Students Create Marine Life Glogsters

Students who study Life Science get a kick out of learning about marine animals and their habitats.  This December, 50 students visited the Georgia Aquarium.  The Ocean Voyager tunnel "knocked their socks off!"  What a fabulous trip!  I decided to post one of my student's creations completed before the trip to the Georgia Aquarium.  I am awaiting the post-Aquarium creations, as well.  Anticipation, Excitement...


http://www.glogster.com/polokid4life/the-great-white-shark/g-6l97iv4ek5ntojf7hn6uia0

Collaborative Teachers by Rita Simmons

Collaboratively Speaking...Success Stories

The new school year is upon me and I need a few ideas for the classroom.  No fears, no worries...I have my Twitter subscription to a plethora of educational sites, including TeachThought.   As I perused their publications, one article "popped up"just in time: 20 Collaborative Learning Tips and Strategies for Teachers, http://www.teachthought.com/learning/20-collaborative-learning-tips-and-strategies/.  This is the perfect article to provide a boost, a spark and a jump-start for the upcoming school year.   Stay tuned for my latest "Collaborative Learning" Success stories.  If you would like to share, I would LOVE to hear from you.

15-Yr-Old Kelvin Doe Wows M.I.T.

Your Brain still works regardless of poverty, deficiency in resources and/or socio economic background.  This story is inspirational.  I will share this with my Just Be Beautiful girls and my gifted students.

This has made me emotional...Rita.

Mentoring and Tutoring with Technology

Just Be Beautiful Girls Mentoring Organization encourages teachers, parents, community members, clergy, college students and high school students to become a mentor, tutor or BOTH!

It is essential that we refrain from criticizing wayward youth, when we do not offer alternatives or get involved to resolve the issues at hand.

Find your place.  Find your area.  Locate your passion and mentor!  Go to www.mentoring.org.  This is a great site to peruse.

Mentoring and tutoring can be fulfilling and exciting.  If you feel as if you cannot relate to the age-group in which you are mentoring or tutoring, try using technology to break the ice.   Here are few ideas:

1. Have your young mentee or "tutoree" create a Tagxedo that describes their personality or interests. www.tagxedo.com

2.  Use www.voki.com to build digital avatars.  Mentor and Mentee each create their own.  Have your digital avatars greet each other and introduce yourselves to one another.

3. If your mentee or the student who is being tutored has challenges with math, use the following sites to help ease the challenges:
www.eduplace.com/map
www.softschools.com
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/math.htm

HAPPY TUTORING AND MARVELOUS MENTORING!!!

Inquiry Learning: Learning how to inquire according to Einstein

Inquiry Learning in my classroom and school environment is welcomed by my gifted learners.  Here is what they said, "Class is no longer BORING! "

The gifted standards: HOTS (higher order thinking skills), CPS (creative problem-solving), ARS (advanced research skills), and ACS (advanced communication skills) are incorporated into our lessons.  We get it!  We can explore, discover and use our multiple intelligences or strengths to complete performance tasks or to express our understanding or to guide our hypothesis' for an experiment. 

Oh, yes indeed! Science experiments are exciting and interesting.  The Steps of the Scientific Method make sense to us.  We know how to ask probing questions, digitally document our perspectives and reflect on our learning.  All of this is done using iPads, Flip cameras, green screens, and laptops-independently! 

PART TWO: PRINCIPLE #5 TECHNOLOGY EXTENDED

According the Principle #5 Technology-Appropriate Use of Technology Rubric, I see my classroom falling into the Developing quadrant, slowly crossing over to the Accomplished.  Based on my school’s demographics and socio-economic status, students are limited with “take-home” technology.  Many of our students cannot afford to have the internet in their homes.  A very small percentage of those lacking, will make an effort to visit the public library to complete technology-ladened homework.  Inquiry-based learning in the classroom, using technological tools, can be limited when the student population dictates otherwise. 

There is a bright side to the technological journey.  Our school district has partnered with Microsoft Bing and myBackpack Cloud platform.  This provides some flexibility with the use of technology outside of the school and beyond one classroom. 

Although we are limited, I have an advantage as a gifted resource teacher.  My schedule permits me to serve a specific grade level once per week for 300 minutes, focusing on a specific topic.  Therefore, I have the opportunity to offer a plethora of technological tools (personal and school property) to the gifted learners.  

Thinking aloud, I ask myself: “How can I engage my students, enhance my lessons and extend the technological use to where it is meaningful?” 

Science Exploration Class: Students can use the Web 2.0 tool Glogster or Infographics to reinforce  and display their understanding of The Steps of the Scientific Method.

• Students can use digital cameras to record their group experiments and team think-alouds.  This allows the students to review their comments and to capture images of the experiment.
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• Students use iPhoto and iMovie to upload, create and demonstrate their entire inquiry-based learning experience with the Steps of the Scientific Method.
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• Students use Excel for data analysis and to display results
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• Students use www.cueprompter.com along with the class iPads to type their Science experiment video diary script.  Their team will collaborate and record themselves in front of a green screen, using the digital camera.
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• Students will use Google, Bing and other Search engines to research royalty-free images that can be inserted as a background to their video diary (green screen).
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• Students and entire class are authors of a PBWorks wiki space; we upload our findings, videos and reflections; 

Learning Goals Revisited and Reloaded!

In an earlier blog, I posted three major learning goals for the FRIT 7234 course.  The learning goals have become professional goals that transcend all areas of my professional journey. The learning goals are as follows:

• Learning Goal #1: To effectively keep my PLN (Personal Learning Network) "fresh", refreshed and up-to-date or current.  In addition, I would like to learn how to identify relevant and beneficial articles to post and share.  
• Learning Goal #2: To become fluent in the use of research-based, learner-centered strategies, especially in the area of diversity.

• Learning Goal #3: To effectively identify and use research-based best practices in instructional design; collaborating with online classmates and worksite colleagues;

As I initially established the above goals, I thought to myself, "These are pretty hefty goals.  How will I accomplish these in a semester?"

Well....

I have made major progress with Learning Goal #1.  There is a true awareness of my PLN as an essential digital tool.  I am giving more consistent attention to maintaining and keeping it current.  In order to accomplish this task, I established a "topic suggestion" box for the PLN that has a date filter.  This allows me to keep my curating up-to-date.  In addition, I added a topic filter to curate specific topics relevant to the course and my professional interests.  

Modifying my goals is a non-negotiable, right now.  Currently, I am attempting to master Learning Goal #2 and Learning Goal #3.  Many opportunities have surfaced, giving me ample practice to effectively identify and use research-based best practices to share with colleagues.

Digital Fluency...My growth mindset...

A pastor of a global church once said, "If you do not know the purpose of something, abuse is inevitable."  If we and our learners do not know the purpose of Digital Information Fluency Skills, we will end up in the Land of the Doldrums, asleep at the wheel  (Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster).  

Digital information fluency is a safe guard for both the instructor and learner.  It is a guide, a map, a charted course that one should follow with minimal detours.  Teaching the self and others how to navigate through online research with purpose is essential.   As I familiarize myself with the Digital Information Fluency model, my awareness of quality surfing and online researching has taken shape.  Locating information efficiently: translating natural questions into a search query is a characteristic that was never relevant to me until now.  After viewing the Digital fluency model, it all makes perfect sense.  Mastery of Learning Goal #2 is not a distant goal.  

I have a clear and growing mindset.