"How will you, my students, share that you have learned the required content? How will you share what you learned about the similarities and differences between ________ and _______?"
"I thought about assigning an essay; but I did not want to read them" cheers from students "I next thought about having you create a cool website that showcased what you learned; but most of what you learned independently you learned from online sources... yours' would not add to the level of learning in a new way" interested, "where is he going" responses "Then I thought a google slide show!" cheers! "But I really did not want to be bored watching my students read from a slide show with too many words again! Who here has been bored after show after show is all 'blah, blah, blah blah, blah, blah blah'?" all hands go up! "Today, then we have the opportunity to try a new way of presenting, Powtoon..." Powtoon allows users to share information in a way that engages the audience. If done correctly, Powtoon focuses in images and a few words to communicate. If done poorly, it is no better than PowerPoint, Goggle slides, or any other presentation tool. As I presented the tool to students, I showed both quality examples and poor examples, based on my guidelines above. My students were sufficiently bored by the text heavy examples to not replicate these. (See one: poor example) To introduce the tool, I then invited the students to create their own free account which limits their tools on the site and limits them to under 5 minutes (which is great!). The students were then given the rest of the period to watch the tutorials, read the FAQs, and create fun, not-for-class Powtoons for themselves as a way of learning the tool. This play time is essential for helping the students learn the tool and help each other (yes, relating to the previous post, this does take time away from other curricula but in the long run may save time). The next day, the students, in pairs, were to start creating their class project. A rubric of content was shared to focus their first Powtoon. RESULTS:
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HELP,
MY CONTENT STANDARDS ARE TOO FULL! MY SKILL STANDARDS ARE TOO COMPREHENSIVE! Digital literacy, however, does not have to be my wafer thin mint. (thank you Monte Python's Meaning of Life... but I could not upload an image for fear of grossing out my audience) How will I teach Digital Literacy in an already full curriculum? The answer is simple but not easy. As teachers in the modern American educational system, we know that we have too many skill and content standards to meet individually throughout the school year. We, therefore, package the standards together to allow a few standards to be met in the same lessons or units. We also prioritize the standards and put our energy and first focus on power standards that are musts. As we progress further into teaching digital literacy, I think we need to do the same. As I plan units, I have shifted focus away from the content only focus of NCLB (thank you Common core!). After identifying the basic content of the unit, my focus first is on reading, writing, and communicating skills that my students will improve while we explore the content. Adding digital literacy into the mix is becoming easier as I learn more about the options myself. I have found that this does, in fact, take time. Introducing new tools to students that will increase their creativity in writing and communication will take away from lesser, non power standards. Teaching students to use even comparatively simple reading and annotating tools such as Diigo again takes time. Going back to the "wafer thin mint" analogy: we need to cut back on our portion sizes; allow for students to choose their leaning paths (similar to the examples show in http://www.personalizelearning.com/p/models.html); and let ourselves and the students choose the most nutritious learning foods (content and skills) so that they can become the best they can be in the 21st century that they grow up in. T Thanks Hemingway and Donne.
The Capstone project as I understand it, is about making our research and ideas public so that we may impact others beyond our students, classroom, school, and even district. Who is my audience? First and foremost, my audience is my students as the ones who are affected directly by the project. Beyond that, my closest colleagues are influenced by what I am doing, ask how its going, and are intrigued by the possibilities. In my ideal world, I may be able to inspire a school wide focus on developing quality questioning strategies in our students grade 6-8. As part of this project we are to create an online presence to share even further. What might that look like? Look like is the key. My reading of Baggio and recent positive experience with helping students create Powtoons, reminds me of the power of images. Visuals are the entry point for most humans. As I design what will most likely be a website, I need to best rely on images rather than on words (quite opposite of what I am doing here). I look forward to continued research, starting some interviews with reluctant questioners using Dervin's timeline question techniques, and using what I learn to further develop the ideas of a Quality Question Club by following the instructional system design presented by Clark. How does one teach digital citizenship, specifically, digital communication to students who communicate with grunts, eye-rolls, pretend tears drawn on their faces, dabs, and "triggers?"
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About MeAfter teaching for 20 years, I've decided to pursue a master's degree! Archives
July 2017
CategoriesThis is me working on my classwork... usually at night after the heater is off.... sitting long times makes me cold!
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