Coding in Schools

I focused on coding and computer programming in schools as my “Hot Topic” project. You can watch the video I made with Adobe Voice here! The video is a very basic overview of what coding is, why it’s important, and how we can teach it.

Even though I don’t have a strong background in programming myself, I think it’s something that’s very important to be aware of and to teach students about. It’s easy to incorporate into lessons, students enjoy it, and it teaches them the all-important skill of computational thinking.

In my research I even found activities that can help teach kids about how computers work even when you don’t have any actual computers to use! The Drawing Machine game introduces the concept of coding as a set of precise instructions. My Robotic Friends is an hour-long activity that teaches symbols and debugging to young students.

Here are some other resources to add to and highlight from my presentation:

• Code.org: Everything you need to get started
• Scratch: Programming language for kids and lots of tools for teachers
• Adding Coding to the Curriculum: New York Times article on countries that require kids to learn coding
• We Can Code It!: Article on coding as a new literacy
• How Coding Works: the basics

Image: “Spring 2012 Student Hackathon Coding” by @matylda, licensed under Creative Commons

Adobe Voice

Today I will be reviewing Adobe Voice, an app that I used to create my “Hot Topic” presentation.

I first found out about Adobe Voice from a review on Graphite, where it earned 4/5 stars. It looked really interesting, so I ended up borrowing an iPad from the education department to try it out!

Adobe Voice is a PowerPoint alternative, but it flips the whole process of making a presentation around. Instead of starting with images, like in PowerPoint, you start with narration. The app recommends just saying one or two sentences per slide. After you have recorded your sentences, you have the option to add an icon or a photo. You can search for photos on Creative Commons or use one that is already on your iPad. As for icons, they have a TON to choose from. Most are pretty simple, which keeps the design of the presentation nice and neat.

The best part is that when you use an icon or an image from the app, it automatically adds the photo citation to a reference page at the end!

The app also automatically adds music to your presentation. There are a few options to choose from, but at this point you cannot upload your own songs.

When I was creating my presentation, I first made a script for myself of what I wanted to say. Then I broke it up into slides, with one-two sentences per slide, recorded it, and added images. It really didn’t take that long.

I think this is a great alternative to PowerPoint for a few reasons. The presentation ends up looking more professional and engaging. I love that I could record it in advance so that I don’t have to worry about forgetting to say things or talking too fast.

I would highly recommend checking out Adobe Voice to make your own presentation or have your students create them. When you are finished, the link to the video you created can be emailed or shared.

In short:

Pros: Easy to use, free, makes professional-looking presentations/videos

Cons: Only available on iPad, doesn’t allow you to upload your own videos or music

I will be sharing the link to my Adobe Voice video on this blog after my presentation Monday. In the meantime, watch some other things people have created with the app at https://standout.adobe.com/voice/ !

Technology vs. Teachers

This week I wanted to share an interesting article that just was just published in The Atlantic. “Why Technology Alone Won’t Fix Schools” by Kentaro Toyama examines the use of technology in a wide range of diverse schools.

He came up with a theory he calls the “Law of Amplification.” It states that “technology’s primary effect is to amplify human forces, so in education, technologies amplify whatever pedagogical capacity is already there.”

This means that in a school with well-trained teachers and sound practices, technology can enhance learning. But in a school with less resources, adding technology can actually make things worse as it can be distracting or misused.

The author made some very interesting points about equality, and how giving technology to poorer school can amplify this inequality. What we really need are better and more teachers. In all of his studies, he found that highest achieving students have the most adult guidance.

This article made me think of the SAMR model.

Without the guidance of good teachers, students cannot reach the Redefinition or Modification phases, despite how advanced the technology is.

This is a great reminder for us that we need to take time to sit with students as they use technology, to model uses for them, and to think carefully about how we are incorporating it into our lessons.

Here is another interesting article by that same author: “Technology Won’t Fix America’s Neediest Schools. It Makes Bad Education Worse.”

Feedly

Where do you get your news from on the internet? I often find myself visiting multiple sites each morning to read articles and blog posts on local news, pop culture, and education. Seeing as I spend so much time doing this, it’s a wonder I haven’t discovered Feedly before this. But now that I have, I am wasting way less time clicking through random things and more time learning about things I am actually interested in.

Feedly is a news aggregator app. It works on your computer, iPhone, or Android. Basically all you do is create a free account. Then you find the blogs and websites you read regularly and follow them. Feedly then creates a custom homepage with all the current articles from those sites on the same page. You can sort your sites into categories (like education, or world news) and view one or all of the categories at a time. It also has a great feature where you can bookmark articles you want to save to read later. You can even view all the articles in an email inbox-type format, and mark which ones you have already read.

Not sure which sites to follow, or looking for new material? Feedly offers curated collections and lists of top picks. In my personal Education category, I am currently following NPR Education, Edutopia RSS, and Graphite Blog.

Feedly is not the only news aggregator out there. There is also Pulse, News360, and others. While I prefer Feedly for the level of customization it offers, try them out yourself and see what works for you!

Feedly has many potential applications in education. Not only could you use it to follow your favorite education blogs, you could create separate content-area categories to keep up-to-date on new developments in math, science, and social studies that you might want to share with your students. I think that this is a quick and easy way to stay informed, which can help you make learning relevant for your students.

Do you use Feedly or something similar? Comment below and let me know how it works for you!

Personal Learning Networks

In class we have been learning a bit about PLNs, or Personal Learning Networks. In my understanding, a PLN is a more informal way of connecting with other teachers, schools, and specialists in all subjects around the world. The internet is a great tool for making and strengthening these connections.

In a way I think that “Personal Leaning Network” is just a fancy name for something that many of us already have in place. This blog, for example, is a way to collaborate with other educators. Pinterest, Twitter, and YouTube are all tools that I already use to build my content knowledge and think of new lesson plans. Branding these tools as part of a PLN does force you to think of them as a unified tool rather than discrete resources. In the EDUBlogs Teacher Challenge, Sue Waters points out the importance of making time to build and curate your PLN. Instead of just stumbling upon resources randomly, I need to set concrete goals and begin to build a cohesive network of resources.

There are a lot of great resources out there to build PLNs. While different things work for different people, there are some sites that I prefer. Pinterest is great for visually organizing links to other websites – here is my recently started “Classroom Activities” board. I also enjoy reading educator blogs and watching videos on Teaching Channel. While I like the idea of LiveBinder, I find it difficult to work with and connect to other people with it. Likewise, Twitter can be helpful for sharing links and aggregating people to follow, but I find it hard to get into anything meaningful in 140 characters. I am sure that there are many other resources and I am looking forward to discovering them!

While I often make use of connections to help my own learning and teaching, the next step for me will be to up my own contributions to the field. While drawing on the knowledge of others is great, I need to give back by offering something myself. This could take the form of Pinterest boards with links to great lessons idea that I can make public or share on my blog. It could also mean posting some of my own lesson plans on my site. When I start teaching full-time, it might even mean taking videos of my lessons and posting them on TeacherTube. Instead of just reading blogs, I need to comment on them and share ideas. I think that this blog will be an excellent place to start!

Featured image: “Collage of Digital Networks” by Tanja Cappell, licensed under Creative Commons

About Me

Hello!

I am currently a student in the Elementary Education MAT program at Meredith College. In just a few short months, I will be starting my full-time student teaching position! I hope to teach upper grades and am especially interested in science and math.

I grew up in New Hampshire and went to college at Northeastern University in Boston where I received a degree in Environmental Science. During my time in school I completed internships at the Museum of Science, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard. I also worked for many years at a bike shop in the city.

The cold weather drove me south, where I found a job as an outdoor educator in rural North Carolina. I moved to Raleigh one year ago with my boyfriend, who is also a teacher. I currently work at Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve in Cary where I run nature classes for kids.

When I’m not teaching, I love hiking, biking, reading, and baking!