Over the last 2 weeks in Michigan teachers have been bringing their students to computer labs and opening up the M-Step to find an array of skills and content their students may or may not have learned. I will admit, at first I was hot; mad about students being tested on material and skills that they learned years before. However, being mad accomplishes nothing. Rather I took to Pinterest and various websites online to see how other teachers are integrating skills into their curriculum. On the M-Step Social Studies teachers saw a lot of charts, maps, timelines, economics and cause and effect skills, meaning that we need to make sure our Social Studies courses are interdisciplinary and are constantly teaching skills, as well as content. Pinterest allows teachers to collaborate, inspire and share their ideas. By creating an atmosphere of collaborative teaching, interdisciplinary studies, and skill building across classrooms, teachers will help students grow and improve their test-taking skills.
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I believe that Weebly for Educators has the ability to innovate how we relay information to our students. As a student, I love having the ability to go back and double check that I had the right information or that I'm not missing an assignment. Creating a website for the classroom gives teachers the ability to help students at home, on the go, or assist them in their own problem solving. It allows you to post homework, class documents and information, have parents and students contact you, and to create an open environment for students. It also lets you post video, lectures, or slides from classes, so that students can look back and make sure they grasped the right information. I've been woking hard to create a site that is not only user friendly, but also has features that makes students want to come back to the site and learn. Weebly allows me as a future teacher to be helpful, informational, and current with the technology that students are using.
I loved this workshop because I think iPads are such an amazing tool for students in the classroom, but only if they are utilized properly. I think their use is emphasized especially in elementary classrooms, but in this seminar I learned about some very helpful apps that I could put to use in my secondary classroom. I would use iPads to allow students to explore maps, atlases, play interactive history quizzes and games, practice flashcards, watch videos from class, and do group based class activities. I don't think iPads by themselves could teach useful lessons for students, but I think they would be great additional tools. There is however, the problem that most schools do not have access to iPads for classrooms for all students. I think I would still use my own iPad in class to show students cool apps that could be of use to them for the subject. I would project my iPad on the projector and allow the students to come up and demonstrate how they would use the app to complete their assignment. I think for the social sciences, iPads would be an amazing research, interactive, and practical tool for the classroom.
Grades: 6-8
Subject: Social Sciences NETS-S Standards: Research and Information Fluency, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making Netflix is known as a great site for streaming videos online to your living room, but it is also a great tool for the classroom because of its great documentaries. By beginning in the search box, you can search for various topics and documentaries related to your area. National geographic posts hundreds of documentaries on Netflix and would be great for science and social studies based classrooms. Although there aren't questions that supplement the material, they can be used to supplement the lesson that the teacher is teaching. By showing the students video, you would be giving them a visual understanding of what they are learning. It would be important for teachers to pay attention to ratings of the videos and to screen them before the class views them, however, when used properly, Netflix would be an awesome tool for the classroom. Although you have to pay for Netflix after a free one month trial, it is only $7.00 for online streaming and I think well worth the price!
Grades: 6-8
Subject: Social Sciences NETS-S Standards: Communication and Collaboration, Research and Information Fluency, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Decision Making, and Digital Citizenship We all know PBS as a great television learning channel that taught kids to share, to count, and to value reading, but PBS offers teachers and students so much more than that online. PBS Learning Media is a website designed for teachers to access tools and online resources that they can easily integrate into their classroom lesson planning. This website offers videos, documents, audio clips, interactive activities, supplemental materials, and even lesson plans. Teachers can search by grade or by subject to find a piece of media that collaborates with their teaching efforts. The website also offers professional development ideas for teachers by way of Ted Talks and articles that may help advance their own knowledge on subjects they have been teaching for years. Each subject is connected through discussion questions and links to other helpful activities in that subject area so that teachers always have somewhere to go and may even have too much extra material! The videos are narrated and taught by professors and experts in their fields, while the interactive activities promote critical thinking among the students. PBS is a reliable and peer reviewed resource making it a great website for students to explore and learn from. I strongly encourage you to sign-up for this amazing and FREE resource! My video provides an introduction to the website and shows teachers how to begin finding material to supplement their lessons. |
AuthorSarah Anthony graduated from Michigan State University in Social Studies Education. She strongly believes in student-centered activities and encourages continuing success by communicating with parents, staff, and administration. Archives
April 2015
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