lesson plan thoughts

For my integrated technology lesson plan, I am thinking of using Google Earth to teach about the geography of Civil War battles. Battles are often taught by presenting the two sides and then saying who won, and maybe talking about some of the weapons or tactics that they used. However, I want my students to think about battles from a historically analytical perspective and geography plays a huge part in that. The locations of hills, rivers, streams, forested areas, and fields can all affect how and why a battle played out the way it did. Luckily, physical geography has not changed that much in the last 150 years so the students can do this analysis in a hands on way with Google Earth. Google Earth works perfectly because I can direct students to turn off the human layers of geography and just look at the physical geography of their particular battle. Students can work in groups on different battles, using Google Earth to come up with theories about why the battle occurred there, why the Union or Confederate troops moved in a particular way, and why one side ended up winning. One misconception this might help clarify is the idea that all Civil War battles were the same, with both sides lining up, one side charging, and the other side firing back on them. In fact, each battle was unique in its outcome and this often had a lot to do with the geography of the battlefield, which students will be able to see on Google Earth. They will get involved with the Civil War without having to look like this guy:

Original Image: "Civil War 1"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/frankpierson/4472742319/sizes/s/in/photostream/
by: frankpierson

Released under an Attribution License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Prezis are awesome!

Here is my digital story that I would use to introduce a lesson in a US history class:

CEP 416 Storyboard on Prezi

 I would use this prezi as a hook for a lesson on The Jungle by Upton Sinclair and the resulting food safety regulations. I would follow it by having students read and analyze excerpts from The Jungle. I think it serves as a good hook because of its "wow" factor. I know that when I first saw a prezi as part of a class presentation it wowed me and I hope that this would do the same for my students. Also, this prezi allows me to use single words and images, along with the order of their presentation, to add an extra creative, emotional element to the story that would hopefully get students thinking about how Sinclair's experience of writing the book and seeing its aftermath. In addition to using it as a hook for my own lesson, I would definitely provide a prezi as an option for a summative project at the end of the unit in which the students would be asked to create a presentation on one of the important figures in the Progressive Movement of the start of the 20th century. Hopefully my use of the prezi earlier in the unit would encourage some students to try it as a more creative presentation mode. I may even make a thematic circle and use other presentation technologies throughout the unit and then let my students choose from all of the options that I had demonstrated for them.

One thing I loved about prezi is how straightforward it was to use because I was intimidated by it when I saw it being used by other students in my classes. I thought all of those zooms and rotations would have some type of programming that was required to make it look cool. Lo and behold, all you have to do is mark out the order that you want the elements to be presented in and the program takes care of the cool transitions all by itself. As I already mentioned, I also love how it is such an easy way to incorporate creativity into a technology-driven presentation by having hidden messages or literally having the form follow the function, as in when I put the words "no room to move" squished inside the letter O so the words themselves had no room to move. As for drawbacks, I could not figure out how to put music with the presentation and I really wished I could have done that because it would capture student's attention better and add to the impact. Furthermore, I think it might be difficult for students to find a way to make a story flow well with a prezi because they need to find just the right words and order to allow for both impact and clarity of what they are trying to say. A more direct presentation style would be easier for students to make sure they got the main points across.

Google Earth!

With teaching history in mind, the second I saw Google Earth as one of the possible technologies to explore I got excited thinking about how I would use it in my classroom. The first thing I thought of in terms of technological content knowledge (TCK) was how geography was removed from the required social studies classes in Michigan and instead expected to be taught as part of history classes. Google Earth and geography go hand in hand because it is completely full of geographical information, especially on land use patterns such as where humans have settled in cities, where residential, commercial, and industrial zoning occurs, and what land has been cultivated for farming and topography of geographical regions, showing mountains, forests, deserts, rivers, and other bodies of water. These features of physical geography also play a large role in world history with wars, migrations, and entire civilizations being shaped by the location of rivers, mountain ranges, deserts, and bodies of water.

In terms of technological pedagogical knowledge, one thing I thought about was the role of discovery in learning about social studies. Google Earth gives each student the power to play around with maps and discover answers to geographical and historical questions on their own. It would be easy for any type of project or activity based around Google Earth to genuinely allow students ownership over their own learning. They get to be the ones literally looking at the topological features and human settlement patterns instead of having someone tell them about the geography or reading about it. They get to assume the role of geographer and historian themselves. The only drawback to this that I noticed is that navigating around on Google Earth can be tricky and annoying because it can be difficult to control how and when it zooms or moves locations.

The technological pedagogical content knowledge that would bring this all together is exemplified by any history lesson about the role of geography as a force shaping history based around an inquiry model of students coming up with theories about historical events and then looking at the geography of those areas on Google Earth to test that theory. For example, I could do a world history lesson about the rise of ancient civilizations that gives students their location and asks them to use Google Earth to try and figure out why those civilizations occurred in those particular locations. Furthermore, I could also do a US History lesson about the role of geography in famous battles such as Gettysburg, D-Day, or the British attack on Fort McHenry that inspired the Star Spangled Banner, all of which were heavily influenced by the local geography. Such a lesson might also ask students to come up with their own theories about how the geography might have affected the outcome by looking at maps on Google Earth. Finally, I could ask students to connect these conclusions from either lesson to something about geography in their local area that might affect where people in their community live.

Here is an example of an image from Google Earth that shows the themes of settlement based on geography which could be used as a hook for discussion of human migration and the origins of various civilizations:

Original Image: Wajima Aerial View (Google Earth)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kahtava/143086596/sizes/s/in/photostream/
by: Steph & Adam

Release under an Attribution License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

learning from Twitter

I have already posted previously about some of the potentials and issues I saw with Twitter. However, since then, I have become more engaged with the potentials of a PLN on Twitter because I have had Tweet Deck installed and open on my computer for a while now. I even find myself checking it to look for new updates and blog posts because I have found so many interesting ideas about teaching just from clicking on tweeted links. I honestly just selected some groups and individuals to follow based on their general topics seeming interesting to me, but I have already encountered a lot of useful stuff that I can't resist reading. Even the length of a Tweet contributes to its attractive power. It is just long enough that a well-formulated tweet will pique my interest, but just short enough that it will leave me wanting to follow the link to learn more. It is nice to have an online "temptation" that, unlike my Facebook or sports blog interests, is actually contributing to my professional development and I don't have to view as a waste of time.

For example, I just found this article about passing rates of AP tests. The section that most interested me discusses how minority students, especially African Americans, have significantly lower passing rates than other students, arguing that the reason for this discrepancy is a lack of preparation to take AP classes. This interested me because I hope that schools can become a place that battles against social inequality instead of perpetuating it and this seems to indicate otherwise. However, I also think it misses the possible interpretation that there is a disadvantage built into being formally graded on writing when the expected standard is white not African American vernacular. Sure it is important for all students to learn proper "standard English," but the extra difficulty for minority students who don't speak as close to that vernacular at home could partially explain why they don't seem as prepared when they enter an AP class. They would have had to do more work and learned more in school than a white student in order to only be at the same competency level of writing standard English.

While I'm on the topic, here is a creative commons picture originally completed unrelated to education that I think speaks ironically to the possibility of tests putting students within a box that harshly, coldly delineates their knowledge level and capabilities:

Original Image: "test"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sidelong/246816211/sizes/s/in/photostream/
by: DaveBleasdale

Released under an Attribution License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

Photoshop Slide Show

dangerous copyright

What I have noticed from my experience is that when students need an image for any project or presentation in class, they go straight to Google. I did it myself in high school and college classes, searching for an image, copying the first one I liked, pasting it into my project, and not even thinking once about whether I might be doing something illegal. Teachers did not even suggest that all those images were under copyright and students all fell into the same assumption that there were no restrictions on taking whatever we wanted off the internet. Since student projects do not often create large commercial or social waves, ignoring copyright law did not become a significant issue. However, in my classroom I hope students will create projects that are not only extensive and professionally done but also are related to events in our world, country, or community. This means that their projects may be more visible to the world outside of our classroom and that is where copyright issues could arise. As teachers we are responsible for what students do in our classes and therefore someone discovering an improper use of copyrighted material by one of our students could be disastrous. To combat this, I will definitely show students how to search for creative commons licensed material and use and reference it correctly. I'm glad we learned about this possible issue and a simple, legal way to get around it. I would not want to end up here simply due to ignorance:

Original Image: "jail"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/guillermo_solar/493353121/sizes/s/in/photostream/
by: the_kid_cl

Released under an Attribution License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

historical images

Images can be an extremely useful tool in a history classroom. Whether they are paintings, photographs, or political cartoons, they can serve as primary sources for inquiry or analysis, hooks for a lesson, or centerpieces of discussion. They help students experience how historical understanding can come from something other than the written word, engage visual learners, and teach students analytical skills that will reflect well on their future political and cultural literacy. Simply being able to understand a political cartoon or have an interpretive opinion on the significance of a photograph is a tool that will help students be more politically engaged and demonstrate a key analytical skill to employers. In my classroom I will use images regularly and ask students to think about them to form their own hypothesis and interpretations. For example, when I teach students about 9/11 I would incorporate analysis of the following image:

Photo Attribution:

Original Image: "WTC 9/11"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/slagheap/132113924/sizes/s/in/set-72057594112589148/
By: slagheap

Released under an Attribution Non-Commercial-Share Alike License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

This is a photo I licensed with creative commons. It is of Chewy, my fiancee's shitzu-pug mix. He is adorable:

Photo Attribution:

Original Image: "Chewy!"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59322699@N04/5431878924/
By: andyv24

Released under an Attribution Non-Commercial  License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/

middle ground?

One thing I have noticed while looking around for social bookmarks, people to follow on twitter, and blogs to follow on delicious is that there are a lot of people who are very passionate about the power of technology in education, who focus their research and their lives on inventing new ways to incorporate it into the classroom, making existent strategies more effective, and communicating about technology to teachers who can put it into use. On the other hand, I know from my experiences in school placements at MSU and as a student that many teachers are adverse to having lots of technology use in their classroom and see only the embarrassing intimidation from a projector they can't seem to get to work just right instead of the endless possibilities. (I have a personal such fear about printers.) Sure there are teachers ready, willing, and excited to hear about a new online classroom tool, but there may be just as many who would view it as invasive on their own teaching style or complain about having to learn about something useless they would never actually try. The real problem, then, is how to bridge the gap between the huge potential for technology in the classroom and its opponents, mostly silent teachers who simply are too intimidated or stuck in their ways, depending on your perspective.

I think the answer to this question lies in simplicity. Yes we cannot even imagine the huge role online learning will play in education in 20, 10. even 5 years, but education technology experts should remember that teachers who are less comfortable with technology need to be fed it in small bytes (sorry for the pun). Providing one useful example of an online resource that really appeals to a specific teacher and their lesson plans may be way more useful than an entire professional development about technology. It may be the key to allowing all students the learning opportunities afforded by technology by encouraging teachers to find some aspect of technology that fits their style, not pressuring them into making drastic changes in the direction of online education.

twitter

I may have mixed feelings about twitter but I do have a lot of thoughts so here comes a random stream of consciousness barrage of twitter-related material. And I like lists so it will be in list form:

1. I feel like half of what I see on twitter I don't fully understand. One tweet can have a bunch of different hyperlinks in it, like three people it is specifically being sent to, two external links, and one link to a previous tweet. Just trying to figure out what is being said almost feels like learning a second language.

2. I really like how tweetdeck shows me recent tweets in the corner of my screen while I'm doing something else on my computer. I just saw a tweet from the history channel for today in history-the US broke diplomatic relations with Germany in 1917 during World War I. It's definitely important to find active Twitter users (tweeters?) that talk about things that interest me and are relevant to my future classroom.

3. I like the fact that I can gain a plethora of educational ideas, research, and suggestions just from a brilliant person I am following. It really makes sharing of ideas much more efficient than everyone having to find them on their own or talk directly to someone who knows about it.

4. I still am not really into the groove or feel of Twitter yet however. I seem to be using it more just to look at what other people are saying. Hopefully I will learn during the rest of this semester how to get involved in the conversation. I feel a little uncomfortable doing that right now though.