My Website For MD400 https://sites.google.com/a/student.fairfield.edu/ms-powers/

Inquiry-based learning - the right direction for todays students

As a social studies teacher, I find inquiry-based learning an important tool in my classroom. As a student I had limited experience with inquiry-based learning until college. However, I believe students should have experience with inquiry-based learning in my subject area. Inquiry-based learning is an important tool in engaging students when teaching history, and lends itself to historical thinking skills. In addition to teaching the facts of history, giving students assignments that enable them to come up with their own solutions to complex social issues is one way I would use inquiry-based learning in my classroom. For example, see my wiki using on the U.S. Constitution as a living document. http://techsavvygals.wikispaces.com

Copyright Issues: it's complicated

Copyright issues can have serious implications for educators, especially those unaware of the rules surrounding copyright law. As we strive to make our lessons and classrooms more technologically savvy, both teachers and students must be more conscious of copyright issues than ever. While the basic rule of thumb for educators should be – is the purpose I am using this educational? Is my student’s use of this educational? – the internet certainly complicates things. Both educators and students have access to more copyrighted material through the internet than ever before, and the laws governing use of that intellectual property are less concrete for students used to simply copying and pasting items without referencing. As educators we should teach our students to respect copyright laws, by building teaching about copyright issues in our classrooms.  

Photoshop: Bringing Students Around the World (No Visa Required)

Teaching Globalization in Ghana is a difficult undertaking. It is sometimes hard for students in remote areas with limited access to technology to imagine a world outside their own experience.  Photoshop solved that problem and allowed me to bring my students to me. I took a photo from one of our social studies classes, where they were acting out how Ghana became colonized by the British. They posed in front of the school as the 8 Fante Chiefs who signed the Bond of 1844, the first official document of colonial government. The Bond is a key part of their history, and also celebrated on 6 March 1957 when Ghana became the first independent nation in Africa. The Queen granted Ghana's independence on the anniversary of the Bond.

Using Photoshop I was able to put the "8 Fante Chiefs" in Time Square - while the picture is of the small boys I taught - it should illustrate their understanding of government, like one might do for Standard 5. It shows that independence has no limits, globalization is a process, and is fun at the same time. It could have made for a great lesson.

Finding A Standard and Bringing it to Life

For this semester I will be targeting Content Standard 5: United States Constitution and Government from Social Studies Grades 5-8. I intend to link in-class projects, and homework around this standard. This will be difficult, because unlike other standards it has clear outcomes that are difficult when teaching for social justice, as is my plan. However, I choose it because I hope to employ technology to help teach all groups ways to connect with our nations government. As a result, I hope they will become more active citizens that understand America is an ideal as well as a place – and through our government, day after day we are to challenge the status quo, and try to make that ideal a reality. 

STANDARD
United States Constitution and Government

Content Standard 5: Students will apply knowledge of the U S Constitution, how the U S system of government works and how the rule of law and the values of liberty and equality have an impact on individual, local, state and national decisions.   http://tinyurl.com/6cseutg

 

Tableau Vivant: fantastico!

Educators are more aware of different learning styles than ever. However, acknowledging difference is not the same as addressing it properly. I had a largely visually based class of 9 to 12 year old, while teaching in social studies in Ghana. Not being a visual person, designing lessons for the group was difficult for me, especially given the content of Ghanaian Social Studies. Doing a “Tableau Vivant” exercise as my classmates and I did last week could be an excellent way to engage students through technology, and allow visual learners to digest a complex or important event in history. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, any guesses at what my classic novel my classmates and I are depicting? (Clue: say goodbye to Piggy!!!)

Props to Picnik

Using Picnik.com I was able to apply new looks to old photos. I also used the cropping tool to use the rule of thirds and was able to re-size photos for the web... Fantastic!

Thoughts on “Teddy Bears Go Blogging”

 Educational blogs seem to be a hot topic for teachers, especially as we strive to bring the world into each classroom. The author clearly found a project that achieved helped her students engage in a unique project that achieved unique learning outcomes beyond that of the original learning objective. Like all adventures in technology and education, the teacher, by interacting with both her students and their global partners, modified the project as it went on. The teacher became a student of technology by listening to desires of her pupils, thereby enhancing their experiences. Brenda Sherry’s experience illustrates the potential for blogs to not only facilitate learning, but also motivate students.

"Learning Styles"

I found these VAC learning style quizzes very interesting. The ones I'd previously seen did not go into nearly as much detail. Also, its nice that the web derives the results.

Learning to Utilize Technology in the US: Thoughts from the developing world

I recently returned from Africa, where I taught at a small elite football academy in the Eastern Region of Ghana for 8 months. Our goal, was to provide 52 pupils - ages - 9 -16 - with a first rate education.

One of the greatest challenges we faced was preparing our students, who are often up for scholarships in the US and UK to elite boarding schools, with a 21st century education. I do not mean to say that Shakespeare has lost its value, or that textbooks have become irrelevant. One of the biggest problem we faced was integrating technology into there learning process. For example, when I thought about typing speed, I thought of resumes for secretaries on Mad Men, but with Facebook and the Internet America's youth has typing skills by 13 that shocked me.

Simple things like typing, searching the Internet, sending an email have become necessities for functioning as citizens in our global society. But, the technology available in the US - Internet speed alone - provides educators and students with unique ways to improve learning outcomes. This is a gift we must take advantage of in our classrooms.