Taking It to the Next Step Along With TPACK

• 
  

The reading teacher in me has been quiet and is ready to come back out ….

While reading is a great way to help a child grow in vocabulary and imagination, it is what you DO with what is read that really encourages and supports critical and creative thinking skills!

Technology can be used in many ways to support and encourage the many things that can be done with reading ....

Here are a few ideas of activities that can be used to support higher order thinking skills:Make a collage which might be found hanging in the bedroom of one of the characters and write a brief explanation of each item selected.

• Write diary entries that one of the characters might have written during the course of the story.
• Write a poem or a song that expresses one or more of the characters’ feelings.
• Create a piece of original artwork that interprets one of the themes in the book.
• Write and perform an original skit based on the book.
• Write letters that two of the characters might have written to one another about what was happening in their lives.
• Create an original board game based on the book.
• Write and record an original news broadcast about the events in the book.
• Draw a timeline of the book, complete with illustrations and commentaries about each event on the timeline.
• Create a cause-and-effect continuum of how and why the main character changes as a result of the events and situations that occur.

Did you notice the differentiation embedded in these activities? 

Children would be able to utilize their strengths to demonstrate their learning …

Choice could even be involved if you gave an assignment similar to this one:

• Choose a book (online or from the bookcase)
• Read the story
• Select and complete the activity that most appeals to you and/or best fits the story you read
• Explain why you chose the activity and how you completed it 

With the added explanation part, you are jumping into that metacognition area … asking children to really think about their thinking!

That is taking it to the next step!

You can look at the WSFCS TPACK Activity Guides to see possible technology tools that can be used for activities like this!

Click on a area and then you can find possible activities in the table along with suggested resources to use!

Read More

Learning Through the Summer

Now that we are closing in on the end of the school year the big question is how to extend your students learning throughout the summer.  Do you give the students reading lists that you hope they will do?  Do you want them to sit in front of a computer all summer?  Do we have to follow the norm like ducklings behind their mother?  Now don't misunderstand me I am open for online learning, to an extent, but it needs to be done in moderation sometimes where activity can be inserted into the equation.  I know that growing up I did not have all the things to distract me as students do today.  My mother would send my brothers and I out in the morning with a hope and a prayer that we would not get into too much trouble.  Oh, and would come home sometime during the day to eat or at least be home for dinner.  That was my life, but today's students have so much more to occupy their time than just playing in the dirt or running around with the neighborhood kids or even just sitting around in the shade when it gets too hot out to keep running around.  I was fortunate enough that I had a parent at home and grandparents nearby to help keep an eye on us.  That may not be the case today, so what do you do to help your child(ren) continue to learn throughout the summer while making it fun and interesting.

What about some of these activities to help keep the learning going.

The Children's Museum of Winston-Salem Summer Camps
The Northwest NC YMCA Summer Camps
Mad Science Summer Camps
SciWorks Summer Camps
Summer Camp Programs at Creative Palooza
YMCA Camp Hanes Summer Programs

Don't forget about these places in or near Winston-Salem as well

Reynolda House Museum of Art
Reynolda Gardens
The Gardens at Old Salem
MESDA - The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts
The Children's Theatre of Winston-Salem
TangleWood Park and Gardens
The Asheboro Zoo
Historic Bethabara Park

Now these may not sound as interesting or glamorous as playing video games, Facebook, or shopping at the mall but who knows your child(ren) just might surprise you and thank you for taking them.  Learning should never end when you leave the classroom for the summer.  Maybe with a little bit of coaxing you can help your child(ren) to enjoy some non-digital means of learning that can help them to become life-long learners.

photo credit: pedrosimoes7 via photo pin cc

Read More

Learning is so much fun!!!!

As teachers it can sometimes be difficult to find the time to really dive in to learning or honing in on our practices.  As a classroom teacher I always looked for learning opportunities that fit the personal and professional goals I set for myself.  Because it is so difficult sometimes to actually attend some of the conferences and workshops that I wanted I have found several opportunities to learn on my own and at my own pace.   

Webinars through the Siemens STEM Academyhave been amazing.  From finding ways to Put the M into STEM to actually interacting with Danny Forster from “Build it Bigger” the Siemens Academy has been a great resource for my personal and professional growth.  They also archive their webinars so you can watch and learn in your own time and at your own paste.  Click Here for direct access to the webinar page.

Another great tool for learning is twitter.  This to me has probably been one of the most beneficial tools I have when it comes to learning.  The twitter approach allows complete autonomy in learning what you want when you want.  I simply follow folks in the science, technology and education world.  They provide links and ideas.  Those that interest me I read and learn, those that don’t I simply skip.  When I find items of interest I tweet those out.  This method of learning for me has been very beneficial but also very fun.  To find a list of educators to follow, Click here. 

Sometimes finding the time to learn during the school year can be quite difficult.  I have a rule for summer time learning.  If I am going to take my time to participate, It’s going to be great.  In the past 2 summers I have had 2 great opportunities that are currently accepting applications.

In 2010 I was a Siemen’s STEM Institute Fellow.  This fellowship included a trip to Washington, DC to spend time at Discovery Communication’s US headquarters.  The week was full of fun, collaboration, fun, inspiration and more fun.  We had the opportunity to have conversation with the White House’s Director of Science and Technology, Dr. John Holdren and  many other leaders from various science and education department and agencies.  We participated in a architecture tour of DC led by Danny Forster and had lots of mini workshops on Web 2.0 tools and their uses in education.  To top it all off it was Shark Week on Discovery.  This is an incredible and fun opportunity whose deadline is fast approaching.  February 9^th

In the summer of 2011 I was a Kenan Fellow through the Kenan Institute for Science and Mathematics.  The general gist of a Kenan fellowship is the fellow is submerged in to a real world or research entity to learn current skills and research.  The end product is to create lessons to share with other teachers around the world that will ready our students for the real world.  This fellowship comes with real world experience as well as top notch professional development.  Their development is based around inquiry based learning, goal setting, how to become a powerful presenter, and engineering principles.  The deadline for this application process is January 23. 

 

Learning in our industry is a necessity.  I still hold to the belief that our learning can be fun also.

Photos used through Creative Commons Permissions

Read More