Lesson #5: Inspire Creativity

Lesson #5: Inspire Creativity

During my student teaching assignment last Spring, I was introduced to Animoto, a video slideshow maker with music. Technology certainly has inspired more creative ways for teachers to create assessments. Instead of writing out vocabulary with plain old pencil and paper, students can create short movies with Animoto. If you keep your movie under 30 seconds, it’s completely free and the possibilities are unlimited. 

    The weekly assignment for my 6th grade social studies class was for each student to create their own Animoto using one vocabulary word. The requirements for the short movie are identify the word, display the definition, add 3 images that describe the word in the context of the unit, and music (Animoto provides a wide selection of music for free). The students had so much fun making and sharing their creations. I would choose three unique movies for the week and display them for the whole class to watch. The students loved it!

Another fun free online tool that inspires creativity is ToonDoo. I discovered this fun tool through my subbing experience. At first, I thought the students were playing games on the computer instead of doing their homework! ToonDoo is a website where you can create mini comic strips and/or comic books. It is endless fun, because you can use the characters provided or create your own. I have seen ToonDoo used for any subject: Language Arts (vocabulary), Math (problem-solving), Science (lab safety and Scientific Method), and Social Studies (re-telling history). 

Anytime that you can inspire creativity more than likely the students will be enthusiastic over the activity. Animoto and ToonDoo are great alternative assessments or can be excellent instructional aids, but that is just the tip of the iceberg! There are thousands of Web 2.0 Tools available for students and teachers. It should be a modern teacher's goal to explore the fountain of Web 2.0 Tools online in order to come up with new and exciting lesson plans every now and then. Sometimes teachers need a little inspiration for creativity, too. 




Reference:


AnimotoGuys. (2008). 60 Second How to Use Animoto. Available from http://youtu.be/6-apaZXsQrQ

Lesson #4: Develop a Community

Nowadays, every teacher has a class website, but are they using it to it's fullest potential to create a community? In this digital age, social networking is vital. You can fight it, but there is no way around it. Facebook changed how the world works in all aspects: Social, Education, Business, and Media.

We have to develop an online community in the classroom to keep up with society and the new way of learning. Schools all around the country are adopting small learning communities, but they should also develop online learning communities as well. Does Facebook have a place in the classroom?

Of course it does. I remember when I first made my Facebook account back in my senior year of college.  I used it solely to connect to my classmates and professors. It was a way to connect with peers from your college and other universities only. It was an easy way to ask questions and clarify assignments without waiting until the next class time.

I find it funny that many schools and districts have their own Facebook page or Twitter account, but those websites are blocked on the classroom computers for students. It just doesn't make sense to me. Educators can like Facebook in Education, a group on Facebook devoted to providing information to educators on how to safely and effectively use Facebook in the classroom.

It is a controversial issue on using Facebook in education due to safety issues, but there is a similar social networking site design for educational use: Edmodo. I have successfully used Edmodo during my student teaching assignment. Since it looks almost exactly like Facebook (it even uses the same color scheme), students and teachers catch on very quickly. I like how it's a social network with the features of an online class. Students are able to submit their assignments online, and the teacher is able share their work to the whole class and give immediate feedback. A teacher can also create groups to differentiate instruction. I know at the school where I student-taught, they used Edmodo for most of the gifted and talented projects. It was an excellent way for those students to collaborate outside of the classroom.


Whether or not you are a fan of social networking sites like Facebook, it is critical that teachers create some sort of online community for their class. An easy and safe way that teachers can create an online community is by incorporating blogs, podcasts, and web 2.0 tools to their standard classroom websites. Just a little extra time in designing a fun website is one step closer to creating a classroom community!


Reference:

Edmodo. (2011). Make Your Classroom a Community. Available from http://www.edmodo.com/assignment?mid=16207711

Lesson #3: Be Open to Criticism

     I read an article in the current issue of Educational Leadership about virtual coaching. It got me thinking about my student-teaching experience and the lack of coaching that I received. All too often, novice teachers are pushed in the lion's den before they are ready to handle it. That lack of training will make or break a new teacher quickly. 

Educational Leadership
October 2011

     Thankfully, I survived my Spring semester 6th grade student-teaching assignment, and now, I am facing the challenges of classroom management being a substitute. The other day the principle of the school I sub frequently for observed me, and then called me to his office after school to discuss what changes that I need to make to become a more effective teacher. Since I am still considered a novice teacher, he wants to help me become the best teacher that I can be. 

     The principle only had a small amount of criticism to share with me: 1. I need to make sure that I don't have my back to any student. (A little tricky since it's not my own classroom, and the desks were position in a way that made it nearly impossible to move about the room and maintain eye contact with all students at the same time.) 2. Be more in control during non-lesson times such as, dismissal/reading time/transitions.    

     While he was discussing how I could improve, I kept thinking back to the article, The Power of Virtual Coaching by Marcia L. Rock, Naomi P. Zigmond, Madeleine Gregg, and Robert A Gable. The article tells about the advances in professional development. Instead of letting a teacher struggle all year without a clue on how to improve, a coach can assist the teacher during the actual lesson. Using a webcam and a bluetooth headset, the coach can easily guide the teacher with immediate feedback during actual class time. 

     The principle told me that I need to be more in control during non-lesson times, but he didn't pinpoint what exactly I did for him to think that. With virtual coaching, teachers can have immediate guidance on what to do when chaos erupts or during an lesson that didn't quite go as expected. Talk about learning on the job!

     The article claims that virtual coaching makes teachers more effective faster. So, is this the future of evaluating teachers? Will this eventually be the new basis of PDAS?  The only drawback is that some teachers might be closed off to virtual coaching, because they might view it as Big Brother and be afraid. People can only improve if they keep an open mind and accept other's ideas. I believe that virtual coaching is the right track to help novice or expert teachers improve to provide the best education to students.

Reference: 

Rock, M.L., Zigmond, N.P., Gregg, M., & Gable, R. A. (October, 2011). The Power of Virtual Coaching. Educational Leadership. 69(2), 42-48.