I realized this morning that 2011 is close to its end. In a short five weeks with the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, the time will pass so quickly and the next thing we know it will be 2012! I hope all of you had a relaxing Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends and hope you enjoy the next weeks as we celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa. The Time and Date site is a good place to check for information on current time, time zones, date calculators, sun and moon calculators, daylight saving time, weather and calendars.
In a recent communication I found a listing for "Bloom's Digital Taxonomy". On this pyramid, you will find all sorts of links to technology you can use for the various levels of the taxonomy - remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating.
For example, within the understanding portion, there is a link for JeopardyLabs. On this site you can create your own Jeopardy style template online or browse and use templates created by others. Some of the templates designed by others were obviously done by students, so be careful when selecting and using a template with a class. If you find a template you'd like to use, simply click on the link, enter the number of teams and click Start. The Jeopardy format will show and you can make your selections. As a team answers correctly, you can click the green plus sign to add the score for the question to their total. If they answer incorrectly, you can click the red minus sign to subtract the score. As you work through the questions, you can click on the Correct Response link to see the correct answer. One word of caution, though - make sure someone is keeping up with the questions which have already been selected and answered. It doesn't look as if the template changes according to the questions already selected. According to the JeopardyLabs site, you can utilize the Quick Build which does not require an account. Or you can create an account with a password for your template. Or you can become a paid member to receive more benefits - from what I can tell, it looks like this site is run by a college student and you can send whatever amount you deem appropriate ($20.00 is the automatic fill-in as a contribution amount, but it can be changed). Note: PayPal is the method of payment. If you decide to try building one on your own, I would suggest using the Quick Build method with a password. Once you build the entire template (don't worry - the numbers disappear from the template as you build it, but they'll be there when you play it), you will receive an URL or Web site address to use. You can also edit the template using another Web site address they provide. Once your entire template is ready for use, simply give the URL to others by e-mail, instant messaging sites, text messages, etc. If you have a site of your own and want to utilize an HTML link, that is also provided for use.
The JeopardyLabs link from the digital pyramid is only one example. There are many other links for you to try, so spend a little time exploring - I bet you will find something you can put to use immediately in your classroom.
Have a great week and remember, it's only a few weeks until we welcome 2012!
