Bringing History To Life!

Maureen Brown Yoder's "Adventures in Electronic Constructivism" was written to give teachers a collection of great ideas for turning traditional curricula into fun and constructive projects! Yoder believes that the typical acquisition of knowledge in which students complete research projects by collecting a series of well-known facts about important people and then rephrasing those facts in their own words is boring, mundane, and has little impact on kids. Instead, students should be challenged to get a better over-all picture of who exactly these important people were and what they were like. For instance, in researching Socrates, some students discovered that he had a reputation for being a "smart aleck with a prickly personality" (Yoder, 2006, p. 27). This made studying Socrates much more interesting, and consequently resulted in a humorous and insightful student project! Yoder explains that "[discovering] the persona of accomplished figures in history can bring the individuals to life and remind us that they were human beings, like us, not just static characters described in black and white text" (Yoder, 2006, p. 25). Using WebQuest, teachers and students can participate in fun and exciting projects that demonstrate this concept. For instance, The aforementioned tidbit regarding Socrates' personality was discovered by a couple of students who had the assignment of conducting an "interview" with Socrates himself. They were to research Socrates, his personality, and some key facts about him, and then produce an interview in which Socrates was brought to life! "Socrates" answered questions in a sarcastic, humorous, and insightful way that allowed students to learn not only key facts, but also about the man himself. Furthermore, the students who produced the interview obtained valuable research skills, as well as video, audio, and picture editing skills that enabled them to create a nice presentation.

(Yoder, 2006, p. 26-27)

I found most of the ideas in this article to be very useful! In addition to the interview idea, Yoder also suggested doing projects such as creating a student panel of ten famous historical women, having "travelers to mars"give a recap of their "vacation" to the red planet, and having "George Washington" and "George Bush" correspond through email and other media to compare their leadership styles and give each other advice (Yoder, 2006, p. 25-27). I could definitely see myself introducing projects such as these to my students one day. Though for younger elementary students, I would adapt these ideas a bit. Fifth graders would probably do just fine with video interviews and with conducting deeper research on the internet; but for all other elementary students, I would replace video projects with in-class skits, and would provide them with the exact resources and websites that they should use to further explore their historical figures.

The constructive approach to teaching can be very beneficial to the learning experience because it allows students to have some fun while they expand their research skills and knowledge to greater depths than what would be acquired through some more traditional methods. Learning about Socrates, for instance, can be a lot more interesting and entertaining with the discovery and portrayal of Socrates' whole personality, rather than just some classic textbook facts about him. Teacher Maureen Brown Yoder recommends WebQuest as a good resource for completing constructive projects like the ones that she has done with her students. For more information, check out http://webquest.org/!

In conducting deeper research through these constructive projects, students fulfill NETS Standard #3: Research and Information Fluency. In completing interesting and informative projects by taking on the role of historical figures and bringing them to life, students meet NETS Standard #1: Creativity and Innovation, Standard #2: Communication and Collaboration, and Standard #6: Technology Operations and Concepts.

Yoder, M.B. (2006, September). Adventures in Electronic Constructivism. United States & Canada. 

Connecting to the World

This article highlighting teacher Shannon McClintock Miller was written to inform readers of the many cutting-edge teaching methods that Miller is using at Van Meter Community School in Iowa. Miller is the school's librarian and technology coordinator. She has used her experience and resources to develop new ideas for expanding learning not only outside of the classroom, but even outside of the state! Most impressive are her efforts to use Skype to allow students to communicate and collaborate with a variety of different people. Through Miller's Skype arrangements, students of all ages at Van Meter have been privileged with the opportunity to speak with peers in other states, and have even had guest speakers including authors, software designers, and other experts digitally come into their class! Miller also has a website that can be visited at https://sites.google.com/a/vmbulldogs.com/van-meter-secondary-library-voice/, and a blog that can be visited at http://vanmeterlibraryvoice.blogspot.com/. On her website, Miller has links to numerous resources including Web2.0 tools! On her blog, you can find student-made videos, Animoto videos detailing inter-state Skype sessions, links to activities like polling via Facebook, and lots of other great posts! Through these efforts and many more, Shannon Miller has changed and greatly improved the learning environment for her school and for a good number of other schools.

I really love the idea of connecting students to the world outside of the classroom! I have mentioned my desire to do so at other points throughout this semester, and think that using Skype is the perfect way to make it happen! Shannon Miller had two great ideas of allowing students to talk to other students who are out of state, and also giving students the opportunity to talk to professionals around the world. At this point in time, I do not know much about Skype but I am definitely interested in exploring it more, and wonder if there could be a way to combine the two ideas. It would be a really neat idea to have a three-way Skype session in which a professional could speak to classes in two different states, and everybody could interact with each other! For example, if I am teaching a series on ecosystems, I could arrange to have a scientist speak with my class, and also connect our session with a class in Colorado. This way, my Southern Californian students could bring something to the table with their knowledge of the ocean here, Colorado students could bring something to the table with their knowledge of the forests there, and the scientist could work with both classes to expand upon and clarify all of their ideas! This concept could also be beneficial to foreign language classes. Native English speakers learning Spanish could connect with Native Spanish speakers learning English, and a linguistics professional could moderate the session. Skype and other related programs have the ability to bring the world and all sorts of different people into the classroom!

Shannon Miller said it best herself: we as teachers want students "to be part of something bigger outside of the walls of their school and into the world. This is where every one of our students is going to make a difference" (Fingal, 2011, p. 1). Though we cannot always take our students out into the world, we can bring the world to them! Starting a blog, having a website, Skyping with professionals and other students; these are all fantastic ways to open up new doors to our students so that they may expand their education and life knowledge to resources outside of the classroom. This will help them both to hear others, and to be heard by others. So let's collaborate with the world around us to attain the richest and fullest education possible!

Miller's concepts connect students to each other, to peers in other states, and to professionals around the world. In doing so, they meet the NETS Standard #2: Communication and Collaboration.

Fingal, Diana. (2011, March/April). Member Profiles: Being the Change She Wants to See in the Schools. United States & Canada.

Filming Compassion!

"Filming Compassion" is an article written by two teachers in Ohio who wanted to share a great creative idea that involves using video cameras to both fulfill school requirements and contribute to society! Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy High School has a graduation requirement in place that calls for students to complete 120 hours of community service over the course of their four years. Video Production teachers Janet Bremer and Marilyn Clark came up with the idea of having students create a documentary or commercial for local charities and non-profit organizations. Students were assigned a partner and an organization, were given the necessary accommodations to complete the project, such as video cameras and transportation, and were then on their own to create their video. The sites they visited were instructed not to assist students in the actual filming and production end of things, but were encouraged to talk with students regarding what they would like to have filmed and addressed in the video. Students then conducted professional-style interviews with the employees and volunteers at their site, and filmed different aspects of the organization as they were led on a tour of the facilities. With the completion of their videos, students ended up with great video production skills, experiences, and projects, and the organizations were blessed with nice commercials and documentaries garnering support for their causes. In the end, teacher Janet Bremer was proud to say that "in addition to fulfilling some of their service learning requirements and acquiring new skills surrounding video production, students also learned about the day-to-day operation of nonprofit agencies. By the end of the grading period, students felt good not only about successfully completing the class and building their video production skills but also about having contributed a useful promotion tool to a worthy organization" (Bremer & Clark, 2005).

I love the fact that Janet Bremer and Marilyn Clark came up with a way to make students' work relevant, valuable, and applicable to society. This is a fantastic concept that could be applied to a variety of different causes. For instance, students could conduct, film, and edit a professional-style interview with a local politician. The finished product could be used as a campaign tool to raise awareness and support for the candidate's platform. In return, students would learn not only about video production, but also about the political system and their community. However, because ideas such as these involve giving a professional-looking video to important organizations and individuals, high school students should probably be the ones working on these projects. For the most part, middle and elementary school students may not yet have the same capacity as high school students to conduct themselves professionally and produce a serious, high-quality video. Since my goal is to be an elementary school teacher, I do no think I will be assigning any major video production projects such as these.

Janet Bremer and Marilyn Clark have created a very powerful learning opportunity for their students and for the community! Using video production to meet school requirements while also contributing to local organizations is a fantastic idea that should definitely be taken into consideration by high school teachers. Like the students of Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy High School, teenagers could and should be given the opportunity to use their school work to truly make a difference in society. Producing commercials, documentaries, and interviews for worthy organizations and individuals would greatly benefit everyone involved. As future teachers, let's keep in mind this concept of giving our students relevant, productive, and valuable assignments!

This video production assignment actually meets all six of the NETS standards! In working with each other, as well as with volunteers and employees, to research the needs of the organizations and figure out what needed to be incorporated into their videos to help meet those needs and bring awareness to the rest of the community, students met Standard #2: Communication and Collaboration, Standard #3: Research and Information Fluency, and Standard #4: Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making. In editing their material to produce original, creative, and high-quality videos that were appropriate for the organizations to use to show their public audiences, students met Standard #1: Creativity and Innovation, Standard #5: Digital Citizenship, and Standard #6: Technology Operations and Concepts.

Bremer, J., & Clark, M. (2005, April). Filming Compassion. United States & Canada.