Reflection on Module #5

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Crafting, building and learning about my Digital Identity has been an overwhelming process!  The picture above is basically clipart of me!  As I am finishing up my second semester of coursework I have a lot of emotions.  I have learned so much!  I was so happy when (I think) I was able to post my unit plan to Digital Text and Tools site which was a first.  When I did it over the summer it was a bit of a disaster but this time I was much more comfortable with Google Docs so it made it a bit easier.

My Blog is still a work in progress. I spent a lot of time checking the formatting and adding Creative Commons licensing to each post as well as giving credit to various pictures that I included in my blog.  Overall though I am happy with my blog.

My Learning Hub (click the link) is more than a work in progress!  I tried known, Google Sites, and now it's Wix.  Thanks to Laurie, I'm trying out the Wix thing.  I worked with known and Google Sites over the past sixteen weeks with no luck.  I'm going to spend the next month that I have "off" to try to really brush it up.  I'm hoping what everyone says about it never really being done is true!

So my Digital Identity is changing, I'm like a middle schooler right now.  Not totally sure where I fit in but hoping to find my Digital self soon.

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Welcome to Room 115!- Final Unit Plan and Reflection

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Welcome to Room 115!

This is the first time I'm publicly posting my Unit Plan and to be honest I'm a bit nervous.  I have looked everything over and over again this entire semester and I want to make sure I included everything.  There are five lessons total, using both PebbleGo! and Easy Blogger Jr. I adjusted some of the lessons and added an additional lesson because of my other course work.  I also included my reflections on each lesson and I put a copy of each of response sheets that my students used.  I also (think) I posted this to the Digital Text and Tools website.

Unit Plan with Reflections on Each Lesson

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What Path Should We Take Now? Readings Response

“Historically, there has always been a close relationship between literacy, technology, and literacy instruction.” (Karchmer, 2001).  The world has been changed with this relationship.  It’s such a powerful relationship as educators we don’t always see the divide anymore.  This past semester with both classes I have had the chance to analyze that relationship.  During each module I created a lesson that highlighted that specific areas, Online Collaborative Inquiry, Online Reading Comprehension, Online Content Construction, Digital Identity, and the Path Moving Forward for my students.  Each lesson has technology woven into it one way or another and my students loved it. 

My classroom is their first real exposure to school and I try to provide a safe, fun, learning environment for my students.  As soon as someone enters my classroom they can see that close relationship between literacy, technology, and literacy instruction. 

My classroom library is busting at the seams!  I’m lucky enough to have had a lot of books donated to my classroom and I have a small “problem” buying new books for my students to enjoy.  I organized everything by categories, the Froggy series, Popular Characters, books about Transportation, reading levels, etc.  I want my students to be fully immersed in great books that unlock their imagination and really get them to think. 

Of course any visitor to my classroom can also see how much technology surrounds my classroom.  First thing my students do in the morning is choose their lunch (they have FIVE choices) using the smart board.  Then through out the day students and myself are interactively using the smart board, not as giant whiteboard as with lunch count but instead as an interactive learning tool.  It’s much more than a giant screen on the wall it is part of their learning.  I get such joy when my students use it and their parents are amazed.  Parents want to know how students know how to use all of the technology in our classroom and all of the things students can do.  It’s always showing dice addition on the smart board to classroom visitors that gets people excited, I always say, “Next stop Mohegan Sun!”

Literacy instruction is the ENTIRE day in Kindergarten.  I am constantly trying to expose my students to anything literacy related.  Concepts of Print, matching upper and lower case letters, practicing letter formation with our phonics program, learning sight words, and learning to read.  All day, every day that is what I am immersing my students in literacy instruction and the best part of it is they see it as fun learning and don’t realize it’s learning!

So yes, Rachel Karchmer, there is there close relationship between, literacy, technology, and literacy instruction and it’s AMAZING to watch in my classroom everyday!

Harrison then talks about the different ways Karchmer approached her findings.  Harrison highlighted the piece about Cindy’s district limiting their internet searching (Harrison, 2008).  My district just gave us access at YouTube this past year after blocking it for years and it has opened so many doors.  Students continue to have limited searching, which I have discovered is a good thing.  Sometimes my students don’t know what they are typing and clicking on and it’s good to be blocked for some things.  But for teachers we are above to show students interesting videos about the life cycle of the butterfly, Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and much more.  As Karchmer and Harrison said teachers need to grow with all of the changing in technology and be willing to develop to give students the chance to learn a world beyond their own.

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Module #5- Digital Identity- Week #2 Reading Responses

I found Lam’s article about ESOL students to be interesting since I have had many students in the EL program.  In my classroom this year students are “serviced” two times per week.  They receive pull out instruction and work in a small group with other Kindergarten students.  Over my past nine years of teaching I have NO IDEA what goes on in those groups. 

This year students are bringing home books in their native language in hopes that their parent will feel comfortable reading with them.  I think it is a good way to bring our non-English parents because I have found them to be intimidated when they try to talk to me.  I took Latin in high school and besides the SATs it’s not something I use everyday.  My dad who is 70 tried to take an introduction to Spanish at the local night school but there was no interest instead he is starting the Rosetta Stone program.  I’m thinking that when he is done that I might need to borrow it.

As I read the Lam article I had my experience with EL students, my experience with their parents, my life experience and other peoples experiences in my head.  The part I found to be most interesting was Kress’s (2000) concept of design, which refers to the transformative use of available representational resources in the production of new Meaning (Lam, 2008).  The article highlights that there is a complex nature of articulating one’s voice through multiple modalities especially for ESOL students (Lam, 2008), I couldn’t agree with Lam more.  Instead of just ESOL students I think that goes for all people.  Each person has different varying backgrounds especially using different forms of technology.  As teachers and learners we need to remember that…sometimes it can be tricky though!

When I was reading Lewis and Fabos article about Instant Messaging I thought how it was the original text messaging for me when I was in college!  You couldn’t walk down a dorm hallway without that “bing!” for all to hear.  I thought I was crafty when I changed mine to the cash register sound so I wouldn’t confuse mine with the roommates.  Those were the days!  I’m glad that no one was data analyzed my instant messages.

The part I found most interesting was Sam saying that instant messaging wasn’t technology it was just normal (Lewis and Fabos, 2005).  That statement can be used for many pieces of technology!  This past week my elementary school celebrated their “60^th Birthday” with a party of sorts.  Current students and their families were invited past and present teachers and other people from the community.  My mom taught at my elementary school so my friends and I decided to represent the class of 1993.  It was so strange to walk into that gym that I had many a gym class, talent show, assembly, summer camp and see a laptop projecting a slideshow of the past sixty years.  I saw my fifth grade teacher who was always into the latest and greatest technology in the early nineties.  I remember sitting in her classroom and having her project the Apple IIe onto the board.  It was so cool!  Little did I know twenty years later I would be in a classroom teaching with a smart board, four desktop computers, six iPads, Wi-Fi, a document camera, INTERNET and so much more!  That is the “new technology” that is normal for my students and becoming my new normal.  What’s going to happen in the next twenty years!?!

Donna Alvermann reviewed the Lewis and Fabos with a lot of positive statements.  She really gave them a lot of credit for exploring the territory of technology as well providing positive feedback.  As a teacher and an educator I think those are two pretty important things.

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Module #5- Week #1 Reading Responses

I LOVE Popular Culture!  It’s one of my most favorite things!  I know the most random facts about things going on.  My friends don’t like playing Pop Culture Trivial Pursuit because I always win (not to toot my own horn)!  Because of my love of Pop Culture I loved reading Margaret Hagood’s piece about “Intersections of Popular Culture, Identities, and New Literacies Research”.

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What I found to be the most interesting is the split between the in-school and out-of-school literacies.  Like most things in education there is no one school of thought regarding this subject.  Some teachers observe the split continue to split it and others see the split and try to blend it.  I’m all for blending it.  A small example is I have a popular characters section in my classroom library.  There are books there on Mickey Mouse, Frozen, Dora, and Spiderman to name a few.  My kids love those books because it is something familiar to them.  Of course those aren’t the only books they read but I have found especially with my reluctant readers giving them that chance to read about something they like encourages them to read more.

“Popular culture is a reality of literacy in the 21st century” (Hagood, 2008) and it will continue to grow and morph into something else.  We as educators should try to embrace it just a little or in my case a lot!

James Gee’s video brings up the debate about testing.  I never really thought about his example before, kids that complete the “Halo” video don’t need to complete a test after “winning” instead they simply have already shown how to complete the various levels.  As teachers we are constantly assessing.  I first give students a pre test to see how to group students based on needs, then every four days I test my students using “dips” during various units, and finally I give them a post test to see what they have learned.  It’s exhausting for them and for me.  I never thought about using the dips as the assessment and maybe add those together for the posttest grade.   Gee says that we are afraid to move away from the constant assessing as students.  I think it’s not that we are afraid but instead we are looking for someone to blame.

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I'm officially an avatar!!!

I am not an artistic person by any means!  Because of that, the idea of creating an avatar representing me seemed far-fetched.  Tina suggested that we do something thing fun for our final module and I loved her idea of everyone creating an avatar.  By everyone I thought everyone but me!  To be fair I had created an avatar many years ago when I first started using my Wii and my “Anne Marie Avatar” looked nothing like me but I thought I should give it one more shot.

I used DoppelMe and I found it pretty easy to use.  My avatar includes my long hair, big smile, pink shirt and green skirt (my favorite summer outfit), flip-flops for shoes and the beach as my background.  I’m sure my avatar could be tweaked to look more like me but for my first time I thought it was good.

I’m on the fence about including it in my digital learning hub.  My digital learning hub is certainly a work in progress so maybe I should add my avatar holding a “Construction Zone” sign as I am begin it to edit and clean up my digital learning hub for the world to see.  I want my digital learning hub and avatar to represent me in a fun way!  Having fun is my middle name…now onto “cleaning” that digital learning hub.

image created using http://doppelme.com

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