This is the End: Save this Class in Memory and Shut Down

Howdy-ho, dear readers! Is it that time already? The end of the semester in sight! I know for most of us, we are heavily involved in getting unit plans done and thinking about the holidays, where visions of lesson plans will dance in our heads. Since it is the end of this class in technology, it is time reflect on the semester that was.

I've learned much in this class. I always knew there was a wealth of information and resources out there on the internet to be used, but I never had the time, or the motivation, to go out and find it. I also always knew that there were resources on the internet to use as a teacher, but I always figured they had to be paid for. There is a lot free education stuff that will really come in use in the classroom!

Also, I knew about the digital divide, but perhaps not in that way. I've discovered ways to sort of bridge that gap as much as I can in my own classroom. This class has motivated me to make sure that what I teach is the best and most accurate content out there.

Those are really the main things that I can take away form this class. I will not be attending the last class since my brother is getting married and I am the best man. I apologize for missing it! This also happens to fall during the same time as the SEC Championship. Bummer. Anyway, this has been a great class and an experience that I will take with me into my classroom next year. The resources I have discovered are most valuable and I will use much of them. Until next time, studio listeners, ta-ta!

-JPO

Battle of Midway

Jeff O. on Dipity.

Using Elmer's to Glue That Digital Divide Together

Howdy there, studio listeners! Obaratone hopes everything is going well. Before we begin on today's topic of bridging the digital divide in classrooms, I want to point out that if you are not watching the special on the History Channel, WWII in HD, I highly recommend you do. It's amazing to see the footage originally shot in color back to its original form. Though I do not have an HD TV, just seeing everything in color brings a whole new level to WWII, a war that we have only seen in black and white with simple things being shown. Seeing all the carnage that war is puts a new perspective on war in general, especially that one. This could be a great thing to show parts of it in classrooms, providing you get permission. Some of it is a bit graphic, in terms of showing wounded or killed men, but it is very moving and I think it would give students a whole new respect for the war.

Anyway, that was my plug for this week. On to the topic of today, or tonight I should say. That would be the digital divide. We discussed earlier what the digital divide was (didn't we?) and how it is the gap between people who have access to technology and people who don't. This begs the question, is access to technology vital in classrooms? Well, in short, yes! Why wouldn't it be? Why are we still using some books out there that are boring and may contain some information that has become defunct instead of using the wealth of information out there on the internet? I remember having to assignments in school when I was younger and only being allowed to use 1 internet source. Everything else had to be in books. Well that's fine and dandy. Just don't expect me to have numerous good sources. I never got that. So there's a plethora of information out there waiting for us to use and we it's shut off from us because there are some bad websites out there? Excuse me, last time I checked not all books are rated G. I'm not saying, I'm just saying. Also consider that school libraries are only open during school hours, and that the only chance to go to it is during school, when teachers won't let you go and there's no other free time. Those libraries also don't necessarily facilitate open learning either, having many strict rules on what you can't do more than what you can do (more info. at bottom.)

Look, technology is essential and necessary to have in classrooms. So much more good comes out over the bad. Now I understand that not all schools are up to par with technology, and that's something I'll deal with. I don't ask for much. All I want is at least one computer or projector and an overhead. The computer can either be provided or I can use my own. The projector can be used to hook up to the computer so I can show pictures, videos, maps, notes, etc. The overhead is so I can have and give notes if I so wish. I will make it work with that. I would like to have access to more computers often since there is a lot on there that I can use with my lessons to teach. A smartboard would be nice, I guess, but not necessary for me. I just need a whiteboard to write on and I'll be fine.

Now what can I do to help bridge that divide? I can always start by asking for more things from the principal and bookkeepers and such. Then I can ask my fellow teachers what I can do help make things better. And of course there is always meetings and committees and talking to the higher ups. How much good that does varies on the district and superintendent. There is also the option of providing things myself for my class. Asking the parents to get involved is an option. Netbooks don't cost that much and I think it's reasonable to ask parents to get one for their kid. These are only some ideas that could work. Here are some ideas that I scrounged up from other teachers.

David Warlick talks about schools having open Wi-Fi in which for kids to use their laptops and smartphones.

The Innovative Educator describes using Ning to keep students engaged and learning over the summer.

Wesley Fryer discusses Oklahoma moving to a 1:1 digital classroom environment.

Doug Johnson uses a library sign to look at how digital learning is frowned upon in schools and libraries are being too restrictive.

Rudd Lucier has a great slideshow about 10 trends that are coming of age in the classroom of tomorrow.

Thank you, peace out.

-JPO

Teachin' Ain't Easy

Grab your raincoats and umbrellas, sound studio listeners! Tropical Storm Ida is right next door! But we all know it won't hit our lovely town of Gainesville, though we will feel some effects from it. Anyway, on to today's recording session! Today Obaratone is recording a piece on teacher leadership. Now what could teacher leadership mean to all of us? To me, it kind of sounds redundant. If someone is a teacher, aren't they automatically a leader? If someone's a leader, aren't they a teacher of sorts? For some reason or another, teachers are held in a much higher light than the rest of society. Anytime a teacher does something that may make headlines in a bad way, it's pretty horrendous. For example, we hear someone having sex with students. Ok, not that big of a deal. Still bad. Oh it was a teacher?? Armageddon! I think the main reason is that once people start working with other people's kids, the stakes are raised and the teacher better not do anything that could wrong a child. All true statements to believe in. We wouldn't want crazy people teaching our kids!

That's just teachers in general. When talking about teacher leadership, there actually is more going on. Teacher leadership means that teachers are going to infinity and beyond to be the best person they can in regards to teaching students. This may involve leading clubs, going to games and being a big supporter, after-school programs, school board committee, etc, etc. Basically not only teaching the content in the classroom, but living the model citizenship that we expect our students to live.

Dr. Betsy Rogers had an interesting interview about teacher leadership that you can see here. In it, she talks about going around the country to work with other teachers to make the teaching profession a better thing. She also talks about making teaching better to help the students in every way possible. Another resource I found was from the Teacher Leaders Network site. What I've linked is to their "About" section on why they do what they do. Basically, it's a site that brings many teacher leaders around the way country to weigh in on issues and spread ideas and suggestions to become a better teacher and a teacher leader.

So what does this have to do with moi? Why do you ask so many questions, studio listeners? Lucky for you, Obaratone is gracious with his responses. When I start teaching, I do want to be more than just a simple teacher. I want to be a role model for how students should act, not just in school but out of it as well. I want to help students with more than just content, but also on making it through school in general. What I don't see in my future, at least not as of right now, is joining every committee and group and advisory board and whatever else there is. I can see myself on maybe one or two, but teaching the students is first and foremost. I love being in the classroom and in front of the kids! I love that more than going to meetings. A lot more. I want to be a leader in their eyes in terms of being a good person and trying your best, not necessarily as a do-it-all brain with no outside life. But that's just me.

What about you dear listeners? Do you think that teachers should join all these committees to really gain their full potential as a leader or perhaps have a more balanced load? The choice is yours to respond (please respond!) Now it's time for Obaratone to join the committee of hunger and lead some food into my stomach.

"I'll tell two people, then they'll tell two people, and that's like ten people right there!"

Ahoy there, studio mateys! Obaratone is in a mighty maritime mood with all this fine weather rolling in, bearing the temperature doesn't drop below 60. On to this week's tracks on the networked student. What is the networked student? Is it a student who is working the net? Is it a student who is netting the work? Is it a student who makes more sense than this? Possibly, though I have yet to meet one who does. In all seriousness, when I think of the networked student, I think of a student who is connected to many different sources and can pull information from those sources. "So you mean the student is connected to a lot of different people by ropes?" Sort of, if those ropes were phone lines and internet connections. Before going more into the networked student, let us discuss the human network. The human network is basically the sense that everyone in the world is connected to everyone else by internet and phones and all that cool gadget stuff. It can also encompass the strange concept of talking to someone in person, which I didn't know people still did.

So when talking about the networked student, it fits real nicely into this definition of the human network. The student is sent out to collect information from people all over the place who are preferably experts in their field. This means using blogs or wikis or podcasts or finding a webstie or Twitter or some other means to contact an individual. It can also mean simply looking for ideas and taking them. In turn, the experts respond back with information related to the project the student is doing (or the student takes information, legally of course) and thus the student is connected to people and can go do his or her project. "So does this mean that there is no need for teachers anymore?"

HAHA! How you make me laugh, dear reader! No, there is still a definite need for teachers. Why you ask? Well I'll tell you why! In order for all of this to occur in the first place, the student needs to have some sort of digital literacy, as well as a means to connect to those people. We can't expect kids who only know how to text and call to post something on a forum or follow a teacher on Twitter and see a link and further get closer to contacting the person they want to in the first place. There needs to be some sort of background knowledge or learning to make sure the student knows what to do. Thus enters the teacher of the future! This teacher does not merely spew information out, they guide the student to find information for themselves. They help the student setup accounts and keep an eye out for him or her to make sure he or she isn't messing up or doing something wrong ("Hello, Soviet Union? I need- (click)- hello?")

"So Mr. Obaratone, can you see yourself as a digitized networking teacher that is not a teacher that is a teacher?" First, no need for the mister. We're all friends here. And there is a possibility I could use some of these techniques. I am guarded in some areas since there are still a lot of things and topics that I would like to cover in an entertaining lecture and assignment and test and all that traditional stuff. There is definitely a place for a good network of people and using cool things in the class though. The student should be pushed to make decisions and come up with information on their own instead of merely taking my word for it (even though I'm always right.) So I will definitely make sure my students use every possible resource and I will also do my best to provide these resources to them. That's what being a good teacher is all about! Do I see this trend becoming more and more involved in the schools? Yes I do, and I think it is a matter of time before most of our teaching will come down to this and our jobs will be more emphasized to guide rather to give information.

But now my friends, is time for me to say adieu. Before I go though, here is a nice little place on Delicious that has many different topics and articles and whatnot related to networked learning. Have fun with it! I would also like to pose the same question to you. Will schools become more like gateways to information rather than schools of information? Intriguing I know! Until next time, stay classy. I must text my pizza order to the pizzeria in Italy who will forward my pizza to a cheese farm in Norway who will then overnight it to a mushroom farm in California before arriving at my door. In fifteen minutes or it's free.

-JPO

Other Service Learning Ideas

To all sound studio listeners! Do you want to learn what you can do with students to help out in your community? Well here's some ideas! As other students in my class have made their own service projects, I have posted a link to them so you can get some ideas! Have fun with them! Until next time, Obaratone signing off!

Service Learning Unit Project Ideas

A Larger Version

If you sound studio listeners want to see Obaratone's Glog on Napoleon I up close and personal, I added the link to it below. Au Revoir!

http://obaratone.edu.glogster.com/NapoleonI/

Glog on Napoleon Bonaparte! Viva Le France!

Service Learning Project: Let's Clean Up Those Parks!

Title: Making the World a Better Place to Live In

Area of Service: Environment

Grade Level: 8th Grade

Subject Area: Social Studies/Geography

Summary and Description:
This project is focused on having students go to a local park and help clean up the excess trash and make it a cleaner place. Students will pick a local park that may not be up to standards in cleanliness. They will then band together in an effort to pick up trash, clean dirty bathroom areas, clean out sides of ponds and lakes, and make sure the whole park can be enjoyed by everyone, humans and animals. In the process of cleaning up the place, students will learn of the human impact on the environment and on the world around us. Students will help the local wildlife enjoy a more pleasant habitat and will also learn of ways to keep parks and other nature areas clean. They can work together with other classes, and even have people from the community help them as well. The work cannot be done all at once, and not everything will be cleaned. But if students do as much as they can, and there are many students involved, then the project will be a huge success. After each clean-up session, the students will post a blog of the work they did that day and how it can help another human or animal. In the end, students will create a video about environmental cleanliness and ways to reduce it. The video will show the students working in the park in order to raise awareness about this issue. The video can air on a local TV station to tell the community what work the students are doing and what they can do as a community to help. The goals of this project are simple: to clean up a park and raise awareness doing it. The students will learn conservation ideas and will help spread their ideas to other people.

Standards Met:
SS.8.G.5.2: Describe the impact of human modifications on the physical environment and ecosystems of the United States throughout history.

SS.8.G.2.2: Use geographic terms and tools to analyze case studies of regional issues in different parts of the United States that have had critical economic, physical, or political ramifications.

SS.8.G.3.2: Use geographic terms and tools to explain differing perspectives on the use of renewable and non-renewable resources in the United States and Florida over time.

NETS:
Communication and Collaboration Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.
-b. communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.

Digital Citizenship Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior.
-b. exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity.

Technology Used:
Video: Making a public service video showing the students' effort at cleaning up a park and also raising awareness about environment conservation.

Blog: The students will contribute to a blog to dialogue their activities at the park and also what they learned and how they can use that to help promote conservation and cleanliness.

Assessment: The students' blogs will be graded for accuracy, participation, and usefulness. Taking part on the clean-ups will be graded on active participation (meaning no loafing around while everyone else does the work.)

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend Me Your Tweets!

Ciao sound studio listeners! Welcome again to the studio where Obaratone is feeling like some Italiano! In this week's studio jam, we are packing our bags and heading back in time to the time of the Roman Empire. That's not all we're packing though. We're taking all of our computers, cell phones, iPhones, Blackberries, and awesome technology with us! After watching Clay Shirkey's lecture about how modern technology and social media can make history, the sound studio has decided that we're going to change history with our technology! In his lecture, Shirkey discussed the different points in history where media has changed and allowed for more communication: the printing press, telegraph/phone, recorded media (records), and television. The printing press allowed for typed, written word to be mass produced, the phone allowed for 1-to-1 communication, recorded media and TV allowed for one to many communication. The current age we live in is with the internet, which connects many to many. Not only can we communicate with certain individuals, we can communicate with groups of people, with the whole world, in an instant!

So that us thinking: how could history have been different if this technology and means of communication were available at anytime? Well grab your sunglasses and follow the road to Rome, where in Obaratone's new Roman Empire, 21st century social media is everywhere! At the great Colosseum, some gladitorial games are taking place. Gaius Julius Caesar is in his box watching along with the crowd. The fight comes to an end, and the fate of the loser comes down to the people: let him live, or kill him? Caesar shoots his hand out in front of him...and clicks open his Palm Pre. The jumbotron ("The Coloss-o-tron") puts up a new message to the crowd: "If you wish to see the gladiator die, text 'YES' to XVIII. If you wish to see him live, text 'NO' to the same number. Grazie." After a few hesitant moments, the poll comes in to Caesar's phone. He posts the results to Twitter and it is shown on the Coloss-o-tron: DIE.

How else could social media be used in Ancient Rome? Well we all know those pesky blogs would be all over Caesar and his dictatorship. The talking heads would be having a field day with that! But of course Caesar doesn't read any of that. One of his friends sends him a text: "yo, JC, i rlly dont thnk u should hit up da senate 2day. been readin lots of blogs. lot of bad stuff out there bout u." Caesar merely laughs off his friend's warning, replying: "Don't worry, I got this. They can't touch this!" Later that day, the Twitter feed is loaded with tweets saying "RIP Caesar" and "Caesar got pwned!" He should've listened to his friend. Social media could have saved his life if he read those blogs and took his friend's text seriously. So concludes another recording at Obaratone's sound studio! Give the studio some feedback! What else could have been done in Roman times? Video chariot races on the iPhone? There's an app for that. Perhaps the other text Caesar should've listened to, from Brutus: "i got ya back ;)"

-JPO

I Love Me Some Me!

Welcome again to the sound studio, where today we are talking about socializing electronically! That's right, it's social networking. Now before we get in too deep, let's talk about social networking. What is social networking exactly? Well, I don't know if there is a specific answer that clearly encompasses everything involved with it. My slimmed down simple version of social networking is it connects everyone in the world to everyone else instantly. If I wanted, I could hook up my webcam and talk to someone in Japan. I could see them and connect with them. Now there are some older senile people who see that and say, "Well, why don't you just pick up the telephone? It's the same thing! Or write a letter! Or send a telegraph! Or send a carrier pigeon! Or the pony express!" And I would say to that person, "Well older senile person, by using a webcam, it's free of charge and I could actually see them and their surroundings. I could see their home, their workplace, their family. I could actually connect with them. And also, pigeon's couldn't fly that far and the pony express has been dead for a few hundred years."

Now there are some weird effects of social networking and the current young generation in general, besides Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers. The current young generation is in love with itself. Of course, we could look back in time and say that about every young generation. But back then, those young people didn't have the ability to tell everyone what they're doing at that very moment. For the first time, you could announce to the whole world that you are going to the bathroom. And you actually think they care. For some more issues and sociological aspects of social netowrking, check out this video by KSU professor Mike Wesch.




So why does social networking matter? In case you missed it in the video, it states that it is not controlled by a few people, it is not one-way, created for networks and not the masses, "transforms individual pursuits into collective action," and it makes group formation really easy. If you noticed in the video also, it talks about the sense of self and what it means. Social networking lets you be whatever you want to be. Everyone acts a certain way around certain people. We do not act the same way we would around our parents as we would our college roommates. We have a different self alone with our significant other than we do in public with them. Social networking allows us to be whoever, without the constant glare from society, without someone always looking right at you to tell you differently.

Now what does this all mean with say, oh I don't know, education, to pick a topic completely at random? Well, listeners, here's what it could mean. Kids nowadays know technology. They know it better than anything else. Make them use it for school. Assign a video post of something. Have them give a speech online through Skype or some other chat thing. Have them blog about an issue. These are great things for students because it's a way for them to get their opinion out there without having people watch them do it. It lets them remain quasi-anonymous. It lets students be themselves and not act for anyone. Or perhaps it lets students act out in a way that lets them get their point across in a way that would not have been so elsewhere. Watching the above didn't really change my views on social networking in education because I already shared a basic sentiment with it. Social networking is a good thing, and if you don't believe it, well it's here now, and it looks here to stay, so we better get used to it and use it for our advantage instead of trying to fight it. So concludes another feature in Obaratone's sound studio. Make yourself a great day. I am going to the bathroom.

1,2,3,4, I Declare a Holy War!

Hello, my friends! Welcome once again to the sound studio, where today we will be talking about one of Obaratone's personal favorite topics, the Crusades! Well, we won't actually be going into detail of the Crusades =( But we will be talking about ways to teach it! Yeah! For our iTunes project of making a podcast list about a topic, Angie and I decided to choose the Crusades since they are in interesting part of our history, and we believe students would be very engaged with this topic. Our collection is called "Medieval History and Crusades." The podcasts we found are rather lengthy, so we agreed that we would only have the students listen to select portions of some podcasts (the most interesting ones of course!)

Now of course we couldn't just let them listen to the podcasts alone. That would be far too boring! I'm not saying that I would be bored with that (maybe), but we all know how kids are nowadays. They have the attention span of 160 characters. So what we need is something else to give them to have them learn! First we have to make sure they actually know what the Crusades were and when they took place. How about we start them off by showing them this website and letting them take a look at it! It gives a good short summary of the Crusades and also makes it easy to read than some of the other sites. After letting the students have some fun on this site and going through the different parts of it, we should give them some primary documents from the era. Going to this website will give the teacher some good documents that can be used and read to the class and explained to them to give them a firsthand account of how things went down back in that time, through the eyes of the people who lived it. Also, it would be wise to give them some maps of the Middle East, and maybe some of Europe at the time so they get a picture of where things were taking place.

For a little activity for them to do, give them a blank map of Europe and the Middle East, and have them draw the different Crusade routes on the map. Then, after analyzing the maps and maybe after some background, have the students write a reflection piece on what kind of trials the Crusaders would have gone through on their way to the Holy Land. These could be physical, geographic elements or political/people elements. Ask them if they would have made the sacrifice to go on a Crusade, and what they would need to bring with them if they did. If you're feeling a little adventurous, you could also have them think about what might happen if they did not go (political backlash, religious backlash, public humiliation.)

All in all, I think this lesson, or any lesson, about the Crusades can be very useful and also very entertaining to the students. You could also find ways to relate this to the current situations in the Middle East and see what the students' are in that spectrum. I also highly recommend watching (at least parts of) the Crusades special as shown on the History Channel. It is a personal favorite of Obaratone! It lets students really get a great visual look at the Crusades. So until next time, this is Obaratone, bidding you, in the words of the great Dave Mishkin, a fond farewell and a pleasant good evening. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a refrigerator to crusade...

-JPO

P.S. Thanks goes out to the University of Texas, USF, Internet Medieval Sourcebook, Middle Ages Sourcebook, and of course the wonderful History Channel for providing the above materials free and online.

Kickin' It Old School!

As many of you may or may not know, here at Obaratone's sound studio, we hold the senior citizens of the world in high regard, since they have been here longer than we have and definitely know a lot more than we do. Though many young people nowadays think they know everything and have experienced all there is to experience by the time they're 20, a 10 minute conversation with an elderly person will change their views very quickly. For a proposed lesson that can be done with students, I found this simple one on the SLICE website about conducting interviews with elderly people about their lives:

Students enrich the lives of senior citizens by developing a relationship with a senior and creating a biography/timeline of the senior's life. Students research major historical events that took place during the seniors' lives and document them on the senior's timeline.

Now originally, this lesson was pointed towards younger students in the elementary range. But very simply, we could take this and make it geared towards the older kids, too. The interview remains the same. The students ask the seniors about their lives and maybe some important historical events that may have happened during their lifetime. For example, any war they fought in, the Cold War times, and just life in general. Old people love to talk about how things were always better when they were young. So ask them! Then the students could write a paper comparing firsthand accounts to documented resources. Or something along those lines.

Now I know what you're all thinking (especially since it's part of our assignment. Or perhaps I can read your mind...): "Obaratone, how does this relate to inquiry in social studies?"

Glad you asked. As far as the benefits go, according to our Mind Map, this is very student organized. The students pick the old person they want to interview and they ask the questions to them. The teachers can just monitor and make sure everyone is asking appropriate questions and staying on task (though it could be fun to listen to the elderly rant. And you could learn a lot.) I think the best benefit of all is that it will get the students interested in history. Instead of reading some boring text, they can actually listen to how things happened according to these firsthand accounts. I've always said that the people are the most interesting part of history. Well these senior citizens are living history! What a perfect way to get kids involved in learning their history! As far as the inquiry method, it's very straightforward and follows the method great. Students explore and interview, then they discuss it with their interviewees and each other, then they apply it to historical documents or resources and see how the stories compare. Going further, the students can take what they learned and maybe help them in their own lives. And what about the best examples? Well it is very hands on! The students learn firsthand how things may have happened through someone's eyes, not just the textbook.

Now you might be (or should be) thinking: "Mr. Obaratone, this is all fine and dandy, but what are some of the challenges to this amazing lesson?" Well, my friends, you are in luck. Because I knew you were going to ask that, I have come up with some ideas. Inappropriate questions that the students may ask, senior non-cooperation, uncomfortable students around old people, and just incorrect information all can play a role in this assignment. But fear not! This assignment can be done, and I am confident that the students involved will be on their best behavior for the old people. Remember what FDR said: "We have nothing to fear except fear itself." Ask the elderly about this quote and FDR himself! Now if you'll excuse me, the sound studio has some recording to do. Just let me crank the record player...

Rage Against the Machine? No, Rage With It!

Welcome again to Obaratone's sound studio, where I'm sounding off again on technology in classrooms! This is a very important topic related to the future of our children, and here at the studio, we're all about kids! In doing some research, I found an article by Roschelle, Pea, Hoadley, Gordin, and Means, talking about involving technology in classrooms. They write about how classrooms and lessons need to be centered around technology and using it to its fullest extent. They focus on four main fundamentals that are needed to improve learning: active engagement, participation, frequent interaction, and connections to real world context. All four of these points are essential in turning the classroom from a chalkboard-based snoozefest to a inquiry-based learning smorgasbord! In fact, I can give you a real world example of how we can use these four simple things, along with technology, to make the best of a social studies lesson.

Picture this: I'm teaching a lesson on the Civil War. I split the class into two halves, label them North and South. I appoint positions to several students (Lincoln, J. Davis, Grant, Lee, etc.) and have them do research on each of these individuals. I assign lessons asking what each president, general, whoever else, thinks about certain policies according to what research the students did online. They will have everything at their advantage, including speeches that the real people have written, pictures, old newspaper articles, and whatever biography websites that are legitimate they can find. A more personal use, and something that can be done with higher level students, is have the students who are assigned generals study the generals they personify and map and plan battles. There are many sites out there that offer interactive battle plans and maps that show the different formations and how they play out. There are many things that can be done with this type of strategy. How do the four techniques apply within this lesson? I assign the students roles and give them specific assignments. That means they are responsible for their specific part. It gets them involved in doing research related to finding out more details about a certain person or people (citizens in Union and Confederacy). This type of assignment really gets them involved in the most interesting part of history: the people. People in history are so interesting, and when you assign a student to become someone in history, they have to learn about that person, and therefor can really delve into history and become a part of it. Student interaction is important in social studies. When technology is at your fingertips, when it can give you all the information you need to know about someone, you have to use it. They wouldn't be able to get this using just books. There are only so many books in relative distance that can be used to someone's advantage. But the internet is always there! You can go anywhere and find anything you want! Ditching the blackboard and embracing the computer can be a great thing. Now the question I pose to you is can this lesson actually be done and with what range of grade levels can it be used? I know it involves a lot of research and individuals doing specific things. I think this can be a really great activity, but of course, I am open to suggestions. Just leave your comments at my Gettysburg Address.

-JPO

The Wiki, the Blog, and the Podcast - The Movie (sort of)

In this next installment of Obaratone's blog, we look at some wikis, blogs, and podcasts that can be beneficial for students studying in social studies area. Before I begin, let me say that there are many resources out there that can be used, but these are some that I felt really let you in on how this technology can be used.

The blog that stood out to me was the LJHS blog (http://ljhs.wordpress.com/). This blog was created for an 8th grade social studies class. I thought this one was very well done by the teacher. The main thing you notice when you first open the blog is the video of the movie The Matrix. The teacher explains underneath it that the movie is being used in a lesson on philosophy and thought. Under that, he has lessons from that class and lesson that the students used in class. This is useful in a few ways: the students can always go online and get the lesson; the parents can go on and follow along if they wish so they don't ask any questions about what exactly their kids are doing; and other teachers can go on and get ideas if they want them. The blog also has helpful links on the right side to other teachers' blogs and historical websites. It also has the Twitter feed from the class if the students want to join Twitter and follow the class. Overall, a great way to integrate technology into the classroom and make the learning meaningful. The students can interact and cooperate with the teacher actively.

The wiki I found very helpful was a simple thing. It can be found at http://www.academicblogs.net/wiki/index.php/History . Basically, it's a list of history blogs that are being maintained by teachers or other academics. If at any point you want your students to find a blog of history or to try and find other positions on certain topics, the students can peruse this wiki and search through the blogs that are there. It also list other wikis that may further explain the blogs or topics. This is good for student research and also for teachers who want to find other opinions about history. This can also give students good ideas about a wiki of their own or how technology can be useful in classrooms.

The podcast I found comes along with a slew of podcasts . The specific podcast I am writing about is called Great Speeches of the 20th Century. The only drawback is that it does cost money to listen to all of the podcasts. If teachers can get a hold of this, however, it is a great way to have students interact firsthand with speeches. The teacher could have the students listen to the speech and then come up with their own opinion or reaction to the speech they heard. The great thing about this is that students would not have to read the speech and then think about it. They get to experience it like people would when the speech was first done. You can gauge their reactions on listening to it, which would be more beneficial then a reading reaction. That's not how the people first heard it did it.

These are just a few resources that I found on the internet. Of course, there are many more that can be used as well. All of these things inhibit meaningful learning. The podcast allows the students to interact firsthand with the speech in an authentic way. The wiki has students intentionally looking for other blogs and sites for their own research and learning. The blog allows students to cooperate with the teacher and be active within the class. These are all great ways technology can be integrated into the classroom. The students will love making a wiki about the class or other topics! Just make sure your wiki page is not written by the students.

-JPO

Technology in Classrooms? Yes!!

Technology is such a cool thing! Everytime I step into a classroom in the high schools, I always look around to see what kind of technology is being used. It is such a vital thing to have in today's classrooms. If technology has advanced so much in the last fifty, twenty, even five years, why are teachers so bent on using the same teaching methods that have been used for the last hundred years? There is so much information to be had out there on the internet! So much can be used in classrooms to help teach the students! I don't understand why teachers are so afraid to use technology? That means any technology. I know a lot of people are overwhelmed by it or get scared because there is a lot of technical gobblety-goo that turn people away. But even the most simple thing like showing a picture on the board or a map or video or anything like that will be som much more helpful in teaching.

Students are very visual people, and they learn a lot by what they see. If that's the case, then why aren't teachers using more visuals in their lessons? Is it because they want to focus so much on reading texts and books and papers? There are lots of texts and papers online. Even then, students find reading boring. It's something that we all know. Yet teachers are trying so hard to make the kids read so much that it overwhelms them. I agree that reading is a must and everyone needs to learn how to read simple things. But as teachers, shouldn't our first priority be to have the kids learn? We are still teaching them as teachers if we use a video or other visual to help teach them. It just may not be in text form. And there's nothing wrong with that.

Social studies in general can be very boring. I know, I was a history major. Using video or visuals can be very helpful. I think everyone has gone through the history class in high school that showed the opening scene in "Saving Private Ryan" or the D-Day scene or whatever. How much did that help in realizing how devastating the war was? Kids are always riveted by these things! Why aren't more teachers using it? Why does it always have to be books? Yes, books are great and I love them, too, but everyone gets tired of reading. And if kids are not reading because they are tired or overwhelmed, then we are not doing our job as teachers to TEACH.

Embrace technology! These kids today grew up with a laptop in their crib! This is the generation of Twitter and Facebook and texting and MySpace and whatever other social site is out there. They know technology, and they know it well. They never even played a Nintendo 64! And that is a shame. The November textbook backs this up by saying that kids don't ever remember a time without cell phones and the internet. Embrace it! They will understand easier! They like technology! Now is finally time for teachers to start, too. Your students will thank you. With a Tweet.

-JPO