When we learn to read, we each learn what letters look and sound like, how they work together, how to make meaning from the words, etc. At a certain point, we become "literate" in our native language and possibly other languages. But ultimately, the ability to read supports part of communication - the ability receive ideas from others. It also increases our confidence in being able to acquire new knowledge. When learning to be transliterate, we need to learn to recognize different literacies within various mediums, see how they work together, and learn how to move fluidly between continually evolving mediums. I'm not sure how we know when we "become" transliterate, but it seems that a certain level of confidence and the ability to move fluidly between different mediums is involved. It's been helpful for me to dissect transliteracy a bit, especially while teaching middle school students how to become more autonomous in their research skills. My students have many skills, but not all, that are needed to be transliterate in the 21st century. In this respect, they teach me as much as I teach them. However, transliteracy is not about teaching skills in isolation. Students need to learn different skills (like reading, writing, grammar, conventions, etc.) that can be applied and adjusted to diverse mediums. For example, being able to gather information on a particular topic from an article, blog, tweet, video, podcast, etc. requires knowing enough about how each work as well as the ability to move fluidly between them. But consuming information is not enough in today's society... students are creating and producing information in a variety of mediums. Even more media literacy and digital citizenship are needed. It's essential to incorporate methods to teach and practice transliteracy skills. I love these "throwback" pictures because they show students (who have already graduated from high school) practicing their use of media in order to learn the content at hand. These students have gone on, learned much more, and done much greater things with their own transliteracy, but they needed time in earlier years to practice without fear of judgement and with plenty of room to make mistakes and grow. Again, they've taught me as much as I've taught them. Sketchnoting, as a way to look at transliteracy, for this course has been an unexpected and interesting challenge for me. I frequently have my students do variations of sketchnotes to organize their notes and to communicate what they've learned. Here are some student samples from our last project: However, as soon as I needed to sketchnote my Action Research Journey for this course, I struggled with a lot of thoughts many of my students have previously expressed... "I can't (really) draw," "This is ugly," "This isn't good enough." So I "practiced what I preach" to my students. Yes, it took many iterations, but I'm practicing my transliteracy skills and taking notes along the way. I'm grateful for this experience to step into the shoes of my students. I've gathered more videos, explanations, etc. to support my students this next year to make sketchnoting an even greater part of my classes. Pictures of my Sketchnotes... I created these to help me wrap my mind around the processes I've experienced.
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Rafael Garcia Avila's Capstone Project effectively shows teachers how they can incorporate coding and robotics into math classes. I believe that he is consistent in reaching his audience of teachers on each page of his website by including examples, resources, and reflections that other teachers can identify with and learn from. The connections between Rafael's action research and the impact on his students' academic experiences are clear and inspiring.
Jennifer Ellison's Capstone Project is also consistently targeted toward teachers' application of games in teaching. I particularly appreciate how she vividly detailed her journey through the Innovative Learning program. From her "About the Author" page to her Research, Design Process, and Support & Next Steps pages, it's clear that Jennifer has focused on the process... the journey... that she's experienced. This keeps her project relatable. The organization of her visuals, writing, and pages within her website is clean and easily navigated. Teachers will also be the audience of my own capstone project, as many teachers try to implement student inquiry and then face seemingly insurmountable challenges. If students are to become independent researchers, they must be guided through the Inquiry Process by teachers who understand the processes involved and have digital and in-person support immediately available. Students will benefit from the work in my capstone project, but teachers (and possibly school librarians and administrators) would be most interested in guiding To be honest, I infrequently use games in my classes. Sure, there's an occasional Kahoot, as well as Pictionary on the Promethean Board and board games for my students to spend time together, but I can definitely incorporate games more. My teaching style incorporates Art Integration and Project-Based Learning, so my students have learned through other critical thinking and creative endeavors. That being said, I'm intrigued by a few experiences my students have had recently with game-thinking:
So now, as I look at the concepts of gaming, gamification, and game-thinking, here are my major take-aways:
I have experienced so much during this EDUC 791 course - that I will forever be grateful for as it has made my journey into Covid-19 Distance Learning more efficient and impactful. Now, in all of my lesson design, end-users are at the forefront of my thinking as I analyze what gaps exist in their knowledge and skills and how I can help them identify and bridge those gaps. The SITE Model and TPACK help me separate the various sub-contexts that impact my students' learning. The sociocultural, informational, and technical sub-contexts are even more important when students are learning from home with varied supports that may or may not be in place. My goal is always to support my students in driving their own learning. I've seen immense growth in the classroom and now I'm looking for evidence of student growth through digital means. This is challenging, but I have the mindset, pedagogy, and tools needed to pursue my students' personal and academic growth.
As planning and implementing instruction has changed so much through Distance Learning, I've focused on how I can blend learning opportunities for my students. When we return to the classroom, I'll leverage skill development and technology to support students in taking increased responsibility for their own learning. It does not seem that we can count on being in the classroom at all times in the near future, so innovative and responsive teaching methods will be required. I am grateful for my small and large successes that can be built on as I move forward into upcoming school years. There is so much on my mind every day as we continue our transition to remote learning. First of all, I'm incredibly grateful that I'm going through this program right now - with enough experience so far to have many more ideas and resources at my fingertips, systems in place to organize further research and ideas, and colleagues with whom to explore topics. I was previously not aware of people such as Katie Novak (Universal Design for Learning) and Luz Santana (Question Formulation Technique) - and now I'm participating in their webinars and even a course through Harvard with Luz Santana. Because of all I've learned in this program, while many teachers were learning the basics of Zoom and Google Classroom, I was able to learn more about my action research and get further in my inquiry. There's still so much to do and to figure out but I feel much more ready and equipped to work out the details.
So many tools to play with, and now more time with which to play? Distance Learning due to COVID-19 necessitates learning new tools. I'm enjoying them, but feel like I'm at a fire hydrant trying to get a drink of water.
Tools to support a Flipped Classroom: The video tools I've focused on this past week have been Zoom, Screencastify, and EdPuzzle. I've chosen to deepen my skill levels with each of these because I was doing all of this at the same time:
Applications:
Barriers:
Strategies and Supports:
“Education lies at a peculiar crossroad in society. On one hand it has the responsibility of anticipating real-life skills by preparing us for an increasingly complex world - but education methodologies can only be formalized after practices have been defined. This dichotomy is particularly aggravated when it comes to technology, where fast-paced innovation and perpetual change is the only constant (Michell Zappa, 2014).” After looking through various websites through the lens of "end-user needs," preparing for our third week of "distance learning," and developing reference materials for students and fellow colleagues, here are my thoughts about designing my website:
Ultimately, as I've considered the end-user of my work, with one particular face in mind, I've been reminded that empathy for the learner is as important, if not more important, than all of the critical details of instructional design. At the end of the day, if we don't have empathy for our learner - with individual knowledge, skills, circumstances, and goals - we may very well miss the point of our instructional design, which is to facilitate true learning within each of our students.
This has been such a challenging week to try anything new with students... as we are now out of school for four weeks or more to "flatten the curve" of the coronavirus. Any plans I previously had must be completed in the classroom, so I've been stressed about keeping my students' learning meaningful at the same time as getting other areas of life settled to "shelter-in-place." Educationally, this is an unnerving yet exciting time! People all over the world are coming together to re-look at how we provide meaningful education to students remotely. My efforts this week have been on reworking my content to keep it relevant to students in their diverse situations. I finally feel good about this Reflection: Adaptations to our Environments, in which my students connect their learning from the previous three projects with what they're currently experiencing. As I was writing this blog post, I was pleasantly surprised to see that one of my "challenging" students responded BEFORE the reflection is assigned... tomorrow morning. Hmmm... this always gives me something more to think about. I've experimented with a couple add-ons, but did not find them useful for this exact moment in time. So, I've been playing around with some of the conditional formatting and soon coding from Forms to Docs or Slides, as recommended by Alice Keeler, as I gather information from my students this week. I will also publish my students' work from this coming week in a Project Database, as Adam Schoenbart (GAFE certified trainer) suggests - for students to view and give feedback for each others' work. I love using Google Forms - and even more so experimenting with different ways to apply them to my classroom practices and my action research:
My next steps:
UPDATE: After reading Jeremy's blog, where he invited participation, I got an idea! If you have time and are willing, please complete one or more of my Daily Starters during "Distance Learning". I appreciate your help in testing my form as well as seeing how adults respond to the prompts. Thanks! The more I read, the more concepts I have swirling around in my head.
I've always been a teacher who focuses on concepts, big pictures, patterns and connections, etc. over facts and information that can be "googled." My action research focuses on how students can become independent researchers in order to conduct their own inquiries - generally of concepts, patterns and connections. As I'm reading Ruth Clark's work more in-depth and making connections with Bobbe Baggio's Visual Connection, I feel validated in much of the learning design that I've done over the years. Much of what these two women write resonates with me - I just didn't know the theories and practices behind what I was intuitively doing. Now that I'm learning more and making deeper connections between these readings, the SITE model, and the Pebble-in-the-Pond model, I can see ways in which I can teach procedures, concepts, and facts in more concrete and intentional ways. And it's a good thing, too!... as schools across our nation are beginning to experience "distance learning" due to school closures because of COVID-19. I'm grateful to be reading more tonight, March 15, 2020, as I prepare for the e-learning that my students will do. As I design my students' learning experiences, I can be even more intentional - yes, with the concepts, patterns and connections - but now even more so with the technical designs my students need to support them in focusing their attention on what, how, and why they're learning at this time in history. Q: How can/should social media be used to help you develop/collaborate/communicate as a professional? A: I cannot remember not using social media professionally (even though I know it's not been around for all 22 years of my teaching experience).
Q: What are the critical issues to consider? A:
Q: What would you do if you were to come across an inappropriate post made by one of your students outside the school? A: When I have either seen or had inappropriate posts by students reported to me, I have always discussed them with my administrator(s) to determine next actions.
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Megan BurtonInnovative Learning Archives
June 2020
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