10-Rep Learning ~ Teague's Tech Treks

Learning Technology & Tech Observations by Dr. Helen Teague

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Weekend Ed. Quote~August 31~Maria Montessori

From The Writer’s Almanac by Garrison Keillor: It’s the birthday of Maria Montessori, born on this day in Chiaravalle, Italy (1870). When she was 13 years old she was the only girl student studying engineering. She then studied medicine became the first Italian to earn a medical degree. Keillor writes, “It was so unheard of for a woman to go to medical school that she had to get the approval of the pope in order to study there.”

In her practice, she worked with children with special needs. This experience became her calling and she espoused that children were not “blank slates” but gifted in individual ways.  Keillor explains Montessori’s belief, “It was a teacher’s job to help children find these gifts, rather than dictating what a child should know. She emphasized independence, self-directed learning, and learning from peers. Children were encouraged to make decisions. She was the first educator to use child-sized tables and chairs in the classroom.” In 1912, her book,The Montessori Method (1912) was published. It emphasis on teaching reading via phonics is still considered a major treatise in educational theory and practice.

Montessori opposed Mussolini’s fascism during World War II. In exile from Italy,  she lived and worked in India and Holland. She died in 1952 at the age of 81.

Here is my favorite quote from Maria Montessori:

Maria Montessori

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Additional Ed. Quotes

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More QR Code Activities for the Classroom

QR Codes continue to add an innovative spark to classrooms and libraries.

Here is a creative Slideshare presentation with new ideas from The Daring Librarian!

QR codes

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Is the calendar incorrect? Nope it is still the 21st century

Word cloud created from text

In an opinion piece that succinctly explains what is troubling to most innovative educators, Graham Brown-Martin, Founder of Learning

Without Frontiers and Founder of Education Design Labs extols, “We continue to use technology to reinforce 19th century teaching practice.

Read the full online interview at this link

Nik Peachey‘s comment is noteworthy: “Some really good points here about the way assessment is crippling the ability of technology to move teaching practice forwards.”

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Word Cloud created by Helen Teague using Wordle

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Weekend Ed. Quote~August 24

The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to be able to say, “The children are now working as if I did not exist.” ~Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori

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Tech B.F.F.~Slides Online Presentation Creation Tool

BFF is an acronym for “Best Friend Forever.” These websites and tips are so good that they will become your technology BFFs!
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Slid.es is a useful tool for creating and sharing ad-hoc presentations in an office, school PLN, or for student group work during class. If used during class, then this fun, presentation creation site exemplifies student-led instruction. It also has a working offline feature so it is not limited to connectivity. Slideshows are referred to as “decks” in the nomenclature of Slid.es

I would recommend creating a class account that students, working individually or in pairs/groups could access, instead of students creating their own accounts. There is also an option to create an account by linking through Facebook or Google, but I chose to create a free, stand-alone account. Pictures can be uploaded and completed decks can be shared by link or embed code.

Possible Classroom Uses: (Please leave a comment to add additional ideas)

1.) Short, topic presentations as a culminating activity

2.) Create a classroom procedures presentation to play as students enter during the first week or school and then for Parents at Open House

3.) Create a story web, where the teacher begins the web with an inviting phrase, such as “It was a dark and stormy night” and students add a slide extending the previous phrase and adding a thematic element or adding a “choose your own ending” slide

4.) Use Slides for a quick “check for understanding” quiz or Warm-Up activity

5.) Create slides for ESL or bilingual classrooms to introduce or review vocabulary

Here is a sample: http://slid.es/teague/educational-quotes

More Tech B.F.F.s

Slid.es Mentioned on my ScoopIt board called “Lurk No Longer”

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Socratic Questioning

Many teachers are puzzled with the encouragement, directive, mandate to bring “student-led” activities to their classroom. Many are equally wary of relinquishing control when migrating from “safe on the stage” to “guide on the side.”

Socratic questioning is one way to adapt to both of these instructional shifts.

This infographic provides a great visual for teachers and students to implement the Socratic method of questioning. It includes 6 sections with sample questions that might be asked:

1. Clarification

2. Probing Assumptions

3. Probing Rationals

4. Questioning Viewpoints

5. Probing Consequences

6. Questions on the Question

The Socratic Questioning Process

The Socratic Questioning Process, Link: http://sco.lt/94UuIL

 

 

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Weekend Ed. Quote~August 17

Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all ~Aristotle

 

Aristotle quote

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More Educational Quotes

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Color Visuals

As I continue on my trek though post-graduate higher ed., the amount of reading seems to exponentially increase in direct proportion to the amount of consulting projects I have to complete.

Here is an informative and engaging infographic that explains why our reading instruction would benefit from visual cues and curricular tie-ins:

color visuals

Color visuals increase the willingness to read by 80%

To see the full infographic, with 12 additional reasons why our brains need visuals to process learning, click here

Special thanks to Mary White for sharing this infographic with me.

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Weekend Ed. Quote

the more you read...

 

 

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More Weekend Ed. Quotes

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Metta — Storytelling + Polls In One Compact Format.

metta

Metta — Storytelling + Polls In One Compact Format.                             metta.io

Metta helps turning stories into short movies out of pictures, videos, text and sounds that are already published on the web. Polls and quizzes can also be embedded anywhere inside a video presentation…

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