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The last two days, I have tried Kahoot quizzes in my classroom. We have learned a bit about gamification in the classroom, and this seemed like an easier place to start :) Right off the bat - success! The students were all engaged, and excited to participate! There was such a buzz in the classroom - and they really celebrated each other. Today, I decided not to do a paper and pencil math assessment, but put the questions into a Kahoot quiz. It was incredible! Now I need to take a look at the results - see how my kiddos did.
How do you use Kahoot in your classroom?
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According to TPACK.org, TPACK is "a framework that teachers can use to help them identify knowledge they might need to focus on to be able to teach effectively with technology". The image to the right shows that technological knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and content knowledge all overlap, and cannot be fully successful without the other two areas. When all of the knowledge areas fully overlap, that is when there is TPACK. Technological Knowledge: The school I am teaching at has great access to technology, and has some professional development. I feel comfortable using technology to teach and plan, but there is always more technology out there to try! A lot of teachers at my school have access to technology, but feel unsure of how to best use it in their classroom. Pedagogical Knowledge: I feel quite comfortable in this area - planning units/assessments, teaching strategies, behavior management. However, this is an area I need to push myself in order to become more consistent, and I need to collaborate with fellow educators on strategies they use in their own classroom. Content Knowledge: My elementary school that I teach at finally has great access to curriculum across subject areas, as this was a problem a few years ago. Depending on the topic, my subject knowledge could be vast or limited. One area I need to work on is deepening the content knowledge I have on specific subjects. How does this look in my classroom? The goal is to incorporate all three areas seamlessly into the classroom. While this is not true of my classroom every minute of every day, there are times where I feel like I have balanced all three. This is definitely a goal for me - to improve on how I can make sure my teaching includes all three. I most often feel like I am missing pedagogical knowledge - how can I use informal/formal assessments to guide my teaching? How can I use pre-assessments to deepen the learning of students who have already mastered the concepts? Where is my class as far as our year-long plan. Do we need to speed up? Slow down? Reteach? My biggest area that I am working to improve is to use PK to deepen the learning of my excelling students. Here is a different image to represent TPACK. I love the image create by the words, and see another way of how these knowledge areas are connected. Above is my prototype. While I loved planning it out using a pen and paper, I have since then taken to my computer to continue planning each section a bit deeper.
HOME: - my logo..... still brainstorming here. Not sure what I want that to look like, yet. - infographic - summary of my research/research paper? What important parts do I want to include here? RESOURCES: - tech document (I have been keeping track of tech tools I want to use/have used! - SITE Model - standards: ISTE, CCSS, National Math Standards - Links: o https://sites.google.com/a/gwaea.org/ipads-in-the-elementary-classroom/home o https://sites.google.com/site/onlinereadingandwriting/cool-tools-gallery o http://visual.ly/ipad-teachers-pet o http://www.weareteachers.com/blogs/post/2013/06/24/15-apps-for-the-one-ipad-classroom o https://8ipads.com/in-the-classroom/ - Images: Show me app, GAFE logo - videos/photos from my classroom, examples of student work INSPIRATION: - link to weebly blog - Additional research on flipped classroom -- student "show me" examples AUTHOR: - about the author blurb, photo For the past few years, I have been collecting a list of tech apps, sites, and tools that I would be interested in incorporating into my teaching. I add to this list whenever I hear a suggestion from a colleague, blog, or professional development seminar.
This list was becoming sloppy, so I have decided to reorganize. This is my tech to do list, and I am still working on organizing and adding to it, so it can be a tool for other educators as well. What tech site/app/tool would you add???? https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FbY-bneewdOIqDfrAIftnZed1rFQaBuLpsVLn7m5DkU/edit?usp=sharing Recently, an assignment in the Innovative Learning Program required me to teach a short, flipped lesson. This has been on my (ever-growing) tech-to do list, and I never seemed to have the time for it. This assignment was a great way to force me to try something new!
So, it started with 1 short math lesson. I used "Show Me", an app made for an iPad, and also a website that can be accessed. It is basically a whiteboard that you can write on, and you can record your voice while you "draw". After my first video, I decided that it was quick, painless, and actually quite fun. I have ended up doing a mini "flipped" math video lesson every day! The results have been immediate. Since students are watching the video the day before I teach the lesson, they are able to frontload the math, and have a bettter and deeper understanding by the time they come to class. Not only have I seen particular students' confidence skyrocket (and therefore, increased participation), but I have recieved feedback from several parents. Parents have mentioned that it helps THEM to understand the math better, and they are able to answer any questions their child might have before they come to class. I have also had feedback from students, where they let me know that the videos make it easier to understand. My only regret is that I took too long to begin this! I can't wait to have videos for math right at the start of next school year! It is so interesting to think that as we are taking this journey through our Master's Program, our ideas and research questions slowly change and adapt based on what we are learning, and who our audience is.
As I have thought more and more about my own classroom and my students' needs, my driving question has changed. While I started with a question that focused on technology to increase math skills, professional development and changes in my district helped encourage me to narrow my ideas. This past January, my school district has implemented Google Apps for Education (GAFE) for 3-5 grade. Educators at my school district have been offered a bevy of trainings and development opportunities in the area of GAFE. With such a specific focus at my school and district, I decided to shift my driving question to ask how can GAFE (specifically) help me personalize learning for my students, and increase their math skills. I have been using GAFE more consistently in my class during math rotations. Students have watched videos, used google forms to answer questions, and even created line plots on google drawing. I am definitely still learning how to best use GAFE for my students, and I have not spent enough time making the learning as personal as it can be. I hope in the near future that I can provide several videos or several assignments in order to let students choose based on their needs/abilities. My driving question has also refocused due to being asked to consider the audience of my research project. Originally, I did not consider this! I was focusing on myself and the students in my own classroom. While thinking of other educators who might replicate a study like this in their own classrooms, I wanted to focus my question on a specific program/site to personalize learning and increase math skills. I hope that an educator hoping to use GAFE in their classroom can find my website and capstone project in order to get ideas! Before even taking this quiz, I could have told you that I am a visual learner. If I don't see it, I have a much harder time understanding or learning it. That being said, I took the Baggio Learning Style quiz, and here are my results: 60% Visual 24% Auditory 16% Kinesthetic After I got my results, I was searching the internet to learn more about visual learners. I found the following image.... Now this image basically sums up ME! I am very organized, and disorganized spaces and presentations can distract me. I definitely doodle while I listen, and definitely take a hands-on approach. This idea of doing things in a more hands on way is what made me initially think I was more of a kinesthetic learner, but maybe this is part of being a visual learner? My one big surprise was that I am more of an auditory learner than a kinesthetic learner. I feel like I learn better by doing, but the quiz really made me relate these concepts to what I actually do in my real life. I guess it is less often than I thought that I learn something by DOING. I wonder if MOST teachers are a specific type of learner....? For my students, I am always challenging them to "think outside of the box", and try things in a new way. I am always so impressed at how creative kids can be! I have 4th graders, and I see them display this thinking mostly in math. They even challenge themselves to be creative, to show their thinking in another way. As we prepare for research projects and presentations, I try and leave it a bit open-ended as to how they can present their learning. Last week, I had a student present information on the gold rush using an old clorox wipe container that was full of facts! Clever and resourceful!
For me as an educator, I challenge myself to "think outside of the box" as often as I can. This definitely looks different for me than it does for my students. Recently, while in this Master's Program, I have been trying to add new types of technology in my classroom, in order to have my students present their learning in many different ways. This has been challenging for me, mostly feeling a lack of TIME to explore these new tech tools... I also want my classroom to look different than the typical "box". I have table groups rather than rows of desks, and our seating is very flexible. Students are allowed to work at tables, under tables, laying on the rug, etc - as long as they are working. Oh man, how I love that our blogs for this class are open ended! It is great to have a place to stop, and reflect on what is happening in my classroom, as well as what I am learning in the IL program. What I have found is that these two areas on my life go hand in hand!
I learn SO much in the IL program, that it can be overwhelming at times. I have an overflowing list to apps/sites to experiment with, and to eventually teach my students. I love learning new websites from my classmates, and thinking about how they might be applicable to my own students. In addition, our professors often share ideas they have, or actually have us get on to a site to try it out for ourselves. Again, each class leaves me with my head spinning, full of ideas, yet not enough time to do it! Do any of you have suggestions for how you are able to take new ideas and plan them for your own classroom? I get so excited, but overwhelmed at the same time.... Maybe just one day at a time? Or one app/site at a time? |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
May 2016
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