Module 4: Teaching and Learning with Technology in Social Studies

We all know that Social Studies is a subject that often gets put on the back burner in the classroom. Implementing technology and web resources can be an easy way to get that Social Studies time in while creating an engaging and meaningful lesson. Chapter 12 in the text talks about all the different ways to integrate technology and social studies.

Advantages

Roblyer talks about technology providing a variety of strategies to enhance learning for the diverse topics that social studies encompasses (Roblyer, 2016, p.340). Simulation sites such as the Oregon Trail game and iCivics provide students with real world scenarios that bring history to life through their computer.

Another huge benefit technology brings to the social studies classroom is the unlimited access to primary sources available on the web. Roblyer discusses the benefits of primary sources being “making academic content meaningful and building on prior experiences.” (Roblyer, 2016, p.341). I agree with this statement because I was teaching a lesson on Marco Polo a few weeks ago and I pulled some excerpts from Marco Polo’s journal and it made the lesson more meaningful because the students were able to read about his experiences firsthand. Some great sites for primary sources are: The Library of Congress and Our Documents.

Disadvantages

I don’t feel like there are a ton of disadvantages to using technology when it comes to teaching social studies. In the text Roblyer talks about there being a lack of technology resources for social studies (Roblyer, 2016, p.338). I disagree with this statement because there are so many great resources on the web for teaching social studies and many of them are free. Dr. Davis introduced us to Teaching Tolerance which provides free film kits on many different historical subjects.

One thing that can be a disadvantage to integrating technology in social studies is when you let students search the web, they may find inaccurate and biased sources. Sites like the Onion and other inaccurate sites can be easily found when researching. It is important to inform your students how to tell if a website is valid or not. Also giving them a list of valid sources for them to go onto for their research. A site I really like that has great social studies information is Mr. Nussbaum. Mr Nussbaum is a very comprehensive, well-researched site that students can use to find accurate and non-biased information on various history topics.

Specific Programs and Activities for Technology and Social Studies

Here are some various programs and resources that Roblyer talks about for integrating technology and social studies:

Electronic Research Records: Ellis Island Records, The White House Website

Information Visualization Resources: Social Explorer, Gapminder

Adventure Learning: Go North!, The Jason Project

Virtual Field Trips: National Museum of Natural History, U.S. Capitol Tour

Digital Storyteling: PBS Civil War, Voice Thread Center for Digital Storytelling

References: 

Roblyer, M. D. (2016). Integrating educational technology into teaching.  

Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Module 3: Educational and Instructional Technology

In this module, we talked about all the fun software and hardware that can help us enhance the learning process in our future classrooms. Here are a few I like or have discovered through the reading of this chapter.

Materials Generators

The Google Add-On that is a materials generator is Google Docs. With Google Docs you can type up documents such as newsletters, tests, etc.. and you have the ability to share them through other Google programs like Google Classroom or Google Drive. The possibilities for this materials generator are endless.

Another materials generator that I really enjoy is Adobe Indesign. Indesign is a software that allows you to create documents. I used it a lot while pursuing my undergraduate degree, making newspaper layouts and magazine spreads. This can be applied to education when creating resources for the classroom.The thing I like about Indesign is how easy it is to format. You can easily lay out what you need and get a great finished product Roblyer talks about the criteria for effective desktop publishing in chapter 5 and a program like Indesign can help you with those formatting criteria such as using a limited number of fonts, appropriate sizing, and effectively using white space (Roblyer, 2016, p.145).

Data Collection and Analysis Tools

Google Forms is a free add-on through google that allows you to collect data and analyze it. I've seen teachers use this as a way to survey students, a way to get parent contact information at open house, and even using google forms as a quiz. You answer through the form and then Google takes that information and sorts it for you in an organized way.

SurveyMonkey is another free website that teachers can use to create surveys and polls for their classroom. Roblyer talks about SurveyMonkey being an effective site to use in the classroom because it is free, and it allows people to answer the survey quickly through the internet (Roblyer, 2016, p. 151). Sites like these can be used for polling, graphic illustration data, and a strategy for teaching survey design.

Testing and Grading Tools

Creating a digital gradebook can be made easy with Google Sheets. Google sheets is like a spreadsheet software and you can create several spreadsheets for whatever subject or class you may be teaching. You can enter your grades and Google Sheets will average the totals for you. This is also great because its saved through your Google Drive so no worries about it crashing or losing your gradebook.  

Rubistar is totally free and a great site for creating rubrics. There are already created rubrics to choose from and an option to create your own rubrics.

Graphics Tools

I recently discovered Google Drawings with our Module 1 project. Such an easy way to create posters and other graphics for the classroom. I love that you can search Google Images through Google Drawings and easily add in the photos.

Word Cloud generators are great because you can use them in any subject area. Roblyer talks about the many different ways you can use them in science, social studies, and language arts. There are many different sites to make word clouds but one of my favorites is Wordle.

Planning and Organizing Tools

Google Calendar is a tool to help keep you organized. Much like all the other Google Add-Ons, it is saved through Google Drive so you can keep everything in one area and not have to worry about losing it. If your school uses Gmail as their email system, administrators can send out reminders for meetings and other important school events.

A teacher friend of mine uses Planbook for all her lesson plans. You can type all of your lessons through the site and it allows you to send them straight to your administrator. Roblyer talks about other sites similar to Planbook that could also be useful for lesson planning

Research and Reference Tools

Google Maps is a great resource that students love to use. From showing students how far away a country is from where we live to the satellite view that shows us exactly where our schools or homes are, the options with Google Maps are pretty wide ranging. Students love the interactivity of Google Maps.

Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) is a free research site available to people across the state of Alabama. All you have to have is a public library card and you have access to lots of free research sites such as Brittanica Kids, Explora and InfoBits. Schools also have free access to this site. Roblyer talks about how digital encyclopedias offer a wide range of sources (articles, videos, soundbites) that help students learn (Roblyer, 2016, p.162).

Content Area Tools

If you have ELLs in your classroom, Google Translate may be a good resource to use. In my 5th grade class at Pelham Ridge, we have a student who speaks french and during math, I saw her using her Chromebook to translate the math instructions through Google Translate. It was easy access and once she understood the instructions, she flew through the work.

Epic is a subscription based interactive storybook site. Their library is filled with over 15,000 titles that students can read, watch, and listen to. Many schools have subscriptions to this site and it allows students to have access to these titles at school and at home through their usernames.

There are so many great resources on the web that we can use in our classrooms.  I can't wait to read about what everyone else found!

 Resources:
Roblyer, M. D. (2016). Integrating educational technology into teaching.  

Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Module 2: Evaluating Websites

Evaluating websites is an important task that a teacher should teach students in order to become good digital citizens. Below are a few ideas to do this as well as a couple of my favorite websites.

Search Engines

Search engines are programs that help us locate information on the web. We can teach our students to use them to find better information for projects. Some tips that Roblyer (2016) recommend are give topics that require a thoughtful search, teach students to use keywords rather than questions, and show them how they can use the advanced search tool to narrow their results (Roblyer, 2016, p. 184).

Website Evaluation

(GCSC Library,2013)

I think that this video is a good source to talk about website evaluation because it starts with the two guys arguing about the water because the one guy had seen on the internet that tap water was “dangerous.” We have all heard someone say “I saw it on the internet so it has to be true” and I think this video illustrates that we can’t always trust what we hear on the internet. The librarian in the video then goes on to explain how to find reliable websites to get the facts straight. I don’t love the abbreviation this video uses to remember the criteria so if I was using it in my classroom, I may cut it off at a certain point and introduce a website rubric like Roblyer mentions in the text (Roblyer, 2016, p. 199).

Favorite Professional Websites

There are so many websites I love to use to find resources so it was hard to pick just two. Using the website evaluation checklist found in the text, I was able to evaluate 2 of my favorites (Roblyer, 2016, p.198).

One website that I use a LOT is the Scholastic website. It has so many resources for all subjects and everything is always up-to-date and well researched. The website is very easy to navigate for teachers and as well as for students. I use this site all the time for book suggestions and book leveling. Another part of Scholastic I would like to use this semester in Content Block is their virtual field trip modules, those are a great free resource.

Another site that I visit frequently is Elementary Shenanigans. Hope King is the author and is a teacher at the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta (if you haven’t heard about it, look it up, it is amazing). While her website is considered a “blog,” I find Mrs. King’s writing style professional and the content valid and well-researched. I would use this site as a teacher to get ideas for lesson plans because if you want to teach a topic “out of the box,” Hope King is the person to help you accomplish this goal. With blogs, it is important to use the criteria for evaluating a website to determine their validity. Mrs. King’s blog passes the test.

Online Safety and Security

When teaching students about being digital citizens, it is important to discuss internet safety. As Roblyer discusses (2016), we are very lucky to have the Children’s Internet Protection act which ensures libraries receive funds to protect children from inappropriate materials (Roblyer, 2016, p. 174). Schools have piggybacked off this law and set up firewall and filtering software to protect students. As a teacher, I would always check with my school technology supervisor about their firewall and filtering softwares before introducing web materials to my students.

References:

GCSC Library . (2013, February 12 Day). Evaluating Websites [Video file].

Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aem3JahbXfk

King, Hope. Elementary Shenanigans [web log]  retrieved from

http://www.elementaryshenanigans.com

Roblyer, M. D. (2016). Integrating educational technology into teaching.  

Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Scholastic Publishing retrieved 29 September 2016,

http://www.scholastic.com/home/

Module 1 Blog: Basic Software Tools

Chapter 4 talks about introducing basic software in the classrooms. Roblyer (2016) states in the text that these tools can be beneficial in the classroom to improve productivity, appearance, accuracy and more support for interaction and collaboration (Roblyer, 2016, p.109). These are pros and cons of the 3 basic software programs.

Word Processing Software: 

Word processing software programs allow the user to type their documents on the computer. Examples of these programs are Microsoft Word, Pages (Mac Software), and Google Docs. Most word processing programs allow some desktop publishing elements such as text boxes and inserting graphics. Roblyer (2016), suggests that teachers use word processing software to save time (typing is faster vs writing) and to enhance document appearance (not all students have the best handwriting) (Roblyer, 2016, p.115).

Some issues a teacher may have with word processing software is the need to teach keyboarding skills and what age students should start word processing. Typing can be introduced as early as 4 or 5 years old but some teachers feel that is the prime time to be focusing on building their handwriting skills and developing those fine motor skills before introducing typing. I think the text does provide a valid point, handwriting should be introduced first and build those skills and then introduce typing and word processing software.

Spreadsheet Software

Spreadsheet software is used to organize and manipulate numerical data. These are programs like Excel, Numbers, and Google Sheets. Roblyer (2016) states that teachers use spreadsheets to save time, support what if questions, and increase motivation to work with mathematics. These activities could be sorting data, basic math calculations and graphing (Roblyer, 2016, p. 122).

A big issue with spreadsheets can be that often students who are "scared" of math are often scared of spreadsheets. I can totally understand this. Opening up a spreadsheet can sometimes be scary for me especially when you have to do calculations on it. I think a good way to introduce spreadsheets would be a very visual step by step process of how to work with the program.

Presentation Software
Presentation software is used to display information in a slideshow format. These programs include, Powerpoint, Pages, and Google Slides. In our text, Roblyer (2016) states that teachers use presentation software to help organize thinking about a topic, enhance the impact of spoken information, and to allow for collaboration on a presentation (Roblyer, 2016, p. 127). From book reports to review games the possibilities for presentation software are almost limitless.

An issue with presentation software is that no research shows that the software impacts the information presented. Nothing proves that presenting something in a presentation software makes educational gains. I think there are great ways to integrate slideshow software in the classroom that can help students learn.

How to Use Slideshow Software in the Classroom

(Choose Your Own Adventure, 2011)

Instead of using slideshow software to present, I think you should use it for students to create and share. I observed in a 3rd grade classroom this past May term and they used Google Slides to create "Choose Your Own Adventure" games. They made up a scenario and used hyperlinks that linked to different slides based on the class choice. It was amazing to see the students using Google Slides and hyperlinks to create these fun games. While the students I observed with did these for  a fun end of the year activity, I found a link to one created about the rainforest that could be used in science.

References 

Lesson Ideas - Microsoft PowerPoint  

      https://sites.google.com/a/cfsd16.org/microsoft-powerpoint/lesson-ideas

Roblyer, M. D. (2016). Integrating educational technology into teaching. 
    Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Getting Back in the Saddle

A little bit of background..

(Modeling on set of a photoshoot, no day was ever the same at SPC)

As many of y'all might know, I am a graduate student in this program. My undergraduate degree is in journalism. I graduated from Samford in 2012 and worked right next door at Southern Progress, the publisher of Southern Living, Cooking Light and many other titles doing a 1 year post-graduate fellowship. It was amazing and I have a huge collection of cookbooks because of it now.  Blogging is something that I was taught to do in undergrad and I used to blog pretty regularly and had a handful of followers but I fell out of it when I started working at SPC but am very excited to pick it back up with this class. 

Why did I decide to go back to school? 

After my time at SPC ended, I had trouble finding a job in the journalism field. As a result, I started subbing at the preschool my mom works at. As it turns out, I really liked teaching. For a brief minute at Samford I was an elementary ed major but talked myself out of it and went the journalism route. Even as I was subbing, I still wasn't totally convinced that going back to school was the right decision for me. So I decided to teach 3K and see if this was really my calling. It was the toughest but MOST rewarding year it confirmed to me 100% this is what I want to be doing with my life. I met with Dr. Williams and the rest is history.

(My sweet 3K class, I would love to teach at least one of these kids again)

Why do I want to be a teacher?
The year I spent teaching 3K was so rewarding, seeing students who you didn't think were paying any attention go home and tell their parents all about hibernation or recite the whole pledge of allegiance when they had been rolling all over the floor when we practiced is the best feeling in the world to me. It's hard and a lot of days you want to pull your hair out but when those sweet little faces leave your class at the end of the year, you are wanting them to come back. My 3K group went to kindergarten this year and I am always getting updates from their parents through Facebook and text messages. Seeing them grow and being one of the reasons they do grow is why I want to be a teacher.

Purpose of this blog..
I hope with this blog, I can learn new methods of technology and how to incorporate them into the classroom. As much as many people don't like to admit it, technology is the future and there are so many innovative ways to incorporate it into the classroom that better prepare students for the future.

Word Cloud..
I think my word cloud captures my educational beliefs.. I want to be a hands-on interactive teacher. I want the room to always be buzzing with learning. Reading is my favorite subject so while I do want technology to be in my classroom, I still want to have books all over the place. I want to provide a positive learning experience for my students.

I am looking forward to blogging more throughout the semester and reading all my fellow classmate's blogs!