Group items tagged

"Many educators feel overwhelmed by new technology and may feel apprehensive when it comes to adopting it in the classroom. But I'm here to make the case that learning to use technology and employing it as part of your curriculum is actually easier than ever. Way easier."

"Many educators are eager and willing to incorporate digital portfolios into their curriculum. Others are more hesitant, but remain curious about this newly evolved portfolio - wondering about how this technology might inspire and engage their students into more self-directed learning and reflection. Whichever side of the fence you are on, here is a list of classroom-approved resources to help get you started!"

"When I talk to teachers around the country (and around the world) I hear this same story. Students are sometimes hesitant to take on creative work inside of the classroom."

"Thanks to all who attended my presentation at the ESD on January 11th. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about managing an iPad roll out in your district. You can find links to various resources below."

""When you hire me, you don't just get me, you get my network." At least, that's what I argued four years ago when I interviewed for the superintendency. An hour prior to the start of the interview with the board of education trustees, I was given a question. And without hesitation, I was on my computer sharing the question on Twitter."

"The Japanese Science and Technology Center offers nine outstanding science lessons. The list of lessons and activities covers topics in physics, biology, psychology, geography, and space science. The general format of each virtual lesson is to present a manageable chunk of information followed by activities in which students try to use that information. I hesitate to generalize the activities as games because not all of them are games and those that are games are not "drill" games. Each lesson has multiple parts (some have 20+ parts) and multiple activities."

"My students create many different artifacts, but the most meaningful are those in which my students show their learning and their thinking in ways that are far beyond what a worksheet could do. When they make a video or screencast of what they have learned, I can hear and see their thinking. I can also hear confidence or hesitation, self-corrections or errors in perception. Consider these math examples produced by my students."

"If there's any video game that has successfully made its way into the classroom, it's Minecraft. There's a small subset of teachers using all kinds of digital games in interesting ways, but the blockbuster hit Minecraft and its educational counterpart MinecraftEDU have reached much wider audiences. But getting started with MinecraftEDU can be intimidating for teachers who don't consider themselves "gamers" and aren't sure how to harness the engagement and excitement of Minecraft. Luckily, there's a robust and global Minecraft teacher community to supply tips, support and even lesson plans."

"Join a network of fellow maker educators on our Google+ Community. We welcome your ideas, successes, stories, and challenges as you engage in making experiences with the youth in your community. Anyone interested in topics surrounding making and education are encouraged to participate. Please spread the word! If you're interested in contributing to Maker Ed's Resource Library, don't hesitate to submit your favorite resources directly to the Google+ Community by posting a link and short description to the "Resources" category. This Resource Library is an ever-changing, evolving collection, and using its guidelines, Maker Ed is excited to regularly review incoming resource submissions from the greater community of educators and makers. We will let you know if/when we add it to the library!"

"An increasing number of students are returning to school after the winter break with shiny new mobile devices in hand. This excites me as I rely entirely on my students devices and a BYOD policy to integrate technology into my classroom. That said, I've trained lots of teachers who are hesitant to embrace mobile devices. Many teachers fear that allowing students to use their devices in class will only distract them and compromise the learning environment. My experience has been the exact opposite. Allowing students to use their devices in the classroom has been absolutely transformative!"

"My wife came home the other day and started describing a new problem arising in her school, where students were claiming to be tired of using devices for everything. The students were apparently saying "Can't we just do a lesson on paper today or you just teach us." As she told me this, my wife didn't notice that she was simultaneously picking up her iPad to check Facebook and that made me think. Photo Credit In my observations around my school, it's those same students claiming device fatigue in the classroom that are not hesitating to turn to their device for 'life updates' as they leave that very same room. I would propose that it's not fatigue caused by device use but that caused by the pain of trying to carry out conventional, 20th century classroom tasks on devices that are designed for a world that conducts itself very differently."

"If you aren't using Twitter, chances are that you're reluctant to adopt new technology. Or maybe you've used Twitter for years to keep up with friends but now want to use it in the classroom. Either way, you might be hesitant to ask colleagues for help. Fear not. We'll guide you through the Twitter landscape and show you how to find the best educational resources for both yourself and your students."

A writing teacher's narrative about re-discovering a writers process by slowly learning Twitter.  This is a thoughtful account that may lure some who are hesitant about using twitter into giving it a try. (More than a try really, it takes some time for you too find your voice and your audience.)

"There's been a lot of discussion recently on what schools should be teaching kids. Just this month, the United Kingdom announced the addition of cybersecurity to its curriculum in response to a lack of education in the field and the rising industry skills gap. I believe U.S. schools have been hesitant and even neglectful when it comes to how they discuss social media with students, and it's time for this to change. Social media is a very real and ongoing aspect of our everyday lives: It no longer makes sense that, in 2014, several states still teach cursive writing when many students can text much faster on their smart devices. We need to be educating students on applicable skills for the world that they will interact with, and that means providing them with an understanding of how social media can affect their future. The gaping generational chasm between teachers who grew up before smartphones existed and students who were raised on them has resulted in a trial-and-error model of internet education and exploration, which could potentially wreak havoc on a student's future. The internet is written in pen, not pencil."

"In the past couple of weeks, I've been asked the same question multiple times after speaking, "Do you still believe Genius Hour and 20% Projects are the best way to engage students?" My initial response was to shout YES, without really thinking about my answer. But, as someone who ran the 20% Project with my students, wrote Genius Hour into our 9th grade English curriculum, has written a book on the subject, and speaks on its merit around the country…I thought it deserved some more thought. My answer, after much reflection, is still YES but with a small hesitation. A Genius Hour or 20% Time Project involves three of the main components that engage students (for clarification purposes, my definition of student engagement is "high attention" and "high commitment" throughout the learning process). The three components are: Student Choice Authentic Audience Intrinsic Reward When those three traits are present in the learning process students are most likely to have high attention and high commitment."

"The Maker Movement continues to grow, and makerspaces have hit a point where they are clearly no longer just a passing fad. Academic universities are conducting research and gathering data on makerspaces' impact on learning, and dozens of books have already been published. More and more makerspaces are being created in schools, some in separate labs and some in corners of classrooms. And some makerspaces, of course, are in the library. In these last four years of speaking at conferences, chatting on Twitter and talking to colleagues, I've fielded a lot of questions from two camps. One camp is made up of hesitant librarians. They're not really sure that a makerspace belongs in the library. They're afraid of it taking over their whole program and replacing the books. Their school already has a STEM lab, so why do they need a makerspace in their library too? The other camp is made up of librarians who are ready and eager to start a makerspace, but who are meeting resistance from their administration. We already have an art studio; why do we need a makerspace in the library too? Aren't those kids just playing and messing around with LEGO® bricks? Shouldn't the library be a quiet, clean, studious environment? How would a space like this tie in with curriculum, improve test scores or create better experiences for our students? This article looks to address some of these concerns and to explain why makerspaces do belong in libraries."

"I've been teaching English for many years, across multiple grade levels, from middle school to high school to college. I've read (and have written) heaps of education books and research articles. And yet the premise for this post is so simple, I'm willing to bet that any one of our students can pin it down without a moment's hesitation. What is the most essential ingredient to a rockstar lesson? It's student engagement."

"Every educator knows that children, especially those 4 to 7, learn a great deal through play. Harnessing that power for classroom learning can be tricky, though. Teachers may, for example, hesitate to let go of control and allow students to follow their own learning paths; they may worry that the learning that takes place during play will be difficult to assess. And they must respond to growing institutional pressure to meet standards. But it is possible. Here are some suggestions for how to incorporate play in the classroom."

"While teachers may always be the best line of defense for students falling behind, busy schedules don't always permit the special attention and feedback that students need. That's where artificial intelligence-powered teaching assistants might come in handy. "These intelligent tools can adapt pacing based on the student's ability … and provide targeted, corrective feedback in case the student makes mistakes, so that the student can learn from them," states an eSchool News report released earlier this year. "These tools also gather actionable insights and information about a student's progress and report the data back to the teacher." Understandably, there is still some hesitation at the idea of using this technology, as education professionals fear the day robots will replace teachers. However, as Thomas Arnett, a writer at the Christensen Institute, explains in his report, Teaching in the Machine Age, these advances are not meant to replace teachers but help them bring students to new heights. "Innovations that commoditize some elements of teacher expertise also supply the tools to raise the effectiveness of both non-experts and expert teachers to new heights and to adapt to the new priorities of a 21st-century workforce and education system," writes Arnett. Schools have already begun to adopt machine learning initiatives to help teachers and students fill learning gaps, and the results have been received well so far."

"You don't mean to bore students. In fact, sometimes you're downright interesting-the students are engaged, the buzz in the room is palpable, and even the hesitant students are asking questions. But the fact of the matter is, even the most charismatic and experienced teachers bore students sometimes. But the good news is, it may not be your fault. Judy Willis explains the neuroscience behind it all, and offers some simply tricks to help mitigate the reality that you and your content are instinctively low on a student's neuro totem pole. "