Peggy's blog

You know where they are going and where they have been any time, day or night. You know what they thought was funny and what really made them mad this week. You know which new band they like and you have even seen a picture of some of their favorite meals this week. Hardly a day passes when you don’t get to see a picture of the hilarious things their pets and kids have gotten into. It’s hard to believe you can know someone so well when you haven’t even seen this “friend” since college! Social networks like Facebook and Twitter make it easy to connect to people and make the world seem like a really small place. This new way of connecting comes with it’s own set of benefits and problems.

Drug and alcohol use among teens is a huge issue surrounding junior high and high school students, parents, and teachers. The statistics in Joann’s post confirm the need for an ongoing classroom conversation about the use and abuse of drugs and alcohol. Media portrays the glamour of using these substances, but in many schools there aren’t classroom activities or discussions on the topic. Joann highlighted three quality free resources on The Gateway that can help bring this important topic into your classroom. Whether you need a single activity or an entire unit, you will be able to find a good starting point in her column.

So what is a podcast?

Podcast is defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “a program (as of music or talk) made available in digital format for automatic download over the internet.” According to Wikipedia, podcast is a blend of 2 words: “pod” (meaning playable on demand), and “cast” from broadcast. You can access these “playable on demand broadcasts” in the classroom for playback on computers or personal media players. You can download them individually or subscribe to an RSS feed, which automatically downloads podcasts in a series as they are released. Instead of tuning into a television, radio, or internet radio broadcast at a certain time of day, you can subscribe to a podcast and enjoy it at your convenience.

Much of the chatter among educators on Facebook and Twitter surrounds the idea of creating an authentic education for students in a world where technology is constantly changing. We discuss the importance of digital literacy and 21st century skills and we trade ideas about how to develop these skills while still covering the basic standards that are required each school year. Educators have the important job of creating students who know and understand the required content and who will succeed in society when they leave the classroom. It’s a tall order, but luckily we can connect online to a huge group of educators who share knowledge, tools, and tales of their successes and failures to guide us through the process.

Many preschool and primary teachers tend to feel intimidated by science. They are responsible for being experts in all different areas, and many of them don’t consider themselves “science people.” Our state standards mandate that we teach science, but they don’t show us how to make it fun. The National Science Education Standards explain the importance of inquiry-based learning as the basis of science education with the following statement: “Inquiry into authentic questions generated from student experiences is the central strategy for teaching science.” So we are supposed to let them figure out the answers to their own questions? That sounds good to me!

Stress management is an important lifelong skill we need to encourage and develop in our students. Teenagers and “tweens” face all kinds of different stressors in their lives. Between raging hormones, pressure to fit in with peers, and over scheduling, students need to learn how to relax! Joann mentioned 3 of the activities catalogued on The Gateway that help teach students how to deal with stress and anxiety. These types of activities help students deal with the stress in their lives by teaching them ways to manage and deal with stress.

Joann’s post about advertising was especially funny to me, the proud owner of both the Miracle Blade III knives and the complete set of ShamWOW towels. I really like as seen on TV stuff! Students and parents alike are barraged with advertisements in all forms of media throughout the day. An important part of media literacy we need to stress with our children is the ability to critically analyze the advertisements around them so they can make good purchasing decisions throughout their lives, instead of just buying the things with the flashiest ads.

There are many excellent free online resources available to help teachers enhance lessons and appeal to the tech-savvy audience that makes up many of today’s classes. Today I am discussing one category of these resources: social networking tools. Educators are forming connections with one another through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter (and MySpace, Google+, Pinterest…the list goes on). Some teachers are choosing to bring these tools and connections to their students as well.

The resources Joann featured this week are fun examples of how to include interactive maps in your classroom. If you haven’t checked them out yet, you should. Really…who hasn’t wondered where they would end up if they tunneled through the earth? All three resources would be great for a geography classroom, and an interactive piracy map could tie in well in a history class or even an English class if you are reading about pirates.

I read a tweet the other day that really got me thinking about what we do as teachers and how we make learning relevant to students’ lives. It was short and to the point. “Gulf Oil Spill…a teachable moment.” It can be a teachable moment, so how are we going to make the most of it? There are important things like this happening in our world every day that shape and mold our students. With a little creativity, we can use these events to make learning more relevant and authentic. There is just something special when we can anchor our teaching to things happening around us right now.