Teaching+with+Tech+Week+5+part+1

The reading this week and the video focused on resources and strategies to improve student achievement. Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., Malenoski stated that, “The instructional strategy of //reinforcing effort //enhances students’ understanding of the relationship between effort and achievement by addressing their attitudes and beliefs about learning” (pg155). A rubric and a spreadsheet are ways to display this connection for students to understand the relationship between effort and achievement. One of the ways is to create a rubric. The rubric is a  scoring tool that you can list the criteria for students’ effort. Also a spreadsheet is another good way to track student’s effort. When you collect students’ data and display it on a spreadsheet it allows you to give immediate feedback. The feedback will give students confidence to overcome obstacles in their way and improve student achievement. According to the video //Big Thinkers: Sasha Barab on Media Engagement,// we can engage students by using Quest Atlantis games and teach students by immersing them into a virtual game to problem solve. An example was giving students problems to solve about contaminated water. The students are in this game solving the problems by asking the characters in the game questions that lead to a solution. This is different from any other forms of learning because students are placed in a familiar space and it is interesting to them and it gives them a new way to express themselves. This medium is different than most classroom environment because it does not limit students learning and it gives them a powerful role to learn to do better. Textbooks were relevant curriculum and powerful at one time but not anymore. Literacy can be in different forms and we have to learn how to integrate it in meaningful ways. We have to equip teachers the tools that are used outside of the classroom.

Edutopia.org. (nd). Big Thinkders Sasha Barab on New-Media Engagement. Retrieved on Oct 5, 2009 from []

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., Malenoski, K. (2007). Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision Curriculum Development, pp 219