I do not consider myself "techie" at all and given my current assignment as an intervention teacher, I only had access to my laptop for many years, although now I also have access to chrome books for students. I have not used much when it comes to technology with my students, aside from assisting teachers in their own classrooms with having students complete assessments through Front Row. I have become a bit more familiar with google doc and google slides, yet, I feel like I have a lot to learn when it comes to technology in the classroom and it shows through this blog.
Why did I choose it and how will I use it? I chose to review Google Slides; but, by no means do I feel like an expert. I chose the Google Slides because I do not have much experience with other tech tools and also because it was something that was readily available to me and to my students. I also felt like it worked very similar to power points, which I had used before. I plan on having my students use Google Slides to create retells of the stories we read in our groups. Once I have my students begin working with google slides, I will be learning along with them. Google Slides can have a wide array of uses from retelling a story with written words and images, to digital storytelling, to name a couple. How long did it take to get up to speed on how to use the tool proficiently? I feel like after a couple of slides I became more comfortable with using google slides, but I still do not feel completely comfortable that I know all of the ins and outs. What worked well for you and what didn’t when using the tool with your students or for your own project? I was able to create multiple slides with words, as well as, incorporating pictures. I think this is going to be a good start for my students, once I have them start to use google slide for retells because they will be able to share their work with me and with each other. They will also be able to add more if they don’t finish in one session and possibly work with voice overs as well. Since many of them get nervous when speaking in front of others, this will allow them to share out with the focus being on their work and not just on them. Were you using the right tool for the right job? How do you know? Yes, believe I chose the correct tool because I was able to complete my presentation and add a voice over successfully in order to present to classmates and colleagues.
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How will I begin to teach Digital Literacy? As I sit here and think about this question I realize it is a tough question to answer, given my current teaching assignment. I am a part-time intervention teacher. I currently work with students from Kinder-3rd grade. I teach students from our bilingual program as well as students from our regular English- Only program. I service students who are struggling the most in reading, and I also have one group for Math. Since I work with our struggling readers, the curriculum I am given to use is quite structured and does not really allow for much deviation. Also, I am limited to a designated amount of time with each group.
With that in mind, I feel like there wouldn’t be much time for independent, digital literacy lessons. Yet, I could incorporate digital literacy information into our group discussions about the stories we read. I could look through the stories I am provided and see if any of them are related to media use or digital literacy in any way. Then, I could incorporate specific aspects of digital literacy that I see fit. I was thinking of having my students begin to use google slides or story-telling add-ons, to retell the stories that we read. When I introduce this to my students I would take some time to touch on digital literacy, possibly a few minutes before each time they have to do a retell. I know this would not be diving in deep to digital literacy, but I feel like it would be a start. I could also ask other intervention teachers if and how they incorporate digital literacy into their instructional time. As I navigated through the links, readings and all of the information provided on the topic of digital citizenship, I realize that teaching digital citizenship to my students had not crossed my mind before. One of the reasons why I didn’t not consider teaching my students digital citizenship is because I work with small groups of students from different classrooms. I deliver small group instruction in the areas of reading, writing and math, for students in K-3rd grade this school year. The students who come to me do not get to use technology, nor do I have access to technological tools, aside from my personal cell phone or the chrome books (for some of my groups). They do have 1:1 access to chrome books or tablets, in their own classrooms, so I assumed that their homeroom teachers were addressing concerns with regards to digital citizenship and technology. I realize my assumption was wrong because other teachers that are part of the cohort are also colleagues from my school and they voiced that they were not teaching digital citizenship either. I feel much more comfortable now, when it comes to knowledge about digital citizenship. I feel like the Common Sense Media Website and the other links provided me with a plethora of useful information, tools and lesson plans to start my students off on the right path towards knowledge of digital citizenship. The lesson I chose to modify is a lesson on digital footprints from the Common Sense Media website. I modified it in order to be able to teach it in no more than two sessions during my group sessions for my second grade group. Since most of my students are not communicating through social media yet. I want to make it personal for my students by emphasizing how dangerous it can be to have a big “digital” footprint and how sharing private information on the web or in social media can have negative effects. Just like we discourage them from talking to strangers, we discourage them from sharing their private information on line, since there a many strangers on line as well. I feel like most of the groups that I service are not aware of many aspects involved with our growing digital world and it is imperative for us to instill in them the sense of responsibility and safety, at an early age. (I remember learning about this through the Common Sense Media video as well.) If I continue using this lesson for my other groups I was pondering about modifying the character in the lesson the cartoon characters of their liking, in order to get more buy in from each different grade level. |
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April 2018
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