"Can we do must-do's and may-do's please?!" is a question I get almost everyday with the start of reading. This school year, I have been giving my 4th graders more options in their learning. Student agency has made a good connection to the learning of new technology tools. I still remember the day I demonstrated how to do a presentation using google slides. I was running around like a chicken with it's head cut off helping kids here and there. Then little by little they started learning new features on their own, pretty soon they became more and more comfortable with the program and then they were helping each other. It would only take me to show one students, and then that students would show another, and pretty soon, they were all 21st century collaborators. Seeing them work like this, makes me feel like a million dollars. About a month ago, I introduced "Story Bird" because a group of girls were writing a little comic book about a cherry guy? I went online to see what I could find that my students could use to write their own comic books or stories. When I introduced "story bird" they did not seem into it at all. It was really frustrating because kids had to go and make up a user name and password, and I thought I need to continue looking for something else. then a few days later, two students, Raul and Brianna, came up to me and said "We have created a story, could we share it with the class?" As soon as my students saw the power of "story bird", they all wanted to create their own. Now many of my students have gone out to other classrooms and have narrated the stories they have created and love sharing with other students. This fever of excitement has now spread to two other classrooms! I think the next step will be that my students record their stories using screen cast o matic or flip grid.
so this takes me to my new adventure... I was talking with my 4th grade partner and told her I was thinking of having students create learning digital portfolios and possibly have them ready for open house. Doing a little research I learned of many platforms out there that my kids could use, but I think for the purpose of privacy, I am just going to have them save everything under their google suite. I am so excited because the possibilities are endless!!! I can almost see them creating timelines or story mapping using Popplet. Maybe doing book review on novels we've read using Canva or other creative platforms! Like I said, the possibilities are endless, I can't wait to see where this takes us. I
3 Comments
Kayla Bryant
4/2/2018 03:02:31 pm
This is so awesome Tere! I love the stories of your students taking an idea and running with it. It's exciting how quickly new ideas can spread throughout a class and school when kids or teachers are excited about them. That's also really great that the use of student agency in your classroom has changed the way you teach and the way your students learn. What a great opportunity for them to be able to reach each other what they learn and discover.
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Amanda Olson
4/2/2018 09:02:46 pm
Everything you have already implemented and are looking to implement is so exciting and innovative, and I truly cannot wait to hear about the benefits it will have on the student learning taking place in your classroom. I think it is so great that you are allowing for more student choice in the classroom, and all of these digital platforms are such great vehicles for doing so. What types of things will your students store in their digital portfolios? Will it be all free choice items? I'm wondering if you could use some of what we learned about creating digital presentations in our Baggio reading to create student rubrics for their Storyboard/other digital formats presentations. They could use these rubrics while creating/editing their own Storybirds, as well as, while viewing their peers Storybird creations during an editing process.
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Diana Olguin
4/3/2018 08:46:17 pm
I am so proud of your many accomplishments with the implementation of technology. Your students are fortunate to have such a cool teacher, who exposes them to creative technology to express themselves. What is the best part of your students stories?
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