Mini Lesson Portal

Kidblog

Mini-Lesson Preview

Source:  Teaching Inquiry and Wordle

This course has been filled with many ideas and concepts that are fairly new to my current teaching practices.  This week’s blog post will give me a bird’s eye view of how I will approach inquiry and fluency not only in my upcoming mini-lesson but also into my current teaching practices.

Authenticity—assigning coursework that gives them to opportunity to take ownership. Creating authentic, real world assignments almost immediately engage the students. Assignments should be tailored to foster the dynamic of the classroom while teaching to the standards.

Deep understanding-contrary to popular belief, students like to learn. They like to be challenged but they don’t like to be set up to fail. They want rigor and a deep understanding but step by step.

Performances of understanding-this relates to the article by Tina Barseghian-we have to allow for failure so that we can determine if students are understanding content. In my mini-lesson, I will use guided practices to ensure that students are understanding.

Assessment- in my mini lesson I will tailor my assessment in a rotation that will include both graded and practice assessments so that I will have the opportunity to revise my teaching strategies.

Appropriate use of technology- since the implementation of BYOD-bring your own device-our school district has done a fair job blocking inappropriate websites.  But we all know that kids are so advance when it comes to technology. I will allow BYOD only an individual basis since I have a computer lab. I will use technology to enhance the instructional assignment. For example, if I’m teaching MS Excel, I may have the students to research a Forbes 500 company.

Connecting with experts-I will have students to research a person who is currently working in the career they want to pursue. I could have them to FaceTime that person while they are working and perhaps get a virtual tour of their work.

Student success  is measured in many ways. Most teachers view student success by test scores but I will also measure student success by their overall development and attitude toward learning and the process of learning.

Ethical citizenship-This is a great lesson to incorporate because it’s something that goes with the students even when the grades are no longer an issue. I will incorporate a lesson on plagiarism and copyright to teach ethical citizenship.

 

Reflection of Learning Goals

Learning Goals 

Source: What's your mindset?

1.      Understand how information fluency has evolved in the 21^st Century classroom.

2.      Identify best practices for information processing and fluency.

3.      What role does social media plays in a students’ ability to process and understand digital information.

4.      How is accountability established among social media and information fluency?

As I watched The Power of Belief-mindset and success by Eduardo Briceno, I began to do a self-evaluation of the two types of mindsets: fixed and growth. As a teacher, I tend to more of a traditional style of teaching but because I’ve always taught computer-based programs, I am very comfortable with technology. Although my style of teaching may have been fixed, I think am true to myself in saying that I have a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset. I’ve always incorporated progressive technology into my traditional lessons. The difference is that I have to basically switch and now incorporate traditional components in to the world of digital communication in order to reach the level of digital fluency.  Although I am very comfortable with the shift, having the proper training and resources is a major component in achieving digital fluency.

The internet is identified in the research study “Digital Fluency: towards young people’s critical use of the internet,” as the fasting growing resource for obtaining information. This is why digital fluency is so very important. At this point in the course, I see how important it that I always give a mini-lesson on plagiarism to clearly express my expectations when given research-based assignments. This study also addresses the concerns that I stated in my learning goals regarding accountability.

Developing lesson plans involve many elements with essential questions being a key component. I’ve been using essential questions for several years now but over the years I’ve improved in how I design my essential question. But in the world of digital fluency, I now have to make another adjustment in my design. When I first started to incorporate essential questions into my lesson plan, I used close-ended questions related specifically to new vocabulary associated with the lesson. I later learned that the questions should require students to think, process and generate dialogue. Ok, got it! Well, according to User Generated Education blog, students should be developing their own essential questions. As stated, “questioning comes naturally for children and seems to have become a lost art and skill as people age.” I can begin incorporating this strategy by allowing the students to restate the essential question and put it in their own words or allow them to use prior knowledge of new vocabulary or lesson content for formulate essential questions.

Although I feel as though I've learned a lot amount about digital fluency since module#1 of this course, I know that there’s much more to learn regarding the application of digital fluency and how to apply it to different grade levels and content disciplines.

Google Image

Letting Go! 
Source:  Are you ready to "Let go?"

When I think of letting go, I think of the days I coached middle school cheerleaders. Every game was like a performance and if the athletes didn't perform as we practiced, they new that I was not happy. I can relate to the reading as a teacher and as a former coach. When you have prepared students for a performance, we have to let them know that we have confidence in both what we've taught as well as what they've learned and that we are confident that they will perform. 

I also experienced "letting go" this school year when I assigned a Socratic Seminar to my high school computer applications students. The topic was somewhat controversial. The assignment was to  write a letter to city leaders and express the pros and cons of teen clubs. I was really nervous about the assignment but I knew it was a good opporturnity for the students to think and to process a given topic. The assignment was actually a culminating project to previously completed coursework.  The students submitted a letter in addition to presenting their cases in class. The presentations were awesome! They were well presented with research and documentation to support their opinions. In order to get these results, I had to let go. Letting go is not comfortable, not always easy to do but the results can be amazing! #DFACOMAPS #GOTITIANS

Reflective Searching

Source: Galileo Tutorial

To a certain degree, researching comes fairly easy for me. I've been guiding middle school students through research for the past few years. However, sometimes researching can be challenging when you don't get the desired results on the first search attempt.  I usually begin searching using a keyword on the given topic. If I don't get the desired results, I then use prior information on the topic to either use another keyword search or short phrase. I uses google images on a regular basis to help my four-year-old daughter with her homework. However, it was interesting to learn that you can upload an image of a piece of art into google and do a search for the artist. I am definitely a part of the google generation. I've found that Google gives "cleaner" results; no extra ads, unrelated suggestions. My search habits are very similar to teens. Keyword searching is their first line of defense when it comes to finding information. It was interesting to learn about the filter bubbles. I like the search engine feature of making suggestions or assumptions. But I didn't realize that search results can vary from person to person and even from computer to computer. I can avoid creating filter bubbles by using specific keywords and phrases and eliminate the opportunity for assumptions.

FRIT 7234 Learning Goals

Source: From Literacy to Fluency

1.       Understand how information fluency has evolved in the 21^st Century classroom.

2.       Identify best practices for information processing and fluency.

3.       What role does social media plays in a students’ ability to process and understand digital information.

4.       How is accountability established among social media and information fluency?

Teaching as we once knew it was systematic way a presenting information in hopes that our students would understand. This is known as a script. Think about the script or the instructions an examiner reads for standardized tests. The examiner reads the script word for word and if a student has a questions, the examiner rereads the script word for word in hopes that the student will somehow hear the answer to their question. Standardized tests are type of summative assessment in which an individual is evaluated at the end of a unit, term or school year. Daily instruction cannot be presented as script for summative assessment. Daily instruction is made up of opportunities for both the teacher and students to exchange information relevant to accomplishing pre-established goals. For years, I’ve prepared lesson plans that noted various teaching and instructional strategies with step by step routine of how I plan to accomplish my instructional goals and I would be very disappointed if things didn’t play out according to the script. So, found myself making handwritten notations on my “perfect” lesson plan. What does this mean? Students have a different way of learning exactly what we want them to learn. This is the age of technology and social media. At the forefront of teaching is understanding digital information or digital information fluency. Digital information and fluency bypasses the lower order of thinking and processing information and goes directly to the level of application and synthesis. As referenced by Laufenberg, students have to be involved in the daily routine of learning. If students are not purposely included in the daily process of learning, students will stop attending brick and mortar schools and simply complete assignments from home using software platforms designed to manage instruction and communication between the school, parents and students. Karen Lirenman explained that digital fluency is like learning a new language. The better you are at the language, the more people you can reach and effectively communicate .