Book Builder Project Take Two

Here is another link to the book builder project:


http://dl.dropbox.com/u/60651445/58398-Playing_With_My_Thoughts-en-us.zip

UDL Book Builder

I created “Playing with my Thoughts” after I attended a workshop on an anti-bullying program we will be incorporating in the middle school next year.   Students will meet weekly to discuss issues surrounding bullying as well as other topics of concern.  In thinking about the hesitation of middle school students to share their personal feelings about their lives, and I came up with a journal that could aid and assist the various teachers who will be responsible for facilitating this program in their classrooms.  The journal establishes writing prompts or idea starters for students as a way of connecting with themselves, which will hopefully help them, connect with other students.  In my conversations with an ELA teacher, she often describes the hesitancy of students to begin any new activity.  She describes it as a lack of play or desire to explore the unknown without her direction.  This type of journal or sketchbook is a great resource to get students motivated and reflecting on their ideas and feelings.  She even saw the journal as having daily or weekly relevance in the classroom as a DO NOW or DO LATER activity.  UDL Book Builder she agreed was a great resource to use in the classroom.  Publishing books would not only give students more ownership over the work they were creating, but she saw it as a bridge between the school and the community.  Students could create books that they could share with the elementary school or that reflected a current issue or topic occurring in the community.  Other teachers in the school could use the same format as the journal I created, but change the types of prompts, asking students to consider their thoughts on any number of topics relevant to the specific course they were taking.  Emma, the avatar I used for the book, also provides additional prompts that help students think about what I am asking them to write about.  

UDL Book Builder - "Playing With My Thoughts"

 

Uses of Second Life in an ELA Classroom and Avatar

Using Second Life was a bit intimidating.  I immediately felt concerned about the environment I was in, as I did not know the individuals who were present.  As a teacher, I would have an issue with this feature because I could not adequately monitor the interactions between the avatars.   Also my computer seemed to have difficulty uploading the various screens and there was a long time delay in each of the environments.  There is a steep learning curve I still need to cross over to feel comfortable making best use of the program.

After discussing Second Life with an ELA teacher, she suggested using the various environments as writing prompts for character development.  Students could create avatar characters and through the interaction with a specific environment, students can develop the voice of the character with more certainty as they are constructing the experiences they will be writing about.  She also suggested using Second Life as an alternative to class discussions.  So often students are too shy to participate, but this environment provides a public forum in a more private setting.  In addition, she also had strong concerns about outsiders being able to impede upon her learning environment.  Overall she was excited about being introduced to something she hadn’t heard about before and was interested in exploring other virtual environment programs.

Week 7 - Article Summaries

“Theories and Practices of Multimodal Education:  The Instructional Dynamics of Picture Books and Primary Classrooms”

By Dawnene D. Hassett and Jen Scott Curwood

The article, “Theories and Practices of Multimodal Education: The Instructional Dynamics of Picture Books and Primary Classrooms” details multimodal education, a new shift in understanding how 21^st century learners receive and interpret information.  Awareness and a focus are placed on the interpretation of how information is presented in a digital society versus the print-based education of the past.  Students need to decode image and text relationships, while teachers have to adopt new roles to help facilitate the learning process.  New teacher roles include maintaining reliable resources for student use, adopting a co-learning model between student and teacher, and consulting with students to provide feedback and a broader perspective.  Multimodal reading places importance on the various design choices made in the presentation of a book, specifically the use of color, line, shape, or texture to help construct meaning.  I find the crossover between ELA and art significant and fascinating.  Art students learn about the elements of art (line, shape, color, form, texture, and space), and principles of design.  Students take these concepts and learn how to critique and evaluate art based on the combination of these elements and principles.  Critiquing art and multimodal reading comprehension utilize the same skills.  Any visual learner can tap into these skills to better inform their comprehension process.   

"Using the ADDIE Model to Design Second Life Activities for Online Learners"

By Shiang-Kwei Wang and Hui-Yin Hsu

Second Life is a virtual environment, created with the intent to improve online learning motivation. Constructivist theory states that knowledge is constructed through experiences unique to the individual.  Second Life addresses the gaps in shared experiences in a virtual classroom environment, specifically student interaction. The constructed environment offers a unique, shared experience amongst students, which as the authors suggest, can positively effect the learning environment and desired learning outcomes.  The authors also describe some of the drawbacks of Second Life, which includes hardware issues of space and upgrade requirements, as well as public accessibility and limitations for creating secure environments.  Second Life definitely addresses a new educational need.  Online classes offer accessibility, however they often lack connectivity to the group.  Creating an environment that fosters collaboration in a natural way is a challenge due to the physical level of disconnection.  Second Life offers a solution to this problem.  The authors note the importance of goal setting when implementing Second Life in a learning environment.  The purpose is not to throw a technology tool at students for the sake of using one.  Well-constructed goals and outcomes should be established first to determine the benefits of creating a shared environment and experience. 

Game Scenario/Script - School Safey

Below is a link to a PowerPoint presentation on a game scenario which involves school policies and procedures. 

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/60651445/Game%20Scenario.pptx

Enhancing teaching and learning through the use of Edmodo

• Students can chat and collaborate in real time sharing their opinions and views on a given topic.

• Students can share examples of their work for assessment. 

• Students and parents can access classroom work if they are not present or view what topics will be addressed in the future.

• Students can upload work directly to the teacher for grading.

• Classrooms can connect with other students from other schools to broaden the learning environment. 

• Teachers and students can work simultaneously on writing prompts giving immediate feedback when necessary. 

Philosophy of Using Games in the Classroom

Games should be incorporated in the classroom setting.  Playing games encourages the use of strategy, planning, coordination, and higher order thinking skills depending on the type of game one is engaged in.  These skills can be applied to real life situations and games are a great way of getting students excited and motivated about a particular subject.  Learning that occurs through the act of play can appear less intimidating, more fun, and can even provide a level of engagement not produced through traditional modes of education (ie. chalk and talk).  Many skills including digital media literacy and online citizenship can be developed through game playing or game designing scenarios.  In addition, implementing these types of programs are relatively simply from a coordination perspective because all schools have access to computers and the Internet.  Even districts that feel they have a greater digital divide can utilize student friendly game programming sites because they are often free.  I think if we don’t utilize games in the classroom we are certainly missing a profound opportunity to engage our students in a way that has a positive influence on their digital future.   

Teachers Using Games in the Classroom - GameStar Mechanic

Most students play games either on their cell phone, personal computer, or in a school setting.  As educators have become more keenly aware of this, they have started integrating the concept of game playing as a way of engaging students.  Games don’t simply teach strategy.  Game creation allows students to think analytically and test theories.  Through the act of playing, students are designing and creating solutions to problems, testing their ideas, and sharing them with others to get feedback about the work they produced.  All of these skills are critical to a 21^st century student and necessary to possesses in order to compete in a global marketplace.  In addition, game design promotes student engagement across all subjects through a medium that is easily accessible.  If a school has computers and Internet access, websites like Gamestar and Scratch provide free, basic game design tools to get students started in the process.   There are a lot of cross-curricular opportunities in game development as teachers can focus on various components that make up the gaming process from story telling, to programming, to the aesthetic qualities.  The game platform provides a way for ELA teachers to discuss character development, parts of a story, genre, setting, etc. all the while encouraging students to create these scenarios on their own.  Teachers use games in the classroom as a way for students to problem solve, develop ideas, test their ideas, and collaborate with others.