Over the last couple of weeks students have worked in groups to create and form a weather news station. Students wrote recorded and edited a script that uses a map to predict the weather. Students also generated a website or presentation for their news station that included their weather script and video as well as a section that was dedicated to content vocabulary.
With the world becoming increasingly dependent on technology and numerous jobs arising that are technology centered, it is imperative for students to grasp technology centered concepts. Naturally, the most effective way to do this is by exposing students too all forms of technology available and allowing those students access to the ever expanding amount of tools that are offered to them. As mentioned in an article written by Common Sense Media, having an accurate understanding of the role that media plays in students’ lives is crucial to all of those individuals and organizations who are concerned with encouraging student development both in the classroom and out.
Unfortunately there is a considerable break in computer access for children both at home and in school. Those children who come from lower income families are less likely to have access to computers in the home and may not have the transportation that is necessary to travel to a venue that offers internet access. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the teachers, administration, and the county to bridge this gap and allow equal access to technology for all kids involved. According to Servon and Nelson (2001) schools can provide access to technology by allowing students time to use computers at school and permitting students without access to home computers to checkout laptops for home use. Another way for teachers to promote technology use in the classroom is by allotting time each day for every student to have access to computers, iPads, etc. Teachers should guide and supervise students at this time, as well as provide them with online tools, apps, and resources that can help to further the students understanding of a topic or problem they are currently dealing with. By working as a community it is possible to bridge the technology gap and to allow equitable access to technology for all students. The Internet is a useful tool that can truly help to develop a students understanding and respect for diversity. Because the Internet is a tool that is expanded in a worldwide platform students are exposed to a variety of people and opinions on a daily basis. Simply clicking on a Facebook feed can expose a student to numerous points of view and outlooks on many current events. According to Lyn Hilt, the author of “The Case for Cultivating Cultural Awareness”, the biggest mistake that we can make is to foster a classroom environment that allow students to only associate with others who are similar to themselves and therefore allow students to not be challenged. In order for students to thrive in the world outside of home and school students need to be exposed to differing view points and beliefs and be allowed the opportunity to understand how to react in these situations.
The Internet allows students numerous resources to expand their knowledge on issues and to be exposed to differing belief systems. Among these tools are Skype and Edublog. Skype is a valuable resource, which can be used to connect with experts in the field on subjects that are being studied or can be used to contact those individuals who are directly related to relevant topics, which are being debated in our everyday society. Edublog is another resource in which students are able to express their beliefs and opinions through a written source. Blogging in this manner is a great way for students to put across their opinions outside of the classroom and to be exposed to other forms and areas of belief outside of their usual environments. Blogging can also provide a form of collaboration with students in other areas of the world and can help to facilitate conversation on understanding a deeper content and appreciation for subjects that would otherwise be one-dimensional. Although the Internet is a tool that is accessible to students of all diversities it is up to the teacher to differentiate which platforms to use for each student. Because the Internet allows teachers to have access to a paperless learning environment that openly supports critical thinking, it is important to still consider each students learning stile and to differentiate the material accordingly. Having access to differing levels of learning can allow the teacher to appropriately mandate material to each students learning style and level or learning. The potential that technology can bring into the classroom is exciting. However, teaching students how to be good digital citizens can sometimes be overlooked. The good news is that there is a plethora of digital literacy and citizenship resources available to teachers for free. Common Sense Education is a federal based program that provides digital literacy and citizenship curriculum to teachers for free. The common core aligned lessons engage students through videos, activities, handouts and even formative assessments. Perhaps one of the best ways to teach young students these skills is by providing them with a “Digital Passport”, a web-based gaming account for students in grades 3-5. The program guides students through modules centered on critical skills related to digital safety, respect and community. The free accounts can even be used in conjunction with Edmodo and is also available on smart devices. The “Safe Online Surfing Internet Challenge” is also a great way to familiarize students with digital literacy and citizenship. The grade based scavenger hunts include many interactive activities and videos that young students can relate to. The simulations also allow students to practice good citizenship. However, Internet safety cannot just be taught at school. Teachers must involve and educate parents on the importance of monitoring and educating their children about good digital citizenship. Moreover, parents and teachers must communicate with each other to make sure that students are using the Internet responsibly at school and at home. It is important to remember that teachers serve as role models and it is important that we model and teach these behaviors to our students. Common Sense Media. (2010, January 1). Retrieved November 4, 2014, from https://www.commonsensemedia.org/ Digital Passport by Common Sense Media | Digital Passport. (2013, January 1). Retrieved November 4, 2014. USA-SOS.ORG. (2012, January 1). Retrieved November 4, 2014. Screencasting enables teachers to capture the action of their computer screen through video while providing narration. Screencasting also allows teachers to communicate with more clarity than with written words alone. But most importantly teachers can use screencasting to provide students and parents with online tutorials, record lessons and even provide students and parents with audio and visual feedback (Burns, 2014). Through my investigation of screen casting, I took a close look at the software Jing. This free tool easily allows professionals not only to capture video but also allows users to capture images of their screen as well. I really like this feature because the program also allows users to easily annotate screen shots with things such as arrows and text. Jing has also incorporated ways for users to easily upload their screencasts to a variety of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Not only is screencasting a great way for teachers to create a flipped classroom but students themselves could also use it. Students could use this user-friendly technology to narrate and present a presentation to their teacher(s) or peers. It can be very hard to carve out large blocks of time to have students present their projects. This is one way that this problem can be solved. Students who understand a concept could also create a screencast to help their peers understand a certain concept (Burns, 2014). I can see myself using this strategy in my classroom because many of my students learn better from their peers. This strategy can also be used as an extension activity but also serves as multiple means of differentiation. Finally, screencasting would be a great way provide professional development. Many teachers forget what they learn and see in a meeting and will not remember when they go off on their own. Creating tutorials is a great way to help take the guessing out of technology and provides a pathway for teachers to follow, especially the teachers who struggle with technology integration. Not to mention that these videos can be saved and reviewed at a later date. Burns, M. (2014, February 12). Common Core in Action: Screencasting in the Fourth Grade Math Classroom. Retrieved October 28, 2014. This week two new web 2.0 tools grabbed my attention. Loopster is a web-based tool that allows users to edit and create videos easily. The interactive features and student friendly design allows for an easy video edit for projects or presentations. Teachers can also set up this tool to facilitate groups that can collaborate remotely and can easily view student work. I never thought about having my students edit their own videos mainly due to software restraints and how complicated most video editing software can be. However, Loopster eliminates these complications and gives students more creativity when creating their videos. Students would still have to be trained on how to use the program but this is very doable because of the tools user-friendly traits. For elementary students however, I think it would be best to have students collaborate on projects to help facilitate the use of this advanced tool.
Toondoo is also another great website that allows students to easily create comic strips and cartoons. Teachers could definitely use this tool to integrate science and social studies with writing. I think that this website will also prove to be very engaging to students because of the kid friendly context and amount of creativity that is involved. However, I can see students getting easily distracted by all of the varying graphics and options to choose from. Students completing an assignment in a timely manner could be a challenge. Creative Commons is an organization that allows legal reuse or alterations of digital content such as music, photos and videos. It also allows users to share their work without the hassles of the full copyright process. I believe that this new tool will be helpful teaching students the ethics of content use and will be helpful to teachers when creating lessons. I was never aware of this tool and I can see my colleagues and myself using it often. However, many teachers believe that they can use certain content for educational purposes or that they fall under the fair use laws.
Moreover, sites like Flickr have adapted a creative commons licensing which makes it super easy to find and search through millions of photos. The photo-sharing tool could easily be used with students to search for photos and is probably a safer way for students to search for content. A Google image search does not always have relevant and student friendly images as well as a clear copyright. Social bookmarking is a great tool to collect and organize the vast amount of webpages over the Internet. Moreover, this innovative Web 2.0 tool has proven to be useful in schools. Social bookmarking sites like Diigo allow students and teachers to comment and annotate over a webpage as well as set up groups for collaboration (Ruffini, 2011). I love these features and believe they can easily engage students in the research process. I especially love the annotation feature because it allows students to highlight text and add notes. I can see students using this feature in conjunction with the collaboration feature to organize websites for an upcoming test or research project. Likewise, teachers and school officials could also create a joint list to share with parents or students over a variety of topics. Overall I think that social bookmarking is a great idea and I am excited to use it in my classroom.
Ruffini, M. (2011, September 27). Classroom Collaboration Using Social Bookmarking Service Diigo. Retrieved September 24, 2014. Wikis
As I started to investigate Wikis I did not know how useful they would be in the classroom. I had previously used Google Drive to serve as a form of collaboration and communication but I realized that it is better used with a smaller group of people. Wikis however could be used to collaborate with a larger amount of people and even reach an audience from around the world. For instance, Mr. Monson’s Thousands Project asks a question to the world each month and hopes for a goal of one thousand responses. I think this is a great way to create a culturally responsive classroom and provides a gateway to expand the classroom walls. However, teachers do not have to reach an audience this big to create an effective Wiki. Vicki Davis created a Wiki that eventually became a school wide study hall where students create pages that help review an upcoming test or quiz. I think this is a great idea and I think that my fourth grade students and collogues would really appreciate a Wiki to help prepare them for the state exam. However, I believe that it would be hard training such young students how to edit and post meaningful work on a wiki because they are not very user friendly and sometimes hard to navigate. Creating a wiki project is also a great idea. Counting book is a great project for young students and can be adapted in many different ways. For example students could write about or post a picture describing where and how they used math in a real life situation. Students could also create a vocabulary page defining and depicting words being studied. Overall I think that Wikis can be utilized in many different ways and I am excited to start using them in my classroom. Blogging is one of the most popular web 2.0 technologies on the Internet today and is used by millions of people across the world. The high level of interactivity helps create communities across the web over various subjects and topics. Through linking blogs and the ability to post commentary, readers have access to collaborate and discuss with each other. This has created a connective writing genre that allows writers to express their ideas and emotions to the blogging community as well as for educational purposes (Richardson, 2010). By connecting ourselves to each other we have created a genre of writing that is much more meaningful due to publishing our work and commenting on others. This effect has connected reading and writing together thus creating a “blogging literacy” where both are used simultaneously. Due to the vast connectivity of blogging, the web tool has great potential in education. Students are engaged in blogging and it helps enhance their literacy skills. Through blogging students are given a voice that can be heard by other students, the school community and even the world. Creating a virtual audience facilitates learning bonds not only between teachers and students but also between school and the home (Kharbarch, 2006). Blogging also allows for students to learn about netiquette and how to stay safe online. In order to create an effective blogging environment for students, the teacher must explicitly teach how to use blogs properly, evaluate student’s posts, and provide feedback. “The Ultimate Guide to the Use of Blogs in Teaching” is a great resource for teachers who are beginning to set up student blogs. The article mentions several student and teacher friendly blogging platforms as well as tips for the teacher to pay attention to as they implement blogs in the classroom. Meg’s blogagogy is another great resource for teachers as they evaluate blogs. The author Megan Poore mentions the possible areas to assess including ideas, reflection, writing quality, commenting and community to name a few. When students receive feedback on these areas they can reflect on their posts and grow as a blogger. With the use of these resources and evaluating the criteria I have created the rubric below to use with my students. Kharbach, M. (2006, January 1). The Ultimate Guide to The Use of Blogs in Teaching ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning. Poore, M. (2008, January 1). 5. Assessing student blogs. |
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