Farr-Out Links to Learning » Farr-Out In-”Sites”

Question of the Week

Jen — Mon, 17 May 2010 04:02:44 +0000

I recently read the book 75 Cage-Rattling Questions to Challenge the Way you Work by Dick Whitney and Melissa Giovagnoli. As I read the book and thought about the “cage-rattling” questions that were developed primarily for businesses I realized that many of the questions could be revised and used to help educators think about their schools and classrooms. Feel free to post your answer to the following question using the comment link at the bottom of this post.

Academic Skill Games

Jen — Wed, 05 May 2010 04:01:44 +0000

I have long been a fan of 4 Teachers Family of Tools. I revisit and recommend Rubistar, Web Poster Wizard, and PBL Checklists frequently. Imagine my delight when I realized that the Family of Tools has added a site called Academic Skill Builders. The site includes numerous colorful and educational games that students can play to practice and improve math, geography, and ELA skills.

The games were colorful, simple to master, and some of the games even offered options to compete with other players (in other words, up to four students could be on different computers competing with each other virtually). Information from the site…
Our approach is based on these principle points:

Students respond to challenge and errors can be viewed as opportunities to improve rather than as indication of failure. An unlimited ceiling on performance will help the student reach his/her maximum level of proficient performance.
Repetitious drill can be fun, as fun as methods typically associated with the higher order aspects of learning. Games increase the time-on-task for drills and increase engagement through competition.
Immediate corrective feedback facilitates improvement in performance. Students can quickly see mistakes and how to correct them.

Generally speaking, I would say these games are best suited to younger students, though certainly the games could be used to practice and spiral basic skills.

Learning Languages with Forvo

Jen — Tue, 04 May 2010 04:05:22 +0000

As a person who is admittedly foreign language challenged, I found the website Forvo a fascinating site where I could visit and learn how words from different countries are pronounced. “Forvo is the largest pronunciation guide in the world. Ever wondered how a word is pronounced? Ask for that word or name, and another user will pronounce it for you. You can also help others by recording your pronunciations in your own language.” Register for a free account to…

Help others to communicate better
Add words you don´t know how to pronounce
Rate and discuss other people´s pronunciations
Keep track of your added and pronounced words
Download mp3 audio pronunciations

This would be a great site to utilize in Foreign Language and ESL classes. Students could listen to pronunciations online and add their own pronunciations online for teacher and peer feedback.