ISTE Lesson Plan
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Lilly Hanna - Electronic Portfolio |
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Internet Safety and Digital CitizenshipAs a teacher the number one priority is keeping children safe. Weather that is on the playground, in the classroom or online student safety come first. Technology has allowed us to expand education beyond our walls and expose students to places, things and opportunities they would not be able to experience if it did not exist. However, it also adds additional security threat to students that teachers must be aware of and address. Before introducing technology in the classroom, teachers need to be aware of safety measures that can be taken to protect students. The first strategy for teachers to keep students safe on the internet is, Research. Teachers should become familiar with the websites they would like to use and determine if these sites are safe for students by checking to see if they have a privacy policy. Another quick check is looking to see if the uniform resource locator (URL) includes an “s” after the http. Finally if you are not sure if a site is safe and protects the privacy of your students contact the tech expert at your school (YOUTUBE). The second step in keep student safe on the internet is teach students about digital literacy. There are several videos and articles that support teachers in digital literacy and how to transfer that knowledge to students. Check out 5 Steps To Teaching Digital Literacy in the Classroom and The Ultimate Teacher Guide to Teaching Students Digital Citizenship. Both of these articles are beneficial in guiding teachers through the steps to educate students on digital literacy and citizenship. These articles reminded me that I need to be aware of my school and districts policy regarding internet use including social media. Social media has become a popular platform for teachers and students to use for educational purposes, are we using these platforms in accordance to our district policies? There are several games that are geared towards engaging students in a game while learning about digital literacy and internet safety. NetSmartzKids is a website dedicated to helping students learn internet safety while doing one of their favorite things, playing game. This site is geared toward k-5 students and most games have an easy and difficult level. Another game that is well done by AT&T and is called Safety Land. Safety Land is a little more advanced and requires 2nd grade or higher reading skills. Global Collaboration Projects (GCPs)Global Collaboration Projects (GCPs) can be used to help students develop digital citizenship, global and cultural awareness and collaboration skills. Before starting a GCP teachers must be cognizant of teaching students what digital citizenship is and what it looks like. Students must be trusted to use appropriate behavior when using technology, especially when communication with others and publishing their work for the world to see and hear. We cannot assume anything, we must tell them, teach them and have expectations for them. For me it works best to involve the students in creating digital citizenship rules sot they can hold themselves and other accountable. With tools like Google Earth students have the ability to become more globally aware. This is especially true for students from low SES backgrounds who do not have as many opportunities to see the world outside of their own state and sometimes city. Google Earth and other tools allow the gap of student exposure to be bridged. The internet has also given us the opportunity to develop cultural awareness. Creative teachers and developers have designed programs and lessons that allow students to collaborate with student from around the globe. Lessons like the Amazing Race Project and This is My Country, encourage students to connect with other students around the world. The Amazing Race Project allows students to collaborate with others by visiting pit stops which leads visitors to presentations of a country or city. After viewing the presentation student can take a quiz through Quizlet and produce data for presenters. The project also invites students and teachers to share highlights on the project padlet and Tweet about your travels through Twitter using their hashtag #globaled16. Global collaborations lend themselves to the use of a plethora of web 2.0 tools. Twitter, Padlet, Quizlet, OneNote, YouTube, Wikis, and SlideShare just to name a few. I have an Office 365 OneNote project that I continue building as I am exposed to ne tool and projects. My class project is Planning My Family Vacation. I've added The Amazing Race Project and This is My Country to my project as one of the challenges my students can choose to complete. Like any project, challenges will arise. On challenge is having access to enough technology for students to participate in the activities. Another challenge is having access at school to the sites needed to engage in the activity. To overcome this challenge teachers need to make sure they test all applications needed to be successful in taking part in the project. Knowing what you have access to is important as well as school and district rules. A big challenge in creating a project would be time to develop and then time to test. The only way to over come this obstacle is to make the time! References Anderson, S. (2018, July 04). BookWidgets Interactive Learning. Retrieved April 8, 2019, from BookWidgets teacher blog: https://www.bookwidgets.com/blog/2018/07/the-ultimate-teacher-guide-to-teaching-students-digital-citizenship
Clement, L. (n.d.). Retrieved from Global students-global perspectives: https://sites.google.com/a/mytools2go.ca/globalstudentsglobalperspectives/amazing-race---global-project Educators Technology. (2013, October 26). Retrieved from Educational technology and mobil learning: https://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/10/5-excellent-videos-to-teach-your.html Hertz, M. B. (2017, September 28). How to teach internet safety to younger elementary students. Retrieved April 8, 2019, from eduTopia: https://www.edutopia.org/blog/internet-safety-younger-elementary-mary-beth-hertz Internet safety for children bingo. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://binged.it/2PiOsHi Spencer, J. (2016, September 30). John Spencer . Retrieved April 8, 2019, from 10 Tips for global collaboration projects: http://www.spencerauthor.com/10-tips-for-global-collaboration-projects/ Multi User Virtual Environment (MUVE) Fog Stone Isle uses math concepts in a Multi User Virtual Environment. Students can work together to build a thriving village. In order to build and sustain the village students must complete math tasks. The Fog Stone Isle platform uses visuals that help students see and understand math concepts. For example, students must make equivalent fractions in order to build a well needed in the village. I have seen a lot of math visuals for fractions, but I must say Fog Stone Isle seems to break them down pictorially in a way I have not seen before. I believe this MUVE has the potential to be very effective however, I am concerned that the lag time in-between questions and the slow pace transitions will not hold students attention. Sever of the MUVE's I explored seemed to have dated looking graphics. I know this will improve with time but it may cause student to pre-judge the program. I am excited to try this with my 2nd and 3rd grade classes. Virtual Environment Tools I want to be a kid in school as a digital native where learning is brought to life. Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality have expanded the limits of learning. Google Expeditions AR (Google, 2017) shows students watching a volcano erupt and being able to see what a tornado looks like. They can even get an aerial view as if they flying above the tornado and look into the eye of the storm. Virtual tools allow students to use technology along with hands on experiences in a real-world environment, such as EcoMobil. In an EcoMobile YouTube video one student was so enthusiastic about learning she said “this is awesome,” “it’s much better than using a text book because you’re in it. You can see everything instead of just reading, and the questions are related to what you can physically do instead of just your knowledge.” (Chris Dede, 2015). According to Dede (2015, p.1) “authentic, immersive simulations achieve greater outcomes including critical thinking, reasoning and responsibility.” This type of visual or hands on learning allows students to apply their knowledge and learn through the real-world experience. Virtual environment tools support the 4 c’s in a variety of ways. For example watching the EcoMobile demo students were communicating their thoughts and interpretations of the information they were gathering at the pond. Collaboration can also be seen. My favorite is listening to students collaborate assist each other on how to use devices or programs. Virtual tools have the ability to support students with diverse learning needs. “The use of images helps make ideas more concrete for students” (Pilgrim & Pilgrim, 2016). These tools allow teachers to differentiate instruction and cater to students preferred learning styles. Visual learning and real-world connections reinforce retention of knowledge and skills in ways traditional learning do not. The Digital Divide “Technology has the potential to influence the quality of instruction in creative ways that challenge the young minds of our children” (Dieckmann & Villarreal, 2001). At Brumby the digital divide has little to do with the number of devices available. That may be surprising to some since Brumby is a Title I school. Most would assume that due to our Title I status, Brumby would have few technology resources. This could not be further from the truth. Our technology coach and other stakeholders work diligently to acquire technology resources for our school. So why with almost one-to-one technology resources and leadership that allows autonomy and instructional freedom do we see a digital divide at Brumby? There are sever reasons. First, there are many teachers at Brumby who are not comfortable using technology themselves so they will not even consider using technology with their students. These same teachers and potentially others are not aware of the benefits technology brings into the classroom. When used properly technology can elevate teaching and learning for our digital natives. A second factor in the digital divide at Brumby is the fear of students not meeting state standards. With a high number of Brumby students preforming below grade level, teachers rely on technology for drill and practice activities. Dieckmann & Villarreal (2001, p.5) stated “students who under-perform on conventional measures of achievement, largely minority students, have been given remedial instruction consisting of rote memory skills and lifeless curriculum.” In this digital age there are opportunities to engage students in real-world experiences that demand higher-order thinking and foster the 4 c’s. Finally, even though there is almost one-to-one technology at Brumby, some devices are out of date. Other are spread out around the school and it can be difficult to acquire a cart. Teachers that are tech savvy, hold carts out for weeks at a time. Thus, when other teachers want to use technology they become frustrated and decide it’s not worth the effort. Strategies to provide equitable access have been put in place. To address teachers lacking technology skill and knowledge, Brumby staff members are participating in Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE). Brumby also has many staff members participating in graduate courses and providing staff development, mentoring and needs assessments. To address the technology cart availability, an online check out system has been made available. Teachers can schedule cart check outs for a day or a week and access the checkout calendar to make future plans. I would like to see have a staff discussion regarding equitable access and see if we can devise a plan for equitable technology access at our school. References Chris Dede, T. G. (2015, February 27). EcoMOBILE Demo. Harvard Graduate School of Education. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53fcMT6OsaE Dede, C. (2015). 21st century students crave deeper learning. Retrieved from EdTech: https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2015/06/21st-century-students-crave-deeper-learning Dieckmann, M., & Villarreal, A. (2001). Enriching Your Classroom Through Equitable Technology Integration. Retrieved from IDRA Newsletter: https://www.idra.org/resource-center/enriching-your-classroom-through-equitable-technology-integration/ Google. (2017, May 17). Expeditions AR-Bringing the World into the Classroom. . YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DYqlaMWTVg&t=6s Pilgrim, J. M., & Pilgrim, J. (2016). The use of virtual reality tools in the reading-language arts classroom. Texas Journal of Literacy Education, 4(2), 90-97. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1121641.pdf |
AuthorI am a math teacher at Brumby Elementary School in Marietta, Georgia. I am currently attending Kennesaw State University in pursuit of my Ed. S. in Instructional Technology. Archives
April 2019
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