NOW Classrooms, Grades 3-5 - Meg Ormiston

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select a learning management system for consistency across the district. One free option that needs a little more explanation is Google Classroom (https://classroom.google.com). Google Classroom is a cross between a document management system and a learning management system. It does not contain all the features of an LMS, but it is a great way to get started with managing a digital classroom. Imagine a whole new world without a stack of papers to grade in which every assignment submitted gets organized and recorded in digital folders. Start your LMS search with your trusted colleagues, and soon, you will manage your class digitally.

      We can’t imagine teaching without an LMS. If the LMS changed for whatever reason, we would easily adapt to the new features of the next system, but we can’t imagine ever going back to a paper-based system. With a paper system, it is easier to misfile documents, it is harder to communicate with other collaborators, and it makes it more difficult for students to collaborate with one another. Please reach out to your technology department for specific help, or we are always happy to support your personal professional development when you connect with us on Twitter.

       Student Privacy and Internet Use Policies

      In many of the lessons, you will see students share their work beyond classroom walls. This connection to the outside world is an important one. As educators, we make it our goal to prepare students for the world beyond the classroom, and they live in a connected world. We mention publishing student work online throughout the book, but before you start tweeting pictures or sharing student work online, make sure you understand your school’s and district’s policies for sharing information on social media. Talk to your administrator, and ensure that you understand what you can and can’t share online. In addition to staying mindful of school and district policy, you should familiarize yourself with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 before you have students publicly share their work.

       Assessment

      Designing effective assessments for student-created digital projects is a process of providing specific feedback throughout the creation process, not just at the end with a letter grade. This team of authors has discovered that short formative assessment checkpoints as students are collaborating and creating projects is the best way to help students better understand the curriculum as well as the technology tools. Feedback might come from the teacher, another student, or another classroom across the globe.

      This author team believes in creative assessments that include planning before the project about what will be assessed based on the learning outcome. Regardless of the technology tool, app, or website, the assessment feedback must stay laser focused on the specific I can statements in each lesson. For example, the assessment feedback should not be about how many transitions are in a PowerPoint presentation. Instead, the feedback should be focused on the mastery of the content connected to the learning objective. Creating digital student projects, artifacts, and examples is part of almost every lesson in the book, with each project demonstrating a mastery of content.

      We encourage students to organize the projects they create during the year in a digital portfolio. A simple way to get started is by using a Google Doc. Students can create a hyperdoc, in other words, one document with hyperlinks out to the digital projects they have created. This hyperdoc becomes the evidence of completion and growth over time. Another way students participate in the assessment process is when they build their digital portfolio on a website like Seesaw (http://web.seesaw.me). A more advanced digital portfolio could be created using the free Google Sites, a simple-to-create, template-driven website that can be shared publically.

      We want to put in your hands great ways to use technology across a curriculum. We have written about how we avoid technology abuse in our classrooms. We offer lessons structured around communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity, with higher-level thinking and problem solving connected to the learning outcome for every lesson.

      We made it our goal to create a practical, reader-friendly book, blog, Twitter hashtag, and website (http://nowclassrooms.com) for the teacher using technology in the classroom. We created our own personal learning network (PLN) as we collaborated on this book, helping each other keep the focus on teaching and learning first and then matching the right technology to the goals. Visit our blog at http://nowclassrooms.com/blog, where we will provide images of student work and continue to add new project ideas, or join our PLN on Twitter at #NOWClassrooms, where we will also post these. We invite you to take a moment to use the hashtag #NOWClassrooms to post about your experiences implementing lessons from this book in your classroom. We love to see and hear what classrooms around the world are doing!

       UNDERSTANDING HASHTAGS

      Hashtags can organize groups around topics of interest. They begin with what you may know as a pound sign. For example, our writing team’s hashtag is #NOWClassrooms. We know that the tools and apps will change, so we will provide updates to our readers using our blog and website using the #NOWClassrooms hashtag. If you want to keep up with our research and activities, you should follow the hashtag on Facebook and Twitter.

       CONNECT WITH US ON TWITTER

       Meg Ormiston:

      @megormi

       Sheri DeCarlo:

      @d60MaerckerTech and

      @sdecarlo20

       Sonya Raymond:

      @sonray10

       Grace Kowalski:

      @TeamKowalski

       Justin Gonzalez:

      @Mr_JGonzalez

      We don’t know specifically what jobs we are preparing our students for, but we know they need the four Cs we have woven throughout the book. We are excited to see the projects your students create, and your success is our success. Have fun on your journey!

      CHAPTER

      1

      Embracing Creativity

      Preparing students for jobs that have not yet been created, let alone thought about, stands as a monstrous task for any educator. ISTE (2016) Standards for Students encourage all learners to be creative communicators, innovative designers, and computational thinkers. Throughout this chapter, these standards guide the lessons to assist students to create and publish projects in a variety of different ways. This involves creating a classroom in which problem solving and critical thinking remain at the forefront. Throughout the book, you will hear us talk about student voice and choice that allows student decision making throughout the creative process.

      Lessons in this chapter focus on deepening students’ creativity and innovation skills through a range of tasks—from simply recording their voices to developing skills in multimedia creation, regardless of device. According to Michael Hernandez (2015):

      Multimedia stories are fun challenges for your students and empower them to share their ideas and concerns with the wider world. We owe them the opportunity to become multimedia literate and to develop the courage it takes to have an impact on society.

      This chapter will provide teachers with tools to give students the power to create their ideas for others to see. We share lessons that combine student interest and creativity that will engage and excite teachers and students alike. The lessons in this chapter cover the tasks of working with digital images, creating video projects, working with audio, and creating meaningful multimedia projects. For information about the tools we mention in these lessons, and for clarity on technology terms you may encounter in this chapter, see the appendix

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