Class Session 3
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Instructional Impact Posting – Blog Entry #3
All the senses come into play in learning. In most classrooms, however, reading and lectures dominate instruction, engaging students primarily through the linguistic mode. Learners also acquire and retain knowledge nonlinguistically, through visual imagery, kinesthetic or whole-body modes, auditory experiences, and so forth. How can technology be used in your classroom to engage students in modes other than the linguistic mode?
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Technology can be used to engage students in a variety of ways. The most familiar form of technology that we can use is the computer. This tool can be used in the classroom for students to practice skills in a variety of ways—playing games, typing a story, practicing skills on odyssey, and listening to music; just to name a few. These examples support all types of learners. Most classrooms now have Activ boards or Smart boards that also support different types of learners. From the use of flipcharts to bringing up the internet to “watch a book” or research the answer to a question; these are things that are making classrooms so much more exciting and a place where all students can learn in the way that best suits them. Simple technology tools such as a listening center or CD player can be used for students who learn better through auditory experiences. The iPod has lots of applications that support education. I have already downloaded some math games that can be used instead of the typical flashcards. This is great for kinesthetic learners. The possibilities of technology are limitless(as long as it works).
Blog # 3
Welcome to visual art!
Technology can be used in the art classroom to engage students in modes other than the linguistic mode everyday. The learning environment in the elementary art classroom is nonlinguistic by nature. Art projects allow students a nonlinguistic mode to learn important concepts and ideas, essential for vocabulary development. Assessment of content, problem solving, creativity and self expression are all results of nonlinguistic art lessons. Since the arts are a core subject under NCLB, utilizing the arts can facilitate nonlinguistic activities in technology as well as curriculum integration. I have created an art folder for students on the computers in the computer lab. Using age appropriate elementary websites we work on small motor skills, reinforce content and create art. We have used the software, Crazy Talk to animate students’ clay sculptures and give those voices and movement. We use Power Point to show images of art and travel that accompany the theme being taught with voice and drawings. My room has a large library of DVD’s and movies. We have created digital stories with original illustration with the media specialist. We are using SKYPE with artists in residence to teach pottery. As I have limited technology resources I find other ways to use nonlinguistic teaching strategies as well.
I meet with core teachers at the beginning of the year to view their long range plans. Then those plans are aligned with my standards and their content so that projects in the art room support and can reinforce what is being taught in other subjects. There is a natural relationship with art and science, language arts, and social studies. To address the academic needs of students, I may utilize nonlinguistic strategies, like the following: Make physical models of the content being studied in core classrooms. Solar systems, leaf sculptures, volcanoes, dinosaur skeletal systems. These projects help students create a mental image of their knowledge. Students create mental images, using manipulative such as tessellations for math, imagining themselves in a painting as we study subjects and schools of paintings, or have students read a painting much as they would read a book. We write regularly in the art classroom. Students are encouraged to use pictographs and illustration using a variety of media. Using imagery and description helps students form mental images when they read or as they write their own stories. A variety of graphic organizers are used to transition students from visual to linguistic learning. We encourage kinesthetic activities, acting out a painting, integrating physical education, writing words or drawing in the air. The arts engage students with multiple learning styles.
Engaging students in non-linguistic learning using technology is actually quite simple. There are literally thousands of games and applications that are appropriate and available for visual, kinesthetic and auditory learners. Technology allows students opportunities to create visual study guides and hands-on projects using programs such as PowerPoint and Word. Interactive boards allow for students to “touch” their learning. Using Podcasts, music, books read on CD or from the Internet allows for auditory learning. Students have a wider selection of research tools and sources using technology. Some classrooms have integrated the Wii system which allows students to interact with technology using whole body modes. There are also virtual learning and simulation opportunities that incorporate all of the learning styles. If you choose to use technology in the classroom, in most cases, you will engage students in more than just the linguistic mode by merely turning on the technological teaching tool.
In my particular classroom, it is very important to tap into those non-linguistic teaching strategies. I am currently teaching 12 out of 19 students being served in ESOL. I use technology in my classroom to engage these students on a daily basis. An example of one avenue I use to do this is through Compass Odyssey. One day a week in both Language Arts and Math, I use this program to target specific skills that we are working on or need revisiting. I do this on my ActivBoard and give my students their individual white boards and dry erase markers to respond to the questions asked. The Compass Odyssey lessons are filled with non-linguistic modes of instruction and the students remain quite engaged throughout the activity. I have noticed the connection with many of my students take place in linguistic modes of instruction and assessment. By using this strategy, I can reach a larger group of students. Also, I am fortunate enough to have three student computers in my classroom. If the skill or RIT band level I am working on does not meet the needs of individual students, I simply place the child(or children)on the student computers with a lesson that meets their needs. I feel this is one of the best ways that I can use technology to engage ALL my students in a non-linguistic form of instruction.
Research shows that the use of nonlinguistic representation in the classroom enhances recall and comprehension. The use of graphic organizers, pictures, concrete representations, and kinesthetic activities provides students with visual and mental images and physical activities which reinforce learning. Using various forms of technology, I have access to a wealth of resources and a variety of ways to provide these experiences for my students.
Graphic organizers can easily be obtained from various websites such as Education Oasis, or I can have students to create their own using ActivInspire. By using ActivInspire, my students can create organizers on the computer which can be presented to the class on the ActivBoard and altered as the presentation is made, if necessary.
Pictures can be drawn or copied from other resources using technology. While I have found many excellent images on the web to use for demonstrations, I can also use my document camera to capture images from books and other resource materials in which I have access. By combining my document camera with the ActivBoard, I can take a snapshot of the item under the document camera and even write on top of it.
Concrete representations, such as math manipulatives, can be manipulated beneath the document camera so that all students can see the demonstration, or virtual manipulatives, which can be found on the web, can be displayed using the ActivBoard. The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives, Math Playground, and ExploreLearning are just a few of the many sites which I can use to provide concrete representations for my students.
Kinesthetic activities can also be found on the web. Searching through lesson plan links, I found a lesson for students to create a human box-and-whisker plot. I have also found many games on Math Playground and interactive flipcharts on Promethean Planet to keep the students actively involved in my lessons.
In my classroom, the technologies that are used the most are the computers and internet. My students LOVE to get on the computer and “play” games. The funny thing is that they don’t realize sometimes that they are learning or reinforcing a skill. Many of my students this year don’t have the internet at home, so they love when I schedule extra computer time or let them get on the two extra computers we have in the room. I also use my projector all day long to engage them. Sometimes we take notes from the screen, but mostly it is used for reinforcement for my non-linguistic learners. I use a lot of short video clips and animations to differentiate. Also using a CD player or tape player can engage them. They need a break from hearing my voice, so listening to a book on tape or CD is a nice “treat” for them. I try to do as much as I can, and as much as they can handle, so that they don’t get bored and zone out!
Technology can easily be used to engage students in modes other than the linguistic mode. I love to pair storybooks with the United Streaming versions to teach my younger students how to compare and contrast. They are excited to see the books we’ve read and studied together come alive on the screen. My older students love searching on our visual catalog in the media center. They may have trouble typing and spelling search terms, but they can easily find the book they want using visual images to help them search. It builds their sense of success and independence and helps translate over into searching on DISCUS and the basic catalog later. They have even made suggestions for new searches! My students also like the visual impact of my document camera. They can see me using a reference source on the screen in high detail as they use the same source themselves. We also have a lot of fun doing live tv morning announcements and video clips to share with the school using our digital video camera—not to mention the digital audio recordings we do around the school and play on our radio station. The most successful application of a nonlinguistic technology in my media center has to be the addition of Playaways to our collection. My students have gone crazy checking our MP3 style players that read aloud books. They sometimes get the printed version of the books, but not always. The most popular ones are the nonfiction titles: collective biographies, learning Spanish, multiplication, and addition. Since most students can listen and acquire information from a level much higher than their reading level, I hope my students benefit from this variety of technology and modes of learning.
As I look back over the past 15 years of my teaching career, it’s like a mini timeline of technology evolution in the classroom. I started out with one computer in my classroom and a handful of games that my kids could play. Materialize to the present and now my classroom is completely interactive. Not only do I have three computers, but I can now control specific learning through the use of various programs like Odyssey, Starfall, and Brainpop. Through the use of touch, sight, and sound, my student’s learning is enhanced. By using an interactive board, my children anywhere in the world I need them to discover. Through video streaming, my students can be visually and auditorially stimulated. Through the use of technology, each morning, my school has the children physically move and dance around using a wonderful invention called the Wii. Technology allows the fitness program Dance, Dance, Party to be broadcast over the television for all the students to enjoy. There are so many ways technology has enhanced my classroom in the past 15 years, I can’t wait to see what the next 15 years will bring.
Lori Hutchins
You can judge a book by its cover! Some people don’t like to own up to this fact, thinking that the words themselves of a story will engage the reader. No doubt this premise is true for those readers who gravitate towards linguistic representation; however, for many readers, words are a scary proposition. Using the nonlinguistic representation that technology provides can provide the bridge to aid in assimilating ideas, understanding concepts, creating stories, and perhaps even to the reading itself.
In working in the library media center at our school, I am learning how important this nonlinguistic representation is for our students who, by and large, find reading an onerous, if not impossible, task. For instance, by just using an online encyclopedia with its embedded audio-visual clips and accessible pictures and graphs, students engage more quickly with the information that they are seeking. The use of streamline videos draws students’ attention to the subjects and helps reinforce the academic standards that undergird the aims of their research. GoogleEarth can show just where those explorers traveled and how Odysseus finally got home. How I would love an interactive white board to help in this process!
With reading itself, though, the use of technology for nonlinguistic representation has not been as quickly employed. Over the last year, I have found interactive websites that connect with the books that the students are reading. For instance, The 39 Clues site (http://www.the39clues.com/) and the Softwire series site (http://www.thesoftwire.com/) have both heightened interest in student reading. Shelfari provides a great visual background for book talks. (http://www.shelfari.com/) Moreover, Playaways have been a boon for many students, especially in the resource classes.
What I really view as important, though, is my learning to employ the many, easily-accessed Web 2.0 resources that are available to help with the reading itself. I recently found a wiki site that highlights all the various technological tools that can help engage students in reading. (http://readingtech.wikispaces.com/) I hope that this year I can learn, along with our students, to use Moviemaker and VoiceThread to create those multimedia book trailers and podcasts that will both promote the books and engage the students. I am hoping that we can use Skype to actually speak with some of the authors after we have blogged on their sites. Bringing all these resources together in our own library blog would be even more exciting for the students who then will be able to view their work, connect with others, and finally find the book that they want to read, having judged it, of course, by its cover!
There are many opportunities for nonlinguistic learning through the use of technology in the media center. One of the most prominent ways students are able to use technology for learning is through the computers available. Students use the computers to visit educational websites, look for books in the Destiny catalog, and create projects. In the media center, I teach students in grade two through four how to use the catalog to find books on their own. Students may use the basic search using words or terms, but they may also use the visual search which allows them to search by using pictures. This nonlinguistic search option helps meet the different learning styles of students.
Another way students use the computers in the media center to engage in learning in ways other than the traditional nonlinguistic way is using programs such as Audacity and Photo Story to create projects. This allows students to use both visual and auditory senses to show what they have learned. In addition to the students’ use of computers for nonlinguistic learning, my use of the interwrite pad allows students to see things visually using the projector that they may traditionally learn only through lectures or instruction. I also use the computer and projector to show stories such Tumblebooks to special education classes. These stories engage the students through visual imagery, which accommodates their learning needs.
I have also used technology to create teacher-made BINGO games to engage students kinesthetically and through visual imagery for a variety of lessons.
In the media center, I try to engage students in a variety of ways. I like to think that my media center has something that will appeal to and engage every student. When planning lessons, engaging every student is also one of my goals. Technology can help engage students in other, nonlinguistic, ways. I like to use United Streaming to help bring concepts to life. Whether it is a video of a story or author we have been studying, or a short clip of a nonfiction topic we have been researching, students learn from it. One of my favorite ways to use United Streaming is to give students control over it and allow them to view the videos independently in the computer lab. They are engaged and focused on their video with their own headphones and are not as distracted as they would be if we viewed it as a whole class. When everyone has viewed it, I bring the class back together for an activity or discussion as a follow-up. One of the other ways I use technology nonlinguistically, is by using the SmartBoard. The students enjoy getting to come to the front of the class and be the teacher with an interactive website.
One way that I have used technology to engage nonlinguistic learning styles is by constructing an interactive whiteboard to use in the library media center. Since a commercial whiteboard was unavailable, I researched a way to construct a low-cost version of this technology. The interactive whiteboard allows students to learn visually by viewing a projected image. It also engages kinesthetic learning modes because students use an infrared light pen to control the computer. This technology has been especially helpful for one of our special education classes, since the students have difficulty using a computer mouse. This year, I was able to help the classroom teacher construct her own interactive whiteboard.
In addition, I use audio books with some of my lessons. The students love to dance in their seats when these CD’s contain rhythmic music. At the beginning of the year I attended a professional development session by a dance instructor in my district. One goal I have is to incorporate some interpretive dance into some of my lessons. I feel that this type of kinesthetic instruction would really help students with problem-solving skills by allowing them to create movements for a story or song. Technology can be used to provide music or story narration. In addition, videotaping the students’ choreography may enable them to assess themselves after a creative dance session.
I have two short films that deal with the senses of sound and sight. In one, “Zea,” a popcorn kernel popping is magnified so large that it is difficult to tell what it is. I am going to tie this into a unit about looking closer at the world. Students could use a digital camera with a macro lens to take pictures, then have other classes guess what the pictures are. Another video, “The Sound Collector” shows a little boy who collects sounds around his home, then uses them to make up a story. I think this would be a fun activity for students to do, and it would encourage them to listen closely to the sounds around them.
In addition, rhythm can be used to help students acquire language. My father who teaches ESOL introduced me to Carolyn Graham’s Jazz Chant:Fairy Tales book. The tempo and beat in these chants help students learn the “natural rhythm, stress, and intonation patterns of conversational American English.”
Technology can help students construct creative projects that use visual and auditory skills. Digital stories, animated projects, and audio-recordings can engage students in nonlinguistic modes.
Other groups use our school iPods. Sometimes, I simply have them read a novel through an audiobook on the iPod. Other times, I create videos through iMovie for the students to view/listen to and they have a follow up activity that goes along with it.
Students play a reading game in another station. The game is a board game where they can practice their reading skills using a small passage on cards that come with the board game. I have games for many different strategies and skills.
Another station is using Hot Dots. Hot Dots includes a box of cards with passages and questions for each passage. There is a special Hot Dot pen that students use to check their answers. If they got the right answer, the pen lights up green and says “Way to go!” If they get the wrong answer, the pen lights up red and says “Try again!” The tip of the pen is a magnet. The correct answer for each question is magnetized. This is a very simple type of technology, yet kids love it and it is effective.
I also have a Versatiles station. Versatiles is a box of tiles that have numbers on one side and a pattern on the other. The bottom of the tile box has letters in each slot for the tiles to sit in. There are books on different levels that the teacher can make copies from. Students read the activity and answer the questions by placing tile #1 on the letter that they think would be the correct answer. When they get all questions answered and all tiles placed, they close the case and turn it upside down. When they open it, the pattern should match whatever pattern is on the activity paper they were doing. If it doesn’t, they can lift the ones that don’t match and see where they went wrong. Again, this is very simple, but effective.
Sometimes, I use a computer program known as Compass Odyssey with guided reading groups. I only have three computers in my classroom, and most of my groups are 5 to 6 students. When I use the computers, I have to split the groups into threes and have the other halves do the activities stated above. The activities in Odyssey are very interactive. They are audio-visual and kids enjoy them.
I also have my students do role plays and skits, or come up with body movements to help them remember certain concepts. These are hard to do in guided reading groups because students must be doing something that keeps them relatively quiet so I can work with my group.
It’s funny because kids don’t understand that the whole purpose of guided reading is to have time with the teacher in small, differentiated groups. However, if they ever miss Hot Dots, Versatiles, Odyssey, Board Games, or iPods, you would think their first puppy dog just died. They LOVE and CRAVE all those interactive ways of learning.
Wow! How can technology be used in your classroom to engage students in modes other than the linguistic mode? What a loaded question… It should probably How can you not use technology in you classroom to engage students? It is my understanding that is the whole reason to incorporate technology into the classroom, to get those nonlinguistic learners involved in the instruction. I know I mentioned at least once, that a few years ago, I had a “Classroom of the Future”, this just meant twelve student computers, SMART Board, CPS System and access to all technologies that came through the building. Anyway, all that to say that with that came just about every ADHD, ADD and BAD kid, as the theory was this would engage them. Once I figured out how to maintain everything, it did work! Those kids could produce some great stuff. I incorporated Microsoft Publisher, Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Word to create published work of summaries, reports and study tools. The students were quickly able to incorporate sound and I don’t mean just music, they were able to record their voices to make their project richer.
Now that I don’t have all that, does not mean we can’t do the same things. I use the computer and projector daily for my nonlinguistic learners. I incorporate videos, software and computer generated games for review. We use http://www.storybookonline.com for stories and we are creating storybook videos of our own. Children and adults don’t perceive it to be work when they are enjoying it, therefore I try to engage them with as much as possible. Even using the slate gets them excited about participating in class. I admit, this is my least favorite method as the slate is so exact, which doesn’t work for children who lack fine motor skills or adults for that matter. The computer is the easiest way to catch their attention and I try to get them on it as often as possible, thank goodness we have a computer lab. We will actually be in there next week creating a character map online at http://www.readwritethink.com. This is a great way to take paper pencil learning and extend it with technology.
I am so grateful that my instruction is not dominated by lecture. The classroom teacher handles most of the linguistic communication before they come to me in the library. Being the media specialist, I help the students with hand-on processes, research, and presentations. The non-linguistic approach is much more satisfying because you can usually generate some sort of product from your. I relate it to getting paid for your work. Students have ownership in their education when they have done the work as opposed to listening to the way it is supposed to be done.
Some of the non-linguistic tools I have used, or plan to use include iPods, Playaways (specialized form of audio books), Kindles, Wii gaming system, on-line games, on-line quizzes and surveys my with book club, programs like Microsoft Publisher, Photo Story, and on-line research tools such as DISCUS. These have all impacted my students positively by providing them an alternative to the linguistic then regurgitate approach. I am a hands-on learner and strive to nurture that in my students.
Can you “picture it”? A classroom without nonlinguistic representations? Is that even possible? I couldn’t imagine teaching without nonlinguistic representations! As a teacher of very young first graders, nonlinguistic is very critical in the teaching process. But this does not only apply to the very young, it applies to learners of all ages.
Some ways to incorporate nonlinguistic representations in the classroom is by graphic organizers, creating physical models, create mental images, using pictures and pictographs to represent knowledge, and engaging students in kinesthetic activities and auditory experiences.
I do use Microsoft Word often to create vocabulary cards for my students that include the word, meaning and a pictorial representation. I think that is very important especially for first graders who are beginning to read and write. I have notice an increase in students understanding and the ability to retain new information. Students are able to use the linguistic and non-linguistic representations together to support their learning. I also use some of the graphic organizers that are part of Microsoft Word and sometimes I create my own graphic organizers using Word. Student learning maps are posted throughout the room to help organize learning. These learning maps incorporate key vocabulary with pictorial representations to help support those who are just beginning to read and write.
Spreadsheets primary purpose is to allow readers to easily create graphs and charts from data entered. I really do not use graphs from Excel very often. I do use them to track student growth on MAP testing. Having students see their test scores in graph form mean so much more to them then just knowing the number. Their growth has more meaning to them and they can truly “see” their growth.
Organizing and Brainstorming software is one area that I want to use more of in my classroom. Kidspiration is one great tool to provide nonlinguistic representations. Students can create graphic organizers that incorporate clip art which is great for beginning readers and writers. The tools that go along with our InterWrite boards are another way that I could provide nonlinguistic representations.
I have been using a lot more data collection tools this year. I have been using digital pictures and video to acquire images. As I read about multi-media, it caught my attention that the most engaging learning comes from having the student create the presentation or movie themselves as part of the learning process. I think it would be great culminating activities to have students create a movie or slide show about what they learned. This is something that I would like to begin doing this year. What a great way to have students summarize learning and I can e-mail it to parents to show them what we are doing in school. This activity incorporates many nonlinguistic representations.
I try to use a lot of web resources to create non-linguistic representations. There are many websites listed there that caught my attention. I am very interested in checking out the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives. This sounds like a great web site to use in the class and parents to use at home. Students will have the opportunity to develop concepts concretely by physically manipulating the math tools. I have used United Streaming, BrainPOP Jr., and other web resources to give students visual images.
“… a rhyming word stays the same at the end, the same at the end, the same at the end. A rhyming word stays the same at the end, you only change the beginning…” This is one of several United Streaming songs I use with my first graders. In the 1 ½ years I have been teaching with a Promethean board, I have created more flipcharts than I want to count. Most are interactive; many have songs or video embedded in them. I see this as an excellent way to engage students in a nonlinguistic way. I have used everything from pictures from my vacations and my own children, to pictures from the internet, videos and songs from United Streaming, games from the internet, Compass Learning Odyssey and flipcharts downloaded from Promethean Planet. The Promethean board gives me a way to share some of the world with children who don’t get to see much of it in person.
I-pods are another way to reach those tactile children who love to play games. There are many applications which practice skills as well as make children think about how the world works. Kindles would be good for auditory learners since it will read the text to them. So many children don’t get read to at home as often as they should so this could fill in some of those gaps. I am looking forward to Monday night’s workshop and learning about digital story telling. I think this would be a wonderful way to immerse children in language and help them present their ideas and experiences. When I watched some online, it looked like a scrapbook come to life. My experiment with a 1st grade blog was fairly successful. Some of the children liked it so much, they have requested to do it again. I’m not sure if they liked the writing or using my “little computer.” Either way it is wonderful to see them excited about a writing activity. With young children, you have to keep them engaged. Technology makes it easier.
How can technology be used in your classroom to engage students in modes other than the linguistic mode?
There are many ways that technology can be used to engage students in a nonlinguistic matter. I really like the idea of using clip art to teach vocabulary. I can see this strategy being used in all grade levels K-12. The 6th grade ELA, Social Studies, and Science teachers may find this strategy useful. I would like to also use this in my math class with our vocabulary words.
Using Inspiration to create models, graphs and charts is another great way to demonstrate nonlinguistic representations. During our data analysis unit we use lots of graphs, charts and tables, which is normally one of the easiest units for the students. I think they find it much easier because of the nonlinguistic representation involved in this unit. Even though I do not teach historical progression, the Social Studies teacher would find Inspiration’s Time-Sequence pattern organizer useful, along with the Venn diagram and Cause-effect pattern organizer that is also found on Inspiration. Inspiration offers many nonlinguistic representations and I would love for our school to purchase this software for the teachers to use.
Another strategy I found interesting is using sound along with words and phrases. Not only sounds you can find online but even recording the students voices to go along with words and phrases.
We have had digital microscopes in our school since last year and they have never been used by the teachers until this year. But digital microscopes are a great nonlinguistic representation to engage students in science class. They are so cool to use to see microscopic organisms projected on the white board.
Also, we have the normal powerpoint presentations to engage students nonlinguistic modes and new presentations like PhotoStory, Movie Maker, ToonDoo, and Google Earth.
One last thing that I found to be a creative way to engage students’ nonlinguistic mode is using the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives. This is an awesome way to use manipulatives in math class even if you do not the actual hands on manipulatives in your classroom. Students will love using manipulatives online just as much as using them hands on at their desks.
Nonlinguistic learning abounds in seventh grade science! My classroom is a blend of many modalities of learning. My classroom has a limited amount of technology, but I try to use what I have when it is appropriate.
One way I use technology to aid in helping my nonlinguistic learners is by using web sites in my teaching. During my cells unit, I used various websites that had interactive cell models the students could view and play with. The websites I chose featured Quias, interactive models, reading selections, and games. I use a step by step microscope lab to show the students different resolutions and magnifications of different specimens. I was able to find a link to a college biology lab that showed real time scientists working on cell mutation. This is effective for my students because they have a hard time understanding how cells are important in the “real world.”
I use Study Island Software in my classroom to allow students the opportunity to review content. We go to the computer lab bi-weekly and work on our standards. The students love to play the games once their scores have met a predetermined level set by me. There is a great amount of competition among my students.
My students use more “primitive” technology in class. We use microscopes, digital probes and balances during laboratory procedures throughout the year. My class features many hands on projects and labs during each unit.
My auditory learners love to download Podcasts to their IPods. I have been fortunate enough to find some great podcasts that have already been created that relate to some of my standards. I will be making some of my own before long.
I would love the ability to share more technology with my students. This generation in more technology driven than ever. Paper, pencil, and lecture will no longer get the job done in most instances. Our student’s must be challenged on their own levels. Technology is a great way to do this.
Engaging a variety of learners during instructional time is a goal of all teachers. With technology, that goal becomes a little more attainable. There are tons of online games I use to help those students who are kinesthetic learners as well as visual and spatial learners. Playing games, especially on the InterWrite board, is a great way for kids to manipulate tools they can use for learning.
For kids who are visual learners, not only are the games effective, but I also engage them using United Streaming videos. A lot of the videos provided by the site are excellent sources of information that include vivid images that help these types of learners create “movies in their minds” so that they can grasp and remember the concept we’re discussing.
Another way I engage children who are non-linguistic learners is through the use of BookFlix. My kids LOVE to watch a story and listen to it being read aloud on the Internet. I also play a lot of CDs that help kids with math and language concepts.
There are a lot of ways to engage all learners using technology. It usually proves to be a lot of fun and very effective.
One of the reasons, I decided to become a media specialist was to use all my “talents” to encourage students in every grade to read and learn skills to become lifelong learners. In my classroom, I incorporate a great deal of dramatic reading, singing and movement. It just comes naturally to me to “put on a show.” I took particular interest in the discussion of nonlinguistic teaching and learning strategies. I have seen over the years how much students retain and ENJOY their learning when the lessons go beyond “preaching” and listening”. I can definitely see me using technology to allow the students to videotape “performances” of stories and book trailers. I would like to teach students how to plan and create storyboards for their performances. I can integrate dance, visual art, and music into these videos. While at Ed Tech last week, I heard again and again the importance of hands-on technology. It is great for teachers to use technology as a teaching tool, but I want to go the next step and have students using the technology to “structure” their own learning. The opportunity for them to create and share their learning has awesome results in their learning as well as the social relationships they build in the classroom. Both of these are wonderful examples of 21st Century Skills that I want to emphasize in my classroom.
Teachers usually present new knowledge in linguistic form by either lecture or by having students read about new content. With technology at the forefront of today’s society and with it being more appealing to students at home, teachers should make their lessons more appealing by using it in the classroom as well. Technology can be used in the classroom in various ways depending on the content that you teach. In my classroom, the three ways that I engage my students by using technology is with Digital Storytelling/Webquests, Promethean Activexpression (clickers), and ETV Streamline.
With digital storytelling, when reviewing social studies content I use Photo Story as a review tool to create cumulative reviews for my students. I also allow my students to complete Webquests to review the content area. Webquests are set up like a game and a lot of time they don’t even realize how “educational” this learning tool is. Photo Story and Webquests give students visual aids to assist them with reviewing the content for the week. My students have also created photo story projects to go with written essays. Creating essays are sore spots for my students, but because they knew that the end result would be creating a Photo Story, they were very excited to complete their writing.
Promethean Activexpression (clickers) are also another creative way to engage students in the classroom. Whenever I take the clickers out, my students are excited to use it. It gives them an alternative to the standard paper and pencil test. Teachers are able to create various levels of questions for students using true/false or multiple choice questions and then students can use individual clickers to key in their answer choice. Students are able to receive instant praise if they choose a correct answer and are not easily swayed by other students around them.
ETV Streamline is available for free to all South Carolina public, private, and home schools. It offers training and assists in integrating resources into lesson plans. Teachers at my school mainly use ETV Streamline to provide more virtual background knowledge to the students. Students are allowed to take a field trip to a certain place by viewing the educationally influenced videos. The videos reach students across various levels and gives them a sense of “being there” while it takes place.
Technology can and should be used in all classrooms to reach students in other ways than just your traditional, linguistic mode. There are truly endless possibilities to use technologies in the classroom. I think the majority of us use technology to play educational games. Kids love the games…that is why our Tech people have created book marks on our school websites. My students beg to play them on the computer. Most of the time, I choose the game for them (so I can focus on a weakness) but they don’t care. They are playing and learning and loving it! I love using United Streaming in my classroom as well. There are so many wonderful videos that can be played to help enhance a concept or emphasis particular skills. The kids love it. A personal favorite since I teach math is Mathica’s Math Shoppe. My kids ask for it on a weekly basis. I use my InterWrite board daily to review and go over morning work. I also create lessons that are interactive and my students can get up and move around to answer the questions…this is very similar to Promethean’s FlipCharts. I use a variety of other technologies such as songs in my room. There are some wonderful math songs out there to help students learn rote math facts and processes. I use word processing software for publishing writing as well as groups sometimes; create power point presentations as a project. I have used the IPod to bring in a variety of music for movement as well as to kick off a lesson. I have also used a president’s application for research on presidents. The possibilities are endless! Hopefully very soon I will be using a Classroom Participation System as well as digital camera/camcorders and Photostory…thanks to SCITA.
I try to engage my students in a variety of ways in order to reach students of all learning styles. Technology is a very important part of engaging student in nonlinguistic ways. I use iPods in my classroom in a variety of ways. I have downloaded science related songs on several iPods so my students can review science topics and concepts in a different way. Students also use the iPods to watch United Streaming videos from Science or Social Studies topics being studied in class. My students also have regular access to the use of computers. Computers can be used in a variety of ways to reach a variety of learning styles. My students mostly use computers at the moment for Compass Odyssey learning and topic related research. Hands-on learning is also another important part of my classroom and my teaching style. I often use the ActivBoard and/or Document Camera to represent new learning techniques with the use of hands-on manipulatives. I am also excited to start using some of the interactive websites that I have been introduced to through the reading of our textbook and class discussions.
I think that students are being involved in lessons more today than in the past. Our district has really pushed using thinking maps in our classrooms. Science lends itself to using maps easily. I use the bubble, double bubble and tree map weekly using the activboard. Students work in groups or individually to create these maps on certain topics and they must present them to the class using the activboard. I think that I will be able to use the document reader also for the presentations and it will actually be faster since the maps can be filled out beforehand. I also plan on taping the discussions with my honors class and posting it on our school website for reinforcement or absences. The students also love to use Google Earth as often as I can. It shows them visually the places we are talking about instead of pictures in a book. As we talk about earthquakes or volcanoes, we open Google Earth and zoom down to the places that we are talking about. They love this. Often I find out that they are opening GE at home and expand on what we do in the classroom. I believe that they learn more this way than in a classroom with typical lecture.
As teachers we usually present new information in linguistic form. However, we need to use many different representations of information to help students learn and recall information. Nonlinguistic representation can help students use mental images to recall and understand new information. Technology provides many ways for providing nonlinguistic representations. Teachers can use a variety of technology applications to create visually appealing graphic organizers. Teachers are able to add clipart and images to graphic organizers to help visual learners make connections. Teachers can use multimedia to show videos or power point slides of images to help give students a mental model and help them understand new information. Multimedia can also be helpful for students to create visual presentations. Word processing software can also be used to allow students to add visual elements to their written work. This allows students to connect new words with images or photos. Spreadsheet software is very useful in helping students make connections between numerical data and graphic representations. It gives students a model to visualize how sets of data are related. Organizing and brainstorming software helps students to classify, organize, and understand large amounts of information. For example, Kidspiration can be used to organize facts and to add images of clip art to vocabulary. Data collection tools can be used to help students collect and interpret data. Students are able to use graphs to organize data and visualize changes over time. All of these methods of applying technology are very important in any classroom. The more ways teachers can present information, the more likely their students are to remember and recall what they’ve learned.
Classrooms today, more than ever, rely on many different forms of introducing children to new material. Thinking maps are a huge instructional tool encouraged in my school and district. When I introduce children to new topics I like to see what they already know, this is easily obtained through a quick and easy assessment using my Promethean board and activotes. I also like to do this by using graphic organizers that allow children to show what they know and add to it, what they are learning. Many times I use flipcharts, PowerPoints, and videos to help build and introduce material. Videos can be downloaded to i Pods and each child can watch the watch video independently stopping to add to their graphic organizers as needed. Once the video is over, children can get in small groups to share their information and then through whole class instruction this information can be shared and expended on by the teacher. One thing I like to use with children is music. They pick up very quickly to the tunes and it really helps them to retain the information, it also opens the doorway to connections. Recently, during a poetry unit, I gave my children time to work within their groups to choose a poem and act it out. This would have been perfect to video record and use during parent meetings to let parents see the class in actions.
The students we teach today are digital learners. They are accustomed to technology and multimedia. This is infused into every aspect of their lives. A classroom that centers on teacher-led lectures with a lack of active participation from the students is likely to be ineffective in modern society.
As a media specialist, I fortunately have available technologies in my “classroom” and also have the flexibility to work with a variety of content areas. I integrate multimedia and technology in every lesson I teach with students – this leads to an increased interest, appeals to multiple learning styles, and allows the student to become active in his/her learning. Teaching research, for example, used to focus on linguistic learning – lecture on the research process, extracting information from print sources, writing notes on note cards, organizing the cards, and then writing an elaborate paper as an end product. The process was time-consuming, and at times, frankly, boring. Now I have limitless resources I can use with technology in order to teach the research process and to enable students to engage in inquiry learning. Students can plan their research before it begins by using brainstorming software. Graphic organizers help students limit their topic and focus their research effort before ever beginning. This eliminates a lot of the frustration that students of the past experienced when they were just given the topic and expected to know how to locate the best information. Rather than taking notes on note cards, students can record the information they locate on powerpoint slides. This inherently encourages the students to extract only relevant details, synthesize, and summarize. Online sources give students the opportunity to select the materials they feel best represents their topics. Students are now not limited to the number of resources available. Most exciting, are the possibilities for assessment. Many students are visual learners. They are accustomed to graphics, animation, and sound. Technology has infinite programs, applications, and software available for students to use in order to present their learning in ways beyond linguistics. Research becomes more relevant when students are able to utilize these familiar tools. They enjoy locating images or even creating their own. Again, students are active participants and are able to make choices which appeal to them. This leads them to a sense of ownership for their own learning. Students who enjoy creating original works are still allowed to do so – even in using someone else’s words that they located during research. Audio tools can allow students a chance to include interviews. Students can select music to represent their topic. Students may decide to create a slideshow with both images and sound to demonstrate their research findings.
Technology allows students to analyze and apply their learning. The focus is not on the researched information, the linguistics, the end paper. The focus becomes the students themselves – and what they can create with the information they have found. The student demonstrates how he can use technology in order to support and enhance his researched information. By generating nonlinguistic representations of what they have learned, student are engaging in higher levels of learning.
In my media center, technology is also used to increase literacy. Students post book reviews on the media center blog. Students also use programs to showcase new books and to create digital booktalks – such as Animoto, Moviemaker and Photostory, Voicethread, and Glogster. Utilizing technology applications, students are active in their learning, selecting audio and creating video components, and making decisions based on their personal interests. Once in the driver’s seat, students become more excited about their learning, put forth more effort, and the learning process becomes more engaging and memorable.
Our text has introduced me to several new uses of technology enabling me to elaborate on the knowledge students are taught in their classrooms. In the past I have used charts, graphs, and tables to reinforce facts and statistics while teaching Excel spreadsheets. I have used PowerPoint and now Photo story for the same purpose. Inserting images into student Word documents also serves to illustrate standards they are learning. In addition, I have had students use the now somewhat primitive “drawing tools” in Word to illustrate long houses vs. log cabins or tee pees, or more successfully, the parts of a cell.
However, I have not used pictographs or diagrams and can easily see how effective that could be. I am amused with myself for not thinking of these easily accessible tools. I can readily imagine teaching literacy with text to text connections, text to self connections and other devices through the use of descriptive organizers. While I normally use a Venn diagram to teach encyclopedia and dictionary skills, I see now that the use of images would be even more useful. The cause and effect organizer is perfect for teaching about various species in science, and the same organizer would be invaluable in teaching ancient civilizations. It is obvious that the time-sequence pattern is perfect for history lessons, but it could also be used for the study of environmental issues.
As I am writing this I am wondering how these technologies could be encouraged with an addendum to the state standards. Since there is ample evidence that this method of elaboration is effective, I would assert that coupling these nonlinguistic representations with the standards is not out of the question. Not every teacher is creative enough to think of these tools in conjunction with particular lessons. I personally would benefit from some “epilogue” of sorts on techniques. It is true that I have never seen a state standard that offered more than the requirements for content to be taught, but an addendum with research driven suggestions sounds reasonable to me.
Students in classrooms today not only expect, but deserve to be taught as digital learners. Our district has embraced the idea of Thinking Maps, but the technology to make them really effective has not been a priority. This year, I have finally gotten an Interwrite Pad to use in my classroom and the children have loved the interactive maps, videos, and flip charts available for use. It would be wonderful to have a Promethian Board or Interwrite Board to make it more “kid-friendly”, but right now we are using the resources we have. Since our SCITA class has started, I have been introduced to new and emerging technologies that I know would benefit all teachers. When I introduce material using Kidspiration to create thinking maps and add video and clipart, student learning increases drastically. My class has also created digital stories and used word processing software with clipart to report on research topics. The excitement and effort put forth on the students’ behalf is contagious! United Streaming videos make Science and Social Studies come alive for my students. I have also used these resources for teaching math concepts in a different way to reach all modalities of learning styles. The IPod has become a favorite of mine as I use it with my below standard reading students. It allows them to have stories read to them and they progress at their own pace. Technology in the classroom has always been a given for me, but today there is no reason to be confined within four walls of a classroom. We can meet students where they are and continue to challenge them in imaginative, instructional ways!
Technology can definitely be used to reach all types of learners. We can use technology to reach all of the multiple intelligences. The active board that I have in my classroom is great for kinesthetic learners because it allows students to manipulate answers themselves. I call students up to the active board everyday to move things around. I also use technology to play music in my classroom. My students sing songs to help remember rules for solving math problems. Thinking maps are used to sort and organize important information. We use iPods with the students to show video clips in science. Our PE department uses the Nintendo Wii as a kinesthetic way to motivate students. The kids love to play Dance Revolution. Our department uses many PowerPoint templates to create review games like Jeopardy, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and Are you Smarter than a 5th grader. We also go to the computer lab about once every two weeks to complete Odyssey lessons based on Map data. I am fortunate to work in a district where technology is crucial for the success of teachers and students. We are now teaching digital learners, and it is our job to engage them by meeting their new age learning styles.
In the Media Center, while some learning is done through reading and lectures, my job is to teach and to reinforce research skills. I am not in the business of teaching too many rote facts—I teach them how to find out what they need to find. I am not fortunate enough to have a flexible schedule, but rather a fixed one to provide relief to classroom teachers. Collaboration is not a strong point with this set-up either, as teachers schedule their grade level meetings during this time, leaving it very difficult to get with the teachers and collaborate with them. As long as the Teacher Advancement Program is in place, it is going to be very difficult to see students other than their scheduled 30-40 minute a week class time, which makes project work almost impossible except in very small steps that can be completed in each session.
It has been one of my goals this year to have students really master how to locate books in the library. After a simple explanation of one of the major sections of the Media Center, students have been shown how to locate books in the OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog), how to interpret data found for a listing, and then have to actually go to a shelf and locate the text. This has been taught through modeling, practice, and independent work. This method, while an old one, works very well: model, practice, independent practice.
Some classes have worked on online multimedia keyboarding programs. They are shown where the keys are, they are told which fingers to use, and shown through illustration. Then, there is much practice, engaging the auditory, visual, and kinesthetic experiences. While they sometimes want to revert to old practice of typing with two or four fingers, I monitor to make sure all eight fingers are being used as required. Online safety is taught by reviewing District 7’s online safety rules. Multimedia programs engage students to teach them what kinds of sites are safe and what they should be careful around. This is often reviewed when they are in other activities. United Streaming and the assets found at OnePlaceSC are another source to use to bring more programs to the students. These are so much better than traditional videos or filmstrips as many are broken down into segments and you don’t have to use the whole film. They also have study guides and are aligned to standards.
I’m finding the document camera works very well to show pictures when reading a book to the younger students. They do not have to wait until the page is finished to view the pictures and all can see them at once. Personalizing activities with clip art appropriate to the lesson is an important way to visually engage students. Using spreadsheets assists students in organizing and displaying information in an easily readable graph or chart. Power Points catch student attention better than just a lecture. I found it easier to bring in vocabulary and concepts when reading a story to a group totally unfamiliar with the culture of Bangladesh. While I desire to have an Interwrite board or even a school pad, I haven’t been that fortunate to get one yet. Classroom teachers have them, but the Media Center is lacking.
Using multimedia, through presentations, music, audio, etc., personalizes education for the students. They are much more engaged but tend to want to do a good job when they have ownership. Knowing their work may be seen and judged by their peers as well as potentially others, make them want to do a very good job. It takes longer to bring in the technology, especially at the lower levels since it is so new to them, but the learning is more permanent.
“I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand” is a saying by Confucius that teachers should take to heart. Learning is a whole body experience. The acceptance of technology as a teaching tool should help to reach students as never before. ActivBoards are great for kinesthetic learning as students can physically manipulate and move objects on the flipcharts, thus engaging another sense besides visual and auditory. Graphic organizers can be created by both students and teachers using the Activ software or programs such as Kidspiration. Students are more aware of their responsibility in learning when actively involved in the teaching. Digital storytelling is a way to engage students as they use visual, and auditory cues, as well as playing to the emotions of the audience. The emotional experience is a powerful learning tool. Perhaps the most exciting way to use technology is virtual fieldtrips. Minimally, using programs such as Google Earth or Celestia can take students places they are learning about. One of the most powerful ways I have seen Google Earth being used is a comparison between past and present. An older map can be made semi transparent and overlaid onto the present day map. In this way, students can easily see how places changes over time (similarities and differences!). Live virtual field trips are an exciting learning experience for everyone. I have been on two virtual field trips, one to the Library of Congress and another to a dinosaur exhibit in Canada. Both left quite an impression on me and I only wish I had the technology available so my students could experience them as well. The interactivity between students and presenter makes learning relevant and exciting as students are actually able to communicate with the expert. It becomes much more than a lecture, it becomes a conversation. Visually, live images are much more exciting than photographs, and just realizing that you are able to travel thousands of miles without leaving you seat is an amazing experience. It is truly the next best thing to being there.
There are many ways to use technology in the classroom to reach all kinds of learners. Something that works well with my kids in all subjects is interactive flipcharts. The kids love anything interactive. They seem to be more willing to pay attention and learn if they can be a part of the learning and be involved, rather than just sitting and listening. Interactive flipcharts allow information to be presented in a way that is exciting to them. They allow them something to focus on rather than just having to listen. Another thing that works well with my kids in science and social studies is allowing them to research new information online on their own and then come back and share what they’ve learned with the class. It’s a great way to get them excited about something new. When we come back to share and organize all the information we found the kids don’t have to just sit and listen to me talk. They’re sharing the things they’ve discovered and I get to add a few key points. I really enjoy letting them discover on their own. They really seem to enjoy learning when they’re doing that. Some other things we do in my classroom to reach all learners are graphic organizers, songs, and movies. I’m hoping to get some of the songs and movies loaded on to the ipods we have available at school. Then the kids can review information from a movie or listen to the multiplication song again to work on their facts.
If we want to engage students in types of learning other than linguistic, we are going to have to think outside of our regular parameters. We have a wealth of technology available even with limited school budgets. The hard part is finding time to learn about what is available, practice with it, and finally, use it in our classrooms. Many schools, including mine, are trying to tie in other modes of learning that incorporate various technologies. We use LCD projectors and document cameras to bring the real world to the student. We try various thinking maps, grouping strategies and types of software to engage learners. Any type of visual can be enhanced by technology whether it is graphic organizer, notes outline or chart/graph. We also can help our students by involving them in their own learning. Teaching them how to use and apply new technologies will give them a whole new outlook. Most students are already very advanced in some forms of technology and they should be able to use them to assist in their learning. I hope to use Moviemaker soon as well as podcasting. Both methods will excite and challenge students – just what we need to get students motivated!
There are so many nonlinguistic modes to try that it is hard to know where to begin. In media center lessons, students in grades 2-6 have used PowerPoint and Photo Story; fifth and sixth graders have blogged and completed Movie Maker projects. Kindergarten and first grade students have narrated Photo Stories. However, these efforts barely touch the possibilities summarized in the textbook. Fifth and sixth grade students are learning various options to replace the standard book report – blogging, Glogster interactive posters, Blabberize talking heads and Crazy Talk virtual speakers. All grade levels are encouraged to take Flip video cameras with them on field trips. These cameras are easy to use even for the youngest students. They take good quality video with clear sound. The accompanying software has a capture function to create photos from video frames. Last year, third grade students took wonderful movies of their trip to Charleston. Then they created digital photo albums of their trip. This year fifth graders are recording interviews with veterans. I will teach them how to use the video editing software and then they plan to submit complete interviews for possible inclusion in Knowitall.org’s Generations of Heroes project.
In addition to multimedia software, microphones, and personal video cameras, other nonlinguistic options are available. Digital microscopes, interactive slates, and student response systems are all available for checkout from the media center. Microscopes are the next item I plan to use with students because they can be used to take photos which then can be used in multimedia presentations. There are many applications beyond science for these microscopes. Skype is another hardware/software combination that has great possibilities. One can imagine a class collecting data from other classrooms at our school or at neighboring ones; then the data could be used to create spreadsheets and accompanying graphs. Integrating new technologies into instruction can be daunting. A teacher first has to learn how to use them, a difficult task for most adults who know that their students learn the ins and outs of everything from cell phones to iPods with very little effort. It is also much harder to manage a classroom full of students working with digital equipment or multimedia software because each student is doing something different. The extra effort is worth it for the teacher though because most students respond well to this type of instruction.
Have you been watching television lately? Not just the wonderful Clemson Tigers but the advertisements, too? If you look closely, it appears that advertisers understand how to engage consumers in nonlinguistic modes. Our students are our customers and we have to sell what we are teaching. We can take some lessons from slick and savvy ad execs! Watch the UPS Whiteboard commercials for example, look for logos, be aware of the power of images and music. These are certainly engaging thirty second intervals!
So, is there a difference in entertaining and learning? What is learning and how do we learn? These are big questions with no simple answers. Our text identifies nine areas that help in the learning process and within each of these areas is a mountain of research. For example, about forty years ago, Dr. Rita Dunn, and her husband Kenneth, introduced the idea there were different learning styles and that 5 components – psychological, environmental, sociological, emotional, and physiological were at work during learning. Their research (which granted, has been over commercialized) revealed that 70% of children in grades 5-12 have trouble with conventional classroom design and structure. That was 40 years ago and yet, “In most classrooms reading …dominate(s) instruction. The importance of “visual imagery, kinesthetic, or whole-body modes, auditory experiences, and so forth” remains an overlooked treasure, except, perhaps to those involved in the psychology of advertising and selling.
It would seem that in the library media center (my classroom) that since the focus is on reading, that nonlinguistic representation is a difficult strategy to incorporate. I will admit, that it is tough but that with technology I am better able to engage students in modes other than linguistically. I have lots of “signage” which contains strong visuals to convey different sections of the library collection. Genre identification is easy with graphics and students are drawn to posters that appeal to them. There they find books they like, too. When introducing genre, I have groups of students develop their own logos for different genres and sometimes add some unorthodox types of books like “chick lit” and “BFB – books for boys”. Groups draw the logos and other groups guess what genre it is representing. For orientation to the library, I use video and voice over. I use the beginning of the song “Who’s that lady?” and have a quick succession of pictures of my assistant and me. Then I lower the audio and we talk briefly about ourselves. I continue this throughout the orientation video and have students demonstrating appropriate and non appropriate library behavior. It is done in fun with a big X on the inappropriate behavior. This is much more effective than me standing up giving a list of “dos and don’ts”. I have long been using technology such as digital storytelling and powerpoints (many student generated)in the library progaram.
Playing games (Jeopardy and Who wants to be a Librarian”) using the LCD projector and activotes is a great review method. One of the grammar games I use with ELA classes has a way to use it with a Wii. I’ve got to investigate this and see if there are other ways I can incorporate gaming into my instruction. When we come to understand that “learning” is not just storing information for a test but instead is an effort to develop recall, long-term memory and application. Our classrooms should be places where we provide students have the best possible conditions to process information for deep understanding and movement of this information into long-term memory and technology is just the ticket. I was in an ELA classroom last week and on the board was a four-frame “cartoon”. This teacher had drawn a scene with Maya and Mrs. Flowers from To Kill a Mockingbird. When I asked the teacher about it, she told me that she tried anything to help her students connect and remember. “Graphic novels” are the hottest books in the library right now. I showed her the comic strip maker website. She is really excited to have her students “draw the cartoons” for other scenes and literary concepts. Technology can help everyone be an artist.
Publishers and advertisers know the power of nonlinguistic representation. If we want to engage our students we will be seeking out more and creative ways to integrate technology. So, is there any difference between entertaining and learning? I don’t know but I bet when I am in the nursing home, I’ll still be able to sing “Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.” Thanks, Burger King for that annoying jingle that engaged me and is in my long-term memory.
Students enjoy using technology to learn. Sometimes they don’t realize that learning is taking place. Technology assists teachers in reaching all learning styles. Brainpop and Unitedstreaming address several learning styles. Auditory learners can listen many times to information in order to understand it better. Visual learners use the pictures within the video as visual clues to help understand the content. The motion and action portrayed in the videos can reach kinesthetic learners. Inspiration and Microsoft word drawing tools can be used to create graphic representations for organizing and brainstorming. Kinesthetic learners would benefit from Study Island, Larson’s math, and Explore Learning because these have simulated activities so that they can manipulate and visualize results. This helps to apply mental images of how things work, which helps students of any learning style. All students need to be able to explain models and graphs which allow them to put their thinking into words. I teach math so I have had success with students learning using web sites that utilize simulated activities and manipulatives.
Using a wide variety of instructional strategies to address the different learning styles of students is extremely important. I had this point driven home to me a couple of years ago in a church service. The service centered on communion. The visuals were about communion, the music was about communion, all the spoken word centered on communion. Someone was baking bread in the church kitchen, so the delicious aroma of freshly baked bread filled the room. Every sense was engaged. This is why I think I remember this service in vivid detail. So in order to make instruction effective for all students, it is necessary to engage them on as many levels as possible.
Another important thing to consider is that most teachers of today are technology “immigrants”. The students we teach are technology “natives”. Learning through technology is a natural transfer for them and I believe, necessary to make learning effective and meaningful for students of this generation. In my teaching, I use Power Point to introduce new material and for review purposes. By adding pictures and clip art, the presentations are more engaging for visual learners. Flipcharts are another of the “staples” I use frequently. They make learning much more interactive and engaging for students. When possible, I use music to enhance the learning environment or to help reinforce the content. Streamlining provides a wealth of appropriate videos for classroom use. Using educational games is a great way to reinforce and assess skills. I rely on technology to strengthen my instruction. As I read the text and network with my classmates, I am so excited about the possibilities I have yet to explore and use!
Technology is a mode of presenting information that is growing rapidly every day. Teachers need to come to grips with this changing reality and embrace it as a new tool to present information in a way that our students understand and can relate too. One example of how technology can be incorporated is though web based sites such as Study Island. The site is centered on standards based lessons, but the students get to play games as they learn so it encourages them and rewards them for doing well. Another tool that I use as a way to introduce new units to create a “picture” and word splash on Animoto. Animoto creates short 5-7 minute videos that are set to music. As the students watch, they jot down thoughts, things they recognize or words they know, and then we create a circle map and “brain barf” what we think we know about the new unit. I also try to incorporate video though United Streaming and music that pertains to the period of study to get the students more immersed in what we are looking at during a unit. The one new piece of technology my schools media center has purchased is the Wii. I am very excited about learning how to incorporate the wide array of learning games into my curriculum in a form that the students are very much in tune with. Currently we have several vocabulary games but will be expanding the selections as teachers and our media center specialist finds new games that work with the SC standards.
When I was growing up, the linguistic mode of teaching was what was used in most classrooms. However, as I began to teach I realized that that wasn’t reaching all of my students. I began to investigate what I could do differently.
One way I use technology to teach in a nonlinguistic way is by using word processing applications and my Promethean Board in order to present graphic organizers. I use the word processing applications and web resources to create or locate different types of graphic organizers for my students. I use my Promethean Board to present the organizers to my visual learners who need to see an example of what they are to do instead of just listening to directions.
Another way to use technology is through creating projects to present what has been learned. Through digital storytelling, movie making, power point, and even word processing, students can present their information in a way that is appealing and meaningful to them. These technologies allow for learning to become authentic and fulfilling for the students.
I am looking forward to learning more ways to incorporate technology into my classroom. My goal is to reach all students every day. I know it is lofty but I believe, through using all of my tools available, it is attainable.
We, as teachers, have many advantages over the educators even ten years ago. Technology has so much to offer now! Teaching first graders has made me keely aware that I must teach and reteach (and reteach) for information to be retained. When I reteach in different modes, I see a higher rate of retention. We do a lot of movement (clapping, dancing, stomping) and I’ve found some great content songs on teachertube. We even blow off steam on Friday afternoons with our “Friday video” of a hippo dancing to “In the Jungle”.
Videos instantly grab the attention of young ones, so I routinely look for segments or short videos. Usually these are from United Streaming. My students enjoy using the Interwrite board. It’s an incentive to keep attention while I am teaching because I let those who are listening and participating come up to write or draw on the board. I have also begun using quick quizzes on brainpopjr.com to quickly assess what they have learned. The children love the competitive aspect of it.
Thinking Maps are used nearly every day. I have begun to incoporate more pictures with the words, for the non-readers but also since the research states it helps students retain more information. Just the organization of the maps seems to help make sense of the information. I use the maps on my board and we can highlight information, color code, insert pictures- there’s no limit.
I am trying photostory for the first time with my students this week. We’re creating a story on our school and community to send to our pen pals in Washington state. Already I have noticed the students are more eager to write so that they can record their voice. They are so excited! Technology has done that for me…given me new ways to create and communicate. I am so excited myself to continue trying new technology and programs. It makes the learning fun for the children, which in turn makes it fun for me to teach.
Given the opportunity to make up a song or write a paper, a student will often choose to make up a song (even if they end up brainstorming the lyrics on paper). Totally unrelated to my lessons, but asking a question in class to review last week’s material went so much better this morning when I had them slap/clap (slap their lap and clap their hands) to a given number after they answered a question…and this was a group of too cool 8th graders. When the time comes to learn about the coordinate system we have aerobics lined up for this learning process.
Now, how can I implement technology to engage these students? Perhaps I can do this by using their favorite songs (minus the lyrics) as background music for the aerobics, or better yet, have the Jane Fonda or Sweating to the Oldies with Richard Simmons playing on the LCD in the background. Students can use their own music to create songs for mathematical study guides and create a pod cast for other classes.
Mathematics is a very visual discipline. I use the interwrite tablet almost daily. Students also use this during student practice. One of our lessons incorporated the use of a digital camera to take pictures of student learning maps (circle maps and flow maps) which students will use to create either a story board or a powerpoint of the concept. For students who hate (yes, hate…with a passion, apparently) to show their steps in math class, using technology could be a way to encourage the steps. Even something as simple as allowing them to audio record the steps is going beyond what they would normally want to do.
I like to treat technology as a “hook” and a keeper…to keep students motivated to produce and motivated to keep pushing themselves. Students use graphing calculators in my algebra class. It’s very encouraging to have students go beyond the requirements and expand their knowledge of a concept using technology as their tool, such as creating their own calculator program to solve equations. This shows they understand enough about equations to manipulate data to produce results for any given situation. Students learning how to function and create, that’s what teaching is all about.
I know that students learn in a variety of styles and the more learning modes that can be incorporated into a teacher’s lessons, the better the students will learn the content. At my elementary school, reading is the main focus as our students are struggling in this area and it is affecting test scores in all areas. Because of this, the linguistic mode naturally does become the most commonly addressed learning mode. However, I am learning ways that I can still address reading skills and strategies while using technology. Visual cues are very effective with young learners and are being incorporated as much as possible and will continue to be implemented into handouts, lessons, PowerPoints, bulletin boards, and items posted on the walls. Something new I am including in the media center lessons is to engage students into a story kinesthetically. I am having students act out stories after they are read aloud to check for understanding and also to help with summarizing skills as the acting out is not word for word. I am using computer lessons more, but so far with students that are a little older because my principal has requested that I do primarily reading lessons with younger students so they will have more exposure to becoming better readers. This is all an area that I am working towards as I attempt to engage students, and at the same time focus on reading and comprehension skills as that is what I am asked to do by administration. Whenever I can find opportunities for the two to mix, that would be the best of both worlds and would be a great focus for me. Reading is a critical problem at my school and it is difficult to leave the linguistic mode and incorporate other modes, while still attempting to teach kids how to read. I hope to be able to incorporate more and more technology as I learn about it, and of course as it becomes availabe at my school. Unfortunately, I am still teaching with an overhead and pull-down screen in the media center and would need technology more readily available if it is to be incorporated on a regular basis.
Not every teacher can rush out and buy the latest technology tools. It is almost disabling to a teacher, however, who knows there are so many helpful gadgets to aid in the understanding of basic concepts and skills. For example, as a media specialist with no screen, no overhead transparency, no Promethean board, and virtually no other means to communicate nonlinguistically, I feel as if I’m in technology purgatory. Right now, I see the benefits of having a Promethean board with an LCD projector and a document camera readily available every day in the library MEDIA center, along with computers that are equipped with Internet, speakers, and sound recording software. Students who do not always listen to the sound of my voice could watch a steamline video or view a PowerPoint that includes imbedded video clips of various demonstrations. These technology tools would aid students in finding the just right book, properly shelving books, using the Dewey decimal system, previewing a software program such as PhotoStory, or learning how to use an electronic database such as DISCUS.
There are far too many multimedia tools and software programs to name all. Having previously worked with secondary students in a classroom with a Promethean board, I know the interactive games that are available online through Promethean planet, the PowerPoint overlays, and the many other visually and audibly stimulating capabilities that a Promethean board provides can stimulate student thinking and motivation thus increasing student achievement. For instance, I have several classes of nonreaders who visit the library; they range in age from 3 years to 10 years old, and some are in self-contained special education classes. Color coded symbols and sounds provided via the lessons on Promethean board, slate, or a document camera would help these students locate letters, listen to letter sounds, and touch a keyboard with sound and say responses. They would go from nonreaders to readers and make more progress with aid from visuals and other nonlinguistic representation.
Virtual field trips are also available via the Internet through many academic and institutional websites for helping students see as close to three dimensional as possible, particularly great for those students who have difficulty with reading and comprehending large amounts of text. Some technology tools lend themselves well to being used cooperatively by students. The flip camera allows students to easily and briefly capture scenes their classmates act out, to film field trips, or just to create a biopic or autobiography about themselves and their classmates. These cameras store footage that is easily edited by students in programs such as I-Movie, Movie Maker, or other commercial software such as Pinnacle.
Because some students may become confused or receive too much information, the less is more rule applies with instructional technology tools.
In the classroom there is a bigger push for inquiry based learning and I feel that technology is allowing us to do that with ease. We have the power of a button at the tip of our fingers allowing us to create magical tests and pretests that intrigue our students and spark an interest to learn. I have begun using my active votes more by using review games and post assessments to interest my boys more. They become very excited about using these fun pieces of technology and it seems to keep them focused on the task. Another great source that has become available to us in the classroom is math in first, which a computer based program that allows children to practice and engage in exciting math activities. They get rewards for completing a task and get to compete within their school and across the country. It is exciting to see them so interested and motivated to do this at home. It is so easy to find new and engaging ways to interest your students and introduce new material now that we have technology within arms length. No teacher has an excuse not to try something new because you don’t have a computer because there is so much more out there to use.
As technologies develop, educators may face either the pressure or the temptation to incorporate new gadgets into our pedagogical practices. Such tools present different levels of interplay of still and moving images, color, writing, sound-effect, speech and music, while many of them allow progressively more flexibility regarding time and space. The question would be if it is about teaching and learning the same things in different ways or if it is the case that new technologies shape new pedagogical practices and learning processes. The best practice approach empowers educators to engage students in meaningful online projects, targeted to students’ diverse learning needs and styles, and enriched through multimodal learning opportunities opened up through integrating complementary technologies. It is assumed that high-quality instruction coupled with teacher-focused tools can ignite student learning, and with the result, that learning becomes more student and curriculum-driven and teaching becomes more effective.
HOWEVER, should the goal for successful teaching and learning be student focused rather than teacher focused? Most educators know about the theories of multiple intelligences and learning styles. The basic idea is that students learn differently and have different strengths. Teachers thus should try to facilitate multiple paths to learning and attempt to create different ways for students to show their mastery of content material. Video games are multimodal. Most video games seamlessly integrate three of our five senses: sight, sound, and touch. If we ever figure out a way to apply Smell-o-vision or Odorama with our computers participants also may experience different smells while gaming. Because they can simultaneously utilize images, text, sound, interactions, abstract design, and so on video games are better able to simulate real-life experiences than can printed text, audio, or video. This makes learning more authentic, more engaging, and more compelling. According to research, the graphical adventure genre (e-Adventure) is the most flexible, covering the greatest number of subjects or areas of knowledge, and the one that, possibly works best in the area of education. In these games, a wide variety of problems must be resolved through a story line designed to aid in the learning process. So now I must determine how best to utilize these games within my library classroom to the best advantage of my students…
I can’t believe I have finally gotten through.
Since introducing technology into my classroom, I have seen tremendous growth in my students. Not only in their test scores, but in the enthusiasm they have for learning. Instead of comments, such as, “do we have to read this again”, I hear, “can we please do this again?” Contrary to many opinions, a teacher doesn’t have to have the most expensive equipment to make a difference in a child’s learning. While the latest and greatest technology can cause a school to eat through it’s budget quickly, a simple microphone or hand held recorder can have a huge impact on student’s reading and writing. How many times does a student get to record his/her voice and hear it played back? Of all the technology I have integrated, this one simple thing excites my students more than anything. They hear first hand how they sound when reading. It is easier for them to hear mistakes they’ve made and they are eager to edit and revise so they can record again.
I love being able to take my students into the computer lab and teach all of them at the same time. I know immediately who is following along and who is having trouble. It also provides instant feedback to them when leveling up in the gaming world. Creating power point presentations and digital stories give my students an alternative to book reports and hand made projects. I am able to scaffold instruction much easier with a computer than in the classroom.
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