Thinglinking on Grammar Mondays

No More Grammar Monday blues in Mr. Hellerstein's 8th Grade English! 

Nope, not anymore! See Mr. Hellerstein (@setheli) is reinventing how students can demonstrate grammar via ThingLink!   All this means is they can make richer images that come to life with music, audio, video, text, images and more. Essentially, the image becomes a story others can explore!

ThingLink is a both available online through the website and as a free IOS app. (note: the app is more limited than the website version)  First, you'll need an image to upload to Thinglink. Then here comes the interactive part... you simply create hotspots or in ThingLink terms, nubbins that link to text, video, websites, images, etc. for more information.

ThingLink Examples: hover & touch the interactive circles.

Now insert Mr. Hellerstein.... he thought that ThingLink could enhance his students' learning about the somewhat dry topic of grammar! Initially, his class is starting off slow..and eventually, down the road will evolve this idea to include more student-created, interactive media.

Here's how it work:

Students worked in pairs or threes to write a sentence based on the book, The Crucible that had to include as many parts of speech from Mr. Hellerstein's list plus other vocabulary and literary terms. After that step was completed,  they  began marking up their sentences to identify each and discussed  with the class before moving onto ThingLink.

Next, each student then snapped an image of their sentence with their iPad to upload to ThingLink via the app. For this first time, students were asked to tap the image where they wanted to add a hotspot & type in text to further explain the targeted words.

When finished, students turned in their assignment by copying the url address to their ThinkLink and then filling in the google form with their name, period, and pasting the link in the form (found on Mr. Hellerstein's website).

And the final results....

Again, as a first step in learning the process, students' Thinglinks involved adding labels with text.  Thinking forward... students could create Explain Everything screencasts or add images with audio of characters, link to mindmaps of concepts or terms, etc. Stay tuned for follow up posts as his students' work evolves.

New Update to Thinglink for Teachers:

@setheli Saves you the turn-in link via Google Form step RT@harbeckc: Build Your ThingLink Classroom http://t.co/kpC2HbmBaQ #mlearning
— diane horvath (@techmonstah) February 13, 2014

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Screencasting gives students a tool to demonstrate creativity and collaboration.

8th Grade is filled with some adventurous field trips .. this latest one takes you directly to the Center Center Center of the Earth Earth Earth!

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Typically, Mr. Heim's students complete a web quest to answer questions as a way to demonstrate their learning.  However, with the iPad, the screen casting app, Explain Everything opens up other possibilities that push students to use creativity in writing a script, in finding images to match their information and in producing an animated movie. This activity also involved a tremendous amount of collaboration through discussion/communication, research, decision-making and the creation process. The end result.. you have students who not only met the learning objectives, but who were able to successfully complete a higher order complex task in an engaging, purposeful way.

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Check out the work created by Medfield students:  Using the Puppet Pals App to learn about Charles Law

Typically to assess students' learning about a science concept, they're given the usual multiple choice /short answer quiz.  Not this time!  With iPads in hand and the Puppet Pal app, students were given the opportunity to expand and to push their imagination by developing a short animated puppet movie instead.


Who knew Shakespeare, Abraham Lincoln and science went together?!  
Watch how these eighth graders create a unique way of explaining their knowledge.

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