Jun 30
seen from Türkiye
seen from Italy
seen from Philippines
seen from United States
seen from Pakistan
seen from Poland
seen from United States
seen from Poland
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from T1
seen from Netherlands
seen from Netherlands
seen from Colombia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from T1
seen from Venezuela
seen from Hong Kong SAR China
seen from United States
The Problem Prices are going up, and education budgets are often getting cut. This makes taking your students out of the classroom to gain experiences more and more difficult. I grew up in a small town. We went a couple of places over the years, but nothing special. My third year of teaching I worked at a school and had the opportunity to go to Houston with a group of 90 seventh graders to visit NASA, the Moody Gardens, and several historical sites. Point being, not all schools have that luxury, and even that trip wasn’t free to the kids and so not many went…. That 90? They were part of a 7th grade class that had 500. As educators we know that financial means defines experiences, and experiences often define success.
So What do We Do? The closest we can come right now are digital field trips and the use of virtual reality. Its not a perfect solution and nowhere near as good as the real thing. But its free (assuming wifi) through the use of their cell phones, which most of them already have.
Virtual Rea-what now? Virtual reality has a couple of forms. One of them allows users to “look around” with their device camera and see information or other things superimposed on the real world. (Future episode?). But I’m talking about the other kind. One where, using the device, you look around other worlds as if you are there. In the media you will see people wearing goggles that have screens or phones inside. While that greatly enhances the experience, it certainly isn’t required to reap the benefits in your classroom. Check out the video below for some examples.
If you subscribe to this blog and my Youtube channel you can get notifications about new content! If you have any ideas for future episodes then let me know in the comments!
Ever have to wait on students to navigate to web sites, only to have to go around and correct typos? Enter Live Binders, a resource that allows you to put multiple pages in one place. 5? No problem. 10? Sure. Get rid of student typing migraines and save time with this resource!
WEBSTORM!
WEBSTORM!
So, I thought I had coined a new phrase the other day when I told my students to webstorm in class. Evidently, webstorm is already some java thing. However, that has nothing to do with what my webstorm is. Brainstorming on topics has been a long standing introduction to a unit or to a lesson. "Tell me what you already know." I'm not sure how much learning that actually brings about. It may remind students of what they've learned in the past but then it stops. Most teachers then switch to direct instruction and the students lose their curiosity. I offer an alternative: "Webstorm". Its driven by the students' initial curiosity and incites curiosity in future lessons. Webstorming is simple. Give the students a shared space and give them 10 minutes to find out and share as much information about a topic as possible. They are also encouraged to share what they already know, which can usually be done in the first minute before they explore the web looking for videos, definitions, pictures or anything that explains the topic. The students can make connections from researching on-line and also by seeing what others have posted. I like to post questions that draw out deeper research about half way through the time. The students can take a few minutes for the "calm after the storm" to look quietly at what others have posted. They can respond, ask questions or just view quietly depending on the topic. My favorite site for webstorming is called Wallwisher. It allows students to post stickies without creating accounts. You can create accounts for all your students if you want but this is supposed to be quick tech as well as easy. Without accounts you do need to be vigilant and refresh continuously so you can delete anything someone posts that is inappropriate. The teacher needs to create an account to create walls but then students can get to the walls with just a link. Its simple, its quick and the kids seem to love it and get a lot from it.