Suppl_eMINTS

Play a Little this Summer

I just read this interesting piece of insight on David Warlick’s blog about learning to run software.  It’s basically about a veteran teacher who asked her son to teach her how to use some software.  When she pulled out a notepad and pencil to take notes, he told her to put it away.  What the teacher soon found out was that the best way to learn software is to “play” with it and figure out how to run the software, not to simply follow steps.

The best way to learn to use difficult software is to spend time playing with it.  Of course, I’m not talking about only using the software at our training sessions.  You have to open up that software on a regular basis to really know how to run it.

I thought about my own knowledge of software.  Most of what I know was from “messing around” with the software.  Take my ability to use Publisher as an example.  I used to make mix tapes all the time in college and in the years following.  I went so far as to design special cassette packaging using the program.  This allowed me to figure out how to use templates, play around with text styles, take images from the Internet, etc.  This doesn’t mention how I’ve learned most of the software I now train you all to use.  I have mostly been self-taught, and that may be the best way to learn.

So, this summer, while you sit on your porch enjoying a cool glass of iced tea, open up that laptop and play around a little.  I know that Dreamweaver and Fireworks have caused a lot of headaches for many of you.  These would be great programs with which to play.  You could design a website for your family or design a logo for your church choir on Fireworks.  Have a little fun with it and in the meantime, you might learn to use this software more effectively.

**As a side-note…In order to keep your lap cool while using your computer, try filling a hot water bottle with cold water.  It gives an adjustable pad on which your laptop to rest and keeps your legs from heating up.  (courtesy of Life Hacker)

Top Ten Things to Consider When Writing a WebQuest

As you all begin the process of writing your WebQuests, I thought I would impart some knowledge and helpful tips to keep in mind.

10. Be creative. We really have to think outside of the box when writing WebQuests. David Warlick recently posted on his blog, 2¢ Worth, that the creativity we need to encourage in our students “will not come from lessons about creativity, but from a different kind of lesson that makes room for, invites, and values creativity.” Think outside the box and find ways to help your students do the same.

9. Think: What do adults do with this information? Think of your WebQuest as an opportunity for the students to practice applying what they learn in school to the real world. Thinking this way can also help you understand why the topics you teach are so important for preparing students for their adult lives.

8. Web 2.0 is your WebQuest’s friend. Not only can you provide resources from which your students can gather information, but you can also utilize all the great tools online for their WebQuest work. Wikis, like those at Edublogs or PBWiki, can be useful for group plans, note-taking, and even final products. Additionally, there are always things like blogs (Edublogs, Blogger, etc.), Moodle, various media hosting sites (TeacherTube, Switchpod), online productivity tools (Google Docs), and even social networks ( Youth Twitter, Edmodo).

7. WebQuests are best accomplished in groups. Here is your chance to put together a cooperative learning activity that is positively interdependent, able to hold each individual accountable, provides equal participation, and gets all the group members simultaneously active. However, WebQuests could also be valuable as tools for distance learning or independent studies.

6. Hook your students’ interest with great role-play. This doesn’t only mean you have to come up with great scenarios and characters for the students to carry out. You can also incorporate some “fake” email addresses for the students to contact clients, mysterious informants, or any character needed to make the project feel real.

5. Provide scaffolding for the learning whenever you see fit. It’s OK to link graphic organizers to the WebQuest that help students organize their learning. This could be a good opportunity to use software like SMART Ides or Inspiration. Just remember that this sort of work is to help the process, not to give you something to grade. You could also add a section for “learning advice” that could suggest techniques for organizing or how to aggregate the information.

4. Include brief descriptions of each of your resources with the links. This will allow students to know exactly what sites they should be researching. It’s sort of a preview of the site that prepares them for the other side of the hyperlink.

3. Be clear. Whether it’s the task, process, or expectations, you will want to be crystal clear for your students to be as successful as possible.

2. Consider including a teacher page in your WebQuest. A teacher page can provide others who want to use your WebQuest with contact information or tips for implementation. It may also be a good place for you to keep notes for the next time you use the WebQuest.

1. A WebQuest is a work-in-progress. Just because you assign a WebQuest to your class and they complete the task doesn’t mean that you are done with it. A WebQuest can be revised over and over in order to keep the links updated, the task fresh, and the strategies effective. If something doesn’t go smoothly, change it before you use it again. If you see a way that it could be altered to give students different perspectives, make the revisions. It’s your creation for you to mold into the perfect learning experience.

A WebQuest is a great way to provide real, student-led inquiry in your classroom. The best part is that it is also something that you can create to fit your students’ unique needs and gifts.

Techlearning, Warlick, and PDtoGo

In case you all hadn’t figured it out, I am a huge proponent of the blog, or web-log.  I’ve come across several blogs that I think are worth your time.  Check them out and let me know how helpful they really are.

While I have been checking my Google Reader today, I have noticed that the blog Techlearning has been very busy lately.  They have provided several articles with helpful hints and resources.  One article provides a video tutorial for inserting pictures into shapes on PowerPoint.  Another lists resources created by the federal government intended for free use by educators.  There are also articles (like this one) that help make the connection between using technology and the web in constructivist classrooms.  Techlearning is a site with which every eMINTS teacher should become familiar.

Another blog to keep an eye on is edtech guru David Warlick’s 2 ¢ Worth.  A recent post by Warlick describes statistics he discovered on the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).  The NCES has a “Kids Zone” that…

…provides information to help you learn about schools; decide on a college; find a public library; engage in several games, quizzes and skill building about math, probability, graphing, and mathematicians; and to learn many interesting facts about education.

Apparently the graphing tool is pretty cool.

The third resource blog I pay regular attention to is PDtoGo’s SMART Board podcasts.  Ben Hazzard and Joan Badger provide an entertaining  yet informational program on constructivist-based applications for the SMART Board.  There are often free SMART Notebook files to download at the blog.  I often listen to the podcasts on my way to Wellsville as a way to productively use that time.