Fun With Technology Integration in Schools

The speaker, Sylvia Tolisano who teachers Spanish talks about the new program her school decided to experiment in promoting global awareness.  This according to her is not only playing with the boundaries but daring to cross them.  Stretching the traditional boundaries of the schools to encourage the teachers and students to become critical thinkers is one of the goals of this project.  The students then will have the ability to communicate across the borders and cultures to experience the wide spectrum of cultural diversity of the world.  She says that exposing the students to the inter connectedness to other counties is imperative and not optional.  So her school decided to create, grow and embrace the global studies curriculum by committing themselves to a non traditional approach.            Her school sent a couple of teachers to the country they were studying using the grant money they obtained to get the first hand information to share with their students. The experience transformed their traditional classrooms through blogs, pod casts, photos and videos blurring the boundaries of space, time and closed walls.  Opening these dimensions created the opportunities for the teachers and students of being co learners.           By creating and feeling a direct connection to the content studied the teachers became connecters and learners.  The students became guides and co learners creating a unique collaborative learning environment.  In this example the speaker talks about the travel experience the lower grades had and how the upper grades physically and mentally were challenged during this incredible journey of new technology by trial and errors.            Stories bring the language we are teaching alive. Listening to a story connects the listener to someone, something or somewhere far way.  It’s that kind of a connection we as teachers are looking for our students.            While teaching a language the teacher also needs to expand the horizons to its different cultures.  We have to provide the opportunity for our students to see beyond the walls of their classroom, school and town and have the global awareness.            The speaker talks about the global studies program at her school.  In this program, she says that the students must become the citizens of each country they study.  They introduce a new country each year graduating with working knowledge of seven countries after the 6^th grade.  There are three components in the global studies program.      Travel: The school sends two faculty members to the focused country to get data and visual aids of the country.    Connection: allowing the students to establish connections with the traveling faculty by taking a virtual journey to the designated country with their school mascot using the new technology tools and special guests.    Interdisciplinary instruction: interdisciplinary units are designed to teach conceptual and procedural information such as perception, parts to hold, sequencing or diversity.  The intent is to bring all the subjects together under one concept to show the connectedness among the disciplines. To have this kind of connection with the world the students need to establish:    Link: in the form or books, stories, life experiences, from other people, pictures etc    Engage & Educate: by creating a picture or writing their thoughts     Active Learning:  individual or group working    Reflect: Student discussion or sharing    Now and then or next: Establish the connection to the future global goal          They decided to follow the rules of Amazing Race – game show to get the students excited.  So they divided the students in groups to explore the designated country by reading blogs, looking for pictures, knowing the culture, learning the geography etc.  The teachers created some exciting stops and challenges during the journey to make learning more fun. 

Trackback URI | Comments RSS