I think my blog has finally evolved into a useful resource for educators in my district. An administrator, a key instructional leader in a school, has emailed a contribution!
On a personal level, it is very rewarding to know that instructional leaders are reading and finding the blog to be of sound educational value. However, the most rewarding part for me is the knowledge that administrators in my district are invested in the content being presented in their classrooms.
While many of our students may not realize it right now, they are a part of the living history of the United States. In fact, we are all a part of United States history but we as adults have the perspective and life experiences to realize it. The upcoming election is a great opportunity for us as educators to bring that perspective into our classrooms.
What if our students could vote in the election? How would they vote? How would it change the outcome?
Let your students vote! On election day, the National Youth Vote site will be accepting votes from people under the age of 18. While these votes cannot actually be counted in the Presidential Election, it would empower your students and give them a public voice. Imagine the discussions you could have on November 5th, or the graphs you could create with the data!
Our students are our future, as educators we facilitate their empowerment as thinkers. Give our students a voice.
Today I will begin working with a teacher on how to develop a blogging culture in his class. He has followed my advice and already created a class blog using Edublogs as well as Gmail subsidiary accounts so that he can moderate all student comments through one email address and avoid the hassle of students having individual accounts.
Now we can enter this adventure with all of the technical pieces in place, forcing us into the real challenge. How do we create and maintain a learning environment in which students engage in conversations rather than just respond to a teacher posed question?
I have sifted through many existing blogs, each claiming to have the “secret recipe” for how to establish a blogging culture in a classroom. I even sent out a plea to my E-PLN (Electronic Professional Learning Network), which generated some great feedback.
In my continual state of reflection I have determined that a classroom blogging culture can only be as strong as the existing classroom community. The classroom blogging journey began before the teacher even considered the integration of classroom blogging. It began when the students entered that classroom and formed a community in which they learned to listen to as well as respect each other. When their similarities and differences were celebrated, evolving into authentic engagement and learning. When the students learned just as much from each other as they did from the teacher.
I have also realized that the “secret recipe” I was searching for does not exist. Each classroom’s recipe will be different which is part of what makes classroom blogging a powerful experience for all involved. Therefore, I will not enter today’s planning session with a step-by-step plan. Instead I will focus on the existing classroom community and how together, we can develop a blogging culture within that community.
Within the last year, ideas for the educational integration of the collaborative multimedia sharing tool VoiceThread have been floating around the blogosphere.
While attempting to do my weekly cleaning of my Google Reader, I read a recent post in the Free Technology For Teachers blog in which prompted me to share some great integration ideas for the uses of VoiceThread. See below to see an Elementary School teacher’s use of VoiceThread as a student lesson reflection tool.
The United States Presidential election process is one that perpetually confuses citizens of all ages. The incredible duo at Common Craft have once again taken a large concept and condensed it to three and a half minutes of clarity. A must see for any teacher integrating the U.S. Presidential election process into their curriculum this school year.
Follow the video with a Google Map mashup that makes is possible to predict potential state combinations needed by each candidate to win the election. Click on a state below to see how it impacts the number of electoral votes needed.
Tomaz Lasic has yet again astonished me with his Moodlease. In his recent blog post he used Legos as a tool to give a visual explanation of the power of Moodle when used as a collaborative education tool.
Stumble It!
