# data[].attributes.headline
3. What needs to change at the higher level?

# data[].attributes.subject
3. What needs to change at the higher level?

# data[].attributes.body
For the elementary level, we agreed that at the grade level, it would be much more personalized as far as the needs on the teachers and students. Without being too far removed, you are more sensitive to these needs. Discussions can be made about what technology to invest in to best benefit the students at that specific school.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
At Forest Lake Elementary School, in Columbia, South Carolina, the student population grows more diverse by the day. Income levels, ethnicities, family structures, first languages, interests, and abilities now vary so much, that a traditional teaching approach, with a uniform lesson targeted to the average-level student, just doesn't cut it. (Sound familiar to you educators out there?)

To challenge and support each child at his or her own level, the Forest Lake teachers and staff are deploying a powerful array of widely available digital-technology tools. Each classroom is equipped with an interactive whiteboard and a Tech Zone of eight Internet-enabled computers. Plus, teachers have access to gadgets including digital cameras, Flip cameras, remote-response clickers, and PDAs.

More important than the gadgets themselves, of course, is how the teachers use them to create personalized lessons and a productive environment where each child is engaged. Here are Forest Lake teachers' top tips on how to do it.

1. Deliver Instruction through Multiple Forms of Media

You now have at your fingertips far more than just the old standbys of words and still pictures. Teachers at Forest Lake use computers and whiteboards to access oodles of instructional videos, audio clips, animations, and interactive games, some through software and some available online. Children also cement their knowledge by doing hands-on activities with these media. When learning about shapes, for instance, the youngest students sometimes scour the school with digital cameras, taking photos of shapes wherever they find them. (Download Forest Lake's ideas for using interactive whiteboards.)

2. Gather and Use Immediate Feedback on Students' Understanding

Why wait days or weeks to deliver and grade a quiz to find out which kids missed important concepts? Teachers here routinely use remote-response systems (clickers), colorful little gadgets that allow each child to enter her answer to a practice question so that the teacher can instantly see who got it right or wrong. Computer software programs, too, can give kids practice questions, quickly diagnose trouble spots, and allow teachers to customize subsequent lessons for each child's needs.

3. Give Students Options

All students shouldn't be required to show their learning the same way. And digital media open up a host of possibilities beyond the traditional essay, poster, report, or quiz. For instance, fourth-grade teacher Kevin Durden gives kids additional choices, such as creating a PowerPoint slide show or a comic strip (using Comic Life software) or filming a skit (using Flip video cameras). "This way," says Durden, "you don't see the students' disabilities. You see their abilities." (Download sample rubrics from Forest Lake.)

4. Automate Basic-skills Practice

Free up some hours for more creative, fun technology projects (and for yourself!) by using software to do much of the basic-skills practice and assessment that would otherwise take up a lot of time. Educational computer programs (Study Island and EducationCity are Forest Lake favorites) can identify specific weaknesses in a child's skills, such as understanding analogies or adding fractions. Teachers can review these outcomes daily, then assign lessons to each student according to her needs -- for the next time she logs on.

5. Practice Independent Work Skills

Differentiating instruction often means setting up kids to work alone or in groups. And that, we don't need to tell you, can lead to chaos. The solution for second-grade teacher Tamika Lowe is "practice, practice, practice." Early in the year, she makes her expectations clear, and she and her students repeatedly drill their procedures -- how to use the technology, what to do if you have a question, how to behave if Ms. Lowe isn't standing right there. (Download a sample lesson plan for grade 2 language arts.)

6. Create a Weekly "Must Do" and "May Do" List

Give a classroom of students an array of different, personalized tasks to do, and they'll inevitably finish them at different times. That's a tricky part of differentiation. Forest Lake teachers tackle this by assigning a weekly list of "must dos" and "may dos," so kids who finish first can always find something to do next.

7. Pretest Students' Knowledge Before Each Unit

Before starting each unit of study, grade-level teams at Forest Lake brainstorm a way to assess prior knowledge so they can tailor the lessons effectively to each child. It can be as simple as a question that the class answers with a thumbs-up or thumbs-down or as rigorous as a one-on-one conversation.

8. Be Flexible When Plans Go Awry

Computers don't always perform the way you wish or expect, especially if the teacher in command is new to digital technology. So as you embark on this journey, expect the unexpected. When obstacles arise, you can model good problem-solving behavior by asking students to help you devise alternative approaches. "I say to students, 'You know what? If something doesn't work, it's OK,'" Lowe explains. "Every experience is a learning experience."

9. Let Students Drive

If you've got the tech tools, put them in kids' hands. In Lowe's class, students use Flip cameras to film each other doing oral book reports, then critique both the presentation and the videography. Other Forest Lake teachers routinely give kids turns at leading lessons on the whiteboard, either by hand or with remote tablets called AirLiners. These opportunities allow students to work at their own pace, capitalize on their skills, and discover ways to work around their challenges.

10. Share the Work of Creating Differentiated Lessons

To ease the burden of planning lessons for students at diverse levels, Forest Lake teachers often divide up this task. When they plan each unit of study, different members of each grade-level team design the activities for higher-skilled kids, lower-skilled kids, etc.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Ten Tips for Personalized Learning via Technology | Edutopia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
At Forest Lake Elementary School, in Columbia, South Carolina, the student population grows more diverse by the day. Income levels, ethnicities, family structures, first languages, interests, and abilities now vary so much, that a traditional teaching approach, with a uniform lesson targeted to the average-level student, just doesn't cut it.

# data[].attributes.headline
1. Basic Search Strategies - Elementary Level

# data[].attributes.subject
1. Basic Search Strategies - Elementary Level

# data[].attributes.headline
1. Doing Internet Research at the Elementary Level

# data[].attributes.subject
1. Doing Internet Research at the Elementary Level

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
One of the hardest things to teach, in my opinion, is research. I have been teaching in a computer lab for going on five years and I have never taught research the same way twice. This is partially because I never teach anything the same way twice, but it's also because each year I learn something new. Sometimes I learn the hard way when things don't pan out the way I planned in the classroom, sometimes I learn because something I didn't plan arose and worked out well, and sometimes its due to my own self-education as I prepare to teach my annual research unit.

I begin teaching research skills in third grade -- just at the time where my students' reading skills are such that they can feel successful and just at the time when they have mounds and mounds of natural curiosity. In the past, I have done your typical find-information-and-regurgitate-it-to-me kinds of projects, all in the name of teaching students how to locate information. As this year's project approached, I decided that I needed to step it up a notch. If I rail against the way standardized tests have taught kids how to regurgitate facts, then how is what I've been doing any different? This year, I took a different approach.

This approach was informed by my own experiences, my own research, and a deliberate attempt to really break down the individual skills that my kids will need to be successful researchers.

First, I should mention that my school does not have a library and I have actually never worked in a school here in Philly (I've worked in three buildings) that had a functioning library. That being so, all of my students will be researching using the Internet -- which has its own special challenges.

I have broken the research process up into mini-lessons, which will ultimately culminate in a larger project.

All of my students in grades three to seven will go through this process, with each lesson meeting them where they are and attempting to fill in gaps.

Choosing a Topic, Creating Keywords and Search Terms

All classes begin with a discussion about what research is and why we do it and how we do it. Each grade will be using their research and applying it to a larger question or problem. For instance, rather than having my third regurgitate answers back to me about animals, they will use the information they find to answer the larger question. (i.e. "Your parents said you can have any pet you want. What will you need to keep the pet?")

When creating search terms, I use a template to help my students in all grades through the process. They use the SweetSearch search engine, which weeds out the junk they usually find on Google or Bing and which highlights their keywords and pulls text from the website into the list of search results.

Taking Notes

Each grade will differ in how they take notes and share their results. My 3rd graders will most likely stick to paper and pencil notes due to the nature of my class schedule, but they will enter their websites into a Google Form to track where they've been and what they've found.

My older students will be using EasyBib to organize their links and their notes. While my third graders will not be doing true citation yet, I will be teaching citation to my seventh graders and requiring all of their projects to be accompanied by a bibliography, which they will create in EasyBib.

Whew! Teaching research is a HUGE task!
Here are some resources that help along the way:

The SweetSearch Tutorial: Not only is SweetSearch an amazing search tool for kids, but they have some great resources here for helping digest what research is and how to approach it.

Copyright Confusion Wiki: A one-stop shop for all things copyright and fair use.

How to Do Research Another take on the research process from the Kentucky Virtual Library.

Diigo for Educators A robust social bookmarking tool through which students can bookmark sites, highlight right on the site, share bookmarks with their peers and take notes on webpages. Teachers can create student accounts without needing emails.

SweetSearch A kid-friendly search engine.

EasyBib A robust online citation and organizing tool.

Flickr Find copyright-free images with Creative Commons licenses.

Search Creative Commons Find Creative Commons content on popular sites.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Doing Internet Research at the Elementary Level | Edutopia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
One of the hardest things to teach, in my opinion, is research. I have been teaching in a computer lab for going on five years and I have never taught research the same way twice. This is partially because I never teach anything the same way twice, but it's also because each year I learn something new.

# data[].attributes.headline
1. How to Teach Internet Safety to Younger Elementary Students

# data[].attributes.subject
1. How to Teach Internet Safety to Younger Elementary Students

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A lesson plan for helping students as young as kindergarten begin to understand how to be safe online.

©Shutterstock.com/Monkey Business Images

A few years ago, I wrote a post called " Teaching Digital Citizenship in the Elementary Classroom." Now I want to share a sample lesson for teaching internet safety to students as young as kindergarten. Yes, you read correctly-kindergarten.

With children spending time online at younger and younger ages, it's vital that we explicitly teach young children how to protect themselves online. Most young children get the " stranger danger " talk at school, so they know about how to handle strangers in their neighborhood and in face-to-face situations.

There are three considerations when addressing internet safety with these students. First, the transfer of knowledge about how to handle strangers in real life to those in virtual environments is not automatic. It needs to be taught. Second, while most stranger danger programs teach that strangers are scary and mean and want to hurt or abduct children, this contradicts the way collaboration occurs between strangers online. Not all strangers are dangerous. Lastly, in real life students can walk or run away from a potential threat. In an online environment, the danger is inside a student's home and hard to escape if they don't have the skills necessary for handling tough situations.

Protecting Private Information Online

"What is a stranger?" After soliciting various answers, ensure that students understand that a stranger is someone we don't know. Remind students that some strangers may want to hurt them, but not all strangers are bad people. You can mention examples like a stranger who opens a door for you or picks up something you dropped and returns it to you.

"What kinds of things should we not tell a stranger?" Solicit a variety of answers, ensuring that things like "address," "phone number," "full name" are mentioned.

"What kinds of things are OK to tell a stranger?" This question tends to be harder for students to answer. You may get answers like "Hi" or "How are you?" If students are stumped, have them vote with their thumbs about various things like "your favorite color" or "your favorite ice cream flavor." Explain that certain kinds of information won't put them in harm's way.

"Are there strangers online?" Some students may have played games online before and may offer answers related to those experiences. I've had students as young as kindergarten say that they think there are strangers online because you don't always know who you are talking to. After a brief discussion of different ways we can connect with strangers online (which can include game systems), show them a video about how to handle strangers online.

This is a lesson I've done with my kindergarten and first-grade students to introduce the idea that strangers exist on the internet and to discuss how we should interact with them. You'll need a computer and internet access, and it's helpful to have a projector or interactive whiteboard so these questions can be projected on the screen during the discussion. Ask students these questions:

Have students watch the Internet Safety video at BrainPOP Jr. Afterward, ask them to share what they learned from the movie. After soliciting some answers, review vocabulary from the video using the Word Play activity on the site. Next, have them complete the Write About It activity.

Print out one of the quizzes (easy or hard, depending on your students) to assess what they've learned.

Have your students act out scenarios that show their understanding of the main concepts from the video or to practice handling strangers online.

Have them create an internet safety poster using a drawing program like TuxPaint.

There are a few ways to check and make sure your students have understood the lesson:

More Resources

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Teach Internet Safety to Younger Elementary Students | Edutopia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A lesson plan for helping students as young as kindergarten begin to understand how to be safe online. ©Shutterstock.com/Monkey Business Images A few years ago, I wrote a post called " Teaching Digital Citizenship in the Elementary Classroom." Now I want to share a sample lesson for teaching internet safety to students as young as kindergarten.

# data[].attributes.headline
Millennialist are Self-Taught but not Well-Taught 

# data[].attributes.subject
Millennialist are Self-Taught but not Well-Taught 