Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom

The most striking revelation I had as a result of my last course “Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom” through Walden University is that I have not been doing the most effective job of teaching my students how to use and search for information on the web. A great learning experience for me was creating a screencast explaining how I would teach students to evaluate web resources. Check out my screencast at http://www.screencast.com/users/TiffanyHall/folders/Jing/media/f520f58c-1d86-432c-813f-81e2db8210fd. I plan to use screencast in my classroom right away.

The new knowledge that I have gained will definitely change the way I use online inquiry in my classroom. I need to explicitly teach my students how to use the Internet effectively. I plan to use many of the resources provided in this course to help my students learn how to effectively search the web and determine if the information they locate is valid and reliable. I plan on incorporating and using inquiry based projects in my classroom in a much different way than I have in the past. A huge change will be that students will ask the essential questions that will guide their inquiry research, not me.

Synthesis in reading, writing, and communication is a difficult strategy for students to learn and for educators to teach. Many different ideas and tools provided by Eagleton and Dobler will help me to effectively and concretely show my students what it means to synthesize. I envision using many of the handouts in this book to guide my students in all subject areas.

A professional goal that I have for myself is to learn about more technology-based projects that I can incorporate into my classroom. I have been experimenting with blogs, wikis, photostory, and podcasts for a couple of years. I now have tried out screencasting and am going to use this in my classroom soon. I would like to extend my knowledge of podcasting to create advanced podcasts with video. I would like to learn more about digital storytelling as well. E-pals is something that I will be using with my second graders this winter and spring. I look forward to the results and the learning that will take place. I know there are many different technology resources available that I am not utilizing currently. I would like to learn how to use a smartboard and apply for a grant to receive one in my classroom.

There are so many possibilities I will have to remind myself to take one step at a time. I am fortunate to be part of peer technology coaching this year at my school. I will be working with a technological savvy colleague that will help me to implement and incorporate technology in my classroom. Our first step will be to use e-pals with both our second grade classrooms. We then would like to create podcasts that we will use for students to collaborate between our two different classrooms. It seems to be a perfect year for me to have this experience, as there are many new things that I would like to try out!

References:
Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the Web: Strategies for Internet inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press.

Thanks for reading!
Tiffany

Reflection of Technology Use in the Classroom

I have learned so many new ways to incorporate technology into my life and classroom. I have created a personal blog as well as a classroom blog. I have created a wiki with my colleagues and experimented with a wiki with my students. I now use “Wikipedia” as one of my sources when looking up information. I know and understand my student’s experiences with technology better than I ever have before and have started to use these new technologies within my classroom.

My knowledge of the teaching and learning process during this course has become more open minded with the learner’s interests and needs put at the forefront. I am teaching “digital native” students; therefore I need to let them use tools that they are comfortable using. I also need to think about the 21st Century skills that I should be equipping my students with to succeed beyond their K-12 experience.

My biggest “a-ha” moment throughout this course has been that of being a facilitator of learning, not just the teacher giving students knowledge. This is something that I have always tried to do, facilitate for my students and let them construct their own meaning. Technology is a powerful and functional way to facilitate learning. Students thrive when they are engaged and excited about a topic that they have choice in. This spring I let my student’s explore, collaborate, problem solve, and have fun like never before. One to one computers for each student was a wonderful experience for my students and me this spring. I can’t wait to expand on this project next year and incorporate the use of a class wiki.

I plan to continue my knowledge of teaching and learning with technology by continuing my exploration with blogs, wikis, and podcasts within the classroom. I hope to add more “tricks” to my bag within the next year to expand my use of technology. I want to spread the word to other teachers and let them see the amazing things technology can do for the classroom!

I plan to use blogs as a major form of homework assignments from this point on. Instead of having students complete individual reading logs I plan to have them blog each week about what they are reading, to hopefully pass the word on about different books they are reading. (Reading Blog, not Reading Log!;) I also plan to use podcasting as a way to share information within the classroom as well as outside of the classroom. I would like to share our learning with other schools in the district, country, and even the world! I know I will have some convincing and explaining to do to staff, parents, and students, because these things will be new to some of them. Eventually, I know everyone will see the impact, success, and vital need that these new technologies will play in the classroom. My goal is student success and technology is a wonderful tool to use to achieve this aspiration. I look forward to next school year and can’t wait to begin exciting and igniting my student’s abilities.

Technology Survey with Pocasting

Technology use by my sixth graders isn’t what I expected it to be. I thought my students were spending a lot of time watching TV and playing video games. On average, out of 52 6th graders, time spent watching TV is about 30 minutes a day on school days, more on the weekends. Only 5% of my students say they play video games, and those that do spend about an hour a day. Time spent talking on the phone was also less than I thought, about 10 minutes a day on average. The “shocking” results of my survey was that fact that only 40% of my students use text messaging or instant messaging, but of those 40% they say they spend their day, after school is out, texting constantly! All of my students have at least one computer at home and do have internet access. Most of my students say that their parents put limits on them during the school week and they feel they don’t have time after sports practice and homework. Students feel that they have received ample time at school researching online and using computers to create digital projects. 6th graders are really in the beginning stages of using MySpace and Facebook, but it is something that they believe is really cool! My feeling is that their technology use may make a steep increase the older they get and as parents ease up on time restrictions. Listen to the podcast created by my students and myself: http://hall.podbean.com/mf/web/atkewd/MsHallpodcastassignment.mp3

21st Century Skills

After reading a Partnership for 21st Century Skills: http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/images/stories/otherdocs/p21up_Report.pdf, I have an overwhelming feeling of not preparing my students fully for their lives and the workforce they will enter. I feel like I am doing a good job of meeting the standards and lifelong learning skills that my students need. However, integrating technology into their learning is something that I feel I don’t do enough of. One reason, of course is lack of resources and training that I have received. This scares me a lot, because I actually have/use a lot more resources than other districts and teachers.

The six key elements of 21st Century Learning are: Emphasize Core Subjects, Emphasize Learning Skills, Use 21st Century Skills Tools to Develop Learning Skills, Teach and Learn in a 21st Century Context, Teach and Learn 21st Century Content, Use 21st Century Assessments that Measure 21st Century Skills. I was impressed that at the top of the list core subjects are still the emphasis, as should be. This site gives many good ideas for how schools can start incorporating these ideas to help our students be successful in the 21st Century workplace. The members and partners of this website are well known companies and businesses which makes me believe that the information is well planned and thought out.

As an educator, I know that it is my job to make sure I am preparing my students for their future in the workplace. This website accentuates the need for technology use, collaboration, and problem solving skills; among many other things. If I can start or improve me instruction anywhere, I believe these are the skills I can work on with my students.

~Tiffany

Blogs in the Classroom

Ideas for Blog Use in the Classroom: Travel blogs, journal, discussions, questions, literature circles, class meetings, writing assignments...

Purpose of Blog Use: Blogs are a way to motivate and gain student participation with writing assignments. They provide an authentic audience for student work. Students are able to interact with one another about assignments and content in a different way as well as outside the school day.

My Thinking about Blogs: I definitely have seen students work much harder and participate at a much higher level when they know that their work is going to be visible to everyone in the classroom. I recently had my students write travel blogs about a country they researched and had almost 100% participation and turn in rate, which showed the extreme benefit of blogging in the classroom.

Blog Rationale: I teach sixth grade Literacy and Social Studies and have only used blogging with my students in a modified format, using a discussion board on my classroom website. I ask my students questions and have assigned the travel blog assignment as mentioned above. Overall, I feel my students like the blog experience as technology is something that interests them. Blogging is one way to make things different for students in the classroom and help them to experiment and learn about "new" technology.

Happy Blogging!
Tiffany

Teaching with Technology

I have found that teaching with technology has great advantages. The most noticeable advantage to me is that students are excited and engaged when they use technology. An example of this is having my students play a vocabulary game once a week, for 10 minutes, on freerice.com. They get so excited and don't even realize that they are learning and practicing vocabulary. They have fun, while learning and to me that is wonderful!

If you haven't yet, check out freerice.com!