TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Jun 23, 2019

Here are this week's features. Clicking the tags in the description area of each listing will present a list of other resources with this topic. | Click here to return to the Featured Sites Archive

 

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Twitter Chat: Using Social Media to Build a Sense of School Community - TeachersFirst

Grades
K to 12
2 Favorites 0  Comments
This archived Twitter chat is from March 2019 and will open in Wakelet. The title of this chat is: Using Social Media to Build a Sense of School Community. During ...more
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This archived Twitter chat is from March 2019 and will open in Wakelet. The title of this chat is: Using Social Media to Build a Sense of School Community. During this chat, participants will: 1. Discuss the need for strengthening and building a united school community, 2. Discuss the benefits of using social media to impact school culture and 3. Share various social media tools and how they can be used to increase community engagement.

In the Classroom

Find resources and explore ways to use social media effectively to build school climate, culture, and community. Share this chat with your colleagues looking for sites and information related to social media implementation.

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Bad News - Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab and DROG

Grades
5 to 12
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How bad can you be? This game teaches you how fake news and disinformation spreads as players take on the role of the bad guy to acquire as many followers ...more
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How bad can you be? This game teaches you how fake news and disinformation spreads as players take on the role of the bad guy to acquire as many followers as possible while raising their credibility ratings. Follow the prompts and make selections on how to spread disinformation and take advantage of others' fears and emotions as you proceed through the game. As you make choices, watch how that affects the number of your followers and learn how to use celebrity and fear to influence others. Throughout the game, players earn up to six badges recognizing accomplishments such as impersonation and emotion.

In the Classroom

This game is perfect for use as an introduction to lessons on digital citizenship, media literacy, and social media. Share the site with your students to explore on their own and encourage them to play several different times using the different options provided. Your students won't mind playing over and over; it is easy to get hooked on trying to find the best way to gain as many followers as possible! Once students become familiar with the game and the different options presented for spreading misinformation, ask them to apply their findings to online content. Have them do some online research to find sites or information using tactics such as emotion and the others featured in Bad News. As they research sites and online information, have them add links to the sites they find on a class Padlet. Padlet, reviewed here, offers an option to create columns, use this option then label a column for each badge found in the game and ask students to share a link to their sites in the appropriate column. In addition to adding a link, have students include a comment providing information on why their site belongs in the category. Instead of assessing learning with quizzes or a written report, enhance learning and transform your assessment by having students create infographics to share information learned. Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here, provides easy to use templates to create interesting and informative infographics. Extend leaning and ask students to become the teacher using Symbaloo Learning Paths, reviewed here, to create an online learning activity teaching others on how to recognize and avoid disinformation found online. Be sure to share your assessment rubric with students as part of your assignment. Find many ideas for implementing rubrics for assessment along with examples and online tools at TeachersFirst Rubrics to the Rescue, reviewed here.

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Headliner - SpareMin

Grades
K to 12
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Create and share videos for social media platforms with Headliner. Add images, text animation, clip audio, add video, and more to personalize content. Choose from several video editor...more
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Create and share videos for social media platforms with Headliner. Add images, text animation, clip audio, add video, and more to personalize content. Choose from several video editor templates or go straight to the video editor to begin creating. Upload videos to add transcript, use the audiogram wizard to make a video from audio, or create a video from a URL linking to an online article. When finished, publish your video and download to your computer.

In the Classroom

Use Headliners to create and share videos in multiple ways. Set the stage for upcoming lessons by creating a video from an upcoming text, post the video on your class website for students to view before reading. Include the transcription feature when sharing videos of student discussions or classroom activities (with appropriate parental permission, of course). Promote your classroom podcast using the Audio Wizard to share a short preview of an upcoming podcast. As an alternative to a research report, use the Find My Content feature and have students redefine their technology use by creating a multimedia video filled with images and video based on their research.

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Online Teen Safety - StaySafe.org

Grades
5 to 12
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This guide shares online safety suggestions for teens and parents by providing basic facts and advice. Starting with tips for protecting hardware and devices from viruses and malware...more
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This guide shares online safety suggestions for teens and parents by providing basic facts and advice. Starting with tips for protecting hardware and devices from viruses and malware the site guides readers through a variety of valuable information. Additional topics include social media, scams and online shopping, and online bullying. Although the site lacks a lot of bells and whistles, it offers a great deal of information related to online safety and provides a starting point for further research.

In the Classroom

Include the information from this site with your other resources for teaching about online safety. Instead of creating a list of links for students, share safety tips with students by replacing the list using a bookmarking tool like Padlet, reviewed here, to share all resources including videos, websites, and more in one place. Invite students to add their own resources to the Padlet as a collaborative activity on internet safety. Create quizzes using Baamboozle, reviewed here, as a formative assessment during your online safety unit. Baamboozle is a quick and easy quiz creation tool to replace paper and pencil. Divide the class into groups to research the different topics found on this site then let them create their own Baamboozle quizzes for their classmates. Instead of teaching online safety in individual lessons, consider using Symbaloo Learning Paths, reviewed here, to create a learning path including all of your lessons. Have students follow at their own pace and use tools with the Learning Paths to offer differentiation for the abilities and interests of your students. To modify learning and further challenge students, have them create their own internet safety Learning Paths for classmates to complete.

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Fiskkit - John Pettus

Grades
6 to 12
1 Favorites 0  Comments
 
Think of Fiskkit as a social media tool for sharing, discussing, and evaluating online articles similar to marking up a paper with a red pen. Copy and paste the URL ...more
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Think of Fiskkit as a social media tool for sharing, discussing, and evaluating online articles similar to marking up a paper with a red pen. Copy and paste the URL for a news story into Fiskkit to input into the site. Once available, click on any sentence to rate or tag information as true/false, descriptive, or complimentary. Share the article with others to evaluate then view the graph showing tag distribution. After sharing the article with your class use your account to see student names that read the article, organize comments, and open individual sentences for classroom discussion. At the time of this review, Fiskkit works best in Edge and FireFox browsers.

In the Classroom

Use Fiskkit in your classroom to teach students critical thinking and analysis skills. Share current news articles weekly with students to evaluate and discuss. After students provide their input, share the results on your interactive whiteboard, or with a projector, to review and discuss the reactions as a group. As students evaluate articles, replace paper note cards and suggest they use an online note-taking tool similar to Webnote, reviewed here, to justify their answers on Fiskkit. Webnote allows you to add sticky notes on the computer workspace and share with others using the URL created. Challenge students to find articles they would like to discuss, save, and collaborate on using Raindrop,io, reviewed here. Raindrop.io offers you tools to bookmark and save websites, with the additional feature of allowing participants to add comments to saved information. Raindrop.io can be used for a variety of assignments in any classroom that is integrating technology as an enhancement. Instead of a written report, as students become more comfortable with evaluating online tools, ask them to use a multimedia presentation tool like Sway, reviewed here, to modify technology use and to discuss media bias and offer tips for evaluating online information.

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vistacreate - Depositphotos

Grades
K to 12
1 Favorites 0  Comments
  
vistacreate is a visual editor for creating social media images, banners, animated designs, infografics, timelines, videos, and more. Choose from vistacreate's extensive library of...more
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vistacreate is a visual editor for creating social media images, banners, animated designs, infografics, timelines, videos, and more. Choose from vistacreate's extensive library of templates and photos (type in your theme) or use your own. Select the type of media to create to begin a project, open your workspace, and personalize different features. Click the Tutorials tab on the top menu to see How to Get Started and more . Create an account using email to download and share finished projects.

In the Classroom

Share vistacreate with students as a tool for creating posters, infographics, videos, and other visual media for any project. Begin by displaying this site on your interactive whiteboard and demonstrating how to use the different features and discussing how to find the free materials available. Have students create a screencast using Free Screen Recorder Online, reviewed here, to demonstrate how to use the different features of vistacreate and include their screencasts on your class website for student use at home and at school. Instead of a book report, have students create a simple webpage; use WebNode, reviewed here, and include a banner or poster created using vistacreate to share their ideas. Ask students to use this site to create an infographic sharing nutrition facts, events in world history, or any other information learned in class.

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Social Media: Digital Literacy + Citizenship - New York City Department of Education

Grades
K to 12
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Find social media guidelines for students, parents, and educators at this site from the New York City Department of Education. The section for students includes information and activities...more
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Find social media guidelines for students, parents, and educators at this site from the New York City Department of Education. The section for students includes information and activities for students 13 years and older and those younger than 13. For parents, the site details the family's role in responsible social media behavior. Educator information includes staff guidelines as well as teacher guides to student social media.

In the Classroom

Share information from this site with your peers and other staff members as you work to develop guidelines for social media lessons and acceptable use in the classroom. Include a link to this site on your class webpage for parent use at home. During your social media lessons have students share tips and ideas using Padlet, reviewed here. The Padlet application creates free online bulletin boards. Sort ideas on the Padlet into columns based on different social situations, types of online media, or consequences of inappropriate behavior. Challenge cooperative learning groups to create weekly social media advice videos using a tool like Typito, reviewed here, which is a simple tool to use to modify student technology use. Then share the videos on a site such as TeacherTube reviewed here.
 This resource requires PDF reader software like Adobe Acrobat.

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Wakelet - Jamil Khalil

Grades
K to 12
2 Favorites 0  Comments
 
Create, curate, and share web content with Wakelet. Save online links, including articles, videos, tweets, and more then organize them into collections called wakes. Share collections...more
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Create, curate, and share web content with Wakelet. Save online links, including articles, videos, tweets, and more then organize them into collections called wakes. Share collections with a personalized link or use the embed code to embed anywhere online. Use the keyword search to explore and view wakes created by other Wakelet members. Save information from other wakes to your account for use in your own wakes. To make your wakes more distinctive, add a cover image, background, and choose the layout you prefer. Wakelet works smoothly with many apps such as Microsoft Teams, Google Classroom, and Flip, just to name a few. Note: Wakelet now has a Pro version. This review is for the free version which includes everything mentioned above and Unlimited items & collections, Unlimited share to view, 3 collaborative collections, Publish 4 collections, and Explore other collections

In the Classroom

The possibilities for using Wakelet in the classroom are endless! Create collections with tips for writing in different genres, current events, information about specific countries or cities, math games, and much more. Have students set up their own wakes as part of a research project. Put together a wake scavenger hunt to introduce a new unit or as a review at the end of a unit. Share wakes on your class web page for student use at home to review and practice class content. Having the ability to have a cover image and background for your wakes makes them much more interesting and easily identifiable, especially for young or visual students!

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The Guide to Pinterest for Educators - USC Rossier/Leah Anne Levy

Grades
K to 12
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The Guide to Pinterest for Educators is an excellent resource for teachers and administrators with tips and information for managing Pinterest as a powerful learning tool. Divided into...more
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The Guide to Pinterest for Educators is an excellent resource for teachers and administrators with tips and information for managing Pinterest as a powerful learning tool. Divided into eight sections this handbook discusses the basics of pinning, organization, collaboration, and more. Each section is short and simple to read, making this an outstanding guide for using Pinterest as part of your professional planning and teaching tools.

In the Classroom

Use this resource to understand how to use Pinterest for your personal and professional use and also for student collaboration. Share ideas with other staff members to collaborate on shared interests. Discuss one section a month with your professional learning network (PLN) and reflect together how to make the most of Pinterest in your educational setting.

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Video: Social Media - Common Craft

Grades
K to 12
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What is social media? This video takes you on a journey to "Scoopville," a fictitious town used to demonstrate the many "flavors" of social media. The video is short (3:25-minutes)...more
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What is social media? This video takes you on a journey to "Scoopville," a fictitious town used to demonstrate the many "flavors" of social media. The video is short (3:25-minutes) and very easy to follow. Highlighted are blogs, podcasts, and videos. This site requires you to be a paying member to embed or download the video. However, you can still see the transcript for the video. Despite a paid membership model, Common Craft still offers this video for free. If you wish to share this with a group, they will need to view it on individual/partner computers (or IOS devices) or on a projector that has a zoom function to enlarge a selected area of the screen.
This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

If you are looking to learn more about various social media, check out this short video. Learn more about the "flavors" you could use in your own classoom. For research projects have students create a blog, wiki, or even a podcast and compare the pros/cons of each regarding communication and safety. Create podcasts using a tool such as podOmatic, explained here. If you use "centers" in your classroom, put the video on a "center" computer, do a "right click" on the video, select "save as" and save to the "center" computer.

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