Final Reflection- CEP 810

The last seven weeks have gone by so quickly! I can’t believe it is time to sit down and reflect on what I have learned.

One of the biggest take aways I have from this class is the newfound understanding I have gained of the TPACK framework. I have learned how  critical it is to think about the TPACK framework when designing instruction for my students. I will continue to explore options with the TPACK framework in mind that are appropriate for my young learners and that spark their creativity and interests. Dr. Mishra’s lecture was definitely one of my favorite parts of this course because he helped me understand that there really is no such thing as “Educational Technology”, but instead it is technology in the hands of innovating educators. I found that idea to be freeing and inspirational. I am now more excited about looking at various technologies in a different way and working to repurpose them for use in my classroom.

As I take this new learning with me to my classroom, I still wonder how to communicate this learning to other educators who may be resistant to the new changes that education is and will continue to experience. I also think about the amount of time it takes to not only redesign units and lessons, but then to teach the technology to my young ones and also ensure that they walk away having learned the main lesson objectives. I think what has helped me wrap my head around all of this is that I don’t have to redesign lessons all at once. I can instead take smaller steps to innovate with technology when it fits in with my students’ needs and interests. I also have enjoyed building and reflecting on my Professional Learning Network. I am also still trying to wrap my head around RSS feeds and I am interested in exploring it further to see if it is something that will help me to organize the information I am interested in from other websites. By continuing to build a strong online network, I can take advantage of the ideas of other educators and tweak them to fit my needs. I am also more aware of the need for me to give back to my network and share the ideas I am coming up with in my classroom!

 

Cooking with TPACK

For this week’s activity, I was asked to complete a cooking task using only three randomly selected kitchen tools. Without knowing what I would have to do with the kitchen tools, my fiancé gave me a small plate, a bowl, and a wooden spoon. After drawing a number from a bag, I was matched with my cooking task: make a veggie tray. I was understandably skeptical about being able to complete this task without demolishing the green pepper I had. A wooden spoon probably would’ve been my last choice of utensil for this type of task.  While I wouldn’t take that veggie tray to a party, it ended up getting the job done. Now, at this point you are probably wondering why I am doing a cooking challenge for my Master’s of Educational Technology course, but this activity actually brought to life the idea that educators are constantly repurposing technologies for use in the classroom.

Keeping the Technological Pedagogical Content (TPACK) framework in the forefront of our minds as we plan for our instruction will help us to design the most effective lessons for our students. We won’t always be using technology in the way that it was originally intended to be used, in fact, we hardly ever do that! We were introduced to this idea that there is no such thing as “Educational Technology”, but instead we really have technology in the hands of educators who are repurposing it to take student learning to the next level.

Take a look at the video below to see how I was able to repurpose a tool to complete a cooking task!

21st Century Lessons

In the 2nd grade curriculum in my district, the students are expected to learn about the environment in about 5 short lessons. To me, the unit that was designed by the textbook makers is a big miss. The workbook pages and silly game that are provided do not allow the students to explore and discover the topic thoroughly and there is no mention whatsoever of what they can do to help the environment. Every year, I have done a different project to enhance this unit and make it exciting and engaging for the kids. This year, I decided to take this study to the next level by integrating technology. Right after I began developing this new unit plan, the topic of the week for my CEP 810 class was “Technologies to Support Student Learning”. It couldn’t have been a more perfect fit. As I was reading the materials provided, I found that a lot of what I had been doing already fit in with Renee Hobbs’ five communication competencies (access, analyze, create, reflect, act) that were featured in her book, Digital and Media Literacy: Connecting Culture and Classroom (2011), but I also found that I had room to improve the unit.

In this lesson plan, I have laid out my plans for my students to explore, learn, create, and share. The students will be expected to working in groups to research their topic that relates to our study of the environment. The students will keep track of their learning with the help of the website, Padlet. They will be using various apps and our class Symbaloo which has different research sources that I have gone through and found to be appropriate for them. They will apply their learning of the negative impact of pollution by taking the perspectives of various animals and give those creatures a ‘voice’. The students will use Educreations to help create a video to be shared with the community.

They will also be adding to a class website throughout the unit that will be shared with our community members. My hope is that the students will realize through this unit that taking care of our environment is extremely important and they can make a positive impact on our environment and our community.

Click here to view this lesson outline.

Networked Learning Project: Final Thoughts

Throughout the last few weeks, I have been working on learning calligraphy using only online help forums and YouTube. I have used YouTube to help me with other technology related skills in the past, but I hadn’t ever used it to learn a skill like this before. It was amazing to see how far I could get in my learning only using the videos from YouTube and different blogs. It was eye-opening to find that skill that I had previously thought I wouldn’t be able to learn unless I took an art class was something I could learn for free and on my own time. I enjoyed being able to click through many different videos to find a teacher that I liked to listen to and someone who was able to break down the skill into smaller parts to help me master each step. I was able to learn the basics of calligraphy and I will continue to practice this skill so that I can use it on my wedding invitations!

When I think about using this type of learning in my own classroom, I hesitate only because of the age of my students. I would need to be able to screen each video for content and unless every student was viewing the same videos to learn the same skill, I don’t think it would be manageable.If I was working with older students, I could definitely see including this kind of learning in my instruction.

While my first job is to teach the 2nd graders, I do more than my fair share of teaching other teachers to use technology in their classrooms. I could see myself taking the time to create my own videos focusing on the most frequently asked technology related questions to share with teachers as they need help. This would be most helpful when teachers from other schools ask for my help. I would definitely be careful about sending out the videos to other teachers too frequently because I do think that it is important to be available to my colleagues when they need help. I would probably reserve sending the videos to times when I would otherwise be unavailable.

I have created a video demonstrating what I have learned so far. Check it out below!

Technologies to Support Teaching

When I first started teaching, I didn’t really have a system in place to help me organized all of the things going on in my life. During the summer before my second year of teaching, I knew I needed a change. After exploring a ton of different options for organizing my life, I finally found Erin Condren.  Her planners were right up my alley- colorful and fun! Using a planner helped me to significantly reduce my stress level and manage my time more effectively.

Fast forward to this week.. We have been asked to think about the question, “How can I use technologies to make my life, as a teacher or educational professional, easier to manage, more efficient and productive?”. I have to admit that I was skeptical about changing my planning ways. I have a system that works for me and I won’t be changing that, but I was intrigued by the list-making app Wunderlist. There have been many times that I’ve left my planner at home or at work with my ‘To-Do’ list safely tucked away in it.  So, to have my list always on my phone was very appealing. I decided to try out Wunderlist to help avoid those frustrating times that my planner isn’t where I am!

I created a list on the app that featured many of the things that I hoped to accomplish during the week. I like that the app gives the user the option to create different lists, but I like to have everything I need to do, both personal and professional, in one place. I enjoyed clicking each task when it was completed and watching my list get smaller and smaller! I do wish that there was the option to change the color of each task so I could color-code what needs to get done in each category of my life.

Being able to access the list from my home and work computers or on my phone is really convenient and is one feature that gives my Erin Condren planner a run for its money! Overall, I am glad that I gave this tool a try and I do think that it is something that I will continue to use!

Learning Calligraphy Update

While first looking for materials to get started, I referred to the The Postman’s Knock‘s suggestions. However, after a search on Amazon I decided to get a fountain pen to try instead of the nib & ink suggestions that the author of The Postman’s Knock made. I was hoping for an easier, less messy way to get the same look. When I first began writing with the fountain pen, I quickly discovered that I couldn’t get the fine lines that I wanted in my writing. The fountain pen was worth a shot and I will use it for other writing, but it won’t help me achieve the look I want for my wedding invites and place cards. So I jetted off to Michael’s to find the classic calligraphy materials. Lesson learned!

The collage below shows my practice sheets using both the fountain pen and the nib & ink.

While experimenting with various calligraphy techniques I have watched many, many YouTube videos. You can click on these videos numbered 1-5 to see some of the videos I found to be helpful (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). I really enjoyed watching Carter Sam’s  videos, and I would definitely recommend her videos to other beginners. She tells viewers in one here videos that she is self-taught and she gives great tips and tricks throughout her videos.

I’ve also found that simply searching Google for modern calligraphy pictures helped me. I enjoyed recreating the lettering featured in the different pictures.

Lucky for me, I have twin nieces with names that are perfect for practicing calligraphy! When you look at the picture of their names below you can see that I am still working on getting the hang of applying the right amount of pressure while writing, and I need more practice with figuring out when I need to re-ink my nib. I’ve really enjoyed trying out different lettering styles and giving myself the opportunity to be creative in coming up with my own style!

As I continue learning this art, I will be trying out some of the downloadable pages from the Julie Blanner website. I will also be using Pinterest to help me find more resources.

Here’s a quick video of my progressing calligraphy skills!

https://vimeo.com/154519442

Professional Learning Networks

As educators, we are constantly seeking out new and exciting ideas for our classrooms. This week, I was asked to map out my professional learning network using Popplet. Poppet is a great site & app  that I use with my students to help them organize their ideas. I enjoyed being able to use it for my own work. It reminded me that it is not only a great resource for students, but it is also a great resource for me to organize all of my thoughts and ideas!

It was interesting to take a step back and think about all of the different sources I use to better my instruction. I focused on who I look to for new ideas and where I start my search for new ideas. Check out the image below to see the Popplet I created. You can click on the image to create your own!