Here are some reflective questions to think about when teaching technology centered lessons:

• Why is this learning important?
• Can students explain the objective in their own words?
• Can students explain the product they are tasked with creating?
• Is there a good balance between you demonstrating and students doing?
• Does the task involve applying knowledge to solve a problem or generate a product?
• Do you simply tell a student how to solve a problem, or probe with questions to guide student to logical solution?
• Do you adjust and reteach using a different method if needed?

Here are some question stems for guiding students to think more deeply about the technology:

• Is there a better solution to…?
• Could you have _____ through a different set of steps?
• What examples can you find to support…?
• What would result if…?
• How is ___ similar to ___?
• Why did … changes occur?
• How many ways can you think of to…?
• Can you design a ___ to…?
• How would you improve…?

A couple years ago, I wrote a post about using digital map making tools for a variety of classroom learning activities, but I’ve found one that I particularly love. My sixth graders used it to create maps for a social studies project. It is easy for the kids to use, prints well, and has enough features to sneak in a geography lesson or two, even if you’re using it in language arts.

Stone Sword’s World Maker

Trying to get your students more involved in creative writing?  Maps are a great way to give students a nudge to start coming up with fictional story ideas.

Activity: Starting with the map maker, create your own “land.” Show different land features. Once you print the map, assign and name villages, castles, rivers, mountain ranges, deserts, forests, and lakes (and/or oceans).  Write a few notes about this land. Is there a leader? Who is it? What kind of money do they use? What are the people like? Where are the dangerous places? What kind of animals live there? Are there monsters? Once you have notes on your imaginary land, think about a certain person who lives there. This will be your main character in a story set in this land. Think of a reason this character will travel to different places on the map you created, and write a story telling what happens and how the character gets home again (or doesn’t).

I normally focus on literacy during regular computer class time, but I was allowed the unique opportunity to teach the language arts integrated social studies for sixth grade in the computer lab. I have two classes, and I am trying to integrate as much technology as possible.

I’ve started a wiki for the class. I hope that soon the students will be able to contribute to the wiki as well.

Take a look

At our school this coming school year, we are putting a big focus on writing. As a computer lab teacher, I can squeeze it in, but time-wise, the most I can allot is 15 minutes out of class time. This is a great opportunity to use a chunk of lab time for some digital writing–that’s right! Blogging, word processing, message boards, even chat rooms are great ways to get that writing component into technology instruction.

As I sat here tonight and perused the internet for writing prompts, I found out two things.

1. Writing prompts can be really lame.
2. It’s hard to find “quickies.”

Writing prompts should be challenging, make students think creatively, and be FUN or at least angled to practice some aspect of writing (setting, character, descriptive words, humor, mood, tone, etc). Also, they should be structured so that students can put forth a good effort within 15 minutes. Also, I need variance and themey things. If I would want to stab my eyes with a red pen while reading the products of the writing prompts, then I am not going to have the kids write it (both eye-stabbing and red pen being metaphorical, of course). I want to be amused. I want to see personalities and ideas and exaggerations. I certainly do NOT want to know what you would do if you were the president, what you want to be when you grow up, or what your favorite hobby is. I want to know how you might describe a fantastical creature or what words you think of when you hear a song.

So, here is my attempt at some short writing prompts. Conveniently, one for each week of the school year, though some are repeated (like the music prompts–change the song!).

1. What does your favorite color make you think about?
2. How would you get ready for school in the morning if you went to a school for spy kids?
3. Describe how an itch feels.
4. If you could give yourself another name, what would the name be? Why would you choose that name?
5. Fill-in-the-Blanks: Never try to catch a(n) ___ with a(n) ____. (write as many as you can think of) Example: Never try to catch flies with a net.
6. What is the most peaceful thing to you? How does it make you feel?
7. One word prompt: People
8. Music prompt: Listen to the song and write words it makes you think of–colors, feelings, things, people, places, describing words, sounds, etc.
9. Describe your secret hideout in the forest.
10. One word prompt: Ants
11. You find a mysterious map. Where will it take you?
12. What foods would you put on the grossest, most disgusting sandwich that could be made?
13. Be the ball. Pretend you are a ping pong ball, baseball, football, soccer ball, or basketball and tell about your life.
14. Creature Feature: an Arxid Hornfletcher (describe the fictional creature)
15. Fill-in-the-Blanks: The worst thing to use for ____ is a(n) ____. (write as many as you can think of) The worst thing to use for brushing your teeth is a lollipop.
16. Write a three sentence story. Tell who the character is, what the character wants, and how the character does or doesn’t get it.
17. Describe an attic in an old mansion.
18. One word prompt: Rain
19. Music prompt: Listen to the song and write words it makes you think of–colors, feelings, things, people, places, describing words, sounds, etc.
20. Write Place: Galaxy Megalopolis (describe the fictional place)
21. You discover a door in your closet that leads to a secret room in your house. What’s in it?
22. One word prompt: Glue
23. The Pitch: You’ve created a new brand of toys called Wind Riders. Describe the toy and write what a commercial on TV would say about them.
24. If you were a cartoon character, what would you look like?
25. Creature Feature: a Bog Ooni (describe the fictional creature)
26. Fill-in-the-Blanks: If you’ve got to find the____, you’d better ask the ____. (write as many as you can think of) If you’ve got to find the banana, you’d better ask the monkey.
27. Title Only: Ode to My Donut (write a poem or sentences based on the title)
28. The Pitch: You’ve created an awesome new roller coaster called the Cosmodrive Astrobooster. Describe the coaster and write what a commercial on TV would say about it.
29. Music prompt: Listen to the song and write words it makes you think of–colors, feelings, things, people, places, describing words, sounds, etc.
30. One word prompt: Gumball
31. Choose a fruit or vegetable, add radioactive goo, and you have a new superhero! What’s the fruit or veggie hero called? Do they wear a costume? What’s their super power?
32. Write Place: Sunken Shrine Island (describe the fictional place)
33. Title Only: 10 Uses for Gummy Worms (write based on title)
34. What five things make you smile? What five things make you frown?
35. You get to have a 5 course feast and can have any foods you want. Describe what you eat for each course and don’t forget dessert.
36. What’s something you wish you were really good at? Why?

I used a generator to help a bit. If you need something wacky, there’s all sorts of generators out there (monster names, pirate settings, the list goes on).

We are winding down the school year! These past few weeks, I have been testing in the lab to squeeze out the last bit of data for teachers, but the kids have had a small amount of time to choose other activities. This was a random find by a second grader, and now it is the Big Deal in the Downtown Elementary Computer Lab.

National Geographic Kids: Music Mixer

I’ve found over the years that activities providing choices to add personal touches are very popular with students, especially at the primary ages. Music Maker allows for a huge variety of personalization. In the activity, students manipulate a band with four members. Everything is customizable–from the name of the band and its members to outfits, appearances, instruments, and  colors. This alone hooks students, but there is so much more. The interface has a sound studio board that includes effects, loops, and a console. The effects area lets students choose a genre of music and add effects to instruments. The loops area gives many choices of looping music tracks for the various instruments. In the console, kids can record their music, play it back, and even save it to a playlist. In a computer lab setting, this is really fun because students are very curious and excited to see what other kids sitting at their computer have composed.

As an adult, I have to say Music Maker is even fun for us. Check it out and if there’s no time to get your students using it, plan on it for next year. This would be a fantastic centers activity in the regular classroom or in music class. Additionally, there isn’t much reading involved to figure things out so it’s accessible to students with limited English skills.