Phase 5 Individual Project Reflection

The individual project for this course gave me tools and resources that I was not aware of before now. This project helped me to think about the SAMR model in relation to how I use technology. 

I realize that most of the time when I have used technology in the past I have been either not using it or I have been using it as a substitution and at best a augmentation. I hope that in the future I will be more aware of how I am using technology and strive for a redefinition use of digital tools. 

The lesson that I used for this project is a lesson that is used in many classrooms in the public school district. Read a text, discuss the text, and write about the text. There is nothing wrong with this model, students love to read, discuss and write but now thinking about the SAMR model I will strive to transform my lesson for technology integration. 

I would want to change some things about my current lesson to incorporate better flow. I would still start with the youtube video "I got a Habitat" (left) because my students love to sing along with the characters in the video. This is also a great time to get our wiggles out! I would want to utilize digital storytelling. If I were to use this lesson in the future I would rewrite the lesson so that once we read as a class I could have students use the chromebooks (or what resource I had) to allow the students to record themselves reading the book. Once they finished recording they could listen to themselves reading! I think this would help them recognize their own fluency and get them even more excited about reading! I also might choose a different book for the beginning lesson. I could choose a book that talks about animal habitats as well as human habitats to create a smoother transition from lesson one to lesson two. I, of course, would need to finish the lesson plan for lesson 2 as well! 

I feel that when considering different types of learners there is a lot of flexibility with this lesson. I believe that each step in this lesson can be altered to fit the needs of each student in your class or small group. It is because of this flexibility that I feel this lesson will be something that I can incorporate into my first year of teaching, or even in the spring as a student teacher!

ISTE 4 Critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making

ISTE 4 discusses how students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources. In the article by Grover they discussed promoting computational thinking skills (CT) in the classroom and in the curriculum. It discussed how CT is "the process of recognising aspects of computation in the world that surrounds us, and applying tools and techniques from Computer Science to understand and reason about both natural and artificial systems and processes”. I wanted to know what I could do in Kindergarten to start developing these skills for my students. During my research I kept coming across four concepts that seem to be the building blocks for CT skills: 

imagine found at https://code.org/curriculum/course3/1/Teacher

Helping students understand these four concepts/vocabulary will help them build their CT skills. Code.org has provided a free lesson plan for doing just that. The lesson plan begins with introducing the four words and than building a working knowledge of what those words mean. This lesson is done %100 with out a computer which makes it accessible for all. What I find extremely helpful with this resource is that the standards are provided for the lesson. For example the ISTE standards that code.org felt were covered with this lesson are 

• 1.a - Apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes.
• 1.c - Use models and simulation to explore complex systems and issues.
• 2.d - Contribute to project teams to solve problems.
• 4.b - Plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project.
• 4.d - Use multiple processes and diverse perspectives to explore alternative solutions.

This was very helpful for me because it provided a lesson example paired with the standards, it helps me visualize the standards better.

Along with this lesson plan code.org provides a number of resources for students and educators. Code.org provides courses for each grade, for kindergarten I would utilize course A which consists of 12 lesson plans that teach basic CT skills. This course is free and provides an unplugged activity option for each lesson. There are several fun quick videos and game-like activities for students to practice what they learned. I love this resource and I plan to utilize it in my future classroom.

Grover, S., & Pea, R. (2013). Computational thinking in K–12: A review of the state of
the field . Educational Researcher , 42 (1), 38–43

ITSE 3 Research and Information Fluency

ISTE 3 discusses how students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. After reading and researching I wanted to focus on the resources that I found that could assist in Blended Learning in my classroom. Means, Toyama, Murphy and Baki did a Meta-Analysis of the literature on the subject of using lecture only, online only and blended learning. What they found is that blended learning can be an effective way to keep students engaged and motivated.

One of my peers found a kid friendly search engine  which is a website that provides students and teachers questions that the students use their search engine to find the answers. It helps guide them through the process and can provide practice in using a search engine.

Another helpful search engine that could assist with classroom research projects is another kid friendly search engine which is a google search engine that is geared for children to research social studies, arts, sci/tech, language arts, people, animals,  etc. 

The last resource that I wanted to post is a picture dictionary this is also like a search engine but it is a picture dictionary which could be a great way to introduce or practice vocabulary. I like that it is picture based because this is extremely helpful for ELLs and all kindergartners. They also provide English, Dutch, French, Italian, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish picture dictionaries as well as a Phonetic picture dictionary.

There are so many ways to incorporate technology with your lesson plans so that you can participate in Blended Learning. By combining teacher instruction, technology, and cooperative learning I hope to keep my students engaged and motivated to learn!

Means, B., Toyama, Y., Murphy, R. F., & Baki, M. (2013). The effectiveness of online

and blended learning: A meta-analysis of the empirical literature . Teachers College

Record , 115, 1–47.