What… tuxedo?

No Tagxedo

Another awesome tool to inspire even the most cranky learner:

And that’s cranky!

I was going through the feature shelves at LiveBinder again… and guess what I found?

My new favorite LiveBinder…Writing Resources to Inspire Students

Clicked on the tab Tagxedo and my world changed.

Tired of Wordle…try Tagxedo!

This one is easy-peasy to try. Now I will show you the magic…

1) Start by loading words or

2)Just type in any

*URL

*Twitter Id

*De.licio.us Id

*news

*Search

*RSS (look-up)

3)Choose, color, theme, layout, shape..etc and voila…

Here is what my blog looks like:

Educational Applications101 Ways to Use Tagexdo

Current Events

1)Visit the Daily Tuxedo

2)Scroll to the Dailey tagxedo that appeals to you.

3)Click on the INTERACTIVE link below the image.

4)Use your cursor to select a word within the tagxedo cloud and it goes right to an information source.

LOVE THIS!!!

Ice Breakers

Break the Ice At the beginning of the school year,

ask each student to make a Tagxedo about himself/herself

Show a sample (e.g. one about you, or previous class)

What you like, what’s unique about you

Normalize Frequency make the exercise much easier (just give an ordered list of words or phrases)

classic cloud: >40 words/phrases shape: >100

Each student gets a few minutes to talk about themselves

Easiest – each makes a list, teacher makes Tagxedoes

Hardest – each makes own Tagxedo (with shape)

From slide 33

Summarize Chapters of a Book

Use text from the chapter

Highlight selected words to summarize the chapter or lead to the next

Use related shape

Example: Tom Sawyer, steamboat (silhouettes

From slide 50

Try any of these, and I can guarantee that your students will feel like this:

Other posts on this topic:

Digital Textbooks…Like Putting Lipstick on a Pig

Digital Textbooks…It’s a Matter of Definition

Building a Textbook From Scratch…5 Reasons to Try LiveBinder

5 Tips for Starting Your Own LiveBinder

Need Videos for Your LiveBinder…Top 5 Sources

Need Images for Your LiveBinder…Top 5 Sources

Building a LiveBinder…Brick by Brick

Building a LiveBinder…Let it Bloom With These Tools

Let me know how it works out for you!

Until Next Time,

Lit Maven Out!

Out of the gate this year, I was thinking of doing everything…Flipped Presentations, E-books, Webinars, and definitely..NO PAPER!!!

But then I was explaining to Twitter Chats to some people and they looked at me like I was him…

Then, I knew, I had to slowwwwwwwwwwww down.

So while, I am doing things differently this year. I am not using up all my felts the first week… (Have no idea what that means…)

I have decided that access to materials and information is always a plus. How can I make this easier…

Did you say LIVEBINDERS?

I think you did….10 points to your team!

I am in the midst of creating 4 Livebinders for 4 separate presentations…

What was I thinking?

I wasn’t…that was June talkin’…

Anyway, I am foregoing the usual powerpoint..even the new age Prezi, in favor of a LiveBinder. Here’s my thinking…

1. Perhaps presenting with a LiveBinder will encourage a climate of sharing…

2. Perhaps those attending the presentation will be more engaged because they know they will have access to everything during and after the presentation.

3. Perhaps I will ignite a firestorm of LiveBinders so that new shelving will have to be ordered! (Shelfari…still around?)

At any rate…it has to be better than…”Can I have the handout?”

Flipped Classroom Applications

My hope is that if I create these for all my presentations…I can send them in advance. That teachers will appreciate the “heads up” in way of the content. That real discussion and collaboration will start the minute they sit down.

I will let you no later this week how it all goes down…

Until Next Time,

Lit Maven Out!