Hey, What's All The Muss?!

               However, sometimes the classroom is a bit limited in what it can offer in the way of experiences.   One way to remedy that shortcoming is to employ the use of technology hardware like the HoloLens 2.  This Microsoft product looks and fits like a hat with built-in glasses.  Billed as a mixed reality (MR) headset, it allows students to see, move through, and manipulate items in the virtual space in front of them. You may have heard of alternate reality or, perhaps, virtual reality.  What, then, is mixed reality?  Here is a succinct summation from ZDNet. Watch how using MR and HaloLens 2 can transform the study of anatomy at Case Western Reserve University. This mixed-reality tool would be a fine example of tech-enabled learning.  This type of instruction can follow one of several models.  HoloLens 2 aligns well with the Technology Integration Matrix.   That learning mode...

There are so many things in the bin for the thoughts that have slipped my mind.  Other thoughts stay with me forever.  Back when I was a new, green teacher of middle school life science, I was just learning the difference between monocot plants and dicot plants.  I was terrified I would mix them up and that their different characteristics would slip my mind.  (Since I know you are wondering...) (image courtesy of The Amoeba Sisters.  https://www.amoebasisters.com/parameciumparlorcomics/monocots-vs-dicots ) I studied pictures. I looked for examples of each in the wild.  I figured out the benefits of each type of root in different types of soil. Using all that knowledge, I was able to plan lessons, activities, and labs for my students.  That final step was when I really internalized the difference between the two.  I had created something new to show my understanding.  Well, well… look where I ended up. In the best possible world, teachers wan...

  Our thoughts today center around three ideas, and how they intersect: information literacy, technology, and digital/media. As noted in a TedEd talk by Damon Brown, in the olden days of news broadcasts (pre-cable, pre-internet, pre-TwitterFaceGram), there were very few places to get your news. As a college student, I had three networks to choose from and I was a loyal viewer of Tom Brokaw.       We counted on the likes of Rather and Brokaw to take care to present the information fairly and completely.  Therefore, our information literacy skills might have been a bit undeveloped as what those anchors reported was… just the facts. “A s ALA defines it, information literacy is a set of abilities requiring individuals to ‘recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information’” (ALA, 2020).   It was not until the explosion of the internet that multiple sources for media appeared.   N...

  Everyone is a teacher at some time, with someone, somewhere.  The three-year-old shows off her prowess by teaching the baby how a book’s pages should be turned: carefully and one-at-a-time.  The sixteen-year-old shows the new hire how to pile up three scoops on a waffle cone.  Looking at the National School Library Standards, both the learners and the teachers feature prominently.  In fact, both the learner and the teacher are so important, they each have their own complete set of standards.  Not to be content with only the players, when the America Association of School Librarians published their standards in 2018, they even included standards for the locale where all this teaching and learning can take place: the library!  They each even appear in the logo for the standards! If you are coming to the AASL standards as a content area teacher, it may be a daunting and confusing task to find… “the standards.”  There are many links to downloa...