Content Area: Social Studies
School: Westfield High School
Summary/Reflection
Kim Leegan has been a social studies teacher for several years, both at Union Catholic High School (Scotch Plains, NJ) and now at Westfield High School (Westfield, NJ). I had the opportunity to sit down with her recently to gain her perspective and thoughts on using Web 2.0 technology in her classroom. My biggest take away from the interview can be summed up in three words: student centered learning. When Kim makes decisions about what tools to use with her students, this is the primary consideration in that decision making process. She states, "I choose tools that have students driving their learning...allowing them to take a leadership role." Kim's Global Perspectives class has recently completed a project using the tool Blendspace. This tool allowed her students to create 21st century digital learning centers, in this case on a particular culture of the world. Her students became the primary drivers of their education, taking an active role in the design and creation of their learning centers.
She also talks about how the technology tools she chooses not only expose her students to the required social studies content, but also how to become leaders, collaborate, and a bit about multi-media platforms. She states, "it more than content, but its presenting ideas, manipulating media, and collaborative work." Being that the title of my blog is "Beyond the Content", I found her points on this particular piece to be extremely relevant. Too many times our students are narrowly focused on two things: grades and the content. With these Web 2.0 tools, learning can be richer, more meaningful, and serve to teach them skills beyond the facts, dates, and elements on the periodic table.
Another interesting take away from the interview centered around obstacles. For many teachers, obtaining permission (from parents or admin) to utilize a particular website or application seems like just another burdensome step, that may dissuade teachers from actually following through with the digital lesson. Why bother, right? For Kim, she sees it as a way to build a stronger relationship with the parents, keeping them involved and informed about the exciting things taking place in her class. She states, "while i'ts obstacle in the sense that yes, you have to do a letter, but it's a help because now parents know what your doing in the classroom and they tend to be more interested and involved." I love this idea. She essentially turned what could be perceived as a negative into a positive.
Lastly, Kim touched upon advice for teachers who are embarking on this 21st century model. She was pretty adamant about two things: 1.correctly matching project with tech 2. establishing essential questions. I could not agree with her more. Teachers often fall into the trap of "forcing" the technology into a project, where we are only using technology to "cover" the requirement and not to enhance the learning. This serves no one, especially students. Kim talks about a remedy for this, and it applies for all subjects. When planning on integrating a Web 2.0 tool into your lessons, be sure to start with a carefully crafted essential question. If the students can use the tech tool to help answer or drive their response to the question, the decision you made was a sound one.