The Book Life

What is Active Learning?  Active learning takes place when students are doing rather than passively receiving information. According to The Center for Teaching Innovation at Cornell University , active learning takes many different forms including reading, writing, discussing, thinking, evaluating, designing, and solving problems just to name a few. The role of the teacher in active learning is to provide timely and frequent feedback in order for students to correct mistakes and understand the material better.  How Does Active Learning Help Students? Active learning is more engaging and motivating for students.  The application of information will stick longer in students' memories. Using different learning modalities (thinking, discussing, writing, etc.) allows students to process information in the way that best suits their learning style. A classroom community is built when students are actively working together on shared objectives and projects, and when students work...

Am I a Resident or a Visitor? After learning the difference between a Digital Resident and a Digital Visitor this week from David White, I have determined that I am both a Resident and a Visitor, but I lean a bit more to the Visitor side. The Digital Resident vs. Digital Visitor framework is a spectrum of motivation behind Internet usage.  What is a Digital Resident? A Digital Resident uses the Internet for the purpose of connecting with other people and leaves a social trace or presence online.  What is a Digital Visitor?  A Digital Visitor uses the Internet for a goal driven task such as paying a bill and leaves no social trace or presence behind.  My Digital History When I grew up in the 1980's, I remember using a computer at school for the first time in 5th grade, and we had four desktop computers to share with the entire grade level of about 75 students. My best friend had an Apple II computer at home, but my family did not have a computer until much later when...

  Topic #1: Digital Citizenship According to Diana Fingal of ISTE in " The Hottest Topics in Edtech in 2021 ," Digital Citizenship is one of the hottest trends in educational technology. When learning went online in 2020 at the start of the pandemic, the importance of teaching students about being responsible and safe online was more important than ever before.  Therefore, Google created a FREE Digital Citizenship curriculum called Be Internet Awesome for K-12 teachers and included a video game (Interland) for students to reinforce the concepts taught in the curriculum. I will take you through a quick tour of the Interland game and other teacher resources available on the Be Internet Awesome website. Interland falls under Topic #1: Digital Citizenship because the game teaches kids how be good digital citizens by being kind, respectful, responsible, and safe online.   For Families : If you are interested in discussing being safe online with your children, there are resourc...

  What is SAMR? I was introduced to SAMR a few years ago during a professional development workshop at the middle school where I held my last full time teaching position. The SAMR model was developed by Ruben Puentedura, and it is used to integrate technology into classroom teaching in a way that is meaningful (Walsh, 2015).  The "S" standing for "substitution" and the "A" standing for "augmentation" are ways to enhance teaching with technology. However, the "M" for "modification" and "R" for "redefinition" mean that the educator is truly transforming his or her own teaching by redesigning tasks and creating new tasks that were possible without technology (Walsh, 2015). (Image Source: Puentedura ) My Teaching During my last year of teaching in 2021, I used a mix of all four types of technology integration: substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition. I used a combination of all four types be...