A blog that focuses on technology in the language classroom. Interesting observations from a primary teacher outside of Melbourne, Australia, and the use of technology in the classroom.
The Interesting Ways series of resources continue to grow as the community add ideas from the classroom. Below is one of the most popular with over 70 ideas shared by teachers for using Google Forms in a range of different ways.
Want to learn about Google Classroom? Alice Keeler has written a lot of posts & they're gathered on this blog post for us. Lots of good ones to choose from.
"I loved reading @thatboycanteach's blog this morning about music and his classroom-based Youtube battles with a former colleague.
It got me thinking about how I use music within my lessons.
To jolly my Y8 students along, I play 3 minutes of Bennie Hill's theme music as a signal that they should clear away practical equipment and return to their seats. It's great to see the startled look on their faces as soon as they hear the tune and then remember that they need to completely pack away before the music ends."
Writing becomes authentic and important because it is something that a 'real' audience is going to see!
The cool thing about this is that family members can far more easily be involved in her learning and in providing regular feedback than they could be if her writing was only contained in the traditional paper journal.
What an easy way to have parental involvement! This would solve some of that issue of parents not knowing what their children are doing at school or what is going on when the child gets older and more close-lipped.
Don't we ALL benefit from somebody interacting with us and commenting on our thinking?
Grandparents and other relatives rarely have an opportunity to observe or see what their grandchildren are doing in school. The student blogs also allows them to be a part of our classroom community.
Looked at this class blog. Wouldn't this be a wonderful exercise? The teacher could blog, the students could blog on personal level but also have a class blog which is a place for inspiration for writing exercises (thinking like a language arts/writing/reading teacher here) when students don't have their own inspiration/focus for creative writing.
This blog would also be a great place to steal ideas! :)
When I visit with teachers and suggest they have students create a web site or blog as an educational tool, often the teacher will tell me he/she doesn't have time to read/monitor that. However, most teachers have students complete writing assignments and turn them in for a grade - lab reports, essays, reports, etc. So, wouldn't this also be a way for students to create such assignments?
This article shows the versatility of the 3rd grade students' blogs - one reported on planet studied, one on animal, etc. So, it wouldn't have to just be a place for creative writing/online writer's notebook!
But many advocates of this technology (myself included), see IWBs as genuine means of bringing more interactivity, more student-focus into classrooms of traditional teachers
What we don't want to forget is that someone who is coaching a teacher is not really looking for "good technology use" but for just good educational practices. Having an IWB is not going to change a lecturer into something else.
Any item in the Instruction domain can be enhanced using an IWB.
just because a teacher has an IWB doesn't mean it has to be used every minute of the day. And yes, a teacher can create truly interactive lessons without using any technology whatsoever.
use the SmartNotebook software that works with the hardware to organize materials, to find and share lessons, and to seamlessly blend multimedia into lessons.
While popular (2007, 2010, interactive white boards (IWBs) are controversial even (or especially) among technology enthusiasts. The major complaint is that the use of these devices reinforces the "sage on the stage" teaching methodology. "The IWB is little more than a fancy overhead projector and its touch sensitive screen is only used to save the teacher a couple steps back to the computer to change a slide."
Blog post that articulates some of the best practices for incorporating an interactive white board (IWB), like a SMART Board, into your classroom in meaningful and instructionally sound ways.
"Flipping your classroom is a great way to move from "sage on the stage" to "guide on the side." But that shift can also bring about a number of other complications." Learn some great tips on how to flip learning in your classroom.
Answer explanation is almost as important as mathematic problem solving. If we really want to know if a student understands ANY concept, we need to ask him/her to write their explanation. Sometimes the understanding comes from the thinking required to do the writing - writing to make it make sense!
Wow! I think the concept of doing less of something in order to make time for experimentation is a fabulous idea! Do you mean there are different aspects of student assessment and testing beyond a bubble sheet? :)
Most of them have studied psychology, teaching methods, curriculum theories, assessment models, and classroom management researched and designed in the United States
Finland's successful practices are something they learned here in the U.S. So, why aren't our teachers here in the U.S. employing those same practices successfully?
Professional development and school improvement courses and programs often include visitors from the U.S. universities to teach and work with Finnish teachers and leaders.
in an ideal classroom, pupils speak more than the teacher
the entire Finnish school system looks like John Dewey’s laboratory school in the U.S.
cooperative learning has become a pedagogical approach that is widely practiced throughout Finnish education system
Finnish teachers believe that over 90 percent of students can learn successfully in their own classrooms if given the opportunity to evolve in a holistic manner.
After abolishing all streaming and tracking of students in the mid-1980s, both education policies and school practices adopted the principle that all children have different kinds of intelligences and that schools must find ways how to cultivate these different individual aspects in balanced ways.
it is ironic that many of these methods were developed at U.S. universities and are yet far more popular in Finland than in the United States. These include portfolio assessment, performance assessment, self-assessment and self-reflection, and assessment for learning methods.
Alternative assessments! Performance, portfolio, self-assessment, self-reflection, and assessment of learning methods...
Peer coaching—that is, a confidential process through which teachers work together to reflect on current practices, expand, improve, and learn new skills, exchange ideas, conduct classroom research and solve problems together in school
Working together and reflecting on current practices - Reflection helps to expand, improve, and provides an opportunity to learn and exchange ideas to solve problems
the work of the school in the United States is so much steered by bureaucracies, test-based accountability and competition that schools are simply doing what they must do
Sadness Abounds! We are teaching folks what works best. Then, they enter the classroom and get wrapped up in bureaucracies and test-based accountability to the point that teachers are just going through the motions instead of facilitating quality learning
Pasi Sahlberg Blog Finnish education reform Originally published in Washington Post, 24 July 2014 An intriguing question whether innovation in education can be measured has an answer now. The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development in its recent report "Measuring Innovation in Education: A New Perspective, Educational Research and Innovation" measures Innovation in Education in 22 countries and 6 jurisdictions, among them the U.S.
One of the more unfortunate buzzwords to appear in online education circles and the press is "flipping the classroom". .. The students watch the videos for homework, freeing up the lesson for interactivity, project work and so on. I not impressed with this brilliant "new" idea. Why not?
School behavior problems often originate outside of the classroom. For example, asthma is the number one cause of absenteeism. When asthmatics are unable to sleep at night, they miss class or arrive at school so sleep drunk and irritable that disruptive behavior ensues, getting them tossed out of class. Consequently, they fall more behind in classwork, which increases academic struggle. More outbursts and further truancy results.
The question is how will you change the school from a collection of classrooms to a robust multidimensional learning space capable of fostering well-educated, 21st Century citizens?
As Sir Ken Robinson stated, “If we are looking for new pedagogical practices, we have to have facilities that will enable those to happen.”
In many classrooms, the picture is all too familiar: desks in rows, a clear front of the classroom, podium off-center in the front, etc.. Does this image speak to the beliefs we state about 21st Century Learning? Are these spaces best capable of fostering the development of our vision for a well-educated global citizen? Have the spaces been intentionally designed in a way that supports learning and teaching?
Bringing iPods and iPads into the classroom is a great way to give students access to learning tools. However, there are so many things to keep in mind to make the devices work smoothly in the classroom. While this list of dos and don'ts mainly addresses iPod touch the same advice goes for iPod touch and iPhone.
It is FUN! Fun!….. I hear your sceptical exclamation!! However, it is
wonderful when students think they are having so much fun, they forget that they
are actually learning. A favourite comment on one of my blog posts is: It’s
great when kids get so caught up in things they forget they’re even learning…
by jodhiay
authentic audience – no longer working for a teacher who checks
and evalutes work but a potential global audience.
Suits all learning styles – special ed (this student
attends special school 3days per weeek, our school 2 days per week, gifted ed, visual students,
multi-literacies plus ‘normal‘
students.
Increased motivation for writing – all students are happy to
write and complete aspects of the post topic. Many will add to it in their
own time.
Increased motivation for reading – my students will happily spend a lot of
time browsing through fellow student posts and their global counterparts. Many
have linked their friends onto their blogroll for quick access. Many make
comments, albeit often in their own sms language.
Improved confidence levels – a lot of this comes through comments and
global dots on their cluster maps. Students can share their strengths
and upload areas of interest or units of work eg personal digital
photography, their pets, hobbies etc Staff are given an often rare insight into
what some students are good at. We find talents that were otherwise unknown and
it allows us to work on those strengths. It allows staff to often gain insight
to how students are feeling and thinking.
Pride in their work – My experience is that students want their blogs to
look good in both terms of presentation and content. (Sample of a year 10 boy’s work)
Blogs allow text, multimedia, widgets, audio and images – all items that
digital natives want to use
Increased proofreading and validation skills
Improved awareness of possible dangers that may confront them in the real
world, whilst in a sheltered classroom environment
Ability to share – part of the conceptual revolution that we are entering.
They can share with each other, staff, their parents, the community, and the
globe.
Mutual learning between students and staff and students.
Parents with internet access can view their child’s work and writings – an
important element in the parent partnership with the classroom. Grandparents
from England have made comments on student posts. Parents have ‘adopted’
students who do not have internet access and ensured they have
comments.
Blogs may be used for digital portfolios and all the benefits this
entails
Work is permanently stored, easily accessed and valuable comparisons can be
made over time for assessment and evaluation purposes
Students are digital natives - blogging is a natural element of
this.
Gives students a chance to
show responsibility and trustworthiness and engenders
independence.
Prepares students for digital citizenship as they learn cybersafety and
netiquette
Fosters peer to peer mentoring. Students are happy to share, learn from and
teach their peers (and this, often not their usual social groups)
Allows student led professional development and one more……
Students set the topics for posts – leads to deeper thinking
Good reasons to allow student blogging Point being if it's fun they will love doing it, while enriching their knowledge at the same time.\nA great slant on multitasking.
What makes professional development even more frustrating to
practitioners is that most of the programs we are exposed to are drawn directly
from the latest craze sweeping the business world. In the past 10 years,
countless schools have read Who Moved My Cheese?, studied The Seven
Habits of Highly Effective People, learned to have "Crucial Conversations,"
and tried to move "from Good to Great."
With the investment of a bit of time and effort, I've found a
group of writers to follow who expose me to more interesting ideas in one day
than I've been exposed to in the past 10 years of costly professional
development. Professional growth for me starts with 20 minutes of blog browsing
each morning, sifting through the thoughts of practitioners whom I might never
have been able to learn from otherwise and considering how their work translates
into what I do with students.
This learning has been uniquely authentic, driven by personal
interests and connected to classroom realities. Blogs have introduced a measure
of differentiation and challenge to my professional learning plan that had long
been missing. I wrestle over the characteristics of effective professional
development with Patrick Higgins (http://chalkdust101.wordpress.com) and the elements of
high-quality instruction for middle grades students with Dina Strasser (http://theline.edublogs.org).
Scott McLeod (www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org) forces me to think about driving
school change from the system level; and Nancy Flanagan (http://teacherleaders.typepad.com/teacher_in_a_strange_land) helps
me understand the connections between education policy and classroom practice.
John Holland (http://circle-time.blogspot.com) and Larry Ferlazzo, Brian Crosby,
and Alice Mercer (http://inpractice.edublogs.org) open my eyes to the challenges of
working in high-needs communities.
That's when I introduce them to RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed readers.
If you're not sure where to begin, explore the blogs that I've organized in my
professional Pageflake at www.pageflakes.com/wferriter/16618841. I read these blogs all the
time. Some leave me challenged. Some leave me angry. Some leave me jazzed. All
leave me energized and ready to learn more. School leaders may be interested in
the collection of blogs at www.pageflakes.com/wferriter/23697456.
A power shift is underway and a tough new business rule is
emerging: Harness the new collaboration or perish. Those who fail to grasp this
will find themselves ever more isolated—cut off from the networks that are
sharing, adapting, and updating knowledge to create value. (Kindle location
268–271)
The few moments
Technology has made it easy for educators to embrace continual
professional development.
Mixbook
(or Mixbook for Educators) is a
photo-based creation platform that offers
hundreds of layouts and backgrounds to choose from
along with customizable frames and text to make your book beautiful.
Just pick a layout, drag-and-drop your photos into the photo slots, and
edit to your heart's content.
Though the site's examples suggest using the books to gather wedding,
travel, and baby albums, this program can absolutely used to create
stories around historic photographs and artifacts, original art, to
produce a class yearbook, to share an oral or personal history or
journey, to tell the story of a field trip. Mixbook
for Educators now offers a secure collaborative environment for
sharing their ebooks, as well as discounts on printed products, should
you choose to print. (A similar option is Scrapblog.)
Storybird,
a collaborative storybook building space designed for ages 3-13,
inspires young writers to create text around the work of professional
artists and the collection of art is growing.
Two (or more) people create a Storybird
in a round robin fashion by writing their own text and inserting
pictures. They then have the option of sharing their Storybird
privately or publicly on the network. The final product can be
printed (soon), watched on screen, played with like a toy, or shared
through a worldwide library. Storybird is also a simple
publishing platform for writers and artists that allows them to
experiment, publish their stories, and connect with their fans.
Myth and Legend Creator 2 shares a collection of traditional stories from England and
around the world to hear and read. The site offers historical
context for each story, story time lines and maps, ideas for use of the
story in the classroom, and student work inspired by the story. The Story Creator--with
its libraries of backgrounds, characters, props, text bubbles, sound
and video recording tools, and options to upload--provides students
easy opportunities to create their own versions of traditional stories.
The Historic
Tale Construction Kit is similar in that it helps students
construct stories around a theme, in this case stories set in the middle
ages with movable, scalable beasts, folks, braves, buildings. and
old-style text.
Tikatok is a platform devoted to kid book publishing at a variety of levels. Children have the option of exploring a collection of interactive
story templates called StorySparks prompts, personalizing an existing
book with their own names in Books2Go, with their own names, or
starting from scratch in Create Your Own Book. Tikatok’s Classroom Program allows teachers to share lesson plans, view and edit students' work online, encourage collaboration,
and track
writing progress.
Big Universe is both an online library and a publishing and sharing community for grades K through 8. Using Big Universe Author, students may create, research, and collaborate on books using a library of more than 7000 images and interactive tools.
Krissy Venosdale (https://twitter.com/KTVee) has amassed a superb collection of images and posters for the classroom on her blog and Flickr steam. Also find great ideas and resources for your classroom, especially for teachers of gifted and talented classes.
http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Displays+%26+Posters
Feed readers
are probably the most important digital tool for today's learner because they
make sifting through the amazing amount of content added to the Internet
easy. Also known as aggregators, feed readers are free tools that can
automatically check nearly any website for new content dozens of times a
day---saving ridiculous amounts of time and customizing learning experiences for
anyone.
Imagine
never having to go hunting for new information from your favorite sources
again. Learning goes from a frustrating search through thousands of
marginal links written by questionable characters to quickly browsing the
thoughts of writers that you trust, respect and enjoy.
Feed readers can
quickly and easily support blogging in the classroom, allowing teachers to
provide students with ready access to age-appropriate sites of interest that are
connected to the curriculum. By collecting sites in advance and organizing
them with a feed reader, teachers can make accessing information manageable for
their students.
Here are several
examples of feed readers in action:
Used specifically as
a part of one classroom project, this feed list contains information related to
global warming that students can use as a starting point for individual
research.
While there are literally dozens of different feed reader
programs to choose from (Bloglines andGoogle Reader are two
biggies), Pageflakes is a favorite of
many educators because it has a visual layout that is easy to read and
interesting to look at. It is also free and web-based. That
means that users can check accounts from any computer with an Internet
connection. Finally, Pageflakes makes it quick and easy to add new
websites to a growing feed list—and to get rid of any websites that users are no
longer interested in.
What's even
better: Pageflakes has been developinga teacher version of their tooljust for us that includes an online grade tracker,
a task list and a built in writing tutor. As Pageflakes works to perfect
its teacher product, this might become one of the first kid-friendly feed
readers on the market. Teacher Pageflakes users can actually blog and create a
discussion forum directly in their feed reader---making an all-in-one digital
home for students.
For more
information about the teacher version of Pageflakes, check out this
review: