Students Teaching Students

Rabbi Michael Cohen

Table of Contents
The Power To Educate ~ Page 4
How do you know you know? ~ Page 5
Thoughtful Use of Technology ~ Page 6
3rd Grade Native American Project ~ Page 7
21st-Century Skill Acquisition ~ Page 9
21st-Century Skills Unpacked ~ Page 10
Resources ~ Page 13

"Imagine what is possible when we humbly step aside and consider how to really get the student, teacher and technology partnership to work." 

Click if

🤔

You're curious.

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The Power To Educate

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Becoming a teacher might not be on everyones bucket list, but after watching eight year olds teaching eight year olds about Native American life, I hope they realize just how powerful the ability to educate someone really is. Being in charge of other peoples learning was a new experience for these third graders.

I’ve been thinking about this for a while. 

When I saw this tweet during the #1to1techat on Twitter I finally knew how to phrase it.

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How do you know how much you know?

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To find out – teach it to someone else. Our next challenge? If our students are able to become independent learners working towards becoming facilitators of learning, then where does that leave us as the “real educators” in the classroom? The massive outpour of information as well as the technology to harness its power actually leaves educators with a very powerful and humble mission.

It empowers us to help students become caring, thoughtful, and serious learners.

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If we choose to answer this calling and put aside our slightly bruised ego and title of ‘sage on the stage’, then the student, teacher, and technology partnership can begin to create some truly awesome results.

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Students interact with their peer created content and fill out assessment questions to test their understanding.

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Thoughtful Use of Technology

When gauging thoughtful use of technology, one of the questions that educators must ask, is how the product of learning is used after it has been completed. Technology tools give our students the ability to do so much more than simply accomplish tasks and turn them in.

With Book Creator student learning comes alive and gives others a very engaging and interactive learning experience that impacts almost every one of their senses (smell coming soon?!).

I have seen Book Creator act as a catalyst

for meaningful learning for 2nd graders as they create audio recordings to assess reading and speaking skills, and photograph hand drawn pictures while studying the Torah/Bible section of the week.

I have watched 7th graders create a grade level science journal reflecting on their week long scientific expedition in the Olympic National Forest in Washington State.

With a simple interface, powerful features, and multiple sharing options, it is clear why Book Creator is the go to app for so many educators embracing technology use in the classroom.

Third Grade Native American Tribal Life Project

Third Grade Native American Tribal Life Project

This project was a collaboration with Deborah Littman and Joanna Benporat and their 3rd grade classes at Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy.

The initial planning phase of the project went very routine. Questions of purpose, time spent, objectives, and curriculum alignment were asked. Questions about student’s understanding of the applications of choice were answered.

We estimated the project would integrate technology between the A and the M on the SAMR model due to its use of audio-visual capabilities as well as how the technology would allow the learning to be shared.

The objective of the student was to demonstrate their knowledge of a Native American tribes to the class. After reflecting on the final outcome of the project, we compared the project’s use of technology to how the project was accomplished by traditional means.

21st-Century Skill Acquisition

Skill

Traditional

Learning With
Technology

Oral communication:
Visual presentation:
Understanding of content:
Cooperation and collaboration:
Engagement and enthusiasm:
Organization and time management:
Students as facilitators:

5/10
7/10
7/10
5/10
6/10
5/10
3/10

8/10
7/10
8/10
10/10
10/10
9/10
9/10

21st-Century Skill Unpacked

Now each one of these skill sets that students developed during this project have a specific objective.

Oral communication
Through the use of audio recording and filming, students had the ability to clearly and effectively share their learning with other people in an engaging way that gave the viewer a sense of choice. The traditional method consisted of students presenting in groups in the front of the class reading from index cards.

How to add audio hotspots in Book Creator

Visual presentation
The traditional method consisted of hand made poster boards and dioramas. In the past digital slideshows such as PowerPoint were used as well. Using the iPad students could create an audio-visual multimedia presentation that incorporated hand made artifacts into the project.

Understanding of content
Many of the traditional methods of learning were still utilized by students including reading from books, note taking, and basic researching. The information was internalized further through the use of multimedia such as audio record, video filming, drawing, and creative writing.