New Learning

Well, summer is here. Many teachers are probably thinking about anything BUT the upcoming school year. They are probably enjoying the time where their brains can relax. Not me. I have decided that I need change and this change finds me at a new school in the Fall teaching a whole new regime of subjects and a whole new regime of students. I have been too comfortable with my elementary teaching assignments of the past and know each and every year who my students are and what their learning styles will be. Not this year. New school, new students, new curriculum, and new challenges! I love it.

Grade 8 is going to now be my home for a while. I am nervous but excited at the same time. Motivating these adolescents is the one challenge I know I will face. But I think I may have it covered...technology!! I have committed myself this summer to learning as much as I can about at least 5 different ways I can use technology in my Grade 8 math and Ela class to motivate these students. I have no idea who these students are, or their interests or their learning styles, but that is the fun part.

So here is what I have been thinking...podcasts, blogging, socrative, digital storytelling, and twitter. I have been learning about using Socrative in the classroom and I really like the response of the kids when they use it. It is easy and gives immediate feedback. Twitter is my best friend and now I have to figure a way to bring it into my classroom. I have some ideas, but need to do more research. Blogging is something I have done in the past, but I need to change how and why I get students to blog. It became a chore and kids were not intrinsically motivated to blog. They did it because I told them to. I want blogging to become something kids want to do, for them to use it as a means of communication with me and their peers and not something that will be assessed. Digital storytelling is fun, and I will continue to use it, but I am looking for something now that is more than that. I have Grade 8 students now and I want to see how they will use their interests and abilities to bring digital storytelling to a whole new lever. Podcasts is my weakest link. This is where I need to focus my time. I think I need to read more and then do it. I need to create my own podcast to get a feel for how to actually do it.

So there you have it...my summer mapped out. Oh, and I will have some fun. Maybe I can create a podcast about boating...hmmm...the possibilities!!

I'm excited!