The Evolution of Classroom Technology Classrooms have come a long way. There’s been an exponential growth in educational technology advancement over the past few years. From overhead projectors to iPads, it’s important to understand not only what’s coming next but also where it all started. We’ve certainly come a long way but some things seem hauntingly similar to many years ago. Also in 1925, there were “schools of the air” that delivered lessons to millions of students simultaneously. Here’s a brief look at the evolution of classroom technology. c. 1650 – The Horn-Book Wooden paddles with printed lessons were popular in the colonial era. c. 1850 – 1870 – Ferule This is a pointer and also a corporal punishment device. 1870 – Magic Lantern The precursor to a slide projector, the ‘magic lantern’ projected images printed on glass plates and showed them in darkened rooms to students. c. 1890 – School Slate c. 1890 – Chalkboard c. 1900 – Pencil c. 1905 – Stereoscope c. 1925 – Film Projector c. 1925 – Radio c. 1930 – Overhead Projector
Peer Editing | LitLearnAct At this time in the school year, I find that my students and I need to regroup and discuss the role of a peer editor in writing workshop. My students have made a lot of progress with peer editing, however, we need to regroup and talk about what is going well and what can be improved. This helps recharge and refresh everyone’s understanding of peer editing. I started this conversation with this simple chart. I asked my students: “What’s helpful?” My students wrote their thoughts on sticky notes, and we reviewed the ideas together. We had an open conversation about what was going well with peer editing and what needed improvement. My students and I agreed that it was best to offer a “Feedback Sandwich” when doing peer edits. An example is: 1) Compliment- “You have a good start to your story! 2) Constructive Criticism- “Parts of the story move slowly and I am confused about who the characters are.” 3) Suggestions- “Perhaps you could add some dialogue and action to make it move faster?
Faces of Learning | Home Curriculum Mapping: Forming Essential Questions for Elementary Music Class - Music & Technology -MusTech.NetMusic & Technology -MusTech.Net This week, I started updating my curriculum maps because 1) it was time, 2) the curriculum format had changed, and 3) the standards had recently changed in the past two years. The newest item in the mapping program was to add essential questions to each unit. What is an essential question? An essential question is one that cannot be answered with one answer. An essential question has several different answers that change over time. It also does not need to be answered in one lesson since the question can be an overarching question. What is a melody? How should I address them during the lesson? Elementary music educators use a variety of methods to address essential questions in their lessons. Where can I find examples of essential questions for music classes? Recently, I performed a google search about this topic and found many websites where music educators have listed their essential questions that they are addressing throughout the school year. Amy M.
Twitter Venn By: Jeff Clark Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2008 Venn Diagram's can be used to illustrate the amount of overlap between various sets of items. In the projects section of Neoformix I have just published an application I call Twitter Venn. It supports investigation into the relationship between how words are used within the messages of all the people using Twitter. Basically, you type in either two or three terms separated by commas, click 'Search', and get something like this: In this example, the large circle on the left contains a great many small red circles which represent messages (tweets) that contain the word 'chocolate' but do not contain 'milk'. You can click on one of the regions to see a word cloud of the most commonly used words in the corresponding messages. The bottom of the application will show tweets matching the selected region. If you enter three terms in the search box you get a diagram with three intersecting circles:
Flush with Funding, Flocabulary Will Let Students Write Their Own Rhymes When y=mx+b, b is the y-intercept, you’ll see. M is the slope, the rise over run. They’ll wait until we stop, but that day will never come. That’s a line from “ Linear Equations,” from Flocabulary, a New York City-based startup that makes catchy educational hip-hop videos. The music video maker will debut the Lyric Lab, a feature that will allow students to write and record their own educational hip-hop songs for class, at this year’s International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference. “Kids learn from each other through creating and sharing, so we eventually want to create a community,” Rappaport said, “but we want to take privacy super seriously and nurture that slowly. Building a community of users isn’t the only long-term goal, however. “We’ve been a front-of-the-classroom tool for five years,” Rappaport said. “Without providing these activities on the other side of the video, we’re leaving too much on the table,” Rappaport said.
Bullying and Cyberbullying Prevention for kids and teens. Effective Lesson Planning for the Secondary Choral Director - National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Effective Lesson Planning for the Secondary Choral Director By NAfME member Roland Wilson The Understanding by Design (UbD) framework (also known as backward planning) includes processes and methods that are fundamental to the choral ensemble educator. We have often heard the phrase “beginning with the end in mind.” Every choir director worth his salt commonly engages in this practice. One perk of music education is that we have the opportunity, as well as the responsibility to steer our students toward needed learning that is framed by curriculum, but not constricted by compulsory yearly testing. The UbD Framework The key elements of the Understanding by Design (UbD) learning model (Jay McTighe and Grant Wigginson) include: Identify Desired Results (Begin with the end sound in mind)Determine Acceptable Evidence(s) (What benchmarks are desirable along the way)Create the Learning Plans (Structure rehearsals and learning experiences to reach the final goal(s)). Writing essential questions
Academic Vocabulary and the Arts This week, let’s start with an experiment: Take a look at this artwork by William H. Johnson. Imagine yourself as a student who has just experienced a study of William H. Describe the betydelse of the Harlem in this work of art. Are you stuck on a certain word? Vocabulary is crucial to students’ success in school. Tier One: Basic vocabulary- words that most students know without instruction (baby, clock, plant) Tier Two: General academic vocabulary- High-frequency words that occur across domains (influence, coincidence, amusing) Tier Three: Domain Specific vocabulary- Low-frequency words (peninsula, lathe, decimal) One of the best entry points for arts integration is common vocabulary. Certain words are not included in any tier but are essential to students’ success. Typically, I advocate for Arts Integration to occur in the regular classroom. Resources: Related Academic Vocabulary and the Arts: Part 2
The Ultimate Common Core and Arts Resource-Education Closet 300 teachers, 55 curricula and 1 school. For two weeks this summer, I have been helping to coordinate the Curriculum Innovation Writing Academy with Anne Arundel County Public Schools. It has been an amazing experience: the collaboration and brain power when you combine all of these resources in one location is mind boggling. Teachers being able to walk across the hall and ask questions from other content areas is an essential component of any integrated curriculum, and the fact that every single content area now has integrated components makes me do the happy dance. What I have noticed from these past few weeks from the arts perspective has shown the need for today’s Free Friday resource. Turns out, trying to find a cohesive resource for ways that the arts connect to Common Core is rather difficult. We’ve gathered all of the resources we’ve created (thus far), as well as a handful of other excellent sites into one easy-to-read document. Related Arts Integrated Math Sample Curriculum Map