Interesting Ways

The Interesting Ways series continues to be a great example of crowdsourcing good quality classroom ideas and it has been a privilege connecting with all of the people who have taken time to add an idea.
It is remarkable what can be achieved and created together if you give people the right way to do it. Thanks for all the help so far.

Interesting Ways to…


Use Google Tools

Use Google Forms in the Classroom

Use Google Docs in the Classroom

Use Google Earth in the Classroom

Use Google Search in the Classroom

Use Google Maps in the Classroom


Use Devices

Use the iPad in the Classroom

Use Your Interactive Whiteboard in the Classroom

Use an iPod Touch in the Classroom

Ideas for Class Blog Posts

Use Mobile Phones in the Classroom


Use Audio / Visual

Use Audio in Your Classroom

Use Your Pocket Video Camera in the Classroom

Use a Visualizer in the Classroom

Use Web Conferencing in the Classroom

Use QR Codes in the Classroom


Support subjects and other class work

Support Reading in the Classroom

Find and Learn about Creative Commons Resources

Make Your Lessons ESL/EAL Friendly

Support Writing in the Classroom

Get to Know Your New Class

Support Spelling in the Classroom

Teach Reading Comprehension in the Classroom

Make Your Classroom a Sparkly Place to Learn

Support Writing in the Classroom

Teach Internet Safety

Images in the Classroom

Support Maths in the Classroom


Gaming

Use a Nintendo DS in the Classroom

Nintendo Wii in the Classroom


Online Tools

Class Blog Posts

Use Moodle to Support Learning

Use Search Engines in the Classroom

Prezi in the Classroom

Use Voicethread in the Classroom

Use Twitter in the Classroom

Use Wordle in the Classroom

Use a Wiki in the Classroom

Use a Learning Platform in the Classroom

Use Wallwisher in the Classroom


154 comments

  1. I am vice-principal in a college. I have 21 deferent classes like MPC 1, MPC 2,MPC 3 …etc.
    Each class consists 40 students. Each class (for all 40 students) consists 5 courses/subjects. Each course/subject is taught by deferent teacher.
    Every teacher conducts exam in their course/subject for entire students of each class and they award marks for the students.
    I have to gather paper wise marks of a class ( 40 students) from all the faculty in a Excel spreadsheet.
    Can I get it by the way of Google forms? How to create Google form for this problem. I’ll be very thankful for your earliest response.

  4. Thank you for these resources and allowing us to add our own. Do any of you find better resources than others in a high school English class?

  6. Hi Tom,
    I’m unable to access some materials in the ‘support subjects and other class works’ section in ‘Interesting ways’. The links in ‘support writing in your classroom were great. Thanks!

  8. This is a wonderful resource. Thanks for sharing. I am so looking forward to using some of these with my students.

  9. been a long time for this site but does anyone have copies of the use google forms and use google docs in the classroom links? they are no longer there

  10. I don’t know if you still follow this as most of the comments are quite old.
    I’ve seen and enjoyed some of your Interesting ways in the past but now they seem locked and acess is denied.

  11. I have a suggestion! How about Interesting Ways to Use Slideshows in your Classroom (or more specifically Animoto)!

  12. Thank you for the resources. I am a high school science teacher and use Google Earth chapter tours and activities to engage students in reading nonfiction, maritime literature. Feel free to use the material at: http://Sailthebook.net
    Sincerely,
    Ira

  14. I just came across one of your intersting ways… that I had saved and wanted to check out some of your other ideas. I don’t know if you still update but there seems to be a problem using the link to using Google Docs apparently caused by its changing to drive.

    Thank you for your great ideas

  15. Great sharing Mr Tom Barrett,
    I have used some of them before but when I see your share, I have a clear and system tools.
    I’m a teacher in Lawrence S.Ting (Dinh Thien Ly) in Vietnam

  16. Hi Tom, I am having trouble accessing the link to the Google Docs interesting ways. HAs this been removed?

  19. Thanks for this info! I found you on edudemic. I would LOVE to pin this article so I can direct others to it, but you need an image for it. Is it possible for you to add one? Also if you need help adding a Pin it Button to your site, there are some really GREAT tutorials that can help you add it. I’m wildly impressed.

  25. Really wonderful! Thanks for sharing
    ‘the ways we can help our students learn through pictures’. Since I don’t know too
    much about technology. Specially about creating things because I think you need
    to study something like computer engineering or something related to that but I
    am pretty sure that I am going to share It with other teacher at least to use it
    in the classroom with our students. Great work!

    Janeth López

  26. Hi Matthew

    Thanks for your comment and I am really pleased you like the resource I hope you get to apply some of the collective wisdom gathered there.

    If you have some ideas to kickstart an iBooks resource let me know and I will get something setup – had a great time in Boston with more crowdsourcing action in my session there too! http://bit.ly/blc12100

    Thanks again for the comment!

  28. Hi Tom, This is an amazing resource.  I am so glad that you had the idea to croudsource all of this learning.  I am extremely grateful!  I was thinking about an “Interesting ways to use iBooks/iBooksAuthor”  Also, I hope you enjoyed your trip to Boston.  Had I known you were in my neck of the woods, I would have offered you a beer–er, pint!  

  29. love the blog!  however i noticed that a number of slides are missing or repeated in your Using QR Codes in the Classroom Google Doc.  looking forward to incorporating a number of these ideas in my classroom.

  30. Thank you for the post! I found the ‘Use Google Docs in the Classroom’ particularly helpful. I think the assignment tracker idea was particularly unique. I think I can find some way to organize assignments, share with my class, and cut down on late assignments. I also like the collaborative homework idea – has anyone had success with this? If so, how did you use it? I use a lot of experimental data in my math class and have had success using Google Docs to share with my students so they have access to the data at home. Thank you for all your ideas – keep them coming!

  31. Thanks for such great information. I really foynd the wiki in the classroom section fantastic for my assignment at the moment.  Thank you

  33. The Google Earth tours are KMZ files so there is no export options for other types of media – the best way would be to do a screencast / capture of your narrated tour with a good mic/headset and drop that video file into iMovie.

    Hope that helps.

  34. Anyone know how to save the video of a GE tour so it can be edited in say iMovie?

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  37. Love your crowd sourced Interesting ways to use Google docs in the classroom – plenty of ideas there to adapt for our teachers to explore Google docs (even if their students aren’t quite ready for it yet – adult community ESL students). I’ll embed it in our Staffroom wiki with my notes highlighting which slides are immediately useful to them.

  39. Wow, Thanks for sharing.  I would like to site your “75 Interesting ways..” in my application
    for a Technology grant.  I teach kindergarten and am part of a Technology Integration Cadre.
    This presentation is perfect for illustrating the many ipad uses for enhancing our curriculum goals.

  41. I love the find and learn creative commons presentation.  This is perfect for promoting awareness and seeing just how easy searching CC can be.  Thank you

  44. I saw a link for your site on my google + account so I click because it’s an interestting topic and I’m glad the content of your sites are worth ready and my time at the same time.

  45. I’m interested in adding some tips about how to use the Nintendo DS but I need an email adress to send it to since I don’t have a twitter account.

  47. Hi Tom,
    I love all of your “Interesting Ways” Docs.  Have you considered starting one about using a document camera?

  50. I must echo everybody else’s sentiments here, and say what a fantastic resource this is.  It’s websites/communities like this that inspire people like me to create our maths revision apps.  We’ve just started a blog, and have posted a short one about using mobile phones in the classroom: http://pocketrevision.co.uk/blog/?p=14  I’m hoping to implement some of the creative ideas I see here, and keep people updated with progress via our blog.   Thanks again…..

  51. I stumbled upon you just now while doing research on video cameras in the class room. You have some wonderful ideas here, and I’m glad I found your site! 

  54. Support spelling in the classroom suggestion: I use a game called EVAPORATION. Children sit in equal groups eg 5 or 6 with a pencil each and 1 piece of paper for the group. Teacher writes the word on the board in very large letters. When you say go the children pass the paper around the group and write one letter each to spell the word they continue to do this to write the complete word as many times as possible. As they do this the teacher slowly rubs out the word so that it “evaporates”. Once the word is evaporated the teacher calls out stop. The groups count up how many times they have spelt the word correctly and completely. Great for teamwork and practicing the word.

  56. Thanks for the first day activities for teachers. I’ve seen several before, but you’ve gathered them all in a quick, easy to use way.

  59. That is good news – welcome to my blog 🙂 hope you find something useful,
    have a good dig around. Let me know if there is anything I can help with.

  60. If it were not for Google+ I would have never found Tom Barrett and I would have missed edte.ch. Thank you Google+. One small circle can change your life.

  61. Tom:

    How about creating a section for using ePub in the classroom? 
    New free, no advertising education site that provides a totally private place for teacher to form groups so teacher and student created ePub work can be shared.
    ePub can now be used in the classroom even when eDevice are not available in the classroom.  Plus the epub can be downloaded for eDevice such as iPad, iPod, Nook:
    http://edu.epubbud.com

    1. create epubs online easily with text, images, video(mp4), audio(mp3)
    2. download to eReader (iPad, iPod, Nook and others)
    3. supports video and audio when using Chrome browser
    4. share your epubs with group members
        -teachers created curriculum based epub
        -students share their work with group for peer review/comments
    5. parents can join group to veiw group work

  62. Tom, I love the layout and template for this blog. Not to mention the amazing content. What platform do you use?

    Hurry back to Ireland , you made a great impression at the last CESI event

    @glynnmark:twitter

  64. Couldn’t wait to link this site to our school’s desktop! I am on a mission in term three to make I.T. compulsory everyday in every classroom excluding word processing and power point!! Time to move ahead before the kids leave us behind! Thansk for sharing.

  65. What an amazing set of resources!  Been busy emailing links to staff in our school who will be interested.  Looking forward to your workshop tomorrow, Tom, in Sunderland.

  66. Wow, what a fantastic array of resources.  I have loved what I have seen so far and added some new ideas to my existing practices.  I will be visiting this regularly to make sure I view them all.  I will be telling my network about this site and hope to contribute to your ideas when I get a chance.

  70. Fabulous collection of ideas on how to effectively use technology. Can’t wait to put them into practice.

  72. Really inspiring collection of resources here Tom – what a great canon!

    I’d be interested to see a ‘Use Creative Commons Resources’ entry into the series…

  73. Thanks John – I am pleased you find the resources useful

    Tom Barrett

    teacher | blogger

    edte.ch
    [image: Delicious] [image:
    LinkedIn] [image:
    Flickr] [image:
    Twitter]

  74. Useful and interesting site. I’m not involved in education these days, though I still hold an interest. Definitely a place to recommend to friends.

  75. Sounds like a good idea – I will get one started this weekend, look out for it and please help to get it started.

  76. Hi Tom
    I met you at the CESI conference in Portloaise and would love to contribute to and promote an interesting ways series on Moodle – I think it would either need one for primary and another for secondary or 2 sections in one presentation…………….I know i could do it myself but it seems so much better to add to an already dynamic series………

  77. A QR code use suggestion: I took pictures of our staff looking at a flier of our upcoming book fair; and audio taped them reading a book talk. I used the picture to create a poster; and on the page I put a qr code that linked to the audio file. The idea is that students will see the posters, and then use the qr reader on their phone to access the audio file of the book talk. They visit the book fair; and enter the name of a book promoted on one of the fliers to win.

  78. I loved the idea of using a Wii in the classroom!! I’m excited about trying it out myself when on a prac as a student teacher..it’d bring in my own if needed!! Image how well behaved the students would be if they knew they’d get some Wii time! I agree with AlexJJ below, this site is full of amazing, practical ideas for teacher to use in their classroom. I will absolutely use a Wii with my next prac class. Students will become incredibly focused on the task at hand ‘e.g. Wii Golf subtraction’. Genius.

  79. I really loved those 17 ways to use wiki in the classroom. I loved how it involves the teachers, students and parents. It shows how students can become extremely productive online and allows them to get their parents involved as well. The digital class book is a wonderful idea, it’s exciting for students to build a page, it allows each student to be creative and it is a good way to let students communicate to each other and voice there opinion. I think using wiki would be such an asset in the class room and I look forward to using some of these great ideas. Thank you

  80. Love the lists! I had never heard of wallwisher before and will be using it in my chemistry classes tomorrow.

  81. Love your work! How about a list for using ereaders like Kindle or Nook? Thanks.

  83. This page is fantastic! I will be directing my entire staff to look at it. Great work:)

  86. I am really grateful for these lists – they are the easiest way to get great ideas you can immediately use in the classroom. Thank you, Tom, for the hard work and dedication 🙂

  88. I’ve only just stumbled on this fantastic resource bank. Some brilliant ideas I shall be utilising. Thanks.

  90. Hi Tom,

    Perhaps, you’ll find our recently launched (still in public beta) Web 2.0 style English-English dictionary to be a suitable candidate for the list above.

    During the limited trials we’ve conducted so far, we’ve found school students (and English language teachers) to be *very* enthusiastic about it:

    http://www.RapiDefs.com

  93. Hi David

    thanks for sharing your thoughts on web conferencing – please feel free to
    add them to the presentation would be good to have your experience shared
    with others.

    thanks again

  94. Tom,

    Always grateful and always bookmarking these for teachers (I am in TESOL/TEFL training).

    One addition to web conferencing is providing feedback to students and assessing. Much more effective than dry comment. Post up the doc and comment to students etc…. I’ll also add that I’m presently testing video conference rooms I created for schools using open source. Will be cheap after they are done and teachers can make rooms on the fly/go. http://www.teflist.com/video/demo An example of what a classroom teacher can do for others with tech skills and an open source environment.

    Again, thanks for all your service and ideas…

    David

  95. Can we start an “Interesting Ways to Create Avatars” slideshow? For example, self-portrait in “Paint”; Draw, paint or sketch a picture of yourself and and take a photo, as well as the different programs available.

  100. This is wonderful collection of ideas!! I’d not heard of many of the sites that you mentioned and see them as impacting my classroom immediately. Thank you!

  101. Is it just my server or are there other people who do not get to see the images and clips on these files? I find them extremely useful (albeit the lost info.)

    What might the matter be?

  102. Thanks Tom! Does anyone know of similar resources regarding using iPod touch in the classroom? I am hoping to start a project combining iPods and QR-codes in vocational education.

  103. Thank you so much for sharing these resources. I follow you on twitter and know there is an issue with people using them incorrectly but just wanted to say I have just (literally 10 mins ago) received our ipads for school and these tips are invaluable, will add to them when we have started working on them properly but THANK YOU!

  104. I loooove this site! I am trying to get an innovative PLC going and this will be an excellent starting point for discussion and ideas. Thanks for sharing!

  105. Another way to Use Mobile Phones…you can upload vocabulary or terms to studystack.com and students can push the words out to their cell phones and see them as flash cards.

    Thanks for all your lists!

  107. I come back to your Interesting Ways time and time again and always get something new out of it. How about adding an Interesting Ways to use Teacher Tube? I’m a primary school teacher in London and would love to hear how others are using it, as I can’t seem to quite get started with it. Thanks so much for sharing these great ideas!

  108. It would be great if you could create one for Animoto (or video in general). I always reference these and refer people to them because the content is always updating. Thank you for all your work!

  109. Tom,

    I would also like to pose this question. In a computer lab students get distracted and get on to facebook and chat sessions during class. Rather than treat it as a ‘no no’ – how can trainers use facebook and chat sessions as a learning tool ?

    Vidhya
    ACK, Q8

  110. Tim,

    This is a really good website. Thank you very much for sharing such great ideas. I wonder if you have any suggestion for a ‘classroom challenge’ I have i.e. students using mobiles in the classroom.

    Personally I believe that the solution to the problem usually lies hidden within the problem itself. And, I am trying to engage the mobile as a learning tool in the class room. What are some ways/games that trainers can come up with to engage mobile phone features in learning i.e. SMS, calling each other, using mobile ringtones, grouping different handsets.

    I just thought I’d put the question out there and see what happens. Thank you.

    Vidhya
    ACK, Q8

  111. Hi Tom.
    A couple of activities for “Get to know your class.”

    DURING MY LIFE…
    Students and teacher all sit on chairs in a circle. Ask students to stand and teacher takes away one chair. That person goes to the middle of the circle and makes a statement about something they have done in their life.
    Eg. Today I rode to school or In my life I have had a broken bone or This week I went to the movies etc etc.
    After the statement is made all students (and teacher) have to find a seat opposite them (not next to them) IF THEY HAVE ALSO DONE THAT ACTIVITY and one person will be left standing.
    If you have not done that activity you don’t have to move.
    That person without a chair then makes the next statement.
    Continue activity for as long as interest is maintained.

    WALK and TALK
    Another good one is to have students choose a partner they do not know, or know very well.
    Students leave the classroom and go for a walk with their new buddy for about 10 minutes.
    For the first 5 minutes one person shares about their life to the other person (personal, school likes, school dislikes etc).
    The other person is not to talk at all. They just listen. (It is not often that people get the opportunity to just talk and lead the chat where they want to go).
    After 5 minutes, or until the other person has exhausted their story, they then change over.
    When all students return after the 10 minutes, each person relates to the group what their partner shared.
    Ask the group what it was like just listening without saying anything.
    Where they able to keep quiet? Why, why not?

  113. First, thanks for presenting the “getting to know you” in slides-made it easy to follow different ideas!
    I teach pubic speaking so to break the ice (of new students and a scary subject) we play “two truths and a lie”
    each student brings in three items that say something about them-baseball hat, deck of cards, etc
    Two are true and one is either not theirs or a false story. The class gets to guess!

  114. Great site. Thank you. I’m attempting to use several ideas in my classroom (document camera, flip videos and getting to know your class sites were extremely helpful.
    Thanks again.

  117. Wow! What an essential favorite for every classroom teacher. I can’t wait to continue to collect and share ideas from here.

  118. Thanks so much for your ideas that help spark more ideas. Great way to start the year. I am a writing teacher trying to use tech to motivate their writing thanks for that

  119. I have spent the last two hours reading through your blog posts and watching the “Interesting Ways” presentations. Lots of great information here! These will be a huge resource for teachers as my school as we look to incorporate more technology and Web 2.0 tools. Thank you! Another great use of iPod Touches (or any cell phone for that matter) is the stopwatch function. I know it’s not technically an app, but it is much more reliable than any of the stopwatches my school has purchased for us to use.

  120. I have dropped by and feel amazing of all the resources which are absolutely invaluable for teachers, especially for NNSs. Thanks a ton for sharing. I have been bookmarked this and joined to follow you on Twitter. Sharing is caring. Let everyone share their ideas with you too.

  124. These ideas are terrific!! It's a beautiful day to be down by the lake and I can't tear myself away from “Interesting ways to….” Gets me fired up about the new school year. Thanks a million!

  125. No problem Elena I am pleased you liked some of the ideas – thanks for
    dropping me a note, good to hear they are useful

    best wishes

    Tue Aug 03 2010 16:17:13 GMT+0100 (GMT Daylight Time) <
    >:
    Elena Delgado <edelgado1313@yahoo.com.mx> (unregistered) wrote: Great blog!
    We are about to …

  126. Great blog! We are about to start classes next week here in Mexico city. These ideas come in handy.
    I was reading the Get to know your students collection and felt that some could work perfectly with my highschool students.
    I will report on results.
    Thanks for sharing!
    Ma. Elena Delgado
    edelgado1313@yahoo.com.mx

  127. Hi Tom what an amazing site – been looking for something like this for ages! Can't wait to start contributing, keep up the excellent work!!

  130. No problem – I will keep collecting ideas as long as people are willing to share them.

  131. Here are 2 more ways to get to know your:
    1) Hand out a couple rolls of toilet paper and ask the students to take a few sheets … whatever they think they are going to need. Of course you tell them you can't tell them why. When everyone has some, make them share one fact about themselves for each sheet of t.p. they took. You can do the same thing with M&M's or other candy.
    2) Give everyone 5 post it notes and tell them to write one fact on each post it note and stick it to their bodies and walk around and meet each other.

  132. Great for understanding how a Wiki works! Thanks for sharing ideas. Will link to it during a teacher training workshop.

  134. Thank you so much for sharing all these fabulous resources together. I'll be bookmarking this page and sharing it with many other teachers in the future.

  137. Thanks for creating such accessible and useful ideas for the classroom. One suggestion…if you could link to the slides instead of embedding them it would be easier to share with others–this page made my Internet Explorer freeze up. I was able to load it in Google Chrome but even that took a while…

  139. Oh my god – my weekends are about to get a whole lot busier trying to fit all of these fantasitc ideas into my lessons and my lesson planning!
    Thanks a lot

  140. Been following this series for a while … and like it.

    One request regarding the embedding code … could the width be kept to 425 or less … this is the maximum width in many Blogger templates.

    Many thanks … and thanks for initiating this …

    Shamblesguru

  141. Been following this series for a while … and like it.

    One request regarding the embedding code … could the width be kept to 425 or less … this is the maximum width in many Blogger templates.

    Many thanks … and thanks for initiating this …

    Shamblesguru

  143. Wow! These are great! Did you know that the “Interesting Ways” listed on the right index only shows about 5 of these?

    I wish there was some way you could have the label “interesting Ways” and then under that have a clickable link to each different slide.

  144. Thanks for putting these all in one place. I will certainly be sharing them with my school and other Hampshire schools. Collaboration is king.

  145. This is such a great series! How about… “Interesting ways to use mobile phones in the classroom”? To kick off: Most phones have bluetooth – so you can bluetooth homework assignments or spelling lists etc. to the kids (probably more applicable to secondary than to primary schools).

  146. Great Work…may I also suggest a brief writeup on the technology that you are referring to- like VoiceThread and Prezi? I know one can google for it, but since you are doing this fantistic work, it will only make it “more complete”.

  148. Great stuff – thanks for putting them all together.

    Any chance of starting an “interesting ways to use an Ipod Touch in the classroom” presentation?

  150. Thank you for posting these again. I have seen (and used!) your Wordle presentation and can’t wait to check out the others. Keep up the good work!

  152. Great stuff – thanks for putting them all together.

    Any chance of starting an “interesting ways to use an Ipod Touch in the classroom” presentation?

  153. Thank you for embedding these all in one place. This was a fabulous idea that you had and I only hope you continue to foster these collaborations.

  154. Thanks for sharing these, and I agree having them in one area is great. I’ll be sharing these at my next web 2.0 PD workshop.

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