My speed geeking rendezvous was with Glogster. This enables one to produce what are effectively on-line posters which can include embedded video, text, sound, music, and drawing. Creating an account was simple and I believe would let me have 50 of my students use glogster for free - they were keen to take my money for upgrading my account, however. My biggest gripe was that despite them telling me how easy it was to use glogster, and how 4 year olds could create masterpieces with it, I found it difficult to put together my own poster. There were no actual step-by-step instructions as to how to include text or embed video, for example - everything was a matter of trial and error. With some help I was able to at least get started, but it was a frustrating experience.
Despite this, I think I might use glogster in the classroom. The site includes ready made glogs which I could show the students as examples (I could even claim I produced them!), and then I am confident that students would quickly overcome the difficulties I faced and create spectacular glogs on whatever topic I wanted them to present. I could set requirements about the different media that should be part of the glog, and assess accordingly. Students who dislike making oral presentations could essentially use the glog to do the speaking for them. I will investigate this when I return to Deering, and let you know how successful I am.
Showing posts with label assignment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label assignment. Show all posts
Friday, July 29, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Turning on the Lights
I do agree, at least in part, that 'powering down' can impede student learning. In an environment where collaboration and research is encouraged, the technology that students bring with them can both facilitate and enhance their learning. Of course it can also create distractions for them, although the same distractions exist in the home where they are still able (usually!) to complete homework assignments. Their grasp of the potential of what cell phones, mp3 players can allow them to accomplish creatively means that they have so many more options for how to demonstrate what they know and what they can do. They will still be thinking, they will still be wiriting, and they will still be learning. I think it's a little scary for teachers, especially older ones, because it feels like we're giving up control of the learning environment, but if that environment is broadened it is a risk well worth taking. They will have access to so much more knowledge than I or the average textbook are able to bring into the classroom if they have access to the whole digital world they understand and can manipulate.
I think there is a place for all the technologies identified, although the demands of standardized testing and AP curricula, among others, mean that there still has to be a place for non digital education as well. They are all tools that the majority of our students are comfortable with, even if the economic realities of a city like Portland mean that many students do not possess more than the most basic of devices. It's important to maintain an equitable environment, and also one where the technology does not do the thinking for the students.
At Deering students are provided with a Dell notebook, hardly a top class piece of hardware, although I believe they are allowed to use their own laptops if they so desire. Most choose not to do so. They are allowed to use cell phines in between classes and at lunch, and individual teachers have the discretion to allow them to research during class time - I have done so on occasion. There is a constant batttle to curb in-class texting - I do not know what would happen if students were allowed to freely use cell phones in class as an educational tool. I think that most would not abuse the privilege after the initial excitement and novelty had worn off. I think I would allow individual teachers greater discretion as to their personal policies as regards the use of personal technology, although that does create the possibility of students playing teachers off against each other. It does require quite a cultural shift, and I know some students would sbuse any greater freedom of sell phone use, for example, but Prensky does seem convinced that they need to be totally connected.
There is something of a balancing act in terms of the desire to keep up to date with what technology has to offer and the need to decide what is best suited for the students in the 21st century high school, but technology isn't going away and the more we restrict, the further behind we fall. American students live in a digital world outside of the classroom, and we cannot close the doors to that once they enter the classroom. We are doing them and the American economy of the future a disservice if we do that.
I think there is a place for all the technologies identified, although the demands of standardized testing and AP curricula, among others, mean that there still has to be a place for non digital education as well. They are all tools that the majority of our students are comfortable with, even if the economic realities of a city like Portland mean that many students do not possess more than the most basic of devices. It's important to maintain an equitable environment, and also one where the technology does not do the thinking for the students.
At Deering students are provided with a Dell notebook, hardly a top class piece of hardware, although I believe they are allowed to use their own laptops if they so desire. Most choose not to do so. They are allowed to use cell phines in between classes and at lunch, and individual teachers have the discretion to allow them to research during class time - I have done so on occasion. There is a constant batttle to curb in-class texting - I do not know what would happen if students were allowed to freely use cell phones in class as an educational tool. I think that most would not abuse the privilege after the initial excitement and novelty had worn off. I think I would allow individual teachers greater discretion as to their personal policies as regards the use of personal technology, although that does create the possibility of students playing teachers off against each other. It does require quite a cultural shift, and I know some students would sbuse any greater freedom of sell phone use, for example, but Prensky does seem convinced that they need to be totally connected.
There is something of a balancing act in terms of the desire to keep up to date with what technology has to offer and the need to decide what is best suited for the students in the 21st century high school, but technology isn't going away and the more we restrict, the further behind we fall. American students live in a digital world outside of the classroom, and we cannot close the doors to that once they enter the classroom. We are doing them and the American economy of the future a disservice if we do that.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Orchestrating the media collage
Osler writes about the new definition of what being literate means, how it is continually and rapidly evolving, but how digital literacy is at the core of what students are going to need. Participatory or social media is at the hub of the collage, and means that everyone now has the capacity to be a creator as well as a consumer, everyone can be a writer. Teachers have the responsibility of promoting the skills associated with the new forms of digital literacy, and Osler offers eight guidelines for how this can be facilitated.
I was especially struck by the second of these, how we should value reading and writing now more than ever. This seems to negate my fear that the old skills of being able to communicate in written form on paper will simply be unnecessary in the future, because those same skills are required to write both essays and blogs in the digital world. Blog writing requires both brevity and clarity, two skills I constantly stress, while essay writing allows for more detailed exploration of themes and ideas. Both will remain relevant in the 21st century.
Osler believes that teachers will become guides, and will still be needed by students (fortunately!). We will not have to be complete experts, but instead will be managers and arbiters of standards of quality. The skills we are facilitating will last our students for a lifetime, even as technology continues to evolve, and we are helping our 21st century students tell their stories - which everyone wants to do. Teaching is going to change along with the digital landscape, but teachers themselves will not have to become purely technicians, and there will still be room for the craft of the profession to thrive.
I was especially struck by the second of these, how we should value reading and writing now more than ever. This seems to negate my fear that the old skills of being able to communicate in written form on paper will simply be unnecessary in the future, because those same skills are required to write both essays and blogs in the digital world. Blog writing requires both brevity and clarity, two skills I constantly stress, while essay writing allows for more detailed exploration of themes and ideas. Both will remain relevant in the 21st century.
Osler believes that teachers will become guides, and will still be needed by students (fortunately!). We will not have to be complete experts, but instead will be managers and arbiters of standards of quality. The skills we are facilitating will last our students for a lifetime, even as technology continues to evolve, and we are helping our 21st century students tell their stories - which everyone wants to do. Teaching is going to change along with the digital landscape, but teachers themselves will not have to become purely technicians, and there will still be room for the craft of the profession to thrive.
100 best sites
I could have chosen lots of these sites (and still will if I have the time), but my first selection was a site called History Tech by Glenn Wiebe. This has dozens of links to things that seem directly useful to me and which I will be able to use almost immediately in my classroom, and also has done the work of picking out the really good stuff for me! My other selection is 21st century Educational Technology and Learning by Michael Gorman. My eye was drawn to the first link on his site, which was entitled 'Ten steps to transferring past lessons for 21st century learners". This appealed to me because I won't have to reinvent the wheel, or start from scratch, but can adapt some of my existing material and bring it into the 21st century, making it fresh and appealing to my students. This is an incredibly attractive prospect, and I think my colleagues at Deering will like it too.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Video reflection
I was struck by many of the themes reflected in the Frontline video. Among others, I took away the importance of play in a student's education, how students learn so much more when we can tap into their passions, how leaning does not need to be tethered to a classroom, and how everyone needs to be seen and heard, because students will work harder and more productively if they know they will have a bigger audience (as opposed to just the teacher). All of these made me think because they are in the main not a large part of the educational experience of students in Maine high schools, and with a few notable exceptions not a part of the experience of students across the country.
Of all these concepts, I think the one that hit home most was that learning needs to be more active, because production and participation are so linked. At Deering we have four 80 minute classes a day, each of which can seem an eternity to many of our students! On the other hand this time span does gives the opportunity to explore content in depth and to approach it in different ways, which ties in to much of what was examined in the video. I would love to use much more of the collective expertise of my students than I already do, because students often learn best when they are both teacher and student. As the video stressed, these kids are coming into the classroom with a new set of digital skills and interests, and we can't ignore their world. They want to be seen and heard and know they have the means for this to happen, and it is up to me as an educator to tap into their skills and make their learning more active.
Of course there are many obstacles to this - standardized testing, technology that doesn't work, a lack of funds to get students outside the classroom, but I do still believe that with thought and imagination I can make the classroom experience of my students richer and more motivating, so that as I heard in the video, they do not even know that they are learning (although hopefully they are learning more than they were before). It's a little intimidating because doing things differently always is, and because technology changes so quickly, but I honestly feel we are doing 21st century kids a disservice if we don't allow kids to take ownership of their own learning through the use of technology.
I do hope to use much of what I've seen just today to develop new methods of feedback and collaborative work in my classroom - I definitely took note of a comment near the end of the video about how the kids who rarely speak in class are the ones who post like crazy when given the opportunity through blogs or similar forums. I don't think I have time to tear everything down and start all over in September, but I do think I can place a different emphasis on the kinds of activities I can plan that will engage my students.
Of all these concepts, I think the one that hit home most was that learning needs to be more active, because production and participation are so linked. At Deering we have four 80 minute classes a day, each of which can seem an eternity to many of our students! On the other hand this time span does gives the opportunity to explore content in depth and to approach it in different ways, which ties in to much of what was examined in the video. I would love to use much more of the collective expertise of my students than I already do, because students often learn best when they are both teacher and student. As the video stressed, these kids are coming into the classroom with a new set of digital skills and interests, and we can't ignore their world. They want to be seen and heard and know they have the means for this to happen, and it is up to me as an educator to tap into their skills and make their learning more active.
Of course there are many obstacles to this - standardized testing, technology that doesn't work, a lack of funds to get students outside the classroom, but I do still believe that with thought and imagination I can make the classroom experience of my students richer and more motivating, so that as I heard in the video, they do not even know that they are learning (although hopefully they are learning more than they were before). It's a little intimidating because doing things differently always is, and because technology changes so quickly, but I honestly feel we are doing 21st century kids a disservice if we don't allow kids to take ownership of their own learning through the use of technology.
I do hope to use much of what I've seen just today to develop new methods of feedback and collaborative work in my classroom - I definitely took note of a comment near the end of the video about how the kids who rarely speak in class are the ones who post like crazy when given the opportunity through blogs or similar forums. I don't think I have time to tear everything down and start all over in September, but I do think I can place a different emphasis on the kinds of activities I can plan that will engage my students.
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