3.1 Classroom Management & Collaborative Learning
Candidates model and facilitate effective classroom management and collaborative learning strategies to maximize teacher and student use of digital tools and resources. (PSC 3.1/ISTE 3a)
Artifact: Engaged Learning Project
Reflection:
The Engaged Learning lesson, which I created in ITEC 7400, highlights my ability to facilitate classroom management and collaborative learning through digital tools. This lesson contains collaborative elements ranging from students working with their peers in class to students working with others outside of class. I used heterogeneous grouping for each of the projects.
In student-created collaborative groups, students utilized digital tools, like Google Drive, SchoolTube, and VoiceThread, to facilitate collaboration and feedback. Additionally, they used Skype to interview community members to learn about cultural myths. During the design and development of their myth video or storybook, they shared their storyboard with their partner and with me via Google Drive. Once they had completed their modern myth videos, they shared their final projects with a Language Arts class. The students viewed the projects and provided feedback to the students using VoiceThread. These digital tools enabled students to collaborate with a number of individuals. In each lesson, I also used digital tools to follow and evaluate the student’s work. I used Google Drive or Diigo to monitor their research and project throughout the project. I used Rubistar to create rubrics to evaluate their participation and efforts. I used Google Forms to gain insight into the student view of their own and their partner's project roles and involvement. Digital tools assisted in staying informed on the student’s progress and what I could do to help them.
From this lesson, I discovered that digital tools can help alleviate some of the issues with collaborative work. For example, I used Google Drive for students to record their research and design their final product. Google Drive enabled students to share this information with their partners and with me. Therefore, if a student was absent, his/her partner could continue with the project since all the information was shared. This ability enabled students to stay productive. These experiences gave me the opportunity to learn how to effectively monitor and manage a class where students are all working on different tasks simultaneously. Most importantly, I learned that incorporating digital tools and collaborative learning strategies increased student engagement, which resulted in less classroom management issues. If I were to reconstruct this lesson, I would provide the students with a list of community members who would be willing to participate. There were a few students who struggled with finding an adult to act as their expert. These students lost productivity time as they searched for a willing participant. In order to make effective use of class time, I could assist the students by having a premade list.
The effects of this lesson could be assessed through observations and assessment data. The increase in student engagement resulted in an increase in student achievement, both on formative and summative assessments. Additionally, the media specialist and language art teachers, who helped me with implementing this lesson in class, shared this idea with other teachers. Due to this sharing of ideas, other teachers have told me that they have created similar assignments. These teachers all commented on a similar increase in student performance and achievement.
The Engaged Learning lesson, which I created in ITEC 7400, highlights my ability to facilitate classroom management and collaborative learning through digital tools. This lesson contains collaborative elements ranging from students working with their peers in class to students working with others outside of class. I used heterogeneous grouping for each of the projects.
In student-created collaborative groups, students utilized digital tools, like Google Drive, SchoolTube, and VoiceThread, to facilitate collaboration and feedback. Additionally, they used Skype to interview community members to learn about cultural myths. During the design and development of their myth video or storybook, they shared their storyboard with their partner and with me via Google Drive. Once they had completed their modern myth videos, they shared their final projects with a Language Arts class. The students viewed the projects and provided feedback to the students using VoiceThread. These digital tools enabled students to collaborate with a number of individuals. In each lesson, I also used digital tools to follow and evaluate the student’s work. I used Google Drive or Diigo to monitor their research and project throughout the project. I used Rubistar to create rubrics to evaluate their participation and efforts. I used Google Forms to gain insight into the student view of their own and their partner's project roles and involvement. Digital tools assisted in staying informed on the student’s progress and what I could do to help them.
From this lesson, I discovered that digital tools can help alleviate some of the issues with collaborative work. For example, I used Google Drive for students to record their research and design their final product. Google Drive enabled students to share this information with their partners and with me. Therefore, if a student was absent, his/her partner could continue with the project since all the information was shared. This ability enabled students to stay productive. These experiences gave me the opportunity to learn how to effectively monitor and manage a class where students are all working on different tasks simultaneously. Most importantly, I learned that incorporating digital tools and collaborative learning strategies increased student engagement, which resulted in less classroom management issues. If I were to reconstruct this lesson, I would provide the students with a list of community members who would be willing to participate. There were a few students who struggled with finding an adult to act as their expert. These students lost productivity time as they searched for a willing participant. In order to make effective use of class time, I could assist the students by having a premade list.
The effects of this lesson could be assessed through observations and assessment data. The increase in student engagement resulted in an increase in student achievement, both on formative and summative assessments. Additionally, the media specialist and language art teachers, who helped me with implementing this lesson in class, shared this idea with other teachers. Due to this sharing of ideas, other teachers have told me that they have created similar assignments. These teachers all commented on a similar increase in student performance and achievement.