Enhancing Insruction with Digital Narratives

Making and sharing audio and video information has opened up a world of possibilities for creating digital narratives. I think this interactive storytelling can be used to enhance instructions while promoting strong communication skills. Students can use a variety of software to create exciting stories that teach a lesson or entertain. Our students are tech savvy and this allows them to showcase their skills. But be aware this is not just slapping together files and telling a story, it is a bit more detailed and involved that that in order to be done right. It's important to gather the necessary materials to create the digital story. Getting the most of digital assets takes time. There are all kinds of benefits to this. It allows students new ways to choose to communicate. The benefits can be great, including increasing logical reasoning, and a greater understanding of the creative process. I think digital narratives are a great tool for students to explore.

The classroom in 3D

Can 3D technology really boost student learning? This is the question raised by the developers of the new three dimensional projector and the Colorado School District that is implementing a pilot program. What I recently read seems favorable. But the big question is how many companies are ready at this time to provide a 3 D curriculum. Personally I think this will be a great way to enhance visualization especially in those hard to comprehend areas of geometry in which the ability to illustrate complex spatial relationships would be enhanced. Additionally,what about frog dissections in biology? Wouldn't this next movement ultimately allow us to maximize the student's experience? Students are used to seeing 3 D movies now more that ever. Why not enhance their learning with this method as well. Just think about the possibilities, students could experience virtual museum tours or look at works of art in addition to many other opportunities.

Weekly Reader Connect

I recently came across an add on tool for those classroom teachers that subscribe to Weekly Reader called Weekly Reader Connect. This tools allows teachers create a multimedia learning experience to boost reading comprehension. The infrastructure of the program supports a framework of 21 inferential thinking skills. As a teacher I know this is an area of great need that must be developed in our students. This add on features, videos and animation that allow the students to take an active role in the reading lessons. Therefore, this content meets the needs of differentiated learning. The majority of the content is nonfiction reading which is often much more difficult for students to comprehend, but what we often find on our state tests. Even classrooms with limited technology can make this come to life for students. What better way to provide the visual stimulation many students need to make the information stay with them.

Google Proof Questions? Yes or No?

I recently came across some serious discussions on whether or not a teacher can develop a Google Proof Question using Blooms Taxonomy. I started to give this some serious thought. I know that when I, as a teacher ask some tougher questions my students are googling for the answers. But this is impossible to stop with the amount of technology at their fingertips. Let them google for information but keep in mind this is only one source of information. Allowing them to get deeper into the information can spark further classroom discussions as well. We want our students to have the opportunities to gather and gain as much knowledge as possible, so that opens up new avenues for them. Googling for information may take them beyond what we were looking for but may open up new roads for them to explore. Blooms Taxonomy may be a good starting place for allowing students to expand their knowledge base.

What Sticks

As educators we often struggle with ways to deliver instruction to your students so that the information "sticks" After reading the introduction of Made to Stick, titled "What Sticks", I found the analogies and information quite informative and amusing. The authors are right, certain stories sell better than others. But why? Is it just because the topic is more interesting or is it the way the information is written that one can relate to it better?
Well, not all our conversations are meant to "stick". But one does have to carefully craft the information we want to be remembered. This is essential in today's educational arena. We as teachers are competing with students who are continuously visually stimulated in their spare time. Coming to school where they now have to sit and listen to the teacher speak on and on while holding a pencil to write down important information is just not that entertaining. Teachers are up against a tough crowd daily. That is why we must carefully craft our presentations to capture their attentions and keep them focused on content that must be learned, but may not always be exciting. We know that when we make information relevant to our students and their lives they remember. This is a difficult job for teachers to make ideas stick when teachers are faced with daily challenges.

Michigan Cyber School

I recently read an article about Michigan's Cyber-School. The program was designed for alternative or at risk students who had dropped out of school but yet wanted to graduate. This program allows students to finish their courses online. Many time traditional schools just don't work for some. This doesn't mean they are not intelligent enough to complete their coursework it may mean that alternative methods or more creative ways of instruction are needed. Traditional schools cater to a very narrow population and if a student cannot follow that path, failure is inevitable. Often times educators do not understand this, therefore, seem inflexible to modify their instructional methods. This does some many a disservice.
But on the flip side of the coin why is this program designed only for alternative students? What about our students who want to accelerate their learning or broaden their knowledge base? Shouldn't we allow them the same opportunities? Our colleges and universities have such high expectations for students and the high schools cannot keep up. Allowing some of the students to take core classes on line would even open up the performing arts programs opportunities. Research shows that students involved in music and art score higher on standardized test. Additionally, are teachers unions fighting this in Michigan because they are afraid to lose their jobs? There are a lot of questions behind this and why it is moving so slowly in Michigan as opposed to other states.

Google and the next wave of online education

Google has long been the choice of search engines for many and now with the creation of google Wave we can see how quickly we are moving forward in the tech world. After reading the article published in ESchool News I have a greater understanding of all the capabilities of Google Wave. Students and teachers can communicate in real time, what better chance is that to have meaningful dialogue and immediate responses. Editing documents while having online conversations would allow greater learning to occur and further student interactions. As a teacher we often question when assigning group projects, did everyone participate? The playback feature is the answer to this question which allows one to see who said what at what time. I think Google is rolling this out correctly, by invitation, this allows them to keep control on its use during the preview stage. They will have more opportunities to fix the glitches. I think this will be a phenomenal tool when it goes public for all.

Joe's non-netbook

After watching the You-tube video regarding Joe's non-netbook it brings forward to educators as to how tech savvy our young students really are. Joe looked like a precocious young man but his message is quite clear. Our students are so visually stimulated with graphics and other high tech availability that a textbook holds little or no interest. A student cannot click a button to have a word explained or have the picture move about on a page in a textbook. Many of our students rely on voice activated text, that actual reading is almost nonexistent. Therefore, why read the textbook when you can google just about anything and get a synopsis of the topic. But this brings to mind many questions: Is this harmful or helpful to our students? I have yet to decide. We want our students to have all the resources available to them but we certainly don't want them to short change themselves and put forth little efforts when the click of a button can complete an assignment.

Wikipedia

After careful thought on the subject of whether students should have access to wikipedia in K-12 education I believe this media source should continue to be limited in our school setting. As educators we are responsible for teaching the correct content of our course to our students, so why then would we allow students to view and cite sources in their own research that has questionable accuracy? If the content within a wikipedia page is truly able to be altered how can we be certain the information was ever correct. We as adults may be able to question its accuracy as we read through but a student conducting research may have a limited knowledge base in which to draw. Do we really want our students to walk around with inaccurate information on a subject. But on the other hand, shouldn't we caution our students about most information on the web, not only wikipedia? We know that we must sift through the great expanse of information because often times it may be inaccurate in other cites as well. Students conducting research should stick to online encyclopedias as a direct source. Although, I am not saying that they should eliminate the use of cites like wikipedia, but I feel they should use these with caution. Students could use this cite as a reference to back up the information found in a reliable source.
Using reliable sources allows the student to recognize the faults in wikipedia, therefore leading to intlelligent discussions. In summary I would not allow my students to conduct research and use wikipedia as their reliable source. I would encourage them to use reliable sources first and then use it as a springboard for future discussions on the researched topic.