by John Norton | May 31, 2012 | Less Teacher, More Student, Making The Shift, Student Life, The How of 21st Century Teaching, Voices, Web Tools That Deepen Learning
At the beginning of the year, when teacher Jamie Weir invited her high school students to bring their mobile technology into her classroom, Grade 12 student Zac Hawkins’ first thought was “Easy class.” He couldn’t, he says, “bring myself to take the concept of using technology in the classroom seriously — more than likely because I’ve been taught all of my life that technology is not meant for the classroom and that school is a paper-and-pencil-only environment.”
by Patti Grayson | May 29, 2012 | Creating Global Classrooms, Less Teacher, More Student, Making The Shift, The How of 21st Century Teaching, Voices, Web Tools That Deepen Learning
Skype enables students to connect, collaborate, and communicate with students across the globe. It creates an opportunity for students to learn from each other, to have authentic audiences for their work, and to meet musicians, authors, and others who can further their learning. The possibilities are truly endless. Skyping is no longer a novelty — a once-in-awhile special event. It’s becoming a routine part of being an effective 21st century teacher.
by Rachel Small | May 1, 2012 | Less Teacher, More Student, Passion Based Learning, The How of 21st Century Teaching, Voices, Web Tools That Deepen Learning
Students use Google Docs to write their poems. They use the GDocs sharing function to share their poem documents with me and some of their classmates (if they choose). I read their poems (from anywhere at anytime), give them one specific comment, and offer one constructive suggestion to improve their poem that I hope also adds to their poetry writing repertoire. Then we share in VoiceThread to a public audience.
by Patti Grayson | Apr 10, 2012 | Creating Global Classrooms, Making The Shift, The How of 21st Century Teaching, Voices, Web Tools That Deepen Learning
Edmodo is a social networking tool for schools. It is especially designed to be a safe, Facebook-style community where students can communicate and share. Unlike Facebook, Edmodo is highly secure. A teacher can set up a class and obtain a group code for students to use to join the private class group. I’ve been using Edmodo with my students for almost a year now and it has had a big impact on learning and collaboration.
by Marsha Ratzel | Mar 29, 2012 | Making The Shift, The How of 21st Century Teaching, Voices, Web Tools That Deepen Learning
Anytime I can find something that grabs kids’ attention by the collar and pulls them in, I’m ready to learn all about it. A Google a Day is one of those things. It’s a sweet puzzle site that improves searching (and discernment) skills by asking all sorts of questions and encouraging users to get better and better at finding answers.
by Jenny Luca | Mar 16, 2012 | Passion Based Learning, The How of 21st Century Teaching, The Teaching Life, Voices, Web Tools That Deepen Learning
Framing a lesson is important to me. I try and do this in varied ways; sometimes I’ll share a story, sometimes I’ll use a quote related to a theme, sometimes it’s a picture, and quite often it’s a short video. Something inspiring that helps my students understand its relevance to what we are learning, something that will fire those brain neurons, something that frames our lesson. Something from TED.
