Friday Finds

I saw tons of cool stuff this week!  Here's a bunch to keep you busy:

I've always loved word play.  If you do too, check out Word as Image.
I finally updated to iOS 5 and got help setting up new features here and here.
This got me inspired to reorganize my iPhone and iPad screens for success.
Speaking of cell phones: Gross!  Wash your hands or your phone will be disgusting.
Do you use Google Reader?  Be aware of upcoming changes here. 
All the apps you need for Halloween: Educational Apps , iPad Books Apps and Dress up Games.

Have a great weekend!

Friday Finds

Cool stuff I checked out this week:


I read Good Night Moon a million times to my boys.  Now there's this new version.
For puzzle fans:  Word Search Maker and Bingo Card Creator and Printable Dice
What does it mean to know a word?
Some great tips for teaching with Moodle
Use iDonethis if you want to track your accomplishments.

Friday Finds

Some of my all-time favorites get better, plus new stuff I checked out this week:

My hands-down favorite video slideshow maker, Animoto, Just Got Better
Finally!  My all-time favorite tech tool, Voicethread for iOS is now free on iTunes! 
This lesson on Bringing the Dead Alive with Crazy Talk looks fun!
If you only have 60 seconds, try out Listen A Minute
Creative Commons now has over 100 million photos!
Do young people follow the news?  Find out what my students say on the KQED ESL Mobile News Blog

And finally, an ESL Lesson Plan in honor of Steve Jobs.
Have a nice weekend!

Survey Says:

I have always loved surveys.  Any surveys.  I think it's partially from watching Family Feud when I was young.  I'll check the boxes on the cereal box surveys.  I'll circle my ratings on magazine questionnaires.  Once I answered the survey questions of a telemarketer calling about sleeping pills.  Of course this means that I like to survey my class.  Face to Face.  On paper.  Online.  Here are just a few things I've surveyed my students about so far this semester:

• Technology tools 
• Types of reading
• Reactions to the reading themes
• Feelings about test difficulties
• If there is enough homework

I do some in class surveys (I like "Stand By Your Opinion" Polls), and some anonymous (and non-anonymous paper surveys).  The best surveys, however, are done with free technology tools that magically  collect the data, analyze it, and turn it into easy to read charts and graphs.  A wide variety of themes makes the form look pretty when it's emailed, linked, or embedded into a website.

In the past, for most of my surveying I used the mother of all tools:  Surveymonkey.  Now I'm using Google Forms more and more.  I also like Doodle for quick surveying, especially scheduling.  Other tools I've played around with as well are Polldaddy and Zoomerang.

Here's the data summary from the technology tools survey I gave my students the first day: