Learning to Educate in a 21st Century World

Throughout the semester we have learned about many effective tools to use in our future classrooms! The latest tool we’ve been exposed to is Google Hyperdocs. So, what exactly is a Google Hyperdoc? A Google Hyperdoc is a lesson through Google documents which provides students with access to instructions, links, tasks, and other interactive segments, in one document. I have included a video, further explaining what a Google Hyperdoc is, below.

Google Hyperdocs were created as a way to enhance student learning. The generic model of writing lesson plans, teaching lessons one by one, and finishing with a final assessment, is a teacher-focused model which some believe limits learning. Check out this blog I found, “How Hyperdocs Can Transform Your Teaching“, for some examples of how this teacher-directed model can limit student learning!

The blog also lists some of the benefits of hyperdocs:

• Fewer lectures: removes the need for direct instruction from the teacher
• Greater face-to-face interactions: frees teachers up for more individual, one-on-one, time with students who need it
• Flexibility: if a part of the lesson isn’t working, it can be immediately changed
• Multimodal opportunities: allows for the inclusion of all sorts of multimedia
• Privacy: a teacher can customize a Hyperdoc, for a student who needs it, without anyone else needing to know

Personally, I found the Google Hyperdoc, provided by Professor Wendt, to be very easy to navigate. I would absolutely use this feature in my future classrooms!

I’ve included a video, below, for anyone interested in learning how to create a Google Hyperdoc of their own.

However, if videos aren’t your thing, I have also included a link to an example of a template incorporating Hyperdocs into en English lesson!

This week I learned about the use of Skype in the classroom through the Microsoft Educator Community. When I clicked on the topic, I thought I had a pretty strong idea of what I was going to learning about. The do’s, and don’ts of Skype, and how to connect with other classrooms also using Skype. However, I was met with so much more. Skype provides a multitude of other opportunities for learning in the classroom. I’ve embedded a YouTube video which highlights some of the reasons other teachers love Skype!

Skype Classroom inspires literacy for students through the opportunity to Skype with authors as guest speakers. The platform also offers students the opportunity for authentic, and meaningful learning, as they are able to take virtual fields trips and experience other cultures without leaving the comfort of their classroom. Students are able to practice global learning daily, and can make as much as they want out of their Skype Classroom experience. They have the opportunity to access experts in different fields, relate it directly to what they are learning, and can even go into the fields with the experts.

A major aspect of Skype Classroom which I found to be incredible was the connections students were able to make with other classrooms. As I went through the lesson, on Microsoft’s Educator community, I learned about a class who learned of a school in Kenya that had issues with filtered water. The class was in contact with the class in Kenya, and applied that conflict to their learning. They went ahead, and learned how to make filters at home, met with experts in their field, secured a deal with a filtration company to send filtered products to the school in Kenya, and then got to see their efforts through Skype conversations with the Kenyan classroom. It just doesn’t get more authentic than that!

This week I watched a French television show, called The Chalet, on Netflix. Watch the show, here, if some French drama might interest you too!

In a lot of ways this show was very similar to American dramas in that there was a lot of suspense, and the viewer doesn’t quite have the whole story.

However, the one thing that was rather difficult was all of the flashbacks the show did. Flashbacks alone can be hard to follow for viewers, but, adding in the element of a foreign language, I felt I struggled a bit to understand what was going on.

The general storyline is that a group of friends go away to a chalet, in Valmouline, where a dark secret from the past comes to light. Throughout the first episode there are a few instances where murder plays a factor, and I am under the impression that a murderer might be part of the plot moving forward in the season.

The relationships of the characters on the show, and the characters themselves, were very similar to what is seen in American television. They had normal interactions with one another throughout the episode. The only time there were strange social interactions was with one character, referred to as the hermit of the village, and that interaction is based off of his characters cues.

The major difference, between the way Valmouline is depicted in comparison to the United States, is in the setting of The Chalet. The setting of the chalet is in Valmouline, and is very reflective of a normal french village. In America, the concept of villages is not prevalent, and I have never been exposed to this setting. Even the concept of a chalet is not as prevalent here.

I noticed that the house look very different to what we typically have here. They are built differently, more closely together, and lots of wood is used in the buildings. I also noticed that the roads are much narrower, and very winding. I think that the is due to the terrain of the area. Valmouline is a very isolated village. There are lots of trees, nature, and mountains.

This is obviously a large contrast to the United States. While there are places here which are very mountainous, we have many cities, and access to almost everything we need with just a short drive. The isolation of the village of Valmouline, and the chalet, is not something many Americans choose, or are familiar with.

Additionally, the roads are often made of cobblestone in the show, which is a characteristic of European roads, and so this didn’t surprise me as much. However, it is a major contrast to America as most of our roads are often paved, and even.

Finally, one aspect of socioeconomic topics in the show was when one character asked another if the people who owned the chalet were rich. The question was harmless, and stemmed from the fact that they were discussing the chalet’s renovations. However, it did imply that the characters might not be rich themselves, because they were taken aback by the niceties of the chalet.

Over the last few weeks I have gotten a glimpse into what it is like to use Twitter as an educational tool. So far, I have found many aspects of the tool that I really enjoy, and some that I could take, or leave.

An element of twitter that I really enjoy is how accessible it makes you to other people within your field. Being a global learner, and a global educator, requires being able to connect to other people around the world. Twitter allows for individuals to do this almost effortlessly. When you tweet, you add a relevant hashtag, such as #GEN2108, to your tweets and then anyone who accesses that hashtag is capable of locating your tweet. This is particularly beneficial for our class because we are able to filter down to only tweets from our classmates. However, this is also very beneficial when you want to connect with someone within a particular niche within your field.

Second, twitter allows for almost instant connection to others. While they might not answer right away, when you see a tweet that you like from another person on twitter, you have direct access to respond to their tweet or direct message them.

Personally, I experienced this with a professional I follow on twitter: Pam Hubler (@specialtechie). I wrote a previous blog on the appropriate way to incorporate social media, as a teacher, into the classroom. After I posted the blog, I was scrolling through my feed on my professional twitter, and I came across the best example of appropriate teacher social media behavior through Pam Hubler’s account. I reached out to thank her for her behavior, and the example she set, and within minutes I had a response from her. We were able to have a beneficial discourse because of the accessibility of Twitter. I have attached that conversation below!

I think that appropriate social media use, as a teacher, is one of the most significant things I have learned so far through the use of Twitter as an educational platform. I think this is such an important topic for us to address it is such a huge aspect of our culture. Even when something doesn’t seem like a bad thing to do on social media, it could still be considered inappropriate to someone, and that is why there is a need for a clear cut understanding of what is appropriate on social media.

Finally, one aspect that I think people need to be cognizant of, when posting on Twitter, is just how accessible they are to the rest of the world. While the entire point of social media platforms is to connect the world, users need to be aware that what their posting is viewable to everyone else. This means that your posts can be taken however the reader interprets them, regardless of if that is what you intended or not.

In order to avoid conflict, twitter users need to be respectful of everyone they interact with. Individuals also need to be aware of the differences that could exist between users. Twitter connects people from all over the world which means that there is a need to for cultural acceptance, and understanding, from all users.

While reading Julie Lindsay’s book, The Global Educator, one chapter focuses specifically on the impacts of global learning. The author, Lindsay, address many elements of the impact that global learning has on students. However, one of the elements that I found most important was the idea that global learning fosters personal awareness in students.

I believe that this aspect of global learning stood out to me the most because it is an element of education that cannot be taught inside the standard walls of a classroom.

For many young students, they do not typically have much understanding of what goes on in the world around them. This can be due to multiple things, but is largely grounded in the lack of exposure they have to other cultures. This concept of cultural differences is something that we learn as we grow. Thus, a young child is unlikely to recognize the learning differences, technology gaps, and limitations that exist between different countries.

However, when a teacher incorporates global learning into their classroom, they are exposing their children to these other cultures earlier than they might otherwise be exposed. This means that these children are also beginning to have conversations about learning differences at a younger age, and are also developing their sense of personal awareness sooner, too.

Bringing other cultures into the classroom, and humanizing them in a way that textbooks cannot, allows for students to be more open-minded when encountering other people and their opinions. Check out this article, by Jose Picardo, where this concept of personal awareness is further discussed!

After some research on the topic of personal awareness, and global education, I have also realized that bringing other cultures into the classroom through technology is not the only way to expose your students to other cultures. A Tedx Talk, given by Dr. Melissa Crum, highlights other ways that teachers may be able to navigate cultural diversity within the classroom. In the video, she explains an art-based professional development program she created to help teachers think differently about their diverse students.

Check out the video, here, for a different perspective on how teachers can navigate cultural differences with students in the classroom!