Thinglink Possibilities

An Intro to Thinglink

Thinglink is an app that allows you to choose a background picture and add text, pictures or video to areas of the picture to explain ideas. I first saw this app a few months ago when Mr. Phillips, a middle school math teacher here in Aurora tweeting examples of his students using it to explain math concepts. I thought it was pretty cool but didn't spend any time messing around with it. Then yesterday we had a Breakfast Club with Mr. Badura about app smashing. One of the ideas Mr. Badura was excited about was app die. You roll the die and whatever apps come up, you use those apps to do the assignment. In our example Word Clouds and Thinglink came up. Our assignment was to describe our summer and this is what I came up with. Summer

Using Thinglink in my Biology classroom

Last night, as I laying in bed watching lightening every 5 seconds, I finally had time to think about Thinglink in my classroom. The more I thought about it the more excited I got about its implications in helping students learn biology. I came up with 3 different uses for Thinglink.

#1 Taking notes

In biology we use a lot of diagrams to explain complicated processes. Thinglink would be a great way to annotate the diagram because it is more organizes than writing off to the side and you can see the diagram better than if you add a ton of text boxes to it. This would work for glycolysis, Kreb's cycle, electron transport chain, light dependent reactions, Calvin cycle, parts of a cell and the list goes on. Here is an example of how Thinglink could be used to take notes over the parts of a cell. Cell Structures Chromosome Information

#2 Exit Ticket

Thinglink would be a great way check that students understand the main learning onjective for the day. In our discussion of evolution, we discuss the 3 main types of adaptations according to  Nebraska State Standard 12.3.4a The last 10 minutes of class I could have this exit ticket: save a picture of an organism to your camera roll. Use Thinglink to identify and explain at least 1 morphological adaptation, 1 physiological adaptation and 1 behavioral adaptation. Here is an example that I made in 10 minutes about a snapping turtle. Snapping Turtle

#3 Assignment

The last way I thought of to use Thinglink is to use it as an assignment. During our genetics unit I have an assignment with a strand of RNA and a strand of DNA and the students have to show 3 ways they are different. They could use thing Thinglink to do that assignment quicker and better. The nice thing about this is even after they turn in the assignment, they can still use the assignment to study and learn the material.

These are the ways I plan on using Thinglink in my classroom next year! Do you have any different ways you use Thinglink, or examples of what you have done in the past? Or can you think of ways to make my ideas better? I would love to hear from you in the comments section!

Blog a Month "sharpening the saw"

#blogamonth

I stopped by the school this morning to attend a summer professional development opportunity that our school offers on a weekly basis. Mr. Badura, our technology integration coach, hosts/moderates an hour long session, called The Breakfast Club on various topics throughout the summer. He mentioned the #blogamonth challenge and I thought it would be a great way to get back into blogging. 

Summer Growth Plan #1

My first goal for this summer is to attend as many Breakfast Clubs as possible.  always has great information prepared and makes a concerted effort to make sure he doesn't just sit and talk. He allows us teachers to question and explain, which is great because then we learn what we want to learn rather than what he thinks is important. I have found that I am confident about most of the topics and some of the information is below my level. However, the main reason I want to attend is to spend time with Mr. Badura. He has such a passion for teaching that I always leave more excited about teahing than when I got there. His excitement is contagious and he is a real asset to our school. No matter what the topic is supposed to be, he finds a way to excite me about something new. 

@mrbadura

Summer Learning Goal #2

I don't want to gush too much so I'll limit myself to one more Mr. Badura shoutout. He is also offering individualized instruction where we can meet with him to work on whatever we need to. 

My goal is to create a website for myself so I can post information and resources there for my students, their parents and any science teachers that are interested. 

Summer Learning Goal #3

I teach 11 units throughout the semester. I would like to get 1 professional in each area to talk to my students. I always am concerned that my students will think they hate science because they don't like me, my teaching style, or their classmates. That's why I try to expose them to other scientists, who are way cooler than I am, so that their natural love of science can overcome their dislike for me. Here are my units and what I have set up so far.

Summer Learning Goal #4

Someone (who I won't mention by name) posted these 5 goals for the summer. 

I am planning on doing every other one starting with the first one. 

Summer Learning Goal #5

My final goal is to regularly check twitter and zite for articles that would fit in my units. I want to get my students reading about science in a setting they would be in after high school which are internet articles.