The local, public schools have a Chromebooks initiative. Too often adding technology means watching a video or PowerPoint slideshow from a Smartboard or typing answers to questions and emailing them to the teacher. Instead, the hunt should be for meaningful ways to inject a little technology-other than Khan Academy! Why not create a blog yourself? My home-school students make videos, posted them to YouTube, and linked them to their own blogs. Check out A Half Eaten Muffin's blog. The kids were instructed to imagine they were addressing a home-schooler in Alaska or Montana, isolated, and in need of help. For my kids, this is a means of assessment. If you can teach a lesson, I think you probably understand it. Their blogs became part of their digital portfolios.
This fall my kids are going to write and illustrate their own children's science books. Fun, right? You can, too! Pick a topic germane to your lessons. My kids are going to select an animal, any animal. Together, the kids and I will develop a rubric, a guide to determine just what constitutes a completed project. We'll set a reasonable time-line to finish, say two weeks or so. I'll ask the kids to scan their illustrations (or use images from Creative Commons-with citations!) and send me their books. Once they're finished, we look for ways to publish. These book creator tools look promising.
One more idea: create an app. Start by learning to code at Code Academy or do an Hour of Code with Khan Academy. Try an App Maker's templates to create an app. Now, isn't this more meaningful than jousting watching an Internet video? This time the kids will be watching YouTube for tips to improve their app! Too ambitious? My Bio kids are going to evaluate apps, such as Plant ID, House Spiders (Spida in Da House), and Merlin, a bird ID app. I may have the kids write reviews to evaluate these apps. Now, isn't this practical?
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