I've always been a very traditional student & teacher, in that I much prefer handwriting to typing, whiteboards to projectors, and books to tablets. I recognize, however that the times they are a changin' and the students we're teaching are being raised on technology. In order to be the best educator we can be, it is our responsibility to educate ourselves on the best technological tools possible to fit our students' needs. While many of these tech tools I probably won't implement in my classroom, there are a few that I will. 1. The video & podcast assignments were not only easy, but they were fun! They give the students an opportunity to be creative and create unique projects. When students have choice/creative freedom, their work is no doubt going to be deeper and more thoughtful than if every student is forced to do the same type of activity/assignment. 2. Infographics. I think that these are a wonderful way to teach students how to be succinct and organize the most pertinent information. This could even be morphed into ELA by creating an infographic pre-write of sorts with all of their most important quotes and text evidence. While I don't consider myself "techy" by any means, I was glad to take this course and practice some of these skills. I wish, however, that this class was broken up into two quarters so that we might have been able to dive deeper into each tool for longer. All in all, I'm committed to equitable access for all of my students, and I don't think all of these tools provide that. However I believe I would be remiss if I did not do my best to incorporate tools students may actually need to be proficient in for their later education. As such, I will continue to stay updated on tech tools which would fit my classroom needs.
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This assignment was super fun and I can see students of all grades enjoying it! For my podcast, I modeled how to analyze a text for theme using textual evidence. I read on the motif of "light", then at the end assigned each of my two groups their motifs. This idea of a podcast for teaching & assignments is especially poignant today when we are battling with online & hybrid teaching. This assignment would be a wonderful way for students to collaborate together, as well, being "co-hosts". I think this would be an excellent tool to use in conjunction with video as well, that way students have their choice. I can imagine in either an english or social studies class creating a faux news station where every group gets to act as anchors and discuss either current events, or the events of their books as if they were real. This would be especially fun for Romeo & Juliet, I think!
Similar to the video assignment, podcasts give one the opportunity to meet the following ISTE standards: learner, collaborator, designer, leader, facilitator, analyst. Podcast assignments also meet the following UDL guideline(s): engagement, representation, action & expression. I got my theme analysis from here. This is a tool which students would have a lot of fun using! I think this would be a really useful tool for younger students (5th/6th grades perhaps) in conjunction with learning narrative writing, or even research projects. The students can publish their own books and share with each other what they've created. Outside of ELA writing, I'm not sure how valuable this tool is in particular. It strikes me as a tool that will be great for one lesson/project, but I can't see myself implementing it more than that.
This tool meets the following ISTE standards: learner, collaborator, designer, leader, facilitator, analyst. This assignment also meet the following UDL guideline(s): engagement, representation, action & expression. For this assignment, students are to create a video inspired by and featuring the 2-4 minute spoken word poem they have been working on in class. This video should combine videos & still images in an artistic manner to create a piece of visual art which relates to and stems from their poem.
As an English teacher, I always love the opportunity to assign video in class. This gives the more tech-y students an opportunity to shine, and the other students an opportunity to branch out and try something new. By combing the visual (video) with the auditory (spoken word), the students have an opportunity to delve deeper into their own works, taking their poems to a place that voice alone may not be able to do. Incorporating the creation of a video in your curriculum gives one the opportunity to meet the following ISTE standards: learner, collaborator, designer, leader, facilitator, analyst. Video assignments also meet the following UDL guideline(s): engagement, representation, action & expression. For this assignment, I created QR codes that lead to different links relating to spoken word poetry. While the QR codes are quite handy in the way it allows easy access to the students all on one place, it did seem a bit heavy duty and difficult to create quickly. Once the poster is created, I think it would work for lessons to come, however there is too much potential for user error and distractions for the kids that I can't see myself using this in the classroom. In particular, the Metaverse app was extremely difficult to navigate, and I had an issue with it loading properly on my own device, so I can't imagine how the schools' devices would function. In addition, a lesson like this assumes students have the technology to follow the QR codes. This is potentially problematic for students who don't have the means to technology that other students might, adding to the continuation of class biases in the classroom.
The use of an interactive poster meets the following ISTE standards: learner, citizen, collaborator, designer, facilitator, and analyst. The activity also meets the following UDT guidlines: engagement, and action & expression. Infographics are a fun and unique way to incorporate technology into the classroom. Infographics can be used in many different content areas, and are a great way to get students involved in increasing their analytic and technological literacy, as well as creating an activity/assignment that has a high level of participation and engagement. This tool supports learning in the classroom by allowing students the opportunity to not only do research, but create visual representation of that research of their own unique design. This gives them an opportunity to use their own personality and aesthetic, as well as an opportunity to deepen their understanding of what their research really means. Incorporating the creation of infographics in your curriculum gives one the opportunity to meet the following ISTE standards: learner, collaborator, designer, leader, facilitator, analyst. Infographics as assignments/assessments also meet the following UDL guideline(s): engagement, representation, action & expression. Using an interactive whiteboard activity to explore the concept of identity takes a deeply personal and intrinsic topic and allows the students to tackle this concept together in a safe way. We have been reading The Diary of Anne Frank, a book which would not exist without the concept of identity and what it means to question someone's identity to the extreme. Combining the exploration of identity with an example of someone ultimately dying for their identity drives home how sensitive, but important, a topic like this really is. An interactive whiteboard activity like this one can be used for virtually any topic covered in the classroom. It also allows students to work at their own pace (for the most part), which encourages deeper understanding and curiosity. The use of an interactive whiteboard meets the following ISTE standards: learner, citizen, collaborator, designer, facilitator, and analyst. The activity also meets the following UDT guidlines: engagement, and action & expression. Using OneNote to create a lesson plan in memoir writing allows students to have all of their resources, drafts, and more all in the same place. There are a lot of functions on OneNote, and it can be a little overwhelming at first! I chose to keep it simple by writing out my instructions on each page in a text box, but you can add video, voice-over, and more if you choose! OneNote has many uses in the classroom, and in all content areas. OneNote is not only useful to the students (well organized, easy to use), but to the instructor as well. OneNote allows the instructor to see each students' work, add notations and both assist and assess student work. OneNote is a one-of-a-kind program which meets all of the ISTE Standards for Educators as well as the UDL Guidelines. The use of this collaborative tool allows educators to learn more creative ways to present lessons, be an active part of their classroom community, and to design and facilitate unique and creative lessons. Students and instructors get to simultaneously explore the WHY, WHAT, and HOW of education. I will continue to use OneNote and I am extremely pleased that the Bellingham School District is using it in their secondary schools. |
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