Timetoast, and a 24 hour classroom

On Monday, I began a Timetoast.com assignment with my students. Love Timetoast. In the assignment, they chose 10 Latin sentences from the current story that they are studying and placed them in chronological order. In the description of each event, they provided an English translation, and also had the option of adding a picture to illustrate the event. Then, they published their product and sent me the link in email. From the email I was able to give feedback on my tablet and send them an individualized response to their work. (I used Jing to take a snap of the work).

But eek, Tuesday morning,about 3 AM I was sick, and I was not able to be in the classroom on Tuesday when they were completing their work, so I had to put in for a substitute. Thank goodness for a great sub :) and my instructions already having been delivered on Monday, as well as in print in blackboard, made the difference. The students completed the work, and I received it (in the doctor's office, then home) and was able to write responses to them! We didn't lose a day. Today when I was back, with a little voice and a little shaky, they let me know how much they appreciated getting feedback asap. Yes, a few even asked if I was okay and gave me well wishes!

The image is of a student's work with my comments added, which I emailed back to the students so that they can correct and perfect. For some students I needed to add oral comments, which is no problem with Jing, since it has a movie-screencast recorder and I can walk them through corrections.

Technology saved the day on this occasion.

Latin neuter nouns

Today the 7th grade students practiced their neuter noun patterns in wordchamp and became adept at using the pattern. One student called me over and said, "Hey, I found a pattern, it's always "a" when it's a plural subject." Yes, he'd heard me say it, watched me write it, wrote it himself, but it wasn't until he was getting a score from the computer that it CLICKED.

I also put a screencast on blackboard so that they could get an overview while studying tonight. Here's what they will see.

I love JING. It's a screen capture program that is free. Here's one type of use: If a student is absent, you can record a part of a lesson for the student to view later. Here's a sample.

Or, you can make a screencast of you teaching essential items. Here's a sample.

Let me know what you think of these screencasts. I post them in blackboard and the kids use them for studying, catching up, or just to laugh.