How Social Media Creates Movements and Weakens Them

Making a Presentation Interesting

View on Flowboard - Presentation Software for iPad and Mac

More Schools Encourage Students to Bring Tech Devices

The idea of allowing students to use their own technology in schools to enhance academic instruction is a significant departure from the cellphone bans of old. But it has increased in a number of school systems, including those in Fairfax and Prince William counties, as educators look for ways to embrace the digital world.

Read More

Using Ted Video to Enhance Narrative Writing

I use the TED video by Chimamanda Adichie: “ The Danger of a Single Story” to teach students how to better write narrative essays and to develop voice.

Objective: Students will enhance their narrative writing skills by learning how to develop voice.

CCSS  WRITING STANDARDS:  Applies to grades 9-10 and 11-12

W.9-10.3

W.11-12.3

CCSS  SPEAKING AND LISTENING STANDARDS: Applies to grades 9-10 and 11-12

SL.9-10.5

SL 9-10.1

SL 11-12.1

SL11-12.5

Step 1

Watch the Ted Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg

Step 2  

Students will collaborate in groups using Google Docs to discuss the video

( Here you may want to ask the students how Adichie was able to find her voice)

Step 3

Using a projector, the instructor displays the answers the groups produced

Step 4

Practice by having the students develop a brief paragraph using voice

Step 5

The instructor shows  what the students came up with and discusses their results.

Step 6

Using Google Docs students edit their classmates paragraphs. By now they should have a better idea about voice

Step 7

If students are still having difficulty with voice, I have them read and discuss  in groups the short story “ My Name” from Sandra Cisneros’s

“ The House on Mango Street.” https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-3G4XJ-lN7doAMtk8uuU2zbQLCeqsIhFPrEq3vs6DO4/pub or you can show them this brief video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F2XB0owzAQ

Step 7

Have students write a narrative essay using as key component voice

Using Ted Talks for Class Discussion

A few years back, while I was surfing the internet, I came across something called Ted Talks or to be more precise Ted.com. As many people know by now, it is a site that invites personalities from different fields to speak on different issues such as education, technology, and others. That day, I viewed a video by Benjamin Zander, a famous orchestra conductor, and I became enthralled by his presentation. (Watch his performance) I have become a loyal follower ever since, and I not only watch the Ted videos for entertainment purposes, but I have also used them in the classroom. The great thing about Ted is the way that its videos can generate classroom conversation. A student in the Ted Blog wrote, recently, about how Ted videos can be good resources for class discussion. (Read his post)

Top twenty Ted Talks: 
Click Image below

 

Cell Phones in Class

A growing number of schools have realized the potential of technology in the classroom. With that in mind, some districts across the nation are allowing their students to use their cell phones in the classrooms. Among them are New Mildford High School in New Mildford, New Jersey, and the Westerly High School in Rhode Island.  

Here is video reporting how the Westerly District will allow cell phones in class.

Evernote

Imagine if you had a notebook where you could add just about anything that you wanted, like photos, files, homework, reminders and much more. Well, in Evernote, an electronic notebook this is possible. This is a free App that I love using because it keeps me organized. Evernote can also be used in the classroom, and the teacher and students can share folders and files.

Evernote Tutorial

Using Google Drive

Google Drive is one of the best technologies that a teacher can implement. It works on so many different levels. It can be a place to create and store files, you can share and edit documents in real time, and most of all, Google gives you a generous 15 GB storage in their cloud.  

Here is a quick tutorial

Google Drive

Collaborating Using Google Drive

I have to confess that putting my students in groups in order to do collaborative activities has been one of the most excruciating things for me to do in the past. Predictably, there has always been one student who has taken over the group, even when I have given specific directions and roles to each member in the group.  Eventually, he/she  monopolizes the participation of everyone, rendering the group activity useless. Well, when I found out more about Google Drive and how it can be used for collaborative purposes, my eyes lit up. What attracts me to Google Drive is its ability to share files. When you share a document in Google Drive, you can edit it in real time. I believe this can be helpful to a teacher when he/she does group activities.

The link below explains how Google Drive works sharing files

Collaborating using Google Drive

Who Supports the Common Core?

This Podcast from NPR discusses how people view the Common Core differently.

Click on the linkPodcast

Getting Savvy With Social Media

By
Matt Britland

Motivation for Technophobes

"No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow you progress, you're still way ahead of everyone who isn't trying."

~TONY ROBBINS

How a School Can Maximize Its Potential

This Presentation by Mitt Britland shows how technology if implemented in a school can make education more interesting