In my Imagine IT project, I have conferred with my colleagues in language arts, math and technology. We discussed the need for students to transfer knowledge across curriculum and how one of the avenues that could be use is technology, manipulative and illustrations. Having a good foundation on the basics and then building on that knowledge to reach those high levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. We have come to a consensus that students are multi-modal leaners, they enjoy the use of technology and hands on activities and discourse therefore these are some keys ways that the information needs to be presented. In doing so students will be able to retain and transfer their learning. My conference with my technology coordinator was also helpful. We discussed that since technology is also new to myself that I reach out to a select group of students called the Tech Ninja, a Club that she established a couple of years ago. These students are really technology savvy and therefore feel very comfortable with the technology and trying new applications.
My focus group is our bilingual students I decided to select a heterogeneous group to see all three levels of learners. We are currently using the Chrome books in Language Arts and Math. Technology is being used researching academic terms in language art and math. The media we have been using have been through Disney videos to pop-culture songs and then through literature. Students have background knowledge and are able to see how these terms are used in everyday life and how authors use these skills in their writing or creation of their production. Students have been able to view videos, and images; this has shown to deepen their understanding and has allowed they to retain the information. For our kinesthetic leaners we have acted out word or concepts. During our Math time we have moved from Bell Ringers to Math Talks, student’s discourse has also proven to be a successful tool in the classroom. Students are sharing their strategies of problem solving and are able to identify their own errors and make corrections. Hands on activities are also being used in math. When dealing with fractions and multiplying and dividing fractions. There is significant improvement in their assessments and shows in their retention of words and concepts.
In the next few weeks we will be creating video on figurative language. Students are words in small group on a specific word and at the same time familiarizing using technology. As we showcase our work I am sure we will have more students coming more confortable with the technology. Some of the other apps are students are using in Google Chrome is Wordle and Tagut. I am planning to have some of the same idea to reiterate math skills and students will have their own resource to go to explain their thinking. The school also recently brought the ipivo pen to make our classroom more interactive, I am working with my tech coordinator to see how I can use this in the classroom in an effective and engaging manner to reach all of my students.
My focus group is our bilingual students I decided to select a heterogeneous group to see all three levels of learners. We are currently using the Chrome books in Language Arts and Math. Technology is being used researching academic terms in language art and math. The media we have been using have been through Disney videos to pop-culture songs and then through literature. Students have background knowledge and are able to see how these terms are used in everyday life and how authors use these skills in their writing or creation of their production. Students have been able to view videos, and images; this has shown to deepen their understanding and has allowed they to retain the information. For our kinesthetic leaners we have acted out word or concepts. During our Math time we have moved from Bell Ringers to Math Talks, student’s discourse has also proven to be a successful tool in the classroom. Students are sharing their strategies of problem solving and are able to identify their own errors and make corrections. Hands on activities are also being used in math. When dealing with fractions and multiplying and dividing fractions. There is significant improvement in their assessments and shows in their retention of words and concepts.
In the next few weeks we will be creating video on figurative language. Students are words in small group on a specific word and at the same time familiarizing using technology. As we showcase our work I am sure we will have more students coming more confortable with the technology. Some of the other apps are students are using in Google Chrome is Wordle and Tagut. I am planning to have some of the same idea to reiterate math skills and students will have their own resource to go to explain their thinking. The school also recently brought the ipivo pen to make our classroom more interactive, I am working with my tech coordinator to see how I can use this in the classroom in an effective and engaging manner to reach all of my students.