Glogster I Love You ... and a SUPER SUMMER GIVEAWAY! :)

Do you use Glogster? Guess what, if you don't, you should! It's free for educators, and it's pretty much amazing. While working on some curriculum this summer, I really wanted to create some resources for my students to practice interacting with text digitally. With the new CCSS, some of the states are moving to digitally testing students. This means that our kids will have to read and annotate a text using the computer. They will they compose their responses and answer any questions in an online format. I don't know about your school, but mine just isn't ready for that. Our students do everything with paper and pencil with the exception of a few multiple choice tests.

So, I got to experimenting. I found some great resources released by Smarter Balanced and used them as a springboard from which to pick passages and question prompts. Here is what I've put together so far:

 

The last one isn't quite finished yet. I'm hoping to have one for each unit I'll be teaching this year, which is 7. The awesome thing about the glog is that the students can click on the pictures or links and download a video, document, or other resource. There are so many uses and practice options for having glog as a tool in the classroom. 

I'd love to hear if other people use Glogster, and how it helps in your classroom. What do you use it for? If you don't use it, do you think it would be something that would be a valuable tool for teaching? 

 OH AND I DIDN'T FORGET ABOUT THE GIVEAWAY! Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade is giving away a $100 gift card to School Outfitters! Yep, 100 big ones. Click on the link to enter for your chance :) There are probably a million things I could spend that money on ... oh the possibilities.