STSD Curriculum & Technology Update

Regular updates and musings on curriculum and technology in the Salisbury Township School District in Allentown, PA.

Do you need a face lift?

A presentation face lift, that is…

Here is a terrific presentation on how PowerPoint presentations can be made more effective.

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Smart Classrooms - 6th Grade

As most of you know some of the sixth grade teachers are piloting Smart Classrooms.  Each Smart Classroom has a Smartboard, multimedia projector and five laptops.  Our goal is to evaluate its effectiveness with our students.

I am seeing amazing results with the technology in my room this year. My reluctant readers are eager to decode with the Rewards reading program when I use the Smartboard as the instructional tool.  Using the Smartboard for small group guided reading lessons is also valuable.  We can record our ideas and come back to them in the future.  When you write on the chalkboard, you have to erase to make space for new ideas.  Here, our space is endless.

My science class has become more inquiry-based as I rely less and less on the textbook to guide my instruction.  These high-achieving/gifted students use the technology effectively to collect, evaluate, synthesize and present new information.  Without this technology in the classroom, we need to schedule our activities around the computer lab availability.

In English class, my remedial students are more motivated to implement the drafting portion of the writing process when they utilize the computer.  It is easier for me to edit their drafts when I conference with the students at a laptop.  The students are more likely to develop a higher quality product on the computer simply because they don’t have to handwrite additional drafts.

This technology is also shaping the instructional environment.  There are more small group activities as well as learning stations.  Whole group instruction comprises a very small portion of my classes.

Watch this video to find out more about how the technology is being used in the sixth grade Smart Classrooms.

Technology-in-Education Debate

The Economist is hosting a debate around this proposition: The continuing introduction of new technologies and new media adds little to the quality of most education.

The sharing of ideas around this topic is timely considering we are in the process of demonstrating how technology use in the classroom can change the way we teach and learn. If you would like to see what others around the world have to say about this topic, click through on the link below. You can “vote” and comment on the site, or you can join the discussion on this blog.

The Economist: The continuing introduction of new technologies and new media adds little to the quality of most education.

Reading Apprenticeship & Technology

Today we learned about a number of strategies and techniques to make text more meaningful to our students and to develop their metacognitive skills. As I was taking in the various sessions there were quite a few ideas going through my head on how we might bring these two initiatives together - literacy and technology. Did you think of any applications in which the strategies could be enhanced through the use of various technology tools? Now that you have some laptops and an interactive whiteboard, how might you use them to enhance literacy? Let’s get a discussion going!

Second Life

For those ready to push the shift to greater levels, there is Second Life. What is Second Life and how does it relate to education? The Second Life in Education Page describes Second Life as allowing “users or ‘residents’ to come together to interact, play, learn, do business and communicate in an online environment which is 100% user owned and created. The platform provides tools which allow residents to build their own environments, create highly personalized avatars, clothes, vehicles and all sorts of amazing virtual objects. Second Life residents can engage in rich, sensory experiences, authentic contexts, activities, and opportunities for reflection that form an exciting new domain for a range of educational applications including distance education, vocational and tertiary education and workplace training.”

This emerging technology is becoming very popular in society as well as the work world. Because of that there are many maverick educational technologists thinking about its application to education.

Several Resources:

1. Second Life in Education Page
2. Educational Uses of Second Life

This is really a cutting edge technology in education. If there is anyone interested in exploring the possibilities of this technology, please let me know. The IU will be offering a full day workshop, “Introduction to Second Life for Teaching & Learning” in March 2008.