Learning, Teaching & Technology

I chose to view this session for two reasons. The first is that at some point in the coming years I hope to be a traveling teacher connecting back to students in Yarmouth, Silvia’s presentation gave me great suggestions for tools to use to record and interact with a range of age groups and grade levels during travel. I am familiar enough with iMovie, Audacity & delicious to follow her ideas and suggestions. Live video conferencing has gotten even easier in the past year and tools like MacBooks with integrated webcams, and tools like flickr, Skype, and even ustream continue to add features that make access easier and the experience of using them richer.

The second reason is that I am constantly looking for ways to build connections to a broader worldview for our students. While we don’t have a Global Awareness curriculum per se I do believe that we all need to be developing global connectedness and understanding of other cultures. For many years our 3rd graders have studied another country as part of their progression through the social studies curriculum. For most classes this is a research project using encylopedias and print resources to find information about traditional foods, dress, etc. with a few photos and resources found online. This year I would like to add a web 2.0 component using Google Earth to explore terrain and landforms, finding some classroom blogs that emanate from other countries and connecting with teachers who can help with language and time zone issues so we can communicate with students firsthand. Even without having someone travel to another country/culture I think we have can find ways to have electronic access to explore, ask questions and learn about the world.