What are three important things you found out about the brain and the learners we are teaching? How do you think Web 2.0 fits in?
A majority of the students we are teaching are visual learners. In order to be engaged in lessons, they need the concepts presented in a stimulating manner.
They ask themselves questions like, “How does this relate to me?” If the concepts are not relevant to their world, they cannot find meaning what we teach them.
I attended an SDE conference on DI this summer. One presenter, Lori Elliott, discussed the difference between Digital Immigrants and Digital Natives. The kids we are teaching are Digital Natives! You can find more information here:
http://elliottsummersessions2010.blogspot.com/
Our students are multi-taskers. They are on Facebook, while twittering and texting at the same time. Elliott discussed how their brains actually “look” different than an adult in his forties.
What are some 21st Century skills that are relevant to your teaching? Which ones do you think are most important to equip your students for tomorrow using today's tools?
There are so many 21st century skills to choose from! Since I am teaching fourth grade in the fall, this is a great opportunity to weave 2.0 tools into the content areas. This week, I’ve watched several videos on teachertube.com to help me teach Colonial America. Even something as simple as a video is so much more engaging than a teacher lecture. I also went to Pete’s Power Point Station and searched for slideshows that had video embedded about the Thirteen Colonies. This site had interactive games for students as well. The games were relevant and related to the skills I need to teach.
I hope to have the kids blog this year while responding to literature. Last year, Sandy, Tamarah and Gail assisted third grade with a National Park Blog and the kids loved it.
Wallwisher looks like a fun way to respond to a single question, but I have to play around on it some more. Flip videos and Animoto’s are always engaging for the types of learners we’ll have this coming school year.
Spend some time exploring educational bloggers. Find at least three to add as a blog roll gadget on your blog. Adding the blog roll is worth one more point.
Still exploring this one.
Woo hoo! So happy to see you have begun! I do hope you will take time at some point to read through the Jukes article or at least look at the way the brain takes in information--the colored pictures part. I am glad to hear that your conferences are beginning to focus on that aspect! Looking forward to reading more good stuff from you!
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