Make Learning Pop!

     In the article, "Make Learning Pop!" Shaunna Smith wanted to explore ideas and  ways to use technology alongside hands-on art. This is where she found the digital fabrication process which as she explains, "uses design software and personal fabrication machines to trim and perforate paper and other thin media" (26). Smith took this idea of digital fabrication and created her own technology infused lesson on how to design pop-ups for books and to create paper sculptures. All ages, from kindergarten to adult, can use this in order to learn to use technology and see how far their creativity can take them. Smith finds it to be a very beneficial lesson for her students because it challenges them to take an abstract idea and bring it physically to life. She finds that it sparks creativity and that it makes learning about literacy and the arts a fun and entertaining process. With the help of some of her colleagues, Smith was able to have each of her students create 1 to 2 pages of pop-ups that she collected and turned into one book. The students all worked together to make sure that each individual pop-up page worked with the rest. Their book dealt with language arts concepts.
     I thought this was a very unique art/ language arts project. It is a great way to infuse technology into an everyday lesson, and the students seemed to really enjoy it. Smith mentioned that her students even began to use digital design terminology while in class. Not only is this a fun way to use technology, but it also allows students to really push their creativity. They can almost make anything that they can imagine and design. Once I learned how to use something like this myself, I would definitely consider using it in my classroom. I plan on teaching middle school language arts and I think this type of technology infused lesson works really well this age group.
     This lesson and use of technology helps students to create original works, as seen in ISTE Student Standard 1 on creativity and innovation. It also demonstrates concepts of collaboration in Standard 2, and critical thinking in order to make the project all work together, as in Standard 4. Digital fabrication also teaches students how to use technological systems, demonstrating the understanding of Standard 6, technology operations.

Smith, S. (2102). Make Learning Pop! Learning & Leading with Technology, 39(8), 26-28.

Upside Down and Inside Out:Flip Your Classroom to Improve Student Learning

     In Fulton's article, "Upside Down and Inside Out: Flip Your Classroom to Improve Student Learning," the effectiveness and daily process of a flipped classroom is explored. Fulton realizes that fads come and go, and questions whether or not a flipped classroom is just that, a fad. She takes a look into a Calculus I class at Byron High School in Minnesota in order to see what students are getting out of classrooms that are structured in such a unique way. Like many other flipped classrooms, Faulkner's Calculus I class is required to view the video lessons before the arrival of class and then "homework" is done in class to reiterate the lesson. Faulkner walks through the class, observing students working, and offers any help that might be needed to clarify the lesson. He also gives daily quizzes in order to ensure that students are doing their work at home. Fulton explains that Byron High School found itself without money to pay for new textbooks, so the math teachers came up with an idea to get rid of textbooks and make up their own curriculum. They worked together, along with their community, to come up with the flipped classroom. The math team at the school relied on each other to create lessons and tests, and to better their curriculum as they proceeded into the year. Teachers were faced with the challenges of keeping up to date with their videos, classroom management, and time management, but they felt that it was worth it because it was the right thing to do for the kids. Although this type of learning is fairly new, the results have been promising, and achievements of students have been rising. Students and parents have shown liking of this new approach as well.
     I was very unsure about the idea of a flipped classroom. There were so many questions that I had, but many of them were answered in this article and reassured me about flipped learning. I really like the idea of having a quiz on the material that students were supposed to cover the night before. It not only shows the teacher who went over the videos, but what areas of the subject matter need to be recovered or expanded on. Flipped learning allows students to go at their pace as well. One concern I had was about the length of the video. If a number of classes had videos that were a good length, then students would be spending potentially as many hours reviewing videos at home as they do sitting in class. I guess this means that teachers need to keep this in mind when they assign videos. I really like how BHS provided students with a jump drive or CD if they did not have internet connection at home. Also, students that were unable to view the videos the night before are able to review the videos in class while they are working on their homework. Many students liked this type of learning because they felt it was more engaging and was more flexible to the unique needs of each student. I am now very interested in this type of approach to teaching, and I hope to sit in on a class that uses this style in their classroom.
     A flipped classroom uses ISTE Standard 1 where students use models and simulations, or video lessons, to explore complex issues or systems. Students view the videos the night before and then use the videos to work on a series of problems in the classroom. Depending on how the student learns, if they choose to work within groups during class, they will then be contributing to a group to solve problems, ISTE Standard 2. They will definitely be using ISTE Standard 4, problem solving and critical thinking, in order to finish their daily tasks and quizzes that deal with the video lesson content.


Fulton, K. (2102). Upside down and inside out: Flip your classroom to improve student learning. Learning & Leading with Technology, 39(8), 12-17.

My Personal Learning Network Experience

The RSS feed that I chose to explore was through the Feedly tool. I subscribed to a number of different feeds so that I could read up on more events and issues going on in education with a wide range of variety. A few that I enjoyed the most were Free Technology for Teachers, Cool Cat Teacher Blog, Edudemic, TED Education, and Edutopia RSS. I really like the TED Education feed of videos. These are fun little videos that are interesting for students and can take a topic like bad breath and make it somewhat fun to learn about. I also really liked Edudemic because it had a number of articles that were on a variety of subjects. It didn’t just focus on teaching or just the students, but it also had articles on tips and tricks in the classroom and news in education. One article that I really liked was about teachers allying with parents. It definitely is true that as a teacher I will be dealing with students and their parents, so it is smart to communicate effectively with parents.  I really liked some of the articles and podcasts I found on Cool Cat Teacher Blog because they were very insightful and got you thinking. One article was about the need to teach according to the time, and to provide students with the technology and creativity to learn and not be controlled by the fear of failure. I thought Feedly was a great tool. It organized all my RSS feeds on one page and I could see how many articles had been posted by scrolling through my home page. I found many of the feeds by searching education, or by clicking on suggested feeds. It was easy and straight forward to use. I will probably use this tool while I teach to keep updated on news and to keep my classroom and lessons relevant for the students.

            You can find me on Twitter at @kendylleann6. I followed a total of 18 people/groups.  I followed We Are Teachers for inspiration and ideas for becoming a teacher. I followed a first grade teacher named Kathy Cassidy because I wanted to see the way a teacher was using Twitter along with her elementary classroom. I also followed Education Week to stay updated on things that were going on in the news that were centered around education. I learned that not very many children have access to preschool and that many teachers aren’t giving students that test their knowledge appropriately.  I followed discussion hashtags #education, #edtech, #teaching, and #teachers. From these I was able to read many interesting articles and to get new perspectives on teaching and educational issues that I would never have thought of on my own. Although I like following some teachers and groups on Twitter, I do not see myself really using Twitter in my classroom. I enjoyed seeing posts of other teachers’ projects on here though.

            I requested to explore both Ning groups, but I was admitted to Classroom 2.0 much faster than The Educator’s PLN so I started exploring that one. Classroom 2.0 is basically an area where you can find many helpful resources on how to incorporate technology into the classroom and have discussions with other educators. One discussion forum that I followed was about the use of interactive white boards in the classroom. Many teachers suggested to start out small by having students write down their lunches, and then move to bigger projects on the board. I really enjoyed using Ning because it opened me up to many new ideas that I could see myself using in my class.

            Overall, I think I learned a lot of great things by using these different networks. I found Feedly and Ning to be very helpful as a teacher, while not seeing how I would use Twitter in my classroom. I think Ning has a lot of resources to offer. Once you get over the amount of information shown on the homepage of Classroom 2.0, there is a lot to look through and use in a classroom.  I liked the organization of Feedly. I thought it was very easy to use, not intimidating at all, and it was clear on how to get from page to page and view articles and videos. I liked Twitter for viewing other people’s projects that they had done in classrooms, but I thought it would be hard to go back and find something that you thought was interesting later on. Like many other social networks, you also have to scroll through a lot of unwanted feed in Twitter.