I often wonder whether I made a difference, I think after watching this video, made by my students, I know the answer.
The Sheer Genius of SmartBoards
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| Image taken from here |
I am not a believer in SmartBoards, there I said it. Sure, they are a nice tech tool to have but honestly, for that amount of money, I could think of about a thousand other things I would rather have in my classroom. In fact, Bill Ferriter at the Tempered Radical agrees with me, which partly prompted this post. And yet, I have to applaud what the makers of SmartBoards have done to our school districts. Think about it, a smart board. So if you have it then you must be smart for making the investment and if you don’t, well, then you are not.
Sometimes it is all in a name. After all, that is why companies spend money trying to come up with the best marketing they can. So when someone came up with the name SmartBoard you know high fives went around the room. How about the Interactive Whiteboard? Teachers love to speak of how interactive their SmartBoards really are. And where does that notion come from? Their name. I do nto for one minute believe that soemone went up to that board and thought indepedently of how interactive they are for students, maybe for the teacher, but not for others. It really should just be called a touch and response board but that just doesn’t seem to have the same kind of connotation. So when you call something interactive well, then, think of how much easier you can sell it.
So really who is the board interactive for? The teacher who gets to touch it as the lesson moves on or the selected student who gets to come up and move a word around. Ooooh, now that is engaged learning. I don’t dismiss interactive whiteboards as classroom tools altogether but I do dismiss the notion that they are the ticket to reform our classrooms, to re-engage our learners, and teach our children. Instead they lead themselves to more “sage on the stage” type of teaching where the teacher is in control of all of the learning and the students just get to participate. That is not what school should be. So laud your interactive whiteboards as much as you want, but keep in mind just how they were sold to you. I think it is time we see them for they really are; tools, not solutions, not magic pills, just another tool and one that comes with a steep pricetag and a much too deep learning curve. This should not be the future of our classrooms.
14 Steps to Meaningful Student Blogging
So you have heard about blogging with your students and you are considering taking the plunge but just not sure what or how to do it? I am here to tell you; blogging with my students has been one of the most enriching educational experiences we have had this year, and that says a lot. So to get you started, here is what I have learned:
- Pick an easy platform, both for you and the students. I used Kidblog with great success, it fit our needs, it is free and it offers easy moderation. There are other great alternatives out there such as WordPress or EduBlogs
- Teach them how to blog first. We did an excellent paper blogging lesson first (found on the blog of McTeach), which brought up why we were blogging and how to do it appropriately. This got the students excited, interested as well as got them thinking about what great comments look and sound like.
- Talk safety! We assume some students know how to be safe, but don’t assume it; teach them the do’s and dont’s. I came up with the lesson of why the Internet is like the mall and it really worked. I also sent home safety plans for students and parents to discuss and we discussed it throughout the year.
- Teach them how to comment. In order for blogging to be effective, comments are needed, but if students don’t know how to properly comment they will lose out on part of the experience. We discuss how to thank people, how to answer their questions, and most importantly, how to ask questions back. This is all part of common conversational knowledge that all kids should be taught any way.
- Start small. The first post was an introduction of themselves. It was an easy topic and something they really liked to do. They then got to comment on each others post as well which started to build community.
- Include parents. Parents always know what we are doing and are invited to comment. The students loved the extra connection and parents loved seeing what the kids were doing.
- Connect with one or two classes to be buddies. While comments from around the world are phenomenal, the connections are what it is all about. So reach out on Twitter or through the most excellent #comments4kids and set up something more permanent. The students relish getting to know one another and the comments become even more worthwhile. Thanks Mr. Gary’s class in Egypt and Mr. Reuter’s 6th grade class in Merton, Wisconsin for being our buddies.
- Speaking of #comments4kids, this excellent site created by Will Chamberlain is a must for anyone blogging with students. Link their blog to it and ask people to comment, tweet it out with the hashtag #comments4kids, and use it to find classes to comment on.
- Visit other classroom blogs. Show them how other kids use it and have it inspire them. Blogs can be found through Twitter or the comments4kids site.
- Let them explore. My students love to play around with font, color, and images. They taught each other how to do anything fancy and also let each other know when font or color choices were poor. This was a way for students to come into their own as creative writers and also start to think about creating their online identity.
- Don’t grade! Blogging is meant to be a way to practice writing for an audience and learning to respond to critique, not a graded paper. I would often tell students my requirements and even make them go back and edit but I never ever chastised them for mistakes made.
- Challenge them. Often students would ask to write about topics but we also had a blogging challenge almost weekly. This was my way of finding out what they really thought about fourth grade, their dreams, their hopes and their lives. The kids always wondered what the next challenge would be and looked forward to writing them. We would also share creative writing pieces from class, create diaries of work we did, and share our op.ed. pieces.
- Map the connections. We have a world map in our classroom that we use to push pin people we connect with, it is amazing to see it grow and what a geography lesson is has turned out to be. Students are acutely aware of where Egypt, Alabama, New York and other places in the news are because they have connected with people there.
- Give it time! Some students took to it right away, others weren’t so sure, and yet they all ended up loving it. The sheer mass of paper I have had to print to create their writing portfolio is staggering and it shows how ingrained it became in our classroom. I now have kids blogging when they are sick, out of school or just because.
So here it is, take the leap and believe in your students’ ability to stay safe and appropriate on the internet. Stay tuned for a student-created video tutorial on how to use Kidblog, kids teaching kids, that is learning worth doing. To see our student blogs and maybe even leave comment, please go here.
Some Questions on Labels
Those struggling learners, the reluctant readers, the underachievers. All labels heard in schools on a daily basis. The tired ones, the creative types, the giften, the talented, the fidgeters, the lazy students. We label and label in order to define them all, to fit them all into a box under the pretense of being better teachers, of making our jobs easier, more manageable, more suited for differentiation. After all, if we don’t label then how will we know who needs which services? If we do not label then who will we teach at what time? How will class lists be made up to ensure balanced needs? We may not be tracking our atudents openly but the labels keep on coming.
I often ponder labels and what effect they have had on my own life. Some teachers labeled me gifted, I was not, only gifted through circumstance. Others labeled me underachieving, where rather it was in response to the teaching method. I was labeled opinionated in history, that one stuck, outspoken in English, talentless in math, and relentless in my pursuit of academic excellence in college. Labels shaped my education whether I agreed with them or not, yet how often were they shared with me? How often was I aware of what category I was placed in? And worse, how often when I was aware did it become my definition?
Some will inevitably argue that if we do not label our students whether through tests or grades then how will we rank them? How will we teach them best? If we don’t know who our strugglers are then how will we reach them? I don’t know. But what happens when those labels become all we see? What happens when the labels end up defining the student rather than the student defining the label. What happens when one teacher’s comment becomes the mold we force the student into? Can we label our students without actually harming them and impeding their learning? Can we genuinely categorize students as struggling when they are perhaps just learning at a different pace?
I hope someone has the answer.
We End the Year
As students count down and yet feel so guilty for wishing for the summer sun, we push on, aware that every moment is one moment less that we get to be this group. That we get to have this experience. That this moment is done now too. And we celebrate, and we reminisce, and then we worry because what comes next? Will these students be ok in the next year? Did I teach them everything I wanted to? Did they understand my words? Our goals? Did they make this their own?
We end the year the way it began; eager, anxious, pondering what comes next? We end the year the way it began; wondering where to now, what challenges shall we undertake, who will be our friends? A year has passed, the goals been met – or have they – and constantly we ask ourselves; now what, now what, now what?
Want to Teach in China for the Summer?
My sister-in-law works for a teacher recruiting firm and has passed along this opportunity for anyone who may be interested. I promised her I would post it so if anyone want an adventurous summer, here’s your chance! They are looking for people without children though, fyi, which is why I am not doing it.
If interested, contact Jinny Han / Director
Summer Teaching Position in China,
1. Name of School :
EWAS WeiHai in China:
One of the TOP private school in Southern China
2. Location:
WeiHai Lab 2 School
Huanchi, WeiHai, Sandong, China
More info. Of WeiHai: Weihai Official Gov’t Web :
3. Contract Term:
Contract Term: July 4 ~ Aug. 26 (8 Weeks)
US Departure Date: June 28 or 29, 2011
4. Benefits
a.Round Trip Air Tickets Provide: US – China
b.Free Housing
c.Salary: $4,000 for Contract Term
5. Number of Positions: 5
Pernille Ripp 