Everyone has the list. The list of things you would do if you won the lottery....a list of things you would buy; charities to donate to; bills you would pay off.
If you need help coming up with your list, just ask The Barenaked Ladies.....
This week, a group of staff and students are actively preparing our application for the Future Shop Tech Lab grant--a $10K, $15K and $50K start-up grant to build the tech lab of our dreams.
What would this cross-curricular technology lab look like to you?
Would it be full of iMacs? laptops? a SmartBoard?
What would you do with this lab to enhance your lessons and make them more engaging and relevant?
What would you do??
Be creative and shoot for the stars. Leave a comment and tell me what you would love to have in the technology lab of your dreams.
When you stand at the front of the room and look out at the
sea of eager faces, do you really know what they are thinking? Are you
confident that each and every student understood the lesson you just presented?
Sure, there will always be those students who are quite
eager to tell you everything they know and are willing to put their hand up and
participate in a class discussion.
But what about the one over there? Where? In the back row--your
student who is quite happy to talk to you in a one-on-one situation, but will
never put their hand up and ask a question or volunteer an opinion.
What are they thinking? Did they understand the lesson?
How do you know?
In the pre-technological era, we simply asked students to
put their hand up. Sometimes we asked for a thumbs-up or thumbs-down gesture to
indicate their level of comfort with the concepts.
And then the Digital Age arrived!
The next greatest discovery? Clickers!!! A Student Response
System that used little hand-held devices that students could use to indicate
their responses in a safe environment.
But I always had issues with the clickers—the software wasn’t
loaded on my computer; the batteries were dead; the little red light was
flashing….okay, who didn’t return their clicker!?!?!
Now, we have alternatives. Better alternatives!!
When you get a minute, take some time to check out and use
one of the following Student Response Systems—they are all free, web based and
use computers or hand-held devices to allow students to submit their responses.
It’s cool. It’s easy. And my students loved it…even the
quiet kid in the back corner who hasn’t said much all semester.
So, you have finally decided to ditch the overhead projector
and jump with both feet into the cold waters of Powerpoint® presentations.
Congratulations! While it might take your breath away at first, the water will
feel warmer if you just keep swimming!
When used in a creative manner, PPT presentations can be
engaging, exciting and effective for a wide variety of learners in your
classes.
But, when used improperly….things can go badly. Very badly.
So, as a newbie to the world of PPT, what things should you
keep in mind when creating a new presentation??
1. Choose a simple Slide Design with clean lines
and contrasting colours. There are a variety of pre-made slide designs already
embedded in PPT and hundreds more to choose from in Microsoft’s Office.com
2. Use Smart Art to simplify text and make it
appealing to visual learners
3. Insert videos/animations directly into your
presentation to avoid switching between programs.
4. Use hyperlinks
to take you a specific web page, or another slide in your presentation. Here’s how.
5. Less is more. Please don’t crowd your slide with
everything you are going to say. Use the notes
section to insert speaker notes.
6. Less is more again. Limit the number of slides
to the audience. 75 slides in 75 minutes is tough. It’s tough to present and
tough to watch.
7. Watch the custom animations. Some students (and
adults) are easily distracted by or paragraphs that fly in from
the left and then rotate 5 times before being able to be read. Custom
animations can be effective if used sparingly and in the right context.
Interested? Intrigued?
Let me provide the wetsuit and diving board to help you get your
feet wet using PPT in your classes. Book a Tech Session for next week.
Already a PPT user? I can help you make your slides MORE
engaging and exciting for your students!
Think about what you learned in high school. Think way, way
back. Dig deep. What skills did you learn that have helped you be successful in
your career? In life?
I learned how to manage my time using my school agenda. I
learned that you have to wait for WhiteOut® to dry before writing on top of it.
I learned that to be successful working in a group, I must have everyone’s home
phone number and a bus ticket to get to their house on Sunday night.
Boy, the times they are a-changin'!
Students today are going to need a whole new set of skills
to be successful in their careers—no matter what career path they choose to
take. They are going to need to know how
to work collaboratively with a variety of people and be able to communicate
effectively. Students are going to have to have superior critical thinking
skills to be able to filter the vast amount of information available to
everyone via the internet. They are going to have to be creative. To think outside the box.
21st Century Learning Skills The Partnership for 21st Century Learning Skills has identified 4 key Student Outcomes that students will need to develop to multi-dimensional abilities that will be required of them in the 21st century ("Framework for 21st," 2004).
How Can Web 2.0 Tools Help?
Let's look at the Learning and Innovation Skills... Critical Thinking: There is a massive amount of information available to students on the Internet. Students must develop critical thinking skills to assess the validity of the information. Take a moment and check out the following site: Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
Would you donate money to save the tree octopus? I certainly hope not. As educators, we need to teach students the skills required to question what they see, read and hear about on the Internet. Communication: Blogging is quickly becoming a fantastic way for students to comminicate what they have learned with you; their peers and the global community. When students realize that their work will be published, they are typically motivated to produce better work.
The best part? Blog posts are sorted chronologically, so students and teachers can see a progression of learning all in a convenient digital format.
Check out a few of these classroom friendly blog sites:
Collaboration: As part of the Growing Success document, a key component to the learning cycle is assessment as learning. As always, teachers have been expected to provide ongoing feedback to students to guide instruction. As the nature of our students change, and the skills required for success in the 21st century change, there has been a shift in emphasis to student self-assessment and peer-assessment, placing the primary responsibility for learning with the students ("Growing success: assessment,," 2010). Google Docs provides a free online document service that allows students to ‘share’ documents with each other and the teacher; work simultaneously on the same document and provide feedback through the comment function. Teachers and students are also able to see the document revision history to make students accountable for their work.
Creativity: Gone are the days when the only option to submit your work is a handwritten essay. Students learn in a variety of different ways—therefore classroom instruction should be differentiated and meaningful to all students in the room. Does that mean teachers have to prepare 30 different lessons each day? No! Teachers can differentiate product, not content. In order for all students to obtain a meaningful learning experience, students should have choices that support their specific way of learning.
There are hundreds of Web 2.0 tools to support creativity and individuality in the classroom.
For example, a teacher may assign the following to his/her SBI 4UI class: Explain the concept of protein synthesis using a Web 2.o tool of your choice.
Students may choose from a wide variety of Web 2.0 tools to get their message across such as:
Framework for 21st century learning.. (2004). Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=254&Itemid=119
Ontario Ministry of Eduction, (2010). Growing success: assessment, evaluation, and reporting in ontario schools. Toronto, ON: Government Printing Office.
