Social Networked Learning Reflection

I'm not really sure what I expected out of EDTECH 543.  I knew it would address social networking, I just wasn't sure in what context.  I definitely didn't expect to gain as much from it as I have. 

One thing I realized very quickly is that social networking doesn't appear to be perceived as appealing to the elementary level.  The reason I say this is that until now, the EdTech classes that I have taken seem to have had a balance between primary, secondary, and post-secondary level teachers.  This course however, was primarily those with an interest in secondary or post-secondary education.  Because of this, the personal learning network I participated in was small.  We were the only two members of the class representing elementary classrooms.  This surprised me somewhat, mostly because I consider myself to be open-minded to the idea of utilizing social media in the classroom, even at the elementary level.

It is going to be difficult for me to take some of the things I have learned back into the classroom for a couple of reasons.  The first reason is social media policies.  Many social networking platforms have rules that state children must be of a certain age to establish an account.  This can be avoided by having students participate in a classroom account in which their identities are not tied directly to the account.  Twitter does not have an age restriction to join, however I don't think I would recommend anyone at the elementary level to allow each student in their class to create individual Twitter accounts.  Students this young are still learning the basics of digital citizenship and netiquette and it may be better for them to develop these skills in a group setting.  The other reason it will be difficult to incorporate in my school is because many social networking platforms require students to have an email address to register.  In my school district, students do not have access to personal email accounts until they are in the sixth grade.  This limits some of the sites that students may participate in.

The greatest take away I have from EDTECH 543 is everything I have learned about Twitter and its professional development opportunities.  Participating in Twitter chats has been one of the most chaotic, yet rewarding things I've learned in the EdTech program so far.  I am hoping to introduce my coworkers to Twitter and encouraging them to actively build their own personal learning networks.

I feel like I have taken major steps this summer to building my own personal learning network.  I have connected with other educators from around the country, as well as many from Montana as well.  This is beneficial because the state of Montana has adopted the Common Core State Standards and augmented them to include aspects required by the state constitution.  I look forward to continuing to utilize social networking for professional development purposes.

The blogging process has been beneficial to my progression in this course as well.  It has allowed me to create, share, and reflect upon my learning throughout the course.  I have incorporated creativity into my posts in the form of metaphors and artwork.  Because I have embraced all of the activities we have been asked to incorporate into our blogs this semester, I propose a grade of 75/75 for my personal content.

Reflecting on My Learning - EDTECH 542

This semester has been eye-opening for me in terms of the big idea of project-based learning.  At the beginning of the semester, I came in with what I thought was a background in PBL implementation and expected to learn how to better develop PBL units.  I quickly discovered that the definition of PBL was actually thematic units and that true PBL should be focused on a problem that needs to be addressed guided by a driving question.  I think that making this realization right away helped me to open my mind to learning as much as I could about the development of PBL units.  I had no idea that the process of planning PBL was so intensive.  I have learned how to plan a project step by step from developing driving questions, to creating assessments that evaluate standards, to developing opportunities for reflection throughout the project and upon project completion.  I learned so much more than I thought I would at the beginning of the course because I realized up front that I didn't know as much as I thought I did.

I think my strongest understanding of project based learning now is the purpose behind it.  I now know that the core of any PBL unit is the driving question which focuses on a problem that needs to be solved.  All phases of a project should tie back to the driving question in an attempt to address or answer it.  For me, the most difficult part of PBL to incorporate is assessment.  Making sure that adequate formative and summative assessments are part of the project and ensuring that all standards are assessed at some point in the project is a very complex process.  I feel like I am prone to forgetting something when planning assessment.

This school year, my school will again be incorporating PBL Fridays.  While this means that our integration of PBL is not a constant, I think it is still a good start in the process.  I think there are many teachers in my school operating with the same misunderstanding of PBL that I had coming into this course.  I have been in communication with my principal throughout the summer about the things I have learned in this course and we hope to establish professional development opportunities for staff utilizing resources from the BIE website.  I look forward to assisting others to develop a skills-set in PBL as I continue to develop mine.

Project-Based Learning: Post Project Reflection

Reflection is a major part of any teaching process, so it is no surprise that it is an important aspect of project-based learning.  Reflection allows teachers to look back on lessons or certain aspect of lessons to think about what parts were successful and which were not.  This allows the opportunity to change necessary elements of a lesson to improve upon the student learning experience.

Who will be involved in the reflection process?
To reflect on my PBL unit "The Wood Chips have to Go", it will be necessary to involve a few different key groups in the process.  The first, most obvious group of people who will be involved are the students.  They are the key players in the lesson implementation, and their feedback on each step of the unit is key in targeting specific areas that worked or need improvement.  Other people who should be involved in the reflection process would be the principal and vice principal of Pine Butte Elementary, and the superintendent and school board of Colstrip Public Schools.  They are the audience for student presentations and ultimately, the people who will decide if the work the students have completed in this project can move into action or if the playground will maintain the status quo.  Teacher reflection is also an important component of this process, as the teacher is the main facilitator of the project and has observed each phase being carried out by students and areas that need to have additional support.

What will the reflection process look like?
The overall process of reflection will involve a lot of group discussion and conversation.  Students sharing their thoughts with the teacher in a group format will allow students to agree/disagree with one another to come to a consensus about areas that should be targeted for improvement or left alone.  It also allows students the opportunity to focus on their own engagement in the unit and learning process to identify whether or not they applied themselves like they feel they are capable of.  Following the group discussion after project completion, the students will create a final learning log entry reflecting upon their engagement and establishing goals for themselves for future projects.  In including school administrators and school board members in the reflection process, I think it is important that they engage with students in a face-to-face scenario as well.  The students presented their issues and proposed solutions in that manner and deserve the same in response.  Finding time to have all of the administrators present at one time may be difficult to accomplish outside of the night of the presentation, but if it is not possible, the conversation can happen at multiple times with only a few members of the administrative team present each time.  Teacher reflection will occur throughout all of these discussions as information is gathered from students and administrators.  This information should be recorded in the teachers reflection log that has been established and used throughout the unit so that it can be accessed for future project planning.

Is this just a one-time assessment?
This exact assessment will only occur one time, as this project is not one that can be replicated year after year in the same form.  The playground surface will not need to be changed each year.  Depending upon the result of this project, a few different scenarios could occur.  The first scenario presents a situation in which the work of the students in this project starts a process in which the playground surface will be changed.  In this instance, further work will need to be completed for students to assist in the process of fundraising and seeing the project through to the finish.  If this were to occur, a similar reflection process would be completed once the playground surface had been changed.  In following years, students may engage in projects to maintain the playground to ensure it creates a fun and safe environment for the students at PBES.  A second scenario would result in school administrators deciding that the wood chips on the playground will remain in tact as the surface.  In this case, students will not be able to pursue this exact project further.  However, it is important to impress upon students that just because they were not successful in this attempt does not mean that all attempts at change will be unsuccessful.  Future projects may see the targeting of other areas in which the school or community could be improved and creating plans to seek necessary change.  If this were to occur, similar reflection methods could be utilized in the process as well, involving appropriate school and community members as necessary. 

Social Networking in the Elementary Classroom

Social media in the classroom can be a taboo subject at any level.  At the elementary level, this is especially true because of the age and ability levels of the students.  While it is absolutely possible for a variety of social networking tools to be utilized in elementary classrooms, I found it somewhat difficult to find examples of their integration with this age-group.

I have become an advocate of the use of social media in elementary classrooms as a result of my experiences with social networking in EDTECH 543 this semester.  As I researched integration examples and social networking criteria, I came across an Edutopia article by Beth Holland (2013) in which communication through social media is compared to the thank-you notes and friendly letters of previous generations.  Putting social media into this perspective gives it even more relevance and importance at the elementary level.  Students cannot be expected to just participate and know how to interact with others and with content on networking sites.  They must be taught at a young age so that responsible practices become second nature.

In looking for examples of social media integration, the social network that appeared most often through my search was Twitter.  Twitter is utilized in many elementary classrooms as a method for students to reach out to the world as a class to share, communicate, and collaborate with parents, other classes, authors, and other experts in content material. 

I was able to find a couple of examples of Facebook used in elementary classrooms, but not as many as with Twitter.  The focus of Facebook's use in the elementary classroom seems to be for parental communication and updates.  There was some interaction with others beyond home and school mentioned in the examples, but it was not the primary focus of its integration.

While searching examples, I was able to learn about a new social media platform that I had never heard of, called ELGG.  What made this example and platform stand out to me was its approach to social networking from a walled garden perspective.  Because protection of student privacy is of utmost concern when social media is considered,  this may be a good compromise for schools not yet ready to introduce students to other social media platforms.  The classes set up in ELGG are given the ability to blog, comment, and interact with other students, but only within their class.  They are still able to practice digital citizenship and 21st century skills, just on a smaller scale.

The most common theme I noticed throughout all of the examples is the emphasis on keeping students safe.  Student permissions varied from allowing the use of first names and posting of student photos, to examples in which both of these things were withheld and all information was presented from a class moniker.    No matter where along the spectrum the examples fell, they all do everything necessary to ensure students are protected from inappropriate content at all times.  I believe this to be an important first step in teaching students to use social media in a safe and beneficial manner.

Here is the link to my curated content on social networking in the elementary classroom.


References:

Holland, B. (2013). Introducing social media to elementary students. Edutopia. Retrieved from: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/introducing-social-media-lower-elementary-beth-holland 

Social Media Policies for CPS

It is difficult to propose a list of policies that my school district might incorporate without having input from others in the district.  I know that there are many in the district who are not fond of, or do not understand the nature of, social media use in the classroom, so it would be beneficial to have them present for discussion.  Obviously, this is a suggested list, not actual policy implementation, but I wanted to share this notion before beginning my list.

Also, last year I served on our district technology committee, and at a meeting, one of our school board members expressed an extreme distaste for Facebook and suggested that we develop a "Facebook policy".  While I'm assuming that this insinuated banning Facebook, I also realize that his desire to create a policy regulating just one social media platform indicates that he does not truly understand the nature of social media and all of its capabilities in the classroom.  I think the development of these policies as guidelines could serve as a great way to start the discussion with school board members, administrators, staff, students, and parents in what kind of policy the district really needs to adopt.

With all of that said, here is my list of social media policies:

1.  Make social media use purposeful.  Identify clear objectives and expectations for student outcomes, so that it is clear to students the role they are expected to take in social network learning.
2. Staff members must engage in at least three hours of professional development in an online learning community each school year.  If staff members are not utilizing social media themselves, it is difficult for them to stay up-to-date on current trends and policies of various social media sites.  Using social media by engaging in professional development is an effective way to introduce new users to various platforms, and for experienced users to stay on top of changes.
3. Always check the privacy settings of class and student accounts to be sure that student privacy is being upheld.  Check settings periodically, not just upon account set-up.
4. Obtain permission from parents explicitly for posting student photos online (The current CPS AUP gives parents the option to deny the school from posting student photos to print publications, and it assumes online as well, but does not explicitly state for online use.  It is better to be safe than sorry!). 
5. Obtain permission from parents the level at which their student may collaborate online.  Some parents may be more comfortable with their student participating with the use of a screen name or pseudonym. 
6. Invite parents to participate in social network groups created for the class.  If parents are included in online discussions, they are able to see how their children are interacting with others online in a safe and beneficial manner.
7. Give credit or attribution to sources in the appropriate fashion.  Always respect copyright laws.
8. Think before you post.  Is what you are going to post something you would be comfortable sharing with a room full of people?  If it is not, then it is best left off of the Internet.
9. Safety first!  Do not share personal information about yourself or other students.  Types of personal information include full name, address, phone number, etc.
10. Follow the "Golden Rule", even online.  It is important to remember that the people you communicate with online are real people.  They have feelings just like you, so be nice!

References:

Anderson, S. (2012). How to create social media guidelines for your school. Retrieved from:
http://www.edutopia.org/how-to-create-social-media-guidelines-school

Baird, D. (2010). Using Facebook in the elementary classroom. Retrieved from: http://www.debaird.net/blendededunet/2010/07/using-facebook-in-the-elementary-school-classroom-parents-students.html

Fisher, C. (2012). Creating social media guidelines for educators. Retrieved from: http://www.ascd.org/conferences/conference-daily/ac12/social-media-guidelines.aspx  

Holland, B. (2013). Introducing social media to elementary students. Retrieved from: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/introducing-social-media-lower-elementary-beth-holland


Illinois School Library Media Association. (n.d.). Developing social media guidelines. Retrieved from: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=10&ved=0CGwQFjAJ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.islma.org%2Fpdf%2FDevelopingSocialMediaGuidelines.pdf&ei=BC_JU9zfJ-P9igLykYDYDw&usg=AFQjCNFDyJS15Px1EhqRLtfH4ngRyrsjwQ&cad=rja

Challenges with the Facilitation of Project-Based Learning

Will my role in the teaching/learning process change?
I like the comparison of the teacher as "guide on the side" rather than "sage on the stage" when considering the role of the teacher in project-based learning.  Rather than being at the center of instruction and responsible for dispensing all information, the teacher is responsible for providing students with the tools and resources necessary to investigate topics and create their own understanding based on their findings.

What are the skills of effective facilitation?
In order to effectively facilitate, a teacher must plan ahead to effectively manage the project.  An engaging entry event and a strong driving question will pique students' interest in the topic from the beginning.  Strategic grouping will also support student learning.  Recognizing students who would be effective and not effective in groups together and analyzing students' strengths and grouping accordingly are also important to guiding student success.
 
Will the students develop the competencies and skills needed to be successful?
In my project students will be able to develop the competencies and skills needed to be successful in a couple of ways.  The first way is through the use of mini-lessons.  Having the ability to search websites for useful information is going to be one of the most important skills for student success.  Prior to expecting students to perform this task, it will be important to provide instruction on how to find information using preselected websites and search engines alike.  Another way that students will develop skills necessary for success is through group work and support.  Collection of information will be done as a group, and in this way students will support one another.  Students who struggle with concepts like measurement, computation, or reading comprehension can work with others who have a stronger understanding.  This allows the students to work on building skills with peer support.

What changes will you need to make in order to become an effective facilitator in your PBL unit?
In order to be an effective facilitator for my PBL unit, I will have to ensure that all components of the project are well-planned prior to the beginning of the project.  During the project I will need to monitor student progress to ensure that students are meeting deadlines and that they understand the tasks that they are to complete.  I will reflect upon student learning throughout the project and incorporate mini-lessons to guide instruction as it becomes necessary.

My Personal Learning Environment

At the beginning of the semester, we were asked to share an image that represented our understanding of personal learning environments (PLEs).  As my image, I chose a photo of a portion of honeycomb because of their interconnected segments.  When we were asked to complete a diagram of our own PLE, I wanted to return to the overarching theme of the honeycomb, and naturally the picture that I have drawn above was the result.  The bee is my representation of myself, and each flower represents a different aspect of the 'garden' that is my PLE.

As I was creating this drawing, there were a few things that I had to consider.  The first was the nature of 'learning' that I wanted to depict.  Naturally I would include all of the communities I have joined and participated in since joining the EdTech program, but scholarly learning is not the only type of learning that I engage in.  Current events, trends, news of friends and family, as well as collection of information about my own hobbies and interests are all part of my learning as well.  This is why I created two flowers representing Twitter; I have two different twitter accounts to keep my professional and school related tweets separate from other tweets.  I have two Facebook accounts for the same reason, but when I considered how I use Facebook in either account, it seemed appropriate to use one flower for Facebook, but to categorize the petals by the different informal communities I have within the social network, as I tend to follow individuals on Facebook more than I do whole communities.

The petals of each flower ended up being an unintentional metaphor as well.  As I was drawing each flower with eight petals, I thought to myself, "I can find eight communities or categories to include on each flower."  But the truth is, I couldn't.  The only thing I use Blogger for is my EdTech learning log.  While I do read the blogs of others and contribute by commenting, there aren't any that I follow so exclusively that it warrants inclusion in this picture.  So, I decided that it is okay that some of the petals are blank.  There is always room to grow a PLE, and the blank petals serve as a great representation of that.

In analyzing the PLE diagrams of my classmates, I have come to notice a few similarities and differences among them.  There are some common networks and sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc., that are present in nearly all of them.  They all also effectively illustrate the connectedness of each individual personal learning environment.  Each social network or tool is its own entity, while at the same time is an important contribution to the "bigger picture".  I like to think that one similarity all of the diagrams have as well as a little bit of each person's personality, as I know I included mine, but since I don't know anyone in class well enough to draw that conclusion for sure, it is only my speculation.

The differences in each diagram are also very dynamic.  One of the most prominent differences I noticed between my diagram and those of my classmates is how we ourselves were represented in the diagram.  In most of the diagrams I viewed, the learner is represented at the center of the diagram.  This makes sense, as one should place themselves as the central point of their own learning, and the information is delivered to them.  I never thought of this until I looked at the other diagrams.  Instead, I made myself as the learner a mobile being that can go to each social network or tool as I need to to build my own learning.  Another difference I noted was the level of depth of the different PLE diagrams.  Some of them show the different social networks and tools and how they relate to one another and to the learners themselves, and some depict the networks as well as the different entities that contribute to their learning within that network.  The final difference that I noted between my diagram and some of the others was the approach to the diagram in general.  I approached this assignment as a diagram of my social network learning, and some of the other diagrams represent learning tools in a general sense.  Sites and platforms used for research and learning outside of the social realm were present in the diagram.  In hindsight, I may have to append an additional drawing to my original to expand my garden a little bit, but I think mine still gives a pretty good interpretation of how I learn.

It makes sense that all of the class' PLE diagrams are different.  Everyone learns in different ways, and no two people have identical experiences.  I look forward to continuing to expand my PLE, and reading about the thoughts of my classmates on this assignment as well.

Designing Integrated Curriculum

In the video Designing Integrated Curriculum, teachers at a school in San Diego discuss their decision to integrated their curriculum in a project-based learning format.  While the teachers admit that planning for this kind of learning is much more difficult and time consuming than simply following published curriculum, there are many benefits to teaching in this way. 

The greatest benefit I see from this method is the real-life correlation of instruction.  When we face problems in our day to day life, they are not compartmentalized into subject-by-subject issues.  We don't get to say, "I'm working on Language Arts right now, so I can't do this math problem."  It is very common to come across a problem in which one has to utilize knowledge from a variety of content areas in order to tackle the issue at hand.

Another benefit of an interdisciplinary project is that it puts learning in the hands of students and sets them up to become life-long learners.  The focus of lessons is on student inquiry and what conclusions they can draw from their exploration.  The teacher is utilized as a guide or a resource, but is not the center of the lesson.  Again, this assists students with real-world problem solving skills by teaching them to go in search of answers they need and giving them the tools they need to find them.

As mentioned, planning this kind of learning is much more difficult than traditional teaching methods.  There is no guide to follow, so teachers must do their research and collaborate with one another to develop their lessons.  Schools must have a strong sense of teamwork in order to make the project work.  This will require more time and effort than it takes to follow a manual or teach to the test, but the difference it makes in student learning is worth it.

I think my school is tiptoeing the edge of adopting integrated curriculum for at least part of the time.  Last year, we began a different structure to our weeks in that on Monday through Thursday, teachers instructed from curriculum as usual, and on Fridays all classes participated in project-based learning.  Now, as I have discovered in taking EDTECH 542 this summer, the lessons that were being taught during that time were more of a thematic unit based lesson than true project based learning.  I think the first step that would need to be taken in adopting an integrated curriculum approach is informing staff of the difference between the two methods, and what exactly PBL is.  I have been working with my principal this summer and exploring the BIE website and its resources to hopefully start off this coming school year doing just that.

Real Time and Live Virtual Professional Development

This assignment really marked a pivotal change in my role as both a graduate student and an educator.  Prior to this assignment, communication and collaboration about technology and education seemed to be restricted to my graduate courses and did not expand much beyond that.  I had very little connection to others in the field, even though I knew that the possibility was there.  I just needed a little help in finding my way to making the connections.

The course to completion of this assignment was not without bumps in the road.  I think, for every webinar and Twitter chat we were asked to participate in, I attempted to participate in an equal amount that were either cancelled or simply just did not happen as they were scheduled.  That was my biggest issue in completing the assignment.  I spent a good part of last week searching for webinars that I could attend to make up for those that I planned on attending but were cancelled.
Overall, my participation experiences were great.  I am going to expand upon my thoughts and discoveries more during my explanation of each event I participated in.

Twitter Chats

#3rdchat 7/02/2014

I attended my first Twitter chat, #3rdchat, on July 2.  I'm glad it occurred to me before I attempted to participate in my first chat to set up a column in Tweet Deck to follow the chat.  I also placed my notifications column next to the chat so that I could catch any replies that came directly to me without the chat hashtag.  During #3rdchat, I tried to participate the best I could, but most of the chat was spent figuring out the format and flow of the conversation.  I did have a chance to provide some input on blogging in the classroom, and got some positive feedback on a green screen app I am interested in trying with my fifth grade video media class next year.  I wish I could effectively share the enthusiasm that I felt post-chat.  I am hoping to help some of my co-workers get into Twitter and participating in chats, as I feel it would be beneficial professional development at my school.

#pblchat 7/08/2014

My next Twitter chat was #pblchat, on July 8.  I have to admit, I was more of a lurker in this chat, as PBL is something that I am familiar with, but not strong enough in my knowledge-base to contribute much to the conversation.  The topic of the discussion was agency.  I was able to relate my thoughts about the definition of agency and what that looked like in my school.  While I participated in conversations, I felt a little overwhelmed by the topics discussed in the chat, and probably will not participate in this chat again. At least, not until I have a stronger foundation of knowledge and use of project based learning.

#MTedchat 7/08/2014

My favorite Twitter chat was #MTedchat.  It was nice to know that I was conversing with educators within my geographic region.  Being in Montana, it is easy to feel like I am alone on a island as not many educators in my immediate area are as connected as I am.  The topic of the conversation was 21st century skills, their importance and how to best facilitate them.  Ironically enough, PBL was brought up, but this time because it wasn't in quite such an in-depth context I wasn't nearly as uncomfortable participating.  Many of the participants in the Twitter chat I have met and visited with at conferences in person (and one person I went to high school with!), so that made the conversation feel a little more personal as well.  I am looking forward to continuing to participate in this Twitter chat in the future.

#teachchat 7/09/2014

I stumbled across my final Twitter chat after I attempted to return to #3rdchat on the same day and time it was held the previous week to find it had been moved to a different day.  I discovered that #teachchat was happening that night, so I decided to participate.  The topic for the night was "Bring Your Own Question".  This was not a well facilitated chat.  The standard Q1/A1 format was not followed, rather everyone just threw out questions at random so there were three or four conversations mixed in the same thread.  It was hard to follow and had me feeling pretty anxious.  Honestly, I had a nightmare about Twitter chats and not knowing how to participate the night that I did this chat.  One of the discussion lines that I tried to follow was on the biggest challenge we face in our classroom.  I mentioned differentiating instruction as much as I know I need to.  Others discussed not having enough time to get everything done.  The silver lining on this Twitter chat was the prizes.  The only moderated questions were giveaway questions in which prizes were given to people who responded in a certain numerical order.  I won (what, I don't know yet, but who doesn't love winning)!  So even though the nature of the chat was totally chaotic, and I think I will run as fast as I can from anymore BYOQ chats, I was able to network with other teachers and make new connections.  I think overall, that is what I appreciated the most about Twitter chats; the new people I was able to follow and the new followers I received.

Webinars

Finding webinars to attend was a little trickier than Twitter chats.  Many of the live webinars that I found occurred during the school year.  I'm not sure if it is typical for more webinars to be held during the school year, or if I just wasn't looking in the right places.  I tried to participate in the Teacher's Teaching Teachers webinar during the second and third weeks we had to complete the assignment, but the second week it was canceled and the third week it was held at a different time and I missed it.  I also tried to participate in the I Have a Question webinar one Sunday and it was canceled.  I was so glad to find out about the Reform Symposium Conference and all of the sessions it offered.  It saved me from having to attend information webinars on two programs I really am not that interested in.  On the contrary, I have participated in 4 of the RSCon webinars and plan on sitting in on a couple tomorrow as well.  Getting to listen to Kevin Honeycutt speak again is kind of like Christmas for me, as meeting him three years ago was the catalyst that convinced me to pursue a degree in EdTech. 

Let's Chat! Engaging Learning Through SMS, Emojis, and Chatting Apps

 7/04/2014

The first webinar I participated in was one from Shelly Terrell's Friday webinar series.  The topic was "Engaging Learning Through SMS, Emojis, and Chatting Apps.  This was a great webinar to sit in on because while I am not anti-devices in the classroom, I had not ever contemplated the idea of having kids utilize things like emojis or Facebook Messenger in the classroom.  I especially liked the Emojidick.com link.  I think being able to put text into emoji form would be a really fun and beneficial activity for kids to participate in.  I wanted to attend Shelly's Friday webinar on 7/11, but because she was busy organizing things for RSCon, her webinar started late and I was unable to attend.  I have her Live Binder with her schedule and will be attending more of her sessions in the future.

Tech Educator Podcast 7/06/2014

The second webinar I participated in began with me thinking it was a Twitter chat.  I wanted to participate in #techeducator, but quickly discovered that instead of a Twitter chat, it was a podcast facilitated like a webinar.  The topic was a recap of ISTE 2014.  There was a chat feature in the room, but the nature of the conversation was more sharing information rather than discussion back and forth.  In spite of that, it was nice to hear about the different events at ISTE, I hope to be able to attend the conference myself in the coming years.  The neatest thing I learned about during this podcast was the program Robots4Autism.  These robots are programmed with lessons that help teach social skills to students with Autism.  I see that as being a very beneficial way to utilize technology to support students with Autism.

Integrating the iPad into my Teaching 7/11/2014

The next webinar I attended was the first of the RSCon webinars I attended.  The session was called "Integrating the iPad into my Teaching Style".  I initially thought this would be a great way to gather resources for my coworkers.  Each teacher in my building has an iPad to use for assessments and other activities as they wish to integrate.  Our K-2 classes will also be getting new iPad minis to use in the classrooms as well.  They will not have 1:1 devices, but will have enough to conduct centers or use for interventions.  This webinar was not so much beneficial for new information, as it was reminding me about great apps that I know about, but may have forgot about, such as Google Drive, and Evernote.  One app that I did not know about that I am interested in learning more about is called Photon.  Photon is an app that supports Flash content on iOS devices.  One of my biggest issues with Apple devices is their inability to support Flash.  This app may have the ability to change my mind about using iPads in the classroom.

What the 411? Keeping Your Parents in the Know! 7/11/2014

The fourth webinar I attended was presented by Carla Jefferson and was entitled "What the 411? Keeping your parents in the know!".  I was drawn to this webinar because in the description it is mentioned that one of Carla's issues with parent communication was working in a rural district and having difficulty getting parents to return communication and attend meetings.  I teach in a district with similar issues and was interested in possible strategies to engage parents.  One of the main ways Carla mentioned that she uses to communicate with parents is through Facebook.  Her reasoning behind this is that no matter what a person's socioeconomic status is, or where they live, they have and use Facebook.  I completely support that notion.  However, in my district, Facebook is nothing short of outlawed.  There have been issues in the past with parents airing their issues with the school on Facebook rather than bringing them to administrators, and that has soured the school's perspective of social media in general.  I am hoping that through the positive interactions I have had with both Facebook and Twitter this summer, I can work to change the minds of those I work with to be more accepting of social media use within our school. 
 
   
  

Key Principles of Effective Assessment

The organization What Kids Can Do has outlined four principles that characterize the principles of effective assessment.  These four principles that state assessment: is for students, is faithful to the work that students actually do, is public, and promotes ongoing self-reflection and critical inquiry.  I can use these four principles to evaluate the assessments that I have designed to measure student mastery of the standards that are the focus of the project.

Principle 1:  Assessment is for students.

 It is important that all assessments are relevant to students, build confidence and allow them to share what they know, and give them ownership over the work they do.  Each of the assessments, both formative and summative allow students the opportunity, at some level, to perform tasks in a way they choose.  The personal learning logs give the students' thought processes a voice and a role in the project that others are made aware of.  The other four formative assessments (playground surface area calculation, student interview form, information collection sheets, and final project planning guide) give students the independence that will build confidence in their knowledge of the content and give them ownership of the material.  Through the knowledge they gain with the formative assessments, they will be able to present to an audience and share what they learned.

Principle 2: Assessment is faithful to the work that students can actually do.

The formative assessments of my project are the most reflective of this principle.  The personal learning logs the students will complete throughout the project are key in students thinking about what they are working on and reflecting on the things that they are creating and discovering in the project.  All of the recording sheets help the students to collect specific information that is needed to decide what material should be considered for the playground, while still giving them room for choice.  In regard to the notion that the students should be assessed on what they know, not what they don't, the formative assessments are prescriptive enough to guide the students to perform the tasks, but are not so limiting that there is only one answer.  There are multiple possibilities for how the assessments could turn out.

Principle 3: Assessment is public.

The summative assessment of this project is the most public aspect of the entire project.  The student expectations are outlined in the project planning guide (formative assessment), and shape their presentations.  The presentations themselves will be presented to a live audience of school administrators.  This gives the students an authentic audience to which they can present on a topic that is relevant to them.

Principle 4: Assessment promotes ongoing self-reflection and critical inquiry.

The process that the students will follow to advocate change of the playground surface material is similar to the process that anyone trying to change an aspect of their environment would have to follow.  The students will reflect on their learning most directly through their personal learning logs, but by creating their own student interview questions and conducting interviews, the students will have to utilize their inquiry skills to identify the problems with the current playground environment.  The students will use the other formative assessments to collect information that they will have to reflect upon and format into the presentation for school administrators.  It is through reflection upon their research that they will have to come to a conclusion about the type of material to suggest in their final presentations.

One thing I do not feel that I have done at this point in my project planning, is allow the students to play a role in the development of assessments.  In thinking of ways that they could provide input, I have come up with a couple of options.  The first option would be for the students to decide at the beginning of the project what the components of the summative assessment should be.  I have outlined 8 requirements for the presentations, but perhaps the students would have additional suggestions.  The students could also brainstorm the types of information they should collect and generate their own list of research topics.  Since student input is vital to effective assessment, I feel it is important that I develop more opportunities for students to participate in the creation of assessments as well.