The day started with an introductory activity, where we'd each randomly picked a piece of colored card stock to make a "name tent" to help easily identify each other in class. These pieces of colored paper would later come into play again. On the back of the paper, we listed three things we'd like to share about ourselves (I'm a proud auntie, proud nerd/geek, and the family photog). We then partnered up with another person in the class to learn their information. I was lucky enough to be paired with one of my EDMS colleagues, Tammy L., with whom I don't get to interact with often in person since we lack a common planning. After a quick chat with our partners, we then introduced them to the rest of the class. Being educators, we immediately reflected on the benefits of an activity like this, specifically how it affects the classroom climate.
We then broke up into small groups by finding the other people in class who had chosen the same color card stock for their name tent. I liked this particular grouping method since it allowed for random partners, but you could easily manipulate it to ensure that groups are a certain number of students end up in each group or that certain students end up grouped together (or apart). In our groups, we explored various types of technology before each group decided on one to explore and share with the class. My group chose my suggestion of the ActivSlate, which gives wireless control of the whiteboard and works through the ActivInspire software. The kids love using the ActivSlate and the novelty of it will get students to participate who don't normally participate. We worked on putting together a presentation about the technology to be shared with the class at a later date.
Around mid-morning we took a little trip up to the computer lab in the library where one of the librarians explained blogging and how to go about setting one up through WordPress. Having been a longtime Blogger user, I decided to stick with it for this class. After a lesson on how to use WP along with learning about some of the resources available through the library, we broke for the lunch break with the promise (in my group) to reconvene to work on ActivSlate presentation.
After the break we explored the "new" Bloom's Digital Taxonomy, both the restructuring as well as the verbs of the subcategories. Awhile back I found a version (which has been updated several times) by Kathy Schrock (see her Bloomin' Apps page) that I completely love! With CCPS middle schools moving to one-to-one technology with the introduction of Chromebooks, I look forward to utilizing new forms of technology that reach across the full taxonomy in my classroom next year. This flowed into a discussion on how to set up a unit plan that integrates technology into each stage, which will later be used for the final plan to be submitted at the end of the week. Part of this unit design was understanding what type of learners your students are and incorporating that into the plan. Technology can make this easier for the teacher as it can allow students to work within their comfort zones at times, even if that means it's outside of the teacher's comfort zone. I've found that through technology, students can very easily adapt the tech to suit their own needs with me working as a facilitator.
We ended the day with a bit more time to work in our groups on tomorrow's presentation as well as final reflections on the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment