The Digital Classroom Without Walls- The Magic of 21st Century Digital Learning

Today I have to do a huge shout out to someone who has single-handedly shown me the incredible possibilities of how digital learning can connect and extend learning. Take a bow Joel Bevans- you are a qualified Marveller of Children!

Joel created the Tribe of Travelling Tales (link here) and it has inspired me and my learners to collaborate in ways I never thought possible, as well as deepen their learning of storytelling and now maths. In short,  a narrative is created by 5 different groups of learners from around the world using Adobe Spark and it is then published as a video we can all share.

My learners cannot wait to be part of it, and I have a rotation so everyone gets a turn. They've learned the structure of a narrative, the power of poetic language features, they've practised collaborating with each other to combine ideas, and they've gained a huge sense of ownership and connection with each other and other learners from around the globe through writing.

In our last tale, Cathie Mathews from United Nations International School Hanoi, Vietnam, came up with the great idea of using maths in the narrative. This is something I've had in mind to do so it was a great prompt for me. Again, the power of connecting with other educators in the digital classroom without walls makes it a win-win for everyone. Thanks, Cathie! There is solid research on the power of incorporating mathematics into storytelling (Back & Lee, 2011), such as the projects and research from MathThroughStories.org (link here).

Our group added addition and subtraction to the build-up within the meaningful context of the story, as we have begun to explore subtraction in our Number Talks (Humphreys & Parker, 2015). The use of strategies to add to the narrative gave me an opportunity for ongoing formative assessment for the group as well.

Cathie has begun to incorporate the tale into her classroom writing and maths programme, and so will we next week as my learners will be motivated by what other learners half-way around the world are doing. How cool!

 

In this episode lies, for me, the magic of 21st-century digital learning: expanding the horizons of learning possibilities through meaningful connections and collaborations with those seeking to take learning into new and wonderful places.

________________________________________________________________________
References:

Back, J., Lee T. (2011). Dramatic Mathematics. Retrieved from https://nrich.maths.org/2433

Humphreys, C., & Parker, R. (2015). Making Number Talks Matter: Developing Mathematical Practices and Deepening Understanding, Grades 4-10. Stenhouse Publishers.