History is one of the subjects that I look forward the most to teaching my future students. The article "Immerse your students in history" discusses interesting new ways to engage students of today. In this article, the teacher explored OpenSimulator, an open source, multiuser, multiplatform, 3D application server. The teacher drafted and built a sophisticated virtual world representing the setting of Anne Frank's story with academic activities for students to participate. The teacher was able to get financial support to create this digital world. The team the teacher hired created the streets of Amsterdam where Anne Frank and her family hid for two years. Students can walk around and explore objects by clicking on them. The objects reveal diary notes, literature connections, and recent films about The Diary of Anne Frank. The students can practice math by measuring the rooms of the annex and comparing them to their own rooms. For a final project students created an exhibit in a virtual Holocaust museum. This project succeeded in it's mission to educate students in a new way and it allowed them to explore history interactively then share what they learned through their own creative process by creating a museum.
This project took a great deal of work from the teacher. The creative process, financial aspect, time management, hiring a team to create the virtual world, and implementing it with students. I am very impressed with the effort and determination by this teacher. And it truly shows with the final product. It is an awesome way to get students to learn about history, through a game. There are games that peaked my interest in this manner like BioShock Infinite developed by Irrational Games that is based on the historical events at the turn of the 20th century, such as the 1893 World Columbian Exposition, but also incorporates recent events such as the 2011 Occupy Movement. Also, the game Never Alone, Kisima Innitchuna ("I am not alone") by Upper One Games. This game is based around the Alaskan indigenous folklore and restoring balance. I think OpenSimulator and game engines like Unity are a great way to create interactive games that peak the interests of students while teaching them about subjects and technology.
This article addressed the ISTE Standards for students with Standard 1. The students were able to use their creativity and innovation to create original works as a means of personal expression, by creating their final project their exhibit in a virtual Holocaust museum (Standard 1b). It also addressed Standard 4, the students planned and managed activities to complete a project (Standard 4b). They were able to explore the virtual world of Anne Frank and then create their own exhibit in a Holocaust museum. Lastly, it addressed Standard 6. The students were able to use the OpenSimulator to create their own 3D representation of an exhibit in a Holocaust museum.
Higgin, T. (2015). Three awesome educational games hiding in plain sight. KQED News.
http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/03/30/three-awesome-educational-games-hiding-in-plain-sight/
Wheelock, A. (2012). Immerse your students in history. Learning & Leading with Technology, 39(7), 26-27.
ISTE. (2007). ISTE Standards: students. International Society for Technology in Education.
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Take a class to India, Wow!!
In the article "Yes, You Can Take a Field Trip to India!", a former classroom teacher was preparing a trip to India and thought about what she should bring, and thought, what about a classroom. She reached out to a few schools in the Los Angeles area and a 3rd grade teacher from a charter school was interested. A week before the trip she visited the students at the school and showed them a slide show about India and a world map. There was quite a bit of discussion about India, traveling, time zones, and etc. She then explained how she would blog, they would read her posts, and they would Skype together. She also gave them a book about India and took their photos for her blog. She wrote her first blog post the day before she left which featured photos of her virtual travelers and during her 17-day trip she wrote 13 posts. She did write about some of the technological difficulties she had experienced during her trip: adapters that did not work in India, software difficulties between laptop and iPad, blowing out fuses, etc. Also, with the time differences Skype proved challenging as well. However, when she got back from her trip she was reunited with the classroom and they were very eager to hear all about her trip. The students had plenty of questions and they were very inspired to travel to learn more about other cultures.
I think this is a great idea for teachers who love to travel. Students could follow their teachers during breaks and during the summer. I know several teachers that travel during these times and it could be a great learning experience for students. Students could follow their teacher's blogs and comment. Teachers could create iMovies from videos taken during their trips and post on Youtube for students to watch. Or like this article suggests teachers can pair with individuals traveling during the school year for more of an interactive classroom experience. It does take a deal of organization and planning to schedule Skype and classroom discussions. But, overall the real life experience through virtual applications is a very exciting one for students to share.
As for the ISTE Standards for students, virtual traveling addresses Standard 2. Students develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures (Standard 2c). The students were able to learn about India and India's culture through slides, books, maps, blogposts, and Skype. It also addressed Standard 6. The students understood and used blogs & Skype to learn about India (Standard 6b).
Casolaro, N. (2013). Yes, you can take a field trip to India! Learning & Leading with Technology, 41(1), 30-32.
ISTE. (2007). ISTE Standards: students. International Society for Technology in Education.
I think this is a great idea for teachers who love to travel. Students could follow their teachers during breaks and during the summer. I know several teachers that travel during these times and it could be a great learning experience for students. Students could follow their teacher's blogs and comment. Teachers could create iMovies from videos taken during their trips and post on Youtube for students to watch. Or like this article suggests teachers can pair with individuals traveling during the school year for more of an interactive classroom experience. It does take a deal of organization and planning to schedule Skype and classroom discussions. But, overall the real life experience through virtual applications is a very exciting one for students to share.
As for the ISTE Standards for students, virtual traveling addresses Standard 2. Students develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures (Standard 2c). The students were able to learn about India and India's culture through slides, books, maps, blogposts, and Skype. It also addressed Standard 6. The students understood and used blogs & Skype to learn about India (Standard 6b).
Casolaro, N. (2013). Yes, you can take a field trip to India! Learning & Leading with Technology, 41(1), 30-32.
ISTE. (2007). ISTE Standards: students. International Society for Technology in Education.
Monday, April 6, 2015
My Personal Learning Network
Starting my PLN, for those not familiar, it stands for my personal learning network. This contains valuable resources for my educational journey. This includes my use of feedly, twitter, and classroom 2.0. In the past, I had used google reader to follow the news, local news, favorite blogs, etc. However, I had not followed anything linked to education besides Ted talks. I had no account or experience with twitter and I was quite apprehensive to start using twitter. I had only seen people use twitter for gossip, beachbody fitness, and other silliness that I did not relate to. However, after starting my account I am shocked to see how many valuable resources are available for education. I recently joined Classroom 2.0 and was accepted as a member. As an educator today, I see how having a PLN is necessary for the education profession because there is a constant stream of information available for curricula and forums for discussion.
As I had mentioned before, the use of RSS feeds was not new to me. Google reader was a great source for me to have my news and blogs located in one place to scan through and read the articles that peaked an interest for me. Feedly, is another great RSS feed to do the same. I have noticed that it is harder to link blogs to feedly than it was with google reader and there are quite a few blogs that do not link to feedly. I also found this problem to exist with podcasts as well. For example, I love listening to KCRW podcasts "To the Point" and "Eclectic24" and I was unable to link those to feedly. However, there were some great links that could be added like the blog "Ask a Tech Teacher" and my favorite tech websites Gizmodo & Wired. For example, the Ask a Tech Teacher blog posted today "3 Apps That Encourage Students To Read". It lists a Starfall app as one of them, which is awesome. I did not realize Starfall had an app. I had used Starfall.com on my laptop for my little one before kindergarten. She was able to familiarize herself to letters sounds, and beginning stages of reading. It is great to have more accessible tools for student learning. At this moment, I am following 10 websites in feedly but I will continue to search for more valuable information to add to my RSS feed.
Twitter, I never thought I would use it and now I don't think I could do without it. I had no idea there were so many valuable resources for education on twitter. It is unreal! I am already following 60 people! I added the people recommended from the book, Personal Learning Network: Using the Power of Connections to Transform Education, Richardson and Mancabelli (2011). I also combed through the educators available on http://twitter4teachers.pbworks.com/. There were a lot of people on this list that did not share any tweets or were not valid twitter accounts or no longer tweeted. So, I added only the people that had at least 100 tweets and made some in the last 6 months. It was great to see educators with thousands of tweets. And there were so many articles and conversations that sparked my interest immediately. For example, @WeAreTeachers the article "Proving the Myth of Mulitasking with a Simple Experiment" for all the teens with an incoming text, snapchat alert, instagram alert, music blaring, etc. I found this article to be relevant for the modern teen, and the experiment outlined in the article was a great way to show students how all of their multitasking is actually distraction from the learning process. I have not tweeted yet. I plan on sharing my educational journey and information I find valuable to the educational community. To say I am impressed with Twitter is an understatement, I am shocked how it is easier to use than feedly and gives me access to a network of educators that I did not realize was possible.
Which leads me to Classroom 2.0, I have been accepted as one of their members. Classroom 2.0 is a community for educators to collaborate through forums, videos, and articles. I explored Classroom 2.0 extensively and I found that it was a little outdated. I found that many discussion and blog posts were from 2011 and earlier. I also saw quite a few posts from educators asking for help on a matter with no response, which is discouraging because I would think more educators would respond with a helpful tip or link. However, I did find some valuable discussions about Google Drive, Smartboards, and Collaborative Concept Mapping. I see Classroom 2.0 being a valuable source from the community of educators if there is more participation and posts.
Overall, I am excited with my PLN. I am already checking my sources daily and gaining valuable insight. I see my PLN only continuing to grow with educational sources.
Richardson and Mancabelli. (2011). Personal Learning Network: Using the Power of Connections to Transform Education.
As I had mentioned before, the use of RSS feeds was not new to me. Google reader was a great source for me to have my news and blogs located in one place to scan through and read the articles that peaked an interest for me. Feedly, is another great RSS feed to do the same. I have noticed that it is harder to link blogs to feedly than it was with google reader and there are quite a few blogs that do not link to feedly. I also found this problem to exist with podcasts as well. For example, I love listening to KCRW podcasts "To the Point" and "Eclectic24" and I was unable to link those to feedly. However, there were some great links that could be added like the blog "Ask a Tech Teacher" and my favorite tech websites Gizmodo & Wired. For example, the Ask a Tech Teacher blog posted today "3 Apps That Encourage Students To Read". It lists a Starfall app as one of them, which is awesome. I did not realize Starfall had an app. I had used Starfall.com on my laptop for my little one before kindergarten. She was able to familiarize herself to letters sounds, and beginning stages of reading. It is great to have more accessible tools for student learning. At this moment, I am following 10 websites in feedly but I will continue to search for more valuable information to add to my RSS feed.
Twitter, I never thought I would use it and now I don't think I could do without it. I had no idea there were so many valuable resources for education on twitter. It is unreal! I am already following 60 people! I added the people recommended from the book, Personal Learning Network: Using the Power of Connections to Transform Education, Richardson and Mancabelli (2011). I also combed through the educators available on http://twitter4teachers.pbworks.com/. There were a lot of people on this list that did not share any tweets or were not valid twitter accounts or no longer tweeted. So, I added only the people that had at least 100 tweets and made some in the last 6 months. It was great to see educators with thousands of tweets. And there were so many articles and conversations that sparked my interest immediately. For example, @WeAreTeachers the article "Proving the Myth of Mulitasking with a Simple Experiment" for all the teens with an incoming text, snapchat alert, instagram alert, music blaring, etc. I found this article to be relevant for the modern teen, and the experiment outlined in the article was a great way to show students how all of their multitasking is actually distraction from the learning process. I have not tweeted yet. I plan on sharing my educational journey and information I find valuable to the educational community. To say I am impressed with Twitter is an understatement, I am shocked how it is easier to use than feedly and gives me access to a network of educators that I did not realize was possible.
Which leads me to Classroom 2.0, I have been accepted as one of their members. Classroom 2.0 is a community for educators to collaborate through forums, videos, and articles. I explored Classroom 2.0 extensively and I found that it was a little outdated. I found that many discussion and blog posts were from 2011 and earlier. I also saw quite a few posts from educators asking for help on a matter with no response, which is discouraging because I would think more educators would respond with a helpful tip or link. However, I did find some valuable discussions about Google Drive, Smartboards, and Collaborative Concept Mapping. I see Classroom 2.0 being a valuable source from the community of educators if there is more participation and posts.
Overall, I am excited with my PLN. I am already checking my sources daily and gaining valuable insight. I see my PLN only continuing to grow with educational sources.
Richardson and Mancabelli. (2011). Personal Learning Network: Using the Power of Connections to Transform Education.
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