Integrating with Technology

Creating a Social Studies Unit for the 3rd grade this semester was a difficult task at first. I struggled with knowing how I would integrate all of the necessary resources into the ten lesson plans on community.  Working through each lesson individually and examining the North Carolina Standard Course of Study for Social Studies allowed me to think of new ideas using technology.

Having class time to work on the technology was a nice way for the class to ask questions and work together to think of new ways that incorporate the broad topic of technology specifically into lessons on community.

I enjoyed making my Animoto video on the fire and police departments for my lesson on the departments who save us, also, having my students use Class Press to blog their writing assignments was a smart technique I used in order to incorporate Social Studies, Language Arts, and Technology. Research says that
"Fortunately for social studies teachers, many aspects of study in the content areas lend themselves to technology integration. Whether it be researching and creating spreadsheets with data, generating graphs or charts, or creating Web scavenger hunts, ideas abound for using technology in your social studies class today. Using your standards as a guide, modify any of the following ideas to fit your curriculum goals" (Hersch, 2005).
The ways that I was able to help students learn through the integration of technology met the 21st Century Student information, media, and technology skills. "The students were able to exhibit a range of functional and criticial thinking skills" (Caroline, 2011).

Another source says, "This is just one example of preparing social studies teachers to use technology appropriately. We offer the following five principles as guides for the appropriate infusion of technology in social studies teacher preparation programs.

• Extend learning beyond what could be done without technology.
• Introduce technology in context.
• Include opportunities for students to study relationships among science, technology, and society.
• Foster the development of the skills, knowledge, and participation as good citizens in a democratic society.
• Contribute to the research and evaluation of social studies and technology. "

(Mason, 2000)

In conclusion, I dealt with a few "road blocks" as I was incorporating technology into my unit, like at what point to use the technology during the lesson; but for the most part I enjoyed creating examples for my students to use in the lessons. But, on the positive because of my experience with integrating technology into the curriculum for the past three years I think that I will use technology in my future classroom as often as possible. With this being said I will need to always have a "plan B" in case a piece of technology does not work or something goes wrong, but at least always trying to incorporate the use technology will allow the students to be 21st century ready.

References
Caroline, C. (2011). The partnership for 21st century learning. Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/ 


Hersch, S. (2005). Integrating technology in the social studies class. Retrieved from http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/subject/integrating_tech_ss.phtml

Mason, C. (2000). Cite journal article. Retrieved from http://www.citejournal.org/vol1/iss1/currentissues/socialstudies/article1.htm

PBS Teachers

The World Wide Web provides an endless amount of resources for anyone and everyone. When thinking about the teaching world: blogs, freebies, cutouts, and lesson plans are just a few online sources for teachers. Instead of going from web page to web page,  pbs.org/teachers allows teacher to sign up free of charge and have endless resources all within one site.

After signing up, the site can be a lot to handle, a recommendation would be sorting through it all based on the grade level that you teach. For example, a third grade teacher would click on the 3-5 category. After doing so, navigate based on the subject area of interest. A Social Studies lesson, could be found best by looking under the Social Studies subject area. This page automatically brings up 75 different pages to choose from (not to mention how many lesson ideas are on each page)! Next, filter resources again by choosing the topic, media type, and PBS program. Lesson plans are available for so many different sub subject under Social Studies and there are mulitiple different sources available.

Another aspect that PBS offers is a PBS Kids in the Classroom page. The site says, "Many producers create educational materials to help teachers reinforce the learning goals of PBS KIDS programming. For each of the on-air or Web-original series below, teachers can find information on the educational philosophy of the series, episode descriptions and related online content, and classroom activities or lesson plans to help extend the learning of PBS KIDS programming in the classroom." Clearly this is a wonderful resource for students to use! Off of this page there are many other sites for students to also check out!

The PBS Teachers Blogs page allows teachers to go on and discuss with others different topics of their choice. Along with this, a professional development page is also available.

PBS Teachers LIVE! is a great way to watch different recordings and audio pertaining to things of interest for teachers. The webinar calendar is also displayed for future viewings.

In conclusion, resources are available to teachers for everyting inside of the classroom! Be creative by using ideas and materials that will help you with your grade level, subject area, or specific lesson. As teachers we are working together to create a future for students today. Get involved and get online! Visit http://www.pbs.org/teachers/ today!

Fun with Pixton!

This was my first Pixton experience, and let me tell you...it was actually fun! I have been working with technology for quite some time now, but I have never really enjoyed it or found it fun- until I met Pixton. The site allows you to create comic strips (and they even have a school version)- the comics can be 100% handmade or you can use templates/backgrounds/characters/props all from the site.
For my specific comic I created it for my third grade class and it is on helping your community. I also made a secondary comic for the students to finish and to also find ways to help the community using their own creativity. I think that my students will actually really enjoy this because it combines many interactive ideas- from color to characters to pictures and even more!
I would highly recommend someone who is interested in teaching a unique lesson in a fun way to make a Pixton comic! It is even easy for beginners or new users because there are tutorials and how-to's.

Formative Assessment at it's Finest

End of grade tests, quizzes, assignments, homework, midterms; these are many of the different types of assessments used for students- but what is the difference between them all? Some are long, others short, but they all produce stress for the teacher and student. Introducing a new term, formative assessment, is something that teachers would rather prefer to use than those horrible things called tests. Assessing with a formative approach allows the teacher to provide feedback throughout the unit being taught in a variety of different ways. Whether they are answering a question, writing a journal response or even observing the student at work, assessments are being done. 

Two different types of Assessment

Summative assessment is commonly referred to as assessment of learning, in which the focus is on determining what the student has learned at the end of a unit of instruction or at the end of a grade level (e.g., through grade-level, standardized assessments) (Johnson and Jenkins).

 Formative assessment can be most directly used at the individual student level because it measures how a particular student is progressing in the instructional program and identifies where support may be needed. The focus on individual students provides immediate feedback on their progress within the curriculum. Formative assessment may also be evaluated at the classroom level to inform teaching practices because it reveals how many students may be experiencing difficulty (Johnson and Jenkins). 

Assessment can be done on any grade. When looking at specific grade levels, teachers have to assess differently depending on their class. Each student is different and requires different things. Whether you are using different methods or just different lengths of assessment- make it special for each class/student. 

Black and William suggest ways for teachers to use formative assessment within their classroom:

• Invite students to discuss their thinking about a question or topic in pairs or small groups, then ask a representative to share the thinking with the larger group (sometimes called think-pair-share).

• Present several possible answers to a question, then ask students to vote on them.

• Ask all students to write down an answer, then read a selected few out loud. Teachers might also assess students' understanding in the following ways:
• Have students write their understanding of vocabulary or concepts before and after instruction.

• Ask students to summarize the main ideas they've taken away from a lecture, discussion, or assigned reading.

• Have students complete a few problems or questions at the end of instruction and check answers.

• Interview students individually or in groups about their thinking as they solve problems.

• Assign brief, in-class writing assignments (e.g., "Why is this person or event representative of this time period in history?) 

Specifically this semester I am interning with a third grade class, and I plan to use formative assessment as often as possible. But I am going to be completely honest, I did not know a whole lot about formative assessment prior to this blog. Fortunately, I have been able to talk with colleagues and teachers to learn and find new ways to assess my students during units and lessons. For example with my unit on communities this semester, I love the idea of having the students make graphic organizers to discuss what they know or what they learned from a lesson. Another idea, using the ticket out the door approach. This makes sure that every student turns something in, and it is a quick and easy way to check for understanding that day. Now that I am knowledgable about ways to use formative assessment, I feel more prepared and confident in actually incorporating it into my everyday lessons.

 

References: 

Black, P. and Wiliam, D. (1998b). Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment. Phi Delta Kappan, 80 (2): 139-148. (Available online: http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/kbla9810.htm.) 

Johnson, E., & Jenkins, J. Formative and summative assessment [Web log message].

Retrieved from http://www.education.com/reference/article/formative-and-summative-assessment/