Change Agent 3/12/19
Elements In The Classroom:
1) Voice: Students have many opportunities, especially in math, to share and teach one another. I even incorporate self assessment (7) into having a voice when I ask students to come to the front who feel as though they can be a teacher to a partner. I pair my students up often because I am a firm believer that they learn from one another better than adults.
2) Choice- Ummmm HELLO?? Flexible Seating!!! My classroom is full of choice from the desk or seat my students sit in hour by hour to the projects they get to choose from. My students are fully engaged when choice is brought into play. Sometimes I use the multiple intelligence survey from the beginning of the year to create my choices for projects or activities.
6) Problem Solvers/ Finders= Inquiry based science lessons! My students think of experiments to conduct in order to find answers to a science problem.
Elements Lacking:
3 & 7: Time for reflection and self assessment are areas that I do think
are very important for learning. My goal is for my students to create
their own blog where they can reflect, give feedback and self
assess how their learning is going.
4: Opportunity for Innovation- THIS WOULD BE AMAZING if there was
time allotted for it. In my internship years ago I was in a third grade
classroom where the teacher allotted time for "genius hour" where
students chose anything they wanted to research and create a project.
This lets students hone in on their interests and gives them the power
to discover their own learning.
1) Voice: Students have many opportunities, especially in math, to share and teach one another. I even incorporate self assessment (7) into having a voice when I ask students to come to the front who feel as though they can be a teacher to a partner. I pair my students up often because I am a firm believer that they learn from one another better than adults.
2) Choice- Ummmm HELLO?? Flexible Seating!!! My classroom is full of choice from the desk or seat my students sit in hour by hour to the projects they get to choose from. My students are fully engaged when choice is brought into play. Sometimes I use the multiple intelligence survey from the beginning of the year to create my choices for projects or activities.
6) Problem Solvers/ Finders= Inquiry based science lessons! My students think of experiments to conduct in order to find answers to a science problem.
Elements Lacking:
3 & 7: Time for reflection and self assessment are areas that I do think
are very important for learning. My goal is for my students to create
their own blog where they can reflect, give feedback and self
assess how their learning is going.
4: Opportunity for Innovation- THIS WOULD BE AMAZING if there was
time allotted for it. In my internship years ago I was in a third grade
classroom where the teacher allotted time for "genius hour" where
students chose anything they wanted to research and create a project.
This lets students hone in on their interests and gives them the power
to discover their own learning.
Think Before You Hit Enter!! 2/26/19
Digital citizenship is a MUST to have in school! Digital citizenship is a must for all ages, personally I think before signing up for a digital platform you should first have to take a digital citizenship test!! Society has grown more opinionated over the years and more now than ever we need everyone to understand and apply digital citizenship! I believe that these proficiencies are the most important in young children so they have the necessary skills to be a LIFE LONG digital citizen. The 21st century classroom consists of technology, whether it is in a lab, one to one technology or bring your own technology. At the beginning of the year we not only need to teach students proper social skills, but now we also need to incorporate digital citizenship skills. Students need to have these skills and strategies for inside and outside of the classroom to be successful and respectful human beings. I have had multiple students over the past two years be suspended for poor digital citizenship outside of school. Students need to understand the digital footprint and its consequences |
GOAL TIME!!
One goal moving forward for myself in the digital world is to better be aware of giving credit to the pictures I snip off of google! It's a bad habit that I need to work on! What's your digital footprint goal? |
Prensky's 21st Century 2/18/2019
Prensky's theory about how students' brains are physiologically different is what Papert has been saying for years now. We have students from the 21st century where they are engaged and connected more than ever with the use of technology. Technology is no longer just a tool in the classroom, it should be our foundation as Pensky mentioned multiple times in the video. I can also relate to both of these theorists while teaching in my classroom. Students CANNOT be lectured at, well they can but they are going to get little to nothing out of it. If you set a video in front of them and tell them to take interactive notes while watching the video that has a completely different outcome. Growing up I remember little to no group work throughout the day where as now kids get the most out of learning when they are collaborating and teaching each other. Papert also agrees that when using technology this gives students the freedom of expanding their skills and interests while working with other students that may not have ever gotten the chance to know if technology wasn't involved. Papert had a great example of this in chapter 3 when he discussed the relationship between Brian and Henry. Both theorist agree that our classroom foundation should be the community and connections made daily by students, and even teachers, by working together in order to be more engaged.
My Students of 2018-2019 2/10/2019
It was 2002 and I was in fifth grade at Riverside Elementary school. I remember I was excited because the formation of our desks were a little different than my prior years in elementary school, instead of being in clusters we were in a U shape around the room. We had paper work booklets for spelling, our teacher would pull round robin groups in reading and we thought it was awesome when it was finally time to change for math. Students would all sit at their desk quietly, following directions, only speaking if being spoken to. We felt extra lucky in science or social studies if we were able to actually work together in a group. "What? We get to go to the computer lab today??!!" Maybe that was said four times during my fifth grade year, it was a foreign way of learning for us and it was an uncomfortable learning environment, if I am being completely honest.
Fast forward about 16 years and the classroom, students and the way we should be teaching are completely different. My students are fifth grade students who know way too much about the crazy world we live in and are given a little too much freedom at home. Where technology was an uncomfortable territory when growing up for me, my students thrive with it and they honestly feel like they cannot live without it. Yes technology is a beautiful gateway for my students and they are completely engaged while learning with technology, but technology can also bring in extra problems into the school as well. Most of my students are given free range on social media and we have had many outside school issues come into our classrooms, it has been eye opening how different that aspect of students are than when I was in fifth grade.
While watching the two videos about 21st century learners and the video about the college students I found myself shaking my head in agreement the entire time. Nothing on those videos jumped out or surprised me, which I am glad because I do feel as though some of our "old school" teachers would have a very different reaction watching those videos. I am very lucky because Harford County Public Schools gave all fifth grade students one to one devices at the beginning of last year. This opens up so many opportunities but is also a learning curve for both students and teachers. I LOVE technology so I try to use technology at least once per subject area a day. As I am a tool for my teammates to come to for information about using different technology, I find that sometimes my students are a tool for me to learn from and get better insight on how to explore different programs or websites. I value my students and their knowledge with technology and that makes them feel even more apart of the lessons we do in class. That I see as a huge change from when I was in fifth grade too, my students are making up different parts of my lessons and are collaborating with one another on issues and different topics rather than the teacher being the only one teaching. I am now the facilitator and my students are taking off with their knowledge, they are truly in charge of their path in education when using technology.
For example, some of the 21st century instruction that goes on within my classes are the quizzes that my students produce in the Forms program and then they send the quiz out to their classmates to take, in order to check their knowledge on what we have learned. Also, instead of reading out of our History Alive social studies textbooks about the different Native American tribes, I have students researching a tribe on their own and making a presentation to teach the class about it. To see them finding their own facts, the light bulbs flipping on when they realize why the tribes are so different, along with applying their knowledge they have just acquired is a bigger payout than me talking at them about what they need to know about these Native Americans. I also use OneNote class notebooks often in my fifth grade class, they're amazing!!! Students are using these notebooks to work at their own pace and to gauge their learning.
So who are my students you may ask? My students are products of the 21st century who need an education that has evolved over time just as they have. They need to be engaged with collaboration and they need to be trusted to create their own learning path. My students are the future.
It was 2002 and I was in fifth grade at Riverside Elementary school. I remember I was excited because the formation of our desks were a little different than my prior years in elementary school, instead of being in clusters we were in a U shape around the room. We had paper work booklets for spelling, our teacher would pull round robin groups in reading and we thought it was awesome when it was finally time to change for math. Students would all sit at their desk quietly, following directions, only speaking if being spoken to. We felt extra lucky in science or social studies if we were able to actually work together in a group. "What? We get to go to the computer lab today??!!" Maybe that was said four times during my fifth grade year, it was a foreign way of learning for us and it was an uncomfortable learning environment, if I am being completely honest.
Fast forward about 16 years and the classroom, students and the way we should be teaching are completely different. My students are fifth grade students who know way too much about the crazy world we live in and are given a little too much freedom at home. Where technology was an uncomfortable territory when growing up for me, my students thrive with it and they honestly feel like they cannot live without it. Yes technology is a beautiful gateway for my students and they are completely engaged while learning with technology, but technology can also bring in extra problems into the school as well. Most of my students are given free range on social media and we have had many outside school issues come into our classrooms, it has been eye opening how different that aspect of students are than when I was in fifth grade.
While watching the two videos about 21st century learners and the video about the college students I found myself shaking my head in agreement the entire time. Nothing on those videos jumped out or surprised me, which I am glad because I do feel as though some of our "old school" teachers would have a very different reaction watching those videos. I am very lucky because Harford County Public Schools gave all fifth grade students one to one devices at the beginning of last year. This opens up so many opportunities but is also a learning curve for both students and teachers. I LOVE technology so I try to use technology at least once per subject area a day. As I am a tool for my teammates to come to for information about using different technology, I find that sometimes my students are a tool for me to learn from and get better insight on how to explore different programs or websites. I value my students and their knowledge with technology and that makes them feel even more apart of the lessons we do in class. That I see as a huge change from when I was in fifth grade too, my students are making up different parts of my lessons and are collaborating with one another on issues and different topics rather than the teacher being the only one teaching. I am now the facilitator and my students are taking off with their knowledge, they are truly in charge of their path in education when using technology.
For example, some of the 21st century instruction that goes on within my classes are the quizzes that my students produce in the Forms program and then they send the quiz out to their classmates to take, in order to check their knowledge on what we have learned. Also, instead of reading out of our History Alive social studies textbooks about the different Native American tribes, I have students researching a tribe on their own and making a presentation to teach the class about it. To see them finding their own facts, the light bulbs flipping on when they realize why the tribes are so different, along with applying their knowledge they have just acquired is a bigger payout than me talking at them about what they need to know about these Native Americans. I also use OneNote class notebooks often in my fifth grade class, they're amazing!!! Students are using these notebooks to work at their own pace and to gauge their learning.
So who are my students you may ask? My students are products of the 21st century who need an education that has evolved over time just as they have. They need to be engaged with collaboration and they need to be trusted to create their own learning path. My students are the future.