Week 7

This was the week before Spring Break, and what says break time more than benchmarks all week? We spent most of the week either administering benchmarks or being in "testing mode," but amidst all the testing we still found time for technology integration in the classroom.

Students finished up writing their reflections from previous week and worked in collaborative groups, supporting learning objectives for my internship.  Students were also introduced to the drawing tool in Lesson 8 of the Seesaw Learning application.  Students are one step closer to getting "Seesaw Certified." In this lesson students worked in collaborative groups to create a life cycle of their choice. Students then had to use the microphone, captions, or labels to explain their drawing.

Students also used the drawing tool to demonstrate an understanding of math concepts.  We were learning about data, so we decided to draw dot plots.  After I modeled how to create a dot plot using the kindle, students then were given a set of numbers and told to plot them on a dot plot of their making.  

Students used a combination of the text tool and drawing tool to create their dot plots.  I could have extended the activity further by having them write 2-3 sentences about their dot plot, or having them write questions that could be answered with their dot plot.  

Students finished their online STEM virtual investigation on topic of lifecycles.  While I had two students control the animations and read the instructions, the rest of the classmates went through the scientific process in their journals and came up to the interactive whiteboard to interact with the investigation.  The virtual investigations are very engaging for my students, and I have noticed that they are retaining the information at a better rate versus reading from a textbook.

We did not have too much time for robotics this week, but I did meet with one small group at a time to go over reflections.  Both groups of students are participating in meaningful learning that is getting me excited for more technology integrated activities.  Tech has become such a big part of our classroom environment.

I also took some time to work on putting together my research, which is showing how online journaling/blogging increases engagement, promotes peer collaboration and improves literacy skills.  I have already gathered qualitative data that supports my research, and when it comes to improving literacy skills, students are recording their voices, stopping mid paper, and revising/ editing their papers.  Hearing their papers read aloud by themselves is definitely making students more conscious of their writing.

Now its time to enjoy a week of Spring Break!  I look forward to updating you after the break with how our class is further integrating technology into our classroom!