Hold On Tight Here I Go!
Marisabel's Blog
As I was looking up a definition for Transliteracy, I came across an image that looked quite familiar. The image I came across looked very similar to the one for TPACK. TPACK is an overlap of Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge. According to Gikipedia that was recently updated in 2018, Similarly Transliteracy is an overlapping of sorts, it combines a range of capabilities required to move across a range of contexts, media, technologies and genres. Conceptually, transliteracy is situated across five capabilities: information literacy (effectively use information to solve a problem), information and communication technologies (ICT covers any product that will store, retrieve, manipulate, transmit or receive information electronically in a digital form), communication and collaboration, creativity and critical thinking, underpinned by literacy and numeracy. Furthermore, Transliteracy was first developed in 2005 by the Transliteracies Research Project, directed by professor Alan Lie as a part of research into online reading that coincidentally is what my capstone is directly related to. I have added a link to a video were he explains about RoSE (Research-oriented Social Environment, 2012) https://youtu.be/oUUxxRCXqwQ . In the video Lie explains his project as a way to use social media as a tool for research. He describes the Users as wondering through information alone and how his project RoSE can help the Users navigate through information with a more social interactive experience. In our capstone we are hoping to do the same thing for other educators. We want to use our research and work to help other educators use technology in the classroom successfully. I already am seeing more student engagement with the incorporation of technology in my classroom, by having transliteracy in mind when putting together lesson plans we are increasing the modalities by which our students can achieve success. I feel that this last semester I was able to incorporate some transliteracy in my classroom by using Google classroom. My students used an online database that had a multitude of resources available for them to write a report about one of the California Missions. In addition they had to demonstrate knowledge by producing a final product that allowed for a variety of communication modalities. I look forward finding new ways to incorporate Transliteracy into my lesson plans.
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Gamification and Game-Based LearningIn the beginning we learned about Common Sense Media and the importance of being safe when surfing the web. I have been incorporating Digital Citizenship once a week in my class because I agree that our digital natives must still be taught how to navigate all the technology tools of today. Students like learning while they play and they prove it by staying engaged. If they find something fun and creative they give it more attention and actually try to do well to improve their score.
I currently use Epic! for independent reading time. Epic! is an online reading platform that gives students point for reading, watching educational videos and many more activities. My students love going on Epic! and having a choice other than reading a hard bound or paper back book. By gamifying the different tasks that they do they stay engaged and put effort into the task. I am looking forward to trying Class Dojo. While doing some research I found that many teachers use only some or all of its components. I'm not sure about giving students negative points but I do see how giving positive points and rewards for positive behavior could help motivate my students. I also think some friendly competition is good. This course has helped me evolve in my own learning and the way I think about learning. It is important that we think about how we present our lessons to our students. In this course we visited literary works by Dervin, Clark and Baggio they have helped me understand the importance of how we put together our lessons. We must stay up to date with all the new tools and technology so we can relate to the new type of student that we have today. Our students are learning about the jobs that may not exist yet. Teaching is an art that requires heart. We must help each student find that tool that will help them cross the bridge. We need to make sure that they are thinking about their thinking while we are thinking about our thinking and their thinking. Yes,it is that complicated. Like I said teaching is not for everyone. I feel it is essential that I keep learning about all the tools technological and otherwise if I am going to reach my students. All the research is pointing towards innovation and how it can help keep our student of today interested, engaged and learning. But hold up, not just adding technology to your lesson is enough, we must use it in meaningful ways. We must make sure we understand TPACK and how all the parts must work together to produce a learning experience for our learners.
As I was looking at all the different tools, Educreations stuck out because it said it was an interactive whiteboard and that was very appealing to me. I enjoyed very much how easy it was to use and I was able to quickly do what I usually do in class. Because I can record it, I can have my students watch it without distractions from their classmates or the things in their desk and hopefully have a better chance at remembering the lesson. I decided to use Educreations to record myself work out a few problems for our Unit 3 math test. I decided to give my students an opportunity to add points to their score if they make test corrections. I recorded myself explaining a few of the problems from the test and I hope this will help them correct the rest of their test. I could eventually use this tool as an assessment tool. I could have my students watch mini lessons made by me and then give them a quiz at the end of the week. Another flipping tool I looked at was Adobe Spark. Adobe Spark looks very inviting and professional. I can see myself putting together some very eye catching videos when I have more time to plan out what I would like to do with it. My only concern with flipping the classroom is that all my students don't have a computer available at home. Using google classroom has been great for most of my students because they can access their work from home and they can get most of their assignment done quickly, but for those without equity only have class time to finish their work which in some occasions is not enough time. Nonetheless I see having my students use new tools in the classroom as important because they are being exposed and every exposure whether in the classroom only or at home is exposure that will help them be better prepared in the future. Punya Mishra explains TPACK as an overlap of Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge. He explains further, technology changes: how we teach (Pedagogy), what we teach (Content), and the contexts within which teaching/ learning happens. This advances my knowledge on what we as teachers need to know when preparing our students for the 21st century. The learning pit reminds me of Dervin's sense-making metaphor except in the pit students are reassured that being in the pit makes for deeper learning and working through the problem with others makes for a successful learning experience. Therefore, if you avoid the pit you are not challenging yourself and are not making intellectual growth. Dervin's sense-making triangle emphasis has been placed on understanding how the individual saw self as stopped, what questions or confusions they defined, what strategies they preferred for arriving at answers, what success they had in arriving at answers, how they were helped by answers, and what barriers they saw standing in the way to arriving at answers. Technology in both of these scenarios if used in the way TPACK presents it will help the learner climb out of the pit or could help the learner bridge the gap. Students have the world at their fingertips when they have technology available to them throughout their day and are supported by teachers who facilitate learning through pedagogy. I am very excited about incorporating Google forms into my teaching practice and I have only begun to scratch the surface on what Google forms can do. Add-ons make a big difference when you want to personalize your forms or make them more user friendly. At this time I have only used one Google form in my class, that I created with my grade level. I had a hard time at first getting the results because I am still not familiar with all the ins and outs. Just like my students I am learning by making mistakes and trying new things. I have found many useful how to videos on the web and my Master's program instructor gave us lots of videos to watch as well so, it really only takes some searching and trial and error to get started. I see how using Google forms can make grading much easier and less time consuming. By having all the results from your students test all in one place neatly organized and scored, one can obviously see the benefits. Of course when grading written responses you still have to take the time to read them all but, you don't have to carry lots of papers that can get misplaced or lost. When thinking about my capstone project I could definitely use Google forms when surveying my students on wether they enjoy or prefer one tool over another. Another way forms could come in handy would be in surveying teachers about tools they may find useful and others they may find to be ineffective and why. Or to find out if they are having a similar problem that you may be experiencing in the classroom. CRAP! Yes that is what Baggio wants us to remember when we design. Contrast, Repetition, Alignment and Proximity. Baggio insists that using good visual practices when you design presentations and e-learning modules is about a lot more than just looking good. I must say that I don't spend much time designing slides for my lessons but I am curious and want to look into how all these design rules can be applied to my regular teaching day. How can I as a teacher make myself more interesting to my students. I need that missing piece of the bridge that is going to help me cross and bring all my students with me. I need to connect visuals with my teaching effectively.
Educational ContextOne word came to mind as I read through SITE Module 1 and it was ecosystem. Why you may ask? Educational Context for the user/learner must involve informational, sociocultural, and technical subcontext. In the dictionary it says, an ecosystem is a system, or a group of interconnected elements, formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their environment. In the SITE model we must also understand the learner as a "whole person, " and understand the interconnected factors that might motivate a learner to invest in the process of learning. In a nut shell the SITE model is asking us teachers to design and orchestrate instructional activities so that they prepare learners to teach themselves. As educators we must help bridge any gaps the learner may have when trying to use the resources available to them. The image above helps me understand all the parts that are interrelated when providing a learning environment in which our students can flourish and grow as learners motivated by their own goals and needs. My students struggle on a daily basis to find their focus on reading and many other subjects. Finding digital or technology tools for reading has helped me motivate them to read during independent reading time. They have the choice to read from a book or using the online platform as well as what they want to read. By giving them choices you empower them to engage constructively and productively with the tool and invest in the process of learning. A. In this digital age, one could say that social media is the way to go when communicating with your colleagues. It is also now becoming essential in collaborating and developing as a professional. I recently joined Twitter and can see so many professionals sharing ideas and having chats via their Twitter. I can see how powerful this tool can be when you are trying to get the word out about anything you may be passionate about. With that said, it is critical that you remember the ramifications of the words you post. It is important to remember one must be professional and constructive when giving feedback and comments. Just because you are not face to face as you would be in a normal meeting doesn't mean your words aren't attached to you. If anything, one must be even more careful about the words one posts because they are being read by another person and comments said with humor or joking intentions may not be read or received in the form it was intended. B. If I were to come across an inappropriate post made by a student outside of school, I would address it with them If they were my student or if not, inform administration. As an educator I feel I have the responsibility to help the student realize the consequences of their actions. As Patrick Larkin put it, I would also hope this could be a “teachable moment” for the student. As I delve deeper towards the understanding of my students individual learning needs, I intend to capture the interest of my colleagues. There are many, many things I have yet to learn about teaching others and I know that taking these new steps with technology will help me bridge the gap that both I and my students have. In this new age of multitasking, both our youth and those of us entrusted with their education are being asked to do much more than we have hours in a day to accomplish. Using tools like Google Classroom and other online platforms will help keep me sane and in the process help me reach all my students and their individual ways of learning. My ultimate goal is to find ways to keep our students engaged, using action research that ultimately will lead to new innovative ways to keep them learning, using 21st century skills they will need in the jobs of tomorrow not yet invented. Based on the readings by Baggio, I realize how students feel affects everything in their education. Clark informs us that, research shows one medium to be as effective as any other as long as it can carry the required instructional methods. Last but not least Dervin has helped me realize that educators are the billboard for all the tools that can make bridging a students gap possible. |
Marisabel OlguinNVLA 4th Grade Dual Immersion Teacher at Napa Valley Language Academy Archives
June 2018
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