Reflecting on our CLC

When we started our Seesaw blogging page we were already pretty far along in our novel (Bud, Not Buddy). My goal was to give my students an open forum of dialogue that they could have with their peers to further enhance their comprehension of the novel. I thought it would be a nice break in routine from the previous comprehension checks I have given them throughout the school year. I had the students complete a pre-assessment blog post and then introduced the rubric they would be using to improve upon their blog posts. As I stated before not only were my students new to Seesaw, but I was as well. Our first few posts were written out but as we went on with using the program we expanded our content to commenting on each others comments and posting video responses. One thing I found with the video responses is that when I first started this blog the main thing I was checking was their writing responses. As more kids started to prefer the video method of delivering their content, I was then no longer assessing their writing. I find myself wondering how to use both writing and video effectively, without the writing completely falling off by the wayside.

I found that the students comments and video responses were great opportunities to get kids talking to each other more so than a group discussion. I had to tweak my rubric a little to allot for the comments and video responses. Overall the quality of the students responses were much more in-depth and had had higher quality as they read on through the novel. I definitely see myself using this program next year with my students. We have one more blog post to go and here is the link we have thus far to our class blog:     https://blog.seesaw.me/room303/#!/

This has a very worthwhile experience taking this course. I am glad I decided to take this course because it enabled me to take a chance with something I may not of used with my students. The one important thing I've realized from this course is that when introducing new things to my students that I don't have to be an "expert" in what I am trying to implement. Too often I feel as if I have to have a full grasp of a new program that I am trying to establish in the classroom. Taking this course and talking to some of my peers helped me realize that I just had to take the plunge and dive into my Seesaw blogging project. Thank you to my classmates and mentors for helping out!

Does Technology Enhance Student Learning?

Without a doubt I think the amount of technological resources we have to choose from is a positive in the classroom. It's better to have too much than none at all. In regards to this helping my students writing I have mixed feelings. For starters my students are highly motivated to use their Chromebooks for their writing. I have also found that from an editing standpoint I am able to help more students more often. The ability to do frequent checks on my students work using google docs does help the work they are producing. One drawback I have found that research reports have left some of my students just copy and pasting random facts from websites. This obviously requires some intervention with the teacher to help the students understand the best way to use and understand facts and sources from the internet and providing some of their own context on it.

At our school we are constantly looking at a plethora of data that helps us pinpoint specific areas our students need help in. Its from this data where my students and I come up with academic goals for themselves. Having this data at my fingertips has been instrumental to my RTI groupings. Having students look at their own data and assist in making their academic goals is very empowering to the students. It gives them a sense of ownership in their education and they feel accomplished when they accomplish a goal they made for themselves.

While making these goals for students I am constantly trying to figure out which specific academic program we use would be best to use to give the student independent practice on their particular goal. This can sometimes be hard to manage. In my small groupings I can give students an assignment and ask for them to have it done when they meet with me next. Incorporating these goals with a academic program can sometimes be hard to keep up with. Trying to make sure all my students are working on specifically what I have asked them to independently can be challenging.

As with anything there are upsides and downsides. In regards to how students learn best, from my experience it includes the use of some form of technology.