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The Worth of SAMR, pt 2

Back in October I wrote about a teacher that I teamed with to create a blog where she hoped to connect her classroom to the world at large through SAMR. This was and continues to be a very powerful experience for herself and her students.

SAMR strikes again in Pequea Valley, this time to a 5th grade classroom! Mrs. Girvin has been working on many viable technologies to increase the SAMRi goodness within her classroom this year. I hope to do what she's created justice her in this post.

Through Skype Mrs. Girvin's class has connected to multiple sources outside of their classroom. Using Skype for Education they connected with author Chris Tozier, who taught them methods to use in their narrative writing on the creation of characters with flaws, story arc, and conflict/resolution. This powerful experience has shown in the students' writing and their passion for it. This Redefinition and opportunity certainly would not have been viable without the use of Educational Technology. 

Mrs. Girvin is taking the class' relationship with Mr. Tozier from role of teacher to the role of editor! Chris is now in the process of giving the students feedback on their latest narrative stories.
Mrs. Girivin and I developed a way through Google Docs to easily share student work with Chris, where he can give feedback to the students. This asynchronous collaboration with a real published author is as authentic as it gets and I believe exactly what Ruben Pentedura had in mind when he created the SAMR ladder. 

The students will be using this feedback from Tozier in an effort to have their own writing published in a book they are creating on Lulu.com, which I did with my own 4th graders as a classroom teacher. The proceeds from the book that they publish and sell will be donated to a charity of the students' choice. More details to come!

While the SAMRi goodness still continues to thrive in Mrs. Girvin's classroom, there is a lot to be proud of! We've got 5th graders collaborating with experts in their field, student passionate about their work, and work being used to give to a greater good. SAMR and EdTech in this case are being used to teach many life lessons, spread student work, and bring positive influence in to student's lives that may otherwise only be able to have the positive influence of their teacher! This is SAMR at it's finest!

I hope this example can help you #SAMR and #edtech on! Let me know what else I can do to help. ~ Ryan

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