Tag: 1 to 1

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1 to 1 and Done?

Experiment

Prompt:  Assume you have your first full time teaching job and the principal tells you that you’ve been selected to pilot the  “1 to 1 Project.”  What are your thoughts about the opportunities and challenges that presents?

Technology has always been a double edged sword to me – it wields the power to serve as a tool for immense learning or act as a weapon of mass distraction. So when presented with the hypothetical task of piloting my school’s “1 to 1 Project”, I proceed with a bit of trepidation. However, I believe that with adequate preparation and a solid intention/plan for how the technology would be used, I could alleviate some of my worries.

The intention I could see myself setting for the technology is to see them used as tools for creation/production. By handing out iPads/Chrome books/etc. it’d be hard to manage what students are using them for at all times but by requiring students to produce something with the equipment, it’s easy to hold kids accountable. Also, as a teacher, I’d want to ensure that my students have reliable access to quality information – to do this, I’d need to be responsible for getting that information to my students (or giving them specific locations to retrieve it themselves). I see this point as an issue of equity/access and would take advantage of this step to down play a student’s prior access (or lack thereof) to technology/research. 

Ultimately, anything worth trying usually doesn’t come without risk and the 1 to 1 Project is no exception. If implemented haphazardly it’ll backfire but with strong intentionality, it should provide immense opportunity for learning and growth – after all, technology is embedded in pretty much every aspect of our lives so why should the classroom be any different?

Image Credit

Site: http://www.loc.gov/item/89712629/

Call NumberPC 3 – 1803 – An Experiment with a burning (A size) [P&P]

Library of Congress Catalog Number: 89712629

Reproduction Numbe: rLC-USZ62-97643 (b&w film copy neg.)

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iPads for everyone: the 1 to 1 classroom

Is_this_tomorrow
Anti-communist propaganda warning of “the dangers of a Communist takeover”.

Prompt:  Assume you have your first full time teaching job and the principal tells you that you’ve been selected to pilot the  “1 to 1 Project.”  What are your thoughts about the opportunities and challenges that presents?

Yay! I’ve been given a 1 to 1 classroom as a pilot program for my school. At first my heart is pounding and my head racing with ideas of what to do with such unrestrained freedom in my classroom. With access to all the information and knowledge the internet contains at their fingertips, there is nothing my students cannot do.

Continue reading “iPads for everyone: the 1 to 1 classroom”

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Class 7: The 1 to 1 Classroom

France_in_XXI_Century._SchoolWe’re using the iPad cart today to explore the challenges and opportunities of the 1 to 1 classroom.

Our class will open with a bit of “speed dating” of our ideas for the Document-Based Lesson Assignment. Students will form two lines and have 2 minutes to pitch their DBL design idea to each other and share some feedback. Then one line will shift and we repeated the pitch exchange. In all students will pitch their idea three times.

The goal of this phase is to gather feedback from peers regarding the following:

  • You have an interesting generative / essential question worth answering.
  • Your initial appraisal indicates there are suitable documents available.
  • You have an idea for how students will be asked interpret your documents.

Then we’ll break out the iPads to get idea what can be done with iBooks Author. We’ll look at three iBooks to develop some insights into what we might do with our iBook project.

Then we will have some time to explore three iPad apps that would have use in the social studies classroom.

Padlet – a simple tool for curating and collaboration. Tutorial
Haiku Deck – presentation software.  How to video (made by 6th graders – nice)
SimpleMind – a very basic mind mapping app. How to video

Three assignments:

1. If you don’t already have a Twitter account, create one. On 10/26 we’ll take part in a Twitter chat. BTW – you should be thinking about your digital profile. Your future employers will Google you.

2. DBL proposal – Submit a preliminary idea for your DBL design project for Peter’s feedback. It should be posted to a shared Google folder. It can be in the form of a Google doc that addresses. Proposal due 10/19. Here’s a short video on using shared Google folder

  1. Where will you use it?  Grade, course, etc
  2. An interesting generative / essential question worth answering.
  3. 3 -5 suitable documents (include links).
  4. A brief explanation of “what are the kids going to do?”

Note: This is not intended to be a fully developed lesson. Just an idea of where you intend to go.

C. Blog post – Assume you have your first full time teaching job and the principal tells you that you’ve been selected to pilot the  “1 to 1 Project.” (1 to 1: where ever student is provided with a device. Could be iPads, laptops Chromebooks, or other device) Blog post due 10/25

What are your thoughts about the opportunities and challenges that 1 to 1 (with a wifi network) presents?
Note: This is not a research project on ed tech devices or 1 to 1 classrooms – it’s a writing prompt.

Here’s a few questions to get you thinking. No you don’t have to answer them all.

  • How would you respond to teaching in a 1 to 1 environment – feel empowered or scared?
  • Would the student use them for consuming information or creating?
  • Would the devices be an asset to learning or distraction for students?
  • If you were able to “flip” some content, what would you do with the class time?
  • How would the devices impact the roles of teacher and student?

Have fun with it – Give me 2-3 paragraphs, a catchy title and interesting public domain image. Might as well get thinking about the prospects, because that’s where this is all heading. Remember you can search for contemporary or historical public domain images using this advanced Google image search strategy.

 

Image credit: A 19th-Century Vision of the Year 2000

A series of futuristic pictures by Jean-Marc Côté and other artists issued in France in 1899, 1900, 1901 and 1910. Originally in the form of paper cards enclosed in cigarette/cigar boxes and, later, as postcards, the images depicted the world as it was imagined to be like in the then distant year of 2000. There are at least 87 cards known that were authored by various French artists, the first series being produced for the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris. More information and cards here.

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Looking Into 7th Grade Social Media

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An introductory technology lesson by: Erik Nelson

Content: Recently our school district decided to purchase iPads for all students, from K-12. Students will be using the devices in the classroom, and also taking them home. In the social sciences, internet connected devices can be used to harness the collaborative and exploratory power of social media and internet resources while allowing students to create content in relevant ways. In this lesson students will begin to think about the types of social media used by classmates to gain a baseline of information about their social media experiences. Students will use this information to begin framing the conversation of transparency, digital citizenship, and proper use of social media for the 21st century. This lesson will begin setting the foundation for discussions with students around proper use of technology in the classroom and in their personal lives as the school year progresses.

Process:

Part One: Class Technology Survey

  • Step 1: As a group we will discuss and define “social media” and “regular use”. Table groups create combined lists of social media they regularly use.
  • Step 2: Students will create 2 sided labels for every social media app used in class. These labels will be posted on our classroom “window wall” that opens to the hallway.
  • Step 3: Students will take turns marking a dot on the window with dry erase marker next to every app they personally use. At the end, all the classes will contribute information to our “window chart.” (See photo above, you could use the classroom windows for the same purpose)

Part Two: Transparency Discussion

  • Discuss and record answers to:
  • What does our class use social media for?
  • Why did we put the class chart on the glass wall?
  • Why is social media transparent?
  • How is transparency positive and negative?

Part Three: Create a Manifesto

Create personal “social media manifestos” that students can “post” on their sites. (Each student will write a paragraph defining their personal declaration about how they will act using social media in a transparent world. Consider self, family, peers, school, world.)

Product: All the classes will combine to create a visual chart of how many individuals use each social media app. Reflections will be written in class notebooks to questions written after discussion. Written “Social Media Manifestos” can be either collected by teacher (for students who do not use social media but are around it daily) or posted by students with link for teacher to access.

Evaluation: This lesson is intended to be a starting place for all future discussions of social media use in the classroom and in personal life. Students will mark their use of social media on the “window wall,” and the metaphor of “transparency” will be used throughout the school year to reference social media use. Students will write answers to discussion questions in their class journals. Finally, students will create a short written declaration of how they intend to act using social media, hopefully posting it to their social media sites for the world to see their stance of proper use of transparent digital media.

What kind of thinking will the students need to do to participate in the lesson?

This lesson requires students to use lower order thinking to label and list social media they use. Then students will be asked to use higher order thinking to place their use of social media into the larger world.

To what extend to students have options or choices regarding these lesson components?

Much of this lesson is teacher driven, especially at the middle school level. It is imperative that students connect their use of social media to the idea of transparency, and the teacher may need to direct them to that connection. Once transparency and safety have been discussed, students have choice in how they will create their own declaration of social media usage. From the conversation students will have opportunities to take varying degrees of stances towards using social media.

My reflection on this lesson: Creating a lesson for seventh graders about social media use was new to me, as I am used to high school students. I have been struggling with creating lessons that balance structure and direction with organic student engagement. I am indebted to Kristi and Christy for their help in directing me to focus on the end product that students can create. The “social media manifesto” came to life in these discussions, and has the power to be shaped and used in any classroom with a high degree of student choice. It is hard to know the long term impact this lesson may have, but certainly there are opportunities to revisit the transparency metaphor as needed throughout the school year.

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Image Credit: Erik Nelson 2014