The day in the life of an Elementary Innovative Learning Specialist.....what I am doing, adventures with students, my thoughts, and what I have learned.
Today, students at one of my elementary schools had the opportunity to connect with two authors virtually.
The Kindergarten students were connected virtually with author Jonathan Emmett in the Nottingham, England. Mr. Emmett is the author of over 51 books, many geared to the younger students. He read aloud to the Kindergarteners one of his books titled "Wanda Wallaby Finds Her Bounce". This story was about "Wanda Wallaby has lost her bounce! Try as she might, she can’t find it. She asks all the other animals, but no one can help. Until, that is, she meets the crocodile – whose advice has a remarkable effect on the innocent Wanda.” The students then were able to ask Mr. Emmett questions like “how many books have you written” and “how do you come up with your characters”. It was a great experience!
Check out Jonathan Emmett’s website at http://www.scribblestreet.co.uk/
Third grade students, which participated in Ms. Andresen’s Book Club, have been busy reading books by author Kate Messner. Kate is an award-winning author who writes books for kids. She also was a teacher for 15 years. Kate lives in Lake Champlain, VT. Students used Edmodo to discuss books they had been reading by the author, such as “Capture the Flag”, “Marty McGuire”, “Over and Under the Snow” and “Hide & Seek”. Students got to spend time talking with Kate about her writing and her books. It was a great culmination to our book club!
Check out Kate Messner’s website at http://www.katemessner.com/
As I reflect
back to the first week and creating my personal learning theory, I see that not
much has been modified from my original thoughts when it comes to teaching
students.Everything I have learned
through this course has really helped me to solidify that what I am doing and
have been doing is right on target.Over the last few weeks we have touched base on many different learning theories and I am already incorporating them into what I create based on the needs of the group of students I am working with.
What I have been
doing with the use of educational technology is already in line with what I
have learned over the last seven weeks as well.It was refreshing to see some of the tools I often utilize, VoiceThread
for example, referenced and used in this course.I think the reason is because this is a
requirement of my job.I am always keeping up with the latest in EdTech and this has helped me be aware of students’ needs and the technology tools available to meet them.
What I can say
that I will begin to change is the way I present these tools to teachers and
how I run professional development classes.I often I teach the tools without the reasoning of why this tool will be
effective or what are best practices in its use.If I really want the buy in for positive effect of educational technology, then I should be teaching why it is beneficial as well.It wasn’t up until
this last week that I finally could see that.
Next week I have
a professional development opportunity that I am changing the layout for.This professional development is all about
presentation web tools.My goal was to
give an overview of that variety of these tools and what they do.Now I think I need to also focus on why these
tools could be valuable for students through their use as learning technology
tools but also how they can be effective when used in lessons or units to touch
on different learning styles.
As for long-term
goals I have for my work with both students and teachers, one is to incorporate
more cooperative learning into both my work with students and with teachers. “It is a teaching strategy which allows
students to work together in small groups with individuals of various talents,
abilities and backgrounds to accomplish a common goal” (Orey, 2011).I think students and teachers can benefit
from others’ ideas, as well as having a place to share their own.It can result in a deeper understanding and a
way to create a deeper connection to the material.
The second
long-term goal is to make sure I incorporate more visuals and less text when I
teach.Dr. Micahel Orey shared that
Paivio’s dual coding hypothesis uses images in instruction versus using more
text (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).I can admit I am guilty of giving presentations
and running professional developments where I use more text and less visuals.This is something I am going to work on changing.It’s not that I need the text there because I
do know the content.My thoughts were
always that my audience needed to see what I was saying, but if I think back to
what Dr. Orey said, the visuals would help create a better connection to the topic
I am covering.This is why infographics
are becoming so popular.They
incorporate the text and visual to create a deeper understanding of the
information trying to be conveyed.
Social learning is a learning theory that focuses on the
importance of working together to achieve a learning objective.“Students actively engage in constructing
artifacts and conversing with others” (Laureate
Education, Inc., 2011).
Cooperative learning was a prominent instructional strategy
utilized in my classroom often.“Cooperative learning is defined as students working together to “attain
group goals that cannot be obtained by working alone or competitively’” (Orey,
2001, para 7).There were many ways that
cooperative learning was applied in the classroom.
Technology allows for many cooperative learning
opportunities.It creates an anytime,
anywhere form of cooperative learning that otherwise would not be available.Students don’t have to be within the same
classroom, the same building, or even the same state to work together for a
common goal.That common goal can be a
final project or presentation, or it can just be creating an engaging
discussion where everyone walks away with a better understanding of the topic
being discussed.
I posted yesterday on my blog, as lesson that was done utilizing Skype.The connection that was made was with a
gentleman in the United Kingdom.Without
the availability of this technology, my students would never have been able to
have this connection.By working alone,
students would never have gotten the inspiration or emotion that Mr. Jon Tait
shared with them about his experience of carrying the Olympic Torch in the 2012
London games.
“Cooperative learning provides an environment where students can reflect upon newly acquired knowledge, process what they are learning by talking with and actively listening to their peers, and develop common understanding about topics” (Pitler, Hubbell, & Kuhn, 2012, p 73).The
most recent example I have was from my own experience of learning.I recently attended some webinars provided by
Simple K12.Those attending the webinar
used Titanpad
to take notes together and share experiences.I found this so useful because as the speaker was presenting,I would reflect and come up with ideas of how
I could put different things she said into lessons or activities.I would share these ideas and others would
then elaborate on key elements I may have missed in the webinar or ideas they
had that I hadn’t even thought of.The
end result was a fantastic cooperative learning experience where we all walked
away with reflections and ideas that could help us put personalized learning
into practice.
The fact is that cooperative learning helps to create a more
meaningful and engaging experience for all that are involved.Whether you are using this instructional strategy
with your students or even participating in a cooperative learning activity on
your own, the point is that you walk away with an artifact or knowledge that
you might not have had if you chose to explore the topic on your own.
Here are some other tools that I utilize often with students for cooperative learning:
Today
(February 4th), second and third grade students at Jefferson
Elementary School got to speak with 2012 Olympic Torch Bearer Jon Tait from the
United Kingdom. Jon is a senior leader and assistant head teacher working in a large North East
secondary academy.As a classroom
teacher he has experience working in two different schools for nearly 15
years. Jon is
very interested in creative and innovative teaching practices that engage
students and ultimately raise achievement. He regularly presents at TeachMeets
and teaching conferences both in the UK and internationally via Skype.
In 2012, Jon was selected to carry the
Olympic Torch at the London 2012 Olympics. This honor was bestowed after he
was nominated due to his work with young people, both in schools and as part of
his sports coaching in the local community.
Jon Tait spoke with the kids about his
experience of carrying the Olympic Torch at the London 2012 Olympics. He also
talked about what the Olympic Torch represents, a brief history of the Olympic
Torch relay, what the London 2012 torch design signified and an account of his emotions
during one of the proudest moments of his life. The students were
able to ask Jon questions about the torch and were able to see the exact torch
that Jon carried that summer!
The lesson was both inspirational and
interactive, with the students being able to talk and interact throughout the entire
session!
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