Discussions

Virtual Trips

1- Google Art and Culture website: 

https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/the-metropolitan-museum-of-art 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York The Metropolitan Museum encompasses a variety of art and history sections. The virtual trip provides a fun and engaging learning experience, featuring thousands of works of art, ranging from paintings by Rembrandt, Van Gogh, and Vermeer to contemporary art. Most importantly, the site exhibits an Ancient Egyptian temple and archaeology, Greco-Roman sculpture, Native American and Asian-American pottery, crafts, and jewelry from different historical periods. There is also ancient calligraphy from different parts of the world. The user-friendly tour is divided into categories such as historical figures, art movements, artists, and events. It also provides a search feature by topic. Students participating in this virtual trip will learn new words and phrases. There is more than one activity that can be incorporated into the lesson plan. I would start by asking the students to describe one of the paintings, its significance, and how they feel about it, and perhaps compare it with another piece of art from a different time period or cultural region. Engaging in conversation will increase their self-confidence and encourage critical thinking. In addition, the students are exposed to different cultures and will learn to appreciate diversity. I would add a writing assignment for more advanced students about what they learned and liked the most. 

2-  Discovery Education - Arctic Virtual Field Trip:

https://buildthechange.discoveryeducation.com/vft/arctic-adventures 

This user-friendly website features 5 videos about polar bears. The guides on the virtual trip use simple language to describe the polar bears’ habits. The children in the video are engaged in conversation and ask the guides questions that intermediate and advanced ESL students can understand. The videos also provide English captions. The site allows students to join the conversation. In addition, there is an educator guide pdf and another for family activities. What I like about this particular trip is that the site invites students to share their ideas on how to help the polar bears, with a link to view other children's ideas thereafter. This can be an ESL activity that can develop their speaking and writing skills.

3- Nasa at Home: Virtual Tours and Apps: 

https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-at-home-virtual-tours-and-apps/ 

This user-friendly page contains a variety of videos ranging from the moon and the solar system to the inside of space stations and astronaut training. I would like to start with the “3D virtual tour of the International Space Station” video since it does not include any commentary. The students get to observe everything in the space station. They can then work together in groups sharing what they saw. Students can later describe it in writing as a follow-up assignment. Another assignment idea is to provide an imaginary conversation. It can be about what is going on in the astronaut’s mind while training in the space station.

AI Technologies for Teaching

1- Bit.ai 

     Since I had no prior experience with Bit.ai, I created a free account to try it out. While free, the platform offers 3 paid plans to access more features. On the signup page, I had to write my organization's and subdomain's names. I went ahead and chose a random name, and it worked. The website calls it “the most powerful wiki and document collaboration platform.”  It is like a hybrid of Google Documents and One Drive, especially in sharing and inviting collaborators, and offers more. As in Google Workspace, you can add in-line comments and collaborators and create lists and checkpoints. In addition, typing slash creates widgets of files, images, embeds, tables, and dividers.  Bit.ai can additionally insert code blocks, math equations, hint blocks, signatures, and even access asset libraries and cloud integrations. It allows you to export your files into various formats, giving you the flexibility to work with your documents in the way that suits you best. I can share any lesson with my students. I can submit comments on assignments or add quizzes and reports. If students are working in groups, they can be invited as collaborators to work on one assignment. 

     Bit.ai visually reminds me of Schoology entries. Any inserted URL is automatically converted to a customizable visual bookmarklet or rich embed. You can insert any link from up to 80 different applications. In this way, it is an excellent choice for creating an interactive lesson plan. Students can also add their own comments and contributions. One of the standout features of Bit.ai is its integration with AI. Simply typing @ activates the AI Genius. This powerful tool can create templates, outlines and even answer questions. Moreover, any document can be transformed into a wiki entry, allowing you to add subpages and build a comprehensive wiki tree. The finished product can then be shared as a live link or embedded on a website. This tool can be used as a final project for a narrative by intermediate or advanced learners. 

This is briefly about Bit.ai: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KtcKdMw3vs 

This video explains the features: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sgCFaE2XnQ&t=196s

I like this tool because it combines Google Office, storage, and has an AI assistant. I still have to explore more, but I find it user-friendly so far. In addition to organizing files and creating interactive assignments, I can use it to share resources with other teachers and invite them to share theirs.

2- Boomwriter 

     I have been searching for an application that can motivate students to write. I think I just found one! Boomwriter is a platform that inspires creative writing.  I have not tried this app before, but I tested it yesterday. It is easy and free to create a teacher’s account. The teacher will then invite students to join their class and assign certain stories based on the students’ level.  Here is how it works: First, the storybook assignment: Students read an assigned starter chapter of a story and write what they think will happen in the next chapter or two, up to five chapters. Once the teacher selects the best-written chapters, the students read them anonymously, assessing them and voting for their favorite. The winner gets their chapter published on Boomwriter.  Students can also personalize their book cover. Another highlight of this website is that they can work collaboratively on writing the next book chapter(s). I like that parents can create an account to read and purchase a copy of their child’s book. Second, other non-published activities include journal writing or simple writing assignments assigned by the teacher, such as informational or opinion writing. The teacher has the option to include vocabulary.  The website is still evolving as it promises to provide more activities in the future, such as the poetry and the flash fiction books. We’ll see how it develops. I’m very excited to start using it. 

Here is an introductory video: https://schools.boomwriter.com/assignments/new/62973

3- Spiderscribe 

     Spiderscribe is “an online mind-mapping and brainstorming tool” where teachers and students can organize their thoughts and create connections like spiderwebs. You can upload documents, links, images, media, and maps. Spiderscribe is similar to other platforms like Bit.ai and Evernote, but it is more convenient for students. The interface is super easy, user-friendly, and accessible anywhere. In general, mind-mapping is a fun way of learning. It helps students remember information and make connections between different areas. Spiderscribe enables students to create visual assignments or plan projects by adding resources. The sharing feature facilitates easy collaboration and assignment submission.    

Here is a 2-minute video tour: https://www.spiderscribe.net/videos/VideoIntroduction.php

Translation Apps

Have you tried translating Spanish, Italian or French to English using your camera? Is this useful for your students?

     It is helpful to have instant translation using the camera because some special characters may not exist on the keyboard or are challenging to find or write. It also saves time as it is immediate but not consistently accurate. While Google Translate can translate word for word correctly, it is not always as efficient in translating complete sentences. I tried translating from Japanese to English using the camera to test it, and the sentence structure and word order were off. A couple of words were not even translated. I used the web version of Google Translate in class to translate from English to Russian so that my 3rd-grade Chechen student would understand the classroom rules and homework instructions. It also helped introduce the meaning of new vocabulary. He did not speak English. Luckily, he learned Russian as a second language when he was much younger. Chechen is not on any translation app. Despite having access to this helpful tool, I did not always use it because I did not want the student to depend on it. He also could not use it because he was shy, and his voice was very low. He could not type because I didn’t have Russian alphabet characters. The apps are all similar. Google Translate and Microsoft Translator seem to have the most languages. I intend to try Baidu. Maybe it has better features. Wagyo appears to be only for Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. I tried an app called Voice Tra to talk to a pharmacist and the front desk worker. It is an instant speech translator, but it is not always perfect. Many Japanese workers had their own special translating devices to answer tourists’ inquiries.

Surveys

Surveys can be a fun and engaging way to assess student understanding and reinforce learning. they can be used for recap or your exit slip.

Survey Monkey
Test Your Knowledge of Movies Survey (surveymonkey.com)

Likes: It is easy and user-friendly. Simple themes and layouts. The main features are free. 

Dislikes: If you add any paid feature, the survey will not be posted, which makes sense. But it took me a while to figure out why I couldn't get the survey link. Editing a title page was not getting saved. Most importantly, it does not show who the respondents are. Perhaps it is in the premium upgrade. I will use it in the classroom if I am short on time, but I cannot use it in formal assessments because I will not be able to know who the respondents are.