After our session on gamification I was thinking about how useful it has been to gamify aspects of my class this year. Even if I didn’t start from the beginning of the year with a specific online resource, I had been doing little things to gamify my classroom, from table points to earning classroom money for specific actions. I have always liked games and implementing some form of play in what I do, and students tend to react positively to this, but I had never used or explored an organized online tool like the ones we’ve been looking at this semester. Even though we are close to the end of the school year, using Quizziz and ClassDojo have triggered a very different and positive reaction from my students. Quizziz has allowed me to do quick checks on understanding and gather data through assessments that are simply games to my students. My students this year love to compete and see how they did by using Quizziz, and the option to take the Quizziz at their own pace makes it better to reduce some of my student’s frustration. I have also been using Class Dojo significantly to award students points for positive behavior and responsibility in class. It has made such an effect that when they hear the little sound of a point being awarded or deducted they immediately react (with a few exceptions of course). I have also been able to take advantage of the behavior lessons included in the site, students love to listen to the creatures and learn about different conflicts they face. Going back to gamification, the rewarding and loosing of points through different badges encourages students to work together to gain individual and group points; which they can then get in classroom money. My objective with these tools as I am gamifying my classroom is to engage my students and help them learn something in a fun way. If students are excited about something, they are likely to engage and in turn be curious about what they are learning. I want to trigger that excitement for learning with gamification.
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I would describe this semester as a semester of progress filled with moments of clarity and new understanding. There were things I had been wondering from last semester that I was able to explore and think about for the development of my driving question. My driving question has evolved and become something new from what I have learned from Baggio and Dervin’s readings. Last semester my driving question revolved around video and how creating lessons would engage students in learning. This semester I begin to explore how this same concept can be applied with the use of infographics, having students create their lessons through a visual that will engage them in understanding. One of the challenges I encountered this semester, which became a successful learning experience, was being exposed to Dervin and sense-making. It was the approach and process taken in this course that allowed me to feel comfortable in understanding and feeling successful with the content of the text. Now, when I encounter a problem, I feel more comfortable as I think about the way I can approach what doesn’t make sense (and there are a lot of things in this world that don’t make sense to me). As an innovative thinker, I want to encounter changes in the future and be able to approach them in an effective way. From the beginning of this program I have been facing uncomfortable moments that I learned were supposed to help with growth. This semester that also became more clear with Dervin’s explanations of sense-making as we bridge that gap. Those moments have helped me evolve from someone who is scared of doing something that seems impossible to being able to assess the situation and just go for it and give it a shot. I wanted to explore tools that had to do with audio or video because I have a special interest in both of these. I like to create music and also edit video so I wanted to learn about new tools that I could use in the classroom. Vocaroo and Adobe Spark were the initial two that I wanted to focus on. I am struggling with an error on adobe spark but am really looking forward to use it for video presentations. I have used iMovie to create many videos and am familiar with the application but I want to use different tools that my students can have access to. With Vocaroo, I am thinking I can use it in different ways, from recording feedback for other students and inserting the mp3 audio in google classroom to recording their song creations when we work on creating educational songs. I haven’t been able to use Adobe spark with students but as I continue to work with it I want to see how easy it is for students to create in the classroom and how easy it is to create for my students. I have tried Vocaroo and I like that I have the option to record and save mp3 files. The audio quality is not perfect, but it is good enough for students to work with. When we record in the classroom I usually use a few ios devices, but having 32 chromebooks in the classroom would make it easy for students to share audio files in different types of projects. Another way I see myself using this tool is having students create audio commentaries or speaking what they want to write before they write it. I want to try this with one of my students who struggles with production. From the articles, I can see the positives and possible negatives of a flipped classroom. One of the biggest concerns that was presented in one of these articles was the fact that some students will not have access or simply not do it and this will put them at a disadvantage. For that reason I feel that it would be effective to balance it and allow students to do this during school, perhaps during independent time. Hopefully after a few lessons they see the value of having the background knowledge so they can participate fully in the activities. As the article on the reading revolution Brian Sztabnik said about authentic learning "I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think." I feel that if a flipped model makes me think more about how I’m guiding my students to learning, it has the potential in making them think through that process as well. I loved the “why it matters” section of the Pros and Cons article by Mary Beth Hertz, she says, “The primary reason is because it is forcing teachers to reflect on their practice and rethink how they reach their kids. It is inspiring teachers to change the way they've always done things, and it is motivating them to bring technology into their classrooms through the use of video and virtual classrooms... We just need to remember that flipping is only the beginning.” As I was creating my flipped lesson, which is not perfect, I was able to think about the possible outcomes and how my students could benefit from this type of design. I'm looking forward to trying a different approach and see how my students react to it. Working on the prototype in this session makes me feel like things might be coming together. Again, watching a video on content we are learning in class and continuing to revisit Dervin’s article on sense-making, have created a sense of clarity on where I want to go next. The initial draft of my prototype may need some modifications, but it has been very useful to visualize it and get the plan going with the table of contents. Mishra’s video on TPACK makes me think back to the importance of focusing on students when choosing what technology we are implementing. Following TPACK, I know I want to make sure I am taking into account pedagogy, content, and the correct form of technology so that all three can work together and benefit students. From Dervin’s sense making, I understand the importance of getting to know my user. Last semester I was able to collect data and observe my students engage in the process of creating video lessons. I found that there were many complications, not just with the technology but also in how students perceived the process and benefitted from it. I feel that Baggio’s practices for teachers are going to be something that will benefit my students in this next part. I decided the best step will be to choose a different form of technology that will allow my students to show the engagement I was initially trying to observe through video making. Instead of video, this will change to a 2 dimensional representation of their lesson with the use of infographics. They will still develop a lesson that others can learn from, but instead it will be in the form of a visual using a different form of technology. As Mishra points out, “technology changes how we teach, what we teach.” Although I want to make sure I think of the content and not my tool when starting my planning, I can see how taking a step back and rethinking the form of technology I use might make a difference. Having a new view on how visuals can be used to teach and learn, I feel that infographics along with Baggio’s practices will be a great next step for my next part working with students and collecting data. Google forms seems to have a lot of potential uses both for teaching and for my action research. In the classroom, I have been able to use google forms for getting quick data from my students to get to know them better, assess them, or simply to find out about their thinking. I created a simple questionnaire asking them how they feel about certain things as learners and found that many of my students lack the confidence when it comes to solving problems. Many of these students I thought felt comfortable with certain things in class, but I found that they actually felt differently. Google forms can help lead instruction in the classroom with data as well as give me a chance to know my students better. The same use can be applied to my action research. Collecting data becomes much more easy and allows for everything to be recorded online. From qualitative to quantitative data, google forms is a good way to collect data to analyze during our research. Having computers for each of my students in the classroom makes it so that all my students have access to the form and I can get quick data. One thing I would like to explore more about is the ability to separate certain written answers based on words mentioned. Reading 32 short answers can take up quite a bit of time; I would like to learn how to get a kind or organization of answers that have a set keyword or words. Something like a wordcloud comes to mind. This would allow me to save some time and narrow my focus when looking at data. Although I still feel like I have not yet crossed the bridge in understanding some ideas around my driving question, I have acquired new knowledge that is helping me better understand where I want to go with my questions and interests. From making sense of Dervin’s sense making ideas, to Clark’s and Baggio’s strategies, I am starting to develop an idea of where I want to go next. From all the readings, Baggio has made the most sense to me and provided a more clear and relevant view of where I might want to go with the development of my product. Even though I still have questions as to what I can do, I have many tools that I want to apply to my product presentation from Baggio’s visual insights. I really enjoyed how the simplicity that Baggio mentions in the text is modeled even through the book itself. This text truly provided relevance to me as a reader and I was able to connect not only to what I should do in the classroom but also to my personal life; which is powerful based on what both Clark and Baggio mention in their books. I would like to continue looking into Baggio’s and Clark’s practices as I think about my plan this semester. My idea initially revolved around having students create video lessons, but now I am wondering how I as a teacher can create video lessons effectively following Baggio’s practices. It would still include the technology aspect of using video but would focus more on the teacher as a user as well as students benefiting from the products’ results. I don’t know if this is thinking outside of the box since many people have done this already and there are sites that are doing this as well, but I am excited to see where this can go. Until I have my 1:1 meeting I am still thinking about what would be the best way to go from where I left off with my research. Many of the readings and discussions we have had so far have inspired different thoughts that I am trying to use to modify and plan my final product. I still have some doubts as to where it will lead, but I continue to think about where to go with my driving question as I am making connections from what I read about different models of teaching and the research behind how to best approach a user. My biggest question at this point is what approach I should take after deciding on any changes, and how to design this model? SITE I continue to think about my user (teachers) and what it is I need to take into account to meet their needs. If I think about the SITE model, there are a few things that I need to consider. Starting with learner motivation; which is more successfully achieved when the user knows that they will be able to utilize what they learn for something they value and it has some relation to their cultural and social life, I need to know what the users’ goals are in order to design my model more accurately. This model also points out the importance of providing the user with something they will be able to use and apply to their own life, this way they will be more likely to engage on something they find has added value. This is something that I have noticed myself when taking classes. I tend to want to look further into a topic that applies to something that I am able to use or something that relates to my life. Topics like research on the brain that show the kinds of things people should be doing or eating in order to better focus will make me want to spend more time learning about the subject. The main thing I take from the SITE model is that unless I know my user and I plan my model according to them I will not be as successful. This applies to my teaching and to me as a learner as well. As stated in the SITE model description, “People are motivated, and particularly adults are motivated, when the ways and means available to them are related to their fundamental life goals and values.” My goal now is to continue exploring the best way I can do this with my driving question and what I will be sharing with teachers and using with students. I started looking at the calendar for edu twitter chats available to see what interesting chats were available. Nothing seemed to be directly related to my driving question but I found one or two that sounded interesting. The problem was, I wasn’t sure how to actually start or join the chat. I assumed there would be a separate page where all comments showed up like on a live youtube chat. I watched a couple of youtube video to see how twitter chats work and planned on joining one a few hours later, hoping I wouldn’t ruin a conversation. Nothing happened, nobody showed or I was on the wrong page. The next day, I waited for another one along with a classmate from our cohort and saw a message from the host so I knew I was in the right place. I read about how to respond to questions, but even then I felt a bit lost and wasn’t sure if I was missing messages. I observed that this chat was very easy to join, people didn’t really respond to other people as much but instead responded with short and helpful answers when the host asked something. I felt as if the host was my professor so I wanted to do a good job when responding, making sure I didn’t make a mistake. I did make many mistakes, answering by typing Q2 instead of A2, but that didn’t seem to be a big problem. This was good for me for more exposure to using twitter and it really did make me feel a little more comfortable with a social media that has not been my favorite. I feel less intimidated by it and I see how it can be useful. This chat was not so much about my Capstone but it did touch on topics that I have been thinking about from our sessions and the book I am reading for our other course. I did find it a bit stressful for my first time joining a chat but it was mostly because i was afraid to do something wrong. The answers I read from others allowed me to get different perspectives. I am actually looking forward to finding one that is more directly related to my Capstone. USING SOCIAL MEDIA Social media can allow you to easily connect and communicate with experts in areas you want to learn more about, help you answer questions you may have, or simply branch out and learn from people with different ideas. As a professional, it opens the doors to connections you could not make unless you are constantly networking with people in person at conferences. With all the advantages also comes a great responsibility to represent yourself as a professional. The ease of finding and learning ideas from people is the same when it comes to others getting to know you. You are putting yourself out to the social media world to hear your thoughts, and an inappropriate comment or post could cause others to have a negative perception of you and possibly limit your future collaboration or even employment opportunities. Proper use of social media using basic common sense could definitely avoid unnecessary issues. INAPPROPRIATE POSTS As a fourth grade teacher, I have never experienced finding an inappropriate post by one of my students. It would definitely shock me if I did stumble upon something inappropriate any of my students posted online. If I did find something, my first step would be to share that with my principal, I would also set a meeting with parents to make them aware of the situation. Since the student should not have a social media account at that age, I would share some information with the parents and try to provide some resources so they can have a plan at home regarding the matter. After reading the article on EdTechTeacher and thinking of the approach this individual took, I felt like most people that would speak up with these type of posts would not take the same approach. Many would immediately call them out publicly instead of taking a more private approach, which could make it even worse. I feel that a careful approach needs to be taken to allow the student that made this comment to realize it was wrong, and to make better choices with social media use in the future. I definitely want my driving question and product to impact my students, but I want my final resource to serve as a tool for teachers to use in the classroom to engage students and save time. For that reason, I would like to focus on teachers as my audience for the remaining semesters. I would like to be able to come up with something that other teacher can replicate to see if it works. The main challenge I have at the moment is my driving question and thinking of where I want to take my thinking after seeing my results from the initial study. I am taking into account all the content we have been reviewing and how that will play into my final resource. Once that is set, influencing other teachers and sharing my knowledge will depend on what my results are after I apply it myself. Having a better idea of the challenges teachers at my school face will make the sharing of what I find more relevant, teachers are not all the same but having this knowledge and understanding their user end profile will help. Dervin’s bridge visual is something I keep in mind as I think of my students but also my colleagues as I think ahead to my final resource. I haven't gotten as far as the structured lesson design that Clark mentions but having these resources will definitely help my thinking through the process with my question and creating my resource. |
Jose G. CerdaArchives
May 2018
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