Teacher Tips—What Works!

Integrating Technology into the Classroom: Teachers Who Work Smarter, Not Harder, Can Still Maintain Students' Interests

Deborah S. Rocha, M.Ed., Classroom Teacher, Helmers Elementary School, Santa Clarita, California

As life today gets more complicated, the classroom teacher is asked to do even more with less. Working smarter, not harder, will help teachers achieve this goal and avoid getting burned out. Lessons that are standards-based and taught through the use of technology can be fun. Using technology, teachers can cultivate a classroom environment to develop lifelong learners. Why not capitalize on students' interest and the fact that they have no fear when it comes to technology, including digital video, multimedia presentation tools, podcasts, blogging, and digital photography?

Classroom teachers who use digital photography encourage students to adopt a team approach when researching content areas, including health projects. Improved time on task is inevitable when each team uses a simple digital camera to photograph, upload, and share their images as a movie. The students make connections while learning new content. Try a few of these lessons and watch your students grow!

Digital Tools in a Health Lesson After reading and discussing a lesson on a health topic such as nutrition or safety, students use a digital camera to photograph nutritious foods or safety gear, for example, and incorporate the images into a document or simple multimedia slide presentation. Written language is used to develop a detailed narrative about each topic and serves as a tool to access content learned as well.

Vocabulary Practice and Poetry During language discussions, a word bank is generated that includes rhyming words, descriptive words, and common nouns. Students digitally photograph objects on campus that become part of a class computer presentation. Then students use the word bank to write a form of poetry based on their digital images. At your next parent event, why not have students read their poetry aloud while the digital image presentation is shown on a big screen?

Mathematics
Using classroom items, students assemble and photograph sets that represent various ratios: three health books out of seven class books. Teams then insert the images into a slide presentation and add a text line to show the ratio forms. Group viewing serves as a great assessment tool; just be sure to edit the text line to fly-in by using the custom animations tab.

Health, History, and Social Sciences
Student-generated movies provide excellent opportunities for fostering creativity and developing personal strengths. Using storyboards, students work in small groups to bring a content standard to life. Each student takes on a specific responsibility. The writers synthesize the group's ideas and research into a movie script. Using the written script as a guide, the artists create illustrations that sequentially paint a picture for the audience. Designers plan backdrops and opening and closing scenes. A student who has musical talent can produce a thematic jingle with the help of the software application GarageBand. Finally, the director oversees and guides the production, making sure that the grading criteria are met and that the project is completed in a timely manner.

Language Arts with Podcasting
Your class can revitalize the age-old tradition of storytelling through podcasts shared with classmates on their iPods or the class computer. With the help of GarageBand, students can summarize story content, identifying basic elements such as genre, setting, characters, and plot. Go one step further and upload the podcasts to a class Web page.

Blogs for Assessments Blogging serves as a great way for students not only to practice their keyboarding skills but also to share their thoughts more freely about the assigned topic. Students simply log onto your class blogging site and type away. Topics to be reviewed, discussed, and pondered can be limitless. Serving as the teacher-moderator permits you to read all entries, monitor content, and assess knowledge from the comfort of your favorite chair while dressed in pajamas or—my favorite—enjoying a cup of coffee first thing in the morning.

Technology integration permits project-based learning that enables classroom teachers to assist struggling students while challenging high achievers, and developing lifelong learners without becoming exhausted. Start simple by combining one area of content with one form of technology, and make learning fun!

Be sure to read Topic du Jour for definitions, and visit the Professional Development links to learn more about how teachers are making use of technology in their classrooms.

Physical Education Without the Gym? The Benefits of Online Physical Education

Sheila Peterson, M.S., Physical Education/ Boost Up Instructor, Huron Middle School, South Dakota

Consider this: What is our main goal as physical educators? Is it to create professional athletes, or is it to create knowledgeable students who understand physical fitness and continue physical activity after the school years?

In recent years, physical education has undergone a paradigm shift from a sports orientation to a fitness orientation, incorporating health-related as well as skill-related fitness, nutrition, and mental well-being. Online physical education provides a focus that gives students a chance to achieve overall wellness no matter what their fitness level is.

An online physical education curriculum allows the instructor to become a facilitator of learning rather than master in command. Online curriculums contain several elements that lead to reflection and student self-monitoring. Web logs, discussion boards, fitness calculators, and online record keeping allows each student to design a program that best fits his or her needs. Students are able to record data, monitor their progress, and reflect on their accomplishments.

Through Web logs and discussion boards, the student is encouraged to record the emotional aspects of health. As students progress, they can monitor and reflect on their emotional changes. Students often notice the changes themselves as the semester progresses. For example, one student wrote in her blog on day one, "I think this class will help me get on track, while it seems like it may be a lot of work I am sure this will help me out."

One month later, the same student noted, "Wow, I really like this class. The first day seemed overwhelming and I didn't know if I was going to benefit from the modules and data tracking of myself. I am really surprised, my jeans are all getting loose and I couldn't run one whole mile without stopping at the beginning of this class, now my new goal is to run a mile under eight minutes."

The self-tracking and blogging illustrate how physical activity is affecting this student. Instead of the instructor forcing change, students are encouraged to change as they can see the benefits with their own eyes. After all, seeing is believing!

Discussion boards allow students to share progress and provide support to one another. Online fitness calculators aid students in tracking their heart rate, body mass index, caloric intake, and caloric expenditure. Finally, data forms provide students with organized tracking of their personal progress. Overall, online physical education allows the learner to create a fitness behavior and pattern through understanding the components of fitness.