Are you looking to include some Innovation & edtech into your Benchmark plans with your students??
My friend and colleague, Marla Rosentha and I have you covered! We are creating Virtual Makerspaces and Innovation Lessons that tie into ELA Benchmark unit themes. You can used these with your students even if you don't use this ELA curriculum. This first unit is on Government and Citizenship. We are both Innovation TOSAs who work with teachers and students on all things technology, coding, robotics, engineering, design thinking and more! We want to help all teachers interested in continuing innovation for students even during distance learning! For each Benchmark theme, we will create a Virtual Makerspace full of clickable activities as well as a robust Innovation Lesson students can learn asynchronously. Below links are a one-stop shop for all grades. Notice the 1st link is the PREVIEW so you can check it out, the 2nd link is your very own copy. Please feel free to modify for your own students and instruction. Let me know how it goes and stay tuned for more coming soon! Happy Innovating, ~Christine Preview Copy (all grades linked) Your Copy (all grade level Virtual Makerspace and Innovation Lessons are linked in Speaker Notes): I have always been an advocate for giving students a choice in how they present their knowledge. Whether it is showing what they learned from a math lesson, a book they've read, or their cumulative understanding of an ELA unit of study, giving students the freedom in choosing the "how" to present the "what" is so crucial.
I've made many versions of "Show What You Know" choice boards throughout my journey as Innovation Coordinator for TK-8. I so enjoy teaching students ed-tech tools in the Innovation Lab and Makerspace and then seeing them use their tools in their toolbelts all year in their classrooms. It also honors the unique personalities and strengths of our diverse students as well as the different ways they learn. If students all learn differently, shouldn't we give them a choice in how they represent this learning? So as I try to plan for this next school year, I knew I needed to create a choice board that would continue to build and evolve no matter where we are on the distance learning journey. Below are two versions of my "Show What You Know" choice board you can make a copy of for your own teaching. Notice the Choice Board has a LOT of choices. You definitely do NOT want to give all of these choices at the start. It also depends on the age and grade-level of your students. Most importantly, it depends on your lesson and what knowledge you want students to show. The idea is for the teacher to use the lock at the bottom left of the board to cover up those options that are not appropriate to the task or grade level. I believe students will enjoy this gaming aspect and will also enable them to continually learn new tech tools throughout the year. Show What You Know Choice Boards (click on the links for your copy) Version #1 (without student tutorials): This was my 1st version and wanted to leave it without tutorials in case teachers, TOSAs or coaches wanted to modify for their own users Version #2 (with student tutorials): This version is a prototype, meaning it will continue to grow and evolve throughout the year as I work with my students. I have many more tutorials I need to create so check back often if you are interested. Lastly, I'd like to thank all of you for your overwhelming response to this labor of love! I am blown away with how many educators have reached out to me and are excited to use this with their students and schools. It makes me so happy to know that so many students may benefit from this choice board. My Twitter and Instagram post responses are a testimony to my strong belief that we, as educators, are all in this together! The collaboration & sharing is crucial and even more important right now with distance learning. Thank you for being a part of my PLN! Better Together, Christine
I love EVERYthing about this Makerspace experience from start to finish! As the Innovation Coordinator for our TK-8 school, I have the great privilege to be able to work with all grades and all content areas, both students and teachers.
My goal is to bring in the innovation to their content areas (design thinking, STEAM, technology, coding robotics, engineering, etc) to prove how learning can be hands-on, innovative, & incorporate the 4Cs. It's TRULY my jam! SO....2 weeks ago, knowing 7th History was slotted to be in our Makerspace, I met with the 7th History teachers and we started brainstorming what Makerspace experience students could have to go with their learning of Medieval Japan. The History teachers started thinking of STEM activities (build the tallest pagoda, make their own paper, etc) They started to get overwhelmed and so I guided them to shift the focus on what the TEACHER would create for students to make, to what the STUDENT would make to show their learning of the content. I asked for a list of topics (12 total ranging from origami, paper lanterns, puppet theater, sumo wrestling, Samurai, sushi and more) ð These topics got me ALL excited! What if we could have design teams pick the topics they are interested in, research more deeply, then create an exhibit to teach others in an engaging, interactive way?? Fastforward, the entire week in our Makerspace blew us away and made my innovation teacher heart SO big! Most importantly, I guarantee they'll retain a lot of this history content because they had so much fun, were engaged and 100% ALL in!
After teaching my TK-8 students in all things innovation the past 4 years, I knew I wanted to step up MY game by bringing them into the Augmented and Virtual Reality world. I knew I would need devices so I reached out to a local company and convinced them to donate the old phones that were just laying in that drawer waiting for student innovators to learn! Once we got 10 Samsung Galaxy and 10 iPhone 6 devices, we were off and running!
Please see below to access my AR/VR presentation, resources, and read all about how our student innovators learned and created through the amazing CoSpacesEdu!
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Stepping up from the Makey Makey Interactive Posters and moving from the Innovation Lab to the Makerspace are the Interactive Museums and Prototypes lessons. These focus on making prototypes interactive, engaging and teachable. Most importantly, this can be used with ANY subject and content area. Read more below and check out the resource links to try for yourself. SUCH a fun Makerspace lesson!
A huge part of my job is teaching teachers & students how innovation (tech, coding, robotics, making, design thinking ,etc) doesnât have to stand alone.
In fact, I'm kind of passionate about proving how curriculum and content can be incorporated so easily in all innovation & vice versa! :) Click on the links for resources and read below to see some of the many ways we weave innovation through the curriculum!
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