gamification
[ˌɡāmifəˈkāSHən] NOUN gamification (noun)
I am not a gamer. I don't really like video games and I didn't grow up playing them a whole lot. We did have a game boy and I would play xbox with friends when at their house. I was never good at it and I didn't necessarily want to be good at it either. I died a lot and I got over it real fast. The games I did like were board games, video games like Mario cart on the wii and things like that and I am still the same way now. I have used gamification in my classroom through kahoot mainly. This is the main game that I use for quizzing students because it is fun and students LOVE it. Other ways I apply games is through the math curriculum. There are tons of games that we are required to teach students because of the district. However, I have noticed that students typically love them and enjoy learning with them. I don't force them to use perfect math vocabulary like the program wants you too. Instead I make sure they know the rules, understand the point of it, and let them practice their skills with the games. I have never had issues other than noise level, which doesn't upset me. They love the games and you can hear a "oh yeah!" from across the room because their strategy worked. I believe my roll as a teacher is to make learning accessible, fun, and meaningful. What I present to students on a daily basis can either keep their attention and they will most likely learn or it can be boring and they probably won't learn. I want my students to enjoy what happens in class. I want them to be intrigued and want to grow. Gamification in whatever form is a great way to do that, whether it is through games on computers or through games on paper with manipulatives. Either way, "gamification is exciting because it promises to make the hard stuff in life fun".
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When I was looking for tools to use, my first thoughts were that I wanted a tool that I could write on the screen and talk at the same time. That seemed to be the easiest way to create the videos. I thought it would be like teaching and modeling. I browsed several of the options but I ended up using educreations.com.
When I first started using it I thought it would be easy, it looked easy at least. However I wanted to use a stylist pen on my husbands surface but the website wouldn't let me use that. It wouldn't even let me use my finger to draw while I recorded. I had to use the mouse pad and I don't like how it looks in the video. If the stylist pen would work, I would use this program again and again. It was easy, click create new and a blank screen pops up and you can draw and talk at the same time. I love the idea. I am going to try again (and have my husband play with it) to see if I can get the pen to work. It would make the videos nicer and I could do more to the video. I love the idea of recording short videos, especially for math, where I could show how to use a strategy and have the video available for students to always go back to if needed. I am not the most artistic person so I Feel like my videos will be pretty basic and literally be to show exactly what students need to do. I don't see myself ever being that person who does the awesome drawing videos to explain things, but I can see myself using this tool in the future. Addition Algorithm - Rounding Strategy Video Google forms are great for quick quizzes or check ins. They can also be used for student surveys to get feedback on lessons or activities. I used a google form for my research for my final capstone project. I asked students questions about our lessons and which activities were the most useful for them writing a narrative. I did this before knowing about the add-ons, however I got great info from this survey. Their responses are shown below. After seeing their responses I feel like my students enjoyed our lessons and planning out their narratives. After reading their final narratives, I feel as if the process and activities really helped them develop their writing.
Here is the survey Narrative Writing Here are links to some google forms that I created trying to use additional add ons.
Multiplication quiz Google Form 1 Writing a narrative Google Form 2 Fractions with choice eliminator Google Form 3 The cool tool I used was adobe spark. I have never used it before and we will have too for our book review presentation. So the answers to the questions about are in this presentation below... click click!
What is social media and how can it be used in the classroom? I believe social media is a great tool to use to reach out to the community and the world around us to gather ideas and inspire one another. I have been wanting to incorporate it into my own classroom to have a platform for parents to see what is happening inside my classroom, but due to maternity leave I have pushed it off for another year. I am very active on Instagram and follow a few teachers who use their teacher accounts as a blog for parents and teachers to see what is happening. I love it. It is an easy tool and I am all about pictures! However, legal issues make me nervous and because I have pushed it off for another year. I haven't looked into the legal aspect of it or talked with my principal yet. (Plus now we are getting a new principal... so we will see for next year.)
If I saw an inappropriate comment on social media by a student I would bring it to the attention of my principal and go from there. Social media can make people, but if they are not careful it can also destroy people's lives depending on what they post. It is important that students learn this information and understand that what goes online can always be brought back up if the right people are looking. If a young athlete is wanting to make it to the pros, social media is a great tool to gain popularity and show their skills. However, pro teams today do not want drama. They want athletes who will boost their brand and win games. I believe that as teachers if we come across inappropriate content on social media it should be part of our duty to address it, whether getting help from a peer, principal, or simply talking with students themselves if you already have a connection with them. Storyboardthat.com is the tool I have been exploring to help my students visualize and develop their narrative writings. When Brenna Curtis first mentioned it to me, I will be honest I was skeptical. Then I created an account and started exploring it myself. The skepticism only grew, SO many options for kids to choose from, so many buttons to play with. I was really nervous my third graders were just going to spend hours messing around and never actually create a really story.
I was ready to give up, but since my teacher suggested it I knew I had to at least try it. The first step I took to implementing it into the classroom was simply letting the kids play with it. We created accounts for everyone... which took a while But I gave them a generic username (firstandlastname) and everyone used the same password. Set up was a success. I modeled how to use the basic buttons and how to move things around (what I could figure out before giving it to them). Next I gave them thirty minutes to literally play with the tool. They taught me more than when I tried to play with it myself. We learned what worked on the free account and what didn't work, which helped me plan for future lessons. I have since then gone back in and learned that things we thought didn't work actually does work, like adding boxes to make the story longer. After this first initial play with the tool, I gave my students a writing prompt and set them off in workshops where they were to stay on task and create a storyboard that went along with the narrative writing prompt. I was shocked, EVERY student was on task and their storyboards went along with the prompt. They then posted their storyboard as a comment on an assignment on our google classroom (another tool that I am learning how to use). Now that my students have had the chance to play and create a small storyboard. I am using the tool for them to create an entire narrative from beginning to end, using up to eight boxes (parts of the story). I am not giving them a writing prompt for this story, they will create their own. I am also incorporating student collaboration. After they post their storyboards into our google classroom they will be sharing their boards with a partner to get feedback before going into their writing journal to write out their stories. I will be interested to see if this helps students develop their writing better, as this is what I have been struggling to get them to do. Personally, I have not taught specific lessons on digital citizenship. Technology in my classroom up until this point is very monitored and structured to where students are not allowed to do whatever they want on their devices. I teach third grade and I know digital citizenship is important to teach and I know it should be embedded into my teaching. However, I am still figuring it out myself and have not had the time to explore resources such as common sense media, up until this class. As I explore technology more and more to use in my classroom, digital citizenship lessons is definitely something I plan on embedding into my lessons in the coming school years. I love using technology (let's be real when it works) and the little that I have used, I can see my students are definitely more engaged. I have always had the normal talk of what programs students are allowed to use and what happens if students do not follow the "rules" of technology. I have not had to go beyond having a quick talk about it. In third grade students are excited to just use what you allow them to use and if they ask to use a program and you say no, that is typically the end of the discussion. As I plan for the next school year, I will be looking more into common sense media and either using their lessons or creating some of my own to start having students take ownership of their digital citizenship starting in third grade. It's never too early to have ownership of yourself in any form of life.
Digital Communications
Third Grade 30 Minutes Internet research safety for writing an informational essay IntroductionVideo: https://www.commonsense.org/education/videos/my-online-neighborhood Standards:
Purpose Statement: For students to understand how to use the internet safely and begin learning to do research using a kid friendly search engine, kidrex.org. Objectives: Students will learn to search the internet to find information needed for a research essay. Your Hook/Relevance (anticipatory set): Introduction video, linked above from commonsense.org DETAILED Outline of Lesson
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