Podcasts

When we think of podcasts we think about how our students can infuse them into their learning process the ideas can become endless.

Think about it, students could use podcasts to imagine they are traveling back to the past and have an interview with an inventor. Students could design questions that aligns with the overt and covert curriculum.

By having students create to the podcasts of others they are learning thru doing. They are using Thinking words and are truly immersed in the content.

Wiki's in the classroom.

When most educators think of using Wikipedia in their classroom it is a strict no, no policy. The reason for this is because of the definition of a wiki.
     A website developed collaboratively by a community of users, allowing any user to add and edit content via a web browser.

 Although this is the definition of a wiki; this is not it scope. A wiki follows the limits that they designers sets. Yes, text can be edited by anyone; but mistakes can be easily changed. The creator can see a log of who changes the content of the pages and if it is not aligned with the designer wants you can quickly restore previous revisions. Watch lists can be made to prevent vandalism and it allows us to teach our children about validity.

Students thru the use of a wiki in the classroom create a constructivist educational setting in which the students collaborate a synchronously to make a product. This helps them to situate cognition. A wiki also follows the 7 aspects of meaningful learning.

1. It has to be ACTIVE.
2. It has to be CONSTRUCTIVE
3. It has to be COLLABORATIVE
4. It has to be CONTEXTUALIZED
5. It has to be REFLECTIVE  
6. It has to be  INTENTIONAL
7. It has to be CONVERSATIONAL

Blogs

When infusing technology into your classroom you have to think of it's affordance. What is an affordance you ask? Well it is how can the use of a specific tool help of better achieve our end goal.

A blog. When incorporating the use of blogs into your classroom think about how it can best meet your goals. For example, if your students are reading the book "The Crucible" have them take on a character that they can relate to and then have them to blog about the events in the book from that characters perspective. Next, if you were studying Revolutions you could have your students to blog their character analysis and then require them to respond to other students analysis to check and see if they are on the right path.

When using a blog in your classroom remember that it afford student to read, analyze, synthesize meaning, and evaluate the integrity of what is being stated. They also can communicate with writer which helps them to formulate opinions.

Blogs are also useful in a classroom/ school district that does not have Blackboard because you can post assignments, due dates, and videos. So if your school district does not have a big budget you can use this FREE resource to help in alleviating some of the issues.

Who am I?

My name is Antoinette Dempsey and I started my teaching career in the fall of 2004 in Washington, DC. I taught United States History at Spingarn Senior High School in Washington, DC from 2004-2008. In 2008 I began teaching at my current school TC Williams High School in Alexandria, VA. I graduated from Temple University, located in Philadelphia, PA in 2004. Currently, I am working on my master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction at George Mason University. Email: Antoinette_Dempsey03@gmail.com

Creating a Video

In designing my lesson for the video assignment I had students make a movie. They did in camera editting and it was great. The students took one week to make their short films on the Punic Wars. How wonderful they all were.

The authentic problem was for the student to create a movie teaching a 3rd grade class about the Punic Wars since it is apart of their curriculum as well. Using the webquest I designed last semester; but changing it to have in camera editting to shorten the time needed in class was wonderful. The produces made me so proud. They created treatments, then story boards, practiced and finally filmed. Wow! They are good enough to go on YouTube.

WebQuest

     Webquests are a great way to have students use the web in order to learn new material or reienforce already learned material. The theory is that the teacher does all or his/her offloading to the web. This is great in theory; but in practice it is something very different. When using a webquest I will give this advice be patient with you students because they never read the directions.
     Most people do not read the directions on the bact of a box of easy- mac they just heat and sprinkle the fake cheese. This is what happened to me durng my webquest activity. I had to constantly guide my students answeing questions about the directions. If I could do this lesson all over again I would do the modeling, coaching and fading as explained by Vygostsky in Mind and Society instead of trying to teach two skills at once.

Thinking Games

Today I had my students use a video game to assist them in learning. How did I do that? I had them play the video game Civilizations. Civilizations is a simulation game that has an authentic problem ( creating your own empire from a tribe of people) from the ground up. The user is required to build a city's infrastructure, from personal homes, to bridges, to monuments for the Gods, to ships for trading. They are then required to use the variables given to them to react to trails that they will face as they build their civilization. My students were playing against each other and they have been broken up into teams of three all trying to beat the other teams within their classroom. It is wonderful to see them use what they have learned in class about the ancient peoples of that time and what it took for their civilizations to become successful and how they in turn have to use that previous knowledge and apply that to the game. It is a wonderful culminating acitvity for the end of the year.  I just wonder who is actually going to win. They are all so into the game.