Is traditional reading and writing enough to be considered literate in the 21st century?I have put together my thoughts via a slide deck. Please note, that I am not advocating throwing out traditional reading and writing, but pushing the awareness that it simply might not be enough to prepare our students. We need to rethink our notion of critical literacy, develop authentic learning and assessment opportunities, upgrade and amplify our curriculum. 21st Century Critical Literacy from Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano

Videos are an essential part of our teaching and here is a super cool tool that will help us to make our videos more interactive. Edpuzzle helps you to do many different things at the same time with your videos. You can find videos from different video sharing websites or upload your own videos, then you can crop them. You can record your voice over a video with your own words and in your own language and share them with your students. Edpuzzle also allows you to record audio comments or conclusion for your videos. Also, you can ask open ended or multiple choice questions or add text comments on the videos. Then you can share your videos or assign your students to watch them.  This tool is great if you are specially doing flipped classroom. Teachers can add open ended questions to explore and answer the questions as a whole class in the classroom. Students  can also be asked to make some comments on different videos.  Picture Source: Shutterstock

The annual Edublog Awards are open for voting! Voting is open! Check out the 2012 nominees! Every year the list of nominated blogs provide a wonderful opportunity to freshen up your RSS Reader.  Don’t forget the importance of READING blogs as part of  professional development. Also, share the classroom blog and individual student blog list with your students. Let them audit each one, noting components that they like and don’t like. Let them review and articulate their findings and most importantly let them vote for their favorites. Thank you to all who selected and nominated their favorite blogs in so many categories. I am humbled that Langwitches was nominated in two categories:   Here are the lists of finalists in a few categories Best Individual Blog: A Journey in TEFL - Eva Buyuksimkesyan An A-Z of ELT - Scott Thornbur Annie Murphy Paul Box of Chocolates - Cecilia Lemos NeverEndingSearch - Joyce Valenza Teacher Reboot Camp - Shelly Terrell A Principal’s Reflections - Eric Sheninger Agnostic, Maybe - Andy Woodworth All Things Learning - Tony Gurr Blogging About The Web 2.0 Connected Classroom - Steven Anderson ChristinaSkyBox - Ana Cristina Pratas Cool Cat Teacher - Vicki Davis Dangerously Irrelevant - Scott McLeod EdTechDigest Film English - Kieran Donaghy Free Technology for Teachers - Richard Byrne Gridjumper’s Blog Integrating Tech in the Primary Classroom - Kathleen Morris Intrepid Teacher - Jabiz Raisdana Jeremy Harmer’s Blog Kleinspiration - Erin Klein Langwitches Blog - Silvia Tolisano Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day Learning In Burlington - Patrick Larkin Learning with ‘e’s - Steve Wheeler Moving at the Speed of Creativity - Wesley Fryer Practical Theory - Chris Lehmann Research and Web Tools - Lucian Duma Science Soup - Lauren Fuge Seomra Ranga Speech Techie - Sean Sweeney Teacher in a Strange Land - Nancy Flanagan Teacher Tom - Thomas Hobson Teaching All Students - Patrick Black The Daring Librarian - Gwyneth Jones The Frugal Filmmaker - Scott Eggleston The Innovative Educator - Lisa Nielsen The Principal of Change - George Couros The Rapid e-Learning Blog - Tom Kuhlmann The Tempered Radical - Bill Ferriter Vicky Loras’s Blog What Ed Said - Edna Sackson Wright’s Room - Shelley Wright wwwatanabe - Tracy Watanabe ZDNet Education - Chris Dawson Best Librarian Blog: A Media Specialists Guide to the Internet Bulldog Readers Cabra Senior Library Blog El Blog del Bibioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes Leselyst Leselyst: en litteraturblogg Librarian in Black Library Matters Lucacept - Intercepting the Web Mighty Little Librarian Momo Celebrating Time to Read Mrs. ReaderPants O???????????? ???? Page in Training School Library Journal Sheldon High School Library Sonfession of a Science Librarian South Dublin Libraries Tales from a Loud Librarian Teen Librarian Toolbox The Adventures of Library Girl The Busy Librarian The Daring Librarian Van Meter Library Voice Watch. Connect. Read. Best Classroom Blog: 3/4C & 3/4K @ UPPS 3/4C @ The Junction 3MH’s Classroom Blog 4KM And 4KJ @ Leopold Primary School 6D 2012 - 2013 A Room with a View: Class 2! Carron-Kemp Crew Creative Articles & Media Arts Enjoy Learning English Fabulous 5S Flat Rosie’s Adventures Fraher’s Class and Friends Games MOCC journals Grade 5 at Napoleons Primary School GryphonScience Huzzah ICT4eTwinners  Inés workshop of English  Kids with a View  Mr. Avery’s 6th Grade Class Blog Mr. C’s Class Blog  Mr. Salsich’s Class Mrs. Yollis’ Classroom Blog Ms. Cassidy’s Classroom Blog Primary 5V Class Blog SCC ENGLISH  Techie Kids The Grade 3/4 Learning Legends @ Lonnie The Ins & Outs Year 6 The Skinny - 5th Grade tic-tac, aprenem  Where it all comes together… Year 2RC Year 6RC Best Student Blog: A Pupil’s Perspective Amy M’s Creative Mind Atsman BB’s Awesome Blog Beth’s Blog Bronte’s Barn Come Somersault With Sarah! Dana’s dazzling blog Dawso’s Blog  Dawso’s Blog Rss  Day Dreamer Dimitrije’s School Blog - English English  English at Sandvika  englishclas englishsandvika exploring english  GBM Corner Georgia’s Gorgeous Blog haakonmasst Hanna B. gradstudentSLP iamtessa Jack’s Blog Jaden’s Awesome Blog  Jarrod’s Awesome Blog Johanna’s Domain Johns A2 Music Production Leah’s Blog Matt’s Magnificent Blog MEAOW @ Josie’s Blog Millie’s Blog Miriam’s Magical Moments Molly Mystery Journal My life as student at Sandvika High School  NIKHIL GOYAL North America Meets South America  pernillelouise Ryan’s blog Sean Lin’s Blog Shoko’s Blog Skye’s Super Blog SLP_Echo Sophie’s Blog Thinking About … This and That… Verve victorenglish wjb’s blog ZACK’S BLOG Best Teacher Blog: AssortedStuff - Tim Stahmer Bianca Hewes Blogging through the Fourth Dimension - Pernille Ripp Blogush - Paul Bogush Box of Chocolates - Cecilia Lemos Classroom Chronicles - Henrietta Miller Cool Cat Teacher - Vicki Davis Ctrl Alt Teach - Catherine "Cat" Horton Flippen e Learning for life - Kimberley Rivett Edulang - Brad Patterson Integrating Technology - Kathleen Morris Kevin’s Meandering Mind Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day LeavingCertEnglish.net - Evelyn O’Connor Levdavidovic - Fintan O’Mahony Ollie Bray Ozge Karaoglu’s Blog Speech Techie - Sean J. Sweeney speech-language-therapy.com - Caroline Bowen Sylivai’s English Online Teach them English Teacher Tom Teaching using web 2.0 - Ann S. Michaelsen  The Frog Blog The Learning Spy - David Didau The Nerdy Teacher - Nicholas Provenzano  The Tempered Radical - Bill Ferriter  Upside Down Education - Amanda Dykes Wright’sRoom wwwatanabe - Tracy Watanabe Best Administrator’s Blog: A Principal’s Reflections - Eric Sheringer A Space for Learning - Pam Moran Darcy Moore David Truss :: Pair-a-dimes for Your Thoughts  Design Movement - Dr. Brett Jacobsen Dr. Cook’s Blog Education Rethink ErHead - Erin Paynter headguruteacher - Tom Sherrington Hooked on Innovation - Carl Hooker  John C. Schinker johntomsett  Learning In Burlington - Patrick Larkin Life of an Educator by Justin Tarte Moving at the Speed of Creativity - Wesley Fryer Ollie Bray Principal Greg Miller Raymond L. Young Reading By Example - Tom Sherrington Reflections from an Elementary School Principal - Jessica Johnson Sharing Our Blessings - Shira Leibowitz The Principal of Change - George Couros The Wejr Board - Chris Weir thinkwasabi - Berto Pena This and That - Jon Castelhano Tony Baldasaro ?????? ???? ?????

Microsoft’s new presentation tool, Sway seems pretty promising which looks like a combination of a powerpoint and a Prezi. Sway gives you a canvas where you can add content from your cloud storage, your devices or your social networks such as  Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or OneDrive. There are many styles and layouts that you can choose from. Even you do not choose, Sway will suggest you some styles based on the colors in your presentation. When you are done, you can share your presentation with a link, or get the embed code or share your Sways on social media platforms. The best thing is that your  Sway will always look perfect on all devices that you use. The students can use this tool for submitting their projects or presenting a topic. Let’s see if Sway will replace some of the tools that we get used to seeing in conferences.  

I am excited to be participating at Innovate 2013 and thrilled that the conversation is finally coming to South America! Innovate 2013,  is being held a the Graded School in Sao Paulo, Brazil next month. If you are planning on attending in person, registration closes in just a few days on December 7th. In case you can’t be there physically, put the dates on your calendar (January 19-21st, 2013) to attend virtually via Twitter (#innovate13) Become a connected educator and be part of that conversation! Innovate 2013 marks Graded School’s commitment to re-imagine the school that best serves and inspires students for tomorrow. Please join us and innovators from across the globe to engage in a dialogue designed to ignite new ideas resulting in building a foundation for the change our students deserve. In partnership with Un-Plugged at the American School of Bombay, the Lausanne Laptop Institute at Lausanne Collegiate, the European 1-1 Learning Institute hosted by the Frankfurt International School, and the Association of American Schools in South America (AASSA), Graded School is honored to launch the conversation in South America.

New year is on the way and here are some tools to enjoy the last days of this year with your students! Here is the Santa bot that is waiting for our students to chat online. JibJab is a cool website where you can place your face on different ready made animated e-cards.  Play this escape the room game and help Santa to go out. Students can write the missing parts of the directions as they play or or they can write the directions. Create your ElfYourSelf with your picture and select a  dance to have fun.  You have got something to say to Santa? He has got an email adress here. Let’s write and wait for his reply. What about creating a custom letter for Santa! You can film yourself or upload a picture and it to Santa’s mail. Here is another place to send your wishes to Santa! For every letter, they are donating 1 dollar to the charity.  Make Santa jump, hop, dance, sing!! Write whatever you want and Santa does it for you on SimonSezSanta. Here is where you can visit Santa’s secret village in NorthPole and play games. Send an interactive ecard via OWorlds, decorate your gingerbread man,write your message and change your background. Decorate your Christmas tree here. What about making your own virtual snowman! You can try this one here. Make your personalized Christmas card and share the joy with others. Make your carol with Zefrank and share the joy! Create your card that features the National Concert Hall here! Select a cute animated card here, add your message and send it to your friends. Would you like to play New Year songs with the Rain Deer Orchestra, just squash their noses with your mouse or click the symbol on your keyboard. Create your online snowflake and let it snow. Children can create their personalized Santa stories here.  You can Santa Yourself by adding your picture, writing your New Year message and send your animated card to others. Choose your character, your background, add some accessories here. Then use text-to-speech or record your voice for your message. Share the fun! and cheers to a happy New Year… Image Source: Shutterstock

I recently found a video of 1st graders using the iPad to visualize a poem that their teacher read to them. After students drew what they imagined, they got into pairs and explained their drawings to a partner. The teacher also circulated to listen and to ask deeper questions of understanding. The concept  inspired our Kindergarten teacher and me to try something similar with our five and 6 year old students. Learning how to listen or read a story and being able to visualize the setting, characters and storyline is an important skill. Being able to "translate" one media (oral text) to another (an illustration)  is a critical literacy skill. Our librarian helped pick a book "How do Dinosaurs say Happy Chanukah", appropriate for this time of year. The Kindergarten teacher explained to the children, that she would be reading the book to them without showing them the pictures. A gasp was heard around the room: "What? No pictures?". Instead they were asked to use their imagination and draw the pictures in their heads first. We then handed out the iPads and ask them to draw the picture they had formed in their heads on the iPad with the help of Doodle Buddy. Once finished, we saved the images and emailed them to the teacher. Dinosaurs And Chanukah from langwitches on Vimeo. How could we expand the above visualization technique to other grade levels and subject areas? have students visualize math word problems create visual notes when watching a movie introduce and perfect sketchnoting skills documenting a science project or lab summarizing a book read How do you see visualization techniques embedded into your area of influence?

Just before the year finishes, here are my favorite web tools in 2014.  Evernote should certainly be the first on this list! I have been using it as my e-notebook for a long time. Also, the students in my 1:1 iPad class are using it as their electronic portfolios. They take their notes on the lessons, write their reflections, and keep their products online. It’s great that writing notes on their Evernote has turned into a habit for me and for them! Plickers is a treasure! It’s so much fun and a very simple tool to get feedback or to collect real-time formative assessment data. The best part is that your students don’t need to have any device! Seeing the positive reaction of the students and the teachers has been amazing this year! EdPuzzle is one of the most multi-tasker tools I have ever tried! It helps you to crop your own videos or other videos from different video sharing platforms. You can record your voice over a video, or you can add audio notes. If you like, you can add quizzes or questions to a video as well! WeTransfer is not a teacher tool but I have used it a lot this year to share files online! You don’t need to sign up to send your large files. Simply upload it, write the e-mail and send it! It will also send you a notification when the receiver downloads the file! Write About is the best digital storytelling so far this year! It has many picture prompts that you can assign your students to write a story about. You can even challenge your students to record their voices as they tell their stories. Clyp.it is my new option for Vocaroo. Record your voice and share it with others or you can upload an audio and get a link to share it! Knock on this door to explore where the door will take you! A great web tool for brainstorming, using adjectives, describing places, feelings! I love Google apps and here is my favorite one this year! Story Builder just gives us another perspective to create our stories! Write your story and see how your text turns into an animation. I have started using student selectors this year. Like that, I can give each my student a chance to speak all through the lesson! This one and that one are my favorites. I know that Padlet is not a new tool in the market, but we have used it in so many ways in our lessons this year! Because it doesn’t ask you to sign up to use the wall! I think this makes this tool one of the bestiest on my list this year! Here are mine, what about yours? Image Source: ShutterStock

This year, just like the other years, I have had the chance to try out different apps in my App Class with my students. And here is my list of my favorite Apple apps that really works in an 1:1 iPad class! Adobe Voice is the very first app on this list. It is free and it gives the chance to children to use their pictures or their text and record their voices with music at the background. I have used this app many times for so many different activities in my classes.  Tellagami is certainly sharing the first place with Adobe Voice. It’s very great app with so many possibilities to integrate in different context. Tellagami helps you to create your own avatar, choose a background and record your voice for your animated avatar. There are not so many poster makers on the market but certainly me and my students’ favorite one is the Phoster. Yes, it’s a paid app but it is really easy to use and a cool way to create posters and share with others. PicCollage is another app that we have been using a lot in class. As it is very user friendly and let students write and add props in a picture, it’s a treasure in my class. Animoto is not a new app but as it is one of the easiest way to create videos with pictures, videos and text, it is one of the tools that I use it in class. I can add Voicethread to that list as well! Videolicious is another favorite on this list. It is a great tool to create videos from your pictures, by adding music and your voice. Students love this one! I would certainly add SpekingPhoto ad Shadow Puppet apps to this list as they are my students’ favorites! It really makes it easy to record our voices over our pictures and share it with the others. QR Code Scanner and Creator is another one that we have used a lot in class in so many different ways. Kids love it and I love it! FriendStrip is another app on this list as it boosts the creativity and the imagination of the kids! Simply just pick a story and personalize it with your pictures and texts! The very last one is the Biscuit app! With this app, you can create your own vocabulary list and it will give you the definitions immediately. You can keep that list and you can get notifications on your smart phones that will remind you the word and show you the definition. What has been your favorite app this year? Image Source: Shutterstock

Matt Gomez shared a post today with a screenshot of his storytelling iPad app folder. I wanted to reciprocate and share mine. Storytelling I Folder StoryBuddy StoryBuilder StoryPagesHD Toontastic Tappy Memories StoryBoards Premium StoryMaker HD StoryPatch In a World … Drama Build a Story PhotoPuppets HD Epic Citadel Sock Puppets StoryKit SonicPics StoryRobe PuppetPalsHD TellaStory Storytelling II Folder StoryLines for Schools VoiceThread Storify This is My Story Talking Dino StoryDice Art Maker Felt Board Our Story Draw & Tell Stories About Me StoyPals Little Bird Tales I am throwing in an extra gem for everyone today, or as we say in Argentina, "dar la yapa" , when you get the baker’s dozen, something unexpected extra, the "buy one, get one free deal": 20 Best Mobile Learning Apps for Children.