2.3 Authentic Learning
Candidates model and facilitate the use of digital tools and resources to engage students in authentic learning experiences. (PSC 2.3/ISTE 2c)
Artifact: Engaged Learning Project
Reflection:
For standard 2.3 I am providing the Engaged Learning Project from ITEC 7400. The project was designed to help students become aware of and participate in, not only in America’s Independence, but to discover and participate in other countries’ Independence Day celebrations. It serves as an umbrella to meet many of the kindergarten Common Core language and Georgia social studies standards. I also designed it to be interactive on the SMARTBoard so that students could move through the pages without assistance.
Standard 2.3 expects teachers to model and facilitate the use of digital tools and resources to engage students in authentic learning experiences. This project meets this criterion because it is a learning experience that is greatly enhanced using technology to deliver visually and auditorially information surrounding the students’ social studies standards. This learning experience is also authentic and meaningful as it has a great deal of room for students to construct their own original work concerning Independence Day Celebrations along with exploring and comparing celebrations that other countries participate in. The students rotated through small groups in which they created several developmentally appropriate projects. The projects included; creating costumes and props from a scrap box, illustrating earth showing water and land masses, and measuring their maps with non-standard measurements. After the projects were completed the students incorporated them into several different sharing technologies.
The project had students using their illustrations to create an online book using Little Birds Tales. This program frees the student from writing and allows them to use their own voice to expand on their knowledge. The students were also given free time with the digital camera and took pictures of one another in Independence Day costumes they had created and they were displayed daily on the SMARTBoard. Additionally, these pictures were added to the class website so parents could see their children at work. Students were given task cards with the name of a country and using Google Earth and the SMARTBoard they typed their country in and made comparisons with each other’s country. As a culminating activity with the project the students used Skype with another kindergarten class in Australia. The Skype experience allowed them to ask questions about how they spent their Independence Day and make comparisons on the similarities and differences of the two countries. I was excited for the students to have this opportunity as I believe it was an engaging and meaningful opportunity for them to explore technologies new to them.
We use many different forms of assessment in kindergarten and this project allowed me to use anecdotal records, photographs and students’ work to show mastery of their Common Core standards in social studies. As this project was so language rich, I was also able to assess and record many of the common core language standards. This standard 2.3 ask for candidate to engage students in authentic learning experiences using digital tools and this artifact and its description shows I have gained mastery of this standard. This project was shared during professional learning and I demonstrated to the teachers how they could create a whole unit and use it to gather evidence on many language, social studies and technology standards. My hope is they will use this project, or create one of their own, and not teach standard to standard.
This project took longer than I anticipated as most of projects do. I believe this project is perfect for this standard as these kindergarten students created most of the work, keeping this project developmentally appropriate. However, if I were to do this again I would use something other than Skype as the students were very shy in front of one another. Using Movie Maker to display the costumes of other countries might have been a better method, as this would allow them time to formulate their comments. If several videos had been exchanged, then introducing Skype may have been more successful.
This lesson gave students a chance to create and then communicate their learning using technology tools. The anecdotal records prove they have a deeper understanding of America’s struggle for independence, new vocabulary, and a greater awareness of the world through their use of maps and globes. They also gained a great deal of insight into other countries struggle for independence through the technology tools we used. This project had a positive impact on student learning because an atmosphere was created in which students could think, explore and have many social interactions. During one of my team meetings, I shared this project with colleagues and showed them how this project had a positive impact on student learning. This project also had a positive impact on my colleagues, as I placed it on the server.
This project impacted the school system as it is now on the server for other teachers to use or edit to suit their needs. It has also impacted student learning as the project covers many Common Core standards in several domains using very engaging student-centered activities. All of the activities in this project are easily documented and assessed using our GKIDS rubrics.
For standard 2.3 I am providing the Engaged Learning Project from ITEC 7400. The project was designed to help students become aware of and participate in, not only in America’s Independence, but to discover and participate in other countries’ Independence Day celebrations. It serves as an umbrella to meet many of the kindergarten Common Core language and Georgia social studies standards. I also designed it to be interactive on the SMARTBoard so that students could move through the pages without assistance.
Standard 2.3 expects teachers to model and facilitate the use of digital tools and resources to engage students in authentic learning experiences. This project meets this criterion because it is a learning experience that is greatly enhanced using technology to deliver visually and auditorially information surrounding the students’ social studies standards. This learning experience is also authentic and meaningful as it has a great deal of room for students to construct their own original work concerning Independence Day Celebrations along with exploring and comparing celebrations that other countries participate in. The students rotated through small groups in which they created several developmentally appropriate projects. The projects included; creating costumes and props from a scrap box, illustrating earth showing water and land masses, and measuring their maps with non-standard measurements. After the projects were completed the students incorporated them into several different sharing technologies.
The project had students using their illustrations to create an online book using Little Birds Tales. This program frees the student from writing and allows them to use their own voice to expand on their knowledge. The students were also given free time with the digital camera and took pictures of one another in Independence Day costumes they had created and they were displayed daily on the SMARTBoard. Additionally, these pictures were added to the class website so parents could see their children at work. Students were given task cards with the name of a country and using Google Earth and the SMARTBoard they typed their country in and made comparisons with each other’s country. As a culminating activity with the project the students used Skype with another kindergarten class in Australia. The Skype experience allowed them to ask questions about how they spent their Independence Day and make comparisons on the similarities and differences of the two countries. I was excited for the students to have this opportunity as I believe it was an engaging and meaningful opportunity for them to explore technologies new to them.
We use many different forms of assessment in kindergarten and this project allowed me to use anecdotal records, photographs and students’ work to show mastery of their Common Core standards in social studies. As this project was so language rich, I was also able to assess and record many of the common core language standards. This standard 2.3 ask for candidate to engage students in authentic learning experiences using digital tools and this artifact and its description shows I have gained mastery of this standard. This project was shared during professional learning and I demonstrated to the teachers how they could create a whole unit and use it to gather evidence on many language, social studies and technology standards. My hope is they will use this project, or create one of their own, and not teach standard to standard.
This project took longer than I anticipated as most of projects do. I believe this project is perfect for this standard as these kindergarten students created most of the work, keeping this project developmentally appropriate. However, if I were to do this again I would use something other than Skype as the students were very shy in front of one another. Using Movie Maker to display the costumes of other countries might have been a better method, as this would allow them time to formulate their comments. If several videos had been exchanged, then introducing Skype may have been more successful.
This lesson gave students a chance to create and then communicate their learning using technology tools. The anecdotal records prove they have a deeper understanding of America’s struggle for independence, new vocabulary, and a greater awareness of the world through their use of maps and globes. They also gained a great deal of insight into other countries struggle for independence through the technology tools we used. This project had a positive impact on student learning because an atmosphere was created in which students could think, explore and have many social interactions. During one of my team meetings, I shared this project with colleagues and showed them how this project had a positive impact on student learning. This project also had a positive impact on my colleagues, as I placed it on the server.
This project impacted the school system as it is now on the server for other teachers to use or edit to suit their needs. It has also impacted student learning as the project covers many Common Core standards in several domains using very engaging student-centered activities. All of the activities in this project are easily documented and assessed using our GKIDS rubrics.