Digital+Texts+and+Tools

MNLI 12 Digital Texts & Tools Sessions

Synthesizing and Summarizing New Knowledge with Glogster and @BeeClip

No more trips to the store to pick up poster board, no more slanted writing with various sized letters written in a single color, no more cut out pictures with glue oozing out the sides- welcome Glogster! This tool is an interactive poster maker, allowing students to demonstrate their understandings through multiple means including video, photographs, writing, animations, and sound in one place.

[|Bee Clip] is similar to Glogster in that you can add video, images, and text to create an interactive poster or collage. The three big differences are: Bee Clip can be worked on by multiple authors, multiple pages can be produced (as a scrapbook), and those pages can be downloaded. Additionally it includes a bookmarklet called the BeeClipper that allows you to clip images as you browse the web. You want to register for the Bee Clip Educationversion. [|BeeClip] allows students to construct similar content but with of a scrapbook feel.

Tune Out the Visual Data - Audio podcasts and experiencing poetry.

Using audio podcast recording and sharing tools like Soundcloud to create audio representations of poetry and share with your students.

Create your own multimodal notebook for use in online collaborative inquiry

Evernote is a free tool that I have referred to as my "online, multimodal notebook." Others have called it the Web 2.0 version of a Trapper Keeper.

What could it be for you?

Creating Mini-Lessons Through Screencasting with Jing

iPad Basics From Accessibility to Assessment: Developing a Roll Out Plan

In this session we will cover iPad basics. We will start by reviewing basic navigation and accessibility features. We will then discuss classroom assessment routines. Finally we wil wrap up by demonstrating the basics of Page and Keynote.

Collaborating with Others Using Google Earth to Take Field Trips on the iPad

Exploring culture and geography have never been easier than with the iPad. In this session we will go over very basic steps to conducting a virtual field trip on the ipad.

Teaching Argumentative Writing on the iPad Using neu.Annotate

A major shift in the Massachusetts Framework for Literacy and Language Arts is reading for and writing with evidence. In this session we will explore how to use neu.Annotate to ask and assess text dependent questions and to support argumentative writing.

Construction of a movie trailer to build anticipation and awareness with students



Use your iPad and iMovie to record trailers to advertise the digital product you're creating this week. After the MLI has concluded...continue building trailers to use as introductory activities, or concluding activities in units to build student interest.

Present Knowledge and Ideas using Show Me and ScreenChomp- free iPad apps that allow you to screencast and share. Create videos of lessons, provide feedback on student work, have students' share their thinking, the possibilites are almost endless!

Deepening Comprehension through Character Analysis: Using Google Docs Facebook Templates At the core of literacy is comprehension- students' understanding of the texts they read. Carefully and critically thinking about characters in literary and informational texts will aid students understanding of the text as a whole. At each grade level in the new MA ELA and Literacy Framework, students are asked to consider the characters in increasingly complex ways with increasingly complex texts. Google Docs has many templates that can support students' critical thinking of text and concepts, particularly when using the Facebook template.

Taking Multiple Perspectives: Using Animoto to Understand Point of View

Animoto is a video editing tool that allows users to place photos or video clips into imaginative templates. Users can upload their own thematic music or choose from a pre-programmed musical library. In the classroom, students can use this particular application as a way to understand point of view or to demonstrate comprehension. The example I provide shows how students interpreted what defines a hero through visual art and through video interviews. Each student interviewed one another with a Flip camera. (The audio portion has been replaced with music).

Determining Central Ideas or Themes of a Text by creating Word Clouds

Creating word clouds and other various word images is a fun way to approach inferential text. Shifting text into a visual representation can often provide instructors with an engaging way to introduce the more abstract literary concepts.

Demonstrating Comprehension Through Storytelling

This session will not only show participants how to help students craft visual narratives to creatively demonstrate their comprehension, but will also provide instructors of all content areas with a powerful, multi-purpose presentation and communicative tool that will entertain and engage learners of every level. Learn about Xtranormal and start making movies today!

Combining Visuals and Text to Present Informational Text – Creating Infographics

Come learn about infographics and how you can use them in your classroom as a tool for learning and assessment. We will use the tool easel.ly to create an infographic so please make sure to create an account.

Comprehension, Collaboration, and Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas Using Google Docs Google Docs offers endless opportunities for students to collaborate with one another and with their teachers in order to deepen and extend their knowledge and to suit their needs or the purposes of an assignment. This session will introduce participants to the options that Google Docs offers and provide several examples of practical application in the classroom, including collaborative study guides, data collection matrices, and cooperative writing opportunities.

Integrating and Evaluating Information Using Google Forms Google Forms have numerous applications in the classroom: teachers can gather data on student interests and preferences, conduct quick formative assessment through a quick quiz or ticket-to-leave, and even create self-grading quizzes that will email students' results directly to them. In addition, students can create their own Forms to quiz themselves and one another. This session will provide participants with an introduction to Google Forms, several concrete examples of teacher- and student-created Forms for various purposes, and an opportunity to practice creating surveys and/or self-grading quizzes of their own.



Evaluating, Developing, and Strengthening Writing Using Shared Rubrics in Google Forms Providing students with collaborative writing experiences and opportunities to practice evaluating their peers’ and their own work can result in improved writing. Allowing students to use, and in some cases even create, the rubrics with which their writing will be evaluated can help them better understand how to meet and exceed the requirements of an assignment. Google Forms allows teachers and students to create, share, and use online rubrics so that students can assess their own and others‘ writing, receive feedback on their writing from multiple evaluators, and edit and revise their writing in order to ensure that it meets all criteria on the rubric.

Pixton: Using Cartoons to Demonstrate Comprehension. Pixton is a cartoon/comic making tool that allows students to think creatively and demonstrate learning in the classroom to their original creations. This tool will allow students to confidently express themselves, even if they do not consider themselves to be artistic. For teachers, Pixton allows students to apply content knowledge and generate new forms of analysis. Students can imagine new scenarios for historical characters, recreate past events visually, and show comprehension of concepts by creating these comics. Students will have a blast using this tool!

The Wonderful World of Wiki

Many students find that their learning is most effective when they are actively involved in the construction of their knowledge. Wikis enable teachers, students, and any other member of the learning community to gather, edit, and present information in an asynchronous environment so that members can participate any time or place. Wikis encourage group social interaction and collaboration and can substantially enhance the learning environment with little effort.

To Click or Not to Click? Is That a Text Dependent Question?

Using a student response system in your classroom. Socrative is a smart student response system that empowers teachers to engage their classrooms through a series of educational exercises and games via smartphones, laptops, and tablets.

Learning2Search-Searching2Learn

When most of us think about searching we turn to Google, but there are many search engines that may be more appropriate to use based on what we are looking for. In fact, Google (and many other search engines) track what you are searching for, and then create a “filter bubble” that is based on your searches. This means that you tend to “see” the information that reflects what you have looked at previously. Learn about a wide variety of search engines that address a variety of learning styles and allow one to compare and contrast websites side by side.

== Accessing Digital Texts: Free Tools to Empower Striving Readers

At times it seems that more and more of our students are struggling to access content, and digitized text provides an avenue to assist many students in becoming more independent as learners. In this workshop we will look at a number of free tools. Readability essentially remove the “clutter” that is often on a website, allowing the student to see the text. Within these tools they make some choices such as size of the text, size of the margins, color of text and background, and location of hyperlinks. Natural Reader is a free online reader. It includes a floating toolbar that allows students to have websites read to them. These tools are good for students in all grade levels. Links: Readability – Add-on for Firefox, IE, Chrome and Safari: @http://www.readability.com/addons Natural Reader – PC/Mac based: []

Prioritizing,Identifying and Refining Criteria: Visual Ranking Tools to Support Knowledge Integration 

We often ask students to make lists, but how often do we ask them to organize and prioritize these lists, identifying and refining criteria as they rank the list, and explain their reasoning...and do this while working in small groups? The Visual Ranking tool allows students to do this, and to compare their ranking to others. This tool supports higher order thinking skills (analysis and evaluation) and is one of three tools found in Intel Teaching Thinking with Technology tool set. This tool may be used once students are able to read text. Link: []

====Looking for an online collaboration tool, VoiceThread is a new way of presenting and sharing. [|The National Middle School Association says "teachers and students are using VoiceThread as a story telling tool, a deep thinking too, a research tool, an expository communication tool, and even an assessment tool."]====

@Integrate and Evaluate Content Presented in Diverse Media using ThingLink


"ThingLink technology changes how people engage with photos by transforming them from a static image, into a navigational surface for exploring rich, relevant content that enhances the viewer’s knowledge and experience." You create or find an image and after you put the image in your ThingLink account you may tag it, allowing others to see the connections you are making. You might tag an image with resources that you would like your students to use for a project. This workshop will introduce ThingLink and allow you to begin to tag an image of your choice.

Digital Text and Tool Sessions from MNLI 2011