Flippity

Flippity

We learned about many new resources in this class, and Flippity was probably my favorite.  First, it was very easy to use. It was free to join and my colleagues and I had a lot of fun creating some things to use during our environmental study unit.  There were so many different options and they were all usable with the Google Sheets application. Anything I can do using Google is appealing since it is helpful to have everything in one place and saved for future needs. However, with that said, I did like the option to just create through the site as well. We chose to do a Scavenger Hunt and a Quiz Show.    I look forward to allowing my students the opportunity to use this to demonstrate their own learning as well.

My Own Reality, Changed

It is no surprise to me that the face to face class meetings are more meaningful and memorable. The activity we did in the last class on Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR)  had a great effect on me. Starting the technology courses, I was really in this program in order to just get my continuing graduate hours and hopefully be motivated by new resources to utilize with my students since Chromebooks were being rolled out.  I enjoyed all of the module work and have added many resources to my weekly plans with my students. However, when we were presented with this Ted Talk on Augmented Reality and how it can affect the future of technological endeavors in so many areas, I was amazed.  Listening to Meron Gribetz talk about how the principles of neuroscience can be used to extend our senses at first made me wonder how this information and experience could be applicable to me as a fourth grade teacher.  

When i first watched Meron’s Ted Talk, I could not stop thinking of how “Tony Stark” this
innovation was. Then I started to research AR and VR to see how it is NOT new technology
at all!  But the possibilities are so amazing with this technology. I started to remind myself
of how simply incredulous it was to think something like Google Maps or taking virtual tours
would be possible 10 years ago, yet here we are today.  I now have a belief that my role as
a teacher of children who will grow up to develop and expand technology beyond my
understanding is to be aware. Simply be aware and be open. Watching this and many
other Ted Talks I found (on this and many more topics related to technology) made me so
grateful that I have been exposed to all that I have with my classes.  I hope to expose my
students to all that is possible with this amazing new technology!

My Story

My Team
(click on picture to hear audio)

Using Infographics in the Classroom

Why might incorporating graphic design into your classroom be valuable?

Incorporating graphic design into my instruction can be valuable in so many ways.  First of all, it makes any material highly engaging.  The eye is drawn to all the different parts as if it were looking at a piece of art, immediately looking at maybe one focal point but then wandering around the page to take in all the related information.  I also thing using varied graphics as an option for displaying learning is valuable as it teaches students to be thoughtful about what they are choosing to show and how to show it, from what is MOST important to what is just a detail.

Thinking about how our students absorb information, how might we better support the learners in our classrooms?

I found it interesting one graphic I saw about how middle school students feel about math.  I thought about all the information I got from the infographic and how much more involved and interested I was with this format instead of just simply reading an article full of statistics. We need to support our earners by providing them with many opportunities to see information outside a textbook.  Even reading that only 4% of kids enjoy learning new material through video learning is making me rethink my “forward practices” in my classroom.  If I would have read that in an article, I may have missed that tidbit.  I made sure to look at every little piece of information on the infographic.

         

Envision an activity, unit or event that is approaching how might you incorporate some of the design principles?

We are getting ready for State Fair.  There are many many ways to use these design principles with everything we do.  This year, we are going paperless, so the kids can no longer have a booklet with their project display, but I WILL incorporate allowing one page where the students have to thoughtfully pick and choose what information is important and how to display it.  We research landforms, weather, attractions, major cities, history, people, and more so there will be a lot of information to choose from!  I will definitely use some of the resources suggested in this module, including google drawing, into our work this year.

Getting it Done!

Over the next 8 weeks of this course, I hope to continue to develop an increased comfort level with technology.  Even over the last few classes, so many tech lessons, expectations at work, and unlimited resources online, I still have a hard time implementing all the new technology  ideas in my teaching day.  I want to develop new habits and make it just second nature.

EEND676 Artifact #2 - Interactive Story Building

For this reflection, I am choosing to share the interactive story that we worked on early in the class.  This activity required us to work in collaborative teams to develop a brainstorming session and create an online interactive "If-then" story together.  My team chose to write a beach story and we used Google Slides to accomplish our task.


The activity began with an introduction to Applied Digital Skills, a site that has great resources and I plan on using it and sharing it with colleagues this upcoming year.  It amazes me everything that is out there for us to use freely!    We had to collaborate in a Google Document, then create a slide presentation, after working on it together digitally.  In this activity, I had to work with three other classmates who I didn't know at all.  It made me feel for my students who are uncomfortable being put in collaborative groupings with people they may not know well or like.  Using technology in this capacity helped me to use the device to communicate where I may have been hesitant to share verbally.  It was a great learning lesson!


My team created a great interactive story and I had a lot of fun doing it.  I see this as encompassing so many different components of collaborative work, especially to be used early in the school year!  First of all, it wasn't threatening since the brainstorming activity allowed for lots of ideas to be shared.  It was a random activity meant to be funny so anything was really allowed!!   Also, there was time for the team members to help each other with the activity and teaching each other was expected and accepted.  It was really an all around great way to teach and use collaboration in so many ways, leaving us all with a sense of accomplishment and connectedness.