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Bookshelf Read Aloud HyperDocs - highfill2013

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Bookshelf Read Aloud HyperDocs - highfill2013

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Access Google Sites with a personal Google account or Google Workspace account (for business use).

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ReadWorks | Award-Winning, EdTech Nonprofit Organization

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ReadWorks is an edtech nonprofit organization that is committed to helping to solve America’s reading comprehension crisis.

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When the idea to start a weekly newsletter with writing inspiration first came to us, we decided that we wanted to do more than provide people with topics to write about. We wanted to try and help authors form a regular writing habit and also give them a place to proudly display their work. So we started the weekly Creative Writing Prompts newsletter. Since then, Prompts has grown to a community of more than 450,000 authors, complete with its own literary magazine, .

Here's how our contest works: every Friday, we send out a newsletter containing five creative writing prompts. Each week, the story ideas center around a different theme. Authors then have one week - until the following Friday - to submit a short story based on one of our prompts. A winner is picked each week to win $250 and is highlighted on our Reedsy Prompts page.

Interested in participating in our short story contest? Sign up here for more information! Or you can check out our full Terms of Use and our FAQ page.

Why we love creative writing prompts

If you've ever sat in front of a computer or notebook and felt the urge to start creating worlds, characters, and storylines - all the while finding yourself unable to do so - then you've met the author's age-old foe: writer's block. There's nothing more frustrating than finding the time but not the words to be creative. Enter our directory! If you're ready to kick writer's block to the curb and finally get started on your short story or novel, these unique story ideas might just be your ticket.

This list of 1800+ creative writing prompts has been created by the Reedsy team to help you develop a rock-solid writing routine. As all aspiring authors know, this is the #1 challenge - and solution! - for reaching your literary goals. Feel free to filter through different genres, which include...

High School- Encourage teens to let their imaginations run free.

Want to submit your own story ideas to help inspire fellow writers? Send them to us here.

After you find the perfect story idea

Finding inspiration is just one piece of the puzzle. Next, you need to refine your craft skills - and then display them to the world. We've worked hard to create resources that help you do just that! Check them out:

Beyond creative writing prompts: how to build a writing routine

While writing prompts are a great tactic to spark your creative sessions, a writer generally needs a couple more tools in their toolbelt when it comes to developing a rock-solid writing routine. To that end, here are a few more additional tips for incorporating your craft into your everyday life.

NNWT. Or, as book coach Kevin Johns calls it, "Non-Negotiable Writing Time." This time should be scheduled into your routine, whether that's once a day or once a week. Treat it as a serious commitment, and don't schedule anything else during your NNWT unless it's absolutely necessary.

Set word count goals. And make them realistic! Don't start out with lofty goals you're unlikely to achieve. Give some thought to how many words you think you can write a week, and start there. If you find you're hitting your weekly or daily goals easily, keep upping the stakes as your craft time becomes more ingrained in your routine.

Talk to friends and family about the project you're working on. Doing so means that those close to you are likely to check in about the status of your piece - which in turn keeps you more accountable.

Arm yourself against writer's block. Writer's block will inevitably come, no matter how much story ideas initially inspire you. So it's best to be prepared with tips and tricks you can use to keep yourself on track before the block hits. You can find 20 solid tips here - including how to establish a relationship with your inner critic and apps that can help you defeat procrastination or lack of motivation.

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1800+ Creative Writing Prompts To Inspire You Right Now

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Browse through hundreds of creative writing prompts - and enter our free short story contest to WIN $250 and publication. Kickstart your writing now!

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About Us - Contact Us - How to Use Visual Writing Prompts - FAQ

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Over 1,000 Writing Prompts for Students - The New York Times

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Over 1,000 Writing Prompts for Students - The New York Times

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Over 1,000 Writing Prompts for Students (Published 2018)

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Our biggest list yet, full of questions on everything from video games and fashion to smartphones and parenting.

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Fables HyperDoc
•https://goo.gl/yzlWfF•

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Binder of grade/subject level hyperdocs for classroom use

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Novel Study Tic-Tac-Toe Menu Choice Board by Kasey Bell - Google Docs

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Novel Study Tic-Tac-Toe Menu Choice Board by Kasey Bell - Google Docs

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Novel Study Tic-Tac-Toe Menu Choice Board by Kasey Bell

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Susan Boyle - I Dreamed A Dream. - YouTube

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Susan Boyle - I Dreamed A Dream. - YouTube

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Use video clip as introduction to stereo-typing, preconceptions, and assumption.

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Storybird - Read, write, discover, and share the books you'll always remember.

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Become a better writer with Storybird's creativity tools. Online courses, challenges, and reader feedback will help you improve your writing.

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Concise art-based, inquiry lessons unpack landmark works of art, teach close reading skills, and build interdisciplinary connections

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Prism was a project for crowdsourced text analysis developed by the Praxis Program at the Scholars' Lab, a center for experimental digital research at the University of Virginia Library. After years of significant use, particularly by K-12 educators, as of summer of 2020 Prism is no longer available as a usable tool. This site is meant to document the intervention it made, and it primarily presents archival versions of the writings that accompanied the tool on its site.

Prism was released under a CC-BY 3.0 license. The materials below were largely drawn from the original Prism site, though they have been lightly updated and edited based on recent activities (mostly verb tense). After a short description of different ways to run similar activities in the classroom, the subsequent sections each describe particular pages from the original Prism site, all originally published in 2013 with small changes over the years.

Pedagogical Alternatives to Prism

While the tool was envisioned originally to be used for research into crowdsourced interpretation, it saw significantly more use by K-12 teachers. This user group used the tool to track understanding and language literacy, asking users, for example, to mark passages they did or did not understand. Another example from second language learning asked readers to mark verb tenses in use throughout a passage, offering at a glance a sense of what areas needed to be reinforced for students. Given the heavy classroom use of Prism, we wanted to offer a few alternative ideas for related tools and activities that teachers might use instead.

If you are still intrigued by Prism, you might explore the original transparency game that Prism was based upon. The idea is pretty simple. You need:

A set of transparencies

A set of dry erase markers

A short passage printed out with several copies

An interpretive prompt

As we played it while preparing for Prism, each person gets a copy of the text, a transparency, and three colored dry erase markers (we went with red, green, and blue). It's important that every person have the same colors for the exercise to be meaningful. The interpretive prompt needs some constraint to be meaningful, and, again, we chose to assign single words to particular colors. At the start of a timer, each person is asked to place the transparency over their text, read it, and highlight words and passages based on their connections to the highlighter colors/categories. At the end, you collect the transparencies, stack them, and discuss the ways the colors do or do not overlap.

This transparency game, of course, requires in-person instruction. You could approximate some version of the effect by adopting a think-pair-share format. I would start by asking students to highlight a text individually and then, in breakout rooms, pair students off to compare their highlights. From there, the group can reconstitute itself for larger discussion. You won't exactly replicate the effect of visualizing overlapping interpretations, but, then again, the visualization was always meant to be a metaphor for-and in the serve of-discussion more generally. If you are interested in text analysis writ large, Voyant remains a user-friendly online alternative (with far more functionality). And Now Comment is a good alternative for generating class discussion more generally in an online environment.

Page 1: About Prism

Published around 2013, the text of the Prism about page conveyed the intervention it tried to make.

Prism was a tool for "crowdsourcing interpretation." Users were invited to provide an interpretation of a text by highlighting words according to different categories, or "facets." Each individual interpretation then contributed to the generation of a visualization which demonstrated the combined interpretation of all the users. The team envisioned Prism as a tool for both pedagogical use and scholarly exploration, revealing patterns that exist in the subjective experience of reading a text.

The concept emerged from a decade-long conversation on categories of textual interpretation which took place at the University of Virginia, and specifically from transparency mark-up games played by UVa Media Studies students and at SpecLab:

the original game involved shared, Xeroxed page images, transparent overlays, dry-erase markers, a common interpretive prompt, and a moment in which somebody yelled 'Stop!' and the transparencies were stacked up for discussion. (Nowviskie)

At SpecLab, Jerome McGann and Johanna Drucker further developed the concept, which became known as the "Patacritical Demon" - the best bit of vaporware (not) to emerge from UVa at the turn of the century.

The Scholars' Lab offered these un-realized concepts as inspiration for the first project to be undertaken by graduate student fellows of the Praxis Program in its inaugural year. The task of the 2011-2012 team of students was to determine how to translate the physical exercise of marking a text into a digital one. They chose to employ a constrained interpretive vocabulary and to limit the length of the text in order to stay true to the transparency game. Like the transparency exercise, the end goal of Prism was to produce aesthetic provocations, that is, visualizations which provoke further discussion.

The 2012-2013 cohort of Praxis fellows (listed below) retained the vision set by the original team. Their goal was to expand Prism to a format that would promote classroom use and scholarly conversation. This led them to define two primary objectives. The first was the ability for users to upload their own texts and to define their own interpretive categories. The second was to create a more inviting and user-friendly environment that would encourage participation and exploration. To that end, they redesigned the website, paying special attention to workflow, ease of use, and aesthetic concerns. In addition, both the simple visualization feature and highlighting function were refined, in hope that Prism can now be more easily employed by the user for a variety of interpretive projects.

Some potential uses for Prism can be found collected in the Pedagogy Toolkit for English. In addition, the Praxis team wrote a lengthier theorization of the tool for Linguistic and Literary Computing.

Page 2: Prism Front Page

The front page of Prism was designed to be playful and inviting. Users could upload their own Prism documents or participate in highlighting documents that already existed. At the time Prism was retired, there tens of thousands of distinct Prism documents uploaded. The handful of first documents - "The Raven," "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man", "The Sneetches," and "Notes on the State of Virginia" - had markings from between 80 and 800 users.

Page 3: Prism Highlight Page

The highlight page was the main point of entry for interacting with a text through Prism. After uploading a document, a user was asked to mark their interpretation along particular categories. The cursor and interface mimicked the act of highlighting the documents like you would in the original transparency game.

Page 4: Prism Visualization Page Part 1

The visualization page offered two options. The tool collected all the markings of each person who had played with the document to offer two visualizations. The "Winning Facet Visualization" used Google Charts API to show, at a glance, which interpretation was marked more heavily for a particular word.

Page 4: Prism Visualization Page Part 2

The "Font Size Visualization" offered users the chance to see, within a particular category, which words were marked most frequently. Whereas "Winning Facet Visualization" could, for example, show which words were marked realism vs modernism, the "Font Size Visualization" could show which words were the most modernist, at least according to the readers.

Page 5: Original Demo Video

This video, originally used as a tutorial for the tool, gives a sense of how the tool was meant to function.

Page 6: Planned Future Directions at Completion of Development in 2013

Thinking About Texts

Although the 2012-2013 cohort eventually chose to focus our efforts on expanding the word-based capabilities of Prism, we had many discussions throughout year about expanding our conception of "texts" to include more than the written word. Could Prism be used to generate collaborative readings of photographs, maps, musical scores, or audio clips? In response to this question, we came up with a number of ideas. Here, we have chosen to share some of those possibilities.

Interpreting Photographs

There already exist a number of promising image-based web applications. Projects such as Snapshot Serengeti use crowd sourcing to complete scholarly and research based projects. Others, such as ImagePlot, identify macro patterns through a series of images. In addition, there are a number of applications which allow you to annotate images as an individual and perhaps view other annotations of the same document (e.g. Tile, Uvic, and A.nnotate). However, most of these applications don't allow you to overlay multiple annotations in order to generate a collaborative interpretation. That's where Prism could come in.

As a test case, we tried using the transparency game on an image. Drawing on her own research interests, Cecilia presented us with the following image. In a manner similar to the transparency game, we were then asked to highlight areas of the image that we identified as "southern." The exercise resulted in some surprising results. In addition to highlighting the "colored" sign that was emblematic of the Jim Crow South, most readers also highlighted the boy's body. It is striking that they would see blackness, or this black boy, as representative of the South. One could argue that this is because of the proliferation of photographic images during the Workers Progress Administration that highlighted black, southern poverty.

Jim Crow Drinking Fountain, county courthouse lawn. Halifax, North Carolina, 1938.

How can this exercise be executed in a digital format? There are two basic problems. How will users be able to interact with the image and how will the resulting data then be aggregated and visualized? We discussed several options for highlighting images, but there are two which seem to hold the most promise. First, the image could be divided up into various sections which the users can "tag" with various categories, much like the tagging feature on facebook. To visualize the collaborative interpretation, we could then display the "winning" category for each section, much like the current option to display the winning facet for each word in Prism. Secondly, users could be given a paintbrush tool which would allow them to highlight whichever elements on the page they see fit. In that case, we could visualize the resulting interpretation through a heat map layered over the photograph. Those portions that receive the most markings would turn red and the least blue, for example.

Word-based Texts: Additional Possibilites

In addition, there are a number of ways in which Prism might expand its ability to work with written texts. The first is to offer additional ways to visualize the collaborative interpretations. Below are a number of sketches from the 2011-2012 Praxis team. You can see that we have realized some of these ideas in this edition of Prism. Users can now view a pie chart which presents the percentage of users who highlighted for each facet under the "winning color" visualization option. In addition, provocative visualizations could draw upon existing web applications that use text mining, such as the word clouds generated through applications like Voyant.

Other possibilities for Prism include expanding the way in which Prism creates collaborative interpretations by relying on computational linguistic analysis. Specifically, this would allow for a more open-ended interpretation process. Imagine if users were free to apply any description they see fit to a passage of text or a particular word (similar to the capabilities offered by NowComment). Prism would then process these comments through topic modeling (e.g. Jockers' work) to visualize the most common words invoked by users. In addition, this process could be paired with a thesaurus in order to computationally identify synonyms, allowing for a more synthesized collaborative interpretation based on open-ended commentary from users.

Page 7: Contributors

The Praxis Program

The Praxis Program is a key mentoring and training project of the Scholars' Lab at the University of Virginia Library, in which six humanities graduate students spend a year in a collaborative, hands-on, digital humanities apprenticeship. The program's goal is to better equip knowledge workers for emerging faculty positions and alternative academic careers at a moment in which new questions can be asked and new systems built. Visit the Praxis Program site to learn more about the program's evolving curriculum and to hear directly from Praxis Fellows and Scholars' Lab faculty and staff as they blog about their experiences. The first two, pilot years of the Praxis Program were supported by a generous grant from the Mellon Foundation to UVa Library's Scholarly Communication Institute, which also allowed the Scholars' Lab to create a broader Praxis Network, in collaboration with six other universities in three countries.

2012-13 Praxis Alumni

Shane Lin

Shane Lin refactored the database schema and worked on user uploads. He commands the loyalty of forest creatures and once won second place in a baking competition. He is a graduate student in the History department.

Claire Maiers

Claire Maiers, herder of cats, served as the Project Manager and worked on copy for the Prism website. She is a PhD student in the Sociology department.

Cecilia Márquez

Cecilia Márquez worked on the design team building and breaking CSS like it was her full time job. Her crowning achievement in Praxis was he making almost everyone in the office say "Honey Boo Boo" at least once. She is a PHD student in the History department.

Gwen Nally

Gwen Nally was our Prism Designer. She worked with Cecilia Márquez to create wire frames and to style the website. She is a PhD candidate in the Philosophy department.

Chris Peck

Chris Peck worked on improvements to the highlighter tool and visualizations. He is a PhD student in the Music Department.

Brandon Walsh

Brandon Walsh worked on implementing Omniauth, helped with user uploads, and generally made snarky comments while the rest of the design team was working. He is a PhD student in the English department.

2011-2012 Praxis Alumni

Alex Gil

Alex Gil did early development on the Rails setup. The most continental of the Fellows, Alex also built an i18n framework for multi-lingual support and translated the site into French, Spanish, and German. Towards the end he worked on migrating Prism to production. Alex is a doctoral candidate in the UVa English Department.

Brooke Lestock

Brooke Lestock served as Project Co-Manager, along with the fabulous Sarah Storti. Brooke was also a member of the design team, which entailed conceptualizing and wireframing the Prism site, styling odds and ends, as well as contributing and editing prose for the site as needed. She is a master's candidate in the UVa English Department.

Lindsay O'Connor

Lindsay O'Connor was the devoted web designer among the Praxis Fellows. With plenty of help from Brooke and Sarah and Scholars' Lab R&D, she translated the team's wireframes and Ed's static page designs into their current web format, and also managed some of the design workflow. Lindsay is a doctoral candidate in the UVa English Department.

Sarah Storti

Sarah Storti was Project Co-Manager, together with the incomparable Brooke Lestock. Additionally, Sarah participated in design team discussions, helped to solidify the user story and wireframes for the site, and spent a significant amount of time writing, reading, and editing Prism site prose. She is a doctoral candidate in the UVa English Department.

Joanna Swafford

Joanna Swafford acted as lead developer for the project. She built the data model and the necessary Rails framework, along with the javascript that enables highlighting and visualizing the texts. Annie also stepped up as all-purpose trouble-shooter extraordinaire in the final weeks of development. She is a doctoral candidate in the UVa English Department.

Ed Triplett

Ed Triplett, artistic visionary, designed a static prototype of the Prism webpage. His other duties included creating the Prism logo as well as making Adobe Illustrator versions of the many wireframes that emerged from design meetings. Ed also contributed sketches of possible future visualizations. He is a doctoral candidate in the UVa McIntire Department of Art.

The Scholars' Lab

The Scholars' Lab was established in 2006 by the University of Virginia Library as a site for innovation in the humanities and social sciences. The Scholars' Lab is a place where faculty and advanced students can explore digital resources, find expert help, and collaborate on innovative research projects. The SLab also hosts events, such as workshops, talks, and roundtables, and sponsors the Praxis Program and a prestigious graduate fellowship in the digital humanities.

Jeremy Boggs

Humanities Design Architect (of Dreams), UVa Library Scholars' Lab; Wizard of Web Aesthetics

Wayne Graham

Head of R&D, UVa Library Scholars' Lab; The Obi-Wan Kenobi of Programming

Eric Johnson

Head of Outreach & Consulting, UVa Library Scholars' Lab; Resident Nice Guy

David McClure

Web Applications Specialist, UVa Library Scholars' Lab; All-Around Wunderkind

Dr. Bethany Nowviskie

Director, Digital Research & Scholarship, UVa Library; Our Fearless Leader

Dr. Eric Rochester

Senior Developer, UVa Library Scholars' Lab; Programming Jedi, Solver of Problems

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Prism was a project for crowdsourced text analysis developed by the Praxis Program at the Scholars' Lab, a center for experimental digital research at the University of Virginia Library. After years of significant use, particularly by K-12 educators, as of summer of 2020 Prism is no longer available as a usable tool.

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Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

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Mentor texts have long been used to model writing techniques. Mentor art can likewise be used to inspire, teach, and refine student writing. Mentor art has the added benefit of addressing diverse learning styles and providing visual support to language learners.

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Browse Essays By Theme

Use this feature to browse through the tens of thousands of essays that have been submitted to This I Believe. Select a theme to see a listing of essays that address the selected theme.
The number to the right of each theme indicates how many essays have been tagged with that particular theme.

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Use this feature to browse through the tens of thousands of essays that have been submitted to This I Believe. Select a theme to see a listing of essays that address the selected theme. The number to the right of each theme indicates how many essays have been tagged with that particular theme.

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Now students can follow the latest news. All tailored to their reading level. To explore the kids' website, select a grade and discover new stories each week. View articles by grade level

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Newsela | Nonfiction Literacy and Current Events

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Newsela | Nonfiction Literacy and Current Events

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It's time to improve literacy skills during social studies instruction and ensure that readers of all abilities have what they need to access grade-level social studies concepts.

Join us on Thursday, December 7 for a look at scaffolded materials that provide extra literacy support while building key social studies concepts and skills.

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Newsela | Content and assessment platform

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Content Aligned To National & State Standard, Flexible To Support Relevant Curriculum. Find the Perfect Piece Of Content For Lessons. Go beyond the book.

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Student Writing Models | Thoughtful Learning K-12

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Student Writing Models | Thoughtful Learning K-12

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Webstite Evaluation Hyperdoc (Shareable) - Google Docs

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Webstite Evaluation Hyperdoc (Shareable) - Google Docs

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Technology Project Alternatives - Google Sheets

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Technology Project Alternatives - Google Sheets

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CommonLit | Book Pairings | Free Fiction & Nonfiction Literacy Resources, Curriculum, & Assessment Materials for Middle & High School English Language Arts

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CommonLit | Book Pairings | Free Fiction & Nonfiction Literacy Resources, Curriculum, & Assessment Materials for Middle & High School English Language Arts

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View the CommonLit collection and filter by grade level, theme, genre, literacy device and common core standard.

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Tons of ELA Hyperdoc examples

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Copy of Argument Essay RoadMap - Google Docs

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Copy of Argument Essay RoadMap - Google Docs

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How to Make an Infographic: Free Visual E-Book for Beginners | Visual Learning Center by Visme

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How to Make an Infographic: Free Visual E-Book for Beginners | Visual Learning Center by Visme

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Stop stressing over the idea of creating an infographic - it's not as difficult as it seems.

Believe it or not, you can make an infographic in 5 steps. All you need are the right tools plus an easy-to-follow guide. As long as you have these down, your infographic strategy is on the right track.
Here's a short selection of 8 easy-to-edit infographic templates you can edit, share and download with Visme. View more templates below:
Before we start, here's a quick overview of the sections.

Set a goal and choose an infographic type

Plan and create the content

Organize and visualize your data

Choose a template or a set of content blocks

Add engaging design elements

Below is an infographic with the five steps, just to show you that you can pretty much create one from any type of information. It's just a matter of visualizing engaging content for the reader.

Table of Contents

1. Set a Goal and Choose an Infographic Type

Before you do anything towards designing an infographic, you need to know why you're doing it in the first place. Adding infographics to your content marketing strategy isn't just about aesthetics; it's about the communication you're creating with your readers.

What would you like them to gain from seeing your infographic? How would you want them to react to it? What value will your infographic add to their lives?

Start by setting attainable goals for your infographic design. If you don't know what you want the results to be, you'll have difficulty putting it all together into a cohesive infographic design.

Use a SMART goals approach to pinpoint what you wish to achieve:

Specific: I want my infographic to inform the reader about the positive rise in remote working.

Measurable: My infographic will inspire businesses to embrace remote possibilities for workers.

Achievable: I will distribute my infographic on a blog, social media, and outreach strategies.

Relevant: The data in my infographic is less than six months old.

Time-Bound: I must publish my infographic in two weeks.

Use this SMART goals template to draft these ideas out with your team.

Define your infographic's purpose.

A big part of setting goals is to define a purpose.

For example, will it be part of a blog post, or are you planning on distributing only on social media? Is the purpose of the infographic to be informational or purely entertaining? If informative, is it an academic infographic, or a corporate or casual one?

Maybe your infographic is part of an annual report or training manual. If so, it'll need to match the rest of the design, both in visual composition and tone. Not to mention, branding qualities like color and font must be the same as the other pages.

Is the purpose of your infographic to print, laminate and put up on the wall of the employee restroom? Or maybe it's meant for an event booth where you'll hang up posters. Are you creating the infographic fully immersive as a scrolling web page?

Now is the time to make these decisions.

Sign up. It's free.

Select an aspect ratio and file type.

According to the purpose of your infographic, you'll need to select an aspect ratio and final output. As you might already know, vertical infographics are not the only option. Their square, horizontal and multipage counterparts are quickly growing in favor, mostly on social media.

Not to mention all the other places where infographics make appearances like proposals, onboarding documents, school bathrooms and more.

Aspect Ratio

The first decision is the aspect ratio. Here are your options and where their use is most suited.

Vertical: Blog posts, Instagram Stories, TikTok, Pinterest, infographic curation sites, printed event posters, magazines, interactive websites and documents. Vertical can be as tall as you want, depending on the final output.

Square: Blog posts, social media posts, Instagram carousels and documents.

Horizontal: Blog posts, presentations, videos, printed postcards, billboards, printed posters and documents.

File Type

The final output is all about the file type of your finished infographic. Select the option that makes the most sense with your goal and purpose. Here are your options and use cases.

Image: Download as an image if you plan to include the infographic in a blog post or document. As an image, JPEG or PNG, an infographic will be static and have no interactive elements.

PDF: You'll only really need a PDF if you plan on printing the final design. But ask your printers first, as they might just want an image.

Carousel or Multi-Page: If your infographic is a carousel or multipage, download a zip file of each slide as an image or share via a live link with Visme.

Video: Infographic videos are usually horizontal or sometimes square. They're downloaded as .mp4 and uploaded to your website or YouTube.

Interactive: Interactive infographics are best shared as a live link or embedded into your website. If your infographic is a page on its own, download it as an HMTL5 and include it on your website.

Here's an example of an interactive infographic embedded into the page. This technique is easy, and it's the best solution when sharing live data or if you might need to make a change in the near future. You could say it's the most agile way of making infographics.

Choose an infographic type.

Next up, it's time to decide on exactly what type of infographic you'll be making.

This choice is all about the content; assess accordingly to pick the perfect one. Combine with the selected aspect ratio and final output, and you've got a winning infographic.

In this section, we'll take a look at some of the most common infographic content types you can create with Visme.

If you prefer to watch rather than read, here's a video where Mike from Visme sums up the different types and shows examples of each.

Informational

The informational infographic is the most common and versatile for blogs and social media purposes. There are various ways to compose an informational infographic, depending on the content.

It could be a list, a collection of information blocks that repeat visually or a highly interactive composition of bite-sized content.

Here's an informational infographic template you can use:

Statistical

The second most common type of infographic is statistical or multi-chart. These are infographics with layouts that include information made up of numerical data. The combination is usually any mix of pie charts, arrays and data widgets.

Here's an example of a statistical infographic template:

Mind Map

Use a mind map style infographic to share how you came up with an idea or teach others how to do it. This infographic content type is excellent for client proposals, academic research posters, and anything involving thought processes.

Here's a mind map template as an example:

List

The list infographic is easily one of the most common infographics out there, which is not surprising since it's so easy to make quickly. You know the listicle blog post and the listicle video? The list infographic is of the same family.

Below is an example of a list infographic template:

Timeline

If our Google Analytics is any inspiration, timelines are super popular!

They're also relatively easy to make. The trick to timeline infographics is to make sure each content piece is the same size in terms of word and character count; this way, it stays balanced.

Here's a timeline infographic template you can customize:

How-To

Every 'How To' blog post or guide deserves its own infographic. Select the perfect combination of icons to help visualize the steps in a fun and interesting way. How-to infographics are an excellent option for interactivity as well.

Here's an example of a how-to infographic template:

Process

There are so many uses for a process infographic, from training guides to explainer videos. Adding animation and interactivity can take a process infographic to the next level. Use icons and lines or the Visme flowchart tool.

Below is an example of a process infographic template:

Comparison

Are you looking for an infographic to help you visually compare data sets? Great comparison infographics are the ones that have apparent differences and an organized layout - an exceptional option for review sites that publish comparisons between products.

Here's a comparison infographic template as an example:

Geographical

The geographical infographic isn't as common as others but is still quite practical for visualizing choropleth maps with all sorts of data. You can also use a map infographic to show location concepts from large regions to smaller country areas.

Here's an example of a geographical infographic template:

Flowchart

Visme Flowchart infographics use our flowchart maker, an intuitive tool that grows with your content. The different shapes are customizable, and the lines are mobile even once connected to a shape.

Here's a flowchart infographic template you can use right away:

Hierarchical

Hierarchical infographics are ideal for visualizing information with a size or importance decrease or increase. For example, food and nutrition charts or sales funnel explanations.

Use this type of infographic with a pyramid or cone chart to optimize hierarchy. Here's an example of a hierarchical infographic template.

Single Chart

Single chart infographics are smaller than regular infographics and include only one chart. These are ideal for visualizing a simple data set with a bar graph, pie chart, line chart, map or radar chart.

Include a legend for easy visualizing. Single chart infographics are also great for sharing bite-sized data on social media. You can also create them from longer infographics.

Anatomical

An anatomical infographic is all about describing the essential features of a person, object or idea.

The central element is surrounded by shapes and lines, including the content for each feature. This style of infographic is more creative than others.

Here's an anatomy infographic template you can use:

Organizational Charts

Organizational charts are essential in business building and planning.

A branded organizational chart can be included in the About Us page of your website, an annual report or a pitch deck to get funding. Use attractive images of your team to make it personal.

2. Plan and Create the Content

With step 1 complete, it's time to plan and create the content for your infographic. According to your strategic planning and goal setting, you selected a type of infographic to make. Align your content with the purpose and overall layout of the infographic.

For example, if you chose a timeline infographic, set up the content in chronological order. If you're creating a statistical infographic, it's essential to outline the data and content in their proper order and sections. Let's look a bit deeper.

Create an outline that matches the infographic style.

The best way to start writing the content is an overview outline. Create this outline following the infographic style you chose. Take a look at the example infographics to analyze how the visuals work and set up the content to match.

When writing infographic copy, use strategies to make the message easy to grasp with the least words possible. Infographics are not the place to get wordy or overzealous with vocabulary.

Use the KISS method and "Keep It Simple, Stupid!"

Create clusters from the main outline.

Infographics have sections; that's why they're easier to read. Most people will skim an infographic rather than read it. In general, infographics are not detailed data visualizations with deep data sets that you need a legend to understand. Keep it simple! (remember, KISS).

Use the outline as a guide to separate the content into clusters. Try to keep the word and character count even; that way, you won't end up with a huge text box next to a tiny one, throwing the infographic design off balance.

Take note of where you can add data visualizations.

As you create your content clusters, look for opportunities to use data visualization.

A spreadsheet with data is a clear indicator that you could turn that into some type of chart. But what about percentages, comparisons, and statistical snippets? Those can all be visual.

Take note of your content where you can take advantage of this tool.

3. Organize and Visualize Your Data

Content and data are different, yet you can visualize both. For example, a list can be content blocks with icons and colored numbers. Similarly, statistical snippets make for great data widgets.

Let's take a look at all your options below.

Bonus: Watch this video to understand how data visualizations work and help tell stories visually.

Select the best data visualization types for your content.

Choosing between a line graph or a pie chart - or many others - depends on the kind of data you have on hand.

You have various data visualization options when you create an infographic with Visme. Here's an infographic summarizing all the charts and graphs available in our editor.

Let's take a closer look at each one and when to use it:

Dual Charts

A dual chart combines a line chart and a bar graph.

This combination chart enables you to visualize two data sets that change over time and compare their differences. Color the dual chart with contrasting colors.

Radar Chart

The radar chart is a circular grid where you can plot one or more data series.

For example, the aspects of a group of restaurants, service, food flavor, ambiance and location - each plotted on a point in the radials.

Cone Chart

The main reason to use a cone chart is to visualize hierarchical data or a hierarchical flow.

For example, you can visualize numerical data from largest to smallest or a process that diminishes in size or importance as it progresses.

Pie Chart

Pie charts are perfect for comparing parts of a whole, most commonly percentages. The thing about pie charts, though, is that the data should differ enough, so it's easy to understand.

For example, if the data includes three values, 28%, 32%, and 40%, the wedges will look too similar to each other.

Line Chart

A line chart is ideal for comparing changes over time, even with minor variations.

They're also helpful in comparing differences between groups with lines in different colors. This is a perfect opportunity to KISS (keep it simple, stupid).

Bar Graph

Use bar graphs to show changes over time, but it will make more sense when the variations are large and more evident (use a line chart for smaller variations).

Bar graphs also help compare statistics between different groups.

Data Widgets

A data widget is a small visualization for data that stands alone, for example, percentages and parts of a whole unit. These are perfect for statistical, informational, multi-chart, single chart and minimal data visualization infographics.

Arrays

A data array is a visualization using icons of two different denominations.

The comparison is between two or three groups. Each group is color-coded, and each icon represents a full amount. Include a legend for better understanding.

Maps

Maps are a great addition to an infographic when any information has to do with location or geographic data.

Choose from continents to countries to regions and color code the map to match the rest of your design. A map data visualization can be part of an informational infographic or used on its own.

Venn Diagrams

Use a Venn diagram to compare groups and visualize what they have in common and what they don't.

Generally, Venn diagrams are created with circles but can also have ovals, triangles or elaborate designs. The data has two groups but can have as many as 6 or 8. A simple diagram fits well in a large infographic or on its own.

Tables

Including tables in an infographic isn't very common, but they can help if you're comparing a list of features or maybe a short pricing table.

Use the integrated Visme tables with formatting and layout options or create your own using shapes, lines and formatted text. Make sure to complete the table in a way that matches the rest of the infographic.

Mind Map

Mind maps make for great infographics inside blog posts because they help readers understand the content better. These visualizations are the best for conceptual content with no numerical data or blog posts about how to do things, create processes or brainstorm ideas.

Visualizing your content as a mind map can take many forms, from bubble maps to brace charts. These are also called graphic organizers, and their best use is as their own infographic or as part of a creative, informational infographic.

This video walks you through all the types available.

4. Choose a Template to Start With

Now that you know what type of infographic you want to create, it's time to figure out the technicalities. Browse the template gallery for the style you need.

Additionally, here are some things you can do to make sure you choose the right infographic template to start with:

Look for inspiration.

When you're not sure what you'll like your infographic to look like, looking at inspiration is a great help.

The templates in this article are a great place to start, but you can also look on Pinterest, infographic curation sites and Behance. The video below also has tons of inspiration to give you some ideas.

Choose an infographic template.

The most straightforward way to create infographics is to use a template. Sometimes it's the templates themselves that give you the idea for an infographic in the first place.

Other times you have the idea, and you just need a template to start. The most important thing to remember is that you can either stick to the layout a template offers or customize it.

Visme templates are 100% customizable and include a draggable bar at the bottom that helps you make the infographic longer or shorter according to your content.

Check out 1,000+ ready-to-go infographic templates! Browse Now

Use Visme's ready-made content blocks.

Aside from the ease of using templates, you also can use content blocks. Imagine a content gallery of pre-designed blocks that you can mix and match however you want on a blank infographic canvas.

The magic of Visme content blocks is that they're all in grayscale with basic fonts, so it's easy to apply your branding to all content blocks at once.

Here's a rundown of the Visme content blocks.

Headline

These are the essential headline designs for the topmost part of your infographic. There are different visual options.

Icons & Text

Icons & Text content blocks are perfect for visualizing small content clusters like on a list or informational infographic.

Images & Text

Try the images and text content blocks with creative image crops if you'd like to use images in your infographic.

Statistics & Figures

The statistics and figures content blocks are a variety of data widgets and small data visualizations, including percentages and gauges.

Charts & Graphs

This gallery section is all about data, including bar graphs and pie charts in different layouts and compositions.

Comparison

Comparison content blocks are perfect for informational infographics that need to visualize content side by side.

Diagrams

The content blocks with diagrams include pyramids, Venn diagrams and other visualizations to help you build an infographic.

Timelines

Timelines are great content blocks for small infographics in any aspect ratio, from vertical to multi-slide documents.

Process

This content block category is about processes and the flow of information from one step to the next.

Anatomicals

Anatomical infographic content blocks are a bit different from the others. These are all about describing the features of a person or object.

Maps

Geographical content blocks are next in a collection of ready-to-use layouts and compositions for your infographic.

Footer

The last section of the content block collection is the footer. It's here that you add your logo and information sources.

5. Add Engaging Design Elements

When your infographic has all the content it needs and is edited to the point of including only what's essential for relaying the message, it's time to make sure it's also visually appealing.

Adding design elements is important but requires a degree of consciousness that can be difficult for non-designers.

Here is a video with some tips that can help you understand the essential aspects of infographic design. These will help you make your infographic interesting and easy to understand.

A great way to get things right is to know what will make things go wrong and avoid them. As you can see below, errors like mistakenly chosen color palettes make text difficult to read.

Shapes.

Shapes are your best design tool when creating infographics. They help separate content and improve the flow from top to bottom.

There's also a more profound use to shapes, as they can impart feelings and thoughts to the viewer. Viewer perception is important, and shapes play a big part in that.

Check out this article detailing types of shapes and how they're used in graphic design.

Color Palette.

Choosing the colors for your infographic is all about contrast and legibility. The color palette must have one primary color and another to complement it.

Use two or three other colors to finish the color scheme. Contrast is indispensable for text over a background color or texture; the text must be easy to read and not hurt the eye to look at it.

You can use Visme's color palette generator to instantly create a color palette from an image that defines the mood or tone of your infographic. Here's a quick GIF showing how that works.

Fonts.

When creating infographics, the fonts you choose should support the content and data without distracting or taking away from the flow. Use no more than two fonts or variations of the same font.

Stay away from novelty fonts that are difficult to read, unless the content truly needs it. Don't use too many colors on the text and keep it balanced.

Here's an infographic showing some examples of great font pairs.

Icons.

Icons are the magic potion when it comes to infographics. They help visualize the story in the content, separate it into sections, create visual flow and help balance the design as a whole.

Use the same icon style throughout to maintain an ideal composition. For added visual depth, use 3D icons color-coded to match the design.

Animation & Interactivity

Have you considered creating an interactive infographic?

You can add all sorts of animated and interactive elements to your infographics in Visme, including links and popups, animated icons, characters and illustrations, videos, quizzes and GIFs.

Here's Mike showing you the best options for adding animation to your infographics.

Bonus: Tips to Improve Your Infographic Design

Making an infographic is as easy as the five steps outlined in this guide. But you also need to have good design. That's why we offer you so many templates in different styles to get you started.

If you still feel like you don't know about design enough to create an infographic, don't worry. With the design tips in the video and the list below, you'll be right on track to create a great infographic.

Avoid clutter.

There's nothing worse than a cluttered infographic - too much text mushed together, visuals without air to breathe and no space between titles and body text.

Yes, indeed, space on an infographic is usually limited, but part of that space needs to be empty areas, margins, spaces and what designers like to call "white space."

Again, here's Mike with lots of practical tips to help you figure it out.

Establish visual hierarchy.

Make sure that your infographic has a good visual hierarchy. The main title must have the largest text of the entire design, then the subtitle a bit smaller.

Here are some additional visual hierarchy principles to keep in mind:

Every section must follow a set of rules that you repeat throughout the design. These rules include the size of the section title, the size of the body text and the size of any icons or visuals.

Keep it balanced and ensure a flow to how the infographic reads.

Keep it on-brand.

If you're a business creating an infographic for marketing or internal communication purposes, it's critical to make sure your infographic is on-brand. If you're making the infographic for a client, then it's their brand that must be front and center.

Brand elements include the color palette, font pairing, brand icons, tone and voice. Don't forget to add your logo and website URL in the footer of your infographic.

Additionally, for SEO and readability purposes, when you add the infographic to your site, make sure to include your brand name in the file title and descriptive alt tags.

Create Stunning Infographics Online for Free

That's it - you're ready to create an infographic with engaging content that will attain the goal you set for it. Sign up for a free Visme account today and create beautiful infographics online easily.

Take advantage of 1000's of ready-made templates, drag-and-drop design tools, free images and icons, animation and interactivity, and much more.

Don't forget to brush up on all the different ways you can promote your infographic and how to use infographics as part of your marketing strategy so you can get maximum results out of your efforts!

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How to Make an Infographic in 5 Easy Steps (2022 Guide)

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Wondering how to make an infographic that is informative and stands out? Here are 5 easy steps you need to follow. Templates, tips and examples included.

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Hemingway Editor makes your writing bold and clear.

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Mini-Lesson Template for Reading/Writing Workshop - Google Docs

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Mini-Lesson Template for Reading/Writing Workshop - Google Docs

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Creating a Writers' Workshop in a Secondary Classroom | Edutopia

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Creating a Writers' Workshop in a Secondary Classroom | Edutopia

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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ReadWorks.org | The Solution to Reading Comprehension

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ReadWorks.org | The Solution to Reading Comprehension

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ReadWorks | Award-Winning, EdTech Nonprofit Organization

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ReadWorks is an edtech nonprofit organization that is committed to helping to solve America's reading comprehension crisis.

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CommonLit | Free Fiction & Nonfiction Literacy Resources, Curriculum, & Assessment Materials for Middle & High School English Language Arts

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CommonLit | Free Fiction & Nonfiction Literacy Resources, Curriculum, & Assessment Materials for Middle & High School English Language Arts

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For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your web browser.

World-class content

Access thousands of reading lessons and our comprehensive ELA curriculum, CommonLit 360.

Accessible for all learners

Tailor instruction to students' needs with text-to-speech, translation, and digital note-taking.

Actionable data

Track students' reading performance, set goals, and plan instructional next steps.

CommonLit
Digital Library

Discover thousands of free, supplemental lessons and quizzes in English and Spanish - all featuring great authors.

CommonLit
Assessment Series

Measure growth in reading comprehension with three benchmark assessments when you unlock our premium packages.

CommonLit 360 &
Professional Development

Support a successful rollout of our research-backed ELA curriculum with personalized webinars and on-demand trainings.

"

CommonLit has made a tremendously positive impact on my teaching practice. I'm very proud to teach CommonLit!

Jennifer Lane ELA Teacher

"

CommonLit definitely keeps me organized. It's easy for me to grade and it's easy for me to see students' reading growth increase throughout the year.

"

The CommonLit assessment questions are aligned to our ELA standards, which is extremely helpful when prepping for the state exam.

Teachers trust CommonLit to foster students' reading comprehension

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CommonLit | Free Online Reading Passages and Literacy Resources

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CommonLit is a comprehensive literacy program with thousands of reading lessons, full-year ELA curriculum, benchmark assessments, and standards-based data for teachers.

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Lesson: Confirmation and Other Biases | Facing History

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Lesson: Confirmation and Other Biases | Facing History

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Students define explicit, implicit, and confirmation bias, and examine why people sometimes maintain their beliefs in the face of contradictory information.

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Intro Materials | Stanford History Education Group

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Intro Materials | Stanford History Education Group

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History Lessons | Stanford History Education Group

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This curriculum teaches students how to investigate historical questions by employing reading strategies such as sourcing, contextualizing, corroborating, and close reading. Instead of memorizing historical facts, students evaluate the trustworthiness of multiple perspectives on historical issues and learn to make historical claims backed by documentary evidence.

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WritingFix: prompts, lessons, and resources for writing classrooms

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WritingFix: prompts, lessons, and resources for writing classrooms

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Welcome, K-12 Writing Teachers: You've found WritingFix's new home. We officially ran out of funding in October of 2020, but Dena and I believe we have found a way to keep the popular website we started back in 1999 online. The process will involve patience on your parts, as in order to merge WritingFix with our second website- ALWAYS WRITE website, we have to completely re-format WritingFix's lessons.

Your input requested: We assume you're here because you have used WritingFix in the past-and you're surprised to see our website of 20+ years is now temporarily missing from the web. We will be reformatting WritingFix's best and most popular lessons only, but as a retired teacher, I don't know what's popular with our teacher users anymore.

If you have a lesson/resource you used at WritingFix that you would like added to our "waiting list," we'll add you requests on a first-come-first-formatted basis. Please, only one request per teacher. You can email your requests for reformatting lessons to: corbett@corbettharrison.com

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Welcome, K-12 Writing Teachers: You've found WritingFix's new home. We officially ran out of funding in October of 2020, but Dena and I believe we have found a way to keep the popular website we started back in 1999 online.

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CommonLit | Free Fiction & Nonfiction Literacy Resources, Curriculum, & Assessment Materials for Middle & High School English Language Arts

# data[].attributes.subject
CommonLit | Free Fiction & Nonfiction Literacy Resources, Curriculum, & Assessment Materials for Middle & High School English Language Arts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your web browser.

World-class content

Access thousands of reading lessons and our comprehensive ELA curriculum, CommonLit 360.

Accessible for all learners

Tailor instruction to students' needs with text-to-speech, translation, and digital note-taking.

Actionable data

Track students' reading performance, set goals, and plan instructional next steps.

CommonLit
Digital Library

Discover thousands of free, supplemental lessons and quizzes in English and Spanish - all featuring great authors.

CommonLit
Assessment Series

Measure growth in reading comprehension with three benchmark assessments when you unlock our premium packages.

CommonLit 360 &
Professional Development

Support a successful rollout of our research-backed ELA curriculum with personalized webinars and on-demand trainings.

"

CommonLit has made a tremendously positive impact on my teaching practice. I'm very proud to teach CommonLit!

Jennifer Lane ELA Teacher

"

CommonLit definitely keeps me organized. It's easy for me to grade and it's easy for me to see students' reading growth increase throughout the year.

"

The CommonLit assessment questions are aligned to our ELA standards, which is extremely helpful when prepping for the state exam.

Teachers trust CommonLit to foster students' reading comprehension

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
CommonLit | Free Online Reading Passages and Literacy Resources

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
CommonLit is a comprehensive literacy program with thousands of reading lessons, full-year ELA curriculum, benchmark assessments, and standards-based data for teachers.

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Brainstorming tool

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Benefits of Bubbl.us mind maps over text:

Superior clarity of structured information

Whether it's a family tree, a decision flow map, or an algorithm, mind maps have a huge advantage in presenting complexity clearly and concisely.

Better retention of complex ideas.

Visualizing complex ideas in shapes, lines, and pictures leads to much better recollection later than simple text.

Creative collaboration with others.

Visual brainstorming with a team can dramatically improve the quality of the final product because of diversity of perspectives and experiences.

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Bubbl.us - Create Mind Maps | Collaborate and Present Ideas

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Mind map and brainstorm online with Bubbl.us! Create colorful mind maps to print or share with others. Millions of people are using Bubbl.us worldwide to generate ideas, map out processes and create presentations.

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50 Writing Prompts for All Grade Levels | Edutopia

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50 Writing Prompts for All Grade Levels | Edutopia

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Sometimes students need a little push to activate their imaginations.

The collection of prompts below asks young writers to think through real or imagined events, their emotions, and a few wacky scenarios. Try out the ones you think will resonate most with your students.

As with all prompts, inform students that their answers should be rated G and that disclosing dangerous or illegal things they're involved in will obligate you to file a report with the administration or school counselors. Finally, give students the option of writing "PERSONAL" above some entries that they don't want anyone to read. We all need to let scraggly emotions run free in our prose sometimes.

If your class uses daybooks (an approach recommended in Thinking Out Loud: The Student Daybook as a Tool to Foster Learning), wait for composition notebooks to go on sale at Target, the Dollar Store, or Walmart for $0.50 a piece. To organize the daybook, direct young writers to leave the first three pages blank and number and date each entry-adding these entries to a table of contents that they create as they work so they can return to specific entries later.

Should cameras on drones watch all public spaces to prevent crime, or is that a violation of privacy?

Do Americans have it too easy? Why do you think that?

What causes racism?

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation hires you as a consultant to determine how best to use $20 billion to save the world. What's your plan?

What's the worst thing about the internet?

Would you rather be very beautiful or very smart? Explain.

You can save one object before your house burns down. What is it? What makes that object important to you?

How much control over your life do you have? What makes you say that?

Describe your ideal life 15 years from now. What is something you can do every day to reach that goal?

What would your friends say is your most lovable quality? Describe that quality.

What is something scary that you would like to try? What makes it scary for you? How might you overcome that fear?

What things do you conscientiously do to feed your brain?

What are three of your most profound learning experiences? Where and when did they occur?

By age 18, the average American has seen 200,000 acts of violence on TV, including 40,000 murders. What is it about television violence that is so compelling to people?

Would you rather be loved or respected? Because?

Does social media represent individuals authentically? Explain with examples.

Imagine that it's the last day of high school and you've been asked by a teacher to say a few words that summarize the events that have occurred over the last four years that are most meaningful to you. What do you say?

High School Prompts

Which classmate would be the best to lead us through a zombie apocalypse? Why?

What real-life situations would work out better for you if you were a different gender? Why?

How can you tell when someone your age is feeling insecure? Are most people more insecure or anxious than they let on?

If the internet were to crash forever, what would the benefits be for you? The drawbacks?

Write a scene that features a) a classmate, b) $100 million, and c) magical shoes.

What three features should your future house have? Why?

If you starred in a television show about your life, what would the show be called? What genre would it be? (Examples: comedy, drama, thriller, romance, action-adventure, fantasy, superhero, soap opera, reality, game show, space adventure, Western, tragedy, etc.) Summarize the plot of an episode.

In the future, what extreme sports will people be talking about?

Is your ethnicity an important part of your identity? How so?

You get to take one book, one food item, and one famous person (living or dead) to a deserted island. What and who do you take? Why?

Write a powerfully supportive email to yourself 10 years from now. Send that email to yourself using FutureMe.org.

You have been selected to be king or queen of your school. What are five rules that every kid should follow at your school? What should the punishment be for rule breakers?

What do the five friends you hang out with most have in common? How are you most like them? How are you different from them?

What contributes to someone becoming a bully? What can help stop someone from bullying?

Do you make friends slowly or quickly? Describe how one of your important friendships evolved.

Should we fear failure? Explain.

If a wizard could tell you anything about your future, what would you most like to know?

Do you believe in luck? Are you superstitious? How so? If not, why do you think some people are?

Middle School Prompts

I wish my teachers knew that . . .

What's the most beautiful person, place, or thing you've ever seen? Share what makes that person, place, or thing so special.

Which is better, giant muscles or incredible speed? Why?

What is your most difficult subject in school? Why is it difficult? What can you do to get better at that subject?

Rewrite "Hansel and Gretel" from the witch's perspective.

Describe a scary situation that you've experienced.

What is your first memory? Describe it.

You wake up tomorrow with a silly superpower that makes you famous. What is that silly power? How does it lead to your becoming an international superstar?

Are you a good loser? Explain.

What are examples of things you want versus things you need?

Last Friday, you were given one wish by a magical panda. You tried so hard to make the wish positive, but after the whacked-out events that unfolded over the weekend, you regret ever meeting that tricky panda. What did you ask for, and what happened?

I wish my friends . . .

Describe a routine that you often or always do (in the morning, when you get home, Friday nights, before a game, etc.).

What things do all kids know that adults do not?

What TV or movie characters do you wish were real? Why?

Elementary School Prompts

After they've finished an entry, ask students to read their work aloud or exchange daybooks for a read-around. If you give the entries written feedback, show that their work is respected by using a sticky note or scratch paper.

Don't forget to write along with your students. Why should they have all the fun?

What are your students' favorite writing prompts?

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Sometimes students need a little push to activate their imaginations.

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Education World: Twenty-five great ideas for teaching current events

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Education World: Twenty-five great ideas for teaching current events

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Simple Group Creator By @JenRoberts1 - Google Sheets

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Simple Group Creator By @JenRoberts1 - Google Sheets

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Literacy, Technology, Policy, Etc....A Blog

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Literacy, Technology, Policy, Etc....A Blog

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An educational blog about edtech and literacy by a high school English teacher who is an author and a Google For Education Certified Innovator.

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How To Teach Students To Deeply Analyze Text High School ELA Lesson

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How To Teach Students To Deeply Analyze Text High School ELA Lesson

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ELA.RI.11-12.1

Common core State Standards

ELA: English Language Arts

RI: Reading Standards for Informational Text 6-12

11-12: 11th & 12th Grades

1:
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text
says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining
where the text leaves matters uncertain.

Download Common Core State Standards (PDF 1.2 MB)

|

ELA.RI.11-12.7

Common core State Standards

ELA: English Language Arts

RI: Reading Standards for Informational Text 6-\x80\x9312

11-12: 11th & 12th Grades

7:
Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different
media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to
address a question or solve a problem.

Download Common Core State Standards (PDF 1.2 MB)

|

ELA.SL.11-12.1a

Common core State Standards

ELA: English Language Arts

SL: Speaking and Listening Standards 6-\x80\x9312

11-12: 11th & 12th Grades

1a:
Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one on
one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11-\x80\x9312 topics,
texts, and issues, building on others'\x80\x99 ideas and expressing their own clearly and
persuasively.

a. Come to discussions prepared, having read and researched material under
study; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence from texts
and other research on the topic or issue to stimulate a thoughtful, well reasoned
exchange of ideas.

b. Work with peers to promote civil, democratic discussions and decision making,
set clear goals and deadlines, and establish individual roles as
needed.

c. Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that probe
reasoning and evidence; ensure a hearing for a full range of positions on a
topic or issue; clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions; and promote
divergent and creative perspectives.

d. Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives; synthesize comments, claims,
and evidence made on all sides of an issue; resolve contradictions when
possible; and determine what additional information or research is required
to deepen the investigation or complete the task.

Download Common Core State Standards (PDF 1.2 MB)

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Discussion and Supporting Materials

Thought starters

1. How does this assignment challenge students to apply their knowledge of texts?

2. What kinds of case studies did Ms. Wessling choose to share with students?

3. Why did Ms. Wessling adjust her plans mid-lesson?

School Details

Johnston Senior High School
6501 Northwest 62nd Avenue
Johnston IA 50131

Data Provided By:

Teachers

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After reading texts, students in Sarah Brown Wessling's 11th and 12th grade ELA class look for patterns and apply their knowledge to create prototypes of people who push limits. The prototypes can push physical limits, emotional limits, or intellectual limits. As students work, Sarah asks them guiding questions and encourages them to think metacognitively.

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Award winning educational materials like worksheets, games, lesson plans and activities designed to help kids succeed. Start for free now!

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Writer's Guide: Learning Activities: Analyzing Texts

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Writer's Guide: Learning Activities: Analyzing Texts

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2.7 Learning Activities: Analyzing Text Model Activity
Finding purpose, pattern, and controlling idea in texts

It's time to practice. For each of the following texts, identify the organizing pattern or structure and the purpose of the writing. Although these texts are much shorter than texts you will see in prompts or tasks, the organizing patterns or structures are the same as they are for longer texts. Here are the patterns again, organized by purpose. Also identify the controlling idea in each of the examples.

Purpose:
Organizing Pattern:

Informational
To give information about a topic
explain or give directions
tell what happened

topic-aspect
how-to
true narrative

Critical
To persuade, recommend an action
analyze, make a case, prove a point

opinion-reason
thesis-proof

Literary
To teach and/or entertain

fictional narrative

One model activity is completed for you. The model text is followed by a prompt or task. Besides identifying the purpose, pattern and controlling idea from the text, the model goes on to show you what a response might look like. The model includes the essay writer's purpose, choice of organizing pattern, and an outline of a response, starting with a controlling idea.
( Click for PDF Version )
The Task: Read the selection that follows and then write an essay in which you agree or disagree with the idea proposed in the selection.

The Selection: Homework Scheduling
There should be a schedule of days when different teachers can assign homework. For example, a math teacher might be able to give homework on Tuesdays and Thursdays, while an English teacher might be scheduled for Mondays and Wednesdays.
The reason for the schedule is to avoid the homework overloads we get when all five teachers decide to give a 40-minute assignment on the same day. We can't work effectively all day in school and all night, too.
The schedule would also allow us to do all of our assignments more carefully. We would almost always have some homework, but it could be done and done well in an hour or so.
Our grades would probably go up and our teachers would be happier because we would actually do the homework.
Please suggest this plan to teachers at your next faculty meeting.

About the Selection:

Purpose:
to persuasive, to make a recommendation

Organizing Pattern:
opinion-reason

Controlling Idea: There should be a schedule of days when different teachers can assign homework.

About the Response:

Purpose:
persuasive, to agree or disagree with proposal

Organizing Pattern:
opinion-reason

Controlling Idea:
(For a writer that disagrees). Although it seems like a good idea to schedule days when different teachers can assign homework, I disagree with
proposal because I think the schedule would soon fall apart.

Note:

What follows is not a complete essay response, but a topic-sentence outline showing you one sentence for each pattern part.

Opinion: Although it seems like a good idea to schedule days when different teachers can assign homework, I disagree with the proposal because I think the schedule would soon fall apart.

Reason 1: Since we are on a six-day (A-F) academic schedule now, and Monday isn't always going to be A-day, it would be hard to keep track of who is and isn't supposed to give homework.

Reason 2: Because there are special times (test review, end of the marking period) when teachers feel they have to give homework, they're going to give it anyway, no matter whose day it is supposed to be.

Recommendation: Leave well enough alone and don't make up a complicated schedule that will soon be ignored and forgotten.

Activity 1 - Friendship Purpose: ( Click for PDF Version )

Sometimes you have to deal with a friend who wants to be more than a friend. What do you do? You don't want to hurt your friend's feelings, but you don't want to give him or her the wrong idea, either.
You might solve this problem in such a way that you don't lose your friend. First, avoid being alone with your friend. This will limit opportunities for things to go where you don't want them to.
Second, actively look for other "matches" for your friend. Introduce your friend to other people he or she might like because of similar interests. Maybe one of the people will catch on.
Finally, if all else fails, tell your friend that you're not interested in more than a friendship, and that you value the friendship as it is.
If you do this carefully, maybe you can keep the friend.

Pattern:

Controlling Idea:

Do your answers look like this one? Click here for suggested response.

Activity 2 - Staying Awake Purpose: ( Click for PDF Version )

What would happen to you if you were not allowed to sleep for 10 days? Research on human beings and the importance of sleep has shown that sleep is critically important to your health and well-being.
After three days of being kept awake, the subjects of the experiment started to act strange. They felt anger, sadness, and joy at times when there was nothing to be angry, sad, or joyful about.
After six days, subjects started to see things that weren't there and to hear noises no one else could hear. In other words, they started to hallucinate.
By the tenth day, subjects showed signs of severe mental illness. The experiment was stopped because more days without sleep might cause permanent harm to the subjects.
Sleep isn't just a nice idea or a comfortable way to rest; sleep is an absolute need for your physical and mental health.

Pattern:

Controlling Idea:

Do your answers look like this one? Click here for suggested response.

Activity 3 - The Giant Squid Purpose: ( Click for PDF Version )

The giant squid is a fearsome creature, indeed. It is the villain in many stories of the sea, supposedly pulling people overboard and even sinking entire ship
The giant squid is "dressed" for the part of sea villain, a huge sea villain. It can be 40 feet long. It has eight arms with suction cups and two long tentacles, perhaps 25 or 30 feet long. It uses these arms and tentacles to catch prey and draw it towards a beak-like mouth with strong jaws.
The squid is fast, too. No person can out swim a squid. In fact, many ships, especially sailing ships, can't outrun a squid.
Ugly, strong, fast, and fearsome-that's the giant squid.

Pattern:

Controlling Idea:

Do your answers look like this one? Click here for suggested response.

Activity 4 - Car Trouble Purpose: ( Click for PDF Version )

As he turned the key in the ignition, he heard a soft popping sound from under the hood of the car. The car didn't start, so he tried again. This time the car did start, but the engine was making a lot of noise. What "started" was a lot more than what he expected.
"That doesn't sound right," he thought. "I'd better take a look under the hood and see what's making that weird noise." He unlatched the hood and stepped out of the car, leaving the engine running. From the front of the hood, he popped the safety catch on the hood.
A tremendous WHOOSH! of smoke and flame blew out of the car's engine when the hood was raised enough to feed some oxygen to the fire already underway. The blast of heat knocked him backward into the garage, and the flames shot twenty feet into the air, fed now by the rubber hoses and engine parts and the leaking gasoline.
A neighbor arrived with a home fire extinguisher, but it had no effect on the roaring flames. A passing police officer's extinguisher was no more effective, and the flames were dangerously close to the garage and the porch of the house.
The fire truck arrived and began pumping water on the fire. Again and again, the fire would be doused by the water, only to start up again from the gasoline on hot engine parts as soon as the water stopped. Finally, the hose was hooked to a hydrant and the car was blasted with water for almost twenty minutes, washing away the gasoline and cooling the entire car so that it could not ignite itself again.

Pattern:

Controlling Idea:

Do your answers look like this one? Click here for suggested response.

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Writer's Guide: Learning Activities: Analyzing Texts

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2.7 Learning Activities: Analyzing Text Model Activity Finding purpose, pattern, and controlling idea in texts It's time to practice. For each of the following texts, identify the organizing pattern or structure and the purpose of the writing.

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Tackk.com : votre guide shopping et guide d'achat !

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La communication digitale est devenue indispensable pour les entreprises. Dans un monde de plus en...

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Control Alt Achieve: 21 Chrome Extensions for Special Needs and Struggling Students

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Control Alt Achieve: 21 Chrome Extensions for Special Needs and Struggling Students

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Chrome Extensions for Struggling Students and Special Needs

Technology can be a powerful tool to assist students when learning, as it provides accessibility and accommodations to support everyone. In particular the Chrome web browser allows users to install a wide variety of web extensions that provide tools that can help all learners.

In this blog post we will take a look at dozens of Chrome web extensions and apps and other tools and features that can assist students in seven main categories:

🗣️ Text to Speech

☑️ Behavior, Focus, and Organization

Some of the tools fit into more than one topic, but each is only listed once. Certainly this list does not cover all of the useful web extensions and tools available for learners, but it is a great place to begin.

In addition to the list of extensions and tools, I have also linked in the video from a webinar I did on " Google Tools to Support All Learners" along with my ever-growing resource document and slideshow from the session.

▶️ Training Video (54 minutes)

🗣️ Text to Speech Tools

Read&Write for Google Chrome
Chrome web extension link
The "Swiss Army Knife" of extensions with tools including word prediction, dictionary, picture dictionary, text to speech, screenshot reader, speech maker, screen mask, translator, highlighters, voice note, and more. Works on webpages, PDFs, Google Docs, and Google Slides.
Note: There is a paid version with all the tools and a free version with a subset of the tools. Educators can get the paid version for a year at no cost by filling out the form at: https://www.texthelp.com/products/free-for-teachers/

The Immersive Reader extension can read aloud any text you have selected, as well as providing additional reading supports. These include Text Preferences to change the text size, increase or decrease spacing, change fonts, and colors, Grammar Options to break words into syllables, as well as color code and label the parts of speech, and Reading Preferences to turn on or off the picture dictionary option, and to select the language for translation.

Read Aloud
Chrome web extension link
This text-to-speech extension will read either the entire page or just the text that you have selected. In addition to the normal options to adjust the speed, pitch, and volume of the voice, the best feature is the wide collection of high-quality voices to choose from.

Announcify
Chrome web extension link
This is another text to speech tool that not only reads a webpage, but also removes distracting elements from the site. The only drawback is the inability to select specific text to read, as the entire page is read aloud.

ChromeOS Select-to-Speak

If you have a Chromebook, there is a built in tool for text-to-speak called " Select-to-speak". Nothing needs to be installed. It just needs to be turned on.

First click in the bottom right corner of your Chromebook screen to open the system menu.

Here click on the "Accessibility" icon.

Note: If you do not see the "Accessibility" icon you can click on the gear to go into the advanced settings to turn it on.

Now from the "Accessibility" menu click on the "Select-to-speak" option.

This will put a little speaker icon down in the bottom right corner.

Anytime you need to have something read aloud, just click the icon and drag your mouse to select the text you want to hear.

Using the toolbar you can also pause, change speeds, and jump forwards and backwards through the text.

Docs Voice Typing is not an extension that needs to be installed, but instead is actually built right into Google Docs and Google Slides. With voice typing you can simply speak and anything you say will automatically be typed for you.

When we are in a Google Doc we click the "Tools" menu and then choose "Voice Typing" from the drop down menu.

This will open up a floating microphone.

To start dictating to the document, we simply click the microphone icon.

Now anything you say will automatically be typed into the document.

In addition to words, you are also able to say punctuation. For a full list of all the commands you can speak, click the question mark icon below the microphone, and this will open up a help menu with all of the details.

When done, we just click the microphone again to stop the speech to text.

VoiceIn Voice Typing
Chrome web extension link
This speech-to-text extension allows the user to dictate text for any text box or text entry portion of a web page. You can either click the extension or right-click and choose "Start recording" to use it. Be sure to click the extension again to turn off the speech-to-text function when done.

Chromebook Dictation Tool

First click in the bottom right corner of your Chromebook screen to open the system menu.

Here click on the "Accessibility" icon.

Note: If you do not see the "Accessibility" icon you can click on the gear to go into the advanced settings to turn it on.

Now from the "Accessibility" menu click on the "Dictation" option to enable speech to text.

This will put a little microphone icon down in the bottom right corner.

Anytime you need to do speech to text just click on the "Dictation" icon and start speaking.

Anything you say will automatically be typed into the computer wherever you are.

This works in websites, documents, forms, and more.

If you are using a Chromebook there is actually a speech to text tool built right in. Nothing needs to be installed. It just needs to be turned on.

Present your slideshow as normal.

Click the "3-dots" button on the navigation bar.

Choose "Captions preference" and then toggle on the captions.

As you speak your words will be live captioned and will display on the screen.

Using the same menu you can adjust the size and position of the captions.

Live captions are available in several Google products including Slides and Meet. In Google Slides you can display live captions as follows:

👓 Readability Tools

Lexend fonts are intended to reduce visual stress and so improve reading performance. Initially they were designed with dyslexia and struggling readers in mind, but Bonnie Shaver-Troup, creator of the Lexend project, soon found out that these fonts are also great for everyone else.

Mercury Reader
Chrome web extension link
Make any website easier to read by removing ads, comments, and all other distractions, so just the core content remains. Users can also adjust the font size and color scheme of the new text.

Chrome web extension link
Override all fonts on a webpage with the OpenDyslexic font, making the text more easily readable.

Dyslexia Friendly
Chrome web extension link
This extension replaces the fonts on a web page with either OpenDyslexic or Comic Sans, and provides a horizontal shaded bar to help the user stay on the correct line when reading. The only drawback is there is no easy way to toggle it on and off, so you will want to use an extension management tool to let you turn it off when not in use.

WaspLine Reader
Chrome web extension link
This tool creates a more readable version of a web page by applying color gradients that make it easier for the eyes to chain together the ending of a line with the beginning of the next.

Color Overlay is a filter which puts a tint on your browser viewport to make text more readable. This could be used by people suffering by visual distortions reading the content on the normal background (Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome). The colored overlay can improve reading abilities of such users by reducing or eliminate perceptual processing errors.

ATbar
Chrome web extension link
Similar to the Color Overlay extension, this toolbar can generate color overlays for webpages, but also has features for a dictionary, text to speech, word prediction, and more.

MagicScroll Web Reader
Chrome web extension link
Turn web pages into a flippable e-book with easy clickable or keyboard control, as well as control over font size and page color as well.

Chrome web extension link
This screen overlay tool darkens out the page except for a horizontal band you can move up and down as you read, helping the student focus.

High Contrast
Chrome web extension link
This tool can make webpages easier to read by changing the colors to increase contrast, invert the colors, or switch to gray-scale.

Color Enhancer
Chrome web extension link
For people who are partially color-blind, this tool can help adjust and improve webpage colors.

Additional ChromeOS Features

📗 Reading Comprehension Tools

Google Dictionary
Chrome web extension link
Don't get stuck on an unknown word. Double-click on any word to get a pop-up definition, as well as spoken pronunciation for many words.

SMMRY
Chrome bookmark link
While not technically an extension, this tool functions very much like one and is launched from your Chrome bookmarks bar. Summarize any online article with a simple click of the SMMRY bookmark link. This will generate a simplified version with fewer sentences (7 by default) and just the most important information. Settings can be adjusted for longer or shorter summaries, as well as emphasis on certain desired words..

The QuillBot Chrome extension will summarize text as a new paragraph or by key sentences, in multiple levels of length. Sign in with your Google account for free to be able to summarize texts up to 5,000 characters at a time.

Auto Highlight
Chrome web extension link
This extension takes a different approach to summarizing. Instead of removing the non-essential portions of the text, it highlights what is most important. This allows the reader to still look at the rest of the article if needed. Three levels of highlighting can be chosen.

Behaviour, Focus, and Organization Tools

Simple Blocker
Chrome web extension link
This tool helps students to stay focused on their work by blocking distracting websites. The user can choose the sites to block, how long to block them, and optional password protection.

uBlock Origin
Chrome web extension link
A simple but powerful ad-blocking extension to help remove distracting ads from websites, making pages less cluttered and easier to read.

Move It
Chrome web extension link
For students who need a break, this extension can be set to periodically have them stop working and do something physical for a moment.

Google Keep
Chrome web extension link
Keep allows users to save and retrieve any information they come across including text, links, pictures, speech, handwriting, doodles, and more. The tool works as an extension, web site, Android app, and iOS app, and integrates into Google Docs, Slides, and Drawings.

Ambient audio sites and tools can let students create their own custom mix of background sounds to help them concentrate and drown out potentially distracting noises.

Pear Deck lets you add interactive elements to your slides including multiple choice, text entry, numeric entry, drawing, and draggable activities.

You can insert pre-made template slides provided in the Add-on.

Or you can add interactive elements to slides you have already created.

When you present the slideshow through the Pear Deck Add-on, students join the presentation and can interact with it.

You can show students responses by clicking the "Show Responses" button in the bottom right corner of the screen. Responses can be shown individually or aggregated together to look for patterns.

Pear Deck Webinar (1 hour) - Blog post

Pear Deck Add-on for Slides

This extension can make it easier for students to locate their mouse cursor by allowing them to customize the size and look of the mouse cursor.

Click-free Browsing
Chrome web extension link
For users who have a difficulty clicking a mouse, this extension adds on-screen navigation buttons the user can simply hover over to use.

Vimium
Chrome web extension link
Provides keyboard shortcuts for navigation and control for someone with difficulty using a mouse.

CrxMouse
Chrome web extension link
Use mouse gestures to navigate including forward, backward, scrolling, refreshing, switching tabs, and more. The user can even program their own custom mouse gestures to open programs and perform other tasks.

Caret Browsing
Chrome web extension link
This extension gives you a movable cursor in any web page, allowing you to move through the text with your arrows keys and select text with the keyboard.

Additional ChromeOS Features

Tools to support learners are constantly being created and improved, so be sure to check back often as I continue to update my resource documents " Google Tools to Support all Learners". And be sure to let me know of any tools you would recommend for the list. I look forward to learning from you!

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Chrome Extensions for Struggling Students and Special Needs

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Technology can be a powerful tool to assist students when learning, as it provides accessibility and accommodations to support everyone. In...

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Fun Formative Assessment Ideas - Google Slides

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Fun Formative Assessment Ideas - Google Slides

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Fun Formative / Summative Assessment Ideas

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K-12 Poems with Question Sets | ReadWorks.org | The Solution to Reading Comprehension

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K-12 Poems with Question Sets | ReadWorks.org | The Solution to Reading Comprehension

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Improve your students' reading comprehension with ReadWorks. Access thousands of high-quality, free K-12 articles, and create online assignments with them for your students.

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Question Starters & Prompts - Google Docs

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Question Starters & Prompts - Google Docs

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EdTech Nut - Kelly Fitzgerald: Mash-up: Online Article + Google Drawing = Blackout Poetry

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EdTech Nut - Kelly Fitzgerald: Mash-up: Online Article + Google Drawing = Blackout Poetry

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If you haven't heard of Blackout Poetry, please check out the Austin Kleon website and Newspaper Blackout website. The concept is simple, but loads of fun and I felt empowered after my poetry creation.
You can preselect the newspaper article or allow students to find an article of their choosing. While I am all about allowing students choice, I would be intrigued to see all of the poems that would come from one piece of published writing.
Tools you will need:

Computer with internet a ccess

Newspaper Website (any will do)

Screenshot tool (on the computer or Chrome extension, such as Awesome Screenshot)

Google Drawing

I wouldn't by any means consider myself a poet, but within 10 minutes I was able to take a screenshot of an article - the first one I came across - put it into Google, and create a poem. It might not be the best, but I am proud of my poem.

Here is a video that will show you how students can perform this same activity.

What a fun way to get students engaged in writing and creating masterpieces from someone else's published thoughts.

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Mash-up: Online Article + Google Drawing = Blackout Poetry

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If you haven't heard of Blackout Poetry, please check out the Austin Kleon website and Newspaper Blackout website. The concept is simple, but loads of fun and I felt empowered after my poetry creation. You can preselect the newspaper article or allow students to find an article of their choosing.

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What is the first question that comes to your mind?

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EdTech Nut - Kelly Fitzgerald: 18 EdTech Integration Ideas for the Language Arts Classroom

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EdTech Nut - Kelly Fitzgerald: 18 EdTech Integration Ideas for the Language Arts Classroom

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During the September 15th #gafechat Twitter chat, I posed content specific questions to drive conversation and sharing of ideas around 'Creating Digital Awareness'. If you missed the chat, you can find the full archives here.

Here is the Language Arts question that I posed:

Here are some of the ideas that the participants shared.

The students could...

1. do an exquisite corpse - have each student write for two minutes and then have students switch and another student continue the story. (@mbswoods)

2. write a collaborative story using a Google Document. Each student can take turns writing a sentence. (@LISDTechie)

3. summarize in "tweet" style (140 characters or less) (@curryhj2000)

4. Tweet a writer on Twitter to ask questions about a book (@curryhj2000)

5. blog and share their thoughts with the class or world. (@TeachingFactor)

6. create a writing E-portfolio on Google Slides and add images to support. (@TeachingFactor)

7. post a question in Google Classroom and have them respond (

8. create an online flipbook using FlipSmackEDU (

9. compare and contrast two images provided by the teacher via a Google Form inserted image and paragraph text box. (

10. create a Choose Your Own Adventure story using Google Slides or Google Forms (@LISDTechie)

11. create editorial style blog posts about current events. Have other students comment on posts. ( Google Document with commenting rights is great for this.

12. draft, write, edit, revise, and then record a podcast using SoundTrap (@AlexaSchlechter)

13. participate in quadblogging to infuse an authentic audience to engage students (@kilgoretech)

Additional Resources Shared:

Check out these posts for other edtech integration ideas:

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18 EdTech Integration Ideas for the Language Arts Classroom

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During the September 15th #gafechat Twitter chat, I posed content specific questions to drive conversation and sharing of ideas around 'Creating Digital Awareness'. If you missed the chat, you can find the full archives here. Here is the Language Arts question that I posed: Here are some of the ideas that the participants shared.

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EdTech Nut - Kelly Fitzgerald: Kahoot Redefined: Allowing Processing, Collaboration, Discussion Time

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EdTech Nut - Kelly Fitzgerald: Kahoot Redefined: Allowing Processing, Collaboration, Discussion Time

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The Google Slides Template below can be Kahoot is a fun game for students play in order to reinforce their learning. With that said, I have a couple issues with the game. First, t he game awards the students who have a faster processing time. I would consider myself a smart person, but I am not necessarily the fastest processor. Therefore, I usually don't "perform" well in the rankings. But if I was given time to process the question ahead of time then I would perform better. Second, moving from question to question without discussion time doesn't allow for students who didn't answer it correct see where they went wrong (pun intended).
This is where Kahoot Redefined comes in. This isn't some prize winning idea, but one that I found teachers haven't thought about. Combining the template below with Kahoot a llows for the fun game play, but gives students processing time prior to answering the question on the game. It also allows for there to be a class discussion prior to moving on to the next question.

copied and modified as you see fit. Simply add your Kahoot questions and move the slides around to the order that works best for your class. There are notes below the slides to guide you in how to use each slide.

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Kahoot Redefined: Allowing Processing, Collaboration, Discussion Time

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Kahoot is a fun game for students play in order to reinforce their learning. With that said, I have a couple issues with the game. First, t...

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EdTech Nut - Kelly Fitzgerald: 15 Great Chrome Extensions for Reading and Writing

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EdTech Nut - Kelly Fitzgerald: 15 Great Chrome Extensions for Reading and Writing

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15 Great Chrome Extensions for Reading and Writing

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Here are my favorite Chrome extensions for reading and writing.

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EdTech Nut - Kelly Fitzgerald: Google Forms - Add Images as Answers

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EdTech Nut - Kelly Fitzgerald: Google Forms - Add Images as Answers

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You can now add images as answers in a Google Forms. Happy Dance!!

One of my favorite activities is 'Which One Does Not Belong' because it gets the children to think about all the possible answers. I am so happy that you can now create Google Forms for this ( see template here). The key to this activity is to make it so that there are multiple answers that could be correct. As long as the student can defend their answer correctly it should be accepted. Here is my example:

In this one, I would accept the following answers (not an exhaustive list):

Rhombus because the others have right angles.

Rhombus because the others have squares as part of the figure.

Pyramid because it has triangles as part of the figure.

Pyramid because it has one vertex.

Cube because it has the most faces.

Check out my tutorial on Google Forms if you need additional assistance with creating forms.

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You can now add images as answers in a Google Forms. Happy Dance!! One of my favorite activities is 'Which One Does Not Belong' beca...

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Literacy, Technology, Policy, Etc....A Blog: Comparative Analysis: Including Art in the Learning Process

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Literacy, Technology, Policy, Etc....A Blog: Comparative Analysis: Including Art in the Learning Process

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I've spent the past few weeks in my classroom teaching my students about comparative analysis. When I first asked them what compare meant, they wanted to give me pretty simplistic answers. "Compare means look at the pros and cons." "When you compare things you say how they are the same and different." This was a good starting place. They know what compare means, but their answers told me they had never done any serious comparative work. So, I introduced the topic of colleges.

"When you start looking at colleges and deciding which ones to apply to what kinds of things will you look at? What will matter to you about the schools you consider?"

It only took a few minutes to generate a list that included: location, entrance requirements, cost, size, athletics, available majors, reputation, campus facilities, food, etc. My students agreed that selecting a college is a complicated process that will involve multiple factors, some of which will become more important than others. I used this to show them that comparative analysis is more than just pros and cons and more than just similar and different. Comparative analysis is about looking at a range of criteria to make an evaluation or draw a conclusion.

I knew at the end of this unit of study we would be doing an in depth comparative analysis of a Poe story and a film noir movie from the 1950s. To warm them up for that we began with an easier short story and I was about to work them into some comparative analysis there when a much better opportunity presented itself. (I did a bit of comparative analysis myself and decided to change lanes.)

The art teacher invited me to bring my classes down to the school gallery to see the work of some of his advanced art students. This was meant mostly as a casual invitation to come view the art, but when I went to set up our visit, he began telling me about the process his students use for critical feedback. I realized that with a few adjustments that same process could become an exercise in comparative analysis for my students and reinforce some of the literary elements we were working on.

I designed a quick graphic organizer and got ready to take my students to the gallery. I was amazed at how well my students dove into this process. They used their gallery time to silently observe two pieces of art that they chose. They (mostly) took careful notes about what they saw in the artwork. They even asked if they could take some pics of the art to refer to later. This became a great teachable moment for saying, "Yes, you can take a pic for your personal reference, but you can't post it anywhere online because that art belongs to the artist." Lessons in copyright and digital citizenship became authentic and meaningful.

From their organizers and (an outline I suggested) my students wrote essays comparing the artwork they chose. Specifically, they looked at and wrote about, a description, symbolism, mood, possible messages in the art (aka theme), and their judgement about which piece did a better job communicating that message. Their essays were fun to read because each student chose different works to compare and interpreted them differently. I made a copy of the essays and gave them to the art teacher so he could share the writing with the student artists. (They are finding my students interpretations fascinating.)

I got a very good sense about what my students do and do not know about comparative writing and I'll apply that insight to our tasks and groupings for the rest of this unit.

If you'd like a copy of the graphic organizer you can download one HERE. If you usually read this blog for technology enriched teaching it is worth noting that this was a very low tech experience. My students took notes on paper and some even wrote their essays by hand. If you don't have your own student art gallery handy you can use the back up option I gave to my absent students through the Google Cultural Institute, but that will require internet access.

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Comparative Analysis: Including Art in the Learning Process

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I've spent the past few weeks in my classroom teaching my students about comparative analysis. When I first asked them what compare meant, they wanted to give me pretty simplistic answers. "Compare means look at the pros and cons." "When you compare things you say how they are the same and different."

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