Group items tagged

digital portfolios could be used as a “parking lot”

So, having also recently attended an EdCamp, I can say there is something between that and a traditional conference that would be best for how I want to learn.  And, I am okay with giving up a Saturday (with the promise of a bagged lunch) to sit in a high school to talk teaching and learning.

 If I am going to travel to conferences, then I need it to add value — not only to come away with new ideas, but new tools that I have had the chance to try, and the experience I couldn’t have had if I were not there.

What I need now is a chance to spend time making sense of what I am hearing — I crave the opportunity to engage with the smart people who are with me in the room.

Subtext is a free iPad app that allows classroom groups to exchange ideas in the pages of digital texts. You can also layer in enrichment materials, assignments and quizzes—opening up almost limitless opportunities to engage students and foster analysis and writing skills

Teaching in a 1:1 iPad classroom allows me to use technology to redefine teaching and learning. Subtext has been a wonderful addition to the 'toolbox'

While kids may initially love technology-inspired lessons in schools simply because they are different from the paper-driven work that tends to define traditional classrooms, the novelty of new tools wears off a lot quicker than digital cheerleaders like to admit.

What students are really motivated by are opportunities to be social — to interact around challenging concepts in powerful conversations with their peers.

Technology’s role in today’s classroom, then, isn’t to motivate. It’s to give students opportunities to efficiently and effectively participate in motivating activities built around the individuals and ideas that matter to them.

Teach them how to blog first. We did an excellent paper blogging lesson first (found on the blog of McTeach), which brought up why we were blogging and how to do it appropriately.  This got the students excited, interested as well as got them thinking about what great comments look and sound like.

Talk safety!

They taught each other how to do anything fancy and also let each other know when font or color choices were poor.

for teaching writing, blogging isn't the best choice. Your students will learn much more and be less likely personalize their mistakes if you have those conversations face to face. Where blogging shines is through the ideas shared and the conversations created by posting online. If that isn't the goal of your writing assignment, perhaps you need to rethink the medium you have chosen for your students to use.