Brecknock Elementary School * ELANCO

2011-2012

Letting the students do what they can do best means giving students primary responsibility for the following:

Introducing

Elementary Technology

Tools for Learning

TECHNOLOGY TO SUPPORT LEARNING
Why use technology to support learning? As Marc Prensky, author of Teaching Digital Natives: Partnering for Real Learning, explains,
Todays students want to learn differently than in the past. They want ways of learning that are meaningful to them, ways that make them seeimmediatelythat the time they are spending on their formal education is valuable, and ways that make good use of the technology they know is their birthright. (Prensky, 2010) Young people (students) need to focus on using new tools, finding information, making meaning, and creating. Adults (teachers) must focus on questioning, coaching and guiding, providing context, ensuring rigor and meaning, and ensuring quality results. (Prensky, 2010)

Finding and following their passion Using whatever technology is available Researching and finding information Answering questions and sharing their thoughts and opinions Practicing, when properly motivated (e.g., through games) Creating presentations in text and multimedia (Prensky, 2010)

Prensky, M. (2010) Teaching digital natives: Partnering for real learning. Corwin.

To learn more about ISTEs NETS*S, visit http://www.iste.org/Libraries/ PDFs/NETS_for_Student_2007_EN.sflb.ashx

As the district continues to revise curriculum using the Common Core standards, we seek to infuse competencies from ISTEs National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for Students. We recognize the importance of empowering students to become proficient in these areas through their everyday explorations of math, language arts, the social sciences, and the world around them. We also recognize the expanded definitions of what it means to be literate in todays world. Consider the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and their stance on new literacies: Literacy has always been a collection of cultural and communicative practices shared among members of particular groups. As society and technology change, so does literacy. Because technology has increased the intensity and complexity of literate environments, the twenty-first century demands that a literate person possess a wide range of abilities and competencies, many literacies. These literaciesfrom reading online newspapers to participating in virtual classroomsare multiple, dynamic, and malleable. As in the past, they are inextricably linked with particular histories, life possibilities and social trajectories of individuals and groups. (NCTE, 2008)
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Consider the National Education Technology Plan (2010), which calls for applying the advanced technologies used in our daily personal and professional lives to our entire education system to improve student learning, accelerate and scale up the adoption of effective practices, and use data and information for continuous improvement. The Plans content includes goals that address the infusion of technology into Learning, Assessment, Teaching, Infrastructure, and Productivity. Our district has used this framework as a model for our own technology plan which is currently being finalized. 1

Twenty-first century readers and writers need to Develop proficiency with the tools of technology Build relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively and cross-culturally Design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of purposes Manage, analyze and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multi-media texts Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments (NCTE, 2008)

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE

As students and teachers embrace the use of digital tools in the classroom, the traditional roles of student and teacher undergo a transformation, where students assume more ownership and active control over their learning. Prensky describes the teacher and student roles as follows: In a partnering pedagogy, using technology is the students job. The teachers job is to coach and guide the use of technology for effective learning. To do this, teachers need to focus on, and become even more expert at, things that are already part of their job, including asking good questions, providing context, ensuring rigor, and evaluating the quality of students work. (Prensky, 2010)

http://www.ncte.org/governance/literacies

RESPONSIBLE USERS OF TECHNOLOGY

It is important to provide a supportive environment in which our students can learn to become responsible users of digital technologies. Learning how to safely navigate the Internet, interact respectfully with others online, protect personal information, and build a positive digital footprint are all vital components of our work with students through classroom project work and the iSafe curriculum http://www.isafe.org/. A focus of our guidance and media departments, students learn Appropriate Online Behavior Awareness about cyber bullying & appropriate responses Cyber-Community Citizenship Personal Safety Intellectual Property topics including copyright protections & plagiarism Digital Literacy Our teachers are learning, too! They are collaborating and sharing resources daily, and, through professional development opportunities such as our Elementary Technology Cohort, they are expanding their knowledge bases and exploring shifting pedagogies that help support technology integration. We are excited to continue growing professionally and modeling for students the importance of lifelong learning!

So how should our students be using technology? We seek to provide students opportunities to create, communicate, collaborate, and exhibit critical thinking skills. This guide will briefly highlight some of the integral tools students are using in the creation, collaboration, and communication processes of learning.

We know we must respect and learn from the past. But if the future isnt getting equal time in our education, we are selling our students terribly short. - Marc Prensky

COMMUNICATE
Kidblog is a student blogging platform that many of our students use to help organize their writing. We know summarizing to be one of the most effective strategies for strengthening student understanding, and this is another tool that allows students to share what theyve learned with peers, teachers, and a global audience. We have found students to be highly motivated to share their ideas through blogging! Student blogging guidelines will be shared with and distributed to parents and students before blogging begins.
Kidblog meets the need for a safe and simple blogging platform suitable for elementary and middle school students. Most importantly, Kidblog allows teachers to monitor and control all publishing activity within the classroom blogging community. http://kidblog.org/home.php

COLLABORATE
Elanco supports Google Apps for Education accounts for students and teachers. The most important aspect of Google Apps for our current work with students is access to Google Docs. Google Docs allows students to create word processing, presentation, and spreadsheet documents online, and to collaborate with both peers and teachers on projects. There are also calendar features and numerous other apps available as part of the Google suite, including email. Please be advised that while students in Grades 3-6 do have email accounts associated with their Google Apps account, they cannot email anyone outside of the Elanco domain, nor can they receive email from outside the domain. The purpose of this feature is to serve mainly as a communication tool between teacher and student. All student accounts can be accessed by the teacher and/or administrator at any time. All account activity is logged by the technology department. To learn more about what Google Apps can offer students, check out this website: http://www.google.com/ educators/p_docs.html

Skype No longer are our students limited in their exposure to ideas from within classroom walls. Experts in the field, authors, and other students who are eager to share their learning are available at a moments notice through the use of Skype video conferencing. Many of our students enjoy connecting with other classrooms and students with this tool!

Other ways our students are collaborating: Voicethread http://voicethread.com/about/features/ Voicethread features collaborative, multimedia slideshows that students create and view, then can provide interactive feedback to peers projects. Todays Meet - This is a backchannel format designed to engage all voices in class discussions http://todaysmeet.com/

CREATE
Prezi http://prezi.com/ Students use Prezi to summarize and share key concepts using text, images, and multimedia. Formatting options allow students to creatively and design presentations.
Prezi is a cloud-based presentation software that opens up a new world between whiteboards and slides. The zoomable canvas makes it fun to explore ideas and the connections between them. The result: visually captivating presentations that lead your audience down a path of discovery.

CRITICAL THINKING
There are many Web 2.0 tools that encourage students to move beyond simple recall of information. We wish for our students to learn to apply information learned to new situations that are relevant to their lives, ask questions, analyze solutions to problems, and develop unique ideas. Why is critical thinking so important? Todays students have more access to information than ever before with the help of Web 2.0 tools. As teachers, we must remember that simply accessing information is not enough. Students need to be able to analyze, synthesis, and evaluate information. Todays students need to develop critical thinking skills by learning to: Use different kinds of reasoning, such as deductive and inductive, to understand a situation Analyze complex systems and understand how their interconnected parts support the systems Gather relevant information Ask important questions that clarify points of view and help solve problems Make decisions by selecting appropriate criteria and identifying alternatives to make reliable choices of information
(Web2teachingtools, 2009)
CC licensed Slides/Images Shared by Flickr users http://www.flickr.com/photos/rdhout/5749886109/sizes/m/in/pool-858082@N25/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/plugusin/5333410499/sizes/m/in/set-72157625087347140/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/plugusin/5047685309/sizes/m/in/set-72157625087347140/

Little Bird Tales http://littlebirdtales.com/ Little Bird Tales is one of many digital storytelling tools your child may use this year. It allows students to use original artwork and record audio to narrate stories theyve written!

Glogster http://edu.glogster.com/ Using Glogster, students can create interactive, multimedia posters online to summarize and share their learning. Featuring rich graphics, writing formats, ability to embed video and audio, glogs allow students to personalize project work and gets their creative juices flowing!
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