Landfill Harmonic

I wish I could say that I am that dedicated to something.

Are We Still Evolving

"The biggest part of our environment is culture."
BBC Horizon, Are we still evolving?
(context = the usual pressures to adapt/evolve for a species are environmental, whereas we create tools etc. to adapt)

Coetail Final Project: 11 March 2010

Digital Native: Part 2

Anyone from the Coetail class will know that I have a strong reaction against the term digital native AND the notion that our students somehow have an innate understanding of the digital world and digital tools. To summarize, I believe that most of our students entering our classrooms have an understanding of a narrow section of the digital world and only a surface level understanding of digital tools. This is one reason that I believe I/we should incorporate them into my/our teaching. The immense potential will go untapped unless we use them/teach them/explore them.

[This is changing/improving all the time as more and more teachers integrate technology in meaningful ways.]

Anyway, grade 6 students recently wrote memoirs relating to their trip to Kanchanaburi. To give the memoir more depth and especially to help students begin to realize the potential of online publishing, I asked that they include photos and links to related topics (much like a slate.com article providing background).

I had taught students how to insert links and photos many times between August and February. For most it was a simple, easy process. One student, however, had not added either element 2 weeks after the deadline. I showed her at school privately, but still after two weeks both elements were missing. Finally, one day I saw that she was online (through her gmail status) and started a google chat.

One thing that this student was quite adept at was chat (and chat spelling, but that is another story). She was very excited to chat (even about her project) and I began to talk her through the process of adding the photos and links. In order to guide her and to imagine the windows and prompts, I asked if she was using Mac or PC. To my great amusement, she replied, “i dont no.”

After I stopped laughing, I asked if there was a big Apple somewhere on the computer. “Oh,” she said, “it says samsung.” After all her time using computers at school, elementary and middle school, PC lab and Mac lab, this little concept had escaped her. That was in addition to a basic element of blogging that had been covered many times before this year and probably last as well.

Thankfully, I was able to talk/chat her through the process and it worked. Problem solved and, with luck, lesson permanently learned.

This was the first time I had given a student online tech support (though I had done it with my family). It was a great reminder for me that my students are really learning about technology’s application and potential at school. This is so important for me because I really strongly believe that they will only begin to explore what they can do if they see it in action somewhere. For most of them, school will be/needs to be that place.

The most basic example of all is facebook. Only because of Green Panthers, CarrotMob and a teacher (Kerry) did students see that there was a power to facebook. This is why I want computers in my students’ hands.

If digital native is anything like being a native of a country and not knowing who your Prime Minister is, maybe I could come to love the term.

Texting: Another Reason not to Call

I have always hated talking on the phone. Well. actually that's not quite true. There was a short period in Grade 7 when I was on the phone for hours at a time. Aside from that, approximately, six month period, I have avoided talking on the phone. Email was a dream come true but had its limits as everyone started to carry cell phones.

Then I discovered SMS. A dream come true. Instant communication but no chatting. Well it turns out that there is an unexpected benefit to texting for our students - better spelling! According to a study frequent texting requires a strong awareness of spelling rules even when non-standard spelling is used. So as long as our students can figure out that we don't want them writing that way for academic purposes, there is no harm in texting the hmwrk assignment.

c u l8r

Final Project Reflection: 18 October 2009

My final project grew out of our (coetail) work doing digital storytelling and the Grade 6 Archaeology unit. As part of the unit, we do a week long dig in the classroom. With the help of ISB support staff, we turn the Humanities classrooms into dig sites. We bury a diverse range of artifacts in two giant sand boxes in the classrooms to re-create two villages or homes.

Each site contains a variety of 'domestic' artifacts relating to cooking, hunting/defence, religion, commerce and art. Students participate in the dig in rotating jobs, including digging, sifting, cataloguing and recording. Each day's dig is preceded and followed by a discussion and analysis of the finds. Emphasis is on forming a cohesive theory about the previous 'inhabitants' of the site, their way of life and culture. The theory must be based on the evidence and teachers frequently ask, "Why do you think that?" in order to force students to explain their rationale for their opinion.

This habit of mind (0f using evidence to support an opinion) is one of the primary goals of the grade 6 curriculum and the dig provides a unique opportunity to make 'discoveries' and articulate a point of view based upon them. Students often have differing points of view, but, despite that, often see commonalities in their interpretations of individual artifacts. As they discuss, they find out where they differ and endeavour to explain why they, personally, are right.

The dig traditionally culminates with a common assignment/assessment of a magazine-style article about an aspect of the dig. Students choose from a variety of article formats that tell the story of the people who inhabited the site and/or the story of the dig itself. During the dig, students take still photos and (this year I asked them to include) video to document the progress and process of the dig. During the digital storytelling part of our course I realized I could combine the video and stills to articulate many of the same ideas and complement the article.

The digital storytelling/film-making assignment allows students to collaborate with each other to meet many of the same goals as the magazine assignment. The collaborative aspect is particularly appealing because it puts students in a situation in which they once again have to discuss and defend their opinions. As they write their scripts for the project, they refine their opinions and learn to express them concisely. Most importantly they automatically use evidence to support their viewpoint in the form of the audiovisual images from the dig. This step reinforces their thinking process. My final project is a sample/model assignment for students.