Techno Vocab...

You've seen it. You've done it. Maybe you've even assigned it. That's right. The long list of vocabulary students need to know (for the week, the month, the next test...whatever). I can hear the moans in my mind just thinking about giving this assignment to my middle school students. And the interesting thing is that with all of the free resources available, teachers continue to go with familiar--pencil and paper. Well, I'm here to say, chuck out that tired ditto and boot up your computer. I've got a couple of suggestions to add a bit of excitement to the traditional vocabulary drill.

http://dictionary.reference.com/
First, there are numerous dictionary choices students can choose from, but why not try Dictionary.com (it's certainly simple to remember). The site includes a dictionary, thesaurus, flashcards, quotes and even a translator. Oh, and it has a new Spanish language feature. The definitions themselves include a recorded pronunciation (something you definitely can't get it the paper version), definition, part of speech, and examples of the word used in a sentence.

So, then what? Why not have the students create an illustration to show the definition using a free animation tool?

http://domo.goanimate.com/

Has different backgrounds and characters students can put into panels that will eventually play like an animated cartoon. The site is free, but you do need an email to set up an account. My students did this yesterday and it took them seconds.

http://www.toondoo.com/
ToonDoo is another website that boasts the "World's Fastest Way to Create Cartoons." Where DomoAnimate has pre-made characters to choose from, ToonDoo allows the user to create their own characters.

What's the other great thing about these sites? No worries about copyright issues because they are creating their own images. Have fun!