Growth and Learning

My Learning Through Technology class has certainly expedited my digital growth.  Throughout this course, I have recognized new ways to bring technology into the classroom and have incorporated them into my lessons.

Some examples include:  having my students use wordle to create word clouds of their weekly spelling words, setting up and implementing a classroom blog so that students can write to a real audience, using animoto to create photo videos to show as a front loader to lessons, and a WebQuest in which students will embark upon an activity in which they will research Native American tribes.

This class has shown me the importance of keeping up to date with new technology.  The students we have today will need to have strong skills in digital literacy when they graduate.  Therefore, I need to continue to incorporate technology in all domains in meaningful and authentic ways. 

Equal Access to the Digital World

Today, the internet has become a part of life for most people.  We use it to: keep in touch with others, at work, for pleasure, to reserve library books, pay bills, shop, etc. In order to be successful in the 21st century, one needs to have digital literacy.  Thus, it is critical that the education system provide digital literacy to all students.

Universal Design for Learning (U.D.L) is a framework for educators to follow to ensure that all students are having their educational needs met.  Utilizing U.D.L will produce a classroom that is student centered.  In practice, the teacher considers every students' needs and plans in order to structure an environment and lesson plans in which each student can best reach their full potential.

As digital literacy has become an important goal in education, it is prudent that educators align digital access within the U.D.L framework.  Doing so will create a classroom in which students of all abilities can achieve digital literacy.  There are a multitude of tools available in order to achieve equal access.  One of my sons has severe visual impairment.  Due to technological innovations, he has not needed a classroom aide for years.  An attachment to a laptop magnifies anything he needs, including what the teacher is working on in the front of the classroom.  Other innovations include: touchscreens, writing aides, and text to speech to name just a few.

With the advancement of technology, there are software and hardware available to make equal access to the digital world easily achievable for every student.

Educational Value of Social Media

Social media can play an important role in education today.  They can be used in a multitude of ways including, notifying parents and students about snow days, to utilization in enhancing instruction.  Even the National School Board Association agrees. Koterwas (2007) shares, "The National School Boards Association (NSBA) finds that safety concerns over online social networking are overblown, and recommends schools become more comfortable with social networks and seek educational uses for online social networking" (p. 1).

Indeed, the NSBA made their determinations based on a study conducted by Grunwald And Associates, LLC, and funded by Microsoft, News Corporation and Verizon.  The NSBA have recommended that districts reflect on the following:

• Explore social networking sites
• Consider Using Social Networking for staff communications and professional development
• Find ways to harness the educational value of social networks
• Ensure equitable access
• Pay attention to the non-conformists
• Re-examine social networking policies
• Encourage social networking companies to increase educational value

While social networking is appropriate for middle and high school students, I still feel it has value at the elementary level.  Thus, I have decided to create a facebook page for my classroom.  This page is to be used by parents with their children in order to access information about classroom events, as well as information and photos of projects. 

In four weeks our class will begin a project in which students will play the role of museum curators. They will be assigned a tribe and will embark on a WebQuest in order to create a poster museum about a Native American Tribe.  When these posters are completed, I will take photos and post them on the class facebook page in order that students can take their parents on a "tour" of their museum.  This will add enthusiasm for the project as well as make it meaningful to the students. Most importantly, the best way to learn about something is to teach it. By connecting to our class facebook page with your child, you will enhance your child's understanding of Native American tribes by allowing them to teach you via the poster museums.  

I urge you to please "like" our classroom page if you are a facebook user. In doing so you will be alerted when the photos are added to the page. In addition, I will be using the page to notify you of important events that we have planned in our classroom.  Overall, my goal for this page is to more closely connect parents with our classroom. After all, parents are and should be a part of the classroom community. 

Permission slips allowing student work to be shown on the page will be sent home.  Please know that student work will not be identified by name, nor will student specific information be shared.  Most importantly, this is not a public page.  I authorize subscription requests, and only classroom parents will be granted access to the page.  To "like" the page please click here (you will need to log-in to facebook).

Thank-you in advance for your participation and support in making our classroom community more connected!

References

 

Koterwas, T. (2007, August 9). National School Boards Association Research and Guidelines on Online   Social Networking — WDIL.org. Web Designs for Interactive Learning — WDIL.org. Retrieved November 10, 2012, from http://www.wdil.org/resources/national-school-boards-association-research-and-guidelines-on-online-social-networking

Native American Webquest

Parents, Guardians, and Students,

Soon we will be embarking on a Webquest for Social Studies class. A Webquest is using online technology and resources in order to find information and complete a task.  Our Webquest will be used to find out information about the Powhaten, Sioux, and Pueblo Native American tribes. Each student will be assigned a partner and a tribe. The two will then work as "curators" to create a poster museum about their tribe (a curator is a person who takes care of a museum). The curators will print pictures of their tribe and write captions for each picture. These will be the "exhibits" on their poster museum. When the entire class is finished, the poster museums will be hung in the hallway and students will tour each others museum. As a class we will then compare and contrast the three tribes. These museums will remain in the Elementary hallway for two weeks so that all can come by and tour them.

If you are excited and can't wait to begin your on-line research as a curator, go to google.com and do a search on the three different tribes. Anyone who has a fact to share about these tribes at our morning meeting will earn a Gauger Dollar.

References

Highsmith, C. M. (n.d.). Milwaukee Art Museum — FactMonster.com. In Fact Monster: Online Almanac, Dictionary, Encyclopedia, and Homework Help — FactMonster.com. Retrieved October 20, 2012, from http://www.factmonster.com/us/history/milwaukee-art-museum.html

Educational Value of Animoto

 

Today I created an Animoto video for use in my second grade Social Studies, First Americans unit. I decided that a photo video with Native American Indian music would be a terrific front-loader to lesson one which covers the Powhatan, Sioux, and Pueblo Native Americans.  It will appeal to my assorted group of learners as it has many elements including music and pictures. The video is only 30 seconds long so it won't take up much instructional time and it will also serve as a great transition from one subject area to the next.  In addition to engaging my group of students, as a front loader it will serve to activate background knowledge on Native American people.  Following a short discussion on the content of the video we will read our textbook and follow up with another viewing of the video which will serve to reinforce the content that we covered. We will then create a Venn diagram on the white board comparing and contrasting the three groups. The day's lesson will conclude with learners writing a blog post about the things they have learned.

Educational Value of Wordle

Wordle is a great classroom tool. In second grade it can be used to activate background knowledge, as well as be useful as a review tool. More importantly, students can create their own wordle independently in a computer lab or in the classroom as a whole group activity. For example, following a lesson about Native Americans students can take turns sharing vocabulary from the unit to insert into the wordle. Learners can then craft a journal entry using those words to share what they have learned. For a further extension, students could then create independent wordles by pasting their journal entry into wordle.  Wordle can also be used to compare and contrast. For example, a colonies lesson follows the Native American lesson. Another whole group wordle can be created and then compared and contrasted to the Native American wordle.  These activities can lead to: deeper understanding of content, growth of vocabulary and writing skills, and serve to engage and motivate students.