Kids Speak Out on Student Engagement

Edutopia shares on 'What Engages Students?'.  Tap into "Kids Speak Out on Student Engagement."

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Stop Animation Workshop-Presentation to the Drama ABQ Class

Getting Started with Student Inquiry

The Ministry of Ontario has released a Capacity Building Series which includes an edition on Student Inquiry.

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Classroom Use:  This article provides a definition of student inquiry, and tips for how to get started.

Project Based Learning

View this video from Edutopia:  an "Introduction to Project Based Learning"


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Integrating Technology in the Classroom

Classroom Applications:

• students are creating using digital tools
• makes learning fun and meaningful, increases motivation and engagement
• a way for students to express learning
• students takes ownership of learning
• students can connect to a global audience
• students have an authentic audience
• potential for everyone to learn at their own pace
• teachers can readily see that the students that require additional support
• roll of teacher is facilitator
• it's about the processes

 
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Stop Animation

Stop Animation Video Making... A Motivation to Learn!

Cool! I had never made a Stop Animation Video before, but really enjoyed this activity. Imagine the level of engagement as well as the motivation to learn! I can see how this activity could appeal to all learners including our students that are more reluctant to participate in learning activities. The video below briefly describes the process of How To Make A Stop Animation Video.
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We were off to the races and began by sharing ideas and looking at a few stop animation creations.  All of the members of Part 2 formed a group and we began working on a video called Diversity and Inclusion. We dropped our photos into Windows Movie Maker and voila.. our Stop Animation Video was formed. Please see our Stop Animation Video below!

A Stop Animation Lesson would definitely follow the Constructivism Learning Process in that students involved in this project would  be construct meaning as they learn and learning is social. This task is engaging and helps to inspire and motivate students' creativity and desire to learn.This task has 21st Century skills embedded into it:  Creativity, Collaboration, Community, and Critical Thinking.

In this case technology was used as a tool to tell a story.  Although developing the Story Line was not the focus, it involved assessment as learning. Assessment is built into the learning process and students have the opportunity to revise, self evaluate and receive descriptive feedback.  As was discussed by the group, this enriching task would be used as a cross-curricular lesson approach (perhaps involving Media Literacy, Language and Social Studies) and using multimedia such as this assists in addressing individual learning styles while also giving 'Boys Voices'. This task was introduced as a formative assessment, Descriptive Feedback would be important for students in planning for the next steps in learning.  Given more practice and opportunities to revise and reflect, a similar task could be done as a summative task.

Classroom Use:  digital storytelling; engage students in collaborative learning; problem solving; creativity

As we all know, motivation is key to learning and self-discovery is a part of this process.

A thought on Motivation and how this relates to students by Daniel Pink.

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