 There's 30 of them. They're brand new. They're desired by the students in a way that nothing else in school is coveted.
And they just...sit there. I'm talking about the brand new iPads my friend's school acquired at the start of this school year. The administration touted its good fortune to the parents. The acquisition of this technology would bring their school into the 21st century; their students would become connected; they'd be competitive among the surrounding schools. Which is great--if the iPads could actually walk themselves into the hands of a student and be used in a purposeful manner. (Maybe that's a 22nd-century concept?) But see, no one in the administration thought to provide for professional development that could have assisted teachers in learning best practices for iPads in the classroom. Or even simply arranged for a day for the teachers to share ideas and plans for the iPads for the school year. So there the iPads sat in their moveable cart, but not moving much at all. My friend offered to hold an in-service for the teachers, having taken an iPad integration class last summer. But the administration summarily rejected his idea on the grounds that "the teachers will figure it out on their own. We shouldn't have to pay teachers their salary AND pay for training." True story. Somehow, it was worth investing $15,000 in iPads but it wasn't worth investing in teacher training. In her article "What's Worth Investing In? How to Decide What Technology You Need," author Tina Barseghian posits that schools need to stop and think about what they need before they purchase it: "We have to be thinking about what’s the goal of using technology. What do we want to have happen?” Exactly. What DO we want to have happen? Simply having the technology in close proximity to the students doesn't make a school a 21st century one. Semantically speaking, ALL schools are 21st century schools, right? Welcoming the iPads into the school didn't make students better learners, nor did it make them more tech-savvy. To quote my sons: "Duh." Osmosis works only at the cellular level. Technology for technology's sake doesn't work. We need to establish goals for our students, for our curriculum, and for our teachers before we make the purchases. And in most cases, the money could be better spent on helping our teachers to integrate already-existing technology into the curriculum. I've talked to WAY too many teachers who don't integrate technology simply because it's coming at them faster than they can keep up, and no one seems to be interested in helping them do so. Which means...maybe there are a lot of us faking it out there? On his list of the Top 10 Ways to Fake a 21st Century Classroom (which is both hilarious and disturbingly accurate, by the way), Terry Heick puts "Buy iPads" at #6: "If it’s a 21st century learning environment you’re looking for, a classroom full of students pinching and zooming on little glass rectangles will give it to you in spades." Pretty accurate observation, Mr. Heick. I've never understood the whole concept of "fake it until you make it." How about we learn before we do? Isn't that what we tell our students? Isn't that expected in ANY century of learning? I've seen a recent (and hopeful) trend in local school districts, and that's the hiring of technology/instructional coaches. It's a slow-moving trend, but I hope it's on an upward swing. Because if we don't invest in our teachers, we're certainly not making an investment in our students. Or in their 21st century learning. And that rings pretty false to me. image via Flickr
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 Of all the things I teach with regard to the research process, teaching students how to avoid plagiarism is probably the most challenging. As edtech blogger Med Kharbach notes, with the "boom in digital technology, plagiarism has been elevated to the ranks of serious epidemics. In academia it gets even worse. More students are growing dependent on copy paste culture." He's right. Our digital natives, having known only the Internet their whole lives, see absolutely nothing wrong with copying and pasting information from the Internet and into their word-processing document. Of course, they don't yet understand the consequences of their actions because they don't really take it seriously. Can "borrowing" someone else's words be considered a crime? Simply put, yes, I tell my students as I share with them plagiarism's clear definition. If caught plagiarizing, I explain to the my students that, at best, they'll receive a failing grade for their hard work; at worst, a failing grade for the class, suspension, or even expulsion. I save the plagiarism lesson for the end of the unit, right before I take the reins off the kids and let them get started on their research project. After devoting five-plus lessons to proper research techniques (understanding copyright, fair use, and public domain; citing sources; evaluating websites, and keyword searching), we finally arrive at discerning the subtle differences among summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting. With younger students in 4th and 5th grades, understanding the pitfalls and dangers of plagiarism can be an abstract concept, which is why I use this simple and age-appropriate lesson from Common Sense Media called "Whose is it, Anyway?" For students in grades 6-8, however, fully and clearly understanding what plagiarism is and how it can--even if you're unknowingly guilty of it--have lasting and deep-reaching consequences, is a necessary skill. The need to break the kids of the "copy-and-paste" mentality before they get to high school is critical. So here's how I approach the concept for students in grades 6-8: Research Chunk #5 Paraphrase, Summarize, or Quote? Pre-Class (aka "flipping the classroom")
In-Class
Post-Class (homework)
This is the lesson plan that has worked for me. I've tweaked it over the years. Of course, you may want to tweak it for your own use, so here are some other resources you might want to review for use in your classroom:
If the students still feel the need to plagiarize, the following are some free plagiarism checkers for teachers: And, finally, students will need to cite their work, as I've discussed in a recent post. Luckily, in this day and age, they've got a plethora of bibliography generators to do it for them: One final note: the image below is something I created on my own, but it's loosely based on an image a colleague forwarded to me about a year ago. If anyone out there knows the origin of the image, please let me know ASAP so I can give that person credit...I don't want to be guilty of plagiarizing! image above via BLaugh  Four Keys to Keyword Searching5/22/2014  If you follow me, you know I've been blogging lately about my research unit for grades 4-8.
Because it's such a time-consuming yet very important process, I like to take it slooooowwwly with the kids. All too often there's just not enough time to go through the painstaking process of teaching our students the logical, organized, and linear method of properly conducting the research process. I think we've all assumed at one time or another--and I've been guilty of this myself!-- that our students know enough about Googling things to figure it out for themselves, or we've (sort of) addressed the issues--plagiarism, citing, etc.--as they arose. I cannot stress enough the need to allow you and your class time to properly follow the necessary steps of the research process. I myself like to "chunk" the process into manageable steps: understanding copyright, fair use, and public domain; citing sources; evaluating websites; keyword searching; and avoiding plagiarism (to be addressed in a future post). Today, I'd like to address keyword searching. Obviously, with the Common Core State Standards stressing critical-thinking skills, reasoning, and evidence collection skills, it makes sense to teach the research process instead of simply assigning a research project. Our students are going to be expected, as mandated by the CCSS, to "gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources; assess the credibility of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and providing basic bibliographic information for sources" (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.6.8). Keyword searching, then, is important for gathering "relevant information." And frankly, it saves a lot of time when done correctly, and that's usually how I sell it to my students--who resent having to do research in the first place, anyway! I also like to use the Internet to my advantage: there are others before me who've created some amazing lessons to teach students how to conduct a proper keyword search, so why reinvent the wheel? Research Chunk #4 Effective Keyword Searching
For fun and daily practice, I LOVE this site, A Google a Day. Google provides the question, and you provide the answer, applying your newly-developed keyword search techniques! You could make this a competition for your students, and they'd love it. It's pretty addictive! If you're interested in having your students complete research modules on their own, then read this. Finally, they can Google like a boss with this handy cheat sheet. This is what I do in the classroom. What have you tried that works? Please share your ideas and suggestions. I'm always ready to try something new! Image via Pixabay The Value of Evaluating Websites5/21/2014  When I teach my research unit, I like to devote an entire nine weeks to the process, since it's important to break up the process into manageable bite-size pieces or "chunks."
After first distinguishing among the subtle differences of copyright, public domain, and fair use, we then move on to learning how to properly cite resources. Of course, after that, the students think it's necessarily time to start researching and note-taking, and in the past that would be the next logical step. I mention the past (well, my past) because, back in the day, the only thing we had were books. (Remember those?) Now, as you know, students immediately start Googling for information...and of course grabbing everything they find. What I most remember from those long ago nights secluded in my college library, is sitting cross-legged on the floor of a dank and dusty aisle, surrounded by a tower of books, scanning indexes and tables of contents, evaluating whether or not each book in the pile would be useful for my research, discarding some and keeping others. I repeat this scenario to my students when it comes time to teach them how to evaluate websites. In this respect, I point out to them, the printed word isn't that different when it comes to the Internet. It's all about taking a good look at the information presented and determining if it's useful, relevant, and truthful. Teaching kids how to research on the Internet is, in my opinion, one of the hardest things to do, precisely because of our students' belief that the Internet has everything they need (which it does), and that everything is truthful (which it isn't isn't). Which is exactly why I feel the need to teach my students how to evaluate websites for their accuracy and relevancy. Research Chunk #3 How to Evaluate Websites
Usually, that's enough for one day. It's a lot for the kids to process, recognizing that everything on the Internet isn't always what it seems. I always feel like Toto after I teach this lesson, pulling back the curtain to expose the great and powerful Oz as a hoax. Image via Flickr How to Get Them to Cite Those Sites!5/20/2014  As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm currently teaching my research unit to students in grades 4-8, and past experience has taught me the benefit of "chunking" the research procedure into bite-sized, manageable pieces for my kiddos.
After we complete our opening lesson on copyright, fair use, and public domain, and since the idea of giving credit where credit is due is still fresh in their minds, we next dovetail into our lesson on citing sources. While it may seem out of sequence--as most teachers address plagiarism and paraphrasing before anything else--I like to teach citations before we tackle the concept of note-taking. As I just mentioned, it's a natural extension of the copyright lesson and the idea of resisting the temptation to take what's not yours. I also think it sets the precedent that citing sources as you find them is crucial. All too often, students find information, note it, and then move on. Then, the works cited page becomes an afterthought--something they'll assemble when the research paper is finished. As we all know from experience (having made that same mistake ourselves when we were young and dumb), this is a baaaaad idea. Trying to locate research sources after the fact is like trying to herd cats: you'll end up frustrated, angry, and wondering why you even tried in the first place. Most of you will agree that source citation is a very abstract and outdated idea to our students, and trying to make it relevant to them goes over like a pregnant pole-vaulter. (I'm really full of figurative language today. Sorry.) More often than not, student demand to know why anyone would care or even want the minutia of the details involved in citation. However, saying, "Because that's the way it's done" isn't the most clarifying of answers, and that's why you might want to read this extremely helpful post by K-M the Librarian. She makes the analogy that citations are the addresses where the resources reside, and without them, the reader is left with a set of very unclear directions. Of course, if that analogy doesn't work, I always kindly point out to my students that if I can't read their "address" and get to the correct destination, then it will most definitely affect my "rating" of their "mapping" services. That always seems to drive home the point. :-) Research Chunk #2 How to Teach Citation of Sources
Like anything, this is going to take practice, so be patient with yourself and with your students. Students have quite a bit of trouble citing their sources (or even remembering to) because they're not familiar with citation style guides, and because they haven't had much practice. To ease their stress, it's not a bad idea to collect and comment on their works cited rough drafts in the middle of the research process so that they can make the necessary corrections and learn from your feedback. I'm always open to new ideas when it comes to how to teach citation to students, so if you have any resources that work for you, please share! Image via LiMSwiki  I don't know if this is true of your students, but my students are certainly under the impression that if it's on the Internet, it's free and it's true.
Which is why I dread the approach of my annual research unit. Teaching kids how to research on the Internet is, in my opinion, one of the hardest things to do, precisely because of our students' belief that the Internet has everything they need (which it does), and that everything is truthful (which it isn't isn't). In order to overcome these misconceptions, I've made very deliberate attempts over the last few years to create a linear and organized "chunked" procedure for guiding students in grades 4-8 through the research process, and I'll write about each of those "chunks" in the upcoming weeks. The research unit begins with an overview of understanding Copyright, Fair Use, & Public Domain, since this is the lesson that establishes the precedent that we can't take things from the Internet just because they're there. If you're confused about the difference among the three terms, you're not alone, so here's primer: Copyright is the law that protects the works of authors, artists, and composers from having their work copied without permission. Fair use allows the use of a limited amount of copyrighted material for educational purposes as long as the user uses only a small part of it and doesn't use the material for profit. Finally, works that are part of the public domain aren't copyrighted and can be used without permission, although credit should be given. (If you'd personally like to learn a little more about these terms, check out this site from the Provo Library site or this one from Copyright Kids.) What follows is the result of quite a bit of trial and error on my part, as it took me a few years to figure out the subtle differences between these terms AND how I could effectively teach them so my students could discern the difference, too. The best thing I've found? Keep it simple! Don't overload your students with too much information, as they'll inevitably tune you out and do the exact opposite of what you're trying to teach them. Research Chunk #1 How to Teach Copyright, Fair Use, & Public Domain
After all of this, the students generally get a pretty good sense that they have to stop and think before they grab something off the Internet. They also tend to become a bit despondent, asking "Well, what CAN I use?" To make it easier on them, I provide two resources:
If you'd still like to sample more of what's out there, I'd recommend the following sites:
What works for you in your classroom? Do you have any resources to share when it comes to copyright, fair use, and public domain? Let me know! Feel free to share my resources with others as well. But also please remember to give me credit, too! It's only fair. :-) UPDATE 4/20/2022: Thank you to Katie, from the Lyndhurst STEM Club for Girls, for sharing with the world a more recent site she's discovered to help with Trademarks, Copyrights, and Patents for Websites and Beyond. One of the best things about the Internet, Katie, is the collaboration that comes from good people sharing great things. Keep up the productive struggle! Image created at MemeGenerator Why Teachers Hate "Workshops"5/14/2014  I was having coffee the other day with a high school math teacher and a "civilian" friend. Joe and I were lamenting our most recent professional development experiences.
You've been there, too: spending hours sitting and watching a PowerPoint presentation but never really getting to do anything. Nothing really learned, and certainly nothing gained. Our friend, being in business, couldn't believe that, especially in education, professional development could go so terribly awry. And then I showed him this recent viral video about a professional development session for Chicago teachers being, in a word, infantilized by an educational consultant. He was dumbfounded. Joe and I weren't. While we'd never endured something as humiliating as our Chicago counterparts had, we had, mostly, experienced less-than-professional development. Professional development needs to be better. It needs to be more about development. And it certainly needs to be more professional. Blogger A.J. Juliani, a K-12 Technology Staff Developer, believes that PD "has to start with a quick win," and a quick win is something that will help teachers accomplish the following:
As Juliani states, these three items provide a win for teachers and students. As for the quick part, teachers should be able to accomplish the above during one professional development session. He's right. Something productive should come from a workshop. I'm looking forward to an edcamp I'll be attending in May. As I've discussed in a previous post, edcamps are UNconferences where teachers create the content and collaboration among teachers drives the process. They're gaining in popularity--mostly because they work. And because they provide a "quick win" at the end of the day. And because they put the professionals in charge of their own development. Edcamps are just one way to remodel professional development. What is something you've experienced that's worked for you? image courtesy of Can't Scare A Teacher  To my chagrin, I'm one of the worst stereotypes out there: a girl who doesn't "get" math.
To my younger son's chagrin, the girl-turned-mom who doesn't "get" math can't help him with his homework. Most times, I drag my older son, the math genius, from wherever in the house he's hiding so that he can offer his assistance, because even if I could help, I know I wouldn't want to explain a math concept the wrong way and undermine the amazing work his ever-patient and brilliant math teacher has done to get him this far the last three years. It's the same reason we don't even use sites like KhanAcademy or MathTrain for video tutorials because we've tried that, but the kid laments that "they" don't do it the "right way," i.e., the way his teacher taught him. He's very insistent and sometimes frustratingly indignant that Mrs. S. does things the "best way." Which is why I often find myself wishing that Mrs. S. could give me a brief tutorial on the math concept du jour. And now I think she might be able to with the help of these DIY whiteboard apps I recently discovered. 1. ShowMe Billing itself as the "easiest way to create and share lessons on the iPad," ShowMe allows you to create a video tutorial using your iPad screen as a whiteboard while you provide your own voiceover. I tested it out myself and found it to be as easy to use as a classroom whiteboard. There are thousands of tutorials across all subject areas already uploaded to the website for use by teachers and students. I discovered one teacher on the site who uses the app to flip her classroom: the students watch the lesson/lecture at home and come prepared the next day to work on what they just viewed. Take a look at the site to get some ideas of your own. 2. Educreations Again, this is another user-friendly whiteboard app. What I like about Educreations is that you can type text on the whiteboard AND you can upload an image from the iPad camera, the iPad photo stream, Dropbox, or the web. Like ShowMe, there are plenty of previously-created videos already on the site. They're arranged by subject area and by featured videos. I tried making my own video with text and images, and boy, did it look professional! Even better, once I registered, I received an immediate email from the support team checking to see if I needed any help getting started. Now THAT's user-friendly! And if you don't have an iPad, you can still create lessons using Educreations' online whiteboard. 3. Knowmia If you're a little more advanced with your tech skills, I'd recommend Knowmia. Knowmia allows you to create "sophisticated animation sequences" with slides, images, graphics, video clips, and a video recording of your own face with voiceover. Don't let these state-of-the-art features intimidate you, though. The site provides excellent support resources for newbies. In addition, you can visit the Video Revolution Project to learn how teachers across the country are using Knowmia, and you can browse Knowmia's collection of "over 25,000 video lessons from great teachers." Applications for Education: Teachers could create a short video tutorial about that day's lesson to which students could refer at home while doing their homework. Alternatively, teachers could create lessons for the flipped classroom. Create your own video tutorial or lesson, and add an image from anywhere to enhance student understanding. Whether you create a video for remediation or for flipping, your choices are pretty limitless. If you're not the creative type, you could certainly recommend video tutorials from other teachers to suit your needs. So, Mrs. S., I hope you're reading this. I'd like to learn to do math the "right way." And my son would like me to learn, too! Image by Educreations ---------- UPDATE Just to prove to you how easy these apps are to use, I had my older son create a sample video tutorial today in ShowMe. And it got me thinking...why not assign some of your more tech-savvy students to create these short videos for you? That's some serious ownership of learning AND collaboration! 
Stephanie DeMicheleLearning Designer. Instructional Coach. Trainer. Working my hardest to create Teacher-Bordered Classrooms. Categories
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