Class 2: Visualizing Place

Where-Im-from

Places are locations having distinctive features that give them meaning and character that differs from other locations. Therefore, places are human creations, and people’s lives are grounded in particular places. We come from a place, we live in a place, and we preserve and exhibit fierce pride over places. National Geography Standard 4: Place

Today we will explore two different representations of place. This activity will be completed in class and serves multiple purposes:

  1. A demonstration of blended learning – offloading tech instruction to video so the teacher is free to assist students as needed.
  2. Exploring two representations of place using free tech tools.
  3. An opportunity to “introduce yourself” via your first blog post.
    You can find video tutorials for using WordPress here.

Students can choose from one of two platforms to visualize place – Haiku Deck or Google MyMaps.  After one of the visualizations, students will create a WordPress blog post on this site that includes an embedded version of the presentation and a written response to the question:

What have I learned from this activity and how might I use the learning strategies and / or technology in my teaching placement?


View student response to this assignment here – Where-16

Visualization option 1- Haiku Deck

This option features a poem as a prompt for a creative reflection.

  1. After reading Where I’m From, students will use HaikuDeck to design a brief presentation that uses words and images to depict “where they are from.” The presentation should include a a title slide plus 6 slides which explore the place you’re from.
  2. After completing the HaikuDeck presentation, students will create a blog post that includes an embedded version of the presentation and a written response to the question:

What have I learned from this activity and how might I use the learning strategies and / or technology in my teaching placement?

Where I’m From by George Ella Lyon

I am from clothespins,
from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride.
I am from the dirt under the back porch.
(Black, glistening,
it tasted like beets.)
I am from the forsythia bush
the Dutch elm
whose long-gone limbs I remember
as if they were my own.

I’m from fudge and eyeglasses,
from Imogene and Alafair.
I’m from the know-it-alls
and the pass-it-ons,
from Perk up! and Pipe down!
I’m from He restoreth my soul
with a cottonball lamb
and ten verses I can say myself.

I’m from Artemus and Billie’s Branch,
fried corn and strong coffee.
From the finger my grandfather lost
to the auger,
the eye my father shut to keep his sight.

Under my bed was a dress box
spilling old pictures,
a sift of lost faces
to drift beneath my dreams.
I am from those moments–
snapped before I budded —
leaf-fall from the family tree.

Visualization option 2 – Google MyMaps

Design a map representation of “Where you are from” or another place that is important to you. Design your map using Google MyMaps and be sure to include at least 6 destinations. Attach about 10 content elements to the map – these could be photographs, videos or links to attractions. You may wish to design it as a walking or driving tour of your destinations. All content should be geotagged to the map at its actual location (or close to it).

Scroll down for video instructions. Need ideas? Check out MyMaps Gallery and find more on MyMaps techniques.

When your map is complete, embed it in a blog post that details what you hoped to convey in your map, and/or what you learned from the experience.

What have I learned from this activity and how might I use the learning strategies and / or technology in my teaching placement?

Haiku How To

haiku_4_by_asdg

Please watch the following amazing, insightful, and provocative Screencast to learn how to Haiku Deck like a pro:

Prompt: Students were asked to design a flipped lesson and then write a blog post that showcases their flipped lesson and reaction to designing it.

Beyond this being an incredibly fun assignment to complete, I was also pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to create the Screencast itself. I would love to incorporate this sort of thing (and other means of flipping lessons) into my future instruction but I have the same reservations that I have discussed in previous blog posts. Namely, I worry about the accessibility piece (will all students have an equal opportunity to view and really engage with the Screencast or other digital tools that I design & assign?) and also whether or not my students will actually watch/complete what I assign for them to do at home. For example if my purpose is to have students come to class ready to participate in an engaging discussion but only a few of them actually watched the Screencast prior to then my instruction will be rendered pretty ineffective. I also worry about demanding too much of my students’ time outside of the classroom–a reservation I have about assigning homework in general. Maybe this is blasphemy but I don’t really want my students to be always thinking about social studies, I want them to have time to just be kids! Regardless, I think we could all use more haikus in our lives.

Image credit: haiku 4

Digitize Me!

Created by the author from Haiku Deck -- an internet application that can be used in a 1 to 1 classroom.
Created by the author from Haiku Deck — an internet application that can be used in a 1 to 1 classroom.

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 is not only a fact of life for most Americans these days but rather an integral part of their everyday lives. This is especially true for today’s teens who often interact with multiple forms of technology on a regular basis. Enter “1 to 1 classrooms,” an amazing opportunity for educators to utilize technology in order to create an engaging and meaningful learning environment for their students. Personally, I can envision countless ways to take advantage of all that 1 to 1 classroom activities have to offer—not least of which being the possibility of encourage students’ willingness and drive to learn.

I am very interested in the idea of a “flipped” classroom, especially in the context of a social studies class. I feel this structure would lend itself very well to the subject for example, students could watch a pre-recorded video of a lecture and then come prepared to class to discuss and delve deeper into related primary sources. My concern with this set-up however would be in terms of access. I’ve worked in a number of high poverty schools and I know that this strategy would not have worked and indeed would have been a hardship for my students. The ideas, opportunities, and apps are all out there doing amazing things, I just think that we as educators need to always think very critically about how to implement 1 to 1 strategies to best serve our students’ unique needs and circumstances.

1:1 Classroom: Disaster Waiting?

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?

There is no doubt that technology in the classrooms has huge potential. Access to technology creates huge possibilities for learning. If I were to have my own 1:1 classroom, I would want my students to have access to iPads. iPads, when used to their full potential, have huge potential for many different uses. Students will be able to create their own content, whether it is a short presentation on an app like Haiku Deck, or a short video made using the camera app, there are many opportunities for students to showcase their learning. As you can see, I have a very positive outlook on the use of technology, besides its obvious use as an aid in research and writing. The use of technology to create gives students the chance to make their learning interesting for themselves.

In my 1:1 classroom, I would also use technology to allow students to explore the content. We would still use textbooks and the occasional lecture, but by using tech like iPads, students can find ibooks and content on the internet to explore an event or topic deeper. In my classroom, I would want my technology to be an asset, rather than a distraction. That would require the finding of sources of learning that keep students interested in the work that they are doing, rather than as an excuse for them to get on their social media. While there is high possibility for students to get easily distracted, there is even greater potential for students to become that much more engaged in their learning.

 

Image Credit:  https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Hindenburg_burning.jpg

Description: The Hindenburg Zeppelin as it caught fire and crashed in Lakehurst, New Jersey in 1937.