Technology as a tool - Students Gain Control of their Learning

      Technology as another classroom tool....I have had many discussions over the past few weeks about how technology doesn't make you a better teacher, but is just another tool to enhance your teaching. Through these discussions, I have done a lot of self reflection on  how my teaching practices have changed over the past 3 years.
        As discussed in this blog, I have been able to implement a 1:1 classroom this year, through a partnership with Microsoft and Dell. Was I excited to have a computer on every child's desk? Yes, but was it the computer I was excited about, or the possibilities?  Through what I have accomplished so far this year, and some discussions I had this week with my colleagues and one of our Microsoft Partners...I am able to put into words what is happening in my classroom this year.

 My students are in control of their learning. 

They are taking ownership of what they are accomplishing. 

They are realizing that I am not the only teacher in the classroom, and they are becoming more responsible for their achievement. 

They are asking each other questions, and not waiting for my questions.

      Could these goals be met without technology in the classroom? Probably...but by putting technology tools into  the hands of the students and "giving them the power,"  (previous post about "Giving Away the Power") they are pushing themselves beyond what they thought they could do, and they are doing it through collaboration, critical thinking and creativity.

     One of my most recent projects was an in depth study of a famous Virginian. The students chose an individual that was important to Virginia and U.S. history, and began the research process. In previous years, we researched together using books, and online encyclopedias. We took notes and then wrote the traditional 5 paragraph essay about our person. This year would be different...the students were in charge of how they would share the information about their person.  The essay did need to be completed, as it is a curriculum objective that needs to be introduced at this level, but beyond that...the students were encouraged to use all of the tools (and some new ones) to demonstrate the knowledge they have gained through research.
     The outcomes were incredible. The students went beyond the traditional encyclopedias to find information. They used Bing searches to take them to historical sites and found primary sources about their people. Students accessed newspaper articles about the more recent Virginians, did virtual field trips to the homes of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. They read the complete speeches of Patrick Henry, they looked at photographs of segregation during the time of Oliver Hill and the Brown v. Board of Education court trial in 1954. They were in charge of their learning and they were able to find information that was important to them, without waiting for me to show them!
     After taking notes and writing the essays, the students began to decide how to share their information with their classmates in a "different" way. One of the new tools that I wanted to share with them was Thinglink.  This site was introduced to me when I attended the F.E.T.C. conference in January in Orlando, Florida. By using Thinglink, students use a photo as a starting point and "link" other pieces of information to the photo. Viewers of the photo can scroll over the photo and "touch" the live links to learn more.  The kids had a great time with this, and there was no hesitation in how to do it. I did a quick explanation and they were off and running. Some examples of their Thinglinks are below:


Oliver Hill - lawyer for Brown v. Board of Education


James Madison -



George Mason -


John Brown -



     The fourth graders had a great time with these, and were able to choose what to share with their classmates. They then posted them on Edmodo, and were able to share with each other. The students then viewed their peers' projects and commented to each other. (Social Media in the classroom is another topic that I hope to soon blog about).

     After completing Thinglinks, the students still wanted to share more.  We decided our Final Project to end our research would be a movie. Each student would create a movie using Photostory3 to share what they have learned about their famous Virginian. Before opening Photostory, the students had to determine what would be in their movie. I encouraged them to reflect on ALL of the technology tools that we have used thus far, and incorporate many different forms into their final presentation.

     Some of the tools that they chose to use were:
- PowerPoint slides converted to Jpegs to be inserted into Photostory
- using Tagxedo.com to create a word cloud representing their person, and saving it as a Jpeg
- using Superlame.com to add speech bubbles to a photo
- Using Microsoft SmartArt to create timelines of the accomplishments of their individuals
- using photos found through their research
- recording their voice as a narrative tool in the movie
- choosing music reflective of the time period in history to add as background in their movie
- choosing transitions that wouldn't be too busy or detract from the visuals
- using the motion features on Photostory to emphasize certain aspects of their images

The students completed these projects in a 4 hour time frame. It was done in one school day, as a cumulative project to end our research unit.

Here are some of their movies:

Jack Jouett - the Paul Revere of Virginia

George C. Marshall

Robert E. Lee

Maggie Lena Walker

    Their movies were also uploaded to the Edmodo class page to be shared and viewed by their classmates.

Our research project was complete. 25 famous Virginians were studied, and 25 famous Virginians were shared. I stood by the side and provided guidance as needed. The students made the decisions, found the information and shared. They viewed each others work, asked questions and made thoughtful comments. 

Am I teaching the same fourth grade curriculum that I taught 3 years ago? Yes. Is technology a tool in my classroom that is being used to enhance my instruction? Yes.  Are the students more actively engaged and feeling empowered in their learning? Most definitely so!!

Our next project will be "Geo-Squared" - Exploring Geometry within Geography! Through a PBL approach, my students will work in collaborative groups to review the basic Geometry concepts and search for them within our world. They will then decide how they will share this information with their peers and the community, using technology as a tool. They will have opportunities to investigate Geometry in nature and landforms, historical structures, present day architecture, and everyday items that we encounter in our daily lives.  These investigations will be done using digital photography, artwork, and video.

I'm looking forward to seeing what the students will create, as they explore the world around them!