Not the End of My Tale

 Since most of my classes will be online for the next 6 weeks, I registered for an educator account at getepic.com . It is free and full of thousands of digital books (most in English, but there are a few other languages there). Students just use the classcode (no personal info needed) and can choose books to read online. Some books even include audio. As a teacher, I can keep track of how many books each student has read (if they click on their initials when they start) and how they did on the end-of-book quiz. I even tried one of the short quizzes with one of my students, and she liked it. The quiz was short enough to not be bothersome while providing just enough positive feedback to let her feel like her accomplishment was seen. The only drawback is that the students can only read for free during school hours local time, Monday- Friday 7 am - 4 pm. You can even make reading lists for your students. I made one with books about Hawaii or based in Hawaii since that is where we curr...

 One of the tools I plan to use on our Around the World Virtual Trip is Adobe Spark. The students themselves can make a page which will be part of the final film about each country we visit. Of course, like most teachers, I spend a significant amount of time practicing with a tool before introducing it to my students. Just for fun, here is a video that I made with other students over a year ago. What is your experience with Adobe Spark?

  I had the privilege today to hold a storytelling workshop for a group of teachers. By using oral storytelling, teachers can improve concentration and motivation in their students. This is a common problem with language teachers (and perhaps even class teachers) of students who do not pay attention or ones who lack motivation.  Just imagine if you could solve that problem by having a story in your toolbox that you can tell to the whole group at the drop of a hat (or the blink of an eye). Let me explain how storytelling works with your brain for an optimal learning situation. First, according to recent educational neuroscience, the brain needs three things to be able to learn and move information to long-term memory. Education needs to be meaningful, relevant and enjoyable. By telling an oral story, you can stimulate the brain of the listener to relax  (letting go of stress that prohibits learning when the amygdala is overactive). For many, the act of listening to a sto...

Jag får ofta höra från andra lärare att det inte är så lätt att hitta användbara sagor till deras lektioner. Därför kommer jag att presentera veckans saga här, skriven på svenska. På tisdagar kommer lite tips och då kan det även komma tips om hur du kan använda och återkoppla till sagan efter att du har berättat för eleverna. Veckans saga #1 är en f olksaga som kommer från Burma och Thailand: Inte vårt problem Den var en fin och solig dag i hela kungariket. Kungen och hans rådgivare satt tillsammans och åt varsin riskaka med honung. Utsikten från fönstret visade torget nedanför slottet och alla människor som samlades där. När de pratade om både det ena och det andra lutade sig kungen utanför fönstret för att bättra se sig omkring. Just då trillade en droppe honung från kungens mat men kungen märkte inte att en droppe föll ner och landade på fönsterkarmen. Och sedan ... Plopp, plopp, plopp (kan använda handen för att visa droppen som trillar) Honungen landade...