Search This Blog

Thursday, December 26, 2013

"Stolen Ideas" - Definitions and Photography

I have mentioned before that my school is part of a state grant, the Texas Literacy Initiative, and the focus this year is on vocabulary. I stumbled upon this in my Twitter feed today, and my brain has been twitching with ideas ever since. I said I would wait until Saturday before I started doing anything school related, but my brain does not agree with that decision after 6 /2 days of little educational stimulation. 

Today's Daily Create (@ds106dc) assignment: Using Dictionary.com's word of the day, take and share a photographic representation of the meaning. 

How easy and wonderful is that. Not only can I use this with a word of the day to expose my students to more vocabulary, I can also assign words from our readings for them to do this with. We are a Bring Your Own Technology school, and most of my students have some sort of camera. For those who do not, they can always draw something. They can also use photo editing apps to add some creativity. 

Of course, what is a great idea without some practice? 

Today's Dictionary.com word:  





As a former daytime soap opera addict (I am only a nighttime soap opera addict now), I know this meaning. The second definition, however, caught me off guard. I decided to go with that one because it is new to me and because I cooked a turkey Christmas Eve. 

So without further ado, here is my photographic representation of schmaltz:

Yum!

Now I need someone to teach me how to use Flickr because I have not logged into the site in years. 

7 comments:

  1. That is awesome, the second picture not so much (LOL)! I was surprised at the second meaning also! I think the kids would really enjoy this!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I grossed myself out with the picture, but I am never going to forget that meaning. I'm excited about incorporating this into some lessons.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It would actually be interesting to have them rather than find definitions for homework, find an associated picture to each word.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm excited to read your excitement over the daily create... we have a back catalog of hundreds of past challenges that are ripe for picking or modifying.

    The Word of the Day is interesting because you cannot anticipate it, I suppose it could be a writing prompt as well. The way I use Daily Creates when teaching is that I do not grade any students on the quality of what they create, but the effort, and the ways they go in interpreting the challenge. So for a photo about "schmaltz" one can go in a literal direction and make a photo of the substance, but then you can try to make an image that perhaps represents the idea, or one of its synonyms. I even tell my students it counts of they even do the opposite, as long as they can write about their idea and discuss how they made it.

    Hope to see you back!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love this idea. Just revised my monthly vocabulary work to include this option. Had previously asked students to locate an image that represented the word.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't know how anyone taught before the internet!

      Delete
    2. I agree its such an essential resource!

      Delete