Math Manipulative Stations: Collaboration and Problem Solving with Fractions

Give them collaborative "play time"

Want to increase student engagement and cultivate a culture of collaborative learning in your INTERMEDIATE  classroom? Math stations are one way to differentiate the process and alter the learning environment. By providing your students with a different model for learning - through the use of manipulatives and open questions - you will allow them to explore, collaborate and take risks in their learning. Here’s what you can do:

• Divide your class into groups of 4-5 students. “Tiered” Groups that include students who are proficient, struggle and anywhere in between, are a great way to scaffold the learning for students of all abilities. This is also a great way to provide leadership opportunities for some of your stronger math students.
  
  
• Fractions are a great starting point for your students to explore math stations and improve their conceptual understanding of the big ideas – they lend themselves very well to the use of many different manipulatives.
• Create 4-5 math stations that each have a different manipulative (e.g., pattern blocks, tangrams, fraction circles, relational rods).

*TECHNOLOGY CONNECTION* If you have access to some computers, try creating a math station that uses online math games as the activity. Just do an online search for “fraction games” and choose 3-4 that have a range of difficulty levels. This is also a great way to support your struggling students with a “break” from conventional math questions.

• Create a schedule that outlines when each student group will be at each station. Use 15-20 minutes as a guide for time. These stations could represent a week’s worth of math to cycle all groups through 4-5 stations.
• When students arrive at their assigned station to begin, provide 5 minutes (timed) as a chance to build and “play” with the manipulates there. Challenge your students to build their most creative structure as a group collaboration. Tell them you will photograph and display the most interesting ones.
• Each group should have activities to be completed using the manipulatives provided. Check out the MATHGAINS website for terrific open questions with a variety of manipulatives to build confidence and risk-taking. Marian Small’s website and books are another great resource for these types of questions.
• Emphasize the importance of students talking about the questions, planning how to solve them and supporting each other when they get stuck.
• Each math station lesson should end with a 15 minute consolidation time. Invite a student from each group to the front to explain the process of HOW their group solved one of the questions from their math station.

*TECHNOLOGY CONNECTION*

A document camera is a great way to visually show the class the question and work done to solve a problem. It also provides the student who is communicating their learning with a prompt to structure their sharing.

Have you used math stations before in your intermediate classroom? How did it go? What surprised you about the student learning?

The Very Best Thing About iPads (and other devices)

I love everything about my iPad. It possesses a powerful processor and eye-popping screen, has more innovative apps than I will ever be able to use, and it fits easily into my carry-on luggage in its gorgeous purple leather case. What’s not to love?

Because I love my iPad, it is easy for me to understand the enthusiasm of teachers who are keen to get their hands on a class set of iPads, ipods, laptops, or netbooks. I get it when people talk about how engaged they think their students will be, and how many new and authentic activities they can create when students have fingertip access to apps and to the Internet. Nevertheless I must confess to having felt downright curmudgeonly in the last few months as I listened to people extolling the virtues of one app or another. I worried about the certainty I was hearing that any given app or device had the power to ensure both engagement and achievement.  It seemed to me that the focus on learning had been lost, that the ‘gee whiz’ factor had taken over. It was all I could do not to sigh aloud, wag my finger, and talk about the good old days when we knew what really mattered in education and pursued our desired goals with grit and determination. (I’m not sure those days ever existed but in the novels I read, curmudgeons always make extensive reference to halcyon days of long ago.)

A teacher in Victoria, British Columbia saved me from a certain future of scowling and finger wagging. Explaining the benefits of her class’s iPad project, Jane said, “The learning just exploded. I learned from the kids and the kids learned from each other.”

Repositioning teachers from the stance of expert to that of co-learner is the very best thing about iPads and other devices. Our students experience sustained intellectual engagement and achievement not because of an app or a device, however wonderful it might be. Rather student engagement and achievement is, at least in part, the result of adults engaging intellectually with essential concepts and skills, acknowledging that we don’t have all of the answers, and inviting students to join us in building new knowledge. Technology isn’t the only way we can become co-learners in the classroom but because it is an area of genuine new learning for many of us, it is a good way.

This guest post is by Karen Hume, author of Tuned Out: Engaging the 21st Century Learner, Start Where They Are: Differentiating for Success with the Young Adolescent, and many other books. Check out Karen’s blogs at www.karenhume.ca 

Using Technology in the Classroom: Blabberize

One of the greatest assets that a web 2.0 tool can have with respect to teaching practice is "ease of use." Many teachers are comfortable with their technological skill level and will even venture into the realm of the unknown from time-to-time; but in order for many teachers to dive in and plan for its use in their classroom - it has to seem worth it and 'hassle free."

In these days of time-saving, cutting-edge and tech-savvy classroom lessons, one program holds a great deal of potential as a teaching tool for both elementary and secondary teachers - blabberize.

Blabberize.com is a web 2.0 tool that can be used with no prior experience and put to practical use in little time. The idea behind this website is to upload a photo or picture, and then record voice (using a microphone). The final product is a photo (you have chosen) that has a moving mouth (which you manipulate) and saying the words that you record.

As a program that students as young as primary can play a large part in using, blabberize can be an ideal way to use a technological tool for "writing in role" and "empathy" lesson activities. Have students research a particular culture or citizen of a country and then write in role how their life compares to ours. When students are finished, they can show the class their chosen person (with a photograph) and listen to them explain their way of life and daily activities.

This tool is also a terrific way of utilizing peer helpers and 'buddies' in your school. Have junior and intermediate students pair up with a primary student or pair of students. The older child can work the technology aspects to the program, while the primary student can focus on the writing in role and speaking presentation. It is a great collaboration opportunity and will help your peer mentors demonstrate leadership skills, initiative, and possibly even, conflict resolution (depending on the group dynamic).

Here is a brief list of the strands of Social Studies that could lend themselves to blabberize:

Grade 1 - The Local Community

Grade 2 - Communities Around the World

Grade 3 - Urban and Rural Communities

Grade 4 - Medieval Times

Grade 5 - Ancient Civilizations

Grade 6 - First Nations and European Explorers

Grade 7 - New France/British North America

Grade 8 - Confederation/Settlement of the West

*For each of these units;

1. A character could be researched or taught about in class

2. Students write or speak about what life is like for them (and how it relates to life today)

3. They upload a photo of the character and create the shape of the 'moving mouth.'

4. Students get to listen to a "guest speaker" in class - a character from their Social Studies unit that explains to them information about their lives.

***My one word of caution is to preface any lesson that you undertake with an explicit message about stereotypes and generalizing. Students should write and record "in role," but they must take caution not to use overt stereotypes or poke fun at a particular cultural group/way of life.

You could have a great deal of fun with accents and dialects (as components of you Oral Language program) and even incorporate Shakespeare through soliloquys that would otherwise not make it from the student's mouth to the "stage" by using blabberize.

Give blabberize a try! I would love to hear about how it goes with your class and even have you post a reply that shares YOUR IDEAS about how to use blabberize in teaching.

Blogging with Students: Raising Reluctant Writers

In a previous post, I wrote about how to setup your classroom blog page (as a teacher) as a tool for communication with parents and to relate school events to home. Another exciting way of incorporating the blog idea in your practice is to give students blog pages to write on.

Addressing gender gaps in achievement (and improving literacy skills in boys) remain hot topics in education: blogging with your class is a terrific way to make strides in letting the writing flow. For those students who are hesitant to put their ideas down on paper, using a web 2.0 tool like blogger.com can provide an alternative method of producing wonderful writing.

Once you have a class blog page setup, it is an easy process to add student blog pages to your account. This post will again refer to http://blogger.com. Follow the steps below to make this endeavor a reality:

Adding Student Blogs to Your Class Blog Page

1. In the "Design" tab, click on the "add gadget" link where you want your student blog names to appear.

2. Decide what you want to assign as a title (e.g. Our student blogs) and type in the URL address for each student blog that you want to add (e.g. johnnystudent.blogspot.com).

3. Click "save" and your new gadget is all set and ready to view.

*If you need to setup student blogs for your class, follow these steps to begin the process by providing students a blog (especially for elementary school students) who might not already have one. To do this, you will need an email address for each student who is going to have a blog page created.

In some school boards, each student is given an email account from their school board - this would be an ideal solution. If not, you would need to ask students for an email address if they already have one OR possibly even gain parent consent to create an email account for them (or have them use one from home). The email address is solely used to setup the blog page initially and would only be used to verify the google account or contact the student with blog-related alerts, if needed.

Creating Student Blog Pages

1. Go to blogger.com

2. It will ask you for a google account OR ask you to create a new one.

3. Enter in the required information and use the student's school email or personal one (if it applies).

4. When assigning a blog address, choose a template to follow (e.g. http://myschool.johnny.blogspot.com) and then simply change the student's name for consistencies sake.

5. Choose a starting background template and give it a temporary name (e.g. Johnny's Blog). The student can change these things once they get going.

6. Your student blog page is created and ready for them to personalize!

How to Use Student Blog Pages

One of the greatest first-steps in using blogging is to release the reigns and allow students a chance to "make it their own." Don't be afraid to give the students 'free-writing' tasks, as well as suggested topics and sentence starters (e.g. The scariest thing that ever happened to me is...). Once students have bought in to this kind of writing forum - by using their own creative devices - they will be more willing to invest their energy into topics that you assign as well.

On my class blog page, I have added the gadget "Pages" where I have created a page for "Blog Assignments" and "Glog Assignments." These pages are where I create a number list of topics assigned (e.g. Free Choice, "My favourite band") and the dates they were assigned on. Students can access my "Blog Assignments" page in order to check their progress with past blog work and find new blog assignments as they are assigned. This is a great way for students (and parents) to keep up-to-date with writing work both at school and at home.

Why Blogger Matters to Kids

Even the most reluctant writer wants to be successful. For many students, writing stories or written responses in notebooks is simply painful and uninteresting. Blogging is a way to bridge the age gap between teacher and student using web 2.0 technology. In the same way that you hear that kids don't email - they text. Many students don't write - they type. Give them a forum for their ideas with the novelty of technology, gadgets, feedback from classmates (or even a global audience), and they will dive in and tread in the waters of literary excitement.

As teachers, we need to incorporate new ways to address traditional learning. Writing matters. But not the writing on the ruled paper with holes to the left; rather, the writing that comes from the meaning and purpose of the writer whether on a blog or in a text message. Writing is communication and our global world (and its technology) have been re-drawing and re-defining this on a revolutionary scale for some time now. It is on our shoulders to find ways to catch up and keep the learning both relevant and preparatory - for life...not just the course syllabus.

Good luck with your student's blogging journey. This could be the thing that hooks them into being lifelong learners and writers - which is what we are, in fact, here to accomplish.

What Students Need Today

If you were a student in today's classroom - what would you want?

Here are the five things that eSchool News Readers identified as most important from the students in their classes...

5. Interactive Technology

4. Teacher Mentors

3. Innovation

2. Choice

1. Real World Application and Relevancy

It's actually a fairly sound list. It covers the fact that students don't just want technology in the building and being used by their teachers - they want 'interactive technology' that guarantees and warrants their input and participation. Students are constantly bombarded by media coverage and sit as a passive audience member much of the time. School should be the place where they are given the chance to develop their critical thinking skills, technological prowess and their capacity to be innovators and digital 'artists.'

Students continue to recognize the centrality and critical role that a caring teacher plays. Teachers that act as a mentor to students guide them in decision-making and explain both choice and consequence. Those of us who are invested in the lives of these children - not just their grades and curriculum progress - we are the very thing needed by these impressionable and vulnerable young global citizens.

Classrooms hold so much potential for choice and real-world application. Think about it. Here is a room full of students who have very little real world experience, and yet, so much opportunity for creativity and innovation. Far from shackled by the constraints of an adult life - these kids must be given the latitude to find their strengths and needs in a safe place where learning is expected. They should be exposed to the choices and environments that breed brilliance and consolidate caring.

Our role, as teachers, is to prepare students for their lives by giving them the skills to succeed independently as responsible and caring global citizens. How could this happen if all we see is reporting dates and unit tests? Schools are incredible places where life has stood back and waited until a time when students are thrust upon it and all its challenges. We, teachers, are charged with the duty (in concert with parents) to build a child that will succeed. Our most important failure is only in failing to recognize this.

Give them the surveys. Listen to their concerns. Answer them honestly. Be that mentor.

Using Technology in the Classroom: Online Animations

Online animation programs allow the user to instantly create an entertaining and humorous cartoon. Gone are the days when successful animators are the only people able to enjoy the process of putting voice to cartoon creations and experience a fantastical world that inspires.

Goanimate4schools.com can put the creativity back into your pedagogy.

Whether entertaining or educating, cartoons are a powerful vehicle to carry educational content and teach in a 21^st century manner. Students will love your creative new approach to teaching them using cartoon characters, as their interests and values are adhered to using web 2.0 tools.

To get started, teachers can create an account for their school, after which they can create logins for students to access this school account. As animations are being created, students have the option of saving a draft or publishing a finished product.

This is a terrific way to incorporate aspects of media literacy, language expectations, content subjects (history, science, etc.) and even character education. Having problems addressing bullying and peer problems in your class? Why not teach the lessons students need to learn using cartoon characters and humor; rather than lectures and detentions.

GoAnimate4Schools allows students to be the creators of virtual worlds where they choose characters, write dialogue, decide on movements and gestures to match words and focus on a variety of settings through which the plot or action occurs.

This application is very user-friendly and is a much more appropriate option (compared to goanimate.com) for elementary school students. GoAnimate4Schools features built-in text to speech that allows you to type words that can be instantly read out loud. A variety of voice options allow you to personalize and alter the sound to fit your needs.

In as little as 30 minutes, students can create (from start to finish) an animation presentation worthy of display to your class and their family. Web 2.0 tools such as GoAnimate4Schools are paving the way for teachers to infuse technology into classroom practice with very little technology knowledge themselves. Let students be the teachers and show you how to animate. It builds literacy skills, confidence and engagement into the school day.

Hook, Pressure and Support: How to Help Teachers

The term "pressure and support" is seen as a leadership strategy and mantra for improving teaching practice and developing educational capacity. By applying pressure to teachers in a way that promotes change or development, there is a greater chance that this will take place. The support part of the process is to ensure that teachers feel like they are being helped on their pathway to 'betterment' and not simply thrown in the deep end to fend for themselves. I think, though, the "hook" is critical in beginning this process.

If teachers feel the pressure to change and develop, regardless of how much support they receive, they are experiencing the push from an external place (whether it be an administrator, coach, superintendent, board policy). Effective leaders need to find a way to 'hook' them into desiring the change. Teachers need to feel like they are driving the actions that will make them a more informed and effective educational influence.

Often, a carefully-crafted model or exemplar of something that is desirous and whose potential to transform pedagogy is evident is a good place to begin. It is typically when we experience something that we can envision ourselves performing it too. This is a stark contrast to an approach that begins with a memo and leads to expected participation.

If you want teachers to try new things - show them how great those new things can be. Don't expect them to take risks - if you, yourself, are unwilling to do so. Some of the greatest movements, indeed, begin with a simple idea, but it is through purposeful and powerful steps that these things drive action and inspire longevity.

We all want to be successful. If your comfort zone is exactly where you left it, eventually you will watch others find destinations that you have not dared to visit yourself. The process can be scary. The commitment can initially be daunting. The payoff, though, will be clear. Your students and colleagues will watch a transformation take place that breathes new life in your words and casts bold shadows on your movements. Your teaching will be born anew.

Whether it be incorporating more technology in your practice or co-teaching with a grade partner - change can be a wonderful thing to those who dare to try. Without it, we all become footnotes to our original dreams of educating others.

Using Technology in the Classroom: Creating Glogs

"Glog" is a term that refers to "graphic blogs." In other words, these are a visually-based account of something. Think of a poster only with animations, sound, video, pictures AND text. "Glogster" is a free program that offers users the chance to visually display information on any particular topic of their choice.

In a classroom, glogs can be an effective way to synthesize or summarize information researched or even just to make fun posters on personally relevant topics. Glogster provides a rubric that can be used to evaluate a glog that I have altered to fit more with how I wanted to "mark" glogs made by my students. There is also a checklist found here as a "quick and easy" method of surveying how well a student has met certain basic requirements in completing a glog.

There are countless examples of finished glogs contained on the edu.glogster.com website and searchable on the internet. If you are looking for a way to introduce new technologies into your classroom practice, glogs can be an ideal (and powerful) first step on that journey. Give your students the opportunity to learn computer skills and exercise their creative powers using a safe and supported web 2.0 application.

Here is the first glog poster I have created for "Ignite. Incite. Inspire." (this blog).

This slideshow shows you step-by-step instructions on how to use the Glogster program.

Glog On!

View more presentations from Jan McGee

Cyberbullying - Putting a Face to the Anonymous

"Research reveals that children consider the death of someone close to be the only experience worse than being bullied. It is a deeply emotional experience for children of all ages." (From: Protect Your Child on the Internet by John Lenardon).

This is a powerful statement with profound implications. Bullying is not a new problem, but it is a problem that has taken on a different M.O. This has led to traditional approaches to educating students about the dangers and strategies we can use to combat bullying to be out-dated and inefficient.

The rise and prevalence of cyber bullying has lead to an outpouring of public discussion, school training and countless student presentations. We, as educators, have identified cyberbullying as a growing concern in our schools, but we need to do more to target the underlying causes and methods that are leading to its proliferation. Here are some links to my school board's information and tips concerning cyberbullying and internet safety for parents.

One of the ways to minimize (or even eradicate) the growing dangers online is to teach digital citizenship at its core principles as part of our instructional program. Through media, language, computers, health or other subjects, appropriate online actions and "netiquette" should be taught in a way that explicitly deals with the actions and consequences of online choices. Currently, we are improving on our ability to identify online incidents and deal with them in a more informed and efficient manner. But we need to begin from the grassroots level - from the ground up - and instead begin laying the foundation for positive and well-intentioned online actions in our earliest grades. Involving parents and the community of these tips and strategies help to instill in them the impetus to drive these digital citizenship core values community-wide - not just school or class-wide.

A article/video entitled, "Can anything be done to stop cyberbullying?" is found on CBC's "The National" webpage. It contains some tips and links to other websites that contain information you can use to help prevent internet harassment from happening to you.

At any rate, the problem of cyberbullying has been identified. Students (and parents) are being taught how to deal with it or prevent it within their household. It is time to take a more proactive approach towards the prevention of cyberbullying by educating our students on their roles and responsibilities, rather than a reactive approach to merely deals with specific incidents. Digital citizenship is paramount to incorporating 21st century technologies into our teaching practice. It cannot be done without front-loading the moral responsibilities of the students to act appropriately.

Global Teacher Networking

There are so many opportunities out there to connect with fellow educators online and collaborate all across the world. As a teacher, we are often surrounded by colleagues that are terrific team members and committed to supporting each other. But sometimes the answers we seek and the ideas we need don't come from within our school walls. Online social networking sites offer teachers a chance to make connections with like-minded professionals, in order to further teaching practice and share resources.

There are many platforms out there to link with other teachers, it is simply a matter of choosing one (or several) and investing the time to learn about that site's features and possibilities. I am currently a member of LinkedIn, Curriculum 21, Facebook, and Twitter as an educator and I have contacts and an online profile that allows other educators to connect with me.

For the online writing component that I am currently undertaking, there are countless ways to network with people and build your "brand." Improving your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) can be done with any number of strategies and tips including; keyword placement, subscribing blog directories, writing guest blogs and comments to the posts of others, and online discussion forums. As you can see from the badges down the sides of this blog site, I belong to a number of blog directories that have catalogued "Ignite. Incite. Inspire." as a blog that users can stumble across or have it suggested to them as 'like' another blog.

I am adding this "blogging" paragraph to this post, as I see huge potential in blogging with our students as class writing. Providing online feedback and increasing global readership from student-to-student is one of the current ways that we can hook reluctant writers and engage our classes in meaningful discussions with peers from around the globe. As soon as school districts are able to hammer down current, reflective and sound online privacy and digital citizenship policies, this forum for writing will explode on the scene as the next lined paper notes.

Overall, teachers are busy and time is always in demand. In order to facilitate discussions with global colleagues and seek out advice about pedagogy and teaching strategies, it will take time, and therefore, commitment. However, so far I have been able to connect with curriculum developers, private educational businesses, psychologists, former principals and superintendants, radio personalities, authors and of course, current teachers. This online networking experience has (and will continue to) allow me to seek out "cutting-edge" ideas and consider revolutionary practices that will help to further my own teaching or help to lead others in changing how we reach students and find that "carrot" that will drive their learning (a reference to one of my first blog posts "The Carrot."

Should Mobile Devices be Allowed in Class?

One of the findings from the survey I referred to yesterday (Speak Up 2010 Survey - "The 3 New E's of Education" - U.S.) states that:


53 percent of middle and high school students (United States) reported that the inability to use cell phones, smart phones or MP3 players was the largest obstacle when using technology in school.


There is certainly a disconnect between what many teachers/administrators think and conversely what many students/parents think on the issue of using technology in our schools and classrooms. Some of the issues that pose a risk in allowing these devices (e.g. smart phones, mp3 players, ipads) in the classroom center on liability, privacy, discipline policies and equity.


In the minds of many administrators and teachers, students will become more distracted, disruptive and difficult, if mobile devices are allowed to enter our teaching space. Phones that are cameras will take photos of students who haven't given their consent (or parent consent). Devices that have wireless internet will constantly check Facebook and use Twitter. MP3 devices will play inappropriate and offensive songs that have no place within school walls. There are many concerns that have implications both on teaching and running a school.


But what if we used all of these devices in a way that promotes and drives learning? What if students looked forward to our lessons as a time to collaborate wirelessly? What if our classes employed instant messaging to hold "silent" debates or share ideas? What if we had the students design their ideal learning path by proposing how their preferred wireless devices and online applications could be used to achieve curriculum goals and target key learning expectations? If they can dream it, we just might let them try it.


Teaching is one of the most versatile and flexible professions out there. We need to re-examine it and make the necessary changes. Aligning these changes with current technologies and student engagement strategies will serve to bring our educational model up to speed. In fact, we stand to lose nothing as teachers, if we take the risk and try something new. We will be modelling risk-taking by showing our vulnerability and commitment to our jobs.


For those of you that have already adopted these technological changes into your practice - your colleagues need your support and expertise. They might be weathering the storm at the moment, but don't allow them to fall behind and become overwhelmed when the system is re-written.

The Obstacles to Technology in our Schools

An article entitled, "What do Kids say is the Biggest Obstacle to Technology at School?" is the basis of my post today. Here is the comment I posted as a response to some of the ideas contained within it.

There has never been a more critical time in our educational institutions to discard what isn't working and take dramatic action in the days that lay ahead for education. Students are customers to our programming. If they don't enjoy what we offer; they will focus their attention on something else and avoid interacting with the material. We need to build a more engaged and loyal client base. Give them what they want. As professionals we should have all the tools to make it work somehow (both in timing and curriculum obligations).

Until we are willing to face the unknown and allow students the much needed access to setting their own learning goals (with teachers as facilitators - not experts), we are fighting a losing battle for their attention, ambition and engagement. Today's school programming needs to be the next Twitter. It needs to battle Facebook. It has to go head-to-head with online games and instant messaging. In short, we shouldn't just be including our schools on these social networking sites for publicity purposes - we should be developing the next big thing that will detract student efforts away from these things and direct them towards our own learning experiments and activities.

Think of the number of people within education in North America alone that have incredible ideas and technical strength. Surely we can mount an effort to revolutionize the system in a cohesive and comprehensive manner. Let's think big. Instead of fighting over the scraps of our student's attention after their preferred activities have finished for the day, let's compete head-on with the way they want to spend their day and somehow make it learning. Until we can do this, we are going to lose this battle.


Studies like the one that has fueled this article are desperately needed. In a time when data is everything to the education sector - we need to start using it to convince the right people of what is needed in our schools. Please post any comments that you have about the different views of technology between teacher and student occuring right now.

Team Teaching with YouTube

We've often heard the saying, "Everything I need to know, I learned in Kindergarten." It's supposed to be a humorous view of how the education system teaches the fundamentals early on and then fills the remainder of a student's time with information that is not as important. I'd like to offer my own current one: "Everything I need to know, I learned on YouTube." Students today are using this video archive to teach them skills and information that they search and seek out.

We don't need to be the controllers of the content. Teachers today stand to gain nothing of themselves or their students by keeping the knowledge guarded or secured. We need to educate students about how to use the knowledge. They can already find any answer they want by searching it online. They don't need a teacher (for instance) to inform them about historical dates and details. They need a curriculum expert to enlighten them about how those historical events are playing out right now in our world.

Students need direction and critical thinking skills about the kinds of things they seen online and find posted on YouTube. They can access it at almost any age; and yet, have not been taught how to process most of it into a context or framework that can build their own knowledge or understanding. YouTube and Google hold the knowledge. Teachers, now, are standing outside looking in through the windows and wondering what lessons their students are learning in today's online classrooms. They attend their choice of online classes at any given moment. They search and it appears instantly. They read what they want and move on when they feel like it.

When you teach, ask yourself, "how does this information prepare my students for the real world and what matters to them?" If you struggle with this question, how would you use the information if you weren't a teacher and therefore didn't need to know it to teach it? Do you remember when you learned the things you know or do you perhaps even learn some of it only because you need to teach it to your class? Rethink what you do and reap the benefits of either legitimizing your practice or starting to drive the change to improve your practice.

Web 2.0 and You

This "GoAnimate" animation has been created to explain what Web 2.0 is. There are many programs being used by students that are interactive and user-based; rather than content-based. With these tools and applications, though, comes responsibility. It should be the role of the parents and schools to educate students on how to use these Web 2.0 tools, in order to facilitate digital citizenship values in our youth. Digital citizenship is the next great frontier of curricular development needed to further our students in the coming years.

These kinds of technologies have exploded into our lives - so fast that there has not been the framework and support system put in place in our education system to properly equip students for their 'online' lives. Teachers find themselves caught in the middle between traditional methods of teaching that appear to be relatively safe and known, and web-based methods of teaching that are still somewhat unchartered due to their constant development and innovation.

Choosing to stay 'ahead of the curve' when it comes to implementing technology into your classroom practice, also means that you will need to show the professional commitment and initiative to map out these rich areas of 21st century learning in order to be successful. There are many opportunities for personal and professional growth in this learning realm, should you jump on board and began your ride. The key is the confidence and resilience you will need to experiment with your methods, evaluate your pedagogy, and forge a new teaching identity to your students.

Begin Your Web 2.0 Journey

A common theme that runs through most educational discussions on technology seems to be web 2.0 tools. These are applications that allow a teacher to deliver content, and a student to receive it, by designing it online. Things like glogs, blogs, wikis, prezis all offer a new way of reaching students and reshaping the learning process. The problem with these programs is not a new one in the education sector - time.

It takes time to navigate new technologies. Time to become comfortable with them. Time to purposely plan for their use and its impact on classroom learning. Time is always at a premium.

Training does allow for the opportunity to be exposed to these web 2.0 tools, but the majority of training often comes as an after-hours, during breaks, or informally delivered chance with a colleague. Steps in a new direction can be trail-blazing for your classroom practice; but they still need a path - and this path requires a guide. Whether your guide is self-guided learning on the internet at home or networking with a colleague during lunch; your choice of guide can make or break whether you choose to take these new tools and actually use them.

Here is a starting point for those who want to be exposed to some of the possibilities out there. This website offers a list of different kinds of web 2.0 tools and explains their purpose and use. It is not exhaustive and should be merely a starting point. If you truly want to begin your journey of web 2.0 technologies, choose ONE thing and implement it. Let it be messy. Show the students how it looks to figure things out...in front of them. You will be modelling resilience, problem-solving and patience. These are some of the most important skills a student can learn. It serves no benefit to always be perfect and properly execute a lesson as a teacher. Students need to see a mentor struggle to envision what strategies will lead to success.

Don't get overwhelmed if you're new to this. It is a process and simply reading this blog post has landed you somewhere on the web 2.0 path. Now choose your next step if the time is right for change.

Web-Constructors of Knowledge

During a meeting with a couple of teachers today, I was asked by a colleague whether I felt that new web-based technologies (i.e. glogster, blogging, wikis, prezis) were being implemented in classrooms today because they are ideal for how our students learn or was it for us to 'hook' them into learning.

I told him that I felt that these programs are non-linear and so is student thinking and learning preferences today. Students today are interacting with data and online applications in a constant manner. They move and click, manipulate, comment, and tweet. When all else fails, if students encounter something that does not excite them or allow them to make it 'their own' - they do just that.....make one of their own. Our students are online collaborators. They are webpage authors and facebook administrators. They have been raised in an online environment that is built on collaboration and integration of ideas (between web and self).

Our students are in control of what they do online when they spent their time that way - and they are increasingly choosing to do this. They want author rights to things. They do not enjoy the same artistic license and opportunity in many of our lessons. They are largely passive and static unless personally engaged and challenged to be a creator of something. Use these web-based technologies to both hook and adhere to their preferred learning style, that is, one that is egocentric and grounded in their ability to control and manipulate the information. We need to teach them the digital citizenship skills required to keep these tools and goals in line with educational priorities; but it is they who will need to invest in the adoption of vital online rules and expectations.

I think we are headed in the right place with new programs and learning opportunities that embrace the web and its many applications. The nature of schooling today is in flux. There is a great battle between traditional and non-traditional ways of teaching and those teachers and principals that have not opened themselves to the expanding possibilities of technology are finding themselves on the outside looking in. They might want to be a part of this educational revolution, but feel that they lack the fundamental skills and knowledge needed to be an active participant. Educators need to collaborate on these issues in appropriate and engaging ways (just like students!). When our classrooms become places that integrate self and learning - it will be lasting and dynamic. It's the reason we are shifting to differentiated instruction techniques and it should be reason to incorporate more web-based programs and new online learning tools.

Using Technology in the Classroom: Bitstrips Website for Teachers

Here is my latest published article on incorporating technology into your classroom practice. I will be posting a series of articles on technology resources that are useful to teachers in the next while. I have also added a new page for these articles found at the top of my main blog page. Let me know what you think of the website or share an idea that you have used with Bitstrips already.

Video Games and Learning

As humans, we fear the unfamiliar. As teachers, we fear what is unfamiliar to us and knowledgeable to the students. Video games fall into that category for many teachers. Students today are playing more video games than ever before. They are spending hours each day in on-line gaming communities and fantastical environments and peaking in personal interest and motivation - with no classroom in sight. First-person shooter ("war-type") games are highly successful in their marketing and excitement to many kids - but flawed in their moral message and 'harm' when de-sensitizing us to violence. If school could become an online format of social networking sites and high-interest video games - students would never leave. The reality is that many video games can be a positive experience for a child as a reward, motivator, social experience or simply as fun. If we can tap into their love and dedication to these game series as teaching tools, it can lead to amazing results.

When assigning your next project, try a webpage creation assignment - let the focus be that favourite video game. Even if "Halo" or World of Warcraft" is not your comfort zone - it is the student's world. Not only will they be motivated and successful in delivering the content - they will appreciate your attempt to be a part of their own personal environment. Sure there are inappropriate websites and plot lines and character photos that could emerge, but as teachers we are no longer responsible for keeping the knowledge under lock-and-key for students to have peeks at the next great nugget of knowledge when they time is right. They will access these sites on their own time anyway. In fact, they will find ways to do it at school through proxy sites and internet back doors as a challenge, if they sense that it will cause an uproar. We need to relinquish our perceived control.

Our historical role in the classroom today has been replaced by "Wikipedia." They can search faster online for an answer to any question they have and have instant gratification. We are now responsible for building digital citizenship and critical thinking skills about: WHAT they research? WHO is providing their search results? HOW reputable is the source? We need to take a step back and let their technological world run our classroom instruction. Each day should present a "teachable" moment when you observe what your students do out of habit and comfort. These are the opportunities to learn from them and provide the guidance and support needed to further their own sense of accomplishment and drive for knowledge. The problem is that our sense of order and control is cultivated by this illusion that rules and careful curriculum planning do keep the peace for us. So we find ourselves waiting to enter into their world. The deep, dark abyss that is the student mind - unfamiliar, and therefore, scary.

two worlds collide

All we want is to be recognized and appreciated. Whether it is for love or legacy, humans at their very nature have to matter in order to function. Why do you get up in the morning? How is today different than yesterday? Have you thought about what you hope to get out of this day and not the next? Teachers often change lives by showing the world (but first their students) who they really are. Those students need entertainment, guidance and sometimes, even learning. They won't ask you for it - they assume that if you know what you're doing, you will bring things to the table that matter to them. While we often aspire to "one up" the next generation, we often find ourselves walking in the very steps that were forged before us. Only by stepping out of that comfort zone that was our experience growing up, can we blaze a new trail of educational direction. The pieces are all there. We are slowly making gains in the technology that will someday soon show students that their learning is not mutually exclusive of their interests. Their technology is our golden ring - grab it and run.

If all the world's a stage and we the players - do you deserve the encore?

Engaging Students

Ignite. Incite. Inspire.

These 3 words should drive our instruction and motivate change. The change will come in not only the data collected, but in the attendance numbers. Both teacher and student working together as instruments of learning. Every year our classes are as much for US to learn from, as we are for THEM to learn from. With the increased focus on technology in the classroom and removal of barriers that suppress creativity and stunt individual learning growth for many of our students - we are heading in the right direction.

Instead of pulling out that worksheet that always goes well, scrap it just before the lesson starts and wing it. My best lessons have always come from spontaneous things and risk-taking. Teachers should have an innate ability to entertain and improvise - in everything they do. See where the lesson goes. Hand over the controls. They will drive you somewhere (not crazy of course) if you're willing to tag along.

Students know what they want and they equate it with what they need. Listen to them.