A great Geography lesson using Google Earth and Twitter!

Overview: Source Edublogs
The main idea for this activity is to teach students geography using your Twitter network and Google Earth.  Hopefully, your network is worldwide so the students can find a wider range of places.
Objective:
1)     To increase student’s knowledge of world geography using Twitter and Google Earth.
2)    Encourage students to think about how online technology can be used in the classroom.

Resources: Computers with internet access,  world map, push pins.
Activity:
1)     Ask your Twitter network in advance to tweet you a hint to their location.  Some have used latitude/longitude coordinates.
2)    Divide the tweets amongst groups of students.
3)    Students will use the clues in the tweets to find your network members on Google Earth.
4)    Once found, the students will tweet back that they have found their location by inserting a map (Geotweet) into their response.
5)    Have a world map on the wall where students can identify with a push pin the location of their contact.
Wrap up: Either in class or online (via Edmodo or class blog), students can discuss ideas such as
1)     Which part of the world were the most contacts in?
2)    How can Twitter be useful?
3)    What other ways can technology/social media be used in the classroom?

Here’s another great lesson plan utilizing social media. The focus here is student engagement using math skills to create a numerical representation of their lives.

Objective: Students will share important numbers in their lives using social media.
Materials: Computers (or cell phones) with Internet access

Procedure:

1. Explain to students that they will be using social media to share and learn more about each other at the beginning of the school year. As this is math class, each student will need to share some numerical information about themselves. At the culmination of the activity, students will vote to give awards to classmates.
2. Depending on time available, give students a minimum number of “special numbers” to post to class on Edmodo. Examples could include “number of siblings,” “sum of numbers in telephone number,” “number of people who live in my apartment,” etc.
3. Give students time to post this information.
4. Give students time to comment on the posts of others.
5. Decide with class what awards could be given, such as “most mathematical” or “most interesting.”
6. Print and pass out awards…for fun, have everyone in class sign the awards.

One of the best things about social media is that it can spark the imagination or the passion of students. Assignments that require students to create media rich content can result in some amazing results. Here is a case in point.

“Students were asked to become familiar with different types of advertising on the internet. This included Public Service Announcements, infomercials, product placement and pop-ups. They were given the assignment to create their own advertisement based on the formula of one of the types.”

The assignment was simple but provided a wide latitude for students to identify what was important to them. In this student’s case the result was a public service announcement. It is not action packed. It does not have the shock value of some of the anti-drug commercials, but in its own “indie-film” way, it makes a relevant point for any middle or high school student.

We keep an ear and a digital eye out for educators that are embracing the social media paradigm with an open mind. At EdSoMe of course we are all for the use of social media as a great tool for learning. Part of the reason it is so effective is that young people today have embraced this paradigm shift in the way they communicate. Social media is not a fad, or a passing phase, it is the next step in the evolution of the internet and the way people are using it to connect.

Dr. Patricia Flioriello has provided us with this post about her observations and experiences. She has identified that the “literacies” we teach today are changing. The basics are the same, but the delivery and the deliverables are changing.

Thanks Dr. Flioriello for this contribution and for support of EdSoMe.com!

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Are you keeping up with the times? Recent advancements in technology and social media have changed the way we read and write.  On a daily basis the internet challenges us to interact and engage in new communication styles. Reading and writing are natural outcomes of today’s online world.

Unfortunately many educators still cling to traditional reading and writing methods. Teachers fear books will become obsolete. Instead of designing innovative reading methods, majority of classrooms continue to focus on strategies and skills that were taught years ago. Educators have a responsibility to be progressive and proactive and to recognize change early on.

Previous positions as a central office manager in two major school districts helped me to understand the importance of technology and how it affects learning. Although it was only a few years back, new literacies of the internet were unheard of. Reading intervention, advance literature programs, paper writing skills were all included in the curriculum but not new literacies.  Most districts felt that programs involving computers belonged in the technology department. In doing so, we overlooked opportunities.

•              The internet, social media and new technologies excite, engage and motivate all types of students and therefore, should be utilized as the number one tool for teaching diverse student populations.

•              Students spend more time reading, writing and communicating online. Classroom strategies that teach our students to be competitive in today’s global market must be available for teachers.

These insights encouraged me to write the eBook, “Teaching Literacy: Keeping Up with the Times.”  It is a wake-up call for school districts everywhere. A practical guide that examines 21st century literacy skills with strategies to implement immediately!  If you are interested in K 12 education and want to remain relevant and make an impact on the students of today and the future, get a jump start and read “Teaching Literacy: Keeping Up with the Times.”

Every once in a while we see a news article that makes almost total sense.  Here is a perfect example of one: Why  Online Education Needs to Get Social. We love Marco Masoni’s argument on why education needs to engage the wonderful world of Web 2.0 in the classroom. Course quality, rich content, learning from current events in real-time, and are highlighted by Marco as the new frontier of learning. We agree. Education needs to get social!

But the fact of the matter is that education is already social. The playground and the classroom represent the largest chunk of socializing in a young person’s life. Web 2.0 tools are only providing a vehicle for students to continue socializing after the school day ends. And if educators can craft some interesting strategies and assignments to keep students engaged pass the end of the school day, then they are maximizing our students opportunities to learn, achieve, and maybe, just maybe find their life’s passion.

School has been social for centuries. But it ended when the last bell rang. Now we have the opportunity to garner learning 24/7. We agree! Education needs to get digitally social!

We’ve received some great ideas on using social media in the classroom from some of the great folks that took our workshops in June. One of the homework assignments (for credit!) from the workshop required attendees to create two lesson ideas using social media in their area of expertise. They were encouraged to use the tools presented in the workshop, but they could use anything that was social in nature.

These ideas came from workshop participant  Laura Bergeron, SpEd TOSA, SLP. These are lesson ideas for children with ASD. They are both simple and elegant in design.

Introduction to online participation and social ization.

Target Audience: Middle/high school aged students with ASD
Objective: To begin participating in social media group

Plan:

1. Review types of questions used in a quiz (yes/no; true/false; multiple choice)
2. Students will develop a quiz about their favorite web sites.’
3. Students will post their favorite websites along with a description of the website meant to encourage other students to visit the site.
4. Each student will be instructed to visit 2 sites that have been posted by their peers, noting to the group which sites they visited.
5. Students will be quizzed on the sites they visited.
6. Students will then provide feedback to the author of the quiz both about the quiz and the descriptor of the website.

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Experiencing Peer Communication Through Social Media

Target Audience: Middle/high school students with high functioning ASD

Objective: Introduce Edmodo/social networking as a way to communicate with peers.

Plan: Students will learn language style/requirements when communicating with people on-line.

Have students review sites focusing on texting language such as:
http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/textmessageabbreviations.asp
http://www.planetpals.com/smiley.html
http://online.uwc.edu/technology/onletiquette.asp

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We love these kind of ideas! Keep them coming! Help us share ideas for others to use in their classrooms.

Geometry:  Photo Message Scavenger Hunt

Objective: Students will identify and share geometric shapes using social media.
Materials: Internet access, digital cameras or cell phones

Procedure:

1. Review with students basic geometric shapes including various quadrilaterals, triangles, regular and irregular polygons, etc.
2. Review with students (if needed) how to take pictures with digital cameras and cell phones.
3. Direct students to take pictures of previously reviewed shapes outside of the classroom such as stop signs, cabinet doors, candy wrappers. Students will then post them to classroom Edmodo (or other social networking) site.

Follow Up: Teacher will look at all pictures searching particularly for questionable shapes. Any questionable images can be posted as a poll on Edmodo (or other social networking). Students must vote whether each shape qualifies. Teacher can also require comments on pictures.

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Language Arts:  Story Starters

Objective: Teacher will start a story and each student will add a line to it.
Material: Internet access, edmodo.com (or other social networking) group

Procedure:

1. Review with students basic rules of doing story starters. (Always be appropriate!)
2. Review with students how to log on and use Edmodo (or other social networking).
3. Teacher writes a one line story starter.
4. Students log on and add to the story where the last blog left off.
5. Students post ideas and peer edit as the story is being created by the entire class.
6. Students respond to and edit for teacher and student comments.

Follow Up:
Once the story has been reviewed and edited, students will read aloud the entire story as a class. Students will then reflect on: (A working list to be expanded)

1. What is your favorite part of the story? Why?
2. Who would make the perfect audience for this story?
3. Find two example of author’s craft in our story?
4. What did you learn about story writing from this activity?

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Technology:  Cyber-Safety Lesson For Students and Parents

Social Media Survey tool: (www.commonsensemedia.org)

Lesson One (for students)

1. Have students complete the student survey on the above website.
2. In small groups, have student tally the results and create a visual (graph) of their results.
3. As a group, find three websites targeting younger students that would teach them about cybersafety.
4. As a group, create a skit, video, presentation, song, artwork, PSA (Public Service Announcement) that they would use to teach children about responsible use of social networking.

Lesson Two (for parents)
This lesson would be used as part of a parent internet safety class and introducing them to Edmodo (or other social networking).

1. As part of a cybersafety unit, download the social media student survey from the above website. Give it to a random sample of students’ grades 6-8th. Disaggregate the data by grade and gender to report results.
2. Prior to sharing student data with parents, have them complete the parent survey from the same website. Have them discuss their results in small groups.
3. Next, introduce Edmudo (or other social networking) and have parents create student accounts. Assist them in navigating to the unit created by the teacher (which would include the outcomes of the student survey) and complete the following assignment:

• • Compare the student’s results with your own survey answers. What do you notice? What surprised you? Is there any troubling data?
  • In small groups, share your observations and agree on 3-5 things you could do to better understand social media and/or insure your child’s responsible use of social media. (post homework)
  • Together, find one more website to assist parents re: social networking. (post website.)
  • Finally, share student projects with parents.

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Counseling:  No Name Calling Week Lesson Plan

Objective: Increase in understanding of how name-calling impacts friendship, self-esteem, identity. I will be using this lesson plan with our Student Council members grades 3-5, but could be used with any group interested in school climate and social issues.

Materials: Computer with Internet access

Procedure:

1. Introduce No Name Calling Week to students, ask them to review the website: http://www.nonamecallingweek.org/cgi-bin/iowa/home.html
2. Using web resources (youtube, hulu, etc.) ask students to find clips from popular media that use name-calling and insults as humorous and appealing. Students will post the results of their search on edmoto.
3. Continuing the web search, use web resources (blogs, articles, youtube, etc.) to show examples of the real impact of name-calling, insults, and put-downs. Students will post the results of their search on edmodo or blog.

“Texting Paid Off!” is the subject of the email I just received from George Middle School (GMS) Principal Beth Madison. Beth and her staff hired me late last year to help them design and implement a social networking /social media strategy in her 93% free and reduced, Title I school in Portland, Oregon . One of the areas targeted for improvement with social tools as part of that strategy was daily attendance.

Under the now famous “No Child Left Behind” program, certain schools were required to implement strategies to meet “Adequate Yearly Progress” (AYP). For as long as the AYP requirement has been in place, GMS has not been able to meet the goal. Let’s face it, education starts with getting students to class and getting them to school has been a challenge at GMS for a very long time.

The strategy around improving attendance via social networking was simple. GMS already had the necessary social tools that were implemented earlier in the year as part of the strategy we devised to use social networking to improve academic achievement. All that needed to happen was to identify the chronic offenders and hook them up to our “texting team”. This staff team has been trained to use online tools to simplify texting in groups. The students’ numbers are set into a group and a general text, “Time to wake up!” could be sent to an entire group. Individual texts can also be sent to those who need a private message.

In addition to identifying the truant students, we did some analysis around the routes to school, travel time, and the impediments along the way. We identified a “mini-mart” where students were tarrying and getting “derailed” on their way to school. So we created a messaging schedule for the moderators that would:
• Get students out of bed on time
• Move them forward from the impediments
• Get them to the attendance check in station inside the school

The procedures went into place in February 2010. The total student days missed per week by the chronic attendance offenders decreased by 35% as a result. Students attended more days and missed fewer hours of classroom time. They were in their classrooms, ready to learn.

In simple terms, we put the school bell into their cell phones and hence, into their pockets! And as a result, GMS made their AYP for the first time since it became a requirement!

There have been a lot of blog posts and news articles focused on the appropriateness of students having cell phones at school. Cell phones represent a communication channel from the school directly to the students. More importantly it is a parent-sponsored channel that if used creatively and moderated with proper guidelines, can be a very effective tool to help students stay engaged with the school and the true mission…education!

I’d like to thank Beth, Liz, Morgan, Tanya, Jamie, Amy and the rest of the GMS staff for the vision and the courage to try something new to benefit their students. Their community is extremely lucky to have them. Texting did pay off…because of all of you. Well done!

Differences in background, culture, religion. A variety of body shapes and sizes. Unique experiences and individual preferences. These are the things that make us interesting.

As educators, we laud the creative and personal differences that help to make up our respective schools and communities. Colleges vie for a diverse student body, offering grants and scholarships to those students that can bring something new or unusual to the table.

Although the institution of education seeks to support differences and enhance creativity, the constraints inherent in the public school system make this a difficult challenge. Text books are written at a particular grade level, tests are normed on certain skill sets, and performance is evaluated by comparing one student group against another.

Teachers are tasked to meet a particular educational goal, but also to differentiate the instruction along the way. We can get caught up in an “end justifies the means” mentality- anything to get to the benchmark – but this rarely seems to work.

Until I began experimenting with Social Media implementation, I never realized how little differentiating I was actually doing, or just how difficult I was making my job. Utilizing technology and media tools have become my secret formula for differentiated instruction. I can easily assign a project that is appropriate, interesting and challenging for all my students using Social Media.

Consider the standard middle school social studies report. The traditional methods of reading, writing, note taking and research can be difficult for some students and mind-numbing for others. Opening this assignment up to include technology and media immediately increases the engagement and viability. A few simple clicks and a world of videos, links, speakers, songs, interactive maps, online chats, art work and stories are available to the student. Students can choose the information mode that best suits their learning style and can use a variety of sources to reinforce the understanding needed to share the information they have learned.  A variety of students using a variety of methods, all working to their strengths to learn effectively, regardless of ability, is the key to true differentiated instruction.

If we use media creatively, we can encourage, teach and support all types of learners. Those who need remediation can find visual presentations to support their process. The gifted learners can be challenged with information from a variety of sources, not limited to those at grade level or pre-selected for a particular reading or thinking level.  Kids with short attention spans, those with reading challenges, the auditory learner;  all can find information in a format that suits their style and level.  As each student starts from their own set of skills, they can find and use media to support what they already know while introducing them to something they have not ever before seen or experienced. An entire world is at their fingertips, replete with the beauty of what makes us different and the safety of what makes us one.

Check out this great video from one of our favorite sites, Edutopia. It’s great to see an educator recognize the opportunities, embrace the challenge, and learn from her students. Priceless!