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Teaching the iGeneration - Education Service Center Region XI

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on September 15, 2013 at 5:04:11 am
 

Teaching the iGeneration - Education Service Center Region XI

 

Direct Link to Today's Session Materials: http://bit.ly/escXIoct13 

 

Brainstorming Corkboard for Today's Session: http://padlet.com/wall/escXIoct13 

 

Backchannel for Today's Presentation: http://todaysmeet.com/escXIoct13 

 

 

You know what the iGeneration looks like in your classroom: iGeners are plugged in, having inherited a world with almost universal access to the Internet. Earbuds hang from backpacks, and cell phones are stuffed in pockets. Text messaging has replaced telephone calls, streaming video has replaced waiting for television shows to start, Wii has replaced Atari, digital photography has replaced film, and cable Internet has replaced dial-up modems.

 

But iGeners aren’t always the best students. Working quickly instead of carefully, they “info-snack” their way through class, flitting from instant experience to instant experience. Reading deeply, considering multiple perspectives, and interacting meaningfully with others are pushed aside in a race for instant gratification.

 

Moving learning forward, then, begins by introducing teachers to ways digital tools can be used to encourage higher-order thinking and innovative instruction across the curriculum. Today’s students can be inspired by technology to ponder, imagine, reflect, analyze, memorize, recite, and create—but only after we build a bridge between what they know about new tools and what we know about good teaching -- a process introduced by full time classroom teacher Bill Ferriter in this one day workshop.

 


 

 

Today's Slides

 

You can download today's slides in PDF format here.  They are also embedded below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Session 1: Introduction to the iGeneration

 

In February of 2010, Dan Brown dropped out of college, arguing that schooling was getting in the way of his education and that if educators aren't ready to change, society will move on without them.  Watch Dan's Open Letter to Educators and use this handout to reflect on his core argument that schools are failing to prepare kids for the world that they will inherit.

 

 

 

Session 2: Managing Information

 

In this section of the presentation, participants will explore the key elements of information management in the 21st Century. Specifically, we'll examine how Twitter's Search feature can help teachers find resources and ideas that will challenge their practice.  We will also examine Google's Reading Level feature (a feature that gives kids instant access to content that is at their reading level),  Instagrok (a tool designed to help student researchers sort and filter content), and Scoop.it (a tool that gives students the opportunity to practice identifying reliable web-based content).

 

 

Introduction to Twitter Search

 

 

To find an exhaustive list of educational hashtags, check out this page from the Cybraryman's website or this infographic sharing popular Twitter hashtags found on the EdTech blog.  There are literally HUNDREDS of content specific hashtags to choose from. Four that the participants in today's workshop might find interesting are:

 

#pblchat - a collection of resources connected to project based learning.

#edtech - a collection of resources being shared by educators interested in integrating technology into the classroom.

#txed - A general interest hashtag used to discuss trends in education in Texas.

#txidea - Another general interest hashtag used by Texas educators to share instructional ideas and lessons with one another.

 

 

Exploring Google's Reading Level Feature

 

One of the greatest challenges for student researchers is finding resources that are at an appropriate reading level.  That's where Google's Reading Level feature comes in.  With just two clicks, Google will automatically sort search results into basic, intermediate and advanced categories. Teaching students to use the Reading Level feature can help them to quickly find content that they can actually read -- which will help them to be more independent, successful researchers.  To learn more about the Reading Level Feature, consider exploring this video: 

 

 

 

InstaGrok Can Help Student Researchers find Starting Points

 

One of the greatest challenges that student researchers have is finding starting points when working on projects.  Because they lack background knowledge on many of the topics that they are studying, they simply can't formulate effective searches in popular search engines.  The result is the helpless hunting and clicking -- called 'fortuitous searching' - that you see when students are working on the computer. 

 

To help students search more efficiently, introduce them to Instagrok:

 

Instagrok - Instagrok is a tool that will automatically generate an interactive web for any topic that can point student researchers to related topics.  What makes it especially valuable is users are connected to external links on the topic that can be sorted by reading level.  Instagrok also automatically generates a glossary for important terms related to the topic of study. This handout can be used to introduce students to InstaGrok.

 

 

Using Scoop.it to Practice Content Curation

 

Another interesting tool for experimenting with content curation is Scoop.it -- a service that allows users to curate public collections of weblinks around individual topics. 

 

What makes Scoop.it unique is that it automatically searches for new content that users might want to add to their public collections and then makes adding that content -- along with a short description of why it is useful -- easy.  Recently, two of Bill's students used this handout to create a public collection of resources related to the New York City soda ban.  Bill wrote about that experience here.

 

Public Scoop.it pages give students opportunities to practice managing multiple streams of information and evaluating the reliability of online sources -- two additional skills that define literate 21st Century citizens.  Curating public Scoop.it pages also gives students opportunities to raise their voice on issues that matter and to have their thinking affirmed and/or challenged by commenters.

 

 

 

Session 3: Exploring Visual Persuasion

 

In this section of the presentation, participants will explore the key elements of visual persuasion. We’ll be looking at statistics connected to the increasing role that visual influence is playing in our world. We’ll also be looking at the characteristics of persuasive images and video. Finally, we’ll be looking at the process for creating persuasive visual images and/or videos using PowerPoint and Animoto -- a web-based tool that makes video production easy.

 

 

Exploring Memorable Messaging Efforts

 

In order to explore the characteristics of memorable messages, let's take a quick look at three of the most memorable visual persuasion campaigns in recent memory: The Will it Blend channel on YouTube, the Pouring on the Pounds video created by the New York State Department of Health, and the Trunk Monkey commercials produced by the Suburban Auto Group.  Use the Exploring Memorable Messages handout to guide your thinking while viewing these videos.

 

 

Student Samples of Visual Persuasion

 

Now that you've learned more about the characteristics of influential visual images, explore the two samples of student projects below and see if you can identify the essential skills that students had to learn in order to create their final products. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PowerPoint Image

 

 

 

 

Using Creative Commons Images and Music

 

One of the best parts of teaching students about persuasive visual images is that you can also teach students about the importance of using Creative Commons Images.  Creative Commons is a new form of copyright that the creators of content—music, images, text—are using to license their images.  Creative Commons licenses are designed to encourage others to use content freely in new creations. 

 

Watch the video embedded below to learn more about the logic behind Creative Commons licensing and content.

 

 

So where can you find Creative Commons content? 

 

While there are a ton of different online sources for content that creators are sharing freely, my favorite is Flickr Creative Commons mostly because Flickr is such a popular photo-sharing website that there are almost always dozens -- if not hundreds -- of really good pictures to choose from no matter what topic I'm building a presentation around. 

 

Of course, Flickr is also almost always blocked at schools.  That makes Morguefile , Fotor's Free Stock Photo Collection and WP Clip Art useful.  While the collections at Morguefile and WP Clip Art aren't nearly as large -- and the quality of photos isn't nearly as high -- at least they're not blocked by school Internet filters, right?  Of the three services, session presenter Bill Ferriter likes Fotor the best simply because it automatically generates a citation for every image returned in its search results.

 

The Search feature on the Creative Commons website is also incredibly useful simply because it allows users to search for Creative Commons content in several of the most popular online warehouses.  While it's not TECHNICALLY a search engine itself, it will automatically send your request for Creative Content to search engines like Google and return results in a new window.  And finally, Larry Ferlazzo has put together a fantastic collection of the best photo collection sites on the web

 

And how do you create a citation for Creative Commons images?  

 

Just because Creative Commons content is free to use without asking for direct permission from content creators DOESN'T mean that users can take Creative Commons content without giving credit to the original creator.  Just like content created with traditional copyright protections, citations are required whenever using Creative Commons content.  This infographic from Fotors details the steps users must take in order to generate proper citations for Creative Commons Content. 

 

 

Supporting Visual Persuasion Projects with Digital Kits

 

When session presenter Bill Ferriter tackles visual persuasion projects in class, he ALWAYS gives his students digital kits -- simple collections of Creative Commons images, quotes and statistics that they can draw from when assembling their final product.  Doing so frees students from the time-consuming search for potential content, freeing them to spend more time thinking about the message that they are trying to create.  Doing so also means that students can create higher-quality final products in a shorter period of time, increasing their motivation. 

 

Examine the digital kits below to get a better sense for just what they look like.  While exploring, discuss whether or not you believe digital kits are a good idea:

 

Bullying Digital Kit:   PowerPoint Slides     Collection of Quotes and Statistics

Created for use with a Stand Up to Bullying effort in Bill Ferriter's school.

 

21st Century Learning Digital Kit:   PowerPoint Slides     Collection of Quotes and Statistics

Created for use by teachers and students developing short videos that detail the changing nature of teaching and learning in today's world.

 

 

Session 4: Exploring Verbal Persuasion

 

No matter what happens in our digital world, learning the skills of verbal persuasion -- being able to influence others with carefully crafted words -- will remain important.  These resources and materials may be useful to teachers who want to introduce their students to strategies for being persuasive in writing.  Being persuasive in writing is particularly important for students who want to do work that matters Using simple digital tools to raise awareness about causes in a process dubbed clicktivism, any class can draw attention to the issues that they care about easily. 

 

While many question whether clicktivism is a productive form of activism -- clicktivists often have short attention spans and issues don't draw attention for long enough to result in sustainable change -- for kids with few real options for "making a difference" simply because of their age, using digital tools to get behind causes can be incredibly rewarding and productive.

 

Verbal Persuasion Student Sample

 

To see just what clicktivism can look like in action in a middle school classroom, explore the following two resources:

 

#SUGARKILLS - After spending a part of the school year studying the New York City soda ban, students in session presenter Bill Ferriter's classroom decided that they wanted to use their voices to raise awareness about the amount of added sugar in the foods commonly eaten by teens and tweens.  The result:  A pretty engaging blog that is attracting the attention of teachers and students worldwide. 

 

An Interview with the #SUGARKILLS Gang: This link connects to an interview that Bill's #SUGARKILLS students conducted with Middleweb magazine.  Listen to their voices and identify the skills that his students are learning by participating in their attempts to change the world around them for the better. 

 

Classroom Blogs as a Forum for Verbal Persuasion

 

One of the best tools for giving students the opportunity to practice verbal persuasion are blogs.  Blogs are powerful because they provide students with a transparent forum to reflect around the issues that they care about.  More importantly, they provide a very public audience and a sense of empowerment and voice that resonates with kids.  Finally -- like collaborative conversations -- blog comment sections provide opportunities for authors to have their thinking challenged by readers. 

 

Three Tips for Structuring Successful Blogging Projects

 

Tip 1 - Create ONE Topic-Focused Classroom Blog 

 

A lesson that session presenter Bill Ferriter learned early in his work with blogs is that they are far more vibrant -- and attract far more attention -- when they are updated regularly.  The challenge for student bloggers, then, is generating enough content to bring readers back for more. 

 

The solution in Bill's classroom is to always START classroom blogging projects with ONE classroom blog that EVERY student can make contributions to.  Doing so takes the pressure of generating content off of individual students simply because there are dozens of potential writers who are adding content at any given time. 

 

Bill also tends to create blogs that are focused on a specific theme or topic rather than general blogs that contain content across several domains and/or interest areas.  By focusing his blogs on a specific theme that is connected to a cause that his kids are passionate about, he can tap into the desire of students to "do work that matters."  He sells these kinds of blogs to his students as an opportunity to raise awareness about important issues.

 

That does mean, however, that his blogs often have clear starting and ending points.  Once students feel like they've covered an issue completely, they are generally ready to move on to something new -- and their blog becomes a static home for people interested in learning more about an interesting topic.

 

For an example of this kind of blogging project, check out the Sugar Kills blog -- a site that Bill's students are currently maintaining that is designed to raise awareness about the amount of added sugar that is in the common foods that today's tweens and teens eat.  

 

You might also want to check out the Birds of Salem blog -- a site that a group of Bill's students put together in 2012 as a resource for the school community.  Their goal -- the work that they thought mattered -- was helping visitors to our school's campus to know more about the birds they could find on our grounds. 

 

 

Tip 2 - Develop Lists of Other Student Blogs for Your Kids to Read During SSR Time

 

Another mistake that session presenter Bill Ferriter made during his early work with classroom blogging was thinking that "classroom blogging" started and ended with WRITING blogs.  In reality, there is a TON of hidden power in encouraging students to become avid READERS of blogs as well.  Doing so gives students samples of the kinds of writing that blogs make possible.  They can spot topics for new posts and post styles that they might never have considered. 

 

Along with READING blogs, Bill also encourages his students to become active in the comment sections of the blogs that they are reading.  Responding to the bits written by others is an important bit in developing student bloggers because it provides short, safe opportunities to craft first-draft thinking about important issues.  Each comment helps students to practice articulating thoughts in writing.  What's more, each comment can serve as a starting point for a longer post on a classroom or personal blog.

 

To encourage students to become avid readers of other blogs, Bill used Netvibes -- a free RSS feed reader -- to create this collection of blogs that students might enjoy. By doing so, he made it easy for students to find blogs worth reading.  He also gave students time during sustained silent reading to explore his classroom blog collection. 

 

To encourage students to become active commenters on other blogs, he required that any student that chose to read blogs during sustained silent reading leave at least one comment on another blog.  To help them master the skills necessary to leave good comments, he used this handout.   

 

If you teach elementary schoolers, this video on composing good blog comments made by Linda Yollis's second and third graders may be an even better resource to explore.  It makes the principles of good blog commenting approachable for younger audiences.  

 

And if you teach middle grades students, you might consider sharing this reflection on the characteristics of bad blog comments written by a fifth grade student named Max in Pernille Ripp's classroom.  Written in an engaging style that will resonate with students, Max's post reminds readers that "cool" isn't a comment worth responding to!

 

 

Tip 3 - Recruit Commenters to Push Against Student Thinking

 

For any blogger, the ultimate reward is crafting a piece that resonates with readers and leads to a TON of comments. 

 

Every comment left for a blogger is proof positive that they DO have an audience and that they ARE being heard.  Just as importantly to classroom teachers, however, every comment is an opportunity for a student blogger to have their thinking challenged -- and the tension that results whenever thinking is challenged ALWAYS leads to new learning as students are forced to refine and revise and polish their positions on the topics that they care about. 

 

Take a look at how students used a blog in Bill's classroom to wrestle with the income disparity between American oil companies and the Nigerians who work for them.  Then, look at how he turned blog comments into new sources for challenging conversations for his kids.

 

The challenge, however, is that classroom blogs won't AUTOMATICALLY generate enough attention to receive comments.  The simple truth is that in a digital world where there are thousands of new blogs created every hour, "being heard" isn't nearly as easy as "getting published." 

 

To address this challenge, Bill always recruits volunteer commenters when his students are working on a blogging project.  Most of the time these volunteers are parents or PTA members who want to help at school but can't find the time to get away from work during the day.  Bill will ask them to monitor the blog for a month at a time and to leave two or three comments a week that are designed to challenge students. 

 

Other times, Bill turns to his own professional friends and family members -- pointing them to specific posts that he'd like to generate comments for.  He's also established relationships with other classrooms that are blogging, encouraging both classes to read and comment on one another's posts.  Doing so generates momentum, ensuring that students feel the reward that comes along with having an audience.

 

If you're interested in establishing relationships with other classrooms that are blogging, spend some time poking around the growing collection of blogs at the Comments4Kids website.  And if you're trying to generate comments for individual blog entries, consider sharing a link to the post in Twitter using the #comments4kids hashtag.

 

 

Blog Services Worth Exploring

 

While there is no single blog service that is perfect for every teacher in every school, several are popular with educators.  Here are three worth considering:

 

 

Wordpress -- Wordpress is one of the most popular blogging services used both in and beyond schools.  It's got a ton of really clean themes and layouts which authors enjoy and appreciate.  It also gives students experience with a tool that is widely used beyond school for publishing. 

 

Blogger -- Blogger is Google's blog service, which makes it another tool that is worth introducing to students who are likely to spend their lives working with Google's products.  While Blogger has many of the same features of both Posterous and Wordpress, the visual layout of Blogger blogs is not as polished or interesting as the other two services.

 

Kidblog -- Kidblog is a blog service that is specifically recommended by and for elementary school teachers.  One of the primary advantages of a service tailored for younger students is that you can find sample blogs worth exploring and the safety features are customized for individual age groups.  Here are some step -by - step directions for getting a Kid Blog off the ground.

 

 

Additional Resources for Structuring Student Blogging Projects

 

Like any other digital project, classroom blogs require structure in order to be successful.  Simply creating a blog and then keeping your fingers crossed hoping that kids will create the kind of content that you can be proud of is a strategy that is bound to fail.  The following handouts can be used by teachers to provide structure to classroom blogging efforts:

 

Teacher Tips for Blogging Projects : Over the course of his time blogging with students, session presenter Bill Ferriter has learned a TON of lessons about how to successfully manage classroom blogging projects.  This handout details 10 important tips that you might want to consider before starting your own classroom blogging projects. 

 

Tips for Leaving Good Blog Comments : One of the mistakes that teachers make when setting up blogging projects is overlooking the role that comments can play in the blogging lives of their students.  This handout is designed to help students find ways to contribute to classroom blogs through comment sections. 

 

If you teach elementary schoolers, this video on composing good blog comments made by Linda Yollis's second and third graders may be an even better resource to explore.  It makes the principles of good blog commenting approachable for younger audiences.  

 

And if you teach middle grades students, you might consider sharing this reflection on the characteristics of bad blog comments written by a fifth grade student named Max in Pernille Ripp's classroom.  Written in an engaging style that will resonate with students, Max's post reminds readers that "cool" isn't a comment worth responding to!

 

Blog Entry Scoring Checklist : This handout is designed to help teachers -- and potentially other students -- to spot the kinds of traits that define the best blog entries.  It is useful for helping to define the characteristics of quality content for students in the early stages of their blogging lives.

 

 

Planning Your Own Project

 

While there won't be time for participants to begin planning and preparing for their own digitally-enhanced classroom project during our time together on October 4th, the following resources can support teachers or technology facilitators who want to begin driving positive digital change in their classrooms and/or schools.

 

Evaluating Your Current Reality

 

Working with partners, use the Essential Skills Check to identify the kinds of technology integration projects that are likely to be worth pursuing in your buildings.  When you’re finished filling out your survey, record your responses in our group survey found here: http://bit.ly/igenskillschec

 

Creating a Digital Project Plan

 

Using the information that you generated while completing your Essential Skills Check, begin crafting a new digital project.  Use the Blueprint for Building Digital Projects handout in your session materials to guide your thinking and planning.

 

Optional Activity:  Technology Vision Planning

 

Instead of planning a classroom-based technology integration project, school leaders in the audience might be more interested in working through the Technology Vision Statements, Technology Planning Guide and Technology Planning Scenario activities. These tasks are designed to result in a meaningful vision for technology integration at the school level.

 

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