It has been a busy few weeks! As we continued to move through the research stage of the project, we emphasized the importance of making connections with "experts" related to various topics. Students were encourgaed to e-mail, survey, and connect with indiviudals who have experienced different elements of 21st century learning.
Surveys Students created both paper and electonic surveys to investigate the attitudes, opinions, and experiences of peers and teachers. Topics included bullying, attidudes towards grades, and technology preferences. Students utilized GoogleForms and Office 365 to create electronic surveys. We would not recommend using Office 365 unless all participants are connected to Office365 as students outside of the district had issues accessing the survey. Video-conferencing We were truly inspired by Sylvia Tolisano's presentation at The Literacy Consortium, and we decided to follow her lead by making some connections outside of the classroom. We posted a question in the Mystery Hangout Google Community, and we were able to connect with schools in Arizona and Illinois. Our students collaborated on a GoogleDoc in preparation for the VideoConference (just like we did during Sylvia's workshop), and students were assigned specific roles. Although it was not possible for everyone to participate in each video-conference, students in all classes collaboarated on the GoogleDoc and findings were shared with all classes. E-mails , Interviews, and Classroom Observations Students were encouraged to connect with teachers and professionals who could share their expertiese and experiences. Students researarching the role of foreign languages observed a French class. Students researching 21st Century school libraries had the chance to connect with a school librarian in our district to and explore changes to the design and focus of libraries. Other students e-mailed technology teachers to ask for source ideas and develop an understanding of their perspective of 21st century learning. What's Next?
0 Comments
This week, students began to research their driving questions. We discussed credible vs. non-credible sources, using key words effectively, and note-taking strategies. Our school recently purchased the NewsELA PRO resource, and this has proven a beneficial research tool.
In additon to conducting research, some students created surveys using Google Forms. Other students revised topics after the realization that their driving question was too vague. Students were also encouraged to share information that could potentially benefit other students. Of course, there were some challenges along the way. Some students searches directed them only to scholarly journal articles which were above their reading level. Others decided to abandon their topics and start fresh after realizing that research was limited. We were so inspired by our last session at the The Literacy Consortium, and we have reached out to some schools who are implementing flexible seating, coding, and an on-line curriculum. We are hoping to connect with a school in Arizona or Illinois in the near future! :) It’s always difficult to leave the classroom, but what an inspiring day! Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano was the guest speaker, and she shared a variety of resources with us. Some of them included the following: Mystery Skype, Skype in the Classroom, blogfolios, quadblogging, and PLN options, such as Twitter. We had the opportunity to experience Skype first-hand by connecting with four different people (personal, expert, colleague, and classroom). It was incredible! We had the chance to visit Silvia’s mom in Argentina, a classroom in Brazil, interview curriculum expert Janet Hale, and take a virtual field trip to TedX Studios in New York with Josefino Rivera Jr. This opportunity demonstrated how easy it is to collaborate and connect with classrooms and leaders around the world. We also learned the importance of preparation and participation in videoconferencing. By using GoogleDocs, we were able to share expectations and ideas. Engaging infographics showed the different roles that all students can have during video-conferencing sessions. These opportunities can easily be extended into our classrooms, and we can’t wait to share our journey! The goal of this class was for students to identify and topic of interest and generate a driving question. When students entered the classroom, they were handed a "Would You Rather" questionaire. Some items included paper textbooks vs. digital textbook, more group work vs. less group work, etc. For a copy of the survey in its entirety, please visit our Resources section. Students then discussed potential topic ideas and formulated driving questions with the choice of working independently or in small groups. While students were creating questions, they confered and waited for the approval of their driving question. After examining the results of our initial survey, it was obvious that we needed to encourage our students to think outside of the box. We started our second class by giving students the chance to view the following Did You Know 2016 Video Clip: In Maddy's classes, students used Today's Meet as a backchannel to share surprising facts, questions, and potential topics. Students were engaged and enjoyed using this tool. The transcrpit of the Today's Meet can be found on the Resources page. In Linda's classes, students used sticky notes to complete the same activity.
After viewing and discussing the video, students were then divided into small groups to read and record notes on articles related to 21st century learning. Topics included the following: coding, Clearview's Read and Ride program, grade elimination, homeless students, and taking a break from technology. After reading, students met with their groups and discussed their findings. This provided students with opportunity to generate ideas for their driving questions. When we mentioned the PBL to our students, they were excited. Anytime we present something new to them, it peaks their interest. We asked them to fill out a quick survey based on our question: How do people learn in the 21st Century? Their responses were fairly typical -- technology, online textobooks, groups, etc. We think our question was a little too vague for them. They weren't sure what we wanted from them. We wonder if our PBL question is too big. Maybe we need to narrow it down, or maybe we need to guide them more. We have been adding resources to our Team Padlet. We're eager to share ideas with the rest of our team. We haven't had much time to talk about it. Check out our Resources to see the survey and results.
|
Archives
January 2017
Categories |