A cheesy graphic I made which may be more confusing than anything else!


One of the hottest 2.0 tools being used at my schools right now is Glogster EDU (click to visit Glogster EDU and also check out my getting started handout here) In case you are wondering about "glogster," it's a digital poster-making tool and is loved by students AND teachers as a way to present information. It's flashy, easy to use and gives students the ability to really personalize their content and make something that is unique and easy to share with their peers, parents and teachers. And just to share, I learned about Glogster from @cbrannon who is an awesome science teacher at my school. Oh the power of sharing...

So how do I teach more teachers and students how to use it?
I don't...they do! You see, I spent time during a TechIn20 Session on Glogster helping a few curious folks get started with the tool. Well, over the past few weeks one of those curious 6th grade science teachers started using glogster with her students, saw the value of it and decided to help another 6th grade science teacher's class get started with it (our 6th grade is made up of 3 teams). So basically, here's what happened...One science teacher started using Glogster, taught her kids how to "glog" and used it as part of a unit in her class. After her kids proved to be proficient "gloggers," she sent them to the science class on another team (where the kids & teachers were unfamiliar w/Glogster) and they taught those kids as well as that science teacher how to "glog." That teacher (the one who learned from the students, not me) then sent her students to the 3rd team and helped them learn how to "glog." NOW that science teacher is preparing her students to teach the math teacher nextdoor how to "glog." As my boss would say, that's a great example of "force multiplication." I taught one who taught another who taught another...and you get the picture. If you don't, then check out the graphic below.

Now all 6th grade 3 teams at one of my schools have a new, fun tool in their toolbox that they can readily use! That's a great success and I applaud my awesome teachers for spreading their passion for this tool and opening up to allow the students to teach them something. Afterall, a teacher must be a life long learner, right? And what better way than learning from their students is there for a teacher to demonstrate that teachers are learners too? Also, I am finding that Glogster is a great tool for getting teachers to test the 2.0 waters and see that it's not all sharks and jellyfish! Now I just need to get this model going in all curricula across 6th, 7th and 8th grades at both of my schools. Just seeing the results from this experiment excites me and shows me the the power of teachers and students sharing as equals in what they know, what they want to learn and what they can accomplish! All of this because someone shared...

To see some of Mr. Brannon's student Glogs on Body Systems, visit his wiki here.

3 comments:

Dave Bill said...

Great post. I've been playing around with Glogster and definitely see the potential. The updside definitely lies in the ability to teach each other, no matter the application or skill.

I am definitely going to suggest it to some teachers who make paper posters. Keep up the great work.

Neil Stephenson said...

Don't you just love Glogster! I think it's got such amazing creative potential for kids. Using it for the systems of the body is a great idea. Here's the work I've done with Glogster for historical timelines: http://tinyurl.com/c5yse2

Thanks for sharing

Chad Brannon said...

Great post! "Paying it forward" is what education and learning is all about. Sharing the great stuff in schools should be done everyday! If the kids love it, share it! They definitely LOVE to be "Glogers"! Here are some examples my students have done: http://cbrannon.wiki.hoover.k12.al.us/Body+System+Examples

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