At the beginning of this course, I just wanted to get some help adding content to My Big Campus. At the end of the course I realize that I have learned much more than that. I learned so much about best practices in teaching with technology, authentic assessment, curriculum design, and digital citizenship.
I still have a lot of content that I need to add to My Big Campus, but I am now better prepared to evaluate the digital resources that I add to my Bundles in MBC. You can see the progress I have made on my Chrysanthemum Bundle here.
When school resumes next month, I will be able to share the content I have curated with other teachers in my grade level. Since I have become more familiar with the features of My Big Campus, I can also help any teacher that would like to learn how to use this valuable resource with their students.
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Digital Footprint
I Googled my name and found my profiles on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Blogger. I was happy to find nothing negative. As far as creating a positive digital footprint, I think you would need to be actively posting and making comments that are helpful and encouraging to others. These could be either professional or personal in nature.
I have a Twitter account where I follow several educators who share ideas and concepts that use best practices, especially in the area of technology. Those educators are creating a positive digital footprint because they are sharing their knowledge and expertise. While I appreciate the efforts of those I follow, I tweet very little. That won't create a negative digital footprint for me, but it does create a neutral or non-existent one.
The same can be said for my personal posts on Facebook. My posts are not negative in any way, but I do not post often. I cannot establish a positive digital footprint this way.
Teachers can help their students develop a positive footprint in two ways.
1. We must warn our students that the internet is a public place and anything they put online is there forever. This includes but is not limited to e-mails, texts, blog posts, and social media posts. If it is something they wouldn't want their parents to see, then they should not post it online.
2. We need to teach our students that the internet is a great place to learn and exchange ideas. They can establish a positive footprint by posting things that are respectful, kind, intelligent, encouraging, and interesting.
I have a Twitter account where I follow several educators who share ideas and concepts that use best practices, especially in the area of technology. Those educators are creating a positive digital footprint because they are sharing their knowledge and expertise. While I appreciate the efforts of those I follow, I tweet very little. That won't create a negative digital footprint for me, but it does create a neutral or non-existent one.
The same can be said for my personal posts on Facebook. My posts are not negative in any way, but I do not post often. I cannot establish a positive digital footprint this way.
Teachers can help their students develop a positive footprint in two ways.
1. We must warn our students that the internet is a public place and anything they put online is there forever. This includes but is not limited to e-mails, texts, blog posts, and social media posts. If it is something they wouldn't want their parents to see, then they should not post it online.
2. We need to teach our students that the internet is a great place to learn and exchange ideas. They can establish a positive footprint by posting things that are respectful, kind, intelligent, encouraging, and interesting.
Curating Effectively
When curating digital content to use in my classroom, it is good to have a plan to keep that material organized. That way when the following year rolls around and I want to use that content, I know where it is. I sure don't want to have to search for it all over again. So far my plan is to create bundles in My Big Campus to store the content I have curated. In each bundle I can have links to sites like www.symbaloo.com where many resources are clustered together in one place.
I plan on creating a bundle for each week of the school year. Each bundle will contain all the digital resources that we will use for that week. Each year I can edit bundles, adding and deleting content to make it more suitable for my students. These bundles can easily be shared among teachers in my grade level.
I plan on creating a bundle for each week of the school year. Each bundle will contain all the digital resources that we will use for that week. Each year I can edit bundles, adding and deleting content to make it more suitable for my students. These bundles can easily be shared among teachers in my grade level.
Monday, June 16, 2014
Daniel Pink Video
Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose are a focus of Daniel Pink's video. Pink defined these terms as...
Autonomy: the urge to direct our own lives
Mastery: the desire to get better and better at something that matters
Purpose: the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves
Pink states that traditional forms of management are great if you want compliance. If you want engagement, self-direction works better. Three examples were given to show how this can be done in business.
1. FEDEX Days: The company Atlasian tell their engineers to spend the next 24 hours to work on anything they want. Then they present their developments to their peers.
2. 20 Percent Time: Google (as well as other companies) engineers spend 20 percent of their work time working on anything they want.
3. ROWE (Results Only Work Environment): Workers direct their own schedules. They have to get their work done, but they decide how, when, and where they will do it.
In all of these examples of autonomy productivity, worker engagement, and worker satisfaction increases.
While this talk focuses on the business setting, these same principles can be applied to an educational setting. Teachers could allow students time to direct some of their own learning. Students could choose what they are going to learn and how they are going to learn it. Students would be intrinsically motivated to learn about the topics they choose.
The video showed that extrinsic incentives dull our thinking and block creativity. Ultimately we want to teach our students to think. Therefore we want to provide our students opportunities that give our students autonomy.
Autonomy: the urge to direct our own lives
Mastery: the desire to get better and better at something that matters
Purpose: the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves
Pink states that traditional forms of management are great if you want compliance. If you want engagement, self-direction works better. Three examples were given to show how this can be done in business.
1. FEDEX Days: The company Atlasian tell their engineers to spend the next 24 hours to work on anything they want. Then they present their developments to their peers.
2. 20 Percent Time: Google (as well as other companies) engineers spend 20 percent of their work time working on anything they want.
3. ROWE (Results Only Work Environment): Workers direct their own schedules. They have to get their work done, but they decide how, when, and where they will do it.
In all of these examples of autonomy productivity, worker engagement, and worker satisfaction increases.
While this talk focuses on the business setting, these same principles can be applied to an educational setting. Teachers could allow students time to direct some of their own learning. Students could choose what they are going to learn and how they are going to learn it. Students would be intrinsically motivated to learn about the topics they choose.
The video showed that extrinsic incentives dull our thinking and block creativity. Ultimately we want to teach our students to think. Therefore we want to provide our students opportunities that give our students autonomy.
Friday, May 9, 2014
Technology Integration Matrix
In each area of the TIM (Active, Collaborative, Constructive, Authentic, Goal Directed), I would rate myself at the adoption level. I am very much directing my students, controlling how they will use technology to accomplish a task. My students are using technology to complete assignments, without much reflection. I would like my students to use technology to make connections to the real world. I would like my students to have the opportunity to use technology to collaborate with others.
By the end of the next grading period, I would like to be comfortably in the adaptation stage looking toward moving into the infusion level. I plan on using the information available in the TIM to increase the level of technology activities that I offer my students. I also plan on using the information available in the SAMR to develop lessons that are more authentic and engaging for my students.
Friday, April 25, 2014
Module 2
As we move toward the end of another school year and begin some long range planning for next year, I am always looking for ways to improve my instruction. Currently, I send homework home every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. The purpose of this schedule is to help parents know when their child will have homework. It also allows my students the opportunity of homework-free family time on Wednesday evenings and weekends. Homework consists of a reading assignment and a math assignment. In addition to these homework assignments, students are to practice spelling words at home and read a book of their choice for at least 20 minutes each night.
After reading an article from Harvard Graduate School of Education, "Are You Down With or Done With Homework?", I began reflecting on my own homework procedure. I decided that I can make some changes that will improve the quality of the homework assignments that I provide for my students.
First of all, I am open to the idea that my students may not always need homework every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Alfie Kohn states“Homework isn’t limited to those occasions when it seems appropriate and important. Most teachers and administrators aren’t saying, ‘It may be useful to do this particular project at home,’” he writes. “Rather, the point of departure seems to be, ‘We’ve decided ahead of time that children will have to do something every night (or several times a week). … This commitment to the idea of homework in the abstract is accepted by the overwhelming majority of schools — public and private, elementary and secondary.”
Secondly, I am open to the idea that the format of the homework I assign may need to be adjusted. While I do hope that parents are checking homework and helping when needed, that may not be the best child/parent interaction for each homework assignment. According to Liz Goodenough "... homework should be about taking something home, spending a few curious and interesting moments in which children might engage with parents, and then getting that project back to school — an organizational triumph".
Rather than assigning homework for the sake of giving homework, I need to be mindful of the purpose of homework when developing it. "For students in the earliest grades, it should foster positive attitudes, habits, and character traits; permit appropriate parent involvement; and reinforce learning of simple skills introduced in class." this is according to H. Cooper in an Educational Leadership article, "The Case For and Against Homework". You can find that article at http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar07/vol64/num06/The-Case-For-and-Against-Homework.aspx.
I will continue to research the topic of homework as I determine what changes I need to make. I want my students to have the opportunity to complete homework that is meaningful, purposeful, and meets their learning needs.
After reading an article from Harvard Graduate School of Education, "Are You Down With or Done With Homework?", I began reflecting on my own homework procedure. I decided that I can make some changes that will improve the quality of the homework assignments that I provide for my students.
First of all, I am open to the idea that my students may not always need homework every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Alfie Kohn states“Homework isn’t limited to those occasions when it seems appropriate and important. Most teachers and administrators aren’t saying, ‘It may be useful to do this particular project at home,’” he writes. “Rather, the point of departure seems to be, ‘We’ve decided ahead of time that children will have to do something every night (or several times a week). … This commitment to the idea of homework in the abstract is accepted by the overwhelming majority of schools — public and private, elementary and secondary.”
Secondly, I am open to the idea that the format of the homework I assign may need to be adjusted. While I do hope that parents are checking homework and helping when needed, that may not be the best child/parent interaction for each homework assignment. According to Liz Goodenough "... homework should be about taking something home, spending a few curious and interesting moments in which children might engage with parents, and then getting that project back to school — an organizational triumph".
Rather than assigning homework for the sake of giving homework, I need to be mindful of the purpose of homework when developing it. "For students in the earliest grades, it should foster positive attitudes, habits, and character traits; permit appropriate parent involvement; and reinforce learning of simple skills introduced in class." this is according to H. Cooper in an Educational Leadership article, "The Case For and Against Homework". You can find that article at http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar07/vol64/num06/The-Case-For-and-Against-Homework.aspx.
I will continue to research the topic of homework as I determine what changes I need to make. I want my students to have the opportunity to complete homework that is meaningful, purposeful, and meets their learning needs.
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Module 1
Based on the rubric, I would rate my post to the most recent discussion as evolving. If I had gone into more detail explaining why I thought the ISTE standards were most appropriate for my students, then my post would have fit into the effective range.
Based on this same rubric, I would rate my response to my classmate's post as evolving. If I would have expanded on or asked a question about the iNACOL standards in a way that promoted more collaboration with fellow learners, then my response would have fit into the effective range.
Based on this same rubric, I would rate my response to my classmate's post as evolving. If I would have expanded on or asked a question about the iNACOL standards in a way that promoted more collaboration with fellow learners, then my response would have fit into the effective range.
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