Tackk

Tackk is a simple webpage builder or presentation tool that is innovative and very use friendly.  On the main screen you have the ability to add a title, subheading, picture, headings, and paragraphs.  You can also add in various media such as YouTube videos, Instragram photos, music, and sounds.  Other features include the ability to add a button that will take you to an outside link as well.

What is great about Tackk is that there is no sign up required.  Signing up and logging in does allow for saving the various websites you create.  Each page allows users to easily adjust colors, fonts, backgrounds, and other features, such as adding a Map or Comment section.  Users also have the ability to choose whether they want them to be shared publicly.  There are also several themes that one can choose from as well.

Creating an account does provide more features for the user, such as a custom link and the ability to save your page, because the page will expire if an account is not created.  You can see some other features as well below.  Every Tackk comes with its own generated link that can easily be shared.  You can also preview your page as well.  One negative, from an education standpoint is the ability to browse others that have been created and there is no way to censor those.

Each page you create also has stats that you can see, such as the number of visitors and last time it was edited.  As a teacher, this would be a valuable tool as well to keep up to date how often students are working no an assignment using the software.  There is also an option to Print, which would be a good option as well for turning in a final product for evidence.

You will also notice from the logo at the top that Tackk is in Beta.  I do see a lot of uses for this in education however.

Slices for Twitter

Slices for Twitter is an alternative for looking through your Twitter feed.  I recently came across this service when our Art teacher mentioned it to me and a Science teacher emailed me a link to an article via the Slices App.  Slices is available for both Android, Apple, and Amazon (weird how those all begin with an "A" mobile devices; as well as on the Web. 

Slices provides an easy way to explore the Twitterverse with user created groups and created list by the App itself that focus on News, Fashion, Live Events, etc.  It is like a Hashtag organizer for Twitter.  If you find yourself with a Twitter full of people you follow, this might a valuable alternative for looking through your Twitterfeed. 

For more information about Slices, which is in Beta, see the video below.

My Voice - National Student Mock Election

In collaboration with the Pearson Foundation two initiatives are being supported to involve students.  The National Student Mock Election is a website dedicated to providing teachers and students the opportunity to get involved in the election process and have a voice. 

In order to participate, teachers need to register their students.  It is completely free to do so.  You register as a school, district, or organization.  You can decide on the number of classrooms and number of students that are going to be participating.  You also choose the grade level as well.  Voting begins on October 25th and then on November 1st, it is Mock Election Day.  For more information on the Voting procedures, click here. 

There are also several other resources of interest.  You can visit the Hall of Fame which has handbooks, reports, and information Tool Kits and "How To" Guides.  Also available is curriculum and lesson plans for all grade levels; as well as resources that encourage deeper learning to motivate students about the election.  One more feature are polls that students and visitors to the site can participate in.  Results from previous polls are also available.  

With the Election just over a month away, it is important that we educate students on the importance of voting and providing them an opportunity to voice their opinion on a national scale. 

Tuesday Teaching Strategy - Brainwriting

Brainwriting

Brainwriting is an alternative to brainstorming that involves having group members interact via reading and writing rather than speaking and listening.  Brainwriting typically involves the following steps:

1.)  Identify a topic or subject that students will be studying (One time that I used this strategy was completing a review for a test and final exam).

2.)  Assign students to a group of no more than four members.

3.)  On that topic, have students write/answer what they know or think they know about a topic or subject for a given period (five minutes is a good starting point)

4.)  When time is up, have students pass their writings or responses to a set of questions to another group.

a.   When I did this strategy with a review, I gave each group a master copy and then divided the questions up.  As we passed around the activity students would work at answering the questions missed by the previous group.   At the conclusion, the review should be filled out and as a teacher you know which ones no students were comfortable with.

5.)  Assign a little bit of time for students to review the previous group’s work and groups should add in what they know about the writing or questions being asked.

6.)  Repeat steps 4 and 5 until all students in a group have reviewed each other’s work.  Each group should then review all the ideas and answers generated through this process.

-     You could easily do this activity with any book work or worksheet that you are assigning to your students and divide up the problems based on the number of groups.

-     If you are having students read primary documents or short stories, the students could write their responses to questions or prompts and help other students with comprehending what the readings are about.  This activity could be done with Reading ACT test preps

-    Science teachers could use this to share hypothesis and experiment results so that they can compare any differences or similarities. 

RealtimeBoard

Realtime Board is another option for collaborating together online to discuss and develop ideas.  On a board users can add visuals, mark-up, and leave comments in mini-chats.  Users can also add sticky notes as well.  Realtime Board allows users to also Create simple sketches or complex infographics using shapes, texts and mark-up tools.  Each addition to a board can be edited and removed and used to collaborate better.  Users can add Google Docs and PDF-presentations, as well as create mind maps in real time.

So the next question, is what separates Realtime Board from some of its predecessors and counterparts?  When you have completed a board, you can turn the board into a presentation.  You decide the order and how to develop the presentation parts based upon what is included on the board.  You organize the presentation by slides.  You create slides by taking a "screenshot" of the area of the board you want to focus on.  This process reminds of the "Frames" and "Path" features of Prezi.  There are various ways to view the presentation, AND only the owner of the board has the ability to create a presentation.

When students are collaborating on a board, they appear as avatars (if logged in with Facebook or Google and one is available) icons and the work that is being done is shown in real time.  We are encouraging students to collaborate and this provides a way for students to do that and then easily create a presentation.  Often times we assign task to groups of kids on a project and Realtime Board provides an easy way to do that.

You can create an account using an email and password or using Facebook  or Google.   I recommend viewing the Tour to learn even more and seeing some examples for ideas as well.  Visiting the Realtime Board Blog will also be helpful in learning some tips and tricks for how to use the site. 

One thing I am liking about Realtime Board is it is not just a collaboration tool.  As a teacher, it could be used to create presentations in the classroom and provide annotated pictures, graphs, charts, etc.  This one is worth checking out.  It has combined some of the greatest features of Whitebaord Collaboration software with Presentation software.

For more information on Realtime Board, which is in Beta, see the video below.