Research and Information Fluency
This standard shows that students are proficient in the use of digital tools to gather information, evaluate it for validity and appropriateness, and to use it effectively and ethically. Students should know how to plan a strategy for their research as well as how to locate, organize and analyze information. Finally, the use of data should include the processing and reporting of results.
I found the Thinkfinity by Verizon very interesting and will use it to create lessons that are research-based, visually interesting as well as engaging. The presentation was well done, and is technology that I can instantly use in the classroom this fall.
I was ready to go this morning after a 2 mile jog through the historic King Williams district – it was beautiful and thanks Tania for slowing down for me.
Ok, so I went to a session on information literacy. I thought it would be a good reminder on what we need to be doing with our kids to be good producers of information. Our students and our teachers need to be able to identify trustworthy and useful information, collect and manage all of the information and then be able to communicate it for others to learn. The better we prepare our students on how to search for information effectively, the better producers they will become.
I went to a BYOL Session that was supposed to be on Differentiated Instruction. We spent most of the session exploring this wiki. The wiki is updated constantly and we were encouraged to post our thoughts and share strategies on DI while in the session. There is a link specifically for NECC 2008 that will stay on the site for anyone to explore later or contribute strategies to at a later time as well. I found myself personally drawn to the different resources for multiple intelligences and creating portfolios in particular in regards to assessing multiple intelligences. In short, I will go back to the website to look at the resources and I recommend you spend some time browsing as well.
This morning, I attended a model lesson on Google Earth. I was hoping to see ways of incorporating it into a math classroom besides the usual calculating distances. Although they never did show anything relating to math, I did see how using Google Earth would be a good research tool. More pictures would be available and different information that what is usually found in an encyclopedia.
Where in the World? An Interactive GPS Unit – This session really started the wheels spinning as to the possibilities for a great cross curricular unit. What a great way to incorporate GPS technology into Math, Science and Social Studies. Now I just need to find a grant for the GPS devices!
after several sessions…The use of Moodle seems to be a great resource for teachers who want to enhance their traditional classroom using 21st century digital resources that combine lessons and learner. The Immediate feedback and challenges and remediation opens opportunities for fewer glitches. the 5 e model incorporates easily into online lessons. The Moodle platform will take a little getting used to but– seems user friendly….
I was also impressed by the Thinkfinity presentation. I think this will be a great resource to share with teachers. I checked with the TCEA boothe about summer training for trainers and was told that it is going to be Aug. 21-22nd in Dallas; I’m really disappointed that it conflicts with our staff development schedule.
I was impressed with the “21st Century Learner Virtual Caper: The Case of the Cyber Footprint” presentation sponsored by ThinkFinity. The “draw” of the presentation was the appearance of Eric Close (from “Without a Trace”) and Peter H. Reynolds (New York Times bestselling author). However, I was impressed by the format of the presentation as well as the content. The objective was to “define” what a 21st Century Learner “looks” like. Peter H. Reynolds began the presentation by reading his book “The Dot” which ended with a dedication to his 7th grade math teacher who recognized that Peter’s love of drawing could be harnessed to help him learn math. The point of the book and of the dedication was to emphasize the potential importance of even the smallest comments we make to students to their self-confidence and desire to learn. Eric Close then went out into the audience and asked attendees to respond to a series of questions about a 21st Century Learner. As the comments were coming in, Peter H. Reynolds was busy creating a visualization of this “learner” that evolved as the presentation continued. While the drawing and the audience comments were taking place, a person from Thinkfinity was pulling up Thinkfinity resources that could be used to address the needs of the 21st Century Learner that the audience was defining and Peter H. Reynolds was illustrating. One of the characteristics that we included in our “learner” was the ability to multi-task. This presentation gave the audience a perfect opportunity to be multi-taskers ourselves as we listened to the audience comments, watched Peter’s illustration evolve, and viewed the Thinkfinity resources being projected. You should be able to see Peter’s fantastic illustration on the Thinkfinity website: http://www.thinkfinity.org later this week.
I just experienced the first lesson I can take back and use as in my class. This was a model lesson called Google Earth: Real Science, Real Word, Real Fun! and it was fun. The lesson was all set up in Google Earth with different energy sources ballooned. Websites were linked to the balloons students go to gather information about each type of energy. I have gone to sections on Google Earth before that were more of how to use Google Earth. This one was actually a lesson to implement.
I went to another session on reserach of 1:1 laptop programs. The presenters shared findings of their reserach studies. Nothing that we had not already researched in our own district, but reinforced our own findings of change in teacher practice, home use, and better writing.
It’s not about the laptops, it is about what you do with them that counts. A quote from Seymour Papert, “Technology opens new possibilities for things to happen.”