Shallow Thinking?

One of the biggest complaints I get from teachers is that their students seem so distracted all the time. Often, their feeling is that the technology is not helping with this problem. Clicking from task to task, website to website, especially while the teacher is speaking, drives teachers themselves to distraction as they wonder why, in a world where everything is possible, students often do more poorly than ever before on assignments. Class discussions reveal shallow thinking about a topic, and the idea of students being able to plow through informative text and create a valid argument as required in the new Common Core Standards seems incredulous to some. Student notes and written work are sometimes incoherent or obviously copy-and-paste, and papers are lost in cyberspace as often as they were left at home or in lockers.

 Myself, I find that adult learners seem to be just as distracted. Rarely now do cell phones not go off during a class I teach, rarely now do all the teachers in a group seem to be paying attention. Even when I think I'm at my most engaging self and am absolutely convinced that the topic is important, someone in the audience will be checking e-mail, flipping from website to website, sometimes even grading online work from their students back at school.

We don't read for detail anymore, either. A class I regularly teach had a five-item "bring to the workshop" list. I sent it out via e-mail ten days before the class would meet for the first time, and usually half or less of the teachers who were to attend the class brought all the items. Frustrating. The eighth time I offered the class, I attached a sound file to the e-mail, which was a file of me reading the e-mail aloud. The text still accompanied this message. This time, eight out of ten teachers brought all five items. Better, but not total success.

Another example: Over the last two weeks, I picked up huge stacks of homework for a college class from about 48 teachers. Several sets of this homework have one or more of five required pieces totally missing. The directions handed out in print were very clear, and were repeated at all three sessions of the class orally as well. Reminder e-mails went out a week before the final class met. Maybe they thought I wouldn't check the homework, or maybe they really didn't attend to the requirements.

What does this say about us? We are all driven to distraction, and that distraction is taking away from our focus. Sometimes, 'multi-tasking' is really not 'tasking' at all!

What should we do?

Maybe we should go back to keeping that proverbial to-do list. If getting on the device to look at the list means you will also feel the need to check three e-mail accounts, read some blog articles, click on a few other things, before you actually start on the prioritized list, then perhaps you need to put that list on paper instead of your device. Maybe we should turn the e-mail OFF and just check it periodically throughout the day. Maybe we should mute the cell phone ringer or turn the phone off, and just check it for messages on breaks.

And maybe, just maybe, we ought to think about the example we set for our students when we ourselves are unable to be attentive to the task at hand. Maybe, just maybe, we ought to think about how and why we need to teach organizational skill to our students as a huge priority. If we truly want to meet and exceed the Common Core Standards, then helping our students get to the point where they are able to focus and concentrate on the problem at hand might just be the true key to getting there.

Recommended Apps for HOTS

Found on Online Universities, originally from Edudemic.com, a great recommended list of mobile apps for learning!


From: OnlineUniversities.com

iLearn

When I was in the classroom, I told my students that my goal was always to learn something new everyday. Then, as I went through the day, when that 'aha' moment occurred, I would blurt out, "That's it! My something new for today!" Sometimes, I'd even write it on the board. It wasn't always a big thing, sometimes it was just a result of a relatively inane comment from someone during a class.
More often now, it's something a student shows me my iPad will do that I didn't know it could do before. Just because I live with it perpetually attached to my arm now, doesn't mean I know everything about the device.
Take that pop-up keyboard, for instance. I knew you could 'add' keyboards, even emoticons, to it. I knew you could split it and use it like you do the keyboard on your phone, with your thumbs in texting mode. But I didn't know I could move it up and down on the screen until a student showed me one day that I could put it anywhere I wanted on the screen. Amazing.
If you haven't figured it out by now, I've become an iPad Junkie. Every day I spend time playing around with the settings, digging into all the little windows and seeing what each setting will do. The one I don't like? The one that is for visually empaired users that reads the buttons aloud. Since it changes virtually all the settings (tapping twice to start an app instead of once, for example), I find it a bit difficult. And it is very hard to turn it off once it is engaged, so I don't demo that setting anymore, I just talk about it.
Now that I've digressed, the point - what have you learned today? If you're in education, you need to be about learning. And if you want your students to be learners, then you ought to demonstrate to them that you are a learner, a master learner, every single day.

Count Yours!

While you're out and about this July, please take a moment to remember those who keep you free to live life to its fullest, and count your blessings! This video may bring a tear to your eye and, I hope, remind you about what is really important in your life.

Soldiers Surprising Their Loved Ones Part 4! from keephopealive on GodTube.

iPads and Printing to (gasp!) PAPER!

I have a stock answer to the question, "What about printing? If we get iPads for our students, how do we print their work?"
That answer is, "Why?" And I truly mean it! Why do we want to print all the time? It's costly, it wastes resources, and it wastes time. Meaningful work by our students can be saved, edited, transported via pdf files wirelessly through all types of ways and shared with the teacher and other students - with the world when we want to have that audience.
For instance - we can use Quickoffice Pro HD or Google Docs or DropBox or Box or a lot of other applications to exchange files in the cloud. We can e-mail pdf or jpg files to teachers, who can mark papers using apps like Type on PDF or DocAS to use the digital markers and write all over them, then send them back to the student. Blackboard and Moodle have apps that allow students to still use those platforms for class - and there are many others as well.
Or, we can encourage creativity and have students demonstrate their understanding of content using the iWork suite and sharing their work to the cloud. How about VoiceThread? iMovie? Poplet? ScreenChomp or ShowMe? Blogging? Sharing with Idea Flight? Creating an online ePortfolio that follows them throughout their school careers? I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. Creating virtual paper/pencil assignments might be convenient, but the real power behind the iPad lies in the creativity, in the ability to differentiate for all students and all learners. Giving flight to the ideas and abilities of all our kids is what education ought to be about!
So, when you ask me about printing from your iPad, I will always first ask you, "Why?" And then I will likely recommend that you either need new printers or a program called Printopia that will let your iPad talk to your Mac, which can handle the given print job.
Or, you might visit this wonderful blog article, written by Apple Distinguished Educator Andy Brovey, Ed.D.: http://ipadacademy.com/2012/03/how-to-print-from-your-ipad-summary-of-printer-and-printing-options
It's a great article and outlines all your possible printing options that are available at this point in time. You might add Andy to your list of bloggers to follow while you're at it.
:) Linda

Inservice with Google Forms

Here is a practice form for our activity at Twin Valley Schools this week. This will only stay live for this date and will be deleted. **Changed my mind! Kind of nice to keep it here - might want to use it again!

Power Up with PowerSchool Apps!

Yes, you can use your iPad with PowerTeacher! And there are also apps for PowerSchool Parents and PowerSchool Students! See the links here to get these for your devices:

PowerTeacher: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/powerteacher-mobile/id390563073?mt=8
PowerSchool for Parents: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/powerschool-for-parents/id444983648?mt=8
PowerSchool for Students: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/powerschool-for-students/id444984364?mt=8

Apps for That - and Just About Everything! part 1

I've been using my iPad and iPodTouch for a couple of years now, and I'm finding more and more that I can do with it! I'm often asked by teachers to recommend apps and app sites that I like. You can find some great links to others' sites that recommend apps here on my shared Delicious stacks. Take some time to explore - you won't be sorry!

AppsI - There's an App for That! some sites that recommend apps for education:
http://delicious.com/stacks/view/Q539zr

SPED -There's an App for That! some sites that recommend apps for special ed:
http://delicious.com/stacks/view/I8i7td

iPad/iPodTouch Support and Setup Information! some sites that give some great advice for the technical support of iPads/iPodTouch in education:
http://delicious.com/stacks/view/OUIUAh

Freedom Riders from The American Experience

The full-length documentary, Freedom Riders, is available online at The American Experience. Sponsored by Liberty Mutual, this can be a great addition to your curriculum at this time of year! There is great teacher support available - take a look:


http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/freedomriders/watch

Thanks to Mr. Byrne at Free Technology for Teachers for the reminder! Enjoy!

Happy New Year! Resolve to spread a little sunshine ~

From the UK, this group has the right idea for the New Year - Spread a Little Sunshine!