There is no way around the use of mobile devices in the classroom any more. When I first started my journey to becoming a teacher I always thought that I would have the rule no cell phones in the classroom at all. If they are seen they become mine. This was my pedagogy. I was treated the same way, even though cell phones were no where near as big then as they are now, if my teacher were to see my phone they would have it and I wouldn't get it back for who knows how long. I even wondered why some of my friends would even bring their phone to school. They weren't aloud to use them so there would be no point. But now after teaching through my practicums I realize there is no way to not use mobile devices. They are not going away and there is no way we are going to keep all our students off them during our class. So with that we need to make them a part of our learning and our teaching. To begin I feel that we need to set out rules, not by ourselves but with our students. Start out the year coming up with a common set of rules for cell phone use in the class, this way the students know and are fully accountable for the consequences of their actions. It is similar to a common assessment, students know and understand what is expected of them. Second we need to as teachers become familiar with what aspects will help to further our teaching. Is it going to be successful all the time, no, but we learn from our mistakes and continue to push forward. As discussed throughout the semester and all over teaching sites we need to be innovative with the use of our technology. We need to find good effective ways of using cell phones in the class. I really enjoy the idea of storytelling using a device of some sort. I know in my classroom the students loved to hear my stories, so if I could find a good way to tell stories to teach, wow I would love my job even more. I feel like this video explains it so well. We want to open our students perspectives, we want to help them change for the better. I also feel that telling a story in this manner will help all sorts of learners in the classroom. It will help the audio, the visual, and even with some creativity you could help out the kinaesthetic learner.
Mobile devices are a persons life. They feel they need the phone at all times. Taking that away will only lessen their engagment in the lesson as all they will be thinking about is who, what, why are they texting me. Lets embrace the trend and take it to a new level of learning.
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“As society changes, the skills needed to negotiate the complexities of life also change." (Metiri Group, enGuage 21st Century Skills) These skills are essential for us as teachers to teach our students. They must know how to navigate the internet and its vast amount of knowledge and dangers. They must know what is okay to follow and what is going down an unknown and usually dreadful path. Digital Citizenship is about taking these dangers and learning from them. As discussed when the internet first came into the picture it was unclear what the rules or values were. Now these rules and values are set and are to be followed. We want to ensure our students are following these rules, yet we cannot sit by each one watching and babysitting everything they are doing on the internet, therefore we are teaching them responsibility and accountability. With every action there is an equal or opposite reaction. With each click there comes another page with positive or negative information. Our students are to be taught how to recognize what is going to come after this click, if unknown then stay away. This is what I believe to be Digital Citizenship. Our students are given the freedom to roam and research but do so safely. Again we don't want them going home to their parents saying how much garbage they found in Mr. Leavitt's class today. . Covey's book The Leader in Me he discusses striving to teach our students how to be leaders. If every student in class is a leader we have succeeded in creating reliable and effective future citizens. The leadership skills is what will separate one from another. Skills like teamwork, adaptability, accountability, respectability, communicating, initiative and self-direction, and last but not least creativity. If our students have these skills will they be what Digital Citizenship describes? I believe they will. They will succeed in our classes and in the future.
The first aspect of this weeks topic that I would like to discuss is the idea of "loco parentis". I had never heard of this saying until reading the article and it struck me. I have 3 little boys one of which will be starting school next fall. After reading about this I could not agree more with the ATA. Students come to school expecting to be safe, parents send their children to school expecting them to be safe, and teachers go to school to make their students feel safe. The last aspect of this statement is the one that is essential for us to realize. Speaking as a parent I have values that I am trying to teach my children. It is my expectation that them going to school will not be taught different values by their teachers. I don't want them coming home and saying words that their teacher said that should not be said by a 10 year old, or I don't want them coming home talking about the violent manner at which the First Nations killed their enemies. You as a teacher will be spending the same if not more time with my child than I will and therefore you have a responsibility to take care of them and help them feel safe and loved. There is a reason we have KSA's as teachers, our students deserve the same care and teaching no matter what. So it leads me to my next point of cyber-bullying. How can we as teachers help to stop cyber-bullying in our classrooms? This is the almighty question. In my last practicum I had a couple of instances of cyber-bullying. The students were not actively trying to bully, yet it was happening. They thought they were just playing a prank but it really hurt the other students that we being pranked. I think at times students don't realize they are actually cyber-bullying, therefore it seems as though they may not understand it as well as they should. With this in mind I believe that the first step is to talk about cyber-bullying and its effects. We need to educate our students first and then ensure our eyes and ears are open at all times. Cyber-bullying will never stop, just as bullying has never stopped, yet we can teach and help our students to be aware. As said earlier it is our job to keep our students safe, therefore we need to establish that safe environment in the classroom. Being positive, leading by example, and showing the students we care will help to subside bullying and its damage. There are so many ways to publish online it is hard to decide what is best for your students. It will take some time to decide as you can do each of the aspects f the publishing. You can then decide what tools are best for your students. Flipped Classroom The flipped classroom I have discussed previously and really enjoy the idea of it. I have watched videos on the flipped classroom and they are awesome. It is engaging and fun. As a teacher it is fun as well as you get to create a video about what needs to be taught. The next day the students know what they need to do and they can do it. There is not a long period of time teaching and reteaching aspects that need to be taught. The teaching is done and now it is time to facilitate. This video is one of many of a teacher using the flip classroom and how successful it can be with the students. I really enjoyed this way of teaching and how it can benefit students.
Weebly Weebly has been a great tool for me during school but as well as in my classroom and at home. I have a small business that I was able to make a website for using weebly and it has taken my business to a new level. By publishing topics or aspects online it can deepen the learning of your students as well as engage them more in their own work. It is fun to make your own website and have it be the way you want. It is your creation and no one elses. You own it. It helps to bring out the aspects of learning that will take these students further. Digital Storytelling This is an aspect that I am not quite understanding as of yet. I am still learning more about it and how it will benefit my classroom. It seems as though it will use all aspects of technology and learning for the students. They will learn how to be creative and edit and really just make it their own while still learning writing and reading. This is an aspect of 21st century learner that is hitting the nail on the head. We want to focus on literacy and this is just that. Significant comments: http://macdougallj.weebly.com/blog/topic-seven-collaboration-cloud-computing#comments http://missclarke-davies.weebly.com/ed-4764/collaboration#comments Collaboration in the classroom is essential for students learning. It will teach them how to work with one another and to have a working relationship. This doesn't mean you have to love the person you are working with but you respect them and you work together to fulfil the required task. One aspect of collaboration in my classroom had to do with the use of Google Drive. I feel that this tool is awesome for collaboration as it gives you an opportunity to work together without having to be next to one another. During class time I would have students work with one another or a larger group creating a presentation. It is no longer just one person doing all the work on the presentation as they are the best at the powerpoints, but it is now possible for all to add and see what is going on in the presentation. They are able to add voice memos, videos, and other sorts of technology more simply than before. Simply put Google Drive seems like it was created strictly for the classroom. The next aspect of collaboration that I really enjoyed and learned about was the PLC groups in the division I was working in. Every month we would get together as a group for instance all the Social 7 teachers would get together as a group and discuss what is being taught in their classrooms. They would then come up with a common test for the next chapter and discuss the questions. Were they good questions, did they assess according to the outcomes or were they just questions to stump the students. We wanted each student to have a fair and equal chance at succeeding and so we collaborated together to do just that.
When we were finished creating the test and its questions we would have the answer key and we would go back to our classrooms and students. The next month we would not get together and meet face to face but we would do a hangout video call. In this call we would discuss the test and how our students did. We would discuss what questions they struggled with or which questions we felt we really didn't cover good enough. It was and excellent way to help us as teachers and to better us as students of technology and collaboration. With the results from our tests we could then produce a Google form which would be shared between all of us and we could learn from each other. Overall it was an excellent way to work together for the greater good of our students. http://www.chatfieldpublicschools.net/district/Documents/PLC%20Framework.pdf This article discusses the importance and strengths of the learning communities and how it can strengthen any school and it's students. I really enjoyed it and hope you do to. Google hangout is a wonderful tool that could be used for so much in the classroom. You could record yourself giving a lesson and send it to the students as homework. This is called a flip classroom which is a great idea for the upcoming project based learning. Another aspect that could be of use in the classroom is a group project that the students will use Google hangouts in the classroom with another class from a different city or even country. This could be beneficial to the students as they get to see a different perspective on the topic they are discussing or learning about. This could also be used for teachers learning from each other. You could have a discussion with a number of teachers on ideas they had with certain topics, or test questions, or what aspects of certain lessons or objectives they found their students struggled with. Simply put it is a great communication tool that will benefit learning all around. It could be used for those students that do not feel as comfortable speaking in front of a class so they could record themselves and present that in class with limited talking. Mary Beth Hertz, an elementary school teacher in Pennsylvania had the idea for students in elementary school to be using hangouts for a multi-class book club. The students can use the hangout to discuss what they read the previous week and what was interesting to them. This is an excellent idea for the younger grades and will be so much fun for them to see other students they may know or even get to know through the hangout.
Some aspects of concern will be the privacy issues. Some parents may not like their children being online looking at another person face to face. Or if they were to use this tool at home it is a issue with privacy in the home. As Ken discussed in the hangout it was awkward for him to do as he could see right into some peoples bedroom. This is an issue of privacy. It could also lead to other issues with cyber bullying or inappropriate behaviour. All of these issues can be avoided through being proactive in your teaching. Teach the students about hangout and why it is a great tool. Work with them using the hangout, but most of all be smart with the hangout. Talk to parents, administration, and the students about hangout and why it is a great tool in the classroom. When parents hear about this there will not be many that are against the use in the classroom, thus enhancing the learning and experience. References http://www.edutopia.org/blog/educators-schools-google-hangouts-mary-beth-hertz Significant Comments: http://calewinterneted.weebly.com/blog/topic-5-communication-iii#comments http://zacharyrhodes.weebly.com/ed-4764-blog/reflection-5#comments While I have been reflecting on communication over the past couple of topics it has occurred to me a couple of times that as a society we are starting to go away from conversation and entering rehearsal. By this I mean in a conversation one can talk with another with some aspect of surprise. By having a asynchronous conversation it is rehearsed, you are able to think about what you are going to say. I can't count how many times I have to rewrite a text as it was not exactly what I wanted to say. Again I go back to what my co-worker said, he feels that if he were in today's younger generation he would be able to pick up any girl that he wanted. The young men now days don't need the "swagger" that he had to have.
I had never used Twitter until PSI. I didn't really understand how it was used, why it was used, and overall how it would benefit me. But I came to a quick realization that it could be used so well in the classroom. This came easily apparent to me when I heard Jared Heidenger talk about his twitter experience. This was such a great idea to use for his students and their homework. It is also such a good tool to find ideas for teaching and learning in the classroom. It gives students the opportunity to use it at home and discover new things about the content as well as themselves while doing research and reflection. Youtube is also another great tool for the classroom. I have used it in my classroom to teach lessons, to help students remember content, and to simply engage them in the lesson. Like the article said it is speaking their language. It also gives me an opportunity to load the lessons onto youtube and teach a flipped classroom. The students could then respond to a question via twitter, the possibilities are limitless through the vast social media we have at our disposal. Significant Comments http://elykremlapfitness.weebly.com/teaching-blog/communication-ii#comments http://michelleosborneblog.weebly.com/journal/communication-ii#comments I first want to comment on Jennifer Deyenburg and her journey with technology and innovation. I really liked what she said early on in the interview about how and why she started using her blog and writing the good things she has done, but most interesting enough the bad things as well. When I first heard her say that I was wondering why she did so, then it hit me. When you do something in the classroom that failed you begin to assess why it did. You can come up with different ideas that will potentially make it better for the next time. Posting it you will get 10x more ideas that would have never crossed your mind. Every mind is different, every teacher is different, and every lesson is different, with this in mind the potential of the lesson succeeding in the future is heightened dramatically. It also shows she is a great teacher as she is always wanting to learn. We as teachers are not perfect the more we realize that and accept help the more perfect we become.
The next aspect of her interview I really liked was the lesson on weather. Hearing her talk about it I kept thinking to myself I want to be in this lesson learning these things from her. When I think of weather just off the top of my head I start to fall asleep it is boring to me, but the way she used technology to heighten this lesson was incredible. I mostly liked how it was instant. The students were able to get weather notifications from all over the world. They were getting personal notifications which would increase their engagement in the lesson as well as their learning. I guarantee they will not forget the lesson they learned about weather that day. Internet chat can be a useful tool for sure, but there are a lot of draw backs that can deter one from using the tool. It is the best of both worlds asynchronous and synchronous communication. It gives the face to face communication but alone physically, you have time to think about what you want to say without it being awkward. As discussed in the article it can be dangerous and risky without knowing the person on the other side, but in response being a teacher using someone to video chat that you know or have communicated with previously will counter act the previous concern. Significant Comment: http://justinedespins.weebly.com/ed-4764---the-internet-and-education/communication-1#comments Communication is of utmost important in our society. It is how we get to know one another, it is how we show what we want, and it is the aspect that separates us from the animals. For instance I have a 2 year old son that is learning to talk and it is so frustrating for him when we are not able to understand what he wants. He gets mad, sad, and frustrated all because he can not communicate.
With that in mind I am old enough to have seen the asynchronous communication come into the world. I remember msn, which seemed to be one of the first synchronous that I can remember without face to face or a phone call. I remember email coming into my life and how it was used. I actually still have my first email account I ever setup, the name is ridiculous but hey I was young. The main aspect that I want to talk about is asynchronous communication and how it is such a great tool for those that do not like to talk in class, or are too embarrassed to talk. It is often that they have some of the most interesting and thought provoking thoughts. Like a flip classroom in some of today's classes. This allows the students to answer questions or write mini essays on what they learned in the video. This is amazing it will give so many students the opportunity to express themselves. Especially for those that are not well spoken and can seem to never get the words out of their head the way they want. I believe this is an amazing tool that has been created for us in our classrooms, but their are down falls as well. Our face to face communication, I feel, has gone down hill. How often do we talk on the phone any more? Students because of the mass amount of asynchronous communication our synchronous communication is fading. You don't use it you lose it. So moving forward I believe that it is important for us as teachers to use both aspects of communication and ensure our students still know how to talk to each other. |