Trying out Bubblr

Make a comic strip like this from flickr photos using an application called bubblr at http://www.pimpampum.net/bubblr/index.php Click on the comic strip and it will open up in a new window so the titles will be easier to read. When it opens in the new window, you can advance the images by rolling your mouse over them towards the right. Roll back to reverse! Click on create new strip to try it out yourself.

Cautionary Note!! Flickr, the photo website which is the source of the photos can be a source for risque or otherwise inappropriate images. Appropriate judgment on the part of the teacher is required before assigning this project. Are your students adults and have they signed the district's Acceptable Use Policy which warns them about that possibility and have you discussed appropriate actions to take if such an image appears? Do you work with students who are under 18?

Congratulations to Larry Ferlazzo!

Larry Ferlazzo just won a nice award for his work with using technology in the classroom and for the benefit of the community. He has been awarded the grand prize for 2007 in the International Reading Association's Presidential Award for Reading and Technology. Information on the award is here http://www.reading.org/association/awards/teachers_presidential.html I visit his blog most often. When I visit Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day for teaching ELL, ESL & EFL, I never fail to find something that could be put to use in the classroom. Today, for me, it's the Community Walk website which overlays a walk that you create onto a google map (I think the new term is "mashup"). The nifty feature is that you can add and save your own landmarks and descriptions (including photos) as you create your walk. Many beginning and intermediate level classes and textbooks feature lessons on giving directions. With Community Walk you can assign students to create a map with photos and descriptions of the neighborhood. As an example, here's a map I created in a few minutes using photos I already had on my computer: http://www.communitywalk.com/pacoima/ca/visiting_pacoima/map/153149, and here's a map I chose at random http://www.communitywalk.com/walking_westford.

By creating their own maps, students practice writing skills. By looking at maps other people have created, they practice reading skills. By giving the students a task, they can practice oral skills as they discuss a walk that they are viewing. (Give them a worksheet and ask questions about the locations on the map, e.g. When was the new library in Pacoima dedicated and who spoke at the ceremony? or have them describe their own walk to their classmates in an oral presentation accompanied by the map projected behind them.) More adventurous teachers (and students) could probably link their walk to a podcast so viewers of the map could listen to a description of each stop along the way...

For a wealth of good ideas, it never hurts to visit Larry's Websites of the Day...

Actual Email from student

More evidence of the importance of maintaining as many open lines of communication as possible. This is an email received in response to a phone call (left a message) this morning...

"G", another student who I know has serious health issues, hasn't been in class for two weeks because of a flare-up, but has sent in 4 separate assignments via email for correction. Why shouldn't I, as her regular classroom teacher, be credited the time she devotes to assignments out of class, as if she were enrolled in a distance learning program?

More Email Messages From Students About Attendance

Berenice wrote in an email message:

From: a7bXXXX@gaggle.net (Berenice)
To: bbakin@gaggle.net
Subject: (No subject specified)
Date: Tue 07 Aug 2007 04:47:21 PM -0700

Hi teacher this is Berenice. I have to be absent for a few days. My sister in law is pregnat and I have to care for her during the morning. I hope to be in class next week. Please, don't miss me a lot...

Sincerity.....

Berenice

Gloria wrote in a message the other morning:

From: a7graXXXX@gaggle.net (Gloria R) Add to Address Book
To: bbakin@gaggle.net
Subject: No attending classes
Date: Mon 06 Aug 2007 09:59:20 PM -0700
I'm sorry for not attending classes lately, I'm not feeling very well


Vilma is a student I had last year. She wrote earlier this week:
HELLO TEACHER I WANT TO BACK TO SCHOOL AFFTERNOON BUT I DON'TKNOW WHEN IS
STAR OF THE CLASS CAN YOU TELLME WHEN IS STAR, I TELLING YOU I CHANGE OF
WORK NOW I WORK IN THE UNIVERSITY ... .TAKE CARE SEE YOU SOO.......

After I responded to her message she wrote back:

Hello teacher thank you for answer my massege I am happy for back to school
I need to learn English. I'm nervous with my new job because many people
are speack English, so I don't nkow how can I speack with them but I nkow I
can do it if I go to school tanks again teacher ................. take care see you soon....................................

>VILMA



Email, while not the only option that students can use to communicate with a teacher, is simply another channel to keep the lines of communication open. Perhaps, in fact, students might feel more comfortable writing a message then speaking...