We Teach We Learn » History

Myths, History, Technology, Control, Critical Thinking, Lobsters

Chris — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:16:10 +0000

Myths and Opportunities: Technology in the Classroom by Alan November from Brian Mull on Vimeo.

Preparing students for the new media

Chris — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 20:19:54 +0000

Clay Shirky’s latest Ted Talk has huge implications for education. Through the use of three modern day examples (a movement to prevent voter suppression, an earthquake, and a political discussion) he argues that the way people send and receive messages (news) has shifted from a model that has historically been largely crafted and controlled by the sender, to now one that is completely uncontrolled and reported (unedited) in real time.

Traditional audiences of media have now also become producers of media.

What that means is that through the use of media tools like Twitter, Facebook, and Blogs, citizens now routinely beat news and government agencies to the punch when it comes to announcing and spreading messages.

Shirky outlines the implications of a new media model that is:

Global
Social
Ubiquitous, and
Cheap

When it’s inevitable that the majority of your students are not going to simply sit back and listen to the media, but become active producers of media, wouldn’t it be wise to begin a discussion about what this means? Since the production and distribution of media is no longer controlled, and amateurs are now as powerful as TV networks or newspaper conglomerates, how do we prepare our students to participate in ways that create value?

Watching Shirky will make you realize that shift really does happen. Now the question becomes, how do we, as educators, deal with this?

Using the comment section below, please share with us your thoughts.

“Put Up a Parking Lot” – On Your Board!

Jeff — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 01:09:40 +0000

Jeffrey Ayer, WTWL Writer

Ever notice how a discussion you want to have with students can severely lag? Okay, think May or June, and I’m sure every teacher out there has struggled with this in his or her own classroom.

Enter the parking lot. For those of you not familiar (and some of you are thinking, “Oh, yeah, I remember that”), here’s how it works.

First, select an area in the classroom where you could have students place sticky notes or tape scraps of paper. What works ideally is to use a large sheet of butcher paper, or if you have room cleared on your board, you can work from there. I usually clear white board space, and then create an actual parking lot layout.

To encourage students, I also intermittently place sticky notes in some of the blanks, and sometimes for fun, I’ll include a few parking lot notes (like “Student Parking Here”).

Once that’s on the board, it’s a discussion cue to my classes (I’ve used it for the better portion of a recent novel unit). Just direct them to take up a parking space over the course of the class period; based on how many spaces are filled by the end of the hour, I ensure them that I will leave aside enough time for us to discuss the ”parked” questions before the bell rings.

Advantages? One, students don’t have to write their names, so there’s a level of anonymity (this seemingly defeats the “dumb question” phobia). Two, students have the class period to think about the novel. For many, questions don’t just arise the instant the teacher asks, “Any questions on the novel at this point?” So over the course of the class period, no matter what activity may be taking place, students are more likely to have an “I don’t understand” moment and then post that on the board. And third, the activity simply encourages critical thinking, because I don’t answer the questions, I prompt students to answer them together.

This activity could also be applied to just about anything where you want students to develop questions (I-searches in the research process, thesis statement possibilities, questions they would pose to a historical figure, comments, opinions on a topic, and the list goes on).

Give it a shot. Give it some thought. And call it what you want (parking lot works, but imagine the number of names you could assign this approach to discussion – I just thought of “Landing Pad” as another, and I’m just hacking away at a keyboard).

Share your ideas by commenting; I would love to begin collaborating with you!

The Library of Congress is Using Flickr: Shouldn’t Teachers?

Jeff — Mon, 25 May 2009 14:32:57 +0000

by Jeffrey Ayer, WTWL Writer

In recent months, the Library of Congress has piloted a new photo series on the photo-intensive website, Flickr. If you’ve never been to Flickr, it’s essentially a website where photographers from around the world are uploading and sharing their photos, and commenting on the photographs other people post.

In this case, Flickr has teamed up with an unlikely photographer (or should I say archive of American historical photography), and the results are literally breathtaking. One example alone is Jack Delano’s “In the waiting room of Union Station”, taken in Chicago, Illinois. The photo features two officers who create shadows in spotlight-like beams of sunshine coming in from the gothic windows above.

And the list goes on. In all, as of May 2009, the Library of Congress has posted over 6,000 historical photos from its archives, including World War I panoramas, photos of President Abraham Lincoln, and the decades of the 1910s, 1930s, and 1940s.

How does this all fit teaching and learning, you ask? Think of the potential uses of this archive. Because Flickr includes a slideshow feature, you and your students could gaze at history through the lenses of long-ago photographers – and leave comments (thanks Web 2.0). A colleague of mine uses photography to inspire young creative writers, both to tell stories in prose and describe an image in poetry. The possibilities in art, photography, psychology, journalism, sociology, English, and history classes are just the beginning.

And if nothing else, it’s an easy-to-use site where students could be encouraged to use the old right brain and create using a digital camera. It’s also a site where some are using the space to store photographs for personal use (users can make photos private or public).

The site even encouraged me to get started and get more serious with my own freelance photography, so I’m excited about that alone.

To get started, simply go to Flickr, click on “Create Your Account” (easy to do if you already have a Yahoo e-mail account), and then click on “Sign Up.” Unlike Google accounts, this one asks for your full name, gender, birth date, and postal zip code, but if you’re using this for professional use, there’s nothing here that should scare you. In addition, like many Web 2.0 sites, everything is free (there is a megabyte limit to how many photos you can upload until you may want to consider “going pro”).

To get started, click here to access the Library of Congress’s photostream.

On a tech note, beware of the filters your school may have. Flickr can be accessed in some schools and school districts, and not in others. Having a conversation with your IT director or building principal would be worthwhile in a case like the one above. Remember: We are the leaders on a 21^st Century pioneering venture. If the Library of Congress is on board, shouldn’t our schools be as well? Happy Flickring!