Rewordify

I read an article, actually blog post, this morning about a website called rewordify.com. After reading the post, and looking at the site, it reminded me of an assignment in grad school where we had to alter a text so it was easier for our ELs to understand, but not simplified. That is a hard task. It is much easier to simplify a difficult text, then actually keep the tough concepts while making it readable.

The website rewordify.com is a good stepping stone. While some difficult concepts are still embedded in the text, understanding the actual words is important.

Here is an example of the Gettysburg Address "rewordified:"

Eighty-seven years ago our fathers created on this continent, a new nation, understood/created/gave birth in Liberty, and dedicated to the suggestion (or plan) that all men are created equal. 

Now we are involved in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so understood/created/gave birth and dedicated, can long last through/tolerate. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a grave for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is completely fitting and proper that we should do this. 

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not bless -- we can not make holy -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have blessed it, far above our poor power to add or take away. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have so far so honorably advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great job remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead will not have died without success (or without purpose) -- that this nation, under God, will have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, will not die from the earth.

Educator Evaluation

I know no one wants to think summer is almost over, but reality says school is about to start. As you are in your classroom getting it organized for the new year, have you thought about how you will keep track of your evidence for the educator evaluation?

In the technology course I took last week I learned more about Evernote. It's a program that keeps notes organized. You can write new notes, take pictures of student work, and even upload files. You can even share notebooks with others, such as your grade level team. Evernote can be installed (for free) on all your devices, and kept in sync with each other. So far, I love this program/app. 

In my course, someone suggested creating a notebook for each standard, to keep track of your evidence throughout the year. I thought this was a great idea. I bundled them together into one notebook called "Educator Evaluation" and then four notebooks in there, each one named for the standard. For the first note, I put the piece of the rubric that explains the standard. You could create separate notebooks under each standard for the indicators, but that's up to personal preference.

Enjoy using Evernote. Leave a comment to let me (and other readers) know if and for what you use Evernote.

Social Media Tips for Teachers

I am a fan of social media, but am still trying to bridge using it in work related experiences. I do find it to be a great learning and sharing platform. Here are some tips I found on edudemic, one of my new favorite educational websites to search. 

While twitter is not new to me, actually using it is. That's my goal for this year, to become an "expert" in Twitter, and start tweeting. To start, I am going to tweet about this blog post. 

Story Wheel

This is a new app I just found. Group story telling - I love the idea of it. You choose a theme, add 1-4 players (students), then each player takes a turn. They slide the wheel and a picture comes up. The student then hits record and starts the story, using the picture selected. I believe they only have a certain amount of time, and then it's the next student. Can't wait to hear how this turns out with students.

TESEL

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Zondle - interactive learning games for students

Zondle is a program that I have used in the classroom in the past. Through it you can create quizzes, or choose pre-made quizzes. Students have to log on to Zondle, and then choose the quiz and choose a game. I found that the variety of choice in games helped to keep students motivated. As a teacher you can see student scores and how often they play.

Zite and Idea Paint

Yesterday, I found a web page/program yesterday that collects articles you like. Its called Scoop.It!, you can access it on this link. Or click the page linked above in my blog, titled "ESL articles" and you will see my Scoop It collection of ESL articles.

This morning I was looking on my iPad to see if there was an app for Scoop It. There isn't, there is something similar, called "Read.It!", but I didn't love it at first. Then after reading a few more articles (because there are a million articles on using the iPad in education) I found an app called Zite.

Zite collects articles based on your interests, then the more you read and the more you "like" a topic, the more specific it gets to your results. After reading a few articles and "liking" new topics, my article news feed got better and better.

I started reading some education articles, and came across this topic - idea paint. Its whiteboard paint. I looked it up online. Its a bit pricey, $225 for 50 sq ft, but I think it could be a game changer for a classroom. Imagine every surface being a white board...the possibilities are endless.