This week our Instructional Technology Coach is in my classroom testing out a new iPad app on my students called Aurasma. This app allows you to augment reality, similar to the way a first down line is added when you are watching a football game. Students create a video and link it with an image, which can then be scanned like a QR code by anyone to play the video. Continue reading Augmented Reality
Using Edmodo and Chromebooks
Zach Wimmer is a high school teacher in Sublette, Kansas where he teaches Geography, Government, Debate, and Economics. In this guest post, Zach highlights his use of Edmodo in a Chromebook learning environment.
As schools implement a one-to-one technology initiative, it is easy for educators, novice and veteran alike, to feel overwhelmed by how they should employ them in the classroom. When my high school in western Kansas adopted Chromebooks, there were questions among the faculty about how these new devices would actually enhance student engagement.
One site in particular eased these concerns. Edmodo, in myriad ways, has improved the learning process in my Social Studies classroom immensely. As the website explains, Edmodo is “a free and safe way for students and teachers to connect and collaborate.” Continue reading Using Edmodo and Chromebooks
Using elementary Evidence-Based Terms in social studies classrooms
As we move into a social studies world that is asking kids to collect evidence, organize evidence, create products, and communicate results, writing skills are becoming more and more important.
But for the last ten years or so, at least in the state of Kansas, we’ve asked kids to focus instead on memorizing content. So now when we’re asking our middle school and high school students to not just write more but to use evidence while proving assertions, we get a lot of blank stares.
My suggestion?
Steal a practice used by a lot of elementary teachers and start training your secondary kids to use evidence-based terms while writing.
Evidence-based terms are simple phrases that support the use of, well . . . evidence. So if we ask kids to look a couple of primary source documents and develop a thesis from their analysis, they have some scaffolding to help them do that.
Examples of evidence-based terms? Continue reading Using elementary Evidence-Based Terms in social studies classrooms
Sweet Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic lesson plans and instructional goodies
Are you looking for some sweet Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic instructional goodies? Here’s what I’ve got:
Start with the basics
- Official Olympic site
- Official Sochi 2014 site
- NBC Olympic site. Be sure to check out their viewing guide so that you don’t miss anything. You’ll find links to schedules, TV listings, live streaming videos, and their mobile apps.
- Find out more on the Sochi 2014 Wikipedia page.
- You can’t understand the event without the mental map. Get a quick overview with some Street View looks at Tim the Traveler’s Google Map. Better yet, go a step further with a great Google Earth file from My Reading Mapped. Just download the file, make sure Google Earth is installed, double-click the file, and you’re looking at a very cool visual complete with Wikipedia links to all the venues.
News
Social Media
- Some early Tweets from Sochi here, here and here. (It’s not looking good.)
- #sochi2014
- #sochiwinterolympics
- #GoTeamUSA
- #USOlympic
- #TeamUSA
Mobile Apps
(I’m part of Team Apple so . . . these are iPhone / iPad apps. I did some checking – Google Play and Android also have tons.)
Lesson Plans / Instructional Materials
Have fun!
Disc vs. Plow: Social Studies in the 21st Century
I grew up in western Kansas. Land of giant jack rabbits. Tumble weeds. Beautiful sunsets. Vast horizons. And wheat. Lots of wheat.
I spent a lot of time on the family farm in the northeast part of Finney County. Much of the land was broken out by my grandmother’s father and uncles around the turn of the century. Growing up, my brothers and I rode trucks, tractors, and combines, climbed windmills, fell off windmills, walked miles of fields, hunted pheasants, raced motorcycles, and generally had a great time.
As we got older, we drove the trucks, tractors, and combines – planting and harvesting wheat and milo.
The point? Continue reading Disc vs. Plow: Social Studies in the 21st Century
