Up until this session, I'd heard mainly from technology experts, so I wanted to attend a workshop with regular teachers. Betsy Sandstrom, a Russian teacher at TJHSST, and her colleagues Carter Vaden, a German teacher, and Koji Otani, a Japanese teacher, shared their perspective as teachers of the podcast project outlined by students in the opening presentation. Self-described "technovices," they explained how they got over their fear of being less informed than their students.
They obtained a grant that provided money for equipment: digital voice recorders (or in some cases microphones for iPods) for recording, iPods for downloading, MacBook Pros installed with GarageBand for mixing and uploading, and external hard drives for storing. More important, because of the investment in its equipment, Apple coordinated training of teachers (and students, if they wanted it), including on GarageBand at the local Apple store. As you might imagine, companies have a vested interest in getting users to understand their programs. So if you ask for training, they're usually happy to give it to you, so you'll continue using their products. The same would go for PC products like Audacity and Windows Movie Maker, I'm sure. Besides, it never hurts to ask.
Since the equipment is all Mac, I'm not going to go into the technical details of how the students created and uploaded podcasts to iTunes. But the fact is, from these teachers' perspective, the technical aspect wasn't the point. The objectives of the activity focused on proper vocabulary and grammar use in scripting and proper pronunciation in dialogue, so the rubric reflected that. Success (or lack thereof) in posting a podcast was not part of a student's grade. To these teachers, grading the technical steps would be like grading handwriting on an essay: It's only the mode of expression, not the purpose, so it shouldn't be assessed. Still, the real-world application for their work motivated students to complete the project, even without being graded on the final product.
Basically, these teachers went into the project expecting their students to be able to figure out the intracies of the technology, just like most teachers would expect that a student could figure out how to use a pencil. Sure, some students weren't be as tech-savvy, but by working in groups, students could find their own strengths in completing the project.
But, they said, even if you don't think your students are ready to make podcasts themselves, they should be considered more often as a teaching tool. After all, there's a specific section for podcasts on iTunes. And other sites, such as Podcast Alley, are devoted solely to podcasts. Podcasts tap on all four of the basic modes of communication: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Imagine this project: Students listen to a podcast from NPR News, so they can speak about the issues presented in a class discussion, then they read related material from a textbook, so they can write a response to the ideas presented, which they can actually publish on the NPR podcast site. Basically, podcasts work like any other text, but students often are more engaged by them. And once they're engaged, they like to experiment with the technology themselves. You see where I'm going with this, right? Students finally have the opportunity to be the creators of the same kind of material that they study in the classroom. If that doesn't instill the responsibility of being citizen rhetors, I don't know what does.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Next Generation Research Tool
It's not many times I wish I were a high school student again, but man, after hearing about Zotero, I wouldn't even mind going back to do some of my research papers over. Trevor Owens -- who works at the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University, which developed this free extension for Firefox (because that browser is open source, unlike Explorer) -- said the product's motto is "Goodbye 3X5 cards." It's true, I have the bumper sticker to prove it. And I will stick it somewhere, because I am a Zotero convert.
Here's how it works: After you download the extension, a Zotero icon will appear at the bottom of your browser page. If you click on it, it pulls up a source-organizing system that is based on iTunes playlists, which most students are familiar with already. Any time you go to a Web page, the extension recognizes which type of source you are looking it. With one click of the mouse, you can add the source to your list, with complete bibliographic information. The program can do this because it has added converters compatible with many common online databases; for example, EBSCOHost, one of WBAIS library's database subscriptions, is completely compatible. When I noticed that Destiny, our library's catalog, was not, I e-mailed Trevor; within a day, he wrote back to say that it could be added easily.
Here's how you can ditch the notecards: Individual quotes within a source can be highlighted before adding the source to the list. Doing this records not only the source information but also the direct quote, as a "note." Multiple notes can be added to each source for paraphrasing purposes, and notes even can be added to an entire source collection, perhaps if the researcher thinks of something he or she wants to come back to later. "Tags" can be added to each source to make the entire list searchable. To me, these tags function as the topics of the sources. If a teacher wants to check a student's research progress, a report of all the sources, notes, and tags can be generated. This digital file then can be printed or simply sent as an attachment (yea, paperless!). Alternatively, an entire source collection can be transferred from computer to computer via a USB disk. This is also helpful for students, who can transfer their collections from their home computers to school computers easily. This also is important to remember as students start using different models of laptops at school, because it allows for consistency: Since Firefox is open source, teachers can require students to use a USB disk with portable Firefox plus the Zotero extension, so they have it no matter whether they are in class or at a lab.
But here's where I am really jealous: Citations and footnotes, of multiple research paper styles (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.), can be inserted automatically into Microsoft Word through the use of a free plug-in. This feature also generates bibliography and works cited pages based on the citations in merely a second. That's a far cry from the hours it took me to use the template from "Bud's Easy Term Paper Kit" on a typewriter. Kids really do have it good these days.
Here's how it works: After you download the extension, a Zotero icon will appear at the bottom of your browser page. If you click on it, it pulls up a source-organizing system that is based on iTunes playlists, which most students are familiar with already. Any time you go to a Web page, the extension recognizes which type of source you are looking it. With one click of the mouse, you can add the source to your list, with complete bibliographic information. The program can do this because it has added converters compatible with many common online databases; for example, EBSCOHost, one of WBAIS library's database subscriptions, is completely compatible. When I noticed that Destiny, our library's catalog, was not, I e-mailed Trevor; within a day, he wrote back to say that it could be added easily.
Here's how you can ditch the notecards: Individual quotes within a source can be highlighted before adding the source to the list. Doing this records not only the source information but also the direct quote, as a "note." Multiple notes can be added to each source for paraphrasing purposes, and notes even can be added to an entire source collection, perhaps if the researcher thinks of something he or she wants to come back to later. "Tags" can be added to each source to make the entire list searchable. To me, these tags function as the topics of the sources. If a teacher wants to check a student's research progress, a report of all the sources, notes, and tags can be generated. This digital file then can be printed or simply sent as an attachment (yea, paperless!). Alternatively, an entire source collection can be transferred from computer to computer via a USB disk. This is also helpful for students, who can transfer their collections from their home computers to school computers easily. This also is important to remember as students start using different models of laptops at school, because it allows for consistency: Since Firefox is open source, teachers can require students to use a USB disk with portable Firefox plus the Zotero extension, so they have it no matter whether they are in class or at a lab.
But here's where I am really jealous: Citations and footnotes, of multiple research paper styles (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.), can be inserted automatically into Microsoft Word through the use of a free plug-in. This feature also generates bibliography and works cited pages based on the citations in merely a second. That's a far cry from the hours it took me to use the template from "Bud's Easy Term Paper Kit" on a typewriter. Kids really do have it good these days.
Integrating Assistive Technology
Oh, how I wish we had the luxury of an assistive technology services department, like Fairfax County Public Schools has, so we could better serve special-needs students with available technology. Two members of that department, Jenn Regardie and Heather Thompson, get to focus on finding ways to help special-education teachers use technology effectively. They develop a specialized AT collaboration plan with each school based on its resources and students; when teachers aren't sure what they need, the department holds technology fairs to present options. From these collaboration plans, the department realized that teachers most needed help turning passive instruction into active learning, which is more beneficial for most special-needs populations. But I can't see why their applications wouldn't be enjoyed by other students as well. Here are just a few of their ideas (even more can be found at the department's Web site):
PowerPoint: Too often, students dread PowerPoint presentations because they are nothing more than jazzed-up lectures. Regardie and Thompson offered suggestions for using them as guided review activities. For example, a PowerPoint can be turned into a cloze activity by copying the original PowerPoint, replacing key terms with blanks, then printing out a slide map for students to fill in as the teacher goes over concepts.
Inspiration: This program often is used as a graphic-organizer creator, but it also can become a Webquest without having to worry about html coding. Simply take your typical graphic organizer and add notes containing links and instructions on what information to find there. Even better, students can answer questions about the links, then the diagram can be switched to outline form to act as a concise study guide.
Portables: FCPS uses a variety of student-response systems, such as the Neo2, to aid with classroom management. The reduction in grading time for teachers allows them to give more individualized instruction to students. The devices aren't cheap ($239 a piece), so we won't be buying any soon, but we have been looking at purchasing Senteo, a more basic system to use with SmartBoards. Until then, though, there are many resources online, such as book companion sites, that students can access to answer questions and to send scores automatically to an instructor's e-mail. Here is an example from a psychology textbook. I plan to use a similar site for grammar reinforcement next year.
All three of these technologies are available at WBAIS. It seems a waste that we are underutilizing what is available to us. Certainly, understaffing is an issue at such a small school -- we will never have an assistive technology services department -- but we can make an effort. I know it's crazy to suggest more time for planning, but along with vertical and horizontal planning, we might want to consider, uh, "diagonal" planning, where grade-level or department teams meet with resource and ESL staff to evaluate technologies that could help all students, but especially those with special needs through, dare I say it, differentiation.
PowerPoint: Too often, students dread PowerPoint presentations because they are nothing more than jazzed-up lectures. Regardie and Thompson offered suggestions for using them as guided review activities. For example, a PowerPoint can be turned into a cloze activity by copying the original PowerPoint, replacing key terms with blanks, then printing out a slide map for students to fill in as the teacher goes over concepts.
Inspiration: This program often is used as a graphic-organizer creator, but it also can become a Webquest without having to worry about html coding. Simply take your typical graphic organizer and add notes containing links and instructions on what information to find there. Even better, students can answer questions about the links, then the diagram can be switched to outline form to act as a concise study guide.
Portables: FCPS uses a variety of student-response systems, such as the Neo2, to aid with classroom management. The reduction in grading time for teachers allows them to give more individualized instruction to students. The devices aren't cheap ($239 a piece), so we won't be buying any soon, but we have been looking at purchasing Senteo, a more basic system to use with SmartBoards. Until then, though, there are many resources online, such as book companion sites, that students can access to answer questions and to send scores automatically to an instructor's e-mail. Here is an example from a psychology textbook. I plan to use a similar site for grammar reinforcement next year.
All three of these technologies are available at WBAIS. It seems a waste that we are underutilizing what is available to us. Certainly, understaffing is an issue at such a small school -- we will never have an assistive technology services department -- but we can make an effort. I know it's crazy to suggest more time for planning, but along with vertical and horizontal planning, we might want to consider, uh, "diagonal" planning, where grade-level or department teams meet with resource and ESL staff to evaluate technologies that could help all students, but especially those with special needs through, dare I say it, differentiation.
Open Source Integration with Education
Despite my better instincts, I veered from the teacher strand to attend a "techie" workshop about FOSS, free and open source software. Luckily, Dan Tran, computer systems lab manager at TJHSST and a University of Virginia student, put heavy emphasis on the "introduction" part of his session title. This was a wise strategy on his part because, essentially, this was a sales pitch. But can you call it that if you don't have to buy anything? Perhaps a better description would be a motivational speech, daring us to better ourselves by freeing ourselves from proprietary software. It's not likely that WBAIS will go full-FOSS anytime soon, but I did think that some parts of the pitch had merit for our school.
For 1-to-1 laptops: Linux
Dell, which is what we are now using the for the 1-to-1 program in middle school, now offers laptops pre-installed with Linux. The benefits of Linux are that it is easily deployable through a free server, meaning that teachers and even some students could download the program themselves without burdening Gintas. Also, it runs on less memory, leaving more power, so to speak, for other applications. Of course, the downside is, there are programs that won't operate with Linux, but never fear: If Linux is downloaded as the operating system, you can simply revert back to Windows by removing the program.
For student-owned laptops: Edubuntu
Ubuntu offers a package of free Microsoft Office-like software designed specifically for educational purposes and programmed to work with Linux. Once again, high-school students would be able to download both free programs on their own, so teachers would not have to deal with inconsistencies in software during instruction. Once again, there is a downside, mainly the myth that companies like Ubuntu will get students hooked on their products then start charging (yes, software as a "Gateway" drug), but Edubuntu has pledged to remain free forever.
For in-class desktops: Linux Terminal Server Project
As you know, eventually classroom desktops will stop being funded by the school, but if you wanted to bring breathe new life into desktops that have been designated as doorstops, you could consider the Linux Terminal Server Project. This allows multiple computers to operate off a single server that is loaded with the necessary software. The attached computers, called thin-clients, are only recommended to have a Pentium II/300 processor, 64MB of RAM, and a 4MB display card, in which case even the oldest of our computers probably could measure up.
For faster surfing: Squid
This program was introduced as a way to allow remote access to private databases (instead of having to post a bunch of usernames and passwords). But the more important point to me was Web page loading. Squid caches the first load of any Web page, meaning that any successive users who open the same page (your entire class, for example) will see it load much faster.
For e-mail: Zimbra
This software, which is backed by Yahoo, offers most of the features as Microsoft Outlook -- e-mail, webmail, anti-spam, anti-virus, databases, and contacts -- for free. Know how much you hate having to type in an e-mail address after looking up in that darned PDF file? Zimbra would solve that. It also could compile databases of e-mails by constituency (parent, teacher, etc.), so the administrative assistants wouldn't have to.
Dare I say it, for Blackboard: Sakai
The Sakai Project has developed a program that includes all the features of Blackboard and Moodle and adds new ones regularly. For example, the latest version includes searchable wikis, which many of you have wanted to develop for your classes. Because of this, many colleges, including the University of Virginia, are adopting this program over Blackboard.
So did I take the pitch? Am I FOSS believer now? Well, I'm at least thinking about the implications of the fact that this very philosophy exists. If you'd like to do a little bit of light philosophical reading yourself, you can check out Dan's presentation.
For 1-to-1 laptops: Linux
Dell, which is what we are now using the for the 1-to-1 program in middle school, now offers laptops pre-installed with Linux. The benefits of Linux are that it is easily deployable through a free server, meaning that teachers and even some students could download the program themselves without burdening Gintas. Also, it runs on less memory, leaving more power, so to speak, for other applications. Of course, the downside is, there are programs that won't operate with Linux, but never fear: If Linux is downloaded as the operating system, you can simply revert back to Windows by removing the program.
For student-owned laptops: Edubuntu
Ubuntu offers a package of free Microsoft Office-like software designed specifically for educational purposes and programmed to work with Linux. Once again, high-school students would be able to download both free programs on their own, so teachers would not have to deal with inconsistencies in software during instruction. Once again, there is a downside, mainly the myth that companies like Ubuntu will get students hooked on their products then start charging (yes, software as a "Gateway" drug), but Edubuntu has pledged to remain free forever.
For in-class desktops: Linux Terminal Server Project
As you know, eventually classroom desktops will stop being funded by the school, but if you wanted to bring breathe new life into desktops that have been designated as doorstops, you could consider the Linux Terminal Server Project. This allows multiple computers to operate off a single server that is loaded with the necessary software. The attached computers, called thin-clients, are only recommended to have a Pentium II/300 processor, 64MB of RAM, and a 4MB display card, in which case even the oldest of our computers probably could measure up.
For faster surfing: Squid
This program was introduced as a way to allow remote access to private databases (instead of having to post a bunch of usernames and passwords). But the more important point to me was Web page loading. Squid caches the first load of any Web page, meaning that any successive users who open the same page (your entire class, for example) will see it load much faster.
For e-mail: Zimbra
This software, which is backed by Yahoo, offers most of the features as Microsoft Outlook -- e-mail, webmail, anti-spam, anti-virus, databases, and contacts -- for free. Know how much you hate having to type in an e-mail address after looking up in that darned PDF file? Zimbra would solve that. It also could compile databases of e-mails by constituency (parent, teacher, etc.), so the administrative assistants wouldn't have to.
Dare I say it, for Blackboard: Sakai
The Sakai Project has developed a program that includes all the features of Blackboard and Moodle and adds new ones regularly. For example, the latest version includes searchable wikis, which many of you have wanted to develop for your classes. Because of this, many colleges, including the University of Virginia, are adopting this program over Blackboard.
So did I take the pitch? Am I FOSS believer now? Well, I'm at least thinking about the implications of the fact that this very philosophy exists. If you'd like to do a little bit of light philosophical reading yourself, you can check out Dan's presentation.
Monday, June 23, 2008
SMARTer Lessons = SMARTer Students
Even though I knew the session wouldn't entirely relate to me, I headed to a workshop about Smartboards geared toward elementary-school teachers. By the end of the presentation, I was just as inspired as others in the group, mainly because I took the advice of Tammi Sisk, Fairfax County Public Schools technology specialist for elementary school, to heart. Smartboards will become your educational tool of choice if you just "get in and dig."
No doubt, it takes persistence to make a commitment to using a Smartboard regularly. There is a big learning curve -- going over the basic tools took almost a half-hour -- but once you get over the hump, to the point you can be creative, the opportunities are numerous. Here are just a few insights I gleaned, in hopes of inspiring you in the same way:
Accessories for Everyone
Senteo: Smartboard has released a student-response system that can be used for both informal feedback and formal assessment. Immediate feedback can be used to judge whether a concept should be discussed further, and long-term student-specific data can be exported to Excel, to be manipulated for standards-based grading.
Notebook 10: This software update can be downloaded from Smart Technologies, but you will have to provide the serial number from a Smartboard. Some new features include a shape pen, which allows you to free-hand draw a shape then turn it into a precise figure; a table tool, which allows you to create and manipulate tables instead of copying them from Word; and a magic pen, which allows you zoom (by drawing a square), darken excess information (by drawing a circle), and write slowly disappearing text (by using a pen).
Notebook Interactive Viewer: Students can download this program from Smart Technologies on their own computers to view teacher Notebook files.
Tips for Everyone
Recorder: To add voice and action to your files, you can use the recorder while you are teaching. Then these files can be e-mailed to parents to help their children with homework, prepared ahead of time for substitutes, and/or uploaded to Blackboard for absent students.
Orientation: The accuracy of the touch works on release, so it is better to slide your finger to the point and lift instead of tapping. If you still aren't getting enough accuracy, you can adjust the number of points for orientation.
Pens: When using interactive tools from the gallery, you can pick up a pen to choose a different color for a different user. This helps differentiate between a student attempt and a teacher correction.
Gallery: This portion of the Notebook software contains photos, clip art, movie clips, backgrounds, and flash animations sorted by subject area and tagged through search terms. In general, these files will be more reliable than ones copied and pasted from the Internet; if you do use files from online, you should save them to your computer and attach them to your Notebook file.
Tips for Elementary School Teachers
Props: Use a paintbrush to reveal a picture hidden under a white overlay drawn with pen, perhaps to introduce a topic or reveal an answer, or have students use a koosh ball or fly swatter to pick activities, which basically are hyperlinks to other pages in the Notebook file.
Resources: Many Web sites work great with Smartboards, such as Starfall, Internet4Classrooms, BBC, and Taggalaxy. Add-on downloads are available at a cost from Smart Technologies, such as SMART Speller and Number Cruncher.
Tips for Elementary School Math
Infinite Clone: This choice under the down arrow locks an object into place, so dragging off the object creates a copy instead; this works well for counting visually with base-ten blocks.
Ordering: This choice under the down arrow acts like shuffling cards, allowing objects to stack; this works well for isolating the hundreds, tens, and ones place in a number.
Tips for Elementary School Language Arts
Colors: Manipulating the color of text and backgrounds can show halves of words then the entire word; this works well for teaching phonetic blends and compound words.
Spellcheck: After scanning a student's work into the notebook, students can identify misspelled words, use a white pen to "white out" the error, rewrite the word, then use the "recognize as" command under the down arrow to see possible spelling options.
More Smartboard training will be offered this year, I imagine, but what I realized most from the session is that the best training comes from developing your own relationship with your Smartboard. Start by determining whether you're a person who likes to use the pen or a finger to write, for example. Then try one trick at a time, perhaps one of those above. One success might motivate you to "dig in" further.
No doubt, it takes persistence to make a commitment to using a Smartboard regularly. There is a big learning curve -- going over the basic tools took almost a half-hour -- but once you get over the hump, to the point you can be creative, the opportunities are numerous. Here are just a few insights I gleaned, in hopes of inspiring you in the same way:
Accessories for Everyone
Senteo: Smartboard has released a student-response system that can be used for both informal feedback and formal assessment. Immediate feedback can be used to judge whether a concept should be discussed further, and long-term student-specific data can be exported to Excel, to be manipulated for standards-based grading.
Notebook 10: This software update can be downloaded from Smart Technologies, but you will have to provide the serial number from a Smartboard. Some new features include a shape pen, which allows you to free-hand draw a shape then turn it into a precise figure; a table tool, which allows you to create and manipulate tables instead of copying them from Word; and a magic pen, which allows you zoom (by drawing a square), darken excess information (by drawing a circle), and write slowly disappearing text (by using a pen).
Notebook Interactive Viewer: Students can download this program from Smart Technologies on their own computers to view teacher Notebook files.
Tips for Everyone
Recorder: To add voice and action to your files, you can use the recorder while you are teaching. Then these files can be e-mailed to parents to help their children with homework, prepared ahead of time for substitutes, and/or uploaded to Blackboard for absent students.
Orientation: The accuracy of the touch works on release, so it is better to slide your finger to the point and lift instead of tapping. If you still aren't getting enough accuracy, you can adjust the number of points for orientation.
Pens: When using interactive tools from the gallery, you can pick up a pen to choose a different color for a different user. This helps differentiate between a student attempt and a teacher correction.
Gallery: This portion of the Notebook software contains photos, clip art, movie clips, backgrounds, and flash animations sorted by subject area and tagged through search terms. In general, these files will be more reliable than ones copied and pasted from the Internet; if you do use files from online, you should save them to your computer and attach them to your Notebook file.
Tips for Elementary School Teachers
Props: Use a paintbrush to reveal a picture hidden under a white overlay drawn with pen, perhaps to introduce a topic or reveal an answer, or have students use a koosh ball or fly swatter to pick activities, which basically are hyperlinks to other pages in the Notebook file.
Resources: Many Web sites work great with Smartboards, such as Starfall, Internet4Classrooms, BBC, and Taggalaxy. Add-on downloads are available at a cost from Smart Technologies, such as SMART Speller and Number Cruncher.
Tips for Elementary School Math
Infinite Clone: This choice under the down arrow locks an object into place, so dragging off the object creates a copy instead; this works well for counting visually with base-ten blocks.
Ordering: This choice under the down arrow acts like shuffling cards, allowing objects to stack; this works well for isolating the hundreds, tens, and ones place in a number.
Tips for Elementary School Language Arts
Colors: Manipulating the color of text and backgrounds can show halves of words then the entire word; this works well for teaching phonetic blends and compound words.
Spellcheck: After scanning a student's work into the notebook, students can identify misspelled words, use a white pen to "white out" the error, rewrite the word, then use the "recognize as" command under the down arrow to see possible spelling options.
More Smartboard training will be offered this year, I imagine, but what I realized most from the session is that the best training comes from developing your own relationship with your Smartboard. Start by determining whether you're a person who likes to use the pen or a finger to write, for example. Then try one trick at a time, perhaps one of those above. One success might motivate you to "dig in" further.
Let Students Take the Lead
Two years from now, we're expecting every high school student to have a laptop at their disposal during class. I decided to adopt that mentality as I attend JOSTI. At every workshop or session, I will be taking notes on this blog, so I can turn them into useable posts in the future. As I pulled out my laptop to replicate a student's actions, I thought the theme of the keynote session was just too apropos: letting students take the lead in technology.
Evan Glazer, principal of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, explained why his administration and staff adopted this policy: If students are already good test-takers, how do you challenge them? At TJHSST, the answer was giving them opportunities to be creative, especially with technology. And so, eighth period is designated for one of 150 activities, many of which are determined by students themselves; for example, one group of students collaborated with a local business to create a satellite. This activity period gives students the opportunity to show what they can do with technological resources, with the guidance of mentors. One of the most ambitious projects was explained by Richard Washer, information technology coordinator for TJHSST and techie strand coordinator for the conference: In 2002, students got source code from Blackboard to create courses for students evacuated from the American International School in Islamabad. In the seven years since the establishment of this virtual school, 27 more organizations and shcools have joined. Students clearly are excited about such empowerment in their education. In fact, four alumni are coming back to the school to teach. And six others shared what they came up with when they were given freedom with technological resources:
1. Recent graduate William Yang is student technical administrator and co-founder of a free alternative to mass-market review books for AP tests. All the material was created by and for students. Right now, the wiki is not available to users outside of the school (for security purposes), but William hopes to do so soon. After all, this might be not just a school project, but a small business someday. Why not get our students on board with this venture, if we can?
2. Recent graduate Josiah Boning is student head administrator of TJHSST's intranet. Basically, it is an in-school Facebook. Students join on their own, creating their own log-ins and profiles. After moderator-approved, students can search the directory for information. Registration and attendance for eighth-period activities is done virtually. Announcements are e-mailed to trained moderators to be posted. Class elections are held through online polls. Josiah said he will reveal the PHP language source code if some WBAIS students want to take on a similar project.
3. Jennifer Lee, a student of Japanese, and Nihaar Sinha and JeanMarie Stewart, students of German, contributed to the school's foreign-language podcast page. After teachers secured a grant to purchase MacBooks and iPods, students brainstormed ideas for podcasts. In German class, students wrote scripts about pictures introducing the sections of the textbook. Then they used GarageBand to record and mix photo and audio, and some students used their eighth period to create a WordPress blog where students could post their podcasts. Some creations were even uploaded to and now available on iTunes. And Nihaar even dispelled every teacher's greatest fear: No classtime was spent on instructing podcasting (students were able to figure this out themselves); to encourage risk-taking, grading rubrics were for linguistic goals only.
4. Sappho Gilbert, a recent graduate and proud member of Generation Y, interned at the National Institutes of Health for her senior research project, similar to the one at WBAIS. The tumor biology lab where she worked was revolutionized with a simple suggestion from this tech-savvy generation: Use print screen (PrtSc) to capture microscope images for cell counting. This process, which is still used in the lab today, "made work more manageable" and more accurate, Sappho said. Whose to say a WBAIS student couldn't tell any of us what would make our classes "more manageable"?
Which brings us back to the topic at hand: Trust your students to tell you what you should be doing with technology. They know, and they are just waiting for the opportunity to show you what they know.
Evan Glazer, principal of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, explained why his administration and staff adopted this policy: If students are already good test-takers, how do you challenge them? At TJHSST, the answer was giving them opportunities to be creative, especially with technology. And so, eighth period is designated for one of 150 activities, many of which are determined by students themselves; for example, one group of students collaborated with a local business to create a satellite. This activity period gives students the opportunity to show what they can do with technological resources, with the guidance of mentors. One of the most ambitious projects was explained by Richard Washer, information technology coordinator for TJHSST and techie strand coordinator for the conference: In 2002, students got source code from Blackboard to create courses for students evacuated from the American International School in Islamabad. In the seven years since the establishment of this virtual school, 27 more organizations and shcools have joined. Students clearly are excited about such empowerment in their education. In fact, four alumni are coming back to the school to teach. And six others shared what they came up with when they were given freedom with technological resources:
1. Recent graduate William Yang is student technical administrator and co-founder of a free alternative to mass-market review books for AP tests. All the material was created by and for students. Right now, the wiki is not available to users outside of the school (for security purposes), but William hopes to do so soon. After all, this might be not just a school project, but a small business someday. Why not get our students on board with this venture, if we can?
2. Recent graduate Josiah Boning is student head administrator of TJHSST's intranet. Basically, it is an in-school Facebook. Students join on their own, creating their own log-ins and profiles. After moderator-approved, students can search the directory for information. Registration and attendance for eighth-period activities is done virtually. Announcements are e-mailed to trained moderators to be posted. Class elections are held through online polls. Josiah said he will reveal the PHP language source code if some WBAIS students want to take on a similar project.
3. Jennifer Lee, a student of Japanese, and Nihaar Sinha and JeanMarie Stewart, students of German, contributed to the school's foreign-language podcast page. After teachers secured a grant to purchase MacBooks and iPods, students brainstormed ideas for podcasts. In German class, students wrote scripts about pictures introducing the sections of the textbook. Then they used GarageBand to record and mix photo and audio, and some students used their eighth period to create a WordPress blog where students could post their podcasts. Some creations were even uploaded to and now available on iTunes. And Nihaar even dispelled every teacher's greatest fear: No classtime was spent on instructing podcasting (students were able to figure this out themselves); to encourage risk-taking, grading rubrics were for linguistic goals only.
4. Sappho Gilbert, a recent graduate and proud member of Generation Y, interned at the National Institutes of Health for her senior research project, similar to the one at WBAIS. The tumor biology lab where she worked was revolutionized with a simple suggestion from this tech-savvy generation: Use print screen (PrtSc) to capture microscope images for cell counting. This process, which is still used in the lab today, "made work more manageable" and more accurate, Sappho said. Whose to say a WBAIS student couldn't tell any of us what would make our classes "more manageable"?
Which brings us back to the topic at hand: Trust your students to tell you what you should be doing with technology. They know, and they are just waiting for the opportunity to show you what they know.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)