Diigo Library

Check out my Diigo library.

Reflection

(1) At what age can online/digital literacy activities be integrated into the classroom? (2) What is a 21st Century Learning Environment? (3) How can you cultivate at least one of the 21st century skills in your current/future classroom?

1-    I believe online or digital literacy activities can be integrated into any classroom, regardless of the age of the students. So much of what happens in the world today involves technology, and the sooner students are exposed to and comfortable with technology the better. For example, I could see a preschool class using a simple camcorder, such as a Flip camera to record science experiments, children acting out a play, teachers reading a story, etc. All of these things could be used to extend learning by incorporating technology into the classroom. For more ideas, check out this teacher’s homepage. I could see an early elementary class blogging with the help of a teacher, just as I plan to have my 1^st grade students blog shout-outs to each other and post story problems for their classmates to answer.

2-    According to the Partnership for 21^st Century Skills, a 21^st century learning environment is a “system of systems” (  ) that supports the teaching of 21^st century skills, encourages educators to collaborate and share best practices, and enables students to learn in a relevant real-world context. This “environment” can be an actual place, like a classroom or coffee shop, or a virtual place, like a blog or online community. If the environment is an actual place, it would best be described as designed for flexibility. It is impossible to say what the best set-up for a classroom you’ve never seen and students you’ve never met will be, so the space should be as flexible and rearrangeable as possible.

3-    One of the 21^st century skills mentioned in the article we read for class is Communication and Collaboration, specifically to communicate clearly. The Partnership for 21^st Century Skills provides a framework to help educators integrate these skills into their teaching. Part of communicating clearly is defined as, “Articulate thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written, and nonverbal communication skills in a variety of forms” and, “Utilize multiple media and technologies, and know how to judge their effectiveness.”  See the Framework yourself here. Obviously, communication is an extremely important skill. One way I could see integrating technology into teaching this skill is to have my class create digital stories on the solar system. The entire class could be split into small groups, and each group could create a digital story about one of the planets or the sun. By creating the digital stories, students would need to use multiple forms of technology, including digital cameras, scanners, and computers. The students could also create an online survey that would serve as an electronic pre and post test to assess their classmates’ knowledge on their topic.

Feedback Survey for my digital story

Click the link to take the survey and offer honest feedback. Thanks!

Digital Story

Check out my digital story on tigers. I hope you love it!

Feedback survey

Click here to go to the feedback survery for my digital story on tigers. Please be honest!

My Class Website

Check out my class website here. I think I might actually use this!

Info on comps

I don't know if anyone else checks their Saint Joseph email, but I found a fwd message from Dr. Johns regarding our comps. Check out the info below.



November 17, 2011
Dear Cohort I and Cohort II Master’s of Education Candidates,
We will be having an orientation session for comprehensive examinations
on Monday, December 19, 2011 on campus in the Hoffman Auditorium at the Carol
Autorino Center. The session will be held from 5:30 – 7:00 PM.
The session will explain the process of the exams including the date that
the exam will be sent and the final day for submission. These dates will be different
for each cohort but you will have a handout which will indicate those separate dates.
You will receive information on how to approach the exam, pitfalls to avoid
and the scoring rubric.
I will speak about the comprehensive exam in general and about concentration areas, specifically.
Please keep all handouts in a safe place for future reference.
I hope that all of you will be able to attend this important meeting.
Sincerely,
Susan
Susan E. Johns, Ed. D.
Associate Dean, School of Education
Director of Advanced Programs
Director of Off Campus Programs
Saint Joseph College
1678 Asylum Avenue
West Hartford, CT
sjohns@sjc.edu

Reference page for digital story

Hello! I don't know if anyone else is having as much trouble as I did trying to add a reference page to their digital story, but I finally figured it out! If you are using Photo Story 3, you can create a slide in Microsoft Power Point, save it as a jpeg file, and then import it as a picture. Yay for online help forums!!

My Animoto Video

Response to Free Web Resources link

According to NETS for teachers, one role of the digital-age teacher is to engage students in solving problems using digital tools and resources (2008). I have found a few great websites that I would love to use in my classroom. The first website that I can see myself using is in the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html.  On this website, math resources and manipulatives are organized by math strand. One of the strands is measurement. When you open that tab, there are several activities based on attributes of shapes. My 1^st grade students have been working on sorting shapes based on attributes, and several students are really struggling. This activity would be something I could put on the interactive whiteboard in my room, and allow students to come up and try to sort shapes based on attributes.

                On the same website, there is a strand that refers to numbers and operations. Within that link, there is a place to see a large, interactive hundreds chart. Since I teach 1^st grade, my hundreds chart lives on my math meeting board all year long. I am constantly referring to my paper hundreds chart, and talking about how to use it to help skip count. By using this online version instead, I would be able to set what I want to skip count by and where to start, and have students come up and click on which number they think comes next in the pattern. This I awesome!!  (the link is below!)

http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/frames_asid_337_g_1_t_1.html?from=category_g_1_t_1.html

                Things related to technology automatically hook my students into my lesson much more quickly than anything I could say. By incorporating these free websites, my math lessons are sure to be much more engaging and fun. Added bonus: automatic feedback for students!

New Literacies

New Literacies is a term used to define the use of the internet and technology as a learning tool. This includes all the new skills, strategies, and social practices that go along with using new technology as a tool for communication. By its very definition, new literacies are something that will be constantly changing, and we must work to keep up with the changes and advances. Familiarity with the internet and technology in general helps to keep students current on what is happening around the globe, and the new set of skills required will be heavily desired in the changing job market we live in.

Sir Ken Robinson gave a talk regarding how to educate our children to take their places in the economies of the 21^st century, especially given the fact that we have no idea what the economy will look like a year from now, let alone a decade from now. His talk became the basis for an RSA Animate video, which is a perfect example of taking something we already do, give lectures, and making it better by integrating technology! http://youtu.be/zDZFcDGpL4U 

As Dr. Donald Leu stated in his video, Integration of New Literacies, (Leu, 2001) http://ctell.uconn.edu/canter/canter_video.cfm?movie=1b_integration.mov, “Let’s not think about these new literacies as an add-on, we need to think about integrating them into our traditional reading and writing experiences.”  I know that I personally used to pat myself on the back for finding a way to add some new technology into my classroom, whether it be slides on the interactive whiteboard or a computer game on a laptop. Now I realize that new literacies are not something extra you do, they are a new way of doing the things you already do.

National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) are standards related to technology, designed to advance digital-age learning. The standards for students include: 1) creativity and innovation  2) communication and collaboration  3) research and information fluency  4) critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making  5) digital citizenship and 6)  technology operations and concepts http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students/nets-student-standards-2007.aspx. This all basically means that students need to be able to understand and responsibly use many different forms of technology.  As for teachers, the standards are even more overwhelming. In essence, teachers should strive to inspire student learning and creativity, design and model digital-age learning experiences, and promote citizenship and responsibility. It is a monumental undertaking, but we have no chance at preparing our students for success if we do not even attempt this.

Developing new literacies might seem like a huge burden, but you can start in small ways. For example, I already have my students spend 20 minutes a day working on a shared reading text. This is usually something I write out on chart paper, but having it on the interactive whiteboard would allow me to highlight tricky words, substitute a boring word with a more lively one, even assign roles and change the font color to distinguish different speakers. By starting in a small way, I can feel successful and develop confidence before tackling larger projects.

First Blog Post Ever

Hello! My name is Rachel. I teach 1st grade at a charter school in New Haven. Most days, I totally love it! In my free time, I like to hang out with friends and cool people, go rock climbing, shop 'til I drop, and generally have fun. Check back later for more info...