Timelines with Tiki-Toki

Time lines are a great way to aid students in comprehending texts across many content areas and grade levels. Students are more likely to understand a sequence of events and their relationships to one another when they are presented visually (Himmele & Himmele, 2009). Additionally, they are fantastic vehicles for doing research, being creative, and sharing and publishing information.

One great resource where teachers and students may create beautiful multimedia timelines easily is Tiki-Toki. With Tiki-Toki, you are able to create timelines within your browser and add text, photos, and videos. These timelines then can be shared with anyone using a unique URL.

Here is a screen shot linked to a timeline entitled "The Fight for Democracy in the Middle East."



Tiki-Toki would be a great tool to develop timelines for history projects, like the one I posted above. Storylines based on books students are reading can also be charted on a Tiki-Toki timeline with events corresponding to the beginning, middle, and end with details added to each. Additionally, Tiki-Toki's timelines lends itself suitable for charting scientific processes during a lab experiment as well.

Tiki-Toki is suitable for ELLs of all levels. Beginners can choose to include more visuals and less text, while more advanced ELLs can add more details for each event. Tiki-Toki is more suitable for intermediate to secondary grades for independent use. However, with younger grades, teachers may project Tiki-Toki in front of the class and have the whole class create a timeline together.

In order to use Tiki-Toki, users must register with their name, a password, and e-mail. Basic membership is free, whereas the Education account which includes more features is $100 a year.

References
Zwiers, J. (2007). Building academic language: essential practices for content classrooms, grades 5-12. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Inc Pub.

Chat rooms in the Classroom

I remember when we first got internet access at our home when I was in 5th or 6th grade. The first thing I wanted to do was to join AOL chatrooms and interact with strangers all over the world. Most of the time, the conversations I participated in turned out to be yelling or flirting fests between users, but from time to time I would get into meaningful conversations about life and hobbies. Nowadays, chat rooms have given way to instant messaging and texting, which is typically done between two people who know each other; however, that isn't to say that chat rooms are now useless.

Having discussions between students in a chat room can be a valuable academic experience if students and teachers are properly prepared. Chat rooms are great for hosting literature circles or jigsaw groups. The teacher assigns students into groups and provide them with discussion questions or prompts to prepare ahead of time. Students are then given time to chat within a private chat room with their group members. For ELLs, the teacher can also provide sentence starters and key vocabulary to use during their chat.

Some benefits for using chat rooms in the classroom for group discussions:
- Students who are typically nervous to speak up during class may feel more comfortable expressing themselves via chat
- With classroom discussions, only one person can speak at once. Chatting allows for multiple people to listen and express themselves simultaneously
- ELLs are able to practice their language and typing skills
- Students can chat anonymously with each other adding elements of suspense and fun
- Chat logs can be saved and printed so that the teacher or students may review them later or so that they can be shared with the whole class
(Krajka, 2001)

Before having your students let loose on their own in a chat room, it is vital that they are taught appropriate netiquette, or the do's and don'ts of online communication. Because students may have more confidence expressing themselves online, especially under the veil of anonymity, they are more likely to engage in off-task and inappropriate discussion.

Using chat rooms may be more suitable for ELLs who are able to write at an intermediate to advanced level. Beginning ELLs may not possess enough language to communicate with others in chat rooms to engage in meaningful discussions.

Here are some websites that can get you started with hosting your own discussions in a chatroom:
Tinychat
Chatzy
ePals
Parachat

References
Krajka, J. (2001). Making chat work in the classroom. Teaching English with Technology, 1(4),

Fakebook

A couple weeks ago, I mentioned using social networking sites such as Facebook or Edmodo to facilitate students in their academic writing. Another great way to have students reflect on what they are learning in the classroom if you are still weary about using social networking sites is to have them create fake Facebook profiles on Fakebook. Fakebook, created by teacher Russel Tarr, allows users to create and have complete control over a fake Facebook profile that doesn't allow wall posts or commenting from other users. Users can just click and type on the template, as well as pull profile photos and videos.



Fakebook can be used to create fake profiles for literary characters, historical figures, animals, and even scientific concepts! For example, a student could role-play as a carbon molecule and personify its interactions with other scientific elements on their Facebook wall. Fakebook can also be used to chart a timeline of important events or outline the main plot of a book or movie.



Here is a Fakebook profile I created for the character of Gollum from the Lord of the Ring series.



Fakebook is a great way to engage in higher order thinking about class material and to provide students with more opportunities to use language in new ways. I would suggest using it for more intermediate ELLs, but beginners may use Fakebook to write simple posts and comments.

Edublog

In order to guide students to become better writers, students need opportunities to write through low pressure outlets regarding content material. In Jeff Zwiers' book, Building Academic Language: Essential Practices for Content Classrooms (2008), he suggests using learning logs and journals for students to write about what they are learning. Students could respond to a teacher prompt, take a stance on a certain issue, apply what they've learned to real life contexts, compare, etc. By completing these informal writing logs, students are given time to reflect, think and organize their thoughts into sentences. It also gives them the opportunity to experiment with new language through a low-pressure activity.



An excellent tool students can use to write their logs and journal entries is a blog. A blog is a type of website that is updated regularly by an individual or group of users, such as the one you are currently reading now. Typically, each blog post is dated and is posted with the most recent post on top. Blogs can not only be used as a journal or a diary. There are some blogs that focus on specific hobbies, current events, animals, and much more.



So why use blogs instead of just a notebook and a pencil to record one's thoughts? Blogs can connect students with each other so that they can share opinions and ideas, and support each other with questions. In addition, the owner is able to present their writings to an audience if they (or the teacher) choose to do so. Blogs also allow users to post videos, music, and pictures relating to their topic, which isn't possible to do with just a pencil and notebook.

Writing in blogs can be an appropriate activity for ELLs of all levels. Beginning ELLs can post reflections with just a few sentences and include visuals such as pictures or videos. More advanced ELLs, on the other hand, may elaborate more in paragraph form.



Two of the most popular free blog hosting websites are Blogger and WordPress. Both services would meet the basic needs for a whole classroom wanting to blog; however, there is also a blogging platform that is specifically geared towards teachers and students called Edublog. One key difference that separates Edublog from Blogger and WordPress is its ability to provide a safe and secure environment for students. Unlike Blogger and WordPress, Edublog does not allow adult content. Additionally, it does not link to other blogs, whereas Blogger and Wordpress may expose users to random or other related blogs, some of which may be inappropriate for young users. Hence, using Edublogs with students may be more preferable in your classroom.


If you would like to see what an example of an Edublog would look, I created an account and wrote an example post at Ms. Dang's Journal.



Additionally, here are some examples of impressive Edublogs:

Student blog: Emily's Blog

Class blog: Billings Middle School Tech Blog

Teacher Blog: Teacher Tom


References
Zwiers, J. (2007). Building academic language: essential practices for content classrooms, grades 5-12. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Inc Pub.