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!

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UDL: Learning Opportunities for All

Differentiation seems like a 101 concept in comparison to Universal Design for Learning, which is the horizon for working with 21st-century learners. I feel like I've discovered the tip of the iceberg on a concept we ought to know how to implement. By checking a webinar sponsored by the National Center on Universal Design for Learning, I discovered that VDOA addresses it through Special Education Departments, which makes sense on one level. Nonetheless, it seems like every teacher needs professional development that presents the tools and concepts that are at the core of UDL philosophy: "The way we learn is as unique as our fingerprints." The goal behind UDL curriculum is creating expert learners; that's radically different from creating experts! I wonder what Lisa, our Special Ed. math teacher, can share about her experiences with UDL?    

Plagiarism has been my main concern about students using the Internet for projects. Copyright? Hadn't given it much thought until this lesson. Wow! Where have I been? Of course, we have to know and explain copyright because it's a legal issue one has to respect and abide by. And, like technology, the law is evolving. It's exciting to learn about sites like Creative Commons, which can help you find the photos, text, and images that can be used for free. It's like a whole new world has opened up for me! Duh!