iPads, MakerEd and More in Education

How have you showcased your students’ work beyond the walls of your classroom? What impact has that had on them, on you and on your shared work of teaching and learning?

These are the questions we’ll be asking those who attend our session at the annual National Council of Teachers of English conference this week, the theme of which is “Raising Student Voice.” We’ll be presenting with the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and with Christa Forster, a teacher at the Kinkaid School in Houston, and five of her students. Our theme? “Why You Should Publish Student Work — and Where and How to Do It.”

Student presentations have come a long way in the last 20 years of education. It seemed like every presentation in the 90s involved students making large posters to present to their classmates and teachers.  

With the invention of Powerpoint came a new wave of student presentations that had children across the globe, clicking through slides with amazing sounds and animations. However, it’s 2018 now and students have more technology, more access, and more opportunities to be creative than ever before.

Here are 5 fresh ideas to get the most out of your students’ presentations.

Since the advent of formal education, many students have questioned the validity or relevance of the work they are doing. The question of “when am I going to use this?” has been launched at most veteran teachers countless times. Indeed, making learning more “real” has long been a goal of those who have promoted everything from project-based learning to career technical education. Both learners and learning facilitators want learning where the ‘why’ is an integral part of the process. It’s this desire to be “real” that has now found its way into our vernacular as “authenticity”. Authentic learning can be the guide to not only make learning more real but also more maximized and optimal for all learners. In a world where authenticity is often elusive in everything from our food to our entertainment, we are now holding our teaching and learning to a new standard of authenticity. Project-based learning practitioners, as well as those truly working on a more 21st century, personalized learning approach, are using authenticity as a foundational metric of both pedagogy and success.

I’m on a bit of a mission! Everywhere I go, I ask this question, “How many of you allow your students to publish for a global audience?” The result…very few hands go up if any. The reality is this is a real-world skill and can be a very important and authentic learning experience for students of all ages. What’s holding you back?