Pedagogy & ICL (A-D)

Information, Communication, and Literacies (including technology) to Enhance Learning

The following is a listing of proven instructional strategies that engage students to use skills from our Information and Communication Literacies (ICL) curriculum while helping them reach their learning goals. Check our the ICL page of this site for more info on Information and Communication Literacies. There are so many strategies to support teaching and learning so this "Pedagogy & ICL" section of the site is divided into four sections: A-D, E-M, N-Q and R-Z. Note that only a brief listing of apps and Web 2.0 tools is listed here. There are dozens more that one can try for many of these strategies. Your ICL team can help in finding the right tools for the tasks. While some of these learning activities might seem too advanced for younger students, keep in mind that we can do "junior versions" of them as described by David Perkins. We can provide more scaffolding and adult support while still keeping our students in charge of the creation and communication processes.

In addition, there are a couple documents that can help you and your students use your design and technology literacies as you try some of the pedagogies listed below. The Presentation Tool Matrix lists some strengths and weaknesses of a handful of presentation apps and Web tools. The Multimedia Rubric provides guidelines that you could choose from to include in student multimedia media project rubrics of your own. Speaking of rubrics, look to engage your students in the rubric creation process as they also can be partners in designing their learning journeys.

Audio Recording

We have our students orally sharing throughout the school day. To record their ideas we often move to the writing process. Sometimes students use multimedia especially with visuals to represent their ideas. We also have apps and software that give us another way to help students share their thinking. Students can audio record using software like Audacity or GarageBand on their computers or apps like audioBoom or Voice Record Pro on their tablet to easily make their thinking and understanding available for others. A web-based choice is Vocaroo which can be shared in multiple ways. Teachers also like to give students the opportunity to work on their reading and speaking fluency. Having them record their speaking and/or reading, listen to and then reflect can be a valuable ongoing learning activity. Saving the sound files gives students the opportunity to see their progress over time. The following are some helpful blog posts to filled with ideas about how to use audio recording in your classroom:

Another avenue for learning with audio recording is to have students produce podcasts. Podcasts much like video production supports project-based learning with students taking on authentic roles to produce media. Here is an article on podcasting in the elementary classroom that is dated but still relevant. And talk about getting students connected to a larger audience while naturally engaging and building excitement, just tell your students that your podcasts will be available in iTunes for family and friends to access!

Here are a few ideas on what podcasts can be used for in your classroom.

Newscasts
Poetry or other readings
Radio broadcasts with students role playing in historical contexts
Week in review as students reflect about their learning

Badges to Support Individualized and Active Learning

One of our primary goals is to develop life long and active learners. Many years ago there were discussions about how computer-aided instruction would replace the regular classroom learning experience. This did not happen but many companies today do provide software and web-based instruction that records student progress as they work to attain specific learning goals.

While we are not replacing teachers with these learning platforms, we are using them to provide blended individualized and personalized learning experiences for our students. The key to this process is to work with each student to set goals while providing the resources to help them reach their learning objectives. A focus on ICL helps to provide the learning resources while giving students and teachers a system that lists criteria and rewards for achieving goals. Such a certification system for reading, math, social studies, etc. content and skills is supported by using badges that provide digital icons that students earn. They can be used for discrete tasks such as improved spelling, or broader objectives such as becoming a global citizen. Note that certification and badging also work well for teachers and their professional growth. School leaders can work to create their own professional development badge system.

The following are helpful links including a badge provider for K-12 schools along with an example of a tech personalized learning program that awards badges for achievement.

Blogging

One location in which to give students easy access to their writing (i.e., no lost papers) is Google Docs. The 24/7 access to one's work and ability to collaborate on projects and/or peer editing definitely enhances our writing program. A second tool to support student writing is blogging. Google provides a blogging system called Blogger. There are several others including Edublogs and Weebly.

Blogging is both rewarding and motivating for students as it is an authentic task of writing for an audience other than just their teacher. Settings can be applied to limit the audience to parents of individual students, your classroom or the whole grade level. Blogs also can be set to be public on the Web. Blogging is about providing a continuously updated stream of communications, and clearly puts students into the position of constantly going through the writing process to publish their work. Blogs as a mechanism for reflection about one's learning also comes into play among many other reasons to have our students blogging. Between blogs and digital portfolios, we have two excellent tools/learning strategies to support students as they think about their learning and share examples of their work.

The comment feature in blogs enables a focus on analysis skills as students react to one another's posts. The conversation and learning go on outside the regular school day thus supporting blended learning.

Take a look at an excellent blog post about implementing blogging in your classroom. Notice the expansive conversation that develops in the commenting strands. Consider how students' blogs might encourage ongoing discussions about books, science activities, current events and students' individual interests in the classroom. A class blog as a parent communication tool can be managed by the teacher and/or students. Putting students into the roles of gathering information, reflecting about learning and reporting out to parents is also an excellent way to replace the usual teacher generated parent "Week in A Glance' emails.

Here are a few helpful posts about the benefits of blogging.

6th Graders Have Their Say: Why Students Value Blogging
Extensive List of Blogging Resources
Why Blogging is So Valuable in the Elementary Classroom (Check the references section for links to other excellent resources)

Book Creation and Digital Storytelling

Having students demonstrate their understanding by creating short paper books is a common elementary school practice. There are many iPad apps (even more) and online resources like Storybird that empower students to be writers and publishers. As students move into the upper levels of elementary, they can collaborate to write digital textbooks using tools like iBooks Author or Google Sites. Teachers can be publishers as well, especially when the given paper textbook doesn't provide all that is needed and you want to include multimedia resources. Digital and online books are great differentiators of content by providing information in several modalities (images, audio, and video) and languages. Here is a sample online book. You can download free iBooks and pay for regular books on your iPad by using the Apple Books app.

Apps like Book Creator give students the tools to publish digital books. Students can illustrate, add text, embed voice recordings and insert photographs to tell their stories. Check out a blog post that lists several ideas for using Book Creator and examples of student created books.

To deepen your understanding of creating iBooks, look to follow the work of Peter Pappas who is a leader in the field. Enjoy Peter Pappas' iBook on authoring and listen to the Edtech Co-Op podcasts where he shares his insights- podcast 26 and podcast 27.

Concept, Mind Mapping and other Collaboration Tools

Concept maps help students make their thinking visible especially when representing connections between ideas, events, topics, etc. Concept/Mind maps also can be collaboration tools. Speaking of collaboration tools, look for a listing of collaboration tools at the end of this section.

We use all types of graphic organizers in our teaching. One excellent tool that especially supports spatial thinking and making thinking visible is the concept or mind map. One way to use a concept map to support our units of inquiry is to have students record the main concept for the unit to then write down their understandings and connections to it as they progress through the unit. One can also have students list the lines of inquiry to record their learning.

A wonderful way to use concept maps for blended learning is to use an online provider like Mindmeister. Students can share their Mindmeister concept maps with you to provide access to their thinking-- for formative assessment of their understanding as the unit progresses. Here is a mind map template for essential questions (similar to lines of inquiry) that one teacher provided his students. Collaboration is easy if you decide to partner students or place them in groups to work on any type of concept map. The key is that they can work on it during and after school via the web. Take a look a blog post describing how students used concept maps to answer the essential questions for their units of study.

There are several iPad apps that give students a quick and easy way to make their thinking visible. Students can drag ideas around the map grouping them and making connections. An added benefit is that many apps give students the opportunity to insert images, sounds and video to further develop and represent their thinking.

There are so many Web 2.0 collaboration tools with the Web filled with lists. Think of the forum module in your LMS, Google Apps, Padlet, Lucid Chart and other tools where you and your students can share ideas. The following are a few lists to access for more resources.

Differentiation

The process of designing instruction involves providing the “just right” content, process and products for the variety of learners in our classrooms. Many of the pedagogies listed here (e.g., videography, online newspapers, WebQuests) naturally help in this process. The ones that engage students in the processes of seeking information, analyzing, reflecting, creating and communicating offer opportunities for personal inquiry. This open-ended (though often highly scaffolded) approach gives students more control to go at their own pace as well as choose what they do.

Adapting the process and product with technology often stands out when using ICL to differentiate lessons. Yet, there are ways to help learners interact with digital text to have it read to them often with a highlighting feature as well. Some providers like Newsela include adaptable reading levels that can be organized by the teacher for his/her students. Newsela is a provider of current events news organized for student readers. Here is an excellent blog post that gives details on how teachers can set up accounts and start differentiating reading content for their students.

ICL integration can also add complexity and problem solving while supporting divergent thinking. At times our students also need very skill-specific work to develop their convergent thinking skills. This is where technology designed to assist students with learning difficulties is so important. Adaptive use of technology supports Universal Design for Learning (UDL). A helpful process for learners is to use a voice-to-text app like PaperPort Notes or Siri to quickly record their ideas. The iPad Support section of our site lists apps and other resources that connect to teaching with UDL. The following video from the National Center on Universal Design for Learning frames how using UDL supports differentiation for all students.

Documenting Student Learning

We document student learning to give our learners opportunities to reflect about their thinking to deepen their learning. Using technology in the form of portfolios, taking photographs, recording audio and shooting video of students in their learning supports our effort to connect to the Project Zero initiative to document student learning. See the Field Trip section below for a couple videos that model this strategy. Check out the Documentation section of this site for video samples.

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