Argh, I was toggling back and forth between tabs and x'd out of my almost done comment! Hopefully it's better the second time around. Two suggestions, followed by explanations:
1. Take a hard look at your teaching model/sequence. I see a lot of I-->We-->You.
2. Take an equally hard look at how you address Multiple Means of Representation.
To point #1: it seems like you have a lot of direct instruction followed by student recall built into the class, and this may have been established long before you arrived. As you mentioned, there's been a new curriculum designer every year for a while, and that's the easy, "safest" fallback. Teach a concept, model it, have the students do it. However, after ascribing to that approach for two years during my time in a charter school, I just don't believe it's that effective. Discovery and exploration is a much more powerful model, and by letting the students reach that "ah ha" moment on their own, despite difficulties along the way, it's a much more profound learning opportunity. I'm inferring a lot about how your class is structured, but even if I'm off base a little, think about how you structure your time, and don't feel like each day has to begin with a mini-lesson from you. Even the learning that happens with the digital storytelling tools, let the kids lead the way.
Re: Multiple Means of Representation: You and I both would like digital storytelling tools to check off this UDL column by virtue of the fact that the tools augment text with audio and imaging. I wish it were that simple. How are texts being presented to your students? Do you need to incorporate more audio on the front end? Project Gutenberg has thousands of etexts for free, and then text-to-speech tools could be used to dictate. Better yet, get the students audio recording themselves reading aloud, which in my experience, they're much more receptive to and comfortable with than reading in front of the class. They'll learn a lot by listening to themselves reading. Other tools, like Audionote, allow students to show their learning in other ways than just writing down.
Lastly, as you consider storytelling tools, I unearthed this from an old Diigo bookmark just this morning: http://bookbuilder.cast.org/ If you want a step-by-step guide to creating digital student work that really follows UDL guidelines, the folks at CAST wrote the book. I'd highly recommend taking a long look at this resource.
We were told not to sugarcoat it, and I don't think I did! Hope some of this helps!
Thanks for your thoughts! You have been so helpful throughout this entire process. I am glad we were placed in class, and particularly in a group, together!
I find it very interesting that each teacher plans only one subject. I think that would be hard having to plan for other teachers. Are you able to put your own twist on those lesson plans or do you have to follow them to a T? I can completely relate to you when it comes to students coming into your classroom below grade level. Living on a reservation education is not a high priority so having to work extra hard to get those students involved is very difficult at times. It’s great that you want to learn a few different apps but do you think that teaching them so many apps will get confusing for them? What if you were to pick a smaller number and really focus on those? My main concern is that there are always updates and changes being made to the apps that once they get one down it might do an update and things will be done differently and that can be frustrating for an adult let alone a student.
Michael's comment is very similar! We are able to tweak lesson plans a little bit but we have to teach the same standards on the same day and have common assessments. We do try to sit down together once a week and talk about next week's plans, so that helps a little bit. We can at least contribute ideas and have discussions about where we think plans should be headed next or when we should assess.
In regards to the number of apps, I think you are right about starting with a smaller number at first. I chose five because we already do blended learning projects, so my thought was that we could use the same apps for both digital storytelling and blended learning. That way, students are using the apps frequently and getting a lot of exposure to them. I think I will start out with just one or two, and then slowly add more when I see they are ready. I definitely shouldn't introduce them to multiple apps at once.
I think you have a great solution you can work towards this year for your design thinking project that should keep you busy! :-)
Although my background is in secondary education, more specifically high school, I hope my feedback will be of some use to you.
One thing I was thinking of while I was reading your paper and after watching your video is this: What if at the end of the year, or maybe set up periods throughout the year, where you share one or some of your student's digital storytelling. You could do this several ways: Setting up an event at the end of the year where you could invite parents, other teachers, admin, etc. to come to the event. Maybe you could share it through a blog you keep that parents have access to. (Maybe you share a couple each week, month, or however often they do it.) Students could work in groups, or do it individually. Or maybe students share them through a blog they set up on their own. I think there are blog sites that are geared towards elementary level students. Or you could develop a class website page or use a Padlet that you could use to display student work. I think anyway that you could share the student's work with a bigger audience can defintely help make this solution even better. Let me know if you have any questions about my feedback. I hope it will be useful to your or that you could take something from it and work it from the perspective of an elementary teacher point of view.
I don't think an after-school event for sharing students' storytelling projects would work very well at my school. Unfortunately, we have very little parent involvement. It is difficult to get parents to come to anything and even if they want to, transportation is often an issue. However, I really like the idea of sharing their digital stories with parents through a blog or classroom website. I haven't really thought about that... thanks!! I have been hearing a lot recently about an app/website called Bloomz that is an easy way to connect with parents. I have not looked in to it yet, but from what I have heard, it kind of sounds like a social media-style site for parents, students, and teachers to stay connected. I think I will look into this idea further to see if it would be a good way for me to share my students' projects with everyone.
It can be very difficult sometimes when planning is completed in that way. I have always ended up planning on my own for similar reasons. Digital storytelling will really allow for your students to express themselves. Would they still only have 20 minutes with this aspect? I am concerned about that time frame. How do you plan on doing this whole group? I could see it as potentially summarizing stories or main ideas that are put into a digital story (in addition to the others you mentioned). This aspect seems similar to my writing question because I am having my students creating (using many of these apps) to express their writing. Changing your whole group presentation style could help with that 20 minute period before they create.
Great questions! I am also concerned about the time frame, but I have given this a lot of thought. I only have 20 minutes for this portion because we are required to do Guided Reading for 30 minutes each day and Small Group for 40 minutes each day. I am not allowed to alter those so that only leaves 20 minutes for a daily mini-lesson. I fully expect the digital storytelling projects to take a week to complete, which is why I won't do it all the time and will instead focus on doing it with big topics we spend a lot of time covering. I will teach students how to create a digital story and how to use the apps as a whole group, but the actual digital storytelling projects will be completed in small groups or partners. I think that I will be able to make creating their digital stories a station during Guided Reading, so that will help. I am also going to see if the computer lab teacher will let them work on their digital stories when they go to her for activity. Also, I like your idea of using digital stories to work on summarizing skills. Thanks!
I think reading and technology is a subject that many teachers are tackling these days. It is about finding a balance and using the right tools.The variety of reading lesson plans at your school is unique and must offer both pros and cons. Are you provided the plans and you must implement them?
To have 20 minutes for reading can sometimes be restrictive I am sure and you feel like you must make the most of this time. I think this was a good choice as a problem of practice as it would get the full look over from both you and the class. It would make sure that you had the most ideas and collaboration to improve that time period. I think the use of digital story telling is a good plan and can be used in a few different ways. It is a great tool for using technology and group work which you mentioned you wanted. I would try to keep the number of new tools you use down to a select few. With such a short period to devote to reading you do not want to spend too much time teaching a new piece of technology. Use the technology as an aid or to engage the students, but make sure the focus remains on reading. Possibly make presentations with video or audio ahead of time explaining the lesson or tool in order to maximize time.
Your plan seems well thought out and you seem ready to tackle the problem of practice. Goodluck!
Yes, I am provided with reading plans. There are four third grade teachers, and each teacher plans a different subject for the entire grade level. Someone else plans reading. I am given those plans each week. I do not have to follow the plans to a T but I do have to follow them fairly closely. We have to have common assessments and pretty much teach the same standards on the same day, so there is not a lot of wiggle room. I am striving this year though to stretch my limits and be as flexible as I can be to accommodate my digital storytelling goal and improve my reading instruction.
You are absolutely right about limiting the number of apps I use so I do not have to use much class time teaching a new app. I wrestled with how many apps to include. I was only going to do three, but changed my mind to five because we do blended learning in other subjects so I thought maybe I could use the same five apps for that as well. That way, my students will get a lot of practice with those apps an will hopefully pick up on them quickly. I may need to cut back to begin with though and see how it goes before I try to add more than two or three.
Argh, I was toggling back and forth between tabs and x'd out of my almost done comment! Hopefully it's better the second time around. Two suggestions, followed by explanations:
ReplyDelete1. Take a hard look at your teaching model/sequence. I see a lot of I-->We-->You.
2. Take an equally hard look at how you address Multiple Means of Representation.
To point #1: it seems like you have a lot of direct instruction followed by student recall built into the class, and this may have been established long before you arrived. As you mentioned, there's been a new curriculum designer every year for a while, and that's the easy, "safest" fallback. Teach a concept, model it, have the students do it. However, after ascribing to that approach for two years during my time in a charter school, I just don't believe it's that effective. Discovery and exploration is a much more powerful model, and by letting the students reach that "ah ha" moment on their own, despite difficulties along the way, it's a much more profound learning opportunity. I'm inferring a lot about how your class is structured, but even if I'm off base a little, think about how you structure your time, and don't feel like each day has to begin with a mini-lesson from you. Even the learning that happens with the digital storytelling tools, let the kids lead the way.
Re: Multiple Means of Representation: You and I both would like digital storytelling tools to check off this UDL column by virtue of the fact that the tools augment text with audio and imaging. I wish it were that simple. How are texts being presented to your students? Do you need to incorporate more audio on the front end? Project Gutenberg has thousands of etexts for free, and then text-to-speech tools could be used to dictate. Better yet, get the students audio recording themselves reading aloud, which in my experience, they're much more receptive to and comfortable with than reading in front of the class. They'll learn a lot by listening to themselves reading. Other tools, like Audionote, allow students to show their learning in other ways than just writing down.
Lastly, as you consider storytelling tools, I unearthed this from an old Diigo bookmark just this morning: http://bookbuilder.cast.org/ If you want a step-by-step guide to creating digital student work that really follows UDL guidelines, the folks at CAST wrote the book. I'd highly recommend taking a long look at this resource.
We were told not to sugarcoat it, and I don't think I did! Hope some of this helps!
Thanks for your thoughts! You have been so helpful throughout this entire process. I am glad we were placed in class, and particularly in a group, together!
DeleteI find it very interesting that each teacher plans only one subject. I think that would be hard having to plan for other teachers. Are you able to put your own twist on those lesson plans or do you have to follow them to a T? I can completely relate to you when it comes to students coming into your classroom below grade level. Living on a reservation education is not a high priority so having to work extra hard to get those students involved is very difficult at times.
ReplyDeleteIt’s great that you want to learn a few different apps but do you think that teaching them so many apps will get confusing for them? What if you were to pick a smaller number and really focus on those? My main concern is that there are always updates and changes being made to the apps that once they get one down it might do an update and things will be done differently and that can be frustrating for an adult let alone a student.
Michael's comment is very similar! We are able to tweak lesson plans a little bit but we have to teach the same standards on the same day and have common assessments. We do try to sit down together once a week and talk about next week's plans, so that helps a little bit. We can at least contribute ideas and have discussions about where we think plans should be headed next or when we should assess.
DeleteIn regards to the number of apps, I think you are right about starting with a smaller number at first. I chose five because we already do blended learning projects, so my thought was that we could use the same apps for both digital storytelling and blended learning. That way, students are using the apps frequently and getting a lot of exposure to them. I think I will start out with just one or two, and then slowly add more when I see they are ready. I definitely shouldn't introduce them to multiple apps at once.
Hi Kendra,
ReplyDeleteI think you have a great solution you can work towards this year for your design thinking project that should keep you busy! :-)
Although my background is in secondary education, more specifically high school, I hope my feedback will be of some use to you.
One thing I was thinking of while I was reading your paper and after watching your video is this: What if at the end of the year, or maybe set up periods throughout the year, where you share one or some of your student's digital storytelling. You could do this several ways: Setting up an event at the end of the year where you could invite parents, other teachers, admin, etc. to come to the event. Maybe you could share it through a blog you keep that parents have access to. (Maybe you share a couple each week, month, or however often they do it.) Students could work in groups, or do it individually. Or maybe students share them through a blog they set up on their own. I think there are blog sites that are geared towards elementary level students. Or you could develop a class website page or use a Padlet that you could use to display student work. I think anyway that you could share the student's work with a bigger audience can defintely help make this solution even better. Let me know if you have any questions about my feedback. I hope it will be useful to your or that you could take something from it and work it from the perspective of an elementary teacher point of view.
Good luck!
I don't think an after-school event for sharing students' storytelling projects would work very well at my school. Unfortunately, we have very little parent involvement. It is difficult to get parents to come to anything and even if they want to, transportation is often an issue. However, I really like the idea of sharing their digital stories with parents through a blog or classroom website. I haven't really thought about that... thanks!! I have been hearing a lot recently about an app/website called Bloomz that is an easy way to connect with parents. I have not looked in to it yet, but from what I have heard, it kind of sounds like a social media-style site for parents, students, and teachers to stay connected. I think I will look into this idea further to see if it would be a good way for me to share my students' projects with everyone.
DeleteIt can be very difficult sometimes when planning is completed in that way. I have always ended up planning on my own for similar reasons. Digital storytelling will really allow for your students to express themselves. Would they still only have 20 minutes with this aspect? I am concerned about that time frame. How do you plan on doing this whole group? I could see it as potentially summarizing stories or main ideas that are put into a digital story (in addition to the others you mentioned). This aspect seems similar to my writing question because I am having my students creating (using many of these apps) to express their writing. Changing your whole group presentation style could help with that 20 minute period before they create.
ReplyDeleteGreat questions! I am also concerned about the time frame, but I have given this a lot of thought. I only have 20 minutes for this portion because we are required to do Guided Reading for 30 minutes each day and Small Group for 40 minutes each day. I am not allowed to alter those so that only leaves 20 minutes for a daily mini-lesson. I fully expect the digital storytelling projects to take a week to complete, which is why I won't do it all the time and will instead focus on doing it with big topics we spend a lot of time covering. I will teach students how to create a digital story and how to use the apps as a whole group, but the actual digital storytelling projects will be completed in small groups or partners. I think that I will be able to make creating their digital stories a station during Guided Reading, so that will help. I am also going to see if the computer lab teacher will let them work on their digital stories when they go to her for activity. Also, I like your idea of using digital stories to work on summarizing skills. Thanks!
DeleteI think reading and technology is a subject that many teachers are tackling these days. It is about finding a balance and using the right tools.The variety of reading lesson plans at your school is unique and must offer both pros and cons. Are you provided the plans and you must implement them?
ReplyDeleteTo have 20 minutes for reading can sometimes be restrictive I am sure and you feel like you must make the most of this time. I think this was a good choice as a problem of practice as it would get the full look over from both you and the class. It would make sure that you had the most ideas and collaboration to improve that time period. I think the use of digital story telling is a good plan and can be used in a few different ways. It is a great tool for using technology and group work which you mentioned you wanted. I would try to keep the number of new tools you use down to a select few. With such a short period to devote to reading you do not want to spend too much time teaching a new piece of technology. Use the technology as an aid or to engage the students, but make sure the focus remains on reading. Possibly make presentations with video or audio ahead of time explaining the lesson or tool in order to maximize time.
Your plan seems well thought out and you seem ready to tackle the problem of practice. Goodluck!
Yes, I am provided with reading plans. There are four third grade teachers, and each teacher plans a different subject for the entire grade level. Someone else plans reading. I am given those plans each week. I do not have to follow the plans to a T but I do have to follow them fairly closely. We have to have common assessments and pretty much teach the same standards on the same day, so there is not a lot of wiggle room. I am striving this year though to stretch my limits and be as flexible as I can be to accommodate my digital storytelling goal and improve my reading instruction.
DeleteYou are absolutely right about limiting the number of apps I use so I do not have to use much class time teaching a new app. I wrestled with how many apps to include. I was only going to do three, but changed my mind to five because we do blended learning in other subjects so I thought maybe I could use the same five apps for that as well. That way, my students will get a lot of practice with those apps an will hopefully pick up on them quickly. I may need to cut back to begin with though and see how it goes before I try to add more than two or three.
Thanks for the feedback!