Article Response #6: Make Learning Pop!

“Make Learning Pop!” is an article written by Shaunna Smith that discusses the concept of uniting art and technology. Smith starts with the idea of how pop-up books are a fun and exciting way to engage and motivate student literacy. Smith is approached by a seventh grade English language arts teacher who teaches at a low-income urban school and begins helping her find creative ways to use pop-ups in order to teach creative writing. This is how the Digital Paper Engineering Club at Spring Woods Middle School in Texas was formed. In this club students would cover paper engineering which would then be fused with a language arts activity.

Smith discusses how to make pop-ups meaningful in the classroom. She touches on the importance of choosing themes that go with student’s interests, using hands-on exploration, having students collaborate with one another, and maintaining reflective journalism throughout the project. For English language learners, a teacher integrated language arts concepts into making the pop-ups, such as characterization, flow, critical analysis etc. which allowed students to communicate and express themselves through their pop-up creations.

The group of students then collaborated in making a pop-up book. There was a large amount of collaboration among students in order to communicate one another’s ideas. Poems were written down and then transformed into pop-up creations that were digitally fabricated and designed. Smith adds about the student learning process and says, “as students discussed the writing process and creative writing techniques, their interactions reinforced English language arts concepts” (p. 28). The interesting part was that language arts was not the only topic covered and mastered through this process. Mathematics terms came up with the creation and design process which could have been expanded into further lessons.

Looking at the ISTE’s NETS for students and teachers I noticed that the information in this article could easily fall under “critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making”. I thought this because of the process behind making a collaborative pop-up book with a group of students. It is not something that can just develop overnight, it has to take time, energy, and plenty of teamwork. Students had to first do research and critically review the research, then decide whether or not they could use it and finally come to a decision together.

I decided that I want to look at the various resource links that the author provides in order to get a better feel of the process of making pop-ups and how to really adapt them into your classroom lessons. I think this is something that I could see myself teaching children that are as young as five to as old as fifteen. I also think that with enough creativity they can be used in a wide spectrum of areas from science to math to history to art itself. This is something I definitely will keep in mind when I need creative resources for my future classroom.

Smith, S. (2012). Make Learning Pop!. (39) 8. 26-28. Retrieved from: http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learningandleading.

Article Response #5: Google Forms and Flubaroo: Less Paper, More Teaching

Papers are something that educators have a mass amount of, at all times. Papers have to be graded, archived, organized, and kept together constantly. Laurie O. Campbell provides a solution to organizing the mass amount of papers that teachers have to deal with daily in her article: “Google Forms and Flubaroo: Less Paper, More Teaching”.

Campbell starts by talking about Google Forms how they don’t only save time but how they can be implemented into an elementary school classroom in creative ways. Campbell explains, “Forms are tools that collect data teachers can evaluate for planning instruction” (p. 28). One of these ways involves collecting student information on the first day of class. A fifth grade teacher gave her students a survey in their classroom on the first day that asked questions like what they liked about science, their favorite hobbies and activities, and what they wanted to learn in school. At the end of the day the teacher looked over the information and planned lessons according to interests for her students. Campbell explains, “For instance, several students indicated that they played soccer. She was able to plan a unit on insects that lived on the soccer field. Her students loved learning science on the soccer field” (p. 28).

Fluberaoo was the next accessible application that Campbell discussed. According to Campbell: “Flubaroo is a tool designed to work in conjunction with Google Forms” (p. 29). Flubaroo is able to grade tests, administered through Google forms, and highlight any questions that were cumulatively missed by at least 40% of the class. Students are then given scores back immediately and teachers have data that they can use to further instruction or for future exams. The only con I see with this program is the reliability on a computer source for grading answers. We all know that sometimes technology has its glitches so it may be a good idea to double check the answers occasionally.

Looking at ISTE’s NETS for teachers and students I noticed that something like this could easily fall under “design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments”.  I thought it could because a teacher would be designing new digital age learning experiences that can later assess student understanding and be implemented into the curriculum. Students would be able to become active participants because surveys could either be given in class or at the library or at home. Assignments would then vary because the technology tools allow for creative exploration from the part of both the student and teacher.

I would love to look into other applications like the ones mentioned in the article. After reading the article I decided that I would do some research into Google Forms, which I had heard of before, and Flubaroo, which was new to me. Being able to save paper is one of the positive aspects of such programs but it also allows teachers to get a very clear and precise picture of student learning patterns, something I wish to master by the time I have my own classroom. 

Campbell, L. (2012). Google Forms and Flubaroo: Less Paper, More Teaching (40) 3. 28-29. Retrieved from: http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learningandleading.