- Do you use social media? Which ones?
- What is the worst relationship advice you have ever heard?
- In your opinion, what kinds of emotions are acceptable in public, and which are not?
Cheers,
Lesley
As we prepare for our morning meeting, I'm sure some of you are concerned about having too much time or not enough time to cover everything. While I can't help you with the latter, I do have an app for the former: Ask Me Anything for teens (AMAFTFREE). This is a very simple app with a simple idea: you tap the screen and you are given a question to discuss. For example...
All you have to do is tap the screen and a new question will appear. It's very easy to use and I haven't seen any repeat questions... yet. :-) I like this app because I think it will help us learn more about our students and our morning meeting groups. Plus, it's an easy time filler, right? You can even project the question on the board with the Apple TV so that our ELL students can work on their reading skills. Basically, it's a win-win with this free app. Get it today and try it out for tomorrow's meeting.
Cheers, Lesley
0 Comments
I've been busy lately reminding myself of the power of a simple discussion forum. (But as the instructor, it takes time to respond to my 97 students!) At our school, most teachers have Moodle or Schoology, both of which offer discussion forums. In fact, I use discussion forums for my graduate classes and while they can seem tedious at times (let's face it, it's easier and faster to speak than it is write!), they are a great learning tool. In my first instructional design course I read a paraphrase of a retention chart: "People generally remember 10% of what they read, 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, 50% of what they hear and see, 70% of what they say or write, and 90% of what they say as they do a thing" (Morrison, Ross, Kalman, & Kemp, 2011, p. 186). Therefore, it seems that a discussion forum should get students to that 70%. Great, right?
However, I've found another great reason to use a discussion forum: differentiation. As a 9th grade teacher, I don't want to label any of my students for fear that they will define themselves with that label, so I struggle with the idea of ability grouping. After all, my students can figure out pretty easily where they fall, so I've taken to secret ability grouping via discussion forums. For our last novel, I used three leveled questions but never labeled them according to the level. I merely assigned the groups by the title of the question (i.e., conflict, character, point of view, theme, etc.) and the students responded according to those groups. I don't think they ever made the connection that it was ability grouping either, so it was a successful endeavor. I was even able to give students more individualized feedback and push them in the ways they needed to be pushed to grow and learn. It might take more time for me, but I think it is worth it to hear from each student, too. So often our quiet students don't speak up unless asked to, so it was a nice change of pace to hear from everyone and monitor their individual progress. After all, there's no hiding in a discussion forum. If you're struggling to get students to participate or to differentiate in a meaningful way, I would recommend using a discussion forum. It might take the students a couple of tries to get the hang of it, but like the blogging, mine have found it useful since it breaks our studies down into more manageable pieces. I've even seen some of their discussion post ideas coming up in their final essays, so that is more evidence that the discussion forums work. Cheers, Lesley Reference: Morrison, G. R., Ross, S. M., Kalman, H. K., & Kemp, J. E. (2011). Designing effective instruction (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Congratulations!!! I hear the iPads are out and I've seen some pictures and what not on Facebook. How fun! So now I'm hoping we will make this site AMAZING! As you find cool apps, please let me know and I will post them here so that we can use our new technology in the best way. Yesterday, Edutopia posted this picture: Those are words to remember.... In fact, here is an article that talks about putting iPad on a "pedestal"--something we definitely don't want to do! If you are interested, here's the link: http://www.edudemic.com/2013/05/ipads-in-the-classroom-the-right-questions-you-should-ask/
Those are some questions we should all be asking as we work together to use iPads in an educationally sound manner and not as a means of entertainment. Cheers, Lesley “Because there was no training on the apps, I had to fend for myself and was confused much of the time. The professor was unable to help as they were just as confused. The iPad was ineffective because no one knew how to use the apps.” ‐iPad class student I don't know about you, but the above quote is something I've thought a lot about and a fear I have for the coming year. To help us all prepare, I made a new page called "Ideas for iPads in the Classroom." There are some repeat resources from the "Tech Resources" page, but on the "Ideas for iPads in the Classroom" page I have added a discussion forum so that we can all share our ideas with one another. Now I must admit that I've never used a forum in Weebly before, so I hope it works as slick as it's supposed to! Please check it out and add what's worked for you or ideas that you've read about using iPads in the classroom. That is the page that I hope you will all find to be the most useful. But as always, let me know if you have other ideas or if I should change something. This is a website for YOU so I want it to be as user-friendly as possible. Cheers, Lesley |
About the AuthorLesley is an English teacher who is passionate about using connectivism in the classroom and preparing students and teachers for using the tools that are available to them on a regular basis. This blog will focus on iPad apps and Web 2.0 tools that can enhance and diversify learning. Leave a comment and let me know what you think or what you'd like to learn about! Archives
January 2016
Categories
All
|