Curriculum 2.0

Last week I had a couple of interviews. One of the questions I was presented with was:

How will I use technology to teach my students?

I think it is so important to use technology in the classroom. I think that we as educators should not be teaching our students necessarily how to use Word, PowerPoint, and other applications. But rather, we need to teach them how to use the resources (technology) around them to find out information, share their findings, communicate with others around the world, and so on.

As Alvin Toffler states,

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

Our students need to be able to embrace change around them and constantly grow and learn. They need to know how to access the wealth of information that is available for them. This will not make our students smarter than students from the past, but they will know how to use the resources around them to their fullest potential, which will allow them to formulate more “intelligent” outputs of information.

The world is changing around us and thus our students learn differently. We can’t teach how we taught in the 1950′s anymore because our students have a new way of thinking. Our curriculum needs to adapt to meet the needs of our students. There is a new literacy out there that doesn’t involve just reading and writing.

My commitment to my students is that I will use the technology around me to foster an innovative classroom for my students. This video explains some of the tools I will use in my classroom. I know there are many more out there. Please feel free to share.

Implications of Google Apps in the Classroom

I just finished my online class for ECMP 455 with guest speaker Lisa Thmann. This session was amazing and I suggest for anyone who is interested in learning more about Google Apps and how to use them in the classroom to watch the recorded version.

Google Apps can enhance the whole environment of the classroom. You can use Google Docs in so many ways in your classroom. Most of these uses help the teacher and the learner to focus more on the process of the learning than the product. This can be done through Writer’s Workshop, Group Work, Homework accessible anywhere with internet connection, etc.

You can also use the forms option as a non-threatening pre-assessment tool. What an engaging and accurate way of seeing where your students are at in their learning. The neat thing is that Google has made it so user-friendly that it takes the ‘thinking’ part out of it for the teachers. After someone has completed the form it is automatically posted to a spreadsheet. What a time saver!

” Google Docs an easy-to-use online word processor, spreadsheet and presentation editor that enables you and your students to create, store and share instantly and securely, and collaborate online in real time. You can create new documents from scratch or upload existing documents, spreadsheets and presentations. There’s no software to download, and all your work is stored safely online and can be accessed from any computer.”

Just think of the ways you could use Spreadsheets, PowerPoints, Word Processor, etc in your classroom.

I am just so excited of all the information I got from this presentation and I am really looking forward to using these applications in my classroom!

If anyone has some really good lesson plans or ideas of how to use any of the apps in the classroom please send them my way.

Here is a cute little comic book on how to use various google apps. What a great way to explain it!!

Please take the time to do my Google Form as it will help my build my PLE/PLN!

Thanks for reading!