Snapguide allows one to create a guide and publish it online, using mobile devices with a combination of photographs, videos and text to explain how to do something in a clear and understandable step-by-step format.  It is a source of information on  how-to’s for categories from food and crafts, to repairs and DIY projects, and much more. But it also has great potential for use in a language classroom.

This month’s site Website Watch features GRAPHITE (www.graphite.org), a free platform from Common Sense Education that helps you discover the best apps, games, and websites for your classroom. A great place to find new tools for back-to-school!

Often teachers only get one word of feedback a year: “satisfactory”.  With no feedback, no coaching, there’s just no way to improve.

Bill Gates suggests that even great teachers can get better with smart feedback — and lays out a program from his foundation to bring it to every classroom.
Watch this excellent video.

In our busy lives, we can sometimes lose sight of some of the essentials. Feedback, from students and colleagues, is vital so that you can apply remedial measures if they are required.

In Part 1 I would like to share a very interesting article with you. It looks at ways in which you can easily access feedback and commentary from your learners.

This free and easy-to-use classroom management tool allows you to create an online classroom environment where you can manage writing, facilitate discussions and even distribute and mark assignments – all within a secure environment. 

This great site gives you access to an application which allows you to produce
attractive and professional-looking books out of student work like research reports/presentations
or creative writing, along with graphics and pictures. These can then be shared on social media, or emailed to friends and parents.

LITPICK which promotes preteen and teen reading and writing, was recognized by the American Association of School Librarians as the Best Website for Teaching and Learning in 2013. Its mission is to help young readers develop a lifelong love of reading, by facilitating the sharing of opinions in an online social community – always a popular concept with teens today!

INKLEWRITER is the perfect site for both budding and reluctant writers to create new stories, using the interactive fiction model, where readers get to ‘choose your own adventure’. What makes this site unique is that Inklewriter handles the branching story paths while the author concentrates on the writing itself.  Once written, authors can share the stories with whoever they choose via its own unique web-page.