I had one of my teachers approach me this past week and describe a project that he has always loved to use in his classroom. He has had the students hand draw a newspaper with pictures and news stories leading up to the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution. He wanted to find a way to use our Chromebooks to use technology to enhance the learning of the students.
Using my design-oriented mind, I wanted to find a way that we could easily bring technology into the classroom so that we could begin conversations around moving beyond the substitution realm of SAMR (I know SAMR has its issues, which I wrote about here, but I strongly believe that it is an excellent starting point!). So, I started by asking him a question. He continued to talk for minutes on end about the project and what he liked about it. We then worked on and designed a newspaper template that the students could fill out and use their best judgment as to what content needs to go where. While we are missing important parts, we have started to have the conversations and have started to examine ways that we can “level up” the use of technology.
On top of this, the work that I did with this teacher quickly spread to other teachers and my inbox was flooded with requests for helping to integrate more technology into what many other teachers are doing. In my new position, this seemed like an important first step in getting into more classrooms and changing the ways that we examine pedagogy and teaching with the technology. This is essential to my school and my students if we are to succeed in our initiative and provide more meaningful learning opportunities for my students.
Check out the template below and feel free to share! Download your copy HERE!
Thoughts, comments, and suggestion?