EEND679Y- Artifact 2

Another artifact from EEND679Y that was challenging to create, however, I was extremely proud once it was created, was my info-graphic that compared two Assessment Tools. I have seen many different infographics, and they are always eye opening, and easy to read. However, I found they are very difficult to create. I was easily able to select my two different assessment tools, Kahoot and Quizlet, however, it was more difficult to create. There were a number of great resources that were outlined within our course resources during that module. I ended up modifying the template, to make it fit my two resource. It took a great deal of time to create, however, I was please with it in the end. I'm not sure that info graphics have a place within my kindergarten classroom, however, I can see how they'd be useful to share information, and that older students would LOVE creating them.

EEND679Y- Artifact 1

The first artifact for EEND679Y that I selected was my Digital Badge assignment. When I first sat down to start on this assignment I was very skeptical. I wasn't sure how this would fit into the a classroom setting, let alone my kindergarten classroom. Then, however, I read one of my classmates reflective blog posts. They included an image of Apple Watch badges, and as an Apple Watch user those silly badges do seem to motivate me.

When reflecting back about the assignment in this course, I realized that digital badges might indeed have a place within my classroom after all. I plan to incorporate them into my classroom from the very beginning of the school year, and interweave them with my iPad Boot camp. When I designed my badges, I planned that my students could earn a badge for safely handling their iPads.  However, I do think that I'll need to find a way for my students to display their badges, as we are 1:2 iPads. Perhaps, I could print the badges on little stickers, and the students could add them to their iPad licenses. I'm hoping they will motivate them as they'll visually be able to see them, and understand what to work towards next! I hope that they are as excited about the digital badges as I am! 

     

EEND679Y Reflective Blog Post

Over the last year of taking Technology Courses through the University of St. Francis, I have been introduced to many different new technology resources. When I started these courses, last summer, I was moving from second grade to kindergarten, and very unsure what kindergartners would be capable of technology-wise. The discussions that I've had throughout this course with other kindergarten and first grade teachers have been tremendously helpful. I've learned first hand from my colleagues what works in their primary classrooms and what does not. 

With the help and encouragement of my colleagues in these courses, and my team mates, I jumped in headfirst into SeeSaw. My students started to create their own digital portfolios. Each week they completed different "SeeSaw missions," and by December I had shared each student's portfolios with their parents, so they could also see their child's progress. During this course we read Bill Ferriter's article entitled, "My Digital Portfolio Planning," he discussed two different types of portfolios, "Learning Portfolios, which are all about giving students chances to collect evidence of their own growth and progress as learners," as well as "Showcase Portfolios, which are designed to give students a space to spotlight their very best work." This article caused me to reflect upon my SeeSaw use throughout the school year, and which type of portfolio my students were creating.Throughout the course of the year, my students created Learning Portfolios, and the digital portfolios did indeed showcase their learning over the course of the year. This next school year, I want to increase the amount of writing my students include within their SeeSaw portfolios, as I feel that their writing samples, truly will show what tremendous growth kindergarten students make over the course of a school year. 

Genius Hour

For my Genius Hour project, I decided to try my hand at baking my Grandma Joy's chocolate chip cookie recipe. Her chocolate chip cookies are legendary-- she brings them to every family function. They were at my wedding shower, wedding, baby shower, and everyone's birthday parties. You can't just eat one, but end up eating multiple cookies each time. Grandma Joy has the art of making her chocolate chip cookies down to a science, and even though I've helped her make the cookies several times, I have yet to make the recipe on my own. So, for this Genius Hour project,  I attempted to make her chocolate chip cookie recipe on my own. 

Overall, the process went smoothly. I had received my Grandma's recipe as a wedding gift, with some tips and helpful tricks. Grandma Joy uses a cookie dough "scooper" to make her perfectly sized cookies, and I was lucky enough to receive a "scooper" similar to the one she uses as part of her gift. I quickly read over the recipe and headed to the store. I was disappointed when I returned home that I had purchased salted butter, instead of the unsalted butter the recipe called for. Also, I hadn't let me eggs sit out to room temperature, as the recipe recommended, but decided to forge ahead with my Genius Hour plans. (If I had to redo this project, I would make sure to change those two things). 

Both of my kids enjoyed helping me with this project, and my son, especially enjoyed helping me with the mixer  (He's almost two, and I think he most enjoyed changing the speed of the mixer, as well as sampling the batter when we were finished). An additional struggle was that the dough needed to chill for two hours, prior to baking the cookies, which was fine, but that ended up pretty close to when I needed to get my kids to bed. So, the baking process was a bit delayed as well. The cookies tasted great-- not like my Grandma Joy's, but delicious still! 

I've incorporated Genius Hour into my classroom when I taught second grade, but I'm not quite sure how it would look within my kindergarten classroom. In second grade my students all completed sort of a modified research project. Each step I guided them through, as they selected their topics, asked questions, and gathered some research. Looking however, within my kindergarten classroom, I think that I'd need to start out with a whole class Genius Project, and work together as a whole class, and then maybe in small groups.. I am sure my students would love the idea of Genius Hour ,and gathering data, but it would need to be modified and completed with lots of assistance. This might be something we could further explore next year! 

EEND678Y2- Reflection Post 2

This semester, I am taking a technology class from the University of St. Francis. This the fourth technology course I have taken from USF, and this course had an assignment that required us to find and apply for an educational grant.  Grants have always seemed overwhelming to me. As a teacher who is fortunate to teach in a school district with many resources, and supportive Home and School partnerships, I has always been a little leery to apply for a grant for my classroom. I've worried that my school would seem "needy" enough for a grant, or my idea would not be worthy of a grant.My coworker found the grants that were available through the Meemic foundation, and I found that the application was much easier than I thought. I took a risk and applied, fingers crossed! 

I focused my grant on adding to my classroom break space. With the implementation of new Social Emotional Learning curriculum (SEL), we were encouraged to create Break Spaces or Cool Down corners within my classroom. I was fortunate that my principal bought me a beanbag chair last year to start my break space, and all kindergarten teachers were given a small divider to create a safe break space within our classroom. Our LBS and OT teachers also helped furbish several fidgets for our break space, but there were many other fidgets that I've added to our break space. With the funding from my Meemic grant, I would be able to have several new fidgets, and supply my teammates with new fidgets for their break spaces as well. I'd also have enough fidgets that my students could use them while on the carpet, or working at their desks, and not just within the break space. I also asked for a weighted lap blanket, to help my students with sensory needs, as several sensory seat cushions. I won't find out until August if my grant was selected, but I can't wait to see if mine was selected! 

Here is the link to find the grant application. 

EEND- 678Y2- Reflection Post 1

One of the requirements for EEND-678Y2 was to create a Problem Based Learning (PBL) Understanding by Design (UbD) unit. At first this assignment seemed daunting, as our district had switched several years ago from using the UbD model, to curriculum maps. As a result, this assignment really forced me to shift my thinking, and approaching lesson planning from a different perspective. It took some time, and collaboration from my peers in EEND-678Y2 to determine how PBL could fit into my kindergarten classroom. I was fortunate to have great conversations with another kindergarten and first grade teacher, who helped me narrow down my PBL ideas.

In the end I further explored our construction unit, and took a one day lesson, and expanded it into an entire unit. My students really enjoyed building bridges, which was one component of our construction unit. I was able to implement many of the activities I had selected for this PBL activity into my classroom this year, and my students LOVED it. While, we are receiving new science curriculum next year, and I won't be able to reuse this lesson, I am confident that I can take what I've learned and apply it to other subject areas.

J-Alltop PBL Lesson Plan

EEND667Y- Artifact 2

For my second artifact for EEND667Y, I selected my Screencast project that I created as a tutorial for my students. This specific screencast was created to help my class navigate SeeSaw, and utilize a new tool, the drawing feature. This assignment was a challenge for me for a number of reasons.

 First, I have never created a screencast. It was a challenge to find a program that would work to create the screencast, and then figure out how to use the software in SeeSaw. Also, it was challenging to create an organizer of what/how I was going to present the information to my students. With kindergartners every single, little step needs to modeled and explained. I found that I (at first) had created an outline that was too basic, and needed to go back and add more information. Then, it took a lot of time to create the screencast, as I had modeled how to use many of the different drawing features. This really cut into my ten minute time limit that Screencastify has for its free accounts.

While this screencast was required for this course, and really forced to me to try something new, and  to stretch outside of my technology comfort zone, I am not sure that screencasts are appropriate within my kindergarten classroom. I spend a lot of time during the school day modeling appropriate behavior for my students. They need concrete, here and now examples, especially when using new technology. While this would be a great option if my students were completing work at home, I think that it will be more valuable for my students to actually complete the task with me.

Typically, I utilize the "I do, we do,  you do" model within my classroom, and the same goes for technology projects. I think it would be more valuable for them to practice using some of the drawing features, instead of me demonstrating all of them. Perhaps, in the future, we could make a screencast as a class, to share with the student's parents. This might be helpful to teach the parents how to use one of the programs/apps our class uses on a regular basis. I am interested to see if I can find a screencast program to use with our iPads. Maybe, my students could even create their own screencasts to share with their own families! I will keep you updated! Fingers crossed that this might be a more appropriate way to use screencasts within my kindergarten classroom.

EEND677Y- Artifact 1

This course has really pushed me to get out of my comfort zone, and try new things as an educator. When reflecting upon which project I was most proud of, the "Video Book Trailer" project was one that stood out immediately. I used iMovie on my iPad to create a Book Trailer for an Elephant and Piggie book, a A Big Guy Took My Ball. 

This book trailer would be an introduction to our Mo Willems book study, which is part of our fiction literacy unit. Combining our SEL and literacy curriculum, the students are learning how to use pictures to gain clues or an understanding of how the characters are feeling. Since my students are only in kindergarten, I would read this book trailer aloud to the class as they are watching it, and we’d stop at different points to discuss how the characters might be feeling. We then (as a class) would discuss the different characters, setting, problem and potential solution of this text. 

As mentioned above, I created this book trailer in iMovie, which I have used before, but never to make a book trailer. I'm not sure if it was because I was using an iPad to create/edit my movie, or if it was because Apple has changed the app since I have last used it, but I struggled at adding enough images to complete the book trailer. I found that there wasn't a lot of freedom in changing the template to fit your needs (again maybe this was a user error), but I am not sure if my kindergarten students would be able to navigate this app, to create a book trailer. I do like the idea, and plan on creating more trailers to introduce different units of study, however, if my students create a book trailer I need to find something that is a little bit more user friendly. Overall, I am impressed with the end result, and my students LOVED it. It was a great opportunity to try something new, and challenge myself using technology. 

Learning Multimedia Tools to Podcasts to Virtual Reality-- EEND677Y Recap

Module 8 Discussion: 

When starting this last discussion post, I found that I needed to do some research myself to determine the difference between virtual and augmented reality. The article on our resource page “Virtual vs. Augmented Reality” was a great starting place, and I realized I was not alone in mixing up these two types of technology. I dug a little a deeper by reading the EdSurge article “How to Transform your classroom with augmented reality” by Patricia Brown. 

Brown suggested in the article that Augmented Reality “…started out as something that was simply ‘cool,’ has become a way to engage learners like never before.” When reflecting on how I’ve used Augmented reality within my classroom, I thought of green screen projects… (again, I’m struggling to determine if this really is AR?).  I’ve used green screen projects most recently during a social studies lesson, in which my students shared reasons that they would be good presidents. Each student gave there speech standing in front of a “waving American Flag” that was added after the fact via the green screen. I’ve also used QR codes within my classroom for students to share their work, or learn about different topics. As for virtual reality, I’d say my classroom uses have been more limited. I know in our upcoming construction unit my students will pretend that they are riding on a roller coaster, however, this is the first virtual reality opportunity I’ve encountered.

Course Reflection: 

Module 5: Graphic Design and Typography really impacted my teaching and communication with families. I couldn’t select just one article from this week as they all were very informative, and impact. The information shared in regards to typography was really important, especially as a primary teacher. My students benefit from fonts in which are simple and easy to read/use. I have made more of an effort to be aware of the fonts I was using and my students’ ability to read the font. The article from Module 6 entitled, “Why No One Reads Your Classroom Newsletter” was also VERY interesting. Since reading that article, I’ve made changes to my weekly newsletter. I’ve eliminated lengthy paragraphs and instead try to use bullet point lists with graphics to share classroom updates. This is a process I’d still like to continue improving in, even after our class is complete. 

Overall, this course has pushed me out of my comfort zone (and from behind my computer) to learn and implement new techniques within my classroom. I'm not sure anyone enjoys watching them selves as they record themselves replying to a discussion post, nor do they enjoy hearing themselves in a screencast, however, these uncomfortable experiences pushed me to grow as an educator. As mentioned above, I want to continue to improve my parent communication, and ensure that it is utilized by all of my families. I also want to continue to utilize different multimedia approaches within my classroom. I also have a number of ways in which I'd like to incorporate more QR usage within my classroom both for students to share their learning, and as a opportunity for students to learn from others. I hope that my students are as excited about this as I am! 

Graphic Design- In Kindergarten?

Graphic design is not an element that I ever considered incorporating into my kindergarten classroom. I struggle with many of these assignments, especially, to find how they might be applicable to my little learners. This students are just starting their formal education journey, and are still learning the very basics of reading and writing, how can I try to provide them with graphic design lessons. I decided to do some of my own research, as the resources that were provided this week were yes, interesting, and I did learn new information (especially in regards to typography within the classroom), but how could I best teach graphic design to my sweet five and six year olds. 

After doing some searching, I came across a blog post by Dean Vipond, "Explaining Graphic Design to 4-year-olds."  Dean suggested that you " boiling down what you do, to its most basic elements." This makes perfect sense, and would be a great way to introduce this complex topic of graphic design. Dean continued to say in his opinion graphic design, "...is about making something easy to use, or easy to understand." Dean suggested to give many concrete real life examples, like when you are building a house you need to design how many bedrooms it will have, just like when you design a project you need to figure out what the words will look like (how big they are, or what color they are). I agree, that I would need to start with the most basic key fact- readability. Specifically, I would focus to make sure as an author your font, size, and color is readable.  These basic elements would be a great starting point, and building blocks for future graphic design lessons. 

I could immediatly implement these ideas into my classroom, when I design mini lessons introducing PicCollage Conference projects. My students will create a Pic Collage show casing some of their favorite things about school/their accomplishments thus far in kindergarten to share with mom and dad during student led, spring parent/teacher conferences. The basic design principles that I want to incorporate for my students is to ensure their font is easy to read, and an appropriate size/color.  The Creative Bloq Staff, explained in the article, Typography Rules and Terms every designer must know, a few words such as "size, leading, tracking, and kerning, measuring and scale" as key elements in graphic design, however, I'd focus just on size. Making sure that the font of the students Pic Collage is big enough to read, easily, and doesn't blend in with the background. For example, do not select a red font, if you are choosing a red background (it'll be impossible to see). 

I also always stress with projects to use a font in which the students can read. We haven't learned how to write in cursive yet, so therefor they shouldn't select a flowy, cursive font. It's important to utilize fonts in which my students can read. This is a principle that I keep in mind, as I am designing worksheets/activities for them to use. I want my fonts to be easy to read, and an example of how to form/write letters properly. My students are constantly absorbing new information, and I want the fonts they see around our classrooms/within activities to be appropriate handwriting examples. 

EEND676B- Reflective Post 2

Using Google In the Classroom was the second artifact I selected for my reflection. This assignment stood out to me, as it was one that I could immediately integrate within my classroom. I struggled to find how Google would be appropriate for my students, as well as how to easily integrate G Suite tools within my classroom. My students use iPads and are 5/6 years old. I didn't know how/if they would be able to use the Google Suite. However, this assignment really encouraged me to think outside of the box.

I decided to dive into our Social Studies unit which focuses on Mexico. With direct modeling, and help from their 4th grade learning buddies I am confident that my students would/will be able to utilize Google Slides to compare our culture/land forms/food with Mexico's, using Google Sheets as a class we will track and compare the weather in Mexico City, Mexico, and Naperville, Illinois, and use Google Drawing to draw about a special holiday celebration they celebrate in Mexico.

As mentioned above these are three activities that I will use during our Spring culture study of Mexico. Without this assignment I am not sure if I would have incorporated Google within my classroom at all. However, this will be great learning experience for both my students, and our 4th Grade learning buddies. I can't wait to see how these activities turn out.

EEND676B- Reflective Post 1

Within Module 2 we were give the task to critically evaluate two different collaborative web tools. We were asked to look at different facets of these platforms: including the age appropriateness, user friendliness, the impact on student learning, and then give each platform an overall recommendation. I selected this assignment as an artifact for my blog, as I was able to critically evaluate two collaborative web tools that are either mandated for staff/student use or wildly popular for primary teachers in District 203 to incorporate within their classrooms.

As mentioned above Canvas, is a collaborative web tool that is mandated for teacher/student use by our school district. It is strongly encouraged that all teachers use Canvas as their home landing page for their students. Some teachers have used their Canvas sites more for student collaboration, while other teachers use Canvas as a way to communicate with parents. This assignment allowed me to look at the appropriateness of Canvas for my kindergarten students, which I found that Canvas is totally in appropriate for my kindergarten students to use within my classroom. Canvas instead should be used as a way for parents to interact and learn important things happening within our classroom.

SeeSaw on the other hand is a collaborative web tool, that many primary educators within District 203 have integrated within their classrooms. SeeSaw is hands-down more appropriate for my young learners. It is user friendly and intuitive to use. My students are easily able to navigate SeeSaw, to share their thinking with little assistance. They've taken ownership of their learning and collaboration with peers.

When I completed this assignment it was still very early in the school year. I was struggling to try and incorporate Canvas within my classroom. Canvas was difficult for my 2nd grade students to use in years past, however it was manageable with lots of direct instruction and practice. I knew that it would be even more difficult to try and teach my kindergartners how to utilize Canvas. However, after closely evaluating/comparing these two collaborative web tools, I felt more confident in my choice to Canvas for parent communication/important facts, and SeeSaw for student collaboration and growth. This course helped to solidify that decision and provide the background information I need to support my decision to move forward with SeeSaw. Consequently, my students now use SeeSaw multiple time per week to document their learning and to collaborate with their peers.

Balanced Screen Time in a Kindergarten Classroom

As you know, this school year, I moved from teaching second grade to kindergarten. While the jump of only moving down two grades, doesn't seem like much of a change; it has however, been a HUGE adjustment. I love it, I really do. These little ones are just starting their academic career. They enter the building each day with excitement and wonder. Everything, EVERYTHING is new to them. This year, I also have a large number of oldest or only children. So not only is school new to my students, but their parents as well. One of the questions that many parents had at Kindergarten Sneak Peak and Parent Orientation was, how often do you use iPads within your classroom, and will my child do on the iPad all day? Which that got me thinking, what is the appropriate balance of device versus "traditional" learning within my kindergarten classroom. 

My sweet little kindergartners struggle with hanging up their coats and pushing in their chairs, let alone  turning on an iPad, let alone proficiently use an iPad to navigate to an app. While at the same time I was struggling to find the perfect balance of iPad time and authentic hands on activities within my classroom.  Over the last 52 days of school, I've started to learn via trial and error, what this balance of screen time looks like within my classroom.  There are so many vital academic skills that my students need to learn, like holding their pencils, learning their letters and the sound each letter makes, counting, identify shapes. Yet, many of these skills can be reinforced through the use of our iPads during literacy or math centers. Students can also use our iPads to share their thinking with their classmates, parents, and myself.  However, how much is too much time on the device each day? What is the proper balance?  According to Beth Holland's article on Edutopia,  "Mobile devices have the potential to provide amazing learning opportunities as well as great distractions." 

How are the devices being used within your classroom? 
Are they providing learning opportunities or great distractions for your students?