Aug

3

Use rich media to engage students’ higher order thinking processes and also to evaluate them.

Filed Under Engaging Assignments and Activities for Students, Graphic Organizers, motivating students, positive climate | 2 Comments

Our class blog and other rich media like cartoons, comics, videos, videocasting etc. that  we used in class last semester really motivated most students to learn and enabled them to demonstrate better what they had learned.

This coming semester  I’m going to continue to use  rich media to engage students and encourage them to stretch their minds from remembering and understanding, a lower order of thinking, through to evaluating and creating , a higher order of thinking according to  Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy.

I found that not only is using the rich media a great way to teach students, it’s also a great way to evaluate what they have learned.  Most students were  motivated to do their best on  assessments when they were not the traditional paper and pen assignments that I had used in the past, before we had access to all the new technology.  It was amazing.

That’s not only been my experience either.  Andrew Churches notes

While to many teachers a written report is a suitable medium, to our media savvy students it is boring. Allowing the students to develop their tasks in rich mediums will engage them and an engaged student will learn. Rich Media like, video podcast, enhanced podcasts, cartoons and comics are more likely to engage higher order thinking processes as they plan, design and create their solutions.

See, he agrees.

So of course now, I’m always looking for rich media to use in class to help students develop and strengthen the higher order thinking skills. I recently came across Scott Gardner’s video on You Tube. I think it is especially rich and can hardly wait to use it with my students.  It really is a fine example of higher order thinking. Enjoy.

Jul

28

Maintaining a safe, positive classroom climate through differentiated instruction

Filed Under Behaviour Management, Computers In The Classroom, Graphic Organizers, Uncategorized, maintaining a safe, positive climate | Leave a Comment

 
icon for podpress  Maintaining a safe, positive classroom climate through differentiated instruction [2:46m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (179)

Teachers can help maintain a positive classroom climate through differentiated instruction. When I asked little Lauryn who is starting grade four in September, what is the most important thing a good teacher can do, her answer was : “Don’t have all the students do the same thing. It’s too boring.” Gee, I guess we all know what happens in the classroom when students get bored.

That  old adage “Different strokes for different folks”  comes to mind.   There’s no doubt that that applies in the classroom too.  Except we don’t call it different stokes, we call it differentiated instruction.

When teachers differentiate instruction  for their students, they’re actually helping to maintain a positive learning environment, and that’s definitely a good thing. We want kids who are engaged in learning, not in creating mischief.

It’s easy to determine what an individual students strengths are. Think here in terms of multiple intelligences and learning styles. There are all kinds of quick multiple intelligence and learning style inventories on line that you can have your students do to determine their strengths. Some students may even know them from having done the inventories in other classes.

Once a teacher knows what her  students strengths and needs are, she can tailor the instructional strategies to suit  them.   When she  presents the differentiated  strategies to her students, she  can negotiate the finer details to achieve mutual satisfaction.

The following video very nicely illustrates how a teacher  differentiates instructional strategies for her students depending on the students’ strengths and needs

1. Peer Teaching
2. Independent Study
3. Anchor activity
4. Interest survey

May

29

Keeping things in perspective

Filed Under Graphic Organizers, The Way I See It, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Next week is the last week of regular classes before exams, and I'm dreading all the paper work that the end of the school year demands. I wouldn't say that I was exactly feeling sorry for myself-well maybe a teensy weensy bit. I know that there are lots of worse jobs than doing the end of school year paper work, but sometime I forget. What can I say. At times, I'm can be just as self centered as the next person. The cartoon provided a nice little reality check. I think I'll print it out and post it on my bulletin board above my desk, just above the piles of paperwork.

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