SoapBox

No, I am not getting on mine, but this new web/computer/mobile based tool/software could allow you and your students too.  Currently in Beta for testing and allowing you to email to join, Soapbox looks to be the "do it all" back channel application for teachers.

You or students can create socially ranked questions where students can determine importance and that get updated in real time.  Students can also participate in polls and respond to questions through a clicker type system.  At the same time, students can mark whether they understand or are confused about something and the software updates real time. There is also an area for discussions where teachers can create topics and the can be discussed.  Responses are anonymous, so there would have to be a level of trust and understanding between you and your students.  Soapbox is not just an application for class time use.  It can be accessed 24/7 therefore making it a lot more than just a back channel system.

From its website; SoapBox is a controlled digital space, designed to improve student engagement by breaking down the barriers students face when deciding whether or not to participate in class, and gives teachers a concrete assessment of student comprehension, in real time.

For more information, see the video below.

Just What Does it Mean to Integrate Technology - Part II

In a recent post I asked the question: "Just What Does it Mean to Integrate Technology?"  I have often wondered what that meant, especially since returning to the classroom.  I remember when I first started teaching (JUST 9 years ago by the way) integrating technology meant anything that you plugged in was using technology, and none of the integration focused on student use of the technology and the idea of "Digital Natives" was a term not even in our vocabulary yet.

In 2012 more emphasis is being placed on student use of technology.  I currently have a student teacher and she had ZERO classes that focused on technology in the classroom, at least from a Web 2.0 sense.  There were classes that mentioned and showcased hardware, but not ALL schools have the hardware, but do provide access to the FREE software available on the web.  I mentioned to my student teacher TinyURL, and she had never heard of it.  It really got me thinking what else she had not heard of.  It also got me thinking that if technology integration is going to be vital to teacher evaluations and student success, why are more universities not offering/requiring classes in the teacher education program?  If student use of technology is going to be something focused on, future teachers need to know about a lot of it first, or AT LEAST be introduced to where they can learn and find out about the great tools out there.  Twitter is a great starting point by the way!

Student use of technology also brings up an interesting aspect as well.  Just what will we consider student use.  As I mentioned in the previous post, several school districts consider just placing an assignment under a document camera and showing it to the class as "student use."  Most of us with integration specialist experience know and will agree that is hardly "integrating" technology.  But in 2012, is creating a simple Power Point student use of technology anymore?

Most students still use Power Point in schools because most teachers know how to use it.  Since teacher education programs are not focusing on the new options, neither will the students because they won't be introduced to it, or because the teacher does not know about it, and therefore does not want the student using it. If students are still going to be using Power Point, then we should go beyond simple creation and require students to add music, add voice over and timing, video integration, etc.

When you think about student use of technology, we should be encouraging video and audio editing in projects.  Students should record multiple aspects of a project and then work on editing them together.  Students should be creating cartoons and comics and piecing stories together.  Students should be taking the airliner in their hands and running presentations and drawing over worksheets and highlighting text.  Students should be collaborating over the web and using tools to communicate with each other and the teacher about assignments.

Technology Integration is no longer just about the tools we plug in.  It is about the tools in the cloud that are always plugged in and available for student use.  So just what does it mean to have students use technology?

Mock Congress

Let me start off by saying that this is a non-technology related post. This past week our government classes were starting their unit on the Legislative Branch. In years past I focused on comparing the two Houses and doing flow charts for How a Bill Becomes a Law. This year with the help of my fellow government teacher our freshman classes conducted a Mock Congress or a simulation of How a Bill Becomes a Law. I wanted to take a moment to share the experience with any fellow social studies teachers out there.


The first step for us was to have students create a bill that they think should become a law. Students came up with some really good laws and controversial ones as well. We had Bills related to immigration, abortion, same sex marriage, driving laws, education, etc. It was great seeing the students take something they had an opinion about and run with it.


The process for the simulation was to first split students up into political party's based on a political spectrum assignment that we did earlier. This allowed students to elect a Speaker of the House, Party Leaders, and Party Whips. We then had the Party Leaders assign students to 6 designated committees based on the Bills that the students wrote. While this was going on, the Speaker of the House looked at the Bills and decided which ones to pass on to committees and which ones to ignore.


In committees, Chairpersons were appointed by the Speaker of the House and then looked through the Bills. They had three options. Pigeonhole it which means not discuss it, send it back to Bill sponsor for changes, or discuss and decide whether to pass it on to the floor for a vote, or defeat it.


Once the Bills left the committee, the Speaker of the House will put them in the order that they will be discussed on the floor. As Bills were discussed on the floor and debated, the Speaker of the House would call on people in the order they see fit. For voting purposes, they could have a vocal vote, a standing vote, and roll call. We made sure to use all the different kinds. If Bills passed, they were sent to the President (myself and the other teacher). We would either sign off on the Bill or veto it. In every class we vetoed a Bill to allow students the opportunity to see that process and see if they could still pass the bill with a 2/3 vote. Every veto was never overturned.


After the experience was over students were still talking about it. We concluded the simulation by having students complete an On-Demand Writing assignment where they picked a Bill that passed or didn't pass and write a Senator or Representative from our state describing why they should consider the Bill or not consider one that did not pass. I also included the process for How a Bill Becomes a Law as an essay on the summative assessment.


Want to know more? Just comment and get in touch with me on Twitter. I plan on uploading all the documents we used to my school website in the future and linking the story from our district website when it is published. I also will get a picture from our local newspaper who I contacted about doing a story on the project.

It was a very rigorous and relevant assignment for our students and something we will do in the future.

Just What Does it Mean to Integrate Technology

Here we are in 2012 and technology is a booming industry in education. SMARTBoards, Projectors, Document Cameras, Airliners, Clicker Systems, Video and Photo devices, iPods and iPads are invading classrooms all over the world. Teachers and students are being asked to use these new tools, with some having training and others being thrown to the wolves. But just what does it mean to integrate technology?

Does using a projector each day count as a teacher using technology? The pressure is on for teachers to focus on "student use of technology." But what does that mean? If a student places an assignment under the document camera to show to the class, is that student "using" the technology? Does holding a clicker remote really count for student use?

I use technology everyday, but getting my students to use it has been a struggle. I provide ways for students to communicate using technology, whether it is social media or text messages. I assign the occasional assignment requiring searching the web for information and teaching the students how to search properly. I use the occasional web 2.0 tool and encourage students to use it as well for projects. I am quickly discovering that using class time to work on a project in a computer lab is not the best use of class time. But because of technology limitations for many of my students, I have no other choice, which makes assigning projects using technology frustrating.

With teacher accountability changing all the time, where will technology integration fit into the equation? How will they measure a teachers ability to use technology and student use of technology? Then the big question, will it be measured at all? One would hope so considering how much money states and districts are spending on tools and personnel.

I firmly believe that if I was at a 1:1 school I would have much more success with integration. At the same time I know several teachers out there would struggle with a 1:1 program.

So the big question still remains....Just what does it mean to integrate technology? What are your thoughts?

An Art Teacher's Blog

So my cousin is graduating from college, has passed her PRAXXIS and is becoming an Art teacher.  It prompted me to share a blog with her that the Art Teacher at my school is doing with the hope that it will encourage her to do the same with her students.  Then it got me thinking, I haven't shared the blog that the Art teacher is doing with his students with anyone who reads this blog.  This just goes to show that integrating technology is an opportunity for all.

On his blog, Art Studio 1169 (which is the classroom number for his room), he shares videos, lessons, information, Apps, and samples of student work related to what he is teaching.  It is truly a great example of how teachers can easily integrate technology and Web 2.0 into their classrooms.  I recommend viewing and sharing with the Art teachers in your school and in your district, and then encouraging them to take this next step.

You might also notice that the title of the Blog is also the hashtag on Twitter that he created for his Art class.  He truly has embraced Social Media in his classroom.