Technology in Action

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What do you do when is a Thursday afternoon and your students just won’t listen? Why you bring out robots, of course!
Technology is a resources that we sometimes take for granted. It is used almost everyday in the classroom, but we sometimes forget to think outside the box as to how we can incorporate it in new and exciting ways. Why not put it in the hands of the students and let them facilitate their learning?
My classroom is fortunate to have a collection of ‘robots’ and technology tools at their disposal. On Thursday, we set up stations and let the students ‘have fun’. There were stations where students could work with Ozobots, Sphero, create their own stop motion movies, works with circuits, develop mazes, and use the iPad’s to work on coding. It was student directed learning.
My inquiry project is focusing on using technology in the classroom for personalizing learning. This afternoon activity used technology while allowing students to experiment and create. I had the opportunity to work with the students who were experimenting with circuits. I observed students who are normally reserved and do not take chances in the classroom jump in. They were eager to try something new and were quick to start experimenting. It gave the students the opportunity to self direct their learning. All they were given was the package of circuits and the booklet that was included. These students started with trial and error before realizing that they needed to follow the directions. Once they were able to make their first few complete circuits, they were excited to experiment and see what they could come up with. It was interesting to see this process and to see them work together to figure out how to solve their problems.
After observing this, I started to think of the ways that I would be able to incorporate this type of learning into my practicum – letting students experiment while using trial and error. The students were able to choose which station they wanted to work at and were not given more direction then what each ‘robot’ was able to do. The students were self directed. I am looking forward to utilizing technology more in the classroom and allowing students to self direct their learning while learning from their experiments.

Inquiry Proposal

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While on my practicum, I have been hearing a lot about Fresh Grade, an online reporting tool that enables teachers to upload examples of student work that can then be viewed from home by the parents and students, where they are also able to leave comments.  It is marketed as an assessment tool for teachers, which also incorporates student and parent participation.  I was curious as to how it could also be used to personalize student learning.  Instead of the teacher being the one to ‘post’ on behalf of the student, why not let the students showcase their own work? I then began to think of all of the possible ways in which to bring this into the classroom: voice recording of reading, uploading pictures of work, uploading videos, etc. Each student could be given the opportunity to ‘post’ or showcase something they think they have excelled at or just really enjoyed.  It would also offer students an alternative to writing on paper. It would offer a multimodal approach to their learning.  I also began to wonder about the repercussions of using ‘social media’ as an assessment tool. This led to the generation of my ‘big question’ as well as a few open-ended sub questions.

Big question: How can technology be used as both an assessment tool and a student resource to personalize learning?

Sub questions:

How effective is Freshgrade? Or similar programs?

At what age should we introduce students to media literacy?

My current understanding is that education is continually evolving and we must evolve with it and our students.  I believe that rather than teach the whole class in a way that may only be reaching a hand full of students, that we must personalize learning so that each student has the opportunity to succeed. Growing up, my favourite teachers were the ones who tried new things, they were open to new ways of teaching and thinking. Alternatively, I also had teachers that were not as progressive, but still effective. I think back to how difficult it was for some of us to follow along, or to make sure that our work was completed in the style that the teacher was familiar with.  What would have happened had we been able to type our notes? Organize our binders in a way that would facilitate our learning? Although I believe that education should be personalized and tailored to the needs of the student, I do understand how difficult this may be. I have grown up in a digital age, which may have led to my own bias toward using technology in the classroom or sticking with what has been tried and tested.  I believe that my biases have also steered my curiosity; with most information at our fingertips, why not let students explore other modes of output? Growing up, my culture encouraged me to be curious, but to also follow the rules.  I was told to respect my elders, but also question why I might be doing something. In some situations I found this to be contradictory.  I believe that is the reason for my inquiry into personalizing learning and utilizing new sources and medias.

As technology integration is increasingly growing within elementary classrooms, I believe that my inquiry topic is extremely relevant. The Surrey School District has introduced Freshgrade this year and has planned for it to be a widely used assessment tool for all teachers in the coming years. We will hopefully be in the classroom next year and will therefore have the opportunity to work with Freshgrade as a reporting tool. Therefore, my inquiry topic will be of increased relevance to my future teaching career. Through my inquiry topic I would like to shift my focus from using technology not only as an assessment tool, but how we can encourage student use of technology to further their learning. I am interested to see how involved students will be and how open they will be to trying new things. While they are very excited to get to work on the I Pad in the classroom, they are inclined to choose games they are familiar with rather than taking a risk and trying something new.  I would like to encourage my students to try other educational ‘games’ and apps that they may not choose to explore on their own. I look forward to exploring along side my students and looking at how technology can be used to personalize learning.

 

Edu What? Edutopia!

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Edutopia: 6 Apps for Creative Writing

Edutopia is “A comprehensive website and online community that increases knowledge, sharing, and adoption of what works in K-12 education. We emphasize core strategies: project-based learning, comprehensive assessment, integrated studies, social and emotional learning, educational leadership and teacher development, and technology integration.”

It was developed by George Lucas after he discovered that school had not changed since his curiosity and creativity was not fostered but he sat through his classes bored and uninspired. He decided to make a change and developed a website that would foster innovation and would include replicable and evidence-based approaches to helping students and teachers in the K-12 system.

One of the articles that I found effective was “6 Apps for Creative Writing”. It offers educators a list of iPad Apps that can be used in the classroom to foster student’s leaning and writing. It also outlines how students can ‘publish’ or ‘post’ their work. These apps offer students the ability to not only utilize technology and other modes of learning, but to also track their learning digitally.

This supports my inquiry topic of how to use digital sources for personalized student learning as well as assessment, for both the teacher and the student. I also believe that further exploration of Edutopia will offer me many more articles and tools that I can use to either affirm or deny my inquiry topic.

Burns, Monica (2014). 6 iPad apps for creative writing.
Retrieved from: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/ipad-apps-for-creative-writing-monica-burns?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

Mini-Inquiry Oct 6

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Walking out of my house this morning I noticed the smallest bit of colour squeezed amidst all of the green and brown.  I took it as a sign that all is not lost. Although things/seasons are changing, there is still a constant – a non-changing splash of colour. My original object was a sprig of lavender; purple, fragrant, and wonderful.  Sadly, I misplaced it somewhere along my morning journey.  Luckily, I was able to acquire another splash of colour.

I found the ‘holly’ on my adventure into school. Like the lavender, it was a splash of colour among the green and brown. The berries ripen in the winter – when most plants are ‘dying’ or hibernating, shedding their leaves and flowers. The berries are also toxic to humans, yet are an essential food source for birds and other animals. It is also a slow growing yet invasive plant.

These characteristics can be a metaphor for school … toxic to some, essential for others; slow to get started, yet consumes all of your time; takes the summer off and thrives in the winter.

When I hold my object I wonder what next? What happens in the summer? Where does it go from here?

I think I am mainly in a questioning phase. I have too many questions and hardly any answers. But like the holly, my time will come!

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