Using QR Codes in the Classroom

All of you are familiar with QR codes.  QR stands for "quick response."When you shop in stores, most items have a code that allows the scanner to identify the item and its' price.  QR codes are very similar to this.  These codes are now being used in the classroom in a variety of ways.  The following website provides exciting explanations and ideas about the use of QR codes! Go check it out!

http://t.co/0SyDK7G

Transforming Education

The majority of high school students today have been exposed to various social media outlets such as MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter to name a few.  How can these, as well as other web 2.0 applications enhance education?  According to Will Richardson , noted author, blogger, and web 2.0 guru, technological changes are imminent and must play a major role in how we teach today.  We want our students to be life-long learners in a globally, connected world.  If we are to be successful in this day and age, we must "use the power of connections to transform education."

Technology Workshop 2011

The majority (97%) of graduating seniors are not considered digital literate.   According to the National Center of Teachers for English, students should be able to:

• Develop proficiency with the tools of technology
• Build relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively and cross-culturally
• Design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of purposes
• Manage, analyze and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information
• Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multi-media texts
• Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments

In other words, the days of standing in front of the class lecturing, using handouts, overhead projectors, and limited technology like power points are becoming more and more obsolete.  Today's youth are growing up in a digital-world.  Think for just a moment, compare television of old to digital movies today, the way they listen to music, video and online games, social media.  Times have changed and so must the field of education.

As we continue to make sure that our students learn the required objectives to pass state mandated assessments, we must examine the integration of technology in "teaching" these concepts.  Therefore, teachers would be using new strategies to teach required concepts. For many teachers, this takes them out of their comfort zones.  We have got to start teaching outside of the box.  If the use of technology is not a required part of our curriculum, then  we are handicapping children when it comes to learning & thriving in a 21st century digital age.  Children are no longer competing against the kid next door but against the global community.

Another Day of Technology - Wikis & Blogging

I am privileged to attend a workshop today over Wikis and Blogging.  Hopefully this will enable me to make better use of my class blog and wiki.  I will share with you the new information that I learn!

TitanPad to the Rescue!!!!

Google Docs let me down this year.  It kept giving my students an error message over and over.  This was disappointing.  We switched to TitanPad as a place to post research and for students to collaborate.  This has worked pretty well.  It doesn't provide many of the applications that Google Docs do but we are managing.  If you haven't checked out TitanPad, go give it a try.  It allows me to see what student is doing what ... I really like that!

http://titanpad.com/

New Technologies

Students were introduced to a couple of new technology applications that they will be using this semester.  Google Docs will be utilized by the students as they research and develop an in-depth analysis of a global issue.  Google Docs is great for collaboration, storing research, developing presentations, etc.  It is also great for student accountability and should help encourage each students to pull their weight, even though they are working in pairs.

Another Web 2.0 application that students were introduced to was the class Wiki.  The Wiki provides an avenue for students to work together in learning Geography.  Terms and identifications have been placed on the Wiki for the students to define together.  Hopefully, the students will be able to collaborate and teach each other important Geography concepts that pertain to each of our units.  New pages will be created in the Wiki as we progress through this semester. 

This is our first class Wiki and we will constantly be looking for ways to improve it over time. It is my goal that everyone contributes a little but reaps a big benefit!

The Pursuit of Education

Based on your knowledge of Social Studies and the article, "The Price of Going to School," explain why the pursuit of education should be an unalienable right.

"The Price of Going to Class"

Your paragraph should be posted by the time that you come to class Thursday, February 10.