What can Students do with Ipads? 11.13.12

Wow! I bookmarked this article for later use.  One of my biggest challenges with technology is movie making.  I tried a video creation project this year and I was very disappointed with the results.  I need specific ideas on improvement and this article provided me with them.  For many of my students I need to be the expert and by creating several, not one, video example will help my students use technology that many already have.  While these specific examples were for English, this specific activities can be used for ALL subjects because isn't the goal to have students learn the story of our subject. 

How to learn from your mistakes? 11.13.12

What a dynamic teacher Diane Laufenberg is!! I got many ideas from her talk:
1) We do a family history project in our immigration unit.  I like the visual timeline that she did at the begining of her talk and she included them again at the end of her talk.  This would be an amazing thing to include in a family history project for student.  Instead of my students doing a traditional paper, they can get family photos and present their family history in their words (voice.)
2) I also appreciated the learning process that she demonstrated that her students and her talk out loud about their presentations.  My students did video projects and that activitiy would have been very beneficial to use in my classroom.
3)  She makes an excellent point that we need to rethink how we teach our students because the focus isn't getting them the information but it is how to get them to interact, learn, and process the information on a higher level. 

Student Devices, 10.22.12

I have had, like the district,  a BYOB policy that I have really pushed this school year with my students.  Unfortunately my students have not taken advantage of this policy, at least not for educational purposes.  I want to make it possible for a student to go 100% virtual if he/she wants to.  So all of my testing is online and assignment sheet are posted on moodle and/or the class blog.  For the 1st quarter we have covered 3 units on the economic history of the United States.  Students are given a paper packet at the beginning of each unit that students will turn in at the end of each unit. This packet has all the materials needed for class, while it makes me and the class more organized, it really doesn't do anything for technology integration.Students are encouraged to use their devices to take notes, but most don't.  Out of 145 students, only about 10 actively used a device in class.  While I am showing you tube video or prezis the class is not utilizing technology.  So to encourage more technology use by my students for the 2nd quarter, each student will get a digital copy of the unit packet.  A student must REQUEST a page copy of the packet.  I am hoping that this will encourage students to use devices on a daily basis. In addition, students that are absent do not get the work from me, but instead he/she must scan the QR code and check out class blog and/or moodle for the work.

21st Century Teacher, 10.22.12

Yes I am writing this in the last possible time but I have really been thinking about this question.  I feel like I have been frustrated with technology lately.  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love what Lindbergh has done to promote technology in the classroom, but I feel like our students and parents are lagging behind.  The notion has been that students today know more than we do about technology and in many cases they do; but what I am finding is that most students don't know how to use technology for the classroom.  My frustration lies from the technology that I am offering my students in the virtual classroom are not being utilized.  My facebook page, class blog, and chat rooms are rarely being used by students.  The daily QR codes are rarely being scanned unless a student is absent.  So the challenge for teachers today, myself included, is to teach all students to use technology in the classroom to be more efficient, to go green, and to actually learn the content through technology.

Technology in the Classroom, 10.8.12

Very interesting video of the way technology is changing the classroom. I loved the visual image of the printing press. As a history teacher I have always wanted to be in the middle of a revolution and we actually really are in one. Two items that stood out to me were: 1) the bell schedule becomes invisible 2) Teacher is not doing one's job when he/she doesn't teach students about 21st century technology skills. 

This just reinforces how important technology is in the classroom.