Glog: Counterculture Movement of the 1960s

New Directions for Learning

This week I found two articles from my learning network on twitter that peaked my interest about how technology is changing the way our students learn.

The first article I found is “6 Way Twitter Has Made Me a Better Writer” (http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/newsgathering-storytelling/140751/6-ways-twitter-has-made-me-a-better-writer/). In this article, Ms. Tenore explains that Twitter has helped her write more succinctly: by limiting her character, she needed to choose her words and message carefully. Twitter gave her confidence in her writing because it provided her with a forum for her voice. These are important points in working with students on their writing. So often students get very wordy in their explanations and have difficulty expressing their ideas in a very brief way. Twitter can help provide a forum for their ideas and writing, which also gives them a purpose for writing, and can help them to choose their words and express their ideas carefully.

The second article is from Langwitches and talks about the “new” version of KWL: WKHL (http://langwitches.org/blog/2011/07/21/upgrade-your-kwl-chart-to-the-21st-century/). In this article, she discusses how the “H” stands for “how do we find the answers to our questions?” She also suggests that the acronym activity could go further: KWHLAQ. In this one, the “A” stands for “what action will I take?” and “Q” stands for “what new questions do I have?” The “H” points out that knowing where and how to find information is an essential skill to students today. The “A” asks students to apply what they have learned to what they already know which is important in building literacy skills and content-knowledge. The “Q” encourages further inquiry that is a crucial skill in a social studies classroom like my own. I can see using KWHLAQ to help my students with their literacy skills, but also to help them build skills like application and inquiry that are very important to social studies.

A Couple Useful Sites

This week I found a few good sites that could be great resources for my students and me.

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog, I found easynotecards.com. This website provides ready-made flashcards on a multitude of topics including: the US Civil War and 50 states and capitals. The site makes note cards from common books and textbooks. You also have the ability to make notecards of your own. This could be a great resource for providing extra help to your students and making notecards accessible to all students.

Art Titzel tweeted a great American History song list on Spotify (http://open.spotify.com/user/atitzel/playlist/2YCqqFLrpIQnw6oLpLQLPy). It includes reading of historical documents like letters and speeches with appropriate music and songs about historical events. This playlist could really help my students who are more musically and auditory inclined. These songs could also be supplemented by a handout of the lyrics/historical document for students to follow along, making it easier for ELLs’ comprehension.

My Personal Learning Network on Twitter

LiteracyWorld (Katherine McKnight) - National Council of Teachers of English, National Consultant Author of 6 books on various literacy topics, Associate Professor at National-Louis University,
dixxyD (diane nutt) - care about student experience, work in learning and teaching in HE, have a life outside - sometimes - with dancing, friends and books, books books
DianeRavitch (Diane Ravitch) - I write about education. I blog at Bridging Differences at Education Week.
arneduncan (Arne Duncan) - The official Twitter page of the US Secretary of Education
CatalystChicago (Catalyst Chicago Mag) - Award-winning, independent reporting on urban school reform since 1990. Published by Community Renewal Society. Sister pubs: The Chicago Reporter, Catalyst Ohio
NYTimesLearning (NYT Learning Network) - Teaching & Learning With The New York Times
glennw98 (Glenn Wiebe) - Social studies guy, tech wannabee, book reader and social golfer
kenhalla (kenhalla) - US History, World History, US Government Teacher Blogs
titzel (Art Titzel) - 8th grade American Cultures teacher in Hershey,PA. Love history, technology, and baseball. Also,crab cakes, my family, and summer (not in any particular order).
fifer1863 (Jim Beeghley) - Officially Dr. Beeghley! Educational Technologist,Dad, Catholic, Husband, Civil War Buff, Blogger http://www.teachthecivilwar.com
langwitches (Silvia Tolisano) - Educational Consultant GloballyConnectedLearning.com 21st Century Learning Specialist- Technology Integration- World Language Teacher
wfryer (Wesley Fryer) - Educator, author, digital storyteller, husband, dad. I'm here for the learning revolution. I like playing with media!
timwilson (Tim Wilson) - Chief Technology Officer at ISD 279 - Osseo Area Schools, blogger, aspiring artist, Mac guy, open source and Creative Commons fan, Dad.
teach42 (Steve Dembo) - Director of Soc Media & Online Community, Discovery Education. STAR Discovery Educator, Adjunct Professor @ Wilkes U & proud member of the Eduverse! #GeekPride
mcleod (Scott McLeod) - Associate Professor. CASTLE Director. Blogger. Idea generator. Solution builder. Agitator. Catalyst. “If the leaders don’t get it, it’s not going to happen.”
coolcatteacher (Vicki Davis) - Best teacher blog award winner, co-founder- Flat Classroom Projects, Conference, Digiteen, NetGenEd, known as the Wikinator by my students.
willrich45 (Will Richardson) - Parent, author, speaker, blogger about social Web tools and their effects on schools, education and learning.
Kathyschrock (Kathy Schrock) - Educational Technologist, DEN Star, DEN Guru, Adobe Ed Leader, Google Certified Teacher (kathy@kathyschrock.net)
lizbdavis (Liz Bleich Davis) - I am an educator who strongly believes in the power of technology. Director of Academic Tech at Independent School outside Boston
smeech (Scott Meech) - Technology in Education isn't the Future, It is the Present!
elemenous (Lucy Gray) - Education technology and social media consultant, Apple Distinguished Educator, Google Certified Teacher, into global education, mobile learning
Office EdTech (Office EdTech) - The Office of Educational Technology (OET) provides leadership for maximizing technology's contribution to improving education at all levels

Technology in the Classroom

I found two articles tweeted through my feed this week that I found particularly relevant and interesting in the continuing debate over technology in the classroom: “Emerging Technology Has Positive Impact in Classroom”” (http://education.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/education/high-schools/articles/2011/07/14/study-emerging-technology-has-positive-impact-in-classroom?PageNr=1) and “6 Reasons Tablets are Ready for the Classroom”
(http://mashable.com/2011/05/16/tablets-education/).

In general there are two camps: technology is here to stay and teachers need to learn to use it effectively vs. teachers are here to stay and technology is secondary. While both sides have valid arguments, you cannot deny that students are growing up in technological world and are using technology on a daily basis. They use phones, apps, video games, computer games and programs, ipods, mp3 players, laptops and desktops, web 2.0 tools, and so on. If teachers need to be culturally relevant and find ways to connect to their students, then there is no easier way than technology.

The US News article cites several instances where proper technology integration has helped manage time and support learning in classrooms. Increased technology has also coincided with better attendance and enthusiasm from students. Perhaps this is due to the fact that schools are using tools and methods that are relevant to students.

The article on tablets’ usefulness in classrooms also indicates the increasing advantage to integrating technology. The article suggests that tablets can function as textbooks, only better because it would allow for the most up-to-date information and access to useful multimedia like video and sound. The increasing availability and competitiveness of tablets also suggest that they are not just the educators dream, but can be a reality (and have been in CPS). One final advantage: tablets are lightweight, have a long battery life, and limitless access to information. They are a clear advantage over textbooks.

Google in the Classroom

With Google+ creating a lot of buzz all over the place, I have found a lot of tweets and blogs focusing how to use Google apps in the classroom. Below I have gleaned my favorite points from a PowerPoint presentation on Lucy Gray’s blog (http://elemenous.typepad.com/weblog/).

Google Docs – With teachers: use it to collaborate with teachers on lesson and unit planning, share notes from PD meetings, share archives of lesson plans. With students: use it to provide feedback, engage them in reading response journals.
Google spreadsheet – track student progress and share with parents, sign-up sheets, digital flashcards.
Google forms – formative assessments, student interest surveys, teacher/students observation and evaluation forms, keeping track of discipline referrals, collect information from parents
Google Calendar – sharing calendars, checking out equipment, unit planning and pacing, teaching time management
Gmail – translate emails to and from parents, global pen pals for the students
Google Groups – guided reading and placement groups, parent support groups
Google Talk – guest lecturer, hold office hours over chat
Google Sites – classroom and school websites, committee and project websites, student ePortfolios, student projects and reports, curriculum sharing
Google Video – bringing approved clips into the classroom, showcase classroom projects

Google Apps are very user-friendly programs that can really help to coordinate with teachers, students, and parents. Apps like Google Docs, Google Forms, Gmail, Google Groups, and Google Talk are great for sharing and communicating. Functions like reading response journals on Google Docs, digital flashcards on Google Spreadsheet, assessments and surveys on Google Forms, guest lecturers through Google Talk and project and class websites through Google Sites helps students organize their information and further their learning through the use of technology. These are definitely resources that I will keep in mind to make my teaching accessible and open to students, parents, and other teachers.

Digitalizing and Technology for Literacy

As social studies tend to be heavy on reading, literacy is a major issue. This week I have been focusing in on tweets about digitizing textbooks and using technology to help students with their reading and study skills. I found three tweets that were of particular interest.

Scott Meech (@smeech) posted tweet about iAnnotate, a program that allows an iPad user to read, annotate, organize, and send pdf files. A teacher or student can easily mark up a text, add notes and bookmarks and attach photo annotations. This means that students can highlight and annotate 50 pages of pdf without printing it all out. Teachers can give students feedback on papers while keeping a class paper-free. Most important, teachers and students can both have copies of each draft of a paper throughout the process, making it easier for both to be on the same page. Check it out: http://www.ajidev.com/iannotate/

Another interesting read I found was a blog I found through Silvia Tolisano’s (@langwitches) tweet. The blog “Why Focusing on Digital Texts is a Good Step” (http://www.ryanbretag.com/blog/?p=2379) discussed the importance of the mindset shift that would need to occur with crossing over to digital texts – the shift to using them as content rather than curriculum. Using digital texts allows for far more resources to be available to students (rather than a single textbook). Since social studies has a rich store of primary, secondary, and tertiary sources, these can easily supplement and enhance content learning.