http://www.classtools.net/fb/42/CVDkEe
Above is a link to one of my student's "Fakebook" pages for Psychology. I'm pretty impressed with the higher level thinking & creativity in this 'Fakebook" page, as well as the 60 others I'm still grading.
The "Fake Book" website: http://classtools.net/fb/home/page
has some "kinks" to work through, but it was a great way to assess my students understanding of "their" psychologist for our speed dating-Get-to-Know-Psychologists activity.
The not-so tech savvy kids struggled with parts of creating the fakebook page, but I gave them time & allowed for them to print a copy, just in case they had tech issues. To save a fakebook page, the kids get their own individualized link. I could not stress enough to copy & paste that link in lots of "places."
Though most of our kids seem to be very tech savvy, one student put it this say..."I'm good with technology, just not school technology." What my student said stuck with me because we need to remember they still need guidance to use tech for learning, just because they can win at a fastest text messaging contest or participated in the 30 days of posting pics on Facebook challenge, doesn't mean they can create a Prezi, Fakebook, Podcast, etc. for learning and understanding.
Basically, when planning tech lessons, plan for some learning and playing time. Really our students, the digital natives, do learn tech faster, but they require some "play" time to work through it because that is what they get at home. Have you ever heard them say, "I'm still getting used to my new phone" or maybe you have said that? They need to get "used" to learning and creating with new web tools. So, basically allow for some "play" time for them and watch what THEY CAN TEACH YOU!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Posted by
Heather Kilgallon
10:45 PM
This week I will be teaching a Web Tools class for teachers and I'm beyond lucky that I have an awesome co-teacher! With that in mind, Stephanie has taught the class a few times through and now I'm adding to the fun (well, I hope I'm adding that). One really super sweet website, we will start with is Symbaloo.
 |
| My screen shot of Symbaloo. |
I learned about Symbaloo on Twitter, through a great Tweeter, blogger & teacher, Ms. Beth Sanders. Here is a link to her blog: http://mssandersths.posterous.com/ I highly recommend checking it out when you have time.
Symbaloo is a cool site to organize your own links that you use OR to share with students. Sometimes we want to guide our students to websites. Then there are times when it is important and necessary that they use their own skills to find reliable and valid websites. Teachers can use Symbaloo for a web quest or a place to share links for a unit, such as Cold War, Huck Finn, Mole Day, 3.14, etc... Teachers can also show students how to create their own Symbaloo page for personal use or to save links while they collect research for a paper or project.
Either way, Symbaloo, is a site for everyone because it is so user friendly. It has a similar look for those who use an iPad, iPod or any smart phone with apps- totally meeting the needs of our 21st Century Students.
Here is a link to the Symbaloo for Fall 2011 Web Tools Class- It will be changing as we learn more sites in class: http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/d155webtools
Posted by
Heather Kilgallon
10:25 PM
Every semester I dabbled in blogging with my students, but I have never blogged for teachers, until now. So, why am I blogging now for educators? For the past 8-or-so-months, I have been considering the idea of blogging about teaching & technology. I will probably also add a post here and there about the pure joys of teaching. I decided why not now? Why not use my PLN (personal learning network) to help reach my goals & learn a few things through this journey?
My goal is to evaluate, analyze and reflect on different web tools, class activities, assessments, projects and other teaching adventures I dive into as the years go on...With a purpose in mind, I'm now ready to blog for other teachers.
Since I love music and singing-off-key...Let's get it Started with this blogging thing...
Posts
