How effective were your actions in helping you meet your goals? I've turned to a commonly known site, Brain Pop to help my 4th graders begin to understand digital citizenship and safety. This site offers easy to comprehend information in these areas and offers fun summarizing activities.
What have you learned so far that you can apply in your instructional practice? I'm still in the process of learning to take more time with having students practice using technology effectively than simply using it as a tool to search for unnecessary information. I desire for them to be aware that the Internet is a resource just like a magazine, an encyclopedia, a book, etc. Plus, that it can only be effective for instruction when utilized correctly. This will take some time as students practice digital citizenship activities before they can connect with students of other communities.
What do you still have to learn? What new questions have arisen? I still must learn rules and regulations regarding my students' Internet usage. I am at a place of concern as to what I can and cannot teach them when it comes to Internet products, and how they can legally access what they need to produce outcomes. Is there a site I can go to that explains this in layman's terms? Something I can print off and keep with my lesson plans?
How will you adjust your plan to fit your current needs? In adjusting the plan to fit current needs, I will begin with scaffolding the activities to fit students' learning needs. Not all of our students come to us with an understanding of what the Internet is and frequently they do not have it in their homes. Therefore, they require scaffolds to reach higher levels of understanding and performance than would be possible without them (Ertmer & Simons, 2006).
Ertmer, P., & Simons, K. (Spring 2006). Jumping the PBL implementation hurdle: Supporting the efforts of K-12 teachers. The Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning, 1(1), 40-54.
5 comments:
Angie,
I love that you are teaching your fourth graders to understand digital safety. The internet is a scary place to let such young students on because you do not want to expose them to things that they should not be seeing. I understand what you are saying about the usage for teh students. Our rules are laid out in our student handbooks so I know what I can and can not use for my students. i am not quite sure on where there would be a website explaining this.
Good luck!
Anna
I will have to check out Brain Pop since I am also teaching my students about digital citizenship. So far I have been having students engage in activities while they are in the computer lab. Students are also reflecting on their findings and sharing with others. I also struggle with time. For some reason I think students will fly right through something and they do not. Thankfully they do have time on computers each week which allows them to get more practice.
Is your internet usage something like a contract that the student and their parent must sign? Sometimes these types of agreement allow parent to pay attention at home a little more.
I use BrainPop often to introduce or summarize topics. I had not thought about using it to teach acceptable use and internet safety. I will certainly do that at the beginning of the new school year.
I call my students Google-addicts. They are so dependent on Google. It takes them so much more time to sift through Google search results, then if they had used a more appropriate site for gaining information, such as CultureGrams or Grolier.
I did have students and their parents sign a permission letter. My assistant principal suggested I do this. I have received most of them back with a "yes" to producting work from the Internet, but two have come back and the parents do not wish for their children to produce work from the Internet.
Post a Comment