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create video lessons with integrated checks for understanding/ assessment

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create animated videos

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graphic organizer

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design application

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mind mapping!

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create speaking avatars

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word cloud creator

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create timelines for public use on the internet

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lesson tool with interactive presentations

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formative assessment: a method to check for understanding. only the teacher is required to have technology. the class only needs low tech paper.

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Use this to create trading cards for historical figures, characters, and/or even events! Can be used digitally in a 1:1 classroom or you can print for students to fill out manually :)

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/trading-card-creator-30056.html

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free rice for ELLs

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https://www.edmodo.com/

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LMS - create online lessons with articles, images, audio, and video for your class. Manage discussions, auto-grade assessments, and track scores through a gradebook.

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http://freerice.com/#/english-vocabulary/1392

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Meet Freerice

Freerice is an educational trivia game that helps you get smarter while making a difference for people around the world. Every question you answer correctly raises 10 grains of rice for the World Food Programme (WFP) to support its work saving and changing lives around the world.

Across the globe, up to 783 million people do not have enough food to eat. From reducing our food waste to ensuring access to nutritious food for everyone, we have a lot of work to do. At WFP, we believe that food is a human right and that everyone deserves to live in a #ZeroHunger world. Let's work together to fill everyone's plate.

Our Impact

Playing Freerice sends an important message: community matters, and only by coming together can we help solve global problems like food insecurity and poverty. By using your knowledge to do good, you're advocating for positive change and supporting our mission to achieve a world of Zero Hunger. Whether you are playing Freerice at school or learning about the UN Sustainable Development Goals, you are paving the path for brighter futures ahead through nutritious.

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Across the globe, up to 783 million people do not have enough food to eat. From reducing our food waste to ensuring access to nutritious food for everyone, we have a lot of work to do. At WFP, we believe that food is a human right and that everyone deserves to live in a #ZeroHunger world.

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Find/create rubrics

Forallrubrics.com

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www.fantasygeopolitics.com/

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moovly.com

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quizlet

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App to digitalize student work to record it

threering.com

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Connect with students and teachers in an appropriate social media environment.

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Create your own comic strips and cartoon characters! Integrate all content areas into creating stories, jokes, and fun information!

http://www.bitstripsforschools.com/

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Create jeopardy review games

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Glogster, youtube, vine, instagram, facebook, tweet,  zaption, meme

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Glogster, youtube, vine, instagram, facebook, tweet,  zaption, meme

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https://voicethread.com/about/features/

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Technology can be used in a Constructivist Learning Enviornment

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Technology can be used in a Constructivist Learning Enviornment

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This video highlights how technology can be actively used to facilitate learning

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Check out this useful table!

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I realized last week that those of you who are parents might not know what I was talking about when I used the word constructivist. So, let me explain.

Research (see my bibliography below) shows that constructivist learning is congruent with how the brain learns. There is plenty of research to prove, that constructivist education is the best way for learners to learn.
Constructivist education is when . . . . . . learners actively construct meaning by building on background knowledge, experience and reflect on those experiences.
in other words . . .

"Learners are given the freedom to think, to question, to reflect, and to interact with ideas, objects, and others-in other words, to construct meaning." - Brooks and Brooks.

It's "the idea that development of understanding requires the learner to actively engage in meaning-making." - Brader-Araje & Jones (2002)

I've made a little comparison chart to make it more clear.

(1950s?) Old-School Classroom

Constructivist Classroom

Teacher directed (didactic dissemination of information)

Learner-centered. Teacher as facilitator - students construct knowledge through critical thinking, manipulatives, primary resources, and hands-on activities.

Student works independently.

Student works collaboratively in groups, independently or in partners.

Small parts first. Big idea at the end.

Big idea first. All parts support big idea.

Correct answers are the goal.

Thinking and support of thinking are the goals.

Assessments are tests; separate from learning task.

Assessments are observation, conferences, daily work, portfolios and included in learning tasks.

Worksheets, workbooks, basal readers.

Books, journals, real-world situations, workshop approach.

Teacher evaluator.

Self-reflection, student evaluator and teacher evaluator.

Product based learning: All students will learn on demand the same thing at the same time aka. One-size-fits-all approach.

Process based learning: Learners create meaning and context by exploring new ideas and experiences, generating hypotheses, problem solving.

Teacher talks to (at) students; students expected to listen and absorb knowledge.

Teacher-student dialogue through conferring, questioning, and wondering.

Teacher makes all the decisions.

Shared responsibility and decision making.

Students answer questions. Empowered teacher.

Students ask questions. Empowered learner.

Individual learners.

Community of learners.

Let me give you a few examples.
Let's say the learning goal is to learn how to recognize main idea from details.
An old-school classroom might provide the children with worksheets and multiple choice answers after a whole group lesson on the overhead with the teacher presenting the information.

A constructivist classroom would start with a mini-lesson where the teachers asks the kids about going to a birthday party at a familiar place such as Build-a-Bear. She might ask the class, what is the most important thing and what are some details? The teacher would write down the students' responses on a large chart in two columns (big idea /details ) and as the learners respond encourage their thinking, ask for clarification, ask more questions, add some of her thinking. Then, the teacher would ask the learners to think about different scenarios such as big idea at dinner or big idea at shopping. Then, she'd show how to apply this to reading which they would tackle as a group. After that, the learners would get to apply and practice in their own self-selected books - using sticky notes to write down details or main idea, probably only one of the two until that concept is mastered, then switch. (Or work in collaborative groups with a shared text.)

Do you see the difference between the two classrooms?
Or, what if your learning goal is to introduce meaning in poetry?
An old-school (some call this traditional) classroom teacher would read the poem to the group or have the students round-robin read. (Gack - don't EVER do this! Round Robin reading = no comprehension happening!) Then, she would ask for the learners what the poem means. THERE WILL BE A RIGHT ANSWER: the poem means that spring is renewal or something of the sort.

A constructivist teacher will read the poem and stop and share her own thinking outloud. "Reading this part about the hard dirt makes me think of trying to plant bulbs last year and I couldn't dig very deep because the ground was frozen." The teacher shows how reading poetry connects to her prior knowledge and makes her visualize. She then will ask them to read the poem and practice making connections to their own prior knowledge. Then, she'll have them partner share - so everyone gets a turn to talk. If she asks what the poem means, and she may not, she'll accept any answer that shows the student constructed meaning from the poem and his or her background knowledge.
Teachers, what do you see happening in your own classroom that you can share which illustrates how you help students construct knowledge? Parents, what do you see (or not see) happening in your child's classroom with regards to a constructivist approach to learning? Resources:
Christie, A. (2005). Constructivism and its implications for educators. http://alicechristie.com/edtech/learning/constructivism/index.htm
Clarkson, B., & Brook, C. (n.d.). I can't understand why I didn't pass: Scaffolding student activities.
Grennon Brooks, J., & Brooks, M. G. (1999). In search of understanding: The case for constructivist classrooms. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Honebein, Peter. C. (1996). Seven goals for the design of constructivist learning environments. In Wilson, Brent. G. (Ed.). (1996)
Thirteen Ed Online (2004). Constructivism as a paradigm for teaching and learning. http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/index.html
Zemelman, Daniels, & Hyde. (1998) Best Practice New Standards for Teaching and Learning in America's Schools.

(also, anything by Vygotsky)

* Some rights reserved by flickingerbrad

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by Filed Under: Tagged With: Melissa Taylor Active Play, best practices, constructivist classroom, education, workshop Education, Elementary, Imagination, Preschool, Reading, Writing

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I realized last week that those of you who are parents might not know what I was talking about when I used the word constructivist. So, let me explain. Research (see my bibliography below) shows that constructivist learning is congruent with how the brain learns.

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Example for use in any class, possibly ELA example. Increasing student collaboration

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Example for use in any class, possibly ELA example. Increasing student collaboration

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The article talks about using SMART tech, but we like Google!

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Google Drive: Working on the same file at the same time

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Serbian and Macedonian fronts | The 20th century | World history | Khan Academy

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Teacher as THE expert

Students as empty vessels, waiting to be filled with knowledge.

"Old-fashioned is good fashion." Abraham Lincoln

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"Anyone, anyone" teacher from Ferris Bueller's Day Off

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What does a constructivist classroom look like?

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What does a constructivist classroom look like?

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Teacher as coach, student as active participant. The STUDENTS are the individuals who work collaboratively to construct knowledge.

The classroom becomes a dynamic environment. Students are able to utilize technology in and out of the classroom as a way of engaging with the content through multiple modalities. Students are able to hold themselves more accountable for their learning due to the wide variety of resources available to them.

Check the link out! (...and marvel at its "awesomeness") <start at 0:30>

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If students are in part responsible for the construction of knowledge in the classroom, they need to solve real-world problems using the appropriate tools. In addition, they need to be able to demonstrate their knowledge and skills. There are a variety of multi-media interfaces that students can use to demonstrate their learning.

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Students are often required to collect information from authoritative sources using appropriate research methods. The students can use tools such as Powerpoint or SMARTNotebooks to present and store the information that they find. This is a skill that translates well in to many different academic and career fields.

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It's all about the metacognitive development! They discussed the use of concept maps in a classroom wiki assignment as a way to extend individual knowledge. Through collaborative construction and evaluation, the students were able to better connect content and skills between segments.

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Utilizing authentic activities focused on relatable experiences allows students to communicate to their peers and extend their learning through the experiences of others. Decision making, critical thinking, and literacy development are only a few of the key items that can be improved through the use of concrete experiences, making them a key part of a constructivist classroom. For example, an instructor can utilize SMARTboard technology to allow students to individually learn content, and then use group discussion to promote to social construction of knowledge.