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Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Making Learning Meaningful for New Gens with Readings, Watchings, Listenings, and Doings @ ISTE '13

Making Learning Meaningful means more than "getting the point across." Meaningful Learning is a transformative experience where learners are building a Relation with what they are learning. Instead of memorizing information that can be recited on a test on Friday morning, Meaningful Learning involves students:
  • Connecting to content because of interest.
  • Finding relevance because it relates to what they already know.
  • Having a great deal of freedom in how they involve themselves with the content. 

Building a Relation with what you are learning involves making decisions about what you are learning and how you will learn it. It doesn't mean that the teacher is not leading the learning process. It means that the teacher is not the center of all content and the purveyor of knowledge to the learner. The teacher learns along with the learner.

Today I am sharing my ideas with educators from around the world at the ISTE '13 conference in San Antonio. This is a huge international event where 20,000 educators from 70 different countries convene to share how they have been teaching and learn new ideas for how technology can be used to support learning.  It is an INCREDIBLE event.

I am presenting on Wednesday, June 26 from 11:45 - 12:45 in Room  217 D. I don't know how many people will be at the conference but you will be able to follow along through a couple of pathways from anywhere in the world.

Twitter
For all of you twitterers, we will use the hashtag #MLMiste When you tweet, include this hashtag in your message so that others can follow along with your ideas. If you want to see what was posted, click on the hashtag above and it will show you what has been said.

Collaborative Notes
We will also use collaborative note taking. This is a Google Doc that I created and then laid open to the world for anyone to edit. (tinyurl.com/MLMiste) This means that you just need to click on the link and it will take you to the Google Doc. You don't have to sign-in but you will be known as Anonymous???? when you are entering your ideas.  Go ahead and add the info that you find interesting.  Go out on the web during the session to find relevant information and add the link to the document.

The Slideshow

I have posted this slideshow on SlideShare.  You are welcome to follow along or use the content later with your colleagues or students.  Just remember to provide attribution for where you found it. =-)







(Will be posted before the presentation on Wednesday.  Never know what else we will add.)

Generations
I will begin our discussion with talking about Generations. The world is changing and so are the learners we encounter in out classrooms. We MUST consider that if we are going to Make Learning Meaningful. Here is a small chart that distinguishes the generations.  The rest of the content on this can be found in the slideshow above. 



Readings, Watchings, Listenings and Doings (RWLD)
Readings, Watchings, Listenings, and Doings (RWLDs) are online pages that hold digital  content for topics that you are studying in class. Instead of relying on a textbook, you are providing your learners with Multimedia Opportunities to prepare for the work you will be doing in class.

Check THESE Out!!
Here are some examples of RWLDs that I use in my classes. They are designed for University classes at the University of Northern Iowa, but you could use this same format for 3rd graders. It's just a matter of making a blog posting. 


This is the Flipped Classroom LONG BEFORE there was a Flipped Classroom

You will can learn more about RWLDs at my posting Textbooks are NOT Enough Anymore!

Thank You!!
I hope that this session has been useful for you. I am interested in knowing if and how this material has been useful to you. I hope that this is just the beginning of our connection.
 How else can I help you?  Respond in the comments below.

Z

Monday, June 17, 2013

Tech It To the NEXT Level

I am privileged to be Skyping with Amy Kangas and her wonderful class of educators who are spending the next week exploring what it means to be a 21st Century Teacher.  

While I will just be there to answer questions and share some experiences, here are a few resources that might be useful for our discussion.


BackChannel:



Technology Integration Matrix:

UNI Instructional Technology Masters Program

Sunday, June 16, 2013

MY GAWD! It's Saturn thru Google Hangout!!!

There's Saturn. I can't believe it!

Fraser Cain in Courtenay, British Columbia, is SHARING THE UNIVERSE!
He is using Google Hangout to share this image on his telescope with other astronomers from all over the world.

English: Auroras on Saturn. Français : Des aur...
English: Auroras on Saturn. Français : Des aurores polaires sur Saturne. Русский: Полярное сияние на Сатурне. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I know that the technology is here and I have connected with people all over the world, but this video brought me to tears.  I don't know why, but the idea of connecting people from all over the world to through Google Hangout to see Saturn through a personal telescope in British Columbia, Canada, was incredibly moving for me, the teacher.

Sure, we have seen telescopic images on our televisions or even our computers, but this experience is not being directed by "The Establishment." It isn't something on PBS that someone in New York decided would be good for us to see. It is about a Canadian amateur astronomer connecting through Google Hangouts with individuals in Pakistan, Australia, U.S., Mexico, South America, South Africa and ??. It is an example of people sharing/learning/teaching with one another in a way that wasn't possible even 5 years ago.

This is what 21st Century Learning is all about. It is about connecting and collaborating and exploring on a global basis. It is about using our daily resources to constantly expand our opportunities with others. 

What are you doing in your classrooms to encourage such collaboration?

Z

Happy Father's Day
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Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Voki is a FUN way to do an Intro!


Voki is a fun way to have an avatar introduction you to your class.  I have asked my students to do this, but rarely have done it myself.  I am going to do that this year.  Should be fun.  Here is the intro that I did for an INTEL course that I am taking called "Facilitating and Implementing Online Professional Development."  Should be fun.

What do you use for introductions?  Can you suggest Avatars that you can make talk?  I tried Xtranormal but it didn't work correctly.

Z
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Wednesday, May 08, 2013

What Do Teachers Make? (Happy Teachers' Appreciation Day)

Happy Teacher's Appreciation Day, Everyone!!!

This is the day when we will appreciate you teachers who brought out the best in us. You made us achieve levels of excellence that we thought impossible.  You challenged us to succeed!

I must admit that my best days in life are those when I made a difference in someone's life. It might be a student or a son or a grandson or a complete stranger, but I possess the Teacher's Gene and it is what gives me pleasure.

I recently had dinner with a couple of guys who were my college roommates back at UCSB.  We started talking about retirement.  I had thought about retirement before but that night I couldn't imagine living a life when I wasn't trying to improve our classrooms by providing future and present teachers with innovative learning experiences that they could use in their own classrooms.  I couldn't imagine not working with students to challenge them to do the impossible.

I couldn't imagine not teaching.

I just bumped into Taylor Mali's talk on What Do Teachers Make.  It is a 3-minute soliloquy about what a difference teachers make in the lives of their students.  Here it is for you to watch along with a list of what Taylor identifies as "What Teachers Make."    Go Taylor.


Teachers Can Make . . .
  • kids work harder than then ever thought they could.
  • a C+ feel like a congressional medal of honor.
  • an A- feel like a slap in the face
  • kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall in absolute silence.
  • parents tremble in fear when I call home to compliment students on their actions. 
  • parents see their children for who they are and who they can be.
  • kids wonder, question and criticize
  • kids apologize and mean it
  • them write, write and write and read, read, read definitely and beautiful until they will never misspell either of those words again.
  • them show all their work in math class and hide it on their final drafts in English.
  • them realize that if you have this (brains) and you follow this (heart) then you don't have to worry about what you make ($$$)
Teachers make a Difference . . . what about you?

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