TL Standard 12
When looking at standard 12, teachers are asked to evaluate and use technology for teaching and learning. After taking EDTC 6433 I feel like technology is not nearly as intimidating as I made it out to be. Walking into this class in the beginning of the quarter I was nervous, and intimidated. I have always felt that I am pretty tech savvy with the items that I use outside of my classroom, but when it came time to implement technology into my classroom, I didn’t know where to start. During the first class session we spoke about our final project and took a NETS self-assessment to see what areas we could use improvement. After leaving class the first day I have to a say that I was pretty skeptical. Reading over the NETS and taking that self-assessment truly felt like I was trying to (and not succeeding) read a different language. The self-assessment showed me that I truly had a lot of room for growth in all areas. I teach kindergarten, I have 22 five year olds who are just learning the letters of the alphabet and learning how to read and write. My original outlook was, what in the world could I possibly take from this class and make applicable in my room? “These projects and NETS don’t really apply to me”. I am proud to say, that I was so very wrong! Whether I am teaching 5 year olds or seniors, teaching technology is possible and very doable at any age! My overall technology goal was to focus on NETS-S 2: Communication and Collaboration and NETS-T 1: Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity. I would improve technology integration in my classroom by using Haiku as a space to allow my students to share their animal research projects in June. Students would use our classroom Haiku page to demonstrate their research and use of PebbleGo and a voice recording system to create their project. Although I knew this project would take several months to implement, I feel I was effective in setting my students up for success on this project. I spent a lot of time teaching my students about the basics of using netbooks. I worked hard teaching my students how to log on, how to navigate to their sites, how to adjust volume, use headphones and how to log off. I also did a lot of preloading with my students on how to research using graphic organizers and using the basics of PebbleGo. I learned so much about how to introduce complicated technology skills so early in the year with kindergarteners. You can see my Final Summary Project and what my students were able to accomplish! My biggest takeaway from this class is twofold. One is how many technology tools and resources can be modified and used with my kindergarteners in class. The second biggest takeaway is the capability of my kindergarteners using technology, especially so early in the year. With enough practice and careful teaching my students were able to meet extremely high expectations that I set!
One component of this class I feel I grew the most in was digital citizenship. Before this class I didn’t know much about digital citizenship or what it even looked like in primary grades. The words Digital Citizenship hold a lot of meaning, but what does it look like in a classroom? After class discussion and research, to me, digital citizenship is communication, appropriate use, research, collaboration, and any type of interaction online. My professor, Richard Snyder, did a wonderful job of breaking down such a large term into 4 major focus points. In his PowerPoint Snyder shared, “Big Points of Digital Citizenship are: 1. Respect for copyright and intellectual property. 2. Access to appropriate tools and resources. 3. Digital etiquette and 4. Global awareness (slide 11).” After looking into what the words meant, as any teacher would, I wanted to know what that would look like in my own classroom. Being a kindergarten teacher, some of these big points of digital citizenship seemed a little intimidating and far-fetched for my 5 year olds. I was excited to dive in and see what was available and applicable for my classroom.
There are two ways I would like to support and promote digital citizenship in my classroom. One of my goals this year is to teach digital citizenship to my students by showing them how to access appropriate resources online. I would like to use PebbleGo in my reading and writing workshop to allow for my students to pull information on multiple topics from a source other than a book. Students in all grade levels are no longer asked to complete a project using only pen and paper or from a book in the library. Technology has now become incorporated into everything we do. I especially look forward to using this tool during my nonfiction lessons in reading and writing workshop. This will allow my students to pull information from a research database as well as several text to supplement their nonfiction writing project. How wonderful will it be for me to help my students get a head start on how to properly access the correct resources to help them be successful?
My second goal for teaching digital citizenship in my classroom is to give a number of very generalized lessons on how to live in a digital world. What that means, looks like, and the importance of that, through their eyes. After researching online, I found several websites that had great free lessons on teaching digital citizenship to kindergartners. In all of the lessons I found, they all basically covered the same important parts/issues. Those teach points were:
- Computers are used for several different purposes and to visit faraway places that help us learn new things.
- Safety using the internet. The idea that, staying safe online is very similar to staying safe in the real world. Right vs. wrong decisions. Connecting this issue to what they have been told many times by parents and teachers, don’t interact or give personal information with someone you do not know, etc.
- How to safely navigate on the internet. How do you avoid problems? How do you know what is safe vs. harmful?
I feel that teaching these skills listed above to my class is very doable as well as age appropriate goals. Digital Citizenship doesn’t have to be an intimidating phrase. With all of the smart work that others have already done on this topic, all it takes is a little research and pulling from your resources to create age appropriate lessons for your students. Oh wait! Using appropriate tools and resources!? Sounds familiar! Like the we watched, digital citizenship is everywhere!!!
During this class, I learned about several different programs that have been extremely useful and helpful in my classroom! A part of this course that I enjoyed was the fact that majority of the programs we got to learn about and use in class are all able to be scaled down to use at different grade levels. I also feel that I gained a wonderful foundation of resources and tools for my future years of teaching. Not only did I find new programs and technologies that I am able to use with my students, I learned about new technologies that will benefit me in my journey for my graduate degree! I look forward to seeing how I can continue to use these programs with my students and in the future as well!
Resources:
Be a Digital Citizen. 11 Jan. 2012. YouTube. Web. 5 Oct. 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdEXijFXfD8
“The Emergent Reader Research Solution.” PebbleGo. Capstone Digital, Web. 5 Oct. 2013.
Murphy, K., McNamara, E., & DePasquale, R. (2003). Meaningful Connections: Using Technology in Primary Classrooms. Beyond the Journal.
Murray, Jacqui. “How to Teach Kindergarten Digital Citizenship to Kindergarten.”4 Oct. 2012. Web. 5 Oct. 2013.
Snyder, Richard. “EDTC6433 Week 2 Digital Citizenship Powerpoint.”1 Oct. 2013. Web. 5 Oct. 2013.
Starr, L. (n.d.). Encouraging Teacher Technology Use. Retrieved May 10, 2015, from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech159.shtml
Inspiring Young Minds 