In this weeks blog I really want to focus on a technology literacy strategy I have already implemented and seen the positive outcomes. Earlier this week my inclusion sixth grade History class was about to start chapter 26 which deals with World War II. In the process of the general education teacher and I framing the upcoming unit and discussing potential lessons I asked her if she would be open to trying an open source software piece of technology for a visual/vocabulary/framing lesson. Her response was somewhat unenthusiastic but she did ask me to explain my idea. I told her that I had created a social bookmarking list for a graduate school assignment and proceeded to explain that I had a resource that listed the top fifty open source tools that are free and could replace common educational apps and sites that are not free. At this point my colleague’s unenthusiastic response turned to intrigue and interest. I continued to tell her that within the fifty tools listed is an open source tool called a BingoCardMaker, which replaces the educational app BingoCardPrinter. BingoCardMaker produces bingo cards with pictures on them. My idea was to make bingo cards and setup the bingo cards with pictures from World War II that could be described by the units vocabulary words and then play bingo with the students. The way the game would work is we would call out the vocabulary words and the students would cover the picture that represented that vocabulary word. My coworker agreed to the idea and I set out to make the bingo cards. I will say it took some time playing with the BingoCardMaker tool to learn how to work it, but after my learning curve dissipated I was able to pull pictures from clip art and Google images to place in the bingo card slots. After making the bingo cards it was time for the lesson.
I honestly could not have asked for the lesson to have gone any better. The students absolutely loved playing bingo, and they grasped the concept quickly that the picture represented the word/phrase. By the end of the bingo game it seemed as though all students had learned the vocabulary because when we checked the proclaimed bingos by the students they were correct. In other words, the students were covering up the correct pictures with the correct orally read vocabulary words. Both my colleague and I considered the lesson a success in teaching the students their vocabulary for the unit and in some respects framing the unit with the visual pictures on the bingo cards. I know this is just one successful lesson, but I highly recommend trying out the open source software BingoCardMaker, and seeing for oneself the benefit of turning a lesson into a bingo game.
This is the link to the fifty open source tools: 50 Open Source Software Tools
This is the link to the download of the open source BingoCardMaker tool: Bingo Card Maker
Hi Brad,
ReplyDeleteYour blog this week perfectly demonstrates what being a 21st century teacher is all about. By implementing new ideas in the classroom & sharing them with colleagues, you have demonstrated how little by little technology can be integrated in every subject matter and classroom. I visited the Bingo site and it would be a great resource tool in my first grade classroom too. By creating boards with pictures & words, emerging readers can be successful. Thank you for this great resource.
Brad,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you have found a successful new strategy/tool to use with your students. I have never seen the Bingo Card Maker until you linked it to your post this week. I looked through the site myself and thought of several ways that I could also use this in my kindergarten classroom. Using the pictures on a Bingo card to teach words, letter, sounds, etc... would provide the accommodations for my inclusion students as well those students who need extra help. Thanks for sharing it this week.