21st Century Class Unveiled

I feel a tremendous sense of gratitude toward Steve for introducing us to the amazing array of tech tools that we can now draw on to make our classes truly engaging and interactive. In this class, we had a taste of what's possible in terms of creative ways to communicate information and concepts. As a result, I feel far more confident and ready to build on my understanding of research-based strategies and theories, which we learned over the last two years, and meld them into well-constructed lessons that seamlessly integrate technology. Great goal, right?! Until I master anything, the process is obviously complicated, prone to glitches,and by nature somewhat stressful because of the professional need and personal desire to be effective and capable. Critically, this class revealed that the technology vista is rapidly changing, so I just have to jump on the roller coaster of constant change and adaptation because that's what's required in today's teaching profession. It's exciting, challenging, and unpredictable.

Clay Yourself Avatar

Thinking about ways to create characters using technology, as opposed to that traditional format of paper and pencil, I found http://clayyourself.com/ Thought you all might enjoy it! If you're wondering, this is the character Jazzy, an eye witness to a shooting.

Students Demand Technology

This article speaks to the necessity of keeping technology current and creating access for all. The students profiled in this article were at a conference demanding that policymakers wake up to the necessity that they--students from poorer school districts--need devices in school that enable them to learn effectively. Without better technology and more of it, they contend that they'll never be on an equal footing with their peers who come from families or live in school districts where technology is easily accessible. They are, of course, correct. What is significant about these students is that they organized themselves, raised the money to get to the conference, and spoke with conviction to the adults who make decisions that impact them. They are the generation who demands to be heard, and is capable of being heard because of technology. The entire educational paradigm is shifting because of technology; and adults and students need to be working together to maximize its advantages. It's the New World. Like these students suggest, education will remain relevant if they are given the tools and support from adults in classrooms that enable them to succeed outside the classroom.

Cell Phones in Clear View

Sitting in the back of classrooms over the last 2 years, I've watched countless students text and play games while teachers drone on about some topic or another. Most striking to me last spring was watching four students, who had been doing something on their phones, quickly put them aside when the teacher turned to grading tests using clicker technology, which immediately created a bar graph showing the percentage breakdown of selected answers on their multiple choice exam. Everyone was engaged, talking, debating, questioning. The energy level went from flat to electric. That was clearly the power of technology to enhance learning and to engage students using a method they found compelling. Their cell phones offer the same opportunity. The question is really what types of technology best push learning forward. If you can integrate their phones, which are pivotal part of their existence, into classroom learning, you can begin to open their minds to the fact that your subject is relevant outside school.

Digital Story: Storybird sings a love-lost song

http://storybird.com/books/love-walked-away/ What a magical journey! Storybird, the site that allows you to create books using art from hundreds of artists, is radically different from 20th century publishing. Yes, you can follow the traditional format of writing a story then adding images that propel the plot; but you can also conceptualize stories based on the artwork, which is what I did. I started off exploring Animoto, Prezi, and Movie Maker to create an introductory piece on myself. However, I was drawn to Storybird because art and books are my passion. I first explored creating a story based on "joy." I opted however to go with "love" after finding my magnificent goth girl, created by an illustrator known as CreepyCuties. This character resonated with me, which made me realize I could develop a story based on how the art moved me. As someone keenly aware that much of the public views art as a static, irrelevant medium, I was thrilled. I'd love to use Storybird to introduce students to writing, but also the power of art and the individuals behind it. CreepyCuties has a website, accessible through Storybird, featuring her ghoulish creatures in such things as comic strips. I don't need to "create" the example when I have access to such a broad range of quality work. My job is to sift through what is worth presenting, then let my students follow wherever it takes them creatively!

YouTube's Cultural Icons

You know the YouTube personalities have taken on a higher level of social and cultural significance when The New York Times starts praising their work. "YouTubers" by Rob Walker, The New York Times Magazine, July 2012, was a fun read because my kids follow YouTube's biggest stars, including Ray William Johnson, Smosh, and Mystery Guitar Man. Confession: One of my favorite moments in a busy day is when one of my kids shows me Johnson's latest episode. Yes, it is sometimes crude and almost always punctuated with lewd language, which makes it completely inappropriate for young kids and never appropriate for school; BUT, he's funny and smart! These personalities are the voices kids are turning to for current events and timeout from homework. The article explores how YouTube is evolving as a creative medium, its emerging stars, and its growing prominence, which is elevating it out of the subculture our students already know.

All that's Real then Contrived

I was first exposed to the process and rationale of altering photographs in 1994 when writing a feature article on a chef. The photographer assured me that the food photos would be crisp and vivid, better than the real thing! Frankly, I had that "duh" moment, when she told me food photos were routinely color enhanced because they didn't present well otherwise. OK, made sense; but, it had never occurred to me that the lush green salad with sparkling slices of grapefruit weren't the magic of Mother Nature. Flash forward to 2012, and enter the world of constantly changing photos and images. What's real? Common Sense Media's lesson "Retouching Reality," for grades 9-12, is a splendid exploration into the conceptualization, and creative and ethical issues involved in altering images. And because students have grown up in a world where photos are splashed all over the Internet and routinely photoshopped, there isn't a sense that original images have a sacred right to be preserved and protected. Nonetheless, seeing is believing. The activities in the lesson involve such activities as voting if a photo is real or fake, and altering a photo through a website linked to Flickr. It's a lesson that could be molded into any discipline, because photos drive perceptions, create opinions, cause an emotional reaction, even alter the course of history. Critically, it's a lesson that allows students to be front and center, either showcasing their own work and/or their opinions.

PowerPoint on Auto

Got sucked into the link trail on PowerPoint discussions: "Learning to Love PowerPoint," "PowerPoint Is Evil," "The Power of PowerPoint: Is it in the User or the Program?" PowerPoint clearly has made its mark on U.S. culture! I haven't been subjected to endless slides, which induce boredom and suck the room dry of credible questions, so I remain open to the powers that it has: keeping the speaker on track, creating focus, defining/setting an agenda, presenting ideas visually. Like any tool, it's only as good as the content created by the maker; bad PowerPoints are like bad podcasts! David Byrne, a musician and artist, wrote "Learning to Love PowerPoint," and captured the essence of what any tool can be in the right hands: a creative adventure. He reminds me that an enlightened teacher is not going to define the right way and wrong way to use a medium. Tech tools, in the hands and minds of some, will yield the most astonishing results. I know my limitations; but, I don't know the limitations of others. And, within the classroom, all I want to know is the potential and unexpected discoveries and mishaps students have when exploring something new. As Byrne shows, PowerPoint can be far more than a bullet-point slide; it can be art!

Reinventing the History Textbook for Online Learning

I have two middle-school-aged children in my home who have been using online History books for two years. Their verdict: terrible. This is hugely interesting to me because they are wired to the hilt. So, what don't they like about it? The difficulty of going back and forth, trying to find information, which speaks to a format problem, not the use of computers. In Historical Thinking, the textbook is addressed from the point of being controversial, which speaks more to the balance between learning facts and synthesizing events in a way that enables students to think in historical contexts. The focus, in my view, ought to be the use/creation of software that allows teachers to create their own textbooks, which serve as a platform for whatever they're doing in class. Both my children had amazing History teachers, who utilized Project-Based Learning throughout the year; but, both felt frustrated by the textbook, which seemed to slow learning down. If students are going to be required to read History textbooks online, then those materials should developed in a way that suits the medium, as well as suits the needs of the teacher and students!

Redefining Writing for the 21st Century Classroom

There's no question that pen & paper are the 20th-century version of the horse & buggy, while computers represent the car, which is so fast, wildly efficient, and capable of taking us places we never dreamed possible. Within the English classroom, the tug between these two traditions and the impact it's having on craft is being played out on sites like Getting Smart . Susan Davis, a veteran English teacher, writes a compelling argument in "Teaching Authentic Writing in a Socially Mediated World" on what it means to teach writing in a meaningful way to today's students. Forget the 5-paragraph essay and deconstructing poems, it's time to blog, write photo captions, do digital stories. It's time to teach using the medium that students use outside the classroom. Unsurprisingly, this spawned a flurry of comments from readers, most of whom are teachers. What's intriguing are the posts that argue against what she's advocating---that the 5-paragraph essay enables students to develop logical arguments, which is a skill not developed through Facebook posts. Davis responds well to her critics, furthering adding to a much needed dialogue and debate on what belongs in the English classroom and how it can be adapted to the environment we all inhabit. It's the adaptation, in my view, that is critical because students will "engage" when they think the materials are relevant to their lives, to their world. They're wired, as we all are, to learn, to respond, and to engage when something resonates with them. The issue isn't "throw out the old, bring in the new" but rather package the content, i.e. the instruction, in a way that's appealing and substantive enough that it results in actual learning. None of us learn well when we're bored by the presentation or feel the method is woefully outdated.

Inquiry-based Learning: Total Recall

We've plowed through stacks of strategies and theories on education, but how do we know what works? As someone who's an experiential learner, I can say with great conviction that, for some learners, inquiry-based learning is powerful and lasting. I think back on our first class with Dr. Luckas and quickly recall Wendy and Lisa D delivering their inquiry-based lessons. At the time, the process for creating that type of lesson seemed too challenging, too time consuming, because it has to be meticulously planned in order to work. Now, I feel like it's worth the effort because I remember their lessons, which were many moons ago!