Wrap up module 9

I have grown in my knowledge of using new tools for my classroom, and plan to share this information with my colleagues. As I went through the class, I bookmarked many of the important websites, but feel that I need to go back through the information and do this again.  I know there were many websites that you can use in your classroom and I was not able to look in detail at all of them.  This is a good setup where you learn a lot from the other teachers taking the class and see what they are using and what has worked for them.    

Technology and the way we teach is always changing so we need to be taking classes like this to help us keep up with the changing times and technology.  I’m so happy this is a free class.  We as teachers don’t make the money that some other professions do, so when I saw this was free, I told myself this was a class that I was taking.  The best part is that it turned out to be very worthwhile.  I feel that if anyone has been out of school for a while, this is a very good class for them to take to learn new ideas and get informed about our changing technology.   

I will be attempting to flip my classroom this next year.  I know it will be a lot of work, but I also see the benefit of having more time to work with my students.  I also want to teach them how to make a symbaloo.  Since I teach sixth graders, I can see how this could benefit them for the rest of their school career.   

Module 8, "Digital Citizenship"

When I googled my name, I found that it is a very popular name and it is found all over the country.  I feel that you would need to know a little more about me,  before you could figure out which Kathy Minnick I am.  I have a facebook account, which I mainly use to see what everyone else is doing.  I have posted family pictures and upcoming events (my first one a couple weeks ago).  I’ve always been a little leery about posting things and feel that most people don’t want to know what I made for dinner.  Plus, my husband and I both work with the public, so we try to be very discreet.  

I’m going to have to figure out how to make myself more noticeable, yet in a positive way.  I will have to make sure the students understand what they post, should be positive.

Symbaloo - A collection of links around a specific subject.

Since computers have become so important in our classrooms, we need to make sure we are using them to the best of our ability.  We as teachers need to teach our students how to keep data organized.  One of the ways that I have learned through this class is to use Symbaloo.  Symbaloo is a collection of links around a specific subject.  It basically takes our favorites and puts them all in one place.  

The nice thing about Symbaloo is that you can create as many of them as you need.  You may have one on cell research, math or language information, or one on your favorite stories.  It is a perfect way to keep your data organized.   I would also suggest that you make it your homepage, this would insure that you always have your data close by.  

I would suggest to Susie at the beginning of the year to make a separate symbaloo for each of her subjects.  This would give her the ability to store her favorites, at any time, in any subject.  If she would have a specific unit she was working on, she could also make another symbaloo to go along with that unit.    

Motivation using autonomy, mastery and purpose

Autonomy, mastery, and purpose…

I feel that our chromebooks have helped with autonomy, mastery and purpose this past year.  With my math class the students work at their own pace at getting their homework done.  My students have learned to ask me or another student for help if they need it.  This helps with the mastery of a skill that is being taught.  The students want to finish their assignment so that they can move on to other homework, read or get on their chromebooks.  Of course they know if it is the chromebook it is only certain math websites that I let them go too.  Our chromebooks have helped me, without the students really realizing it,  that I am having them learn more about math.  This I believe has hit on all three... autonomy, mastery and purpose.

Foundations

I feel that for the first four levels of the tim (active, collaborative, constructive and authentic) I fall into the adoption level.  In the goal directed level I am only at the entry level.  I feel that one of the reasons I fall here is because of the technology that is provided for our school.  If you don’t have very much technology, it is hard to get into some of the other levels.

I would like to be at the adaptation level at the end of the next grading period.  I will need to learn to facilitate students in exploring and independently using technology tools.  I have a program that I am going to use next week.  It was available through one of our banks. The students will work real life scenarios online at their own pace.  If this works out for me, I will be looking for more items like this for my students.  I as a teacher, will have to do more research during the summer and make myself more familiar with the technology I have.   

Moving Mindsets

How could you adapt or change one of your current class/course policies to reflect a moving mindset? Is this a change you are willing to make? Why or Why not?

This is our first year of having 1:1 in the classroom.  Yes, I am in the group of teachers that are older and feel a little out of my comfort zone.  I on the other hand am always wanting to learn new things, so I went to the extra classes they offered this past summer to learn our new chromes.  It has been a learning curve, but I have learned how to use them with my classes.  I feel I have learned a lot and continue to learn and revamp my classes.  Since I teach at the 6th grade level, I would want to start the year out with the video Engaging Digital Natives.  I like how Jason Roseberry tells us that we need to teach the students how to use the devices properly and not like a toy.  We also want them to make the right decisions when posting online.  I like how he shows his post about Purdue.  This happened a long time ago, but now he worries about this post when he goes for a job interview.  He says, “We should make it a goal that the students google well by the time they get out of school.”  My husband and I have always told our children to be careful about what you put online.  

This goes along with the, “Are you down with or done with homework.”  Since I have been teaching for many years, I feel I never teach exactly the same way each year.  This is because everything is always changing and we as teachers need to adapt to these changes.  I’m also always looking for new ideas or things to add to my curriculum.   This is where I feel that I have changed with the amount of homework that I assign each night.  Over the years I started out giving a lot of homework to now giving a smaller portion.  After Christmas this year, I even started giving only the evens on a worksheet, and if they did poorly on the worksheet, I could reteach the assignment and then assign the odds to do.  This gives the students another chance to learn the content and do better on the assignment.    

The “No-Zero Policy: Students Don’t See Zeroes The Same Way Adults Do.”  This has me really rethinking how a zero really does look to some students.  To me it has always been about teaching responsibility.  Since I am not at the elementary, we give one grade for each subject taught.  I do not give a grade for behavior.  I do see how the zero could be a behavior grade, but I also see a correlation between the information learned by a student that does homework and does not get a zero to one that does not do their homework and gets a zero.  You can’t learn if you don’t apply yourself.  I guess, I should not say that, because I have a student that has not completed a few assignments and still has a decent grade.  This is because he finds math easy.  I just worry that someday, that easy is going to turn into hard, and is he going to know how to study when that day comes?

This has been a very interesting module to learn from.  I see how each of the explore modules has me thinking in a different way about the different ideas presented.  We are never to old to learn something new or look at something a little differently.

Module 1, Introduction

I fall between emerging and evolving.  I feel I know some of what is going on but part of it I don't.  Sad to say, but I had to ask a fellow colleague how to set up my blog.  At least I know how my students feel when they don't know how to do something.

I answered the questions to the best of my ability.  I felt like what I wrote about, I had a lot of responses to them.
I would say I'm weak in the collaboration with fellow learners.  Again, time is a factor when it comes to responding to what everyone has to say.