This week has been eye opening as I review and edit the work on my UbD. I realize after getting feedback, that many of my ideas fell flat-- so I was happy to resubmit in hopes of meeting all requirements.
One area I didn’t realize that I was completely misunderstanding was the reflection component and clarity. I was so focused on creating a unit that tied in cultural connections to a geography standard that having students self assessed got lost. Additionally, I had to revamp my technology component to make it more meaningful and impacting. The idea I had to take photos of it and use that as a self assessment didn’t quite get students experiencing the creation aspect of using a digital tool. Bubblr and Slidestory give students a better opportunity to create a meaningful product and self assess at the same time! This second submission is definitely a much more well-rounded unit.
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Week 8 Reflection This week was helpful in many ways. I was able to analyze and dissect the various ways I use visual literacy in my teaching. More importantly, I was able to see the areas I struggle and the lack of experience I have with teaching visual literacy. I looked at this week's question from a more "digital" lens, and realize that traditional methods are equally (if not more) important. This meant reading other people's blog helped immensely. Catherine has a lot of experience and was able to remind me that analyzing visual literacy in text is such a great tool and one that I could do with my 2nd graders. Ashley reminded me the importance of TPR in visual literacy. Instead of just looking and analyzing literature, we can go to the extent of acting it out-- total physical response. This is especially important in ELL learners. I am surprised I did not read more about this area this week, but let us not forget how crucial visual literacy is for those who are learning English. Lastly, I really took a useful tool away from reading Joni's blog. She talked about reading through drawing as a means of comprehension, and I would love to try this with my second graders. It is a great method of formative assessment, observation, comprehension, and retention!
Visual literacy and the direction it is headed definitely excites me! I immediately think of VR and traversing through the world right in the classroom. I see apps like Aurasma that help bring art to life. However, reading the article, Visual Literacy, highlights the importance of educating our students on visual literacy. The article was a great reminder to teach our students to critically and thoughtfully question and analyze the things they see. As we put our students into the World of technology, we also need to teach them that sometimes, things aren’t real or require more deciphering. A great example of this was the photo of the shark about to bite a man hanging from a helicopter ladder. The truth of this photo came out days after it had been virally spread. It was photoshopped together, and tracing it back to its rightful owner was nearly impossible. It was an intentional lesson about believing what we see, copyright, and manipulating reality (Gray, 2012). An augmented reality program that has really caught my interested and I have hopes to integrate it this year is Aurasma. It is, “one of the most popular and cutting-edge technologies being used in schools around the world today. Enabling teachers to connect digital content such as video to images in books and classroom walls, Aurasma offers a uniquely inventive, fun, and holistic way of engaging students of all ages (Aursma.com).” Aurasma has been known to make learning more transformative and engaging. It is taking simple to complicated concepts from math, social studies, language arts, and other subjects and turning them into enticing creations (Brown, 2015). Augmented reality seems futuristic even though it has been here for a few years now. The likelihood of it going away is unlikely, which gives me even more of a reason to become familiar with it now. Mind mapping is an advanced idea/tool for 2nd grade students. I have tried a few apps but I felt it was more of a waste of time than meaningful. For this age, I really believe paper and pen is the best way for them to understand concepts and mapping. The tangible and easy tools makes it a little more practical and not so distant.
There were a few good suggestions like Mind Mup which is one I will try. However, not having enough ipads/tablets for each students definitely makes this instructional practice much more difficult. How can the cognitive mapping tools presented provide a means for students to demonstrate their own thought constructs? How can you be sure students are actively demonstrating their own meaning and not simply demonstrating constructs you've taught them? This seems to be my weakest area and thinking critically about it renders little excitement. I realize that giving my 2nd grade students mapping tools and making sure they are producing their own thoughts can get pushed to the side. I encourage my students to think critically and develop their own ideas, but this can be the ultimate challenge when there are so many other social and emotional areas that need attention.
Concept vs. Mind Maps article defined the differences between the two mapping tools. Concept mapping takes a broad topic and breaks it into more specific ideas. Mind mapping feels more like a web where many ideas connect directly to the central topic (Frey, 2016). The majority of mapping that I do with my students at this point in the semester is creating graphic organizers for our writing. This helps identify the main idea and supporting details. My students have also done mind mapping during their Genius Hour exploration. They developed one idea and then asked questions in a mind map based on their main idea. After looking at the suggested mind and concept mapping tools, I realized that this area of education is quite profitable! I looked into Mind Meister and Inspiration and quickly realized these were paid for tools. Soon after I found many free apps and websites that would work great with any age. Popplet, iBrainstorm, and Corkulus were a few suggestions provided by Teachthought.com However, these still didn’t meet my needs and expectations. Further research on digital concept mapping tools proved that 2nd grade students may need to do visual mapping using old fashioned pen and paper. The best tools for the age I teach would be Popplet, which is more user-friendly. I liked that this app allowed for students to draw right on their mind map (Bittman, 2014). Sources: Bittman, E. 2014. Popplet Mind Mapping Tech Tool. Retrieved from https://www.weareteachers.com/popplet-mind-mapping-tech-tool/ Frey, C. 2016. Concept Maps vs. Mind Maps. Retrieved from http://mindmappingsoftwareblog.com/concept-maps-vs-mind-maps/ Teach Thought Staff. 2013. 25 Top Concept-mapping Tools for Learning. Retrieved from https://www.teachthought.com/technology/25-top-concept-mapping-tools-for-visual-learning/ This part of the UbD process is always a challenge, but certainly THE most helpful. Creating an assignment by working backwards is very time consuming, but the most productive way to make sure your assignment guides students towards the end goal.
The assessment piece really does guide the rest of the lesson/unit so it makes complete sense to focus on the performance assessment before anything else. Looking back on my performance assessment I would also add documenting work as a part of the assessment process. I want students to document their process by showing a beginning, middle, and end stage. However, this can be time consuming for both the students and I, but I think it would result in a more well-rounded and meaningful project.
I found this week’s twitter chat very helpful, perhaps because I hosted it. Below you can find the transcript of the chat:
Ashley’s blog was great to read because of her unique location in Alaska. She wrote that “A lot of my students (Alaska Natives) don't understand that there are other villages out there. So this was an eye opening experience for them.” This is the great part of a statewide online course in education because we all get to share similar, yet different experiences depending on our location in the state.
As far as technology, many of us are familiar and comfortable with Google services such as G-suite or classroom. Casey mentioned her success with Google. She also discussed global technology, which is something I am surprised most schools have not adopted yet with all of the technology, but I do agree that it seems like a great way to bring the world to your classroom. The amount of teachers who are comfortable and use Google just reaffirms my prediction that Google will outlast many other competitors and products. |
Author2nd Grade teacher at Keet Gooshi Heen in Sitka, Alaska Archives
December 2017
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