Final Blog Reflection

• Standard 1: Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity

• promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness.

The lessons that I created helped to promote, support and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness.  For example, in my first lesson, I had my students create a book.  The students first did some research on the internet to learn more information about bats.  Once they completed their research, they used Pixie software to create their own book of factual information about bats.  During this lesson, the students were able to be creative as they worked on their book and incorporate pictures, drawings and factual information into their books.  Students were able to create their own resource that they could use to show the information that they learned and they used their creativity when designing the layout of the book.

• engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources.

Learning how to use money in our society is a real-word skill that students need to learn.  In my second lesson, students began to learn about money value and how to use the money in different real-life situations.  In this lesson, I used technology in several different ways to help the students gain an understanding of coin value.  First, we read the book The Coin Counting Book through the Phoenix Public Library online site.  This introduced the concept of coin value to the students.  Next, the students participated in an interactive coin counting activity using the smart board and their computers.  Doing these types of activities using digital tools helped the students to explore coin counting and money and apply what they learned at the end of the lesson to solving authentic problems that may occur in real-life situations with money.

• promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes.

In the lessons that I planned, I helped promote student reflection using collaborative tools to clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking.  A great example of this was in my third lesson.  When the students went through the different tasks during the web quest on sharks, the students were taking the information that they learned and applying it in different ways.  First, the students were asked to read an excerpt on great white sharks.  Next, the students were asked to learn about the size difference in the different types of sharks.  Then the students were asked to learn about the different parts of the shark.  In completing each of the tasks on the online web quest, the students were building on the previous task learning new information.  For the final task, the students were asked to create their own poster that could be posted about a shark that was of interest to them.  The student were successful in navigating a Microsoft Word template to build their poster and plan out how their poster would look and demonstrate their knowledge about the shark they chose to learn about.

• model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments.

Many of the activities that I did in the lessons were done on an individual level.  There was not a lot of group work activity within the lessons that I created.  If I did these lessons again, this is something that I would change.  One way that I could incorporate a more collaborative learning environment in my first lesson was to allow the students to choose an animal of interest to them to do research on and create a book using Pixie Software.  The students could team up and work together to create a book then do a pair-share once the books were created to learn about a variety of different types of animals.  This would have allowed the students to explore a variety of different animals rather than everyone learning about the same animal.  It also would have been a great idea to use the movie tool in the Pixie software and post the movies on site such as You-Tube so the students could show their books digitally to a broader audience.  

• Standard 2: Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments

• design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.

When designing my lessons, I created many learning experiences that incorporated digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.  Every lesson that I created incorporated digital tools for the students to utilize in their learning experiences.  In my first lesson, students used online data bases to research and discover information about bats and their functions.  The students then used the information that they learned to create their own book of information to share with others.  In my second lesson, I used an online book with animation instead of reading out loud to the students.  Then the students were able to practice coin counting in a game form using their computers and finally applying what they learned in real-life situations using real money.  In my third lesson, the students used an online web quest to complete four different tasks while learning about sharks and their functions.  I chose to modify some of the tasks so that students were using technology to a greater degree.  One of the tasks that I designed was for the students to create their own poster using a Microsoft Word template.  This allowed me to assess students to see that they able to take the information that they learned in the previous tasks and tell me what they learned.  If I did this lesson again, I think I would try and build my own web quest that way I had all the information in one place.  My peer reflections did say that the modification was a little confusing and they would have liked to complete the other task on the original web quest.

• develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress.

The lessons that I created helped to develop technology-enriched learning environments that enabled students to pursue their individual curiosities. In my third lesson, the shark web quest, the students were very engaged and curious about sharks.  The students asked a variety of question that did not pertain to the different tasks and we were able to have several different group discussions.  We used our computers to research answers to the questions that they asked and we were able to learn new information.  By having our computers accessible with the internet, the students were able to get answers to their different questions an pursue the topics that they were curious able and learn new information.  When doing the web quest, students learned how to manage their own learning.  They were given different tasks and were able to assess their own progress using a checklist that was provided for them.

• customize and personalize learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources.

There are several different ideas that I have to customize and personalize the learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, work strategies and abilities using digital tools and resources.  The first idea is to provide the students with headphones during the work activities.  This way students are able to concentrate on their own learning and not having to filter a variety of noise.  This was an issue with many different lessons going on at the same time.  Another idea is to allow the students to use the  voice recording option in the Pixie Software for students that are unable to write.  This allows the students to express their ideas verbally and participate in the lesson. By utilizing the smart board during my lessons, I am also able to address diverse learning styles.  Students that are unable to use a mouse to navigate a computer can participate in the lesson and complete the required activity.  Also, using interactive books from online resources help students in comprehending the text through a variety of learning styles including visual and auditory learning styles.

• provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching.

I provided students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments that aligned with content and technology standards while teaching my lessons.  During my first lesson, I had the students research several different questions about bats before they created their books.  I used this paper as a formative assessment to ensure that students were learning the content and meeting the language arts standard.  During this lesson, I also asked the students questions while they were researching as a formative assessment.  Walking around the room and observing students while they were doing their research and creating their Bat books was also a formative assessment that I used.  When doing this lesson, I used the final Bat books that the students created individually as my summative assessment to see that students had an understanding of the standards that I was teaching and they understood the concepts being taught.  By using the Bat book as my summative assessment, I was able to see that all the students were able to meet the standards of the lesson.  Students learned about an animal and its function as well as reading an informational text and answer questions regarding the information that they read.  While looking through the Bat books, I noticed that one student will need additional help on sentence structure.  I would use this information to build an additional lesson about creating sentences or work with this student in a small group setting to scaffold learning in creating sentences.

• Standard 3: Model Digital-Age Work and Learning
  

• demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations.

During my lessons, I used a variety of technology systems.  By doing this I was able to help students transfer knowledge to new technologies and situations.  In our society, it is important to be able to use technology and be able to transfer knowledge in a variety of different ways.  The lessons that I provided for my students helped them become comfortable using different types of technology to demonstrate knowledge in the curriculum.  For example, in my third lesson, students used computers to research information about sharks.  They were able to transfer the knowledge onto paper and create several different models and projects.  The students used the information from the computer to create their own poster about a shark that they learned about using a new template through Microsoft Word.  I found that when using technology in the classroom, the bigger the variety of systems that are used, the more experience students have and are more comfortable using the different programs.

• collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation.

Using technology in the classroom is important to collaborate with students, peers, parents and community members.  In my lessons, there are different options that could be used to enhance innovation.  For example, when creating the Bat book, if I would have had each student research an animal that was an endangered species, we could have posted our books online to offer others information about how to help protect these animals.  I could build an additional lesson about creating a letter that we could email to different wild-life organizations to see if they would like to use the books we created on their web page.  There are so many different possibilities with the lessons that I originated with.  

• communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats.

Using digital-age media and formats is important to communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents and peers.  When the students created the Bat books, the purpose of this was to be able to share the information they learned with others in a meaningful way.  By using Pixie Software, the students were offered a variety of tools and ideas to help them accomplish this goal.  I learned how to take these books and create a movie out of them.  This is a great tool to utilize in the classroom.  The book movies could be posted on the classroom web page so students could show their parents and friends without having to come into the classroom.  By doing this, I am able to communicate to the parents what students are learning within our classroom.

• model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning.

In my lessons, I successfully used current and emerging digital tools to support research and learning.  Students were able to successfully navigate several different kid friendly websites on the internet to learn different information in their research projects.  When the students had to complete the different tasks on the shark web quest, digital tools including the internet, Microsoft Word and Pixie software were utilized.  Students were able to successfully navigate the different sites to research a variety of information about bats as well as different types of sharks.

• Standard 4: Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility

• advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources.

During all my lessons, I had previously selected the web pages that the students would utilize during their research and individual practice.  By doing this, I was able to teach and model safe and ethical use of digital technology.  I also reminded students that when researching information, it is important to write down the facts they found in their own words.  We discussed plagiarism and the consequences for stealing the words that other people wrote.  In my first lesson, when the students created their Bat book, I had them create a bibliography page so they could document where they got their information from.  This helped the students to learn how to appropriately document the sources they used to find information.

• address the diverse needs of all learners by using learner-centered strategies providing equitable access to appropriate digital tools and resources.

All students had access to the tools that we used for these lessons.  I incorporated a variety of technologies in order to address all the diverse needs of all the learners in my classroom.  For example, in my second lesson, I used the smart board to introduce the game that I wanted the students to use when learning how to count money.  By doing this, I was able to have the students participate and use that as a formative assessment of learning.  Next, I had the students practice individually using their own computers.  Students are able to practice at their own pace at this time and I could assist individuals as needed.  Finally, I had the students count using real money.  By offering the students a variety of ways to complete the tasks, I am able to address the diverse needs of all learners in my classroom.

• promote and model digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information.

Students were able to model digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information.  In my first lesson, students were asked to site their sources and create sentences using their own words.  As a group, we discussed how to navigate the internet and the chosen web pages.  I could have also talked to the students about privacy and keeping personal information off of the internet if we posted them to You-Tube or another public site.

• develop and model cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures using digital-age communication and collaboration tools.

By using digital age tools, students are able to engage and model cultural understanding and develop global awareness.  Students will learn how to connect with each other and the world they live in.  The projects that were created in these lessons, could be used to share with other students in another community.  Students in Arizona could share their Bat books with students in another community such as Florida.  They could share the information through the internet and then students in Florida (or a different area) could share a book they created as well.  Using this type of technology helps students to begin to have experiences with students outside of their own community and connect with others.