Sunday, September 13, 2015

Surfing the Web for new Ways to Learn


All about websites! This week we read websites regarding our topics. We all started with an article from Wikipedia (love Wikipedia!) and then went in search of two additional websites to help us deepen our understanding of our topics. Here is what I discovered while surfing the web this week.


Image source: Wikipedia
"Learning Styles" from Wikipedia
As expected, full of very educated opinions on learning styles. Also boring. This web page did not help me much, so to be honest, I moved on.



"The Differentiator"
Image source: http://moodle.nptcgroup.ac.uk



I thought "The Differentiator" was the coolest web page I had seen in a long time. This web page allows students to design projects based on his or her own strengths. I really thought this would be a great tool for my students to use. I played with it several ways and generated many project statements. I just knew my students would appreciate the opportunity to design their own projects. Wrong. Several of them simply decided to write an essay because it was easier. I wanted my students to get excited about the work they were doing, not just have a "get it done and over with" attitude. I still might find a way to use it, but what I am doing now doesn't seem to be helping my students learn. Useful for forcing me to recognize the various learning styles of my students, but not really useful for my students.
 


"Facing History and Ourselves: Teaching Strategies"
Image source: https://www.facinghistory.org/
Mission Statement: Facing History and Ourselves is an international educational and professional development organization whose mission is to engage students of diverse backgrounds in an examination of racism, prejudice, and antisemitism in order to promote the development of a more humane and informed citizenry.
By studying the historical development of the Holocaust and other examples of genocide, students make the essential connection between history and the moral choices they confront in their own lives.

I first heard of Facing History last spring when I was finishing a project with the Library of Congress. FHAO had just launched a set of lesson plans for To Kill a Mockingbird. Since I teach this novel twice a year, I thought I should look over the lessons. I was amazed. These were lessons that didn't ask students to crank out the usual essays or the standard multiple choice questions, these were lessons that asked students to read a scene in the book, then look at the history of racism in our world, then actually talk about it. I teach a unit on the Civil Rights Movement every year. A friend asked me last winter if I thought I was changing the thinking of my mostly-white students. I stated that, no, I didn't think I was, but I did hope that when they are confronted with racism, they recognize it. I want them to acknowledge it. Facing History's perspective on Mockingbird gives me the opportunity to do just that.  Most useful website I have use in, well, maybe ever.

Teacher Tech
Image source: Teacher Tech
"Teacher Tech" is actually a blog, not a website. It is written by Alice Keeler, author of 50 Things You Can Do With Google Classroom. Google Classroom is now the portal my school is using to push out online assignments, I figured I should learn it. I read the book literally in about an hour. There was one tip that I felt I had completely missed in my own explorations of GC, but at the end of the book, Keeler's blog was mentioned. I have found the blog far more useful than the book. I don't read it every week, but I do check it every so often, skip some posts, share some posts, and really study a few. So I guess the most valuable part of the book was the blog! Useful for giving me ideas and new tips for making the most of the Google Classroom (as limited as it is).




My plan for next week: The Book Whisperer (finally, no more putting it off) and poetry! I am planning to read Rhythm and Resistence: Teaching Poetry for Social Justice. 
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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 14, 2015 at 12:41 PM

    Thanks for making your blog it really helped. In some classes I have to come up with my own projects and I keep doing the same thing over and over again. The Differentiator sounds like something really cool to try. I like how on facing history and ourselves you noted when you learned about that. I like the 50 things you can do with google classroom because it means you couldn’t figure something out one way so you tried something else just to figure out what you needed to know instead of just forgetting about it.

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    1. Denise KeoghSeptember 16, 2015 at 9:24 PM

      Thanks, Hayley! I was very impresed with Facing History. I was thinking about purchasing the 50 Things ...Google Classroom book, but Mr. Stillson lent me his. I am glad I didn't buy it since there wasn't much I hadn't already figured out.

      Like most of my students, by week six I am ready to stop blogging. However, it allows me to try ideas before I assign them. There have been a few times I changed the assignment becuase after I go through it I realize it will take too long.

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  2. AnonymousSeptember 15, 2015 at 12:43 PM

    I have been told by several teachers to never use Wikipedia why I don’t know! I like how it’s very descriptive. I would change the background to something a little more exciting. Same with the pictures I like how they go with the theme but they could use some more coloring. I find Wikipedia very useful but I guess other teachers do not. I will still continue to use it though!

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    1. Denise KeoghSeptember 16, 2015 at 9:20 PM

      Like you, I don't know why teachers don't like Wikipedia. For many topics I find Wikipedia to best the best source. I think the problem is wiki articles can be changed at any time, but to me the importance isn't that wikis might be changed, but that ALL sources and facts need to be confirmed.

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