Classroom Learning and Teaching

View an example of Timetoast™ - The Life and Times of Mary MacKillop.

Timetoast™ is a great way to share the past, or even the future events... Creating an online timeline takes minutes and it's very easy to use. Teachers of Religion could use this interactive online timeline to present historical events in an interesting and engaging way. Some examples might include: 

• The  final week of Jesus Christ according to a particular gospel writer
• The establishment of the Early Church
• Paul’s letters
• Significant teachings of the Church e.g. official Church social teaching documents from various councils

Toondoo™ Overview and Instructions
Toondoo™ RE Example

Wallwisher™ Overview and Instructions
The Good Samaritan MEANING MAKER Example

Teachers of Religion could use Wallwisher™ to:

• Collaborate online
• Invite students to post responses to a key question/s
• Upload video or images and invite students to respond

Wordle™ is an online tool for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and colour schemes. The images you create with Wordle™ are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle™ gallery to share with your friends. Take a screenshot and save as a jpeg.

Teachers of Religion could use Wordle™ to:

• Explore key terms in a text including scripture
• Compare and contrast two Wordles™ - e.g. the infancy narrative according to Luke and the infancy narrative according to Matthew. What are the prominent words/themes?
•  Use Wordle™ as survey tool.  After a unit or learning sequence ask the students to provide a short response to a key question/s: What do you think the purpose of this text is? What are the key themes?
• Ask students to individually list key terms for a religious event such as Eucharist, Baptism, Marriage, liturgy, prayer. Combine the responses to explore the prominent themes or words.

EyePlorer™ is an online search tool that scans the web to extract facts in an interactive and highly visual way.

Teachers of Religion could use this tool in a variety of ways:

• Investigate traditional prayers within the Christian tradition.

Polldaddy™ Overview and Instructions
Polldaddy™ RE Example
Zacchaeus CODE BREAKER Survey Example

Set up an online survey in minutes and start collecting responses in real-time! Conduct a survey with Polldaddy™ to get a discover what students know about a specific topic.

Tux Paint™ is a free, award-winning drawing program for children ages 3 to 12. It combines an easy-to-use interface, fun sound effects, and an encouraging cartoon mascot who guides children as they use the program. Students are presented with a blank canvas and a variety of drawing tools to help them be creative.

Teachers of Religion could use this tool in a variety of ways:

• After reading a biblical story or other text students are invited to respond using Tux Paint™.
• The students are asked to reflect on a text and make connections to an experience in their own life that the text reminds them of.  Students could work collaboratively on the Interactive Whiteboard or complete the task individually.
  

Make Beliefs Comix™ is an online tool that may help to engage reluctant readers.  After reading a scriptural story or other text students can create their comic strip to retell the main events. Make Belief Comix™ provides characters and objects that can be used to create stories or responses to a story.

Teachers of Religion could use this tool in a variety of ways:

• Students retell a religious event e.g. baptism, class ritual, class Liturgy of the Word.
• Students design and create a double frame cartoon that highlights the similarities and differences between the Catechumenate in the early Church and the way it is celebrated within the contemporary Church through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA).

Bubbl.us™ is a simple and free web application that allows teachers and students brainstorm online. Teachers in Religion classes regularly invite students to share their ideas or participate in whole class or small group brainstorming sessions. Students can use Bubbl.us™ to create colourful mind maps, and share and work with others online. Mind maps can be embedded in websites or be saved as an image.

Teachers of Religion could use this tool in a variety of ways:

• Students, in learning teams, create a group words and pictures concept map of prayer sounds, prayer feelings and prayer observations.
• Students, as a whole class, design a reflective sacred ritual. Students clarify the purpose and context of the chosen reflective ritual e.g. the class decides to design a ritual to inspire and bless because in two weeks it will be Mother’s Day and mothers of children in the class will be invited to participate in a Mother’s Day reflection in the classroom. The purpose of doing this activity is for the whole class to gain some common understandings and directions that will inform the designing of the ritual.

Writeboard™ Overview and Instructions
Writeboard™ RE Example

Jesus Feeds the 5000 CODE BREAKER & TEXT ANALYST Example Password = BCERE57

Writeboard™ allow you and your students to write, share, revise, edit and collaborate online.

Google Docs™ provides a platform for teachers and students to co-create collaborate and share work online.  Files can be accessed anywhere and real-time collaboration means work gets done more quickly.

Teachers of Religion could use this tool in a variety of ways:

• After reading a scripture text students could collaboratively complete a 5Ws + H Chart (What? When? Where? Who? Why? How?)
• Students explore a number of newspaper items from local papers to identify areas/issues of need and/or injustice. They categorise these articles and design a prayer of petition/intercession appropriate to the category using the ‘You Who Do Through’ format.

Example One
Example Two

Fotobabble™ enables students to create “Talking Photos” in just three clicks. When students add their voice to an image it gives the image life and creates a more memorable experience for everyone. Students could take photos or use images that they have collected on the Internet.

Teachers of Religion could use this tool in a variety of ways:

• Students could explain the meaning of icons, e.g. Christ the Teacher, Our Lady Vladimir, Christ the Pantocrator.
• Explain how an image/reflects ‘right choices’ or ‘wrong choices’
• Students create an image of the Infancy Narrative from the perspective of one of the Gospel writers e.g. Luke. The image is scanned an uploaded into Fotobabble™. The student briefly explains the image and shares the link with others.
• Students observe ritualistic actions during a celebration of a class Eucharist. Students may be given a particular part of the Mass to observe closely. The teacher, with the permission of the priest, takes digital photographs of significant ritualistic actions during the Mass. After an investigation students use Fotobabble™ to record the meaning for the ritualistic actions observed.

Visuwords™ is an online graphical dictionary.  Students can search for words to find their meanings and associations with other words and concepts.