Part 3… Beyond the Technology Shine… Content Standard Verbs and Blended Learning Possiblities

Welcome to a series of posts that are dedicated to going beyond the shine of technology by examining ways to use digital tools to engage students in real learning. In this third post you will discover how careful examination of the verbs in a standard can help you find resources to assist in proper technology integration. You may want to click on the link below to the first and second posts of this series. Be on the lookout for future posts entitled the ABC’s of PBL and Deeper Learning and also 40 great education sites to discover in 2015. First, to ensure you do not miss a valuable post or other resources covering PBL, Digital Curriculum, Web 2.0, STEM, 21st century learning, and technology integration, please sign up for 21centuryedtech by email or RSS. As always, I invite you to follow me on twitter (@mjgormans). Please give this post a retweet and pass it on. Have a great week – Michael Gorman (21centuryedtech)

Booking Info – It is time to think about your school or conference needs. Are you looking for a practical and affordable professional development workshop for your school or conference? I have traveled the country delivering PD relating to technology integration, PBL, STEM, Digital Literacy, and the 4 C’s. I have delivered hundreds of workshops and presentations. Check out my Booking Page. Please contact me soon if you have an interest. I am almost booked through August and fall dates for 2015 are now over half full.

Beyond the Shine Series Articles

Part 3… Beyond the Technology Shine… Content Standard Verbs and Blended Learning Possibilities

In this post I would like to investigate how examining the verbs in curricular standards can help teachers investigate ways to integrate technology to promote curricular content understanding. It all begins with something that has been around for quite a while. In the last post I examined how finding the nouns in a standard will help identify important content that student must become familiar with. Technology allows the 21^st century classroom to use this awareness of the nouns to connect with free resources on the internet known as OER (Open Education Resources). Feel free to read about 25 of these amazing resources from the last post. While the nouns point out the content, it is the verbs that bring meaning and deeper learning to the standards. Let’s talk a closer look at what new action these verbs bring to learning.

I provided five steps in the first post which you can read about in a little further depth here. The point of emphasis for this article is step number four below.

Identify the standard
Reflect on the standard
Determine the content by reviewing the standard and circling the appropriate nouns.
Investigate the skills by reviewing the standard and circling the appropriate verbs.
Create Learning Targets demonstrating what students will be able to do.

In the first post of this series I provided the following standards and listed the verbs I thought might be important. I have provided those example standards and the relevant verbs below.

Example Standards

Students will be able to research and record key facts involving the planets of the solar system.
Students will explain orbit, gravity, and gravitational pull.
Students will be able to collaborate on a presentation that provides what they have learned in their own words

Relevant Verbs – Research, Record, Explain, Collaborate

By examining the appropriate verbs in the standard it is possible to identify important skills and processes that students should learn about and demonstrate competency of. This allows learning to go beyond Bloom’s basic level of remembering. The verbs found in the curriculum standards promote the 4 C’s (communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking) along with Bloom’s higher levels, (understanding, analyzing, evaluating, and creating). By identifying the verbs found in the standards it is possible for an educator to discover and implement free interactive resources that can be found on the web.

An examination of the verbs found in standards provides the following possibilities for the integration of technology in today’s technology rich classroom.

Research – Search engines such as Google, Sweet Search, Wolfram Alpha
Record – Google Docs, Diigo, Evernote, Microsoft 360
Explain – Glogster, Weebly, Google Sites, Kidblog, We Video
Collaborate – Google Apps, Padlet, Titan Pad, Today’s Meet

Finding the right tool to match the verb can take a bit of research. It is also important to gauge students’ age and ability while aligning it with the district AUP (Acceptable Use Policy) and the each tool’s Terms of Use. I have included some resources below that can be helpful in finding the right tool for processes. While the nouns can help locate the important content that can be supported with OER (Open Education Resources) , it is the verbs that will take your students into Bloom’s higher order while conquering the 4C’s. Take a moment to check out the wide assortment of possibilities found in the below links. You will discover a whole new world of technology ready to put those content standard verbs into some exciting and engaging action while going beyond the technology shine.

10 Sites To Explore Bloom and Related Verbs

Blooms Wheel – Visual from California State
Free Bloom Posters – The Orange and The Butterfly
Blooms Technology Wheel and Knowledge Dimension – Wonderful interactive Site pointing to great tools
Can You?… by Kelley Tenkeley – Explore Kelley’s Peacock, Tree, Umbrella, and Pin Wheel
Kathy Beck’s Blooms Digital Web Tools – Blooms and technology integrated and interactive.
Kathy Schrock’s Web 2.0 – Includes regular web 2.0 tools, iPad apps, and droid apps.
Andrew Church’s Educational Oragami – Great Web 2.0 resources and explanations.
The Padagogy Wheel – Great interactive tool with special emphasis on the iPad.
Graphite – A wonderful teacher vetted tools from the people at Common Sense Media
Appolearning – Great Web Site that match iPad Apps to learning at all levels.

An important side note – While integrating the web with today’s 21st century learning experience is essential, each child’s safety and security must be a number one priority. Any websites and tools used in the classroom should be thoroughly examined and vetted by educators. While many sites, along with COPA rules, designate the age of 13 as the end of necessitating parental permission, it is encouraged that districts go a step further and ask both parent awareness and permission for all of our students. Parents should be aware and have the opportunity to read a site’s Terms of Use, and to be a partner with their child(ren) in exploring the web and its many opportunities. Schools should promote proper digital citizenship and internet safety in classrooms and encourage this to be reinforced at home. Check out my five important points educators should consider when using interactive web tools.

The Big Five Before Using A Tool

Examine Your LMS (Learning Management System)
Read Terms and Privacy of interactive web tool being used
Check school district AUP (Acceptable Use Policy) and school administration
Involve Parents
Incorporate Digital Citizenship

As you can see, the standards are an important part of technology integration. As educators examine the many relevant nouns and verbs found in the standards they are able to focus on real learning. It is this focus that allows today’s 21st century classroom to go beyond the technology shine!

Thank you for joining me and I hope you found this information something you can use in your school and useful to share with other educators. As always, I invite you to follow me on twitter (@mjgormans). Please give this post a retweet and pass it on to someone who will benefit. To ensure you do not miss a future valuable post or other resource covering PBL, Digital Curriculum, STEM, 21st century learning, and technology integration please sign up for 21centuryedtech by email or RSS. Have a great week… enjoy the Websites! – Mike (https://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com/

Coming Soon: Three Great Posts – The ABC’s of PBL and Deeper Learning, 40 Amazing Educational Websites, More STEMtastic Resources, Beyond The Tech Shine… Verbs… these are some wonderful posts you will not want to miss. Sign Up Now

Booking Info for Michael Gorman – Check out my Booking Page… Please contact me soon if you have an interest. I am almost booked through August and am already more than half full for fall of 2015 – Mike