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Selector Ideas

I have just replied to a couple of emails from teachers asking for some ideas for using the ‘Student Selector’ resource.

I thought I would add the ideas I suggested to a blog post in the hope that they may be useful to other teachers too.

Of course, if you have any innovative ideas to add then please get in touch and I will update the post.

Here is my reply to one of the emails:

Thank you for your email.

In answer to your question about the student selector, you can use it however you like – and lots of teachers use it for lots of different purposes.

Begin by typing a list using the ‘Edit List’ feature from the tool bar (or use the list creator within the resource itself). Save your list and then load it with the ‘Student Selector’ resource.

I recently added a new option to the resource in response to feedback from a teacher: you can now choose whether you would like the resource to select completely at random or whether you would like it to randomly work through a sequence (i.e. with no duplicates).

So… if your list consisted of names, the selector will pick a name at random.

If your list consisted of vocabulary, then a word will randomly be chosen. The task could be to provide a definition or to work the word into a sentence.

You could use such an activity as a starter, a plenary, as the basis for a quiz, to decide the order of a presentation and so on.

If your list was made up of numbers, you could use it to construct random sums. Moreover, a couple of selectors containing the numbers 1 to 6 is an easy way to create dice.

You can even open lots of copies of the resource and select lots of random things at the same time!

So, for example, a language teacher could have one selector randomly selecting quantities and another selector randomly selecting groceries. The idea would be for students to construct a sentence to order that quantity of the item. There are lots of other combinations you could use – perhaps even with four or five selectors on the go at once!

As an extension of this idea, a number of selectors could be used to randomly choose the topic for a short piece of story writing. One selector could contain characters, one could contain settings and so on. A fun way for students to generate ideas – and, of course, because the lists can be saved, this activity could be used over and over again, added to, adapted, shared with other teachers and so on.

I used the selectors in my literature lessons to randomly create ‘Dickensian’ sounding characters – one selector would contain first names or titles and the second selector would contain surnames. Students would generate a character of their own using the resource, think about what sort of character would have such a name and then write a description of this person in the style of Charles Dickens.

Another good way to use the selector could be for the following plenary activity: key words are typed into a list as anagrams. At the end of the lesson, the selector would randomly choose an anagram for students to solve. Again, with more than one than selector open, students could be working on a number of anagrams at once – perhaps even working in teams and winning points for each anagram they solve.

(You could, of course, use your class list with the ‘Student Group’ resource to quickly create the teams and one of the scoreboards on the app to keep track of each team’s progress! You could even open one of the timers to add a bit of tension!)

Well, I hope that this gives you a few ideas – let me know,

David

Thank you again to the people who take the time to write to me with questions and, especially, feedback.

At present, the app is taking up a lot of my free time and so feedback is always very much appreciated – and it gives me a good incentive to work to turn some of my new ideas into resources which teachers and students can use in the classroom – and beyond.

I hope there are some ideas in this post that people find useful – again, please feel free to get in touch if you have any new ideas to add to this list.

Thank you, David.

Currently Working On…

Last week was a really good week for the app – and so I thought I would write a quick blog post with a bit of news and also some screenshots of a few of the resources I am currently working on.

So far in October, my app has been used over 33,000 times – this is great news and I really hope that people are finding the resources to be helpful.

My app was also featured on the ‘Box of Tricks’ website. I am really grateful to Jose Picardo (@josepicardo on Twitter) for taking the time to write about my work and to the people who have added their comments to his post.

You can read the post here: Triptico – An Essential Resource for the Interactive Whiteboard.

I have also received many emails from people who are planning to showcase my resources at conferences around the world and during staff training. Of course, if there is ever anything that I can do to help with such an event, then please feel free to get in touch.

I have lots of new ideas for resources I would like to create for the app and will try to make time to work on them.

Here are a few screenshots of some half-finished resources – as ever, all feedback appreciated:

If there are any English Literature teachers who would like to help with the ‘Page Turner’ resource then please get in touch.

Thanks as ever to everybody who has taken the time to contact me with feedback – it is very much appreciated and gives me a great incentive to continue developing resources for the app.

Thank you, David | Contact

Class Vote Resource

I have added another new resource to the app this evening: ‘Class Vote’.

Again, this resource is in response to a teacher request – and I hope that it will be a useful addition to the app.

This is version one of the ‘Class Vote’ resource – and there is sure to be room for improvement. Please get in touch with me if you have any ideas.

Thanks to everybody who has already taken the time to write to me with feedback about my app - all feedback (positive or negative) is always very much appreciated,

Thank you, David.