Powerful Learning Environments With Technology

A Day in the Life of Web 2.0• Go to the Ning – gacsfaculty.ning.com• Join the Powerful Learning Environments group• Follow the link for the article A Day in the Life of Web 2.0• Read the article• Discuss these questions:– What made you think, “There’s no way that could work for

me.”?– What made you think, “Wow, that’s cool!”?

Powerful Learning Environments with Technology

Summer 2008 PLU WorkshopGreater Atlanta Christian School

Focus

• As we go through today, consider ideas and concepts in light of the following:

• What can I use from this in my own classroom? At the end of our session, we will ask you to share.

Active Learning Environments

• Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

• Have you ever felt like this? What’s missing from that picture?

Active Learning Environments

• For each of the following statements, press 1 for agree or 2 for disagree.

To learn something well, your students need to listen, observe, ask questions, and discuss the material with others.

Agree

Disa

gree

0%0%

1. Agree2. Disagree

Students need to figure things out by themselves, come up with examples and perform tasks based on the knowledge they already have.

Agree

Disa

gree

0%0%

1. Agree2. Disagree

The success of active learning depends on your ability to form and sustain a classroom environment in which students take on the responsibility to be doers.

Agree

Disa

gree

0%0%

1. Agree2. Disagree

Students must have opportunities to study ideas, solve problems, and apply what they learn.

Agree

Disa

gree

0%0%

1. Agree2. Disagree

Students’ brains need to link what they are being taught with what they already know and how they already think and learn.

Agree

Disa

gree

0%0%

1. Agree2. Disagree

"The mind is not a vessel to be filled

but a fire to be ignited."  Plutarch

Nature of learning today

• Video – Shift Happens – from the group on the Ning

• What strikes you about this video?• How do we get from here to there?

The truth is that technology will never replace teachers, however teachers who know how to use technology effectively to help their students connect and collaborate together online will replace those who do not.

1. Agree2. Disagree

Agree

Disa

gree

0%0%

With knowledge expanding at the rate it is and the world changing at a dizzying pace- to keep the status quo is to accept obsolescence.

1. Agree2. Disagree

Agree

Disa

gree

0%0%

Teachers will need to accept the fact that even with all we have invested, the pace of change is going to demand us to unlearn and relearn.

Agree

Disa

gree

0%0%

1. Agree2. Disagree

21st century skills

21st century skills

• Creativity and Innovation• Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving• Communication and Collaboration• Flexibility and Adaptability• Initiative and Self-Direction

Content Area Maps

• Take a look at the maps for your content area• What’s your initial reaction?• Does incorporating 21st century skills seem

possible?

Differentiated Instruction• Differentiated Instruction is based on the

following beliefs: – Students differ in their learning profiles – "Covering information" takes a backseat to making

meaning out of important ideas.

Differentiated Instruction• Differentiated Instruction is based on the

following beliefs: – Classrooms in which students are active learners,

decision makers and problem solvers are more natural and effective than those in which students are served a "one-size-fits-all" curriculum and treated as passive recipients of information

Differentiated Instruction

• The key to a differentiated classroom is that all students are regularly offered CHOICES and students are matched with tasks compatible with their individual learner profiles.

Interdisciplinary Instruction

• Interdisciplinary teaching is a method, or set of methods, used to teach a unit across different curricular disciplines.

Interdisciplinary Instruction

• Types:– Thematic teaching– Team approach– Curriculum integration

Intuitive Learning

• Intuitive learning is discovering new relationships and innovations in problem solving. Intuitive learners tend to work faster and dislike repetition and work which involves a lot of memorization and routine calculations.

Intuitive Learning

Group Work

• You will explore with your group one topic: differentiated, interdisciplinary, or intuitive learning

• Use the resources we’ve put on the Ning or come up with your own

Group Work• Your job is to learn as much about your topic

as possible and to prepare a presentation to teach us what you learned.

• Your group can choose any method you wish to teach us about your topic. Get creative!

• At the end of 40 minutes, you must be ready to present!

Time to Reflect•What can I use from this in my

own classroom?