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I have been teaching 7th grade Social Studies for over 11 years at the Beebe School in Malden. The 7th grade Social Studies curriculum includes the exciting and interesting topics of Ancient History! Students are very excited to learn how ancient cultures lived, fought and ultimately changed the world!

I decided to take this course to learn all the new, interesting and exciting technological tools that can help to motivate students. Although I am somewhat technologically savvy, I have much to learn. I'm hoping that I can take away some fascinating and innovative ways to use technology to teach history.

It was very interesting to see the changes that have happened over the past 10 years. One curious event was the steep decline in CD revenue but the staggering increase in music downloads. In my home, no one even listens to CDs anymore...it's either the radio or an ipod. One interesting and encouraging statistic was that books are still being published and, in fact, have increased. Can anyone say "Kindle"...
 * //"2.1:The 21st Century Classroom.//**"

__Session 6 Forum Post__:
How can use of video and presentation tools enhance student learning?

Video and presentation tools can be used to introduce a new topic, provide additional material on a topic being studied or be used as a closer. Students are very tuned into the "video" world and would usually prefer visual stimuli to reading material. Once a student has read about a topic, providing some kind of video presentation rounds out the lesson in an interesting and meaningful way. The Prezi can be used as a teacher presentation or a student assessment. As an assessment piece, students can create basic Prezi's that showcase the main and important points of the topic being studied.

I like the idea that the Prezi uses one "slide" and embeds all the information collectively. Continuing to zoom in and out shows the student how all the information presented is connected to one central idea. The main problem I see with a Prezi is teaching the technology to middle school students. This age group has a highly varied skill set and many students do not have access to the Internet from home. A secondary problem would be consistent Internet availability at school. The Internet is down much too often to not have a 2nd strategy for teaching the same material.

__Session 7 Forum Post__
Voicethread is definitely a useful tool in my 21st Century skills toolbox. Students can truly collaborate on a particular topic and feel accomplished at the end of the lesson. Students would enjoy being able to use their own voices and hearing them at presentation time. Additionally, by being able to listen to themselves, they might reflect more carefully and revise their way of speaking, writing and editing.

__Session 8 Forum Post__
Is communication essential to student learning? Yes, absolutely! Without communication, young students will be unsure of the direction they're taking, and will need confirmation that they are headed in the right direction. Communication between teacher and student is an essential part of the learning process. Students need direction and teachers need to communicate/collaborate with each other and to their students. Even online courses require some kind of communication.

Does technology help students' communication skills? Technology can be a help and a hinderance. Depending on the students' skill level, technology could be a motivating tool or one more task to complete to get to the goal. Having students use technology is another tool in the teacher toolbox. No one idea is better than others. It is the skillful teacher that can use and interchange tools to motivate students to want to learn to do the best job they can. If technology can assist in that, then it does help students' communication skills because students will go beyond the "required" learning and want more.

How do we change our schools to foster innovation? I think that Judi has done a remarkable job of fostering innovation within the History department. This course coupled with the new middle school programs (i.e., ModelUN) have changed the way many people do their job. The "how" was possibly the most difficult part. People, in general, are resistant to change, especially a dramatic one. There are levels of fear, anxiety and inability that have to be overcome. The way it appears that it was done in Malden is slowly with a core group dedicated to moving Malden into the 21st century. That core group became experts and then assisted the additional learners. I'm oversimplifying the process, but this appears to be the basic blueprint.

There are many problems trying to change or modify a school system, the largest impediment is, of course, money. Proper funding is necessary for consistency of Internet access, available technology, programs and training. Without these in the District, there can be some truly challenging roadblocks to implementing technnology into our lessons.

__**Session 9 Forum Post**__
Had a ton of trouble with Google Maps! Didn't work like the demo video showed!