The Maker Movement

This was perhaps one of my favorite areas to learn and read about. 

When it comes to the maker movement no-one strikes my mind quite like Quinn, the Eighth-grader who designs, develops and teaches other students how to make 3D objects and use his or her imaginations to make anything come alive. This video http://youtu.be/e9lvW6ZY-Gs  had me realizing that anything is possible and at any age. Our students are quite bright for their age and if they are given the right tools and technology they can soar farther than ever before imagined.

One common point made in both the youtube video about Quinn and the article in the May 2014 Issue of  Learning&Leading is the accessibility and relatively inexpensive materials needed in order to get our young makers moving along side the face pace of technology as it continues to adapt and we continue to adapt to it. Learning by doing is not a new idea. When I was in school we had wood shop and auto class along with fashion design classes. I personally excelled in woodshop, I took some of those skills home with me and was my own woodmaker in my parents garage, the only difference in todays maker movement is that the things our students can build are much more complex and can accomplish tasks once only imagined. “knowledge is a consequence of experience” Jean Piaget.

This new kind of maker movement when put together with a cooperative lesson plan makes digital learning a part of everyday life. (Martinez & Stager, 2014) This movement lets our students set a pace and a standard for what is to be learned. We must remember that these creative minds will be the leaders of the future and if we let them continue to develop their God given abilities now who knows what they will be able to accomplish.

http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/may_2014#pg18

(Martinez & Stager, 2014)

Digital Storytelling

When I first heard the term Digital storytelling the first thing that came to my mind was the use of Scratch and the short story we put together using web 2.0 technologies and multimedia images and coding that made learning fun and exciting. This type of learning took us out of the paper pages of a book. Digital storytelling is more than having students develop digital literacy and reading and writing skills, but also improves reading comprehension. Technology is continuously changing becoming easier to navigate and becoming more intricate as well. Our children and students are connected 24/7 and we need to be able to capture their attention and make them understand the material they’re reading with the technology that they so enjoy. “In digital storytelling, the process approach to writing is particularly powerful because the success of the idea (prewriting), the first version (draft), revised versions (revision and editing), and the recursive nature of the process are authentically realized in this multimedia publication format” (Royer & Richards, 2008) Teachers need to properly plan their lesson based around digital storytelling in order to ensure that students are working toward specific content goals.

http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/200811?pg=33#pg33

(Royer & Richards, 2008)

Personal Learning Network

A Personal Learning Network (PLN) is a great way to stay connected with a community of education professionals and researchers via social media sites. The world of social media is spreading like a California wildfire and it’s important for us as teachers to stay up to date and connected with our students who are quickly learning and mastering navigating these sites to get information. We need to make sure we are out there putting out the best information for them to latch on to.

RSS feeds on the other hand I feel I need to keep doing the research on. I’m still unaware of how it can be helpful and what its main purpose really is. Particularly I used feedly to find what I believe are rss feeds. Some sights I came across through Feedly were:

Medlineplus, (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/exerciseforchildren.html) &

Medical News Today (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/284180.php) I found these to sites to packed full of information and extremely useful for this class, other classes I’m taking, and for my business. Again, my only problem here is that I don’t know how my search through Feedly for RSS feeds lead me here, but at this point I am just happy I found this information.

When it comes to social media and teaching I get really confused and highly amused all at the same time. Twitter is one of those things that I guess could be useful but I don’t really see how it is different from other social media platforms.  All I can think of is it’s important to reach out in all forms and in any way possible in order to reach our students. For example in my business I have all sorts of social media sites but I use only one of them. But I can be found and that’s what’s important to me. In my twitter account I have chosen to follow veterans of physical education in order to pull as much useful information from them as possible. On the other hand it’s also a big compliment when I share or post something and it is favorite or retweeted by one of these folks. It let’s me know that the information that I have to share is important to others and not just me.

I have to admit when I first started using Diigo I thought it would be over and done with rather quickly and that I would never use it again. However, with features like bookmarking and highlighting I am able to keep a great list of important websites I come across and highlight the information that is most important when I come back to it in the future. Diigo is a great tool and I need to continue to be consistent with using it. I highly recommend others to use thus feature as well. I can see the ink in my printer last longer already. Overall I found that my experience with PLN was educational. That’s what this is all about right! Now armed with this new knowledge of creative ways to build a network and a community of people connected that are continuously sharing their research, articles and thoughts of physical education, fitness, exercise and health is a great way to stay informed and educated with like minded people.

    As mentioned earlier in this assignment and previous assignments when it comes to social media and technology I’m rather standoff-ish. If it wasn’t for having my own business I wouldn’t have any of these social media sites to begin with, but I know that social media and technology are more important to others and it is important to reach people in as many ways as possible. Today our children know more about navigating the social media world then we do and it is important to connect with them in as many ways as possible. They need to know we are their to help and guide them through learning and most of all we need to just be there for our future leaders.

The flipped classroom

The flipped classroom implies that the classroom is completely turned around from the usual classroom lectures to video and other alternatives sources in order to provide an alternative learning situation and more of a connection with students according to (Inventing the flipped classroom, 2012)

Flipping the classroom is really all about recreating instruction that goes far beyond the chalkboard. Forcing students to think outside of the classroom.

Embedding short quizzes in videos to test students In order to check for understanding before moving on.

Videos created from a flipped classroom are typically 5-10 minutes in length cover specific content. This way of education is definitely worthwhile and already has changed and improved education. Students can find other ways of connecting to the assigned material rather than just the usual in class lecturing techniques normally used.

Using the flipped classroom technique specifically video presentations could be extremely helpful in giving students the chance to connect to the assignment.

Learning and Social Media

In an age where our simplest daily tasks are broadcasted for all to see it’s hard to understand how social media can be a positive thing. However, many schools are now using these social media outlets to their advantage, connecting with professional networks on a global scale using these social media sites as a tool and additional resources for valuable information that can be shared in the classroom. (Baxter, 2014) Most of all, through sites like Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and many others we can connect and communicate instantaneously with people who we may have never had a chance of meeting before and who we may never actually meet with face-to-face. As long as you spend the time and are interested in making the most out of these tools you will get out of them what you put into them, and so will others. We learn from others and others will learn from us.

I absolutely feel that this way of teaching is worthwhile and will improve education in the future. This is also an area where it seems the students are becoming experts at navigating before the teacher, at this time, however it’s the teacher who guides the student to use them to their ultimate educational benefit. Let’s look at one of the most popular sites, Youtube. On you tube you can find videos on just about anything, but it doesn’t mean that the information being provided in the video is correct. As part of a Physical Education (PE) assignment I could student to find a video that demonstrates sprinting techniques. In this video I can have them analyze the video and describe what is correct and what is incorrect with the performance in the video, based on the information we used in class. Another option could be for a math class where students can find videos on new way to remember a formula in order to complete a problem and share it with the class via a classroom blog or Facebook page.

As teachers we need to move with the times and help our students teach us what they know in order for us to combine that with what we know!

Resources

Baxter, A. M. (2014, May). Social Media Fosters Professional Learning and Collaboration. Learning and Leading .