Robin Williams -Technology & Impersonation of a Smart Kid

Teach Thought 30 Day Blogging Challenge - Day 13 - Name the top edtech tools I use on a consistent basis 


 PowerPoints ~ For lessons involving critical content, I go to PowerPoint for its attention-grabbing sights and sounds.


 iMovie - It's still in it's infancy as I'm still learning the commands (like, "The movie was here a minute ago. Now it's totally gone! I command you to reveal yourself or the laptop gets it!!) 


 Exel (and now Macintosh Numbers) spreadsheets - I'm a huge data cruncher, because the assessment data will tell me WHAT each student needs to be taught. 


 Class Dojo - By tracking customized student behaviors, I learn HOW to teach each student. What seems to motivate him the most? When is she most productive? How long can I keep these little monsters entertained with these little monsters?












As always, this blog is dedicated to the man who made me want to be a teacher. 

Previewing New Content with Wow-Me Movie Trailers

This year I'm going to use iMovie and stop motion animation to preview new content with students.

Since a movie trailer is a preview of what the upcoming movie is going to be about, why not make a movie trailer to preview what an upcoming lesson is going to be about? How obvious is this connection? (Thanks to my friend and colleague Megan Gunter who thought of the connection and made it obvious to me :-p)

And not just make any old dull preview, but a Wow! I-can't-wait-to-see-this-lesson movie trailer preview!

Not only will the important links be made during the foundation stage of knowledge acquisition from what students already know about the content to what they will know after the lesson, but it will be done in an exciting, open up those neurons for learning way that will lead to real gathering, processing, storing and recalling of the knowledge or skill being taught.

Using iMovie and stop motion animation,  I will first make the movie trailers for my students. When we get to deepening knowledge and rigorous cognitive complexity, the students will learn how to make their own movie trailers demonstrating their mastery of what was taught.

I'm excited to use this technology to not just prepare my students for success on test assessments, but to have them practice using the new knowledge in a way that will help prepare them for success in life!