Posts by John Hardison
EdTech
Part 2: 36 Smart Ways to Use Smartphones in Class
In continuation of last week’s article, Part 1: 44 Smart Ways to Use Smartphones in the Classroom, here is a newer list of thirty-six additional ideas to help leverage the power of these tech gadgets into the learning environment. In this blog post, I have attempted to avoid any redundancies, and I sincerely hope my endeavors were successful.
EdTech
Part 1: 44 Smart Ways to Use Smartphones in Class
Tired of battling the use of smartphones in class? Disengage from the battle by engaging students in lessons that integrate these powerful gadgets.
Personalized Learning
The Sidekick & the Superhero: Using Google Drive For Peer-Assessment
“More efficient than an overworked teacher! More reliable than a carry-home satchel of ungraded papers! Able to simultaneously curate infinite comments from speedily working students! Look! On the computer screen! It’s an aggregator! It’s a sharing point! It’s Google Drive!
EdTech
Share Student Voices & Gather Audiences With 10+ Tech Tools
Once the essays were written, students used my shared Symbaloo webmix, “Creative Gallery,” to locate an appropriate technology tool to showcase their essays. Although the majority chose Blogger, students also used Wix, Weebly, Storybird, Google Docs, Windows Movie Maker Live and YouTube to share their viewpoints. Furthermore, students were encouraged to suggest any mode of sharing their essays, whether it be an unknown app, website, or some overlooked traditional method. Take a look at my "Creative Gallery" webmix below.
Personalized Learning
Calling All Resources: Fostering the Right Time to Write
Creating the ultimate writing atmosphere that inspires students to produce their very best level has always coincided with a constant search, a continual revamping, and an open platform for students’ suggestions. As a collective writing community, Studio 113 students and I seek the most powerful writers’ tools; they may range from Stephen King’s On Writing to the soothing writers’ website OmmWriter to a simple online dictionary. During this incessant quest, we remain open to any ideas that will help us produce a setting conducive to crafting excellent, heartfelt prose, rhetoric, and poetry. In essence, we seek to create originals, and fostering the right time to write requires a number of resources.
Personalized Learning
Need to Energize Your Class? Just Add Wax & Be Still
These stagnant classrooms, indicated by boredom-induced silence, constant class disruptions, or mediocre student work examples, benefit greatly from the implementation of interactive learning structures. One such learning model that is sure to invigorate any lesson is the "Wax Museum" learning structure created in Studio 113.
EdTech
Rise Above Classroom Walls On the Wings of a Bird
Ronald Reagan once said, “There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.” This quotation has huge educational implications. I remembered these inspirational words the other night when participating with my students in our first-ever tweetup, a Twitter chatroom using a specific hashtag to discuss rhetorical strategies witnessed during the second presidential debate. Although a small minority of my students chose to attend the virtual classroom, I was overwhelmingly struck by the enormous potential.
Personalized Learning
8 Examples of Classroom Musical Magic
I believe it was J.K. Rowling's Albus Dumbledore who said, "Ah, music. A magic behind all we do here!" This quotation comes to mind so many times when I witness the effect of catchy tunes and powerful lyrics on our creative students in Studio 113. Whether the classroom malady is a group of lethargic, uninterested students, a bulky reading assignment of seemingly ancient pages, or the misunderstanding of key literary characters, a solution often lies at the intersection of a crafty jam and a thematically connected excerpt of literature. The result? Classroom musical magic.
Personalized Learning
Want Engaged Learners? Sign PBL Contracts.
There was a time when my sole purpose for living and breathing, my ultimate dream, was to sign a contract -- a contract to play professional baseball. I simply wanted the opportunity to work hard in order to create a better me for the entire team. “Give me that pen,” I remember thinking. “I’ll sign for a Coke and a smile,” I told anyone who would listen. That day never arrived.
EdTech
5 Apps to Lower Teacher Anxiety & Raise Student Voices
The art of teaching sure has changed since I nervously stepped into my first class of thirty-two, energetic students fourteen years ago. I remember feeling pressure from the prescribed sage-on-the-stage pedagogy. Fortunately, I soon discovered that not only was I far from an academic scholar, but I also wasn’t the most important factor. The students demanded they be a vital part of the classroom and curriculum creation. That was okay with me. Opening up the pressure valve a tad never hurt anyone.