Mini-Course on Sensibly Integrating Technology and 21st Century Skills in the First Grade Classroom

For my final project in W531, I have developed a three lesson mini-course for first grade teachers on Sensibly Integrating Technology and 21st Century Skills.  This course is most appropriate for those teachers who may not feel comfortable with technology and those who are new to the first grade level.

Below are links for the sequence of lessons.  I have also added these links to the top of my blog

Introduction

Lesson 1 Part 1

Lesson 1 Part 2

Lesson 2

Lesson 3

Final Reflections

Thanks for viewing, and may your laptop battery live a long life, your cables not get twisted, the fan on the overhead you've been hiding in your classroom never die, and may your Nook stayed charged long enough to read the final chapter.

Image credit: <http://p8cdn4static.sharpschool.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_229000/Image/Departments/PD.png>

SAMR and My Digital Toolbox

First of all, SAMR is another one of those buzzwords (or buzz-acronyms, I suppose...) that I had never heard of prior to taking W531, Technology for Teaching and Learning, but it's definitely one that will influence my teaching practices from here on out. SAMR is a ladder-like model that describes the progression of technology integration in the classroom. This model was researched and developed by Dr. Ruben Puentedura, and seems to be one of the most commonly used technology integration models. I've included one of Dr. Puentedura's graphics of his model for your reference, as my purpose here is not to define and explain the model, but to discuss my potential usage of it. I really liked this blog post from Hooked Innovation that describes SAMR as less of a ladder, and more of a swimming pool. When you are new to swimming, you don't generally jump in the deep end of the pool, you start in the shallow end, and gradually work your way further out as you get comfortable.  I found this vision of the model to be rather reassuring-this doesn't mean that every lesson that isn't in the Transformation end of the model is an automatic failure.

So, as I thought of using SAMR to influence the technology integration in my future classroom, I began to think of the challenges that K-2 teachers, in particular, face when targeting the Modification and Redefinition stages of the model, especially in classrooms with 30+ students.  After all, most of these young students are new readers and writers, and require more assistance.  Applications and programs that can be independently used by older elementary students like StoryBoard That, require the student to be able to read directions and write/spell, so much more adult assistance would be required for primary ages.  I've been searching for programs and apps that target those Transformation stages that can be used by the younger kids, and I've found a few to add to my Digital Toolbox, which you can see on my Pinterest board, here.  Not all of the programs and apps in my Digital Toolbox hit the Transformation targets, but sometimes it's just nice to dip your toes in, and keep your head above water now and then.  Luckily, I did find several fun things that will have me paddling towards the deep end, as well.

I developed a rubric for use when identifying potential tools to add to the toolbox.  The criterion are concerns that I think are common among K-2 teachers in public schools.  You can see my rubric below, and as you view my Pinterest board, you will see that I have scored each entry according to the rubric guidelines.

My hope is that I will continue to add new tools to my Toolbox that will suit the needs of K-2 graders growing up in our 21 century world.  

*SAMR image is the work of Dr. Ruben Puentendura, Ph.D and can be found on his website http://www.hippasus.com/rrpweblog/

Why do we need to teach digital natives to be good citizens?

     In Kindergarten and first grade, we spend a large portion of our days teaching children how to take turns, not interrupt, share, walk without pushing others out of the way, and how to treat others kindly. We remind them without even thinking about it to say "please", "thank you", and "excuse me" when warranted.  In other words, we are teaching them to be good citizens, who can live and work together in harmony.  At least, that's the goal...

     These informal and formal citizenship lessons have been going on in the schools for decades, but now that we are raising and schooling digital natives, we need to add some digital citizenship instruction to our lesson plans.  Some of the lessons are the same-be polite, treat people with respect,don't talk to strangers, etc., but we need to add on to our basic citizenship plan to address the issues that our increasingly digital society faces.

     The wise and safe usage of social media are among the most important digital citizenship skills that we need to teach as educators of digital natives.  Even small children are getting online-interacting with others on Mom or Dad's Instagram or Twitter, or communicating with other players online through video games.  We need to teach children not to post personally identifying information publicly, not to interact with strangers online, and not to give out their passwords to others, among other things.  Adults and children alike need to learn about oversharing-not every thought should be posted online, and many pictures should be kept private.  Now that encyclopedias have been relegated to the attic, or dusty library shelves, we need to teach students how to find reliable web resources for their reports and projects.

     A dangerous element involving digital citizenship is cyberbullying.  No longer are bullies just like that big guy who waits around the corner to beat you up and steal your lunch money, but now, many children and teens are being bullied online.  Kids are being threatened with violence, having their personal photos leaked, getting their social media hacked into and more.  This is a very real, prevalent issue that will at some point, affect most kids throughout their lives in some way.  A classmate, Marilyn M., of M-Squared Station, and I created a Voice Thread presentation on cyberbullying. Please take a moment to view our Digital Citizenship Action Plan to Combat Bullying below.
If video does not work, please use this link: https://iu.voicethread.com/share/8015765/
     So, while we are teaching our young little friends how to get along with others in the classroom, we will now have the huge responsibility of teaching them how to get along in the digital world, as well.  Hopefully, we can raise up a generation of thoughtful, citizens who use technology wisely.  Just one more reminder of how teachers can change the world!