Curriculum Instruction that works

Technology infused within the curriculum has positive effects on student achievement. Students are virtually connected through cell phones, facebook, gaming and texting etc. most of their waking hours. They use these as a form of socialization, so if a teacher can tap into these already available resources we can use this to improve achievement. Recently I designed a project that I hope will increase my students knowledge of the era surrounding the Harlem Renaissance. It is a cross curricular project centered around the social studies and language arts 7th grade standards. The students are asked to investigate this time period in history for its economic impact, social impact and ethnic impact. Students will be required to do a two part project using Web 2.0 tools. The first project is to be completed once they have finished their research. They are to create a Prezi that can be shared as a visual presentation to demonstrate knowledge gained. The second part of the project uses a template of a full newspaper where the students must write and produce authentic information of the time period. The students will work cooperatively in groups of four to produce the newspaper, but individually each must create their own Prezi. This type of cooperative learning and project based lesson is a best practice and will increase the students knowledge base in multi-cultural literacy, civic literacy, critical thinking skills as well as develop oral and written communication. With the teacher acting as a facilitator rather than a lecturer we can hope that the students will gain insight and develop other interests from this investigative project.

Speaker Reviews Brian Dixon and Julia Fallon

Recently I had the pleasure of listening to two innovative speakers discuss the value of social media. First Dr. Dixon, the author of The Innovative School Leaders Guide to Social Media discussed the types of social media not only available to our students but how they are using it on a daily basis. From reading his book and listening to him speak on the topic I gained a great deal of insight and learned bout new methods that I could include within my classroom instruction. The school community expects more from our schools and the social media outlets he discusses are valuable tools not only for student achievement but for communicating and keeping parents informed as well.
The second speaker, Julia Fallon spoke about the uses of twitter and how it may be incorporated in a school setting. As of now this type of social media is not allowed in many school settings. After personally using it for a period of 4 weeks I found it to have very little educational value as compared to other social media outlets. Twitter seems to have a lot of nonsense talk and little filtering of information. Not that I believe in censorship, but in an educational setting we are working toward guiding students to achieve. Twitter may have some value but as of now I would not use it in a school setting.

Crowd Acceleration

I recently watched a TED presentation regarding crowd acceleration and then watched several Youtube videos to determine the value of each as it related to crowd acceleration. First lest's examine the meaning of crowd acceleration. As people we are often inspired by watching others and then wanting to improve what we have seen and make it better. We can accelerate this type of learning often by technology. If we take and apply this to learning we must have three important characteristics. One: Community: Others who share the same passion and are potential innovators, Two: Individual Visibility, Three: Success Mterics: Real time feedback that helps to rasie the bar, by measuring hits and ratings on sites such as YouTube. By watching what others do we can potentially reach millions and inspire greatness. We can also apply this to global education. Teachers can watch other teachers and gain insight and knowledge that may otherwise remain untapped. Students can view other students work and begin to build on what they see and possibly inspiring them to take this knowledge even further. When we watch these presentations we can decide on how to improve them and raise the bar. In many of the videos I recently viewed for this specific blog the videos related to the idea of using technology lessons vs. non-technology lessons. Do students perform better when teachers use technology to enhance their lessons? In each of the videos it was clear that the use of technology was of a benefit to students. One in particular that I liked was a music lesson using technology, http://www.authorstream.com/presentation/seannedanielak. This presentations was inspiring, and although I do not teach a music class I began to think about ways I could use music in my Language Arts lessons to help students remember important grammar rules and writing tips, similar to the older tunes of "Grammar Rock" but updated. This is an example of crowd acceleration. When we view others work and begin to adapt and build on it to fit our needs we can expand ideas and make them meaningful in our own scenario.

Google Docs Review

I recently used Google Docs with fellow classmates for a project. At first review, just like many new things, I found it a bit confusing. After using it a few times and familiarizing myself with all its capabilities I decided that it is a valuable tool. Google Docs is really an easy to use online word processor editor that enables anyone in your network of collaborators to store, share and edit documents. It makes the editing process more stream lined and quicker. With this type of tool you do not have to wait long for feedback and rewrite, you can edit write on the document. I added the app to my ipad so it is completely mobile for me. I can now edit and collaborate at anytime. Additionally, I think this has great educational value in a classroom. I teach middle school Language Arts and my students are required to write a research paper as well as complete other projects throughout the year. Now that I have the knowledge of this tool I will ask them to use google docs when they ask me to edit and check their work prior to their final work. In my subject area I see this as a very valuable tool.

Using Technology with At-Risk Students

Educators today are calling for meaningful learning activities that engage our most at-risk learners. Educators are constantly looking for ways to motivate, engage and help students learn basic skills that will help them assimilate their knowledge into real world skills that will allow them to be productive citizens. To do this educators have a challenging road of reform ahead. Instead of students practicing skills in isolation these skills should be taught in the context of working through authentic tasks.
Technology can also help students form cooperative learning environments where they help each other learn. This teaches students valuable life skills which are applicable to working in the work-force.
Additionally, we must look at equity for our at-risk populations. It must become a priority of state and local agencies to provide equal access to all our students.
In relationship to teachers, we must also be certain to provide on-going professional development in the appropriate uses of educational technology.
If we want our students to succeed in the 21st century we must prepare them with the technological skills for an ever changing world.

Wiki Experiment

I recently challenged my students to validate the reliability of Wikipedia in an experiment meant to teach about reliability and validity of sources. I gave them a printed copy of a wikipedia article that was unaltered and then the same article after I had changed it and challenged them to discover which article had the correct facts. My students spent a class period researching the information in small groups and collaborating on their findings. I was surprised at the short length of time it took for them to prove which article was correct and which was fake. All in all the experiment was successful and my students learned an important lesson of not believing everything that is in print.

Dianne's comments on Prezi

I recently looked at two animation type programs for a project, Animoto and Prezi. After looking at the benefits of both I decided that Prezi was a better fit for what I was looking for. The directions to create your collage, as I call it, were clear and concise. The program allowed you to import pictures from your collection or from the web with little difficulty. I especially liked the way you could use the animation device to rotate, enlarge or reduce your titles. The zoom in, zoom out feature added to the presentation. Additionally, you could choose a path or order for your pictures or sayings. Prezi was a good device for this presentation. I will also try animoto for future presentations.
The students in my seventh grade advanced Language Arts class were given a project last week. I gave them several options for creating presentations to go along with their novels. I offered aminoto or prezi to them and I was very interested to see how they would feel about using this type of technology. The majority of them chose prezi for their presentation model. I shared one that I created with them and gave them about a week to create theirs. I am anxious to see what they come up with. I really had to go through the process with them of showing them how to create one, which surprised me. But none the less they are excited about their projects.