Blended Learning

Today I am going to talk a little about blended learning. I know I have touched on this subject in some of my other blog posts. A good example of how I used blended learning in my classroom can be found in my Cool Tool Review #1: EDPuzzle post.

Before taking the instructional technologies application class, for my master's degree, I didn't really think a blended-learning model could be possible in my STEAM class. I thought that I had too many students and that only having students 35-minutes once a week would also make it hard to keep students on track. I was proven wrong. I have now given two different grade levels videos to watch outside of class, so that they can come into class ready to learn.

One of my most successful lessons so far has been teaching my students to make Totem Spoons with clay. Since it is the end of the year and clay is at least a two-week project, I decided to create an EDPuzzle video of a clay technique that my students should know.  They had to watch the video outside class before they could complete their clay project. It was really successful. Students answered all of the questions and were ready to start their projects in class. I have been observing my students work and all of them have been attaching their clay the way the video has shown them. By having the students review the technique out of class, I was able to save a whole day of instruction, because by the time I would explain it, there wouldn't be enough time to get clay out and clean it back up.

Here is more information about the lesson I am teaching my 5th graders:

1. I introduced my students to what "Totem" and "Spoon" symbolize
• Totem - Tells a story
• Spoon - Symbol of sharing
2. Explain they are making a spoon that shares a story about them. To review our clay techniques, students are required to complete this EDPuzzle before the following week
3. Students will create sketches of their spoons to help them plan what they are going to make. This coincides with the plan step of the engineering design process. 
   
4. Students will create a variation of a spoon with at least 3 descriptive objects about themselves on the spoon.
5. Students will glaze the spoon after it has been fired. 

Assessments in the STEAM Classroom

Assessments, a term that I used to dread, especially when I would hear it as a student. As I have gained more information about assessments and moved past the typical paper-pencil tests, I have grown to love-okay maybe that is a strong word- cherish them. I'm not sure whether or not I have explained my background in education to you before, in case I haven't here you go. My undergraduate degree is in early childhood education with a 4-5 generalist endorsement. Therefore I am trained to be a general education teacher preschool-5th grade. Most of my classes taught me how to be a teacher to one, self-contained classroom of 20-30 students that I saw everyday, all year. All of my assessment classes also trained me, with a classroom described above in mind. So, when I ended up in a "specialist" position of teaching S.T.E.A.M. which means I see an average of 10 classes with 20-30 students a day, the idea of assessing over 900 students terrified me. As I am completing my second year of teaching S.T.E.A.M. I am still figuring out what style of assessment works best.

I agree with the statements of Amanda Ronan of Edudemic, who wrote in a blog post that the most important part of assessments is how they are used. Over the summer I took a course in assessments for my master's degree in art education. During the course I learned new techniques to build assessments and new ways to use them. After completing the class, I made my goal of the upcoming school year to increase meaningful assessments in my classroom. I evaluated the effectiveness of my SLO (Student Learning Objective) and edited the wording to eliminate confusion for my students. I also used various styles of questions, to help differentiate my assessment and meet the needs of all students. This was a much-needed evaluation, as a summative assessment like this, determines my effectiveness as a teacher. Well, at least in the eyes of the state.

An SLO is actually both formative and summative. At the beginning of the year, the original SLO is given to determine a baseline for each student. This data can be used to determine what the students already know and areas they have strengths. It is important to use formative data to develop lessons. If students are already masters in an area, yet you continue to teach the material, it is likely that students will no longer pay attention. This could increase behavior issues or distractions for struggling students, who need to learn the material. On the other-hand, moving on from material before the students fully understand it, can cause students to be discouraged in learning any lessons that build on that concept. Therefore, they would struggle in class. Although I am required to give an SLO test, the most common formative assessments I give are by observing and completing a check list. While observing, I can help students immediately if there are any misconceptions, whereas it takes me a day to go through a test. After I do get the opportunity to grade the test, I won't see that student again for a week. By then, the misconception is probably the students reality. That is why I believe observing, checklists and even classroom conversations are the most effective form of formative assessments in my classroom.

As for summative assessments, I feel that rubrics are the most effective. I give my students rubrics to evaluate their work before they turn their assignments in. This allows students to be in charge of their own learning. I will also give students worksheets that go along with their projects to help them get their ideas down on paper. It also gives me a physical sheet to evaluate the students knowledge. I also feel that it helps students stay organized, especially from week to week. I think it is important to look at summative assessments and evaluate whether or not the whole class understands the lesson, through a certain project. If they don't understand, I usually create a new project that touches the basic idea, but is in a different way. I continue the cycle by evaluating the assessments of that lesson and developing my next step again. I continue until I feel confident that the students have learned the concepts.

Overall, I think that it is important that we have formative and summative assessments just to inform our instruction as teachers. There is so much knowledge that can be obtained just through looking at how students have completed each assessment. What kinds of assessments are effective for you? Let me know through Twitter or a comment below.

Some tools I use for assessments:

• EDpuzzle (you can read my blog on it here)
• Google Forms

An example rubric:

Let's Talk About Learning Spaces

If you haven't realized it yet, I love to try new things in my instruction and have a very unorthodox classroom. With that being said, my learning space is also very different from the ordinary classroom. Many of my colleagues are surprised to see how my students are working when they walk into my room during the day. Sometimes my students are sitting at tables, but that is on a very rare occasion, as you know from my "Dare to Un-chair" blog, I typically do not have chairs in my room. Most of the time when you walk in my room my students are either standing around the table, sprawled out on the floor or sitting somewhere else around the room. I have witnessed some interesting things happen in my classroom with the multiple learning spaces I have created.

Increased Engagement and Learning:

Ever since I have changed my room to no chairs, I have watched my students' work increase. Since the students are standing while I give lectures, I find that the students who usually fidget with things they are not supposed to be touching, are just moving their bodies instead. They are usually looking at me and listening while they are doing this. I have also noticed that their work quality has increased and their creativity has also made a significant jump as compared to my previous classroom setup. I don't know if it is the increase of blood flow to their brain or just the ability to get comfortable that has made these changes occur.

With my new TAB setup, the children loved the change. It seems that every time I change my room, the students get excited about it and seem to be on task for a longer period of time. With all the stations spreading my students all over the room, behavior issues have gone down. Students are no longer crammed into one uncomfortable learning space, instead they can go to a place of their choice and one that is comfortable for them. When students choose what they want to do, they are more likely to stay engaged with the activity longer.

Google Apps for Education and Learning Spaces:

I love Google Apps for Education. I am constantly using them with my upper elementary students and sometimes with my younger elementary students. One of my favorites is Google Classroom. When I start lessons with apps, I have my students go to my Google Classroom first, to get their assignment. With students scattered all over my room, having assignments in Google Classroom is so much more effective, than my old style of teaching. My old style was to write the assignment on the white board and have students at their seat working. When students are under tables, sprawled out on the floor or sitting at a station that has their back to the board, teaching this way is no longer logical. When a student goes into Google Classroom, they are able to see the assignment from the comfort of their new seat. I also like that an absent student can easily access what they have missed.

I have started to incorporate a digital media station in my TAB Classroom setup. With this in mind I have been teaching more Google Apps and other creative education apps, to my students. I want my students to know how to use the apps correctly before I set them free to use them on their own.

Take the risk:

I think sometimes as teachers we get stuck doing what is comfortable or easy, instead of taking risks. I know that many of my colleagues are intimidated by the noise and what looks to be chaos in my room. From an "outside-looking-in" perspective, I'm sure it looks pretty crazy. What I know, though, is that every one of my students is working and doing so in a way that best suites their needs.

Have you already taken the risk or do you have suggestions on other learning spaces? Let me know!

Let's Talk About Ebooks

What do you think when you hear the word "ebook"? Before class last week, I thought of ebooks as an alternate to paper textbooks and novels, a compilation of words to share knowledge that is written by an accredited author.  I had never thought about turning my students into authors of their own ebooks.

There are advantages and disadvantages to student-created ebooks. An advantage is the ability to continuously edit the writing. One of the steps of the writing process is to edit and revise. When writing an ebook the book is never permanently finished. For new writers this is great because as they learn about new techniques and ideas, they can go back into their ebook and improve it. This is also a good example of the improve step of the engineering design process.

A disadvantage of using ebooks to practice the writing process is that spellcheck and grammar check can prevent the student from actually knowing the proper use or spellings of words. As a teacher it is important that we stress not to rely on the spellchecker, because it isn't always correct.

A great example of a teacher who uses ebooks in his classroom is Jon Smith. He is an ibook ambassador, you can find his students' books at this website: http://mrsmithtrt.weebly.com/class-ebooks.html. I really enjoyed his collaboration books. He includes different grade levels to create books. The book, "Monsterpieces" had 3rd grade students draw the monsters and high school monsters remastered them to create the "monsterpieces". I really like this younger student to older student collaboration. It has inspired me to want to start creating ebooks in my STEAM classes. I didn't think it would be easily done until I saw some of his examples. I love the idea of having my 5th grade students write a story and finishing the story with kindergarten illustrations.

I think using ebooks in the classroom will increase engagement. Jon Smith has said that it has made students more excited about writing too. I like the idea that students will open their audience to beyond their small social circle. When students think about getting their work out there for anyone, they tend to have better quality work. I have noticed this when I tell them that I will be putting some of their artwork on my blog.

Have you used ebooks in your classroom already? Do you have ideas for them in the future? Let me know by commenting below. 

What Do You Know About Copyright and Creative Commons?

If you use anything from lessons, to books, to worksheets for your classroom, you have probably heard the word "copyright". Even though you have heard it, do you actually know what it means? I thought I knew what copyright meant, but now that I have dug into the concept further, I have realized I haven't really understood it. I had always thought copyright was a legal document that you had to apply to get. I have been confusing copyright with getting a patent, though similar they are not the same. Before learning more about copyrights, I didn't realize that anything a person creates and shares, comes with an automatic copyright attached. Like I mentioned above, I always thought it was something you had to buy and get legalized. I am relieved to know that all of the items I post online actually is protected by a copyright. 

Since sharing is a large part of teaching, I think creative commons is another vital part of the copyright process. I wasn't very familiar with creative commons when I first began this assignment. Through watching various informational videos and reading articles on the matter, I understand creative commons a lot better. Creative commons is a way for owners to have more control about how their work is shared. There are options that allow for remixing or that prevent the use of the work being produced commercially. I think this effects teaching the most. As mentioned in my past posts, sharing is a large part of the teaching process. As a teacher it is important that I understand the laws of copyright and creative commons licenses. Being more knowledgeable about these items allows for me to be a better model of digital citizenship for my students. It is also important that we teach children about the laws and regulations of copyright and creative commons so that they do not grow up with misconceptions like I did. 

It is our responsibility as educators to follow copyright laws when selecting the media we use in our classroom. Once again, selecting media the right way is a great way to lead students by example. I know from experience that if a teacher doesn't "practice what they preach", they lose a lot of respect and credibility from the students. An example for me is when I was in seventh grade English and I had a teacher using proper grammar and slang. It made me not want to listen to what she was saying anymore because I wasn't sure if she actually knew what she was talking about. This is an example of how that teacher lost credibility. By teaching students the proper way to use media and how to cite it, we are protecting them from any hardships that can develop from not following copyright laws. As educators, we should always have our students' best interest in mind. 

A common area that copyright laws get disobeyed is when it comes to movie sharing and music sharing. I think it is important for us to remember that getting video and music files illegally through file sharing and from pirating websites, it is no different than stealing the movie or CD from the store. We know that ethically physically walking out with an object is stealing and that is wrong. So why does stealing movies and music digitally not feel so bad? I don't really have a good answer for that. I think that we are always in the mindset of needing things immediately, that we try to gain access to them in the quickest and cheapest way possible, forgetting that we are stealing from the musicians, actors and artists responsible for them. 

In a classroom like mine that is constantly using technology and different types of media, I feel it is my responsibility to make my students the best digital citizens they can be. If I don't remind them the importance of respecting copyrights and creative common licenses, who will? Hopefully as more people become knowledgeable about these laws and begin to think of the people who create the items being stolen, we will begin to have a positive and safe digital world. 

Here is a list of resources that helped me to gain my understanding of copyright and creative commons licenses:

The teacher in this next video really impresses me by how she teaches her students and how she leads by example. Her students also seem to fully understand what is expected of them and they understand what is being taught to them. 

Other resources:

CommonCraft: Copyright and Creative Commons

Creativecommons.org: Wanna Work Together?

https://www.teachingcopyright.org/

Digital Citizenship (Part 1):What's that?

Growing up in the 90's citizenship was a subject that was taught in school. It still is but has evolved from strictly being the proper ways to uphold the duties of the country and society, to including the duties of being a digital user. The internet and other technology has become much more available today than it was while I was going up. The increase of technology definitely has pros, especially in the field of education but it also has many cons as well. Knowing about digital citizenship can eliminate some of the negative side effects of technology. So that brings me to today's topic: "What is digital citizenship?" 

Being a citizen in the digital community.

Using the internet and technology makes everyone around the world easily connected and a part of a whole group, no matter their nationality. This makes everyone who uses the internet or technology a citizen of the digital community. The definition of citizenship according to dictionary.com is "the character of an individual viewed as a member of society; behavior in terms of the duties, obligations, and functions of a citizen". Being a citizen of the digital world means that we have duties and obligations to uphold in order to use technology. As a person in the education field, we are already held under a microscope in the outside world, whether it be our life choices, what we wear or how we act in our personal lives. These expectations carry over to the digital world. Not only do we have to model digital citizenship, we are also expected to correct and encourage young minds the correct use of technology and the proper digital citizenship as well. 

What is digital citizenship?

To me, digital citizenship is using technology as a tool and maintaining a positive and professional digital footprint. This means that when posting online I must be mindful that anyone can access what I am posting. A general rule for me is to ask myself, "If I were a parent and saw my child's teacher post this, what would I think?", if I feel that it is something that could potentially go against my district rules or make a parent question my morality, I never post it. Even though I have opinions about important issues, if I feel that it could be more offensive than helpful, I do not express them in the online world. I may have conversations with those who are close to me but not in a space so public and easily accessed. 

Another part of being a digital citizen in the digital world is who you let inside that "private circle". Many online communities have options to make the important parts of your profiles or blogs private. This can be great for the parts of your personal life that you don't want the whole world to know about, such as vacations or other important moments of your life. The only thing to remember is that nothing is really that private. I have a rule that I don't allow parents to be in my personal circle. If you are like me, on Facebook I have a lot of my coworkers as my friends. Many of my coworkers are in fact parents of some of my students, so with that being said my personal life and professional life cross paths. This is why I make sure that even behind my privacy locks I am still mindful of what I post. Also, coworkers know what is expected of you in your job as well and will probably form their opinions of you based on how you act online. 

TPACK Attack!

Before sitting in class last week, I had no idea what the acronym "TPACK" meant. After learning that it stood for " Technological, Pedagogical And Content Knowledge" I realized that most of the lessons I create for STEAM already incorporate it.  In case you are like me and needed to see a visual representation of  TPACK, a picture is provided below from the blog "Inside the Classroom, Outside the Box!"

My last post, focused on a technology tool that was new to me, EDpuzzle. As teachers in a technology-filled world, it is vital that we find appropriate tools to use in our classrooms. With that being said, what should be thought about when we are choosing our new technological tools? I have come up with a few questions that I think a teacher should ask before selecting a new tool.

1. What technology will I have available that day?

After a year of having students bring their Chromebooks down from their classroom, I was able to get a cart of Netbooks in my classroom this year. Unfortunately they are not as elementary-school-friendly as the Chromebooks are, but I am ecstatic to have technology that I can call my own. Knowing that the Chromixium operating system does not allow for a smooth transition between Google accounts, I have to make sure the homeroom classroom Chromebooks are available if I want to use Google Classroom. 

Along with technology being available I often have to take into consideration internet bandwidth overloads. For example, state testing days. When it is state testing season, using the internet in our rural district for anything else beside the tests, is extra slow if not even impossible. 

Another thought to consider when choosing your tool is whether or not it is an operating system specific program. For example, a program may only work on iPads, if that is the case, my Netbooks would be useless for this particular tool. Some schools may have the opposite problem with tools that can only work on Chrome but the technology available is Apple related. 

2. Is this tool easy for students to understand from the start or will I need to create a lesson on how to use this tool?

As an elementary teacher who sees all students kindergarten through fifth grade, for 35 minutes a week (with the exception of fourth grade who I see 70 minutes a week), it is important for me to choose more basic tools if the students are using it. If I have to use a whole class period to teach a tool, it takes away from the content I am teaching. The best tools for my classroom are ones that either have a tutorial that allows students to learn on their own or one that I can give a 5-10 minute mini lesson and then have students work on it on their own. A website I use a lot in my class is Scratch, a simple coding website. I have taught a lesson on it in the past for my coding unit but it also has tutorials of many different projects students can make. The site is also very easy to use and understand. 

3. Is this a tool that will not be blocked by the school filter?

I have been in some school districts where the online filter is pretty lenient, my school district's filter is the opposite. I have been blocked from some education websites. It is important to check that the website works at school before creating a whole lesson using it just to find out that it is in fact blocked. Not that I have ever had that happen to me or anything.... If you're like me and many of my teacher friends you find yourself planning lessons in your pajamas on a Saturday morning with your cup of coffee in tow. Although it is a much more relaxing environment for lesson writing, your home internet filter is probably not very strict. This is why it is important to check the tool on the school internet browser before you spend precious time developing your lesson. 

Open Education Resources: Sharing is Caring

In the TEDxNYED Video with David Wiley, he talks about the importance of open education. He begins by defining openness in education as being synonymous with being generous. He goes on to say that openness in education is the only way to do education. I completely agree with this statement. Since STEAM does not have Common Core or state standards yet, I rely a lot on the lesson ideas of other teachers. I am very thankful that teachers who have developed their own lessons have been willing to share them for free. Starting out as a young, new teacher, paying for resources does not usually fit into my budget. Going off of being a new teacher struggling to pay for bills let alone resources, it is hard to share my resources for free. Websites like Teachers Pay Teachers, make it easy to sell and share resources. I am guilty of only choosing the free resources that are provided on this site. So this makes me wonder whether the TPT site is a great way to share resources or is it creating even more of the "anti-share" or "mine" mentality. Comment below or tweet me about your thoughts, because I really don't know how I feel about it anymore. 

I can understand the "anti-share" mentality. We feel that since we have worked so hard on our lessons, sharing with anyone else lets others take credit for our work. We also feel over-worked and under-paid at times that we feel that we deserve a monetary supplement for our resources. As mentioned above, I'm not sure how I feel about this idea anymore. After watching the video of David Wiley, I have begun to realize that sharing your ideas doesn't make you lose your credibility or ownership of a lesson, it provides a plethora of ideas given by other educators to improve your teaching. It can also open the door to communication between educators in your field, in return giving you resources that they can provide. Isn't learning what we are here for? We want it to happen in our classroom with our students, so why shouldn't it happen among teachers as well? Even though we may feel that by sharing we are losing ourselves or our work for nothing, we can walk into a generous amount of tested resources. What are your views on Open Education Resources and Sharing? Let me know below. 

You can expect me to talk more about this topic in the near future. I am looking forward to hearing your responses as this has been a rather grey area for me.  

Talk soon!

Using the Internet to Benefit Teaching

In the last post I mentioned that I was building my professional learning network or PLN for my graduate class. Even though creating a PLN was a requirement for my class, I am beginning to see its importance in my professional development as a teacher. My last post is a good example of how through someone else sharing a lesson idea, my mind was able to think of a lesson that would benefit my STEAM classroom.

As I am exploring the world of blogging as a teacher, I am beginning to see the benefits and complications of sharing my work. In a world that is abundant of social media and technology, I feel that it only makes sense for teachers and leaders to use these outlets to share their work.  Sharing online comes with a lot of responsibility. In my undergraduate studies we were told that all of our social media needs to maintain a professional atmosphere. As educators we are constantly under a microscope in the community because other people put their trust in us to lead and teach their children. When posting in a blog, it is also important to maintain professionalism. Deciding what to share and what not to share is a big component of maintaining a professional environment. In the STEAM field, I find it difficult to find lessons that are purely STEAM. I can easily find STEM lessons or art lessons, but rarely find ones that combine the two. Sharing lessons that worked in the classroom can help other educators by providing ideas. Also sharing what may have been tried but did not seem to work out can also help a teacher not repeat the same mistakes. 

I think using blogs and social media is a great way to quickly get information into the world. With social media, comes great responsibility. It is important to be cautious about releasing anything personal in your professional network, especially when it involves children. When using a video, it is especially important that the proper measures according to the school district have been followed.

I hope to share more of my ideas on this blog and in my PLN. I have definitely benefited from others sharing their ideas with me, so I want to do the same.   

My First Post

Hello digital world! My name is Elizabeth but to the 950 students I see a week, I’m known as Miss James. I currently teach S.T.E.A.M. for the elementary (kindergarten to fifth grade) students in my district. For those of you who are unfamiliar with S.T.E.A.M. it stands for science, technology, engineering, art and math.  A typical day for me is seeing a couple classes of all six grades and teaching them a fun and creative project that explores the concepts of science, technology, engineering and math.

Aside from teaching, I am pursuing my master’s degree in art education with a K-12 Licensure from the University of Akron. I graduated from Baldwin Wallace University with a bachelor’s of science in early childhood education with the 4-5 endorsement. Changing my major eight times before becoming an education major actually prepared me to teach S.T.E.A.M. My previous majors included forensic science, digital media, an art minor, and a couple others. The main three I listed provided me with introductory classes in forensic science, two-dimensional design, drawing and computer science, all of which I adapt and include in many of my lessons.

Beyond a classroom, you can find me on the soccer field. I coach U-10 girls’ soccer, mostly year round. When I’m not coaching, I’m playing on my own adult league. I am very passionate about soccer. It has been a part of my life since the young age of 3. I hope to instill the same love for the sport in all of my girls through coaching them. I would love to see them continue their soccer journey through high school and even beyond.

Now that you know a little bit about me, let’s talk about social media in the classroom and outside the classroom. First I will tell you about the social media I use. As of now, I don’t use much social media in my class but I find Weebly and Google Classroom to be great tools that enhance my teaching and parent communication. Weebly is a blog site that many educators use. I use it as a way to keep my parents informed of what their children are doing in my class and to give parents an opportunity to volunteer their time to help with different special events. I also use Weebly as a landing site for my students, so they can find different links we use in class, without having to type in a long URL.

Google classroom is another great tool that I use in my classroom. Now that I have netbooks instead of Chromebooks, I will admit I do not use it as much as I did last year. It is hard for elementary students to type in their full email rather than just their username, a requirement of a Netbook over a Chromebook.

In my personal life, I am constant user of Pinterest and Snapchat. I also have accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Tumblr, I use these sparingly. Pinterest gives me so many ideas, from classroom management, to lessons and even what to make for dinner. It has such a variety that I can always find something new to add to my board. Snapchat I enjoy because I live a great distance from many of my friends and family, this app lets us see each other briefly without having to block out a chunk of time for a video chat.

Now, let’s go back to social media in the classroom. At 25, I am not far removed from the teenagers in high school today. I also grew up while technology was beginning to take over the world. I remember when the original social media of Myspace came out and AOL Instant Messenger. As a teenager, many of my social interactions with my peers would end with a conversation about either our away statuses on “AIM” (AOL Instant messenger) or what we saw someone post on Myspace. After reading “A Teenager’s View on Social Media” from the blog Backchannel, I have found that teenagers still have the same mindset about social media, they just have more options. Coming from an elementary teacher’s perspective, what the author says about his peers using Instagram above everything else is also true about elementary aged students. I hear many of my students talking about their Instagram accounts. another popular account for them, according to the author, is Snapchat.

As an educator, I feel that it is important to be familiar with social media. Being informed about the different apps and websites available increases my app database but also helps me to monitor appropriate conversations and content in my classroom. In another blogpost, “My FavoriteTeacher’s Use Social Media: A Student Perspective” written by Katie Benmar from the blog Education Week, she talks about how her attention is much better on a teacher who uses SMART Boards or allows them to use their social media in class to enhance their learning, because chances are if they are not paying attention they are already on their social media anyway. I agree with this statement. I have a very short attention span, I can easily lose focus and get caught up in something else, unless I have a task or am watching something that is attention grabbing, like a new technology. The only downfall of using my own social media in class as a student would be that with my short attention span I could easily get distracted by the other things that are not related to the lesson showing up in my newsfeed. I feel that many students can relate to this problem, so instead of enhancing a lesson with social media, it has actually made the students even more distracted.

I feel that when using social media it needs to be a school specific or class specific source, rather than using a personal account. With a strictly school account, it limits the distractions for students and also provides a safer learning environment. Of course, there are still going to be students who abuse their privilege of using social media in class, this is where knowing about the social media your class is using is beneficial.