ISTE Journal 422C "Inspiring Students with Peer Tutoring"

There is a type of magic that happens when children teach other students. It is like a spark; it is a flash of something amazing that you may miss if you aren’t paying attention. In the article, “Inspiring Students with Peer Tutoring,” the author, Brandy Smith, details the important benefits of peer tutoring and gives educators a “how-to.” Smith discusses her experience with Peer Tutoring, where she mentored “Tech Kids,” as she called them, to teach other kids at the school. The Tech Kids were not always the best students either, it was the students who were ‘at risk.’ So how did she manage to pull it all off? Magic. Well, she pulled it off with the magic of good teaching.

      I like that Smith picked the students who had not yet experienced leadership positions. I often think about how to involve my students with behavior problems in a positive way. Specifically, I think about my students with behaviors that are clearly attention-seeking. What a great way for those students to experience attention in a positive environment! The other students she picked were the shy, withdrawn ones. These are the students who I would see to be more difficult to open up with a crowd actually, but I see the benefit. Also, we could always have them be a peer tutor in a small group or in a 1-to-1 setting.

         In my own classroom, I have always notice the benefit of having students do the teaching. I have always learned that you learn concepts better when you teach them to someone else, so this seems to be the perfect idea! Since many of my students are Freshmen, it would be hard for them to tutor younger students (unless we did a field trip to another school), but I still think I will be able to manage this within my own classroom. This article encompasses the NETS standard of “Promote and Model Digital Age Responsibility and Citizenship.” By training students to work as the models, this educator was demonstrating how to appropriately be a good citizen and a good role model!
Smith, B. (2006). Inspiring students with peer tutoring. Learning & Leading with Technology, (17)4, 18-21.

ISTE Article 422C: "Telling Stories with Video"

      In their article, "Telling Stories with Video," Carl Young and Sara Kajder discuss the benefits of teaching using digital video. They report, "integrating visual images with written text, as done in digital stories and multimodal compositions, ehances and accelorates comprehension" (Young and Kajder, p. 38).

     It is true that creating stories in a digital was allows for us, as educators, to be creative in presentation and for students to make an assignment their own. Students love options and this allows just that! Some of my favorite examples from the article were using digital video to do book trailers, posting video responses to their peers' thoughts, and analyzing poetry. I can see students really getting excited about this type of project-based learning.

      In my school, I have not seen many opportunities where students have used video to tell stories for Language Arts, but we have a very active video production class. They spend hours composing video for the daily announcements, for activities (the Foundation fundraiser), and for stories of student interest ("why is student parking such an issue..." They get very involved in what they are doing and it is easy to see that they care about their work. I would love to incorporate video stories into my lessons as well. The only problem I see is access to video cameras.

       The NETS that is developed here is number 1, "Facilitating and Inspiring Creativity," and 2, "Design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments." By engaging students in activities that they choose, we are able to create successful learning environments.

    Young, C., & Kajder, S. (2009). Telling stories with video. Learning & Leading with Technology, 36(8), 38.

Safer Passwords!

It is important to teach our digital learners to be safe on the internet. Here is a video and some tips that I will go over with my students to remind them (and myself) about the importance of protecting their passwords!



How to choose a safe password - Explania

For passwords, don’t use:
1- E-mail address or login
2- Personal details (ex: name, address, telephone number, registration # of car)

Even a random word from the dictionary isn’t safe!
Choose a password that is EASY to REMEMBER and won’t be cracked

Safe Passwords are:
- 8 characters long
- Have a combination of:
o Small letters
o Capital letters
o Numbers
o Punctuation Marks

Hint:
1- Replace a letter with a similar-looking letter. (ex: replace O with 0 or L with 1)
2- Replace a letter with a similar looking symbol (ex: ! for i)
3- Use capital letters in a strange order (for example, capitalize the second letter).
4- Start with a sentence, (ex: OnMarch19ismybirthday)

Tips to keep it safe:

NEVER write on paper
DON’T tell anyone
CHANGE your password often!
Test: Try it out!

ISTE Article 422C: "Lights, Camera, Learning!"

In the article "Lights, Camera, Learning," Glen Bull and Lynn Bell discuss the shift that we, as a society, have made toward using digital technology in our everyday lives. The authors note that youth are on the top of this trend, "the 10,000 hours per day posted on YouTube are the equivalent of 400 continually broadcasting channels." The power of digital technology is present in our youths' lives and it is growing. As educators, we can ignore or embrace the change toward the digital video world.

In Social Studies, digital film is replacing other historical archives. Because of this, teachers are able to add life and motion to lessons about the past. In the sciences, teachers are able to open students up to opportunities to "engage in scientific inquiry." It allows students to slow things down and look in more detail, or get involved. In mathematics, teachers are using digital video to give students opportunities for problem solving, visualizing math topics, and analyze mathematical relationships. In English Language Arts, digital learning has to do with "creating multimodal compositions that include images, sound, and digital video." No matter what the curriculum, this up-and-coming technological advance offers educators a way to enhance student learning.

I have noticed that with my students, videos provide examples for visual input. Since several of my students report that they benefit from visual learning, this gives a way for them to access the curriculum in a different way. I have begun using "Khan Academy" with my students and have seen improvement! My students (even those who do not have parents at home to help with assignments), can get assistance from the videos. They are able to pause, rewind, and watch multiple times in order to master the concept. Another example is using Next Vista Learning to show students some examples of potential careers available to them. This website has an expansive collection of videos that I use weekly to show students in the Workability program some jobs that they may want. I have also told the rest of my department about the videos so that other Special Educators can make use of the resource.

This article applies to the #3 Standard for NETS, "Model Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments." By using these types of media to support students, we, as teachers are promoting fluency in technological systems. If we model using technology appropriately, we are setting the tone for our students to do the same.

Bull, G., & Bell L. (2009). Lights, camera, learning! Learning & Leading with Technology, 36(8), 30-31.

Nutritional Change!

Hey Teach, can you text me the homework?

I am not sure how I feel about it, but maybe for important announcements and homework, since students do love their phones...




"SendHub is the latest group text messaging system that I've discovered. To use SendHub give people the opt-in code to join your contact list. Once people opt-in you can put them into a group within your account. Then when you have a message for a group you can send it out to all members of that group without sending the message to your entire contact database."