Archiving Resources

I enjoy finding digital resources for my students and myself. One issue that quickly becomes apparent is how to store and find them when needed. I used to simply bookmark sites. Occasionally, I would manage them, but my collection grew too large for that system. I now use three tools to stay organized: Pocket, Evernote and Pinterest.

Pocket, formerly Read It Later, is very similar to bookmarking on your browser. As I read a tweeted link or an article on a website, I often want to save it. Once I manage the applications to grant access to my Pocket account, I have the option to "Read Later" when I select the share icon on my mobile device.

At a later time, I go to either the webpage or to the app to read my articles. At that point, I make another decision: keep it in Pocket, delete it, or add it to my Evernote notebooks or Pinterest boards.

I have written about Evernote previously. I use it to write my lesson plans and to archive many digital resources. Evernote allows me to tag anything so I can easily find what I look for. Notes within Notebooks make it easy to file items in an organizational scheme.

View options allow me to see my notes as a list, or, as shown here, as snippets. Evernote also makes it easy to share Notebooks with others making it a great tool to keep track of resources for a group of teachers.

Pinterest is a social networking service that allows users to "pin" websites onto "boards." Users get information and share by following others. Some websites do not allow pinning and since Pinterest's focus is on images, webpages without images cannot be used. Pinterest has broad categories of items, such as education, gardening and travel. It is also searchable. While I tend to use Evernote and Pocket only for work, my boards are a combination of professional and personal items. You can find me at Meg King-Abraham.

I have installed bookmarklets for these three services on my computer to make it really easy to archive all my resources. Do you have other suggestions for great archiving tools? Feel free to share them in a comment!

Communicate easily with padlet

I have been using padlet with my Summer school students. padlet.com used to be called Wallwisher. It is "Paper for the Web." Signing up for a free account is easy, requiring only an email address. There are many options for the appearance of your wall. Once created, you are provided with a link or code to embed. There are also many options to share it on social media. I provide a link to students, who then double click on the wall to write. Images can also be put onto walls.

Students can comment with their name or anonymously. The example above is feedback I collected from my students. They enjoyed having a public forum for their writing. I enjoyed the instantaneous nature and viewing ease.

I have been thinking of other uses with students and fellow staff:

• virtual bulletin board
• introductions with pictures
• collect anonymous... problems, solutions, observations, questions, comments
• vote or make choices
• KWL chart
• collect data to classify; arrange graphically

The website has a gallery showing examples of what people have created on their walls. I would love to hear your ideas!

Taking Steps Towards Digital Badges

As somewhat of a "conscientious objector" regarding the grading of students, I am very excited about badges. I loved earning them as a girl scout; the idea of having proven a set of skills or accomplishments appealed to me then and still does. When I first heard of digital badges, I knew I needed to find out more. I did some research and got advice from my Twitter PLN. I have settled on using ClassBadges at classbadges.com. ClassBadges is a free tool that allows teachers to design, describe and award badges to students.

While there are many icons provided, you can also upload your own images. I created some of my images and edited some from Creative Commons.

I am a huge fan of giving my students options. During my decades as a classroom teacher, I used Academic Choice, a Responsive Classroom component. As a new Technology Specialist, I have been rethinking and revising ways to provide meaningful choices in the computer lab. When students complete their daily assignment, they will be able to work towards badges. I am implementing this with students in grades 3-5.





I am starting out with 10 badges. I feel it will give students enough variety, while being manageable.


I created a Google document that gives students a description and the requirements for each badge.  I have also created a Symbaloo webmix for all the websites and shared documents they will need to access.


My next step is to create a screencast for each badge, introducing it and modeling some components. This way, students can jump right into the work without having to listen to me explain all the details of every badge. Each screencast will also be a link in the webmix which is color-coded.