Elevate an Activity Assignment

For my Elevate an Activity assignment, I chose to use a dinosaur lesson.  My students have been very interested in learning about dinosaurs recently, so I took their current interest to build a lesson on collaboration.  To complete this lesson, students chose a dinosaur to learn more about.  They learned about this dinosaur through books, class discussion, and using the internet with adult help.  Planning this activity took quite a bit of time because my students are preschool age and I wanted to be sure they would be successful.  I started by introducing several different dinosaurs to the students.  Once they were aware of a variety of dinosaurs, I had them vote on which dinosaur they wanted to learn more about.  They chose the Tyrannosaurus Rex.  The students then worked together (with the teacher) to decide what they wanted to learn about T-Rex.  They decided that they would like to learn about where he lived, what he ate, and how big he was.  Working whole class, we looked online to find information answering their questions.  My students are not able to write, but some of them drew pictures and some dictated to me and I wrote what they wanted to be included.  After our research was complete, I pulled out a variety of art supplies.  The students broke up into groups of two or three and each group decided what part of the diorama they wanted to make.  One group made a T-Rex out of playdough, one group made the habitat by painting paper and making plants with pipe cleaners and puff balls, and one group made other dinosaurs as food out of playdough.  After the diorama was complete, the students took turns playing with the dinosaurs in their habitat.

Using Edmodo in the Preschool Classroom

Because I couldn’t figure out how to use any of the workshops I watched with my students, I decided to make an Edmodo page for my parents.  I set up a class just like you would for teachers, but I invited the parents instead.  I plan to share information on workshops and trainings as I receive it through Edmodo and hope that parents will use it to communicate and support each other.  I can also upload information I receive about sports and other community activities that would be appropriate for my students.  Most of my parents often feel alone and as if not many people are going through the same things as they are, so I hope that Edmodo supplies them with a way to offer support and education to each other.

EDpuzzle

We were asked to watch three EDpuzzle workshops and write a blog on the three workshops we watched.  The first workshop I watched was about Edmodo.  Edmodo is a secure academic social network to be used by teachers and students to share information and collaborate online.  If you are a teacher, you can create a free account at edmodo.com.
Not only is Edmodo a great place for teachers and students to communicate online, but resources are available for teachers to connect with other educators from all over the world.  A teacher can join a community and ask for ideas or lessons to be shared on specific topics.
Edmodo also has an app that can be downloaded to your phone or smart device so the application can be accessed on the go.  This is helpful when students have questions regarding homework after school hours.  Pre-made badges can be awarded to students and teachers can even make customized badges to use as positive reinforcement.

The second workshop I watched was about blogging.  I have a personal blog that I occasionally update, but I had never thought about using a blog in the classroom.  Using the blog in the classroom allows students to share their writing with a larger audience and be much more creative with their writing.  It also allows students to work collaboratively, even if they are on other sides of the continent!  Blogging is a great way for students to write their journals.  They would be able to share these journals with friends or family and they could get and respond to feedback from outside sources.  Writing book reviews through blogs would be a fun way to share books that students found interesting.  Blogging isn't a one time activity; it should be revisited and updated regularly.  Because blogging allows students to share their work with people other than their teacher, it is motivating and students are more likely to revisit their blogs.  Students can add links and pictures or videos to their blogs to add to the interest of the reader.  This is also a good way to share more information with the reader.  Blogging also allows parents to be involved in their children's work and keeps them informed as to what is going on in the classroom.

I also watched a workshop about LiveBinders.  I have used LiveBinders a little big through Early Childhood, but have never created one and only use the resources that are already loaded.  LiveBinders are a free digital representation of a three ring binder that can be kept online and shared with other people. There are several online tutorials available to make LiveBinders a useful tool for the new user.  There is also an extensive help area available.  Online bookmarks can be stored along with pdf's, word documents, and any other type of digital content.  Different binders an be created and shared with different groups such as students or work groups.  LiveBinders is also a great place to keep a personal portfolio.  Binders can be organized by shelf where you can embed links to websites, uploaded documents, or even other binders.  LiveBinders is also a great place to find lesson plans and ideas.  There are many lessons already created that a teacher can access and use in his or her own classroom.  The teacher can search for a particular lesson and add those binders to his or her own binder.  LiveBinders can even be accessed through phone apps so it can be accessed on the go.  This website is a great tool for teachers, students, and administrators.

The last workshop I watched was on Digital Workflow.  I had never heard of Digital Workflow before this workshop.  In order to use Workflow, students and teachers need to have access to the internet where they are going to work on the assignment.  Also, the teacher needs to be aware of what she wants the students to get out of their lessons; what features are non-negotiable to the teacher. The most important part of Workflow is for teachers to create groups for their students. There are many educational websites available to teachers that help them use Workflow with their students.  The first one is Edmodo.  Edmodo is similar to FaceBook, but it is used for educational purposes.  The teacher is able to create different classrooms for groups.  The teacher can type messages such as discussion prompts, upload videos, documents, or websites, and load assignments with assigned due dates.  The teacher can also create quizzes and polls for students to complete through Edmodo.  Edmodo also offers free and paid apps for students to use.  The next tool is Google for Education, but it is only available if the site purchases a site license.  The teacher can create a new class and add students from the Google Apps account.  Students can also add themselves using a unique class code.  The teacher can create assignments, add files using Google Drive or add websites.  Students can work on assignments through Google Docs and submit them through Google Drive, where they are automatically organized.  The teacher can provide feedback and grades through the Google Classroom.  Another tool available when using Workflow is Evernote.  Evernote is a cross platform and can sync through multiple devices.  This is a way to store documents, type a note, record audio, or capture a photograph.  Evernote has some social features that will help the classroom teacher.  Evernote was designed to take notes.  If your computer, iPad, or whatever tool you are using to access Evernote has access to a microphone, you can dictate notes so you don't have to type them.  It's a good way to store information about students or to get samples of student readings.  The teacher can create her own notebook or students can create notebooks to share with the teacher.  The final Workflow tool discussed in this workshop is Schoology.  Schoology provides social networking services along with a learning management system.  It engages learners because it is similar to the social media sites they already use.  The teacher can post assignments and provide drop boxes to turn in their work.  Quizzes can be created and automatically graded.  Students can also provide feedback on each others' work.  Discussions can be posted for student response which encourages student interaction.  Students can work at their own pace and be given options for completing assignments allowing the teacher to easily differentiate instruction.  Students can log into Schoology when missing classes to find the work they missed and contact the teacher to ask questions.  Overall, there are several tools available to teachers to assist them in Digital Workflow.  These are exciting ways to bring technology to the classroom.

Week one sorts

I completed and turned in my sorts for week 1, but I had a really hard time with some of them.  I placed activities in which students worked together to create a project or in which they gave feedback that was based on discussion in the "yes" column.  If students completed work on their own, whether it was submitted to be shared with others or not, unless there was some type of group discussion involved at the very least, I placed it in the "no" column.  I felt like slide 13 was mostly "yes" because the activities involved group work of some sort.  

Knowledge Construction Sorts

For the Knowledge Construction sort, when students had to research or look further into the lesson, I placed it in the “yes” category.  I felt that this sort was fairly easy.

For the second sort about students constructing knowledge, I placed the items that were simply a response to specific questions in the “no” category.  When students had to think more about the assignment, it went into the “yes” category.

To determine if the lessons required students to apply their knowledge in a new situation, I noted if the students took the lesson and changed it to pursue other information.  If they applied the information in a new setting, I placed it in the “yes” category.

For the final lessons, interdisciplinary lessons, I based my decision on if the lesson included more than one type of academics.  I did struggle with this one a little more and moved the options around as I read more of the options.

Problem Solving Blog Post

I learned that it is simple to add to a lesson to make it fit into the 21^st century competencies.  Having students collaborate with other students instead of working independently is one way to bump up a lesson so students are working on more skills than just the academic standard.  I also found that adding real world scenarios makes the lessons more meaningful to students and adds important academic elements to the lessons.

To determine if a lesson focused on a real-world problem, I noted whether the problem was fiction or something that was actually happened.  If the problem was something that children could actually see or touch for themselves, I put it in the “yes” category. 

To determine if a lesson included problem solving, I considered if the lesson had more than one potential answer.  I placed those lessons that had several answers as a possibility in the “yes” category.

To determine of a lesson required innovation, I first checked to see if there was an end product for the lesson.  I also looked for creativity in the lesson and if there was a real-world use to the lesson, not simply for a grade.

Real world problems included words such as “their” and had to do with situations that were personal and local to the students.  Problems with the primary purpose of problem solving asked for more information when writing answers.  Explanation was required for complete answers.

The cards seemed fairly simple to place at first, but as I got further into the stacks, I started second guessing myself and moving the cards around more.

These sorts make me think about lessons I teach and how I can tweak them a little bit to make them fit better into 21^st century competencies.  I plan to add more student collaboration and real-world scenarios.  I will allow students more opportunity for innovation by providing supplies for students to creatively complete assignments.

21st Century Learning

Even though I am currently working on a second Master's program, I have decided to take a couple of classes through our school district.  I found the 21st Century classes intriguing and think that the skills learned from these classes will not only help me as an administrator, but also will help me provide support to teachers who are hesitant to adopt new forms of technology in their classrooms.  I will have to be creative with these courses as of now, since I currently teach preschoolers.  It will be difficult to use many of these lessons with my current students, but I do have a long teaching background in regular education as well.

Part of my first Master's degree was in technology, but I earned that degree in 2000, so much of the information is outdated and I find myself already struggling with some of the lessons we are working on in this class.  I am already familiar with Blogger since I have been using it personally for quite a while now, but sites such as EDpuzzle are new to me and I am working my way through learning not only what these sites are, but how I can use them with my students as well.

Here's to learning new information and taking my teaching (hopefully) one step further!