Mentor Mob for Centers

I know a lot of teachers that LOVE center time.

Full disclosure: I am not one of those teachers.

Centers have always felt a bit overwhelming to me because there are so many moving parts and I am a horrible bit of a control freak ;) So, over the past couple of years, I have been working on finding tools that make my center time more effective and engaging for students.

About a month ago, I found MentorMob and, people, it was love at first site- get it?

With MentorMob, I can create playlists with web content for my classroom. Now, during center time, I know that my students are engaging in activities that are relevant to the curriculum and that I have curated.

It's so easy to use!

To get started, simply create an account. Once inside, you can access the creation screen. It is at this point that you name your playlist, select sharing options, and tag it.

Once you have created the actual playlist, it's time to add information to it. You have a variety of different options for adding content to your playlist. As you can see above, it is easy to add existing websites, files, or you can even create your own slides!

In this example, I simply added the website- my blog, of course :) The little sidebar on the left side of the image shows the number of steps or items in the playlist. You can add as many as you'd like. The best part of the content creator is that it is really easy to share your playlists with a colleague- what a great collaboration tool!

With regard to centers- a little background:

In my classroom, I have two different computer-based centers. First, at Mimio center, I give kids links that pertain to the word work standards that we are covering in class. Last week, we were studying compound words, so I put together a little playlist for my center.

Create your own Playlist on MentorMob!

Next, at Computer Center, I provide my kiddos with links, videos, games, and materials to extend our content area studies in the classroom. For instance, we recently studied the states of matter, so I created a States of Matter playlist.

Create your own Playlist on MentorMob!

What I really like about MentorMob is that it is so easy to use. Since I have a classroom blog, I simply added extra pages directly onto my blog- one for Mimio Center and one for Computer Center- then I embed the playlist right into the blog pages. When the kids arrive at the center, they simply click on the Mentor Mob playlist to get started. There is never any question as to what they need to work on or where to find the items- it's all right there!

In the past, if I had specific links or items that I wanted the kids to try, I would create an icon directly on the desktop. MentorMob is much easier because I can just embed the entire playlist directly into my blog. Even better, once I create a playlist, I can save it in my account and use it the following year.

To learn how to embed a MentorMob playlist directly into your classroom blog, visit my post over on the Technology Tailgate by clicking below.


It's super handy!

How can you see using this great resource in your classroom?

Share in the comments below.

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