for discussion for students, it is also a way to stimulate the minds of your students by providing related topics and links intended for future classroom discussion. Of course, the occasional extra credit assignment can be offered in exchange for a worthy post or reaction.

This first example highlights an upper level high school biology teacher’s use of blogging. Her name is Miss Baker and she now teaches at a private school in the northeast. She really seems to utilize her students’ interest in video games to deliver her message.

Take a look at her blog HERE.

This next teacher, Mr. Bird, utilizes blogging more as a way to supplement the content given in class or perhaps as another means of delivering content. Students are able to comment on posts and additional resources or articles are also offered via his blog. One thing worth mentioning is his utilization of the capabilities of the iPod Touch & iPhone. Steve Jobs would be proud.

To view Mr. Bird’s blog, click HERE.

Finally, I’ll leave you with a video that spotlights Brian Crosby with his elementary school science class. He has his students keep blogs to reinforce what he teaches. The video also shows him in action with a whiteboard.

To view the video, click HERE.

To check out Brian’s class blog, click HERE.

While I think language arts might be the best fit for blogging in the classroom, I discovered several math blogs that prove that it is just as useful for discussing approaches and solutions to math problems. Some of the examples I came across looked like they incorporated scanned images of pencil & paper versions of math problems. These were presented to students as open-ended questions. I also saw one student using photobucket to display her example for multiplying fractions. Very interesting to say the least.

The first example I’m providing showcases Chris Harbeck’s approach to blogging in math class. Some of the features include:

• Growing post hall of fame
• A section entitled “Why we blog”
• Blogging assignments section
• Contributors

It’s really an awesome site. To view Chris’ former blogspot, click HERE.

To check out his current site, click HERE.

This second example comes from Mr. Reece’s 7th grade math class. What’s notable about this is that the reactions and comments to a problem posted at the blog can get pretty lengthy. Both the previous examples and Mr. Reece’s blog both come from Sargent Park School in Winnipeg, Canada.

To check out Mr. Reece’s blog, click HERE.

Finally, I came across a math teacher’s blog that included something new to me. The notes that were originally given via PowerPoint in class were posted at the blog through something called BubbleShare. It’s really a photo sharing site but this teacher was able to utilize it for PowerPoint presentations. I also thought it was noteworthy that the teacher posted extra-credit assignments at the blog.

To view this example, click HERE.

Being a foreign language teacher, I think blogging provides a new medium for students to express themselves in the target language through writing. It also allows them to utilize their creativity by adding graphics or pictures to what they write so that it is personal. I’ve used blogs once so far with an 8th grade Spanish project that required students to talk about their favorite pastimes or activities. Students were given specific requirements and they were permitted to add whatever sort of graphics they wanted to make it more representative of them. Others could comment on what they wrote. The example I provide below is a student talking about her favorite activities which include video games and lacrosse.

To see an example, click HERE.

This next example showcases how a blog can be used to teach English as a second language or as a foreign language. It should give the typical French, Spanish or German teachers some ideas to consider if thinking about using blogs in the classroom. It looks like the students in this case speak Spanish as their native language and are learning English. As the author, Isabel Perez, indicates in her introduction, the blog was created to give her students a place to read and listen to English. It includes videos, questionnaires, and plenty of links for students to view.

To view Isabel’s site, click HERE.

Finally, I came across a couple of Spanish teachers that use the blog format to post assignments and resources for their students. Considering that blog posts usually show the most recent post first, it’s a good idea for assignments as students will always see the most recent assignment first. Take a look.

To view Señora Malan’s blog, click HERE.

This one is from Señor Urry. Click HERE to view.

When I consider blogs for language arts classes, I generally think of students expressing themselves in reaction to a given topic. But there are many more uses for blogs. Consider using a blog as a way to alert students to new assignments or to have them view a video or article to be discussed further either in class or through blogging. To see what I mean, take a look at Julia Osteen’s blog that she uses with her English classes. She’s done everything from putting assignments on her blog to posting class notes. I think it’s a very effective way to utilize blogging with students.

To view Julia’s blog, click HERE.

Because of its nature, blogging is a great way to encourage students to write more and express themselves in ways that they might not during a class discussion. Writing allows one the time to think about word choice and offers teachers a great way to incorporate technology into classroom practices.

This next teacher brings up an important point if you are considering blogging for your class. Many districts block various sites and this may prevent you from either starting a blogging project or from continuing one. It looks like this is what happened to Mr. Caldwell with his English class.

Click HERE to see Mr. Caldwell’s last post alerting his students that the class blog is moving due to filtering issues. This is a good reason to check with those in power before you start using this great technology.

At his new blogspot, one of the things you’ll see Mr. Caldwell teach about is the concept of satirical devices. He posts a few cartoons and instructs his students to explain why they think a particular cartoon is satirizing. His manner of using blogging with his class definitely provides lots of ideas for language arts teachers.

To view Mr. Caldwell’s current blog site, click HERE.

This next blog is hosted by Mr. Sale, an English teacher in Littleton, CO. He presents some interesting things for his students to comment on. Two things really stand out to me. The first is that he addresses reading habits and has students comment on where, when and how they read. From having taught for a few years myself, this is something that might be somewhat dull to discuss in the classroom. The 19 responses from his students are proof that you’ll get more responses if you give students a medium that they feel comfortable with.

The second thing that stands out is Mr. Sale’s approach to poetry. He worked with his students in class on a particular poetry style called pantoum. He published some of the student’s work so that others could determine what the rules are for this kind of poetry. What a great outlet for creativity!

To view Mr. Sale’s blog, click HERE.

Finally, I’ll leave you with a short video called Blogging in English class. Students reflect on how they used blogging in English class.

White clickers are oftentimes used to get student input in response to multiple choice or true and false questions, they can also be used to facilitate discussion. By using a particular topic to poll or survey students, you can get a good idea of what the classroom opinion is. Because students have already input their responses via a clicker, they might be more likely to participate in the discussion that follows. This is a great tool for things like social studies class when teaching about living conditions in the past.

This video comes from Promethean and showcases how Lurlene Gerard, an elementary school teacher at Gladys A. Abraham Elementary school in St. Thomas, uses the Activote clicker with her students. The unit is called “The U.S. Virgin Islands - America’s Carribean” and it shows how both the Activboard and Activote can be used together to create a truly meaningful experience for students.

To view the video, click HERE.

One of the best ways I’ve seen for using clickers is to utilize them in conjunction with a PowerPoint presentation. It really keeps students engaged and encourages them to anticipate when they’ll need to use the clickers. To give you an example, let’s say that you have a few slides of notes that describe a particular process like what happens with earthquakes. To make sure that students are not just writing down notes without much comprehension, it’s good to slip in a slide that has a multiple choice question to assess their understanding.

The first example I’m providing here is a PowerPoint presentation that was created with clickers in mind. You’ll see how the multiple choice slides are sparse yet effective in keeping students engaged. This is brought to you by Dr. Cameron, a geoscience teacher at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. It is a PowerPoint file that requires either PowerPoint or PowerPoint viewer.

To download and install Microsoft’s PowerPoint viewer, click HERE.

To view the presentation, click HERE.

Most teachers have traditionally administered tests via the standard format: paper and pencil. Clickers can make this approach a thing of the past. In addition, students can see the results without their name appearing almost immediately after the test. This next example shows us just how this can be done. It was a feature on Goodmorning American that showcases a science teacher at Ardsley Middle School. It’s also a great example of how an interactive whiteboard can be used with a clicker.

This last video is a spotlight on how interactive technologies are being used at Hawkeye Community College in their biology classes. You’ll see how clickers can be used with multiple choice questions to keep students engaged. You’ll also see a student provide her comments on why she likes using the clickers. Not only do they help her learn, they tell her what she knows and also what she might have to focus more on.

After having collected lots of examples that show how teachers are using technology in their classrooms, I’ve come to the conclusion that some technologies are more easily adapted to one subject more than another. It’s not that any technology can’t be adapted to any subject, it’s just that some work better than others. When I think of clickers, I think that I would love to use these devices in math class. While math class emphasizes process a great deal, it is also very answer driven. That being said, a good starting off point in a typical math class might be to give some problems for the students to solve, or perhaps talk about ways to solve them. After the problems have been solved, distribute the clickers to assess.

The teacher shown in this first video approaches math class in much the same way. While she demonstrates her use of a whiteboard, she also uses the clickers to assess. Take a look…

This next video comes from a math teacher from St. Mary School in Edmonton. This is a very thorough demonstration of how one particular type of clicker is used as well as how it can be applied to a math setting. It serves as both an introduction to the tool and something specific to math teachers.

As a foreign language teacher, I can definitely see how clickers can be incorporated into classroom activities. Much of what we teach has to do with the key elements of learning any language: vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, reading, writing and speaking. With this in mind, I was excited to begin my search for examples of how foreign language teachers have been using this exciting technology. Unfortunately, the examples were few and far between. Not being one to ever give up, I decided to simply provide some ideas and a few of my own examples of how I might incorporate this tool into my own classes.

Example 1: The Basics

Let’s start with the basics. Regardless of what language you teach, usually the first things foreign language teachers present are some general questions and answers that are limited to hellos, goodbyes, “how are you?”, my name is, etc. So I’ll start here.

Step 1: Present the appropriate vocabulary for the unit or lesson.

Step 2: Make sure students are comfortable with the meanings and pronunciation

Step 3: Have students practice utilizing vocabulary with one another

Step 4: Advise them to review their vocabulary for homework or give them a simple matching assignment that requires them to match a question with an appropriate answer.

Step 5: The next day, assess their understanding by utilizing clickers for a quick warm up activity.

• Click HERE for an example of how this might look using CPS software

Step 6: Review vocabulary as needed

Example 2: Using PowerPoint with Clickers

Most software that accompanies a clicker package allows you to incorporate PowerPoint presentations within your clicker based lesson. From my observations, this is a great way to get students to take notes. Most do this automatically because they know that at some point, they will quizzed using the clickers within the presentation.

This has many applications in the foreign language classroom. Here’s one that I’ve been working with. I’ll go through the steps below.

Step 1: Create a PowerPoint presentation based on a particular theme. I chose weather in my example.

Step 2: Embed a short video based on the topic. I dowloaded a very short video on some basic weather terminology from PowerMediaPlus. The video should be about two minutes long.

Step 3: Add multiple choice questions in your PowerPoint to test for comprehension. This is where students will be using the clickers to input their responses

Step 4: Review correct answer with students

• Click HERE for my example

Example 3: Clickers and Listening Comprehension

Because listening skills are critical to the acquisition of a foreign language, it’s important that you find an effective way of assessing this ability. Clickers are a perfect way to do this. Let me share my thoughts on doing this.

Step 1: Put together an audio example that you will either read to the students or simply improvise on a theme in the target language. To give you an idea, I’ll show you a video that I put together to model what I wanted for a projected my 8th grade students did a couple of years ago. It’s about likes and dislikes. I was a little shaggier back then…so don’t laugh. There are English subtitles for those that don’t speak Spanish.

After you’ve read or improvised what you are going to say, have students answer questions to see if they understood what they’ve heard. For teachers that are preparing their students for either a state proficiency exam or regents, this would be a perfect way to review for the listening comprehension portions of those exams.

• Click HERE for an example of the questions I would use based on the video

When considering how interactive clickers could be used in an English Language Arts class, my first inclinations were to use them somehow for vocabulary development. Some other ideas that come to mind are for teaching grammar rules. But they can also be used for taking surveys in response to a debate topic. Getting students’ reactions (either for it or against it) would be a great way to open up discussion, especially when talking about how characters behaved in a book.

The first video in this segment comes from a news interview that shows how a teacher in Polk county is using clickers to help her students with vocabulary development. As you’ll see, the students love every minute of it.

Clickers can also be used with younger student to develop things like spelling and reading. In the next example, we’ll see a teacher in Winston Salem, NC use clickers in conjunction with an interactive whiteboard to develop spelling and phonetic awareness. She’s using the Activote product from Promethean.