-F. Sheehan / Education Week and Getty
Posted on January 22, 2024
Theory and Pedagogy that Reflect a Changing World- LPV Chapters 2 & 3
You can probably list many ways how the world has changed since you were a kid. As I reflect back on what it was like growing up and now the biggest change for me was technology. From the first smartphone to virtual reality, technology has changed and shaped the world we now live in.
As a teacher, I am constantly trying to find the balance of embracing the digital world we live in but not letting that take over my classroom. With students having access to various types of technology inside and outside of school, I have asked myself if this balance can be achieved and what are the best ways to use technology in the classroom.
Jean Piaget viewed children as little scientists who were active in creating their own learning. “The ways children interact with technology tools outside of school reflects constructivist learning theories,” (Lisenbee et al, 2020, p.16).
Posted on January 30, 2024
Technology-Influenced Frameworks for Thinking About Literacy Instruction – LPV Chapter 4 & 5
Imagine you are a teacher who needs to plan a literacy lesson to teach a new concept to your student. How would you include and incorporate technology into your lesson? What approach would you take to teach this concept? What materials would be needed? How will you check your student’s understanding of the new concept you just taught?
I think that technology not only has a place in the classroom, but when used efficiently it can enhance learning. I will admit that with technology’s rapid change, it can be hard to keep up with what’s current and new. This can cause added stress on teachers, especially ones who don’t believe that they are tech-savvy.
In Chapter 4 I read about the TPACK model and how this model can help us “understand the complex roles of the teacher in effective technology integration,” (Lisenbee et al, 2020, p.48). Below is a chart I made to organize and understand the different knowledge domains that are a part of the TPACK model.
I’m curious to know your thoughts and opinions on using technology in the classroom! What do you think the role of technology is in the classroom? Are there any specific lessons you taught that you thought were enhanced by technology?
Using Technology to Enhance Reading
I can’t directly link this video but I thought this was very helpful! If you want to copy and paste it to watch. Let me know what you think about it!
https://www.pbs.org/video/using-technology-to-enhance-reading-3lgcfu
Posted on February 7, 2024
Visual Literacies – SK Chapter 3-5
A visual text is any combination of words and images that might come in a variety of formats. Visual literacies have three basic components which are understanding what a visual text is, learning how to read a visual text, and producing a visual text. Schmidt and Kruger-Ross (2022).
Chapter four discusses memes. I don’t know about you, but I love memes. I think they are so funny. Have you ever created your own? What is your favorite meme? I shared three below, but I would love for you to share your favorites with me!
Images provide quick access to a student’s visual literacy skills, Schmidt and Kruger-Ross (2022). Memes combine images with text and can draw meaning from other contexts. I love the idea of using memes in the classroom. I never considered using them with my first graders, but now I am dying to try!
Posted on February 13, 2024
Aural Literacies – SK Ch. 6 – 8
If you’re like me, you might be confused about what aural literacy is. “Aurality is the word we use to describe this type of literacy and includes (but is not limited to) speaking, singing, listening, and hearing,” (Schmidt & Kruger-Ross, 2022, p. 73)
In chapter 7 we learn about audio books. I don’t know about you, but I love listening to audiobooks! It helps me when I am multitasking. If you have any good audiobook suggestions leave a comment below!
As my love for listening to audiobooks rather than reading the paper book grew, I questioned if it was really reading. I love that this chapter highlights the importance of reading with our ears. It also states that this is real reading because we still can engage with the audiobook as we can with a real book. I’m not sure how I would use an audiobook with my students. When I was in kindergarten, we listened to stories during quiet time. It was so soothing! Do you have ideas on how you would use audiobooks with your students?
Lastly, we read about podcasts. I was never able to get into these. Maybe I haven’t found the right one. I did however find this great resource from PBSKids about podcasts! I will share it here for you to look at. Again, I can’t link the website directly, but I will share the direct link for you to copy and paste.
https://www.pbs.org/parents/podcasts
Something that I want to share with everyone that popped into my mind while reading this week’s chapters. Have you heard of the children’s books with lyrics to popular songs? I recently did a performance with my students on one of these books! They absolutely loved it. I’ll share a few below.
Posted on February 19, 2024
Multimodal Literacies
Multi+modal= multimodal
To break this down even more, multi means many, and modal is how something is expressed. If you put the two together you get the term multimodal. Today we will focus on multimodal literacies.
We typically live multimodal lives. You might not have realized it but if you take a moment to look around you, you will probably notice many different multimodal things around you.
You might be wondering why there is a focus on multimodal for teachers to understand and consider and why it is important. Whether you teach young children or high school kids, our students are surrounded by multimodal experiences. In a twenty-first-century classroom, it’s also important that the teacher and students understand what a multimodal text is, how to read it, and how to create it.
I want to know your opinions, thoughts, and ideas on multimodal literacies and using them in the classroom. Do you see the importance? How do you use multimodal literacies in your classroom?
Here is a helpful article I found about guiding students to develop multimodal literacies.
https://www.edutopia.org/article/guiding-students-develop-multimodal-literacy
Posted on March 1, 2024
The Use of Internet in Literacy Instruction
Have you heard of Web 2.0? It was new to me until recently. Web 2.0 refers to the second stage of development of the World Wide Web, characterized by more user-generated content. Web 2.0 can also be called the read, write, web. To take advantage of all the possibilities in a Web 2.0 world people must use the 4 Cs. The 4Cs are critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity.
How would you use the 4 Cs and Web 2.0 in your classroom? With technology and digital media constantly evolving and changing it’s important teachers find ways to integrate them and the skills to use them into their classroom. I’m currently researching how technology can promote creativity in early childhood classrooms. So far I have found many didn’t resources that agree that technology can promote creativity and I have learned about knew ways I can’t wait to incorporate into my own classroom.
Here is another helpful article I read about using digital media to support early learning. Let me know what you think!
I would love to also know your thoughts on digital assessments. I have a love-hate relationship with them. I love how digital assessments can track data and make charts where you can see trends and growth. I do however think that when my students do their assessments on an iPad the results might not be as accurate because they rush through it.
Posted on March 29, 2024
Changing the Learning Environment
“Technology can be a powerful tool for transforming learning,” (Lisenbee et al, 2020, p.116).
Have you heard of or used Seesaw before? My school started using it 4 years ago and I have enjoyed it. It’s an app that you can use in many different ways. You can create student journals, assign digital activities for students, communicate with parents, take pictures of their work and upload it to share, and so much more. Teachers can even search for activities to use with their students that were created by other teachers who use Seesaw. It really is an all-in-one learning platform.
Here is the link to the seesaw website for you to explore some more: https://seesaw.com/
I’d love to know if you’ve used Virtual Reality, VR, in your classroom. Here are some VR websites that you could check out to incorporate VR into your learning environment.
https://www.samrohn.com – provides virtual tours of factories, museums, city buildings, and public spaces.
http://www.airpano.com – provides visuals of locations around the world that can be viewed on a computer
kidworldcitizen.org – provides tours and views of different sites around the world
http://www.google.com/edu/expeditions – provides tours of museums, urban landscapes, and field trip experiences
mnh.si.edu/panorama – a virtual tour of the National Museum of Natural History
No matter what technology you use in your classroom, it’s important that you always use it with intention. The technology and digital tools you include in your lessons should enhance the lesson. Technology that is used with intention can also change the learning environment. Using apps like Seesaw can create an online learning environment for students and families to engage with. When looking at the actual layout of the classroom, teachers need to consider digital tools and technology as well. Something I thought I would add is that one of my classroom jobs is the “technology helper.” This student helps maintain our ipad area by checking to make sure iPad are locked and plugged in. It helps them take responsibility and they learn how to take care of the iPads too!
Posted on April 3, 2024
Digital Reading & Writing
Have you ever used digital books with your students? I love that there are so many resources for me to use if I don’t have a hard copy of a book. I also have found that my students love digital books. A lot of great websites like Vooks and Storyline online bring the pictures to life with animation. Here are some of my favorite places to get digital books. Let me know where you like access books online in the comments!
Vooks – https://www.vooks.com/
Storyline Online – https://storylineonline.net/
Epic! – https://www.getepic.com/
Youtube – https://www.youtube.com/
Digital writing is defined as compositions created with and oftentimes for reading or viewing on a computer or other device that is connected to the internet, (National Writing Project, 2019, p 7). There has been a change from traditional writing with paper and pencil to digital writing. Even state tests have changed from paper-pencil to computer-based writing. To help students with this transition one tip is the use mentor texts and media of different genre and allow your students to engage with it both traditionally and in digital text. These mentor texts will give students opportunities to read, analyze, and see models of good writing. Other great ideas include a digitals writer’s notebook, digital anchor charts, and digital writing workshops.
Another idea mentioned in this week’s reading was to have your students blog. I don’t know how I could actually make that work with my class of first graders, but using a seesaw students could create digital journals where they can comment and interact with each other’s posts.
Have you ever used these ideas or something similar in your class? I’d love to hear your ideas, thoughts, and opinions!
One last resource I wanted to share is an article I found interesting about integrating technology in the classroom.
https://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-guide-implementation
Posted on April 12, 2024
AI in Education
Have you used AI before? I have and I am personally a fan of it. I believe everything should be used when necessary and with a balance. With this being said, AI does have benefits in the class. My favorite is Chat GPT. I love using Chat GPT because it’s simple, quick, and helpful. I can use Chat GPT to create decodable texts for specific spelling patterns or other leveled texts, create rubrics and other assessments, and so much more! The possibilities are endless. Here are some examples of things created from Chat GPT.
I asked ChatGPT to create a story about bugs for a first-grader who is reading above grade level.
In this example, Chat GPT created a writing rubric for me. I didn’t like the first one it generated and I asked it to make specific changes and it did quickly.
This is an example of a quick decodable story focusing on short O.
The last example is a poem created for Earth Day that I could read with my class.
If you haven’t tried using AI before I suggest you at least try it! I think you’d be blown away by everything it can do. I do think it’s important to add that this should be used to enhance lessons and learning. You can’t replace a teacher with AI, but a teacher can use AI to help in the classroom.
I’d love to know how you have used AI in the classroom. Please share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!
Posted on April 18, 2024
Media Literacy and Digital Citizenship
We live in a digital age. With this comes new concepts, skills, and ideas for everyone to learn. From students to teachers, we all have to learn how to embrace and use new technologies that surround us. Something new I just read about is media literacy. Media literacy is the ability to understand the validity and intent behind a piece of media. This can include media used in the classroom such as pictures and videos used in lessons and other text. This can also include media outside the classroom such as social media feeds. Why is teaching media literacy important? In 2019, the Stanford History Education Group share a study and stated that 90% of high school student failed four of six information literacy assessments. The key issues identified from this study where that students struggled to understand exactly what distinguishes standards-based, quality journalism from other forms of information and that they couldn’t identifying what does and doesn’t count as evidence for a claim or differentiating between a high quality, reliable source and a source that is unreliable. As I stated before, we live in a digital age, so it’s concerning to know students are struggling with this. As teachers we can help by teaching media literacy skills to our students.
Teaching digital citizenship is also a vital digital learning skill. With so many different digital platforms and types of technology, our students are surrounded by it in and outside of school.
Here are two charts I found helpful regarding digital citizenship. I liked the first one for adults and older students. The second one would be good to use with younger students. How do you help your students learn digital citizenship skills?
34 responses to “Blog”
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I love your perspective on how technology drives changes in the ways in which we communicate. It is so hard to find just the right balance. I really appreciate your connection between Piaget and the parallel that children do play an active and engaged part in their own learning. I agree, our students demonstrate this in their use of technology tools both inside and outside of our classrooms.
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Great blog post! I love the chart at the bottom with the acronyms and terms explained. As a former fifth grade teacher, I used tech all the time in my classroom and it worked really well. My students were consistently engaged in their class work and they loved sharing the slide shows they created. We also did a webquest, which they enjoyed. It was a fun way for them to explore a topic in social studies. Thanks for sharing!
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Marti, that sounds like a lot of fun! I bet your students enjoyed it and loved having you as their teacher.
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I love your perspective I think that technology is rapidly changing classrooms and the way that teacher teach. I think as teacher using technology to enhance learning not only can further their learning but it also engaging to students.
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I agree, technology can and should play an important role in our classrooms. TPACK can enhance our students’ learning. I love that you included the definitions for this framework…this is very helpful. I especially appreciated that you defined the subsets beyond technology, pedagogy, and content knowledges (TCK, PCK, and TPK). Your chart really helped me to understand the subsets. Thank you!
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I panicked reading your first paragraph. I was asking myself if I incorporate technology correctly in my classroom. I know I am and will use TPACK to better form a lesson plan that incorporates technology.
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Great post! I love memes too, I’m curious how it will go with your 1st graders. Bet they will love them!
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Hey friend! I love the video and the ways in which the technologies address the problems of equity in technological literacy. I also love that it was self-paced, so our learners can engage without pressure–something that can truly inhibit learning.
On memes…I stumbled into using them in class during a senior skip day, and am now the proud owner of a pile of dank Jane Eyre memes…and my kiddos began really enjoying the novel! It’s now a treat that I allow myself at least a couple of times a year as a quick assessment tool. I can tell INSTANTLY if a kid has a grasp of the material, and they can provide me a single image and quick line of text to clarify their point. It’s awesome!
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Wow! I love that idea. It sounds like fun and I bet your students love it. I need to try something with my first graders. I can’t wait to share it on my blog when I do!
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I was really wanting to share some memes with you but could not figure out how to add them.
I love memes sometimes they are so relatable. I think it would be fun day to have our kids create themselves as memes. I am sure there is a meme creator I could download on my iPad.LikeLike
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I would love to see how meme’s could be used in a first grade classroom. I think that they can be used to engage students at all ages! Integrating these visuals may help engage students!
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Okay, the kids books with pop music were excellent. I also really enjoy sharing NPR “Tiny Desk Concerts” with the kids. I usually select clips for them to listen to during our freewrites, or use the music to provoke a reflection during their writing. I love seeing what they’re listening to. The other day, one of my students commented on how much she loves The Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage,” which I found delightful. I loved them when I was in high school too…and there can be some lovely culture building around stories and music.
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I LOVE that your students had the opportunity to change the text of a book into pop song lyrics. How fun! Thank you for this idea! Audiobooks are an incredible tool for our students’ and for us! I used to use Epic! books when teaching kindergarten, but would like to use them more intentionally. I found a great podcast from “The Classroom Nook.” She provides ideas as to incorporate audiobooks for elementary teachers. Here’s her website: https://www.classroomnook.com/blog/using-audio-books-in-the-classroom
Great ideas and thoughts, thank you for these!
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I love the use of the song/books in your classroom. I think for me audio books in the elementary classroom are wide ranged. When we do a read aloud video of a book it something I would consider a audio book for my students. They love to watch/listen to books read from different people besides me all the time!
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Thank you for sharing the song books they look so fun. I think my students will love them. I use audiobooks in a center for listening, students follow along using their linger finger.
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Morgan, I loved reading your post about aural literacies. PBS Kids has great ideas and resources, including podcasts. I’ll listen to the link you shared. And, no, I have not heard of books with lyrics to popular songs. That was interesting to learn more about. Thanks for sharing!
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I liked the article you attached! I think using multimodal literacies in the classroom is very important for students, they are the literacies they are going to be exposed to going forward in their schooling and lives!
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I love your definition of multi as many and modal as being how something is expressed. So in other words, “many expressions.” This really makes sense when thinking about the classroom. So many unique personalities and backgrounds are represented. Thank you for defining multimodal in such a clear way.
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Great point about teachers must know how to use multimodal literacies. It is important for us as leaders to help them understand how to better prepare our students with multimodal literacies.
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Thank you for the article about how digital media can support early learning. I find this especially helpful as a parent. In regard to your question about digital assessments, I too think they have their strengths and limitations. I LOVE how Seesaw is user friendly and allowed me to keep track of my Kindergarten students progress through various activities that I used as assessments. I was able to categorize each activity under specific academic skills and push out the actual activities to their parents….I loved how there were no questions when it came report card time as the parents could see their child’s recording or their digital activity. A printed activity wouldn’t have been able to tell the parent as much information…but in terms of assessment based testing, I agree, it seems that kids can become easily frustrated and bored…resulting in tapping the screen quickly and ignoring the questions.
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Thank you for the graphic of the 4c’s it was helpful on seeing how they build on each other!
Online assessments are something that I believe are helpful and are a struggle in the classroom. Like you said I love that they can be used for data, but I sometimes feel that students rush through the assessments causing the data to not always be accurate.LikeLike
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The 4 C’s are so important. I think collaboration is vital to encourage the other C’s ability. When student are creative it fosters critical thinking, communication, and creativity. We always work better when we are able to bounce our ideas off of others, and so do our students.
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I wish my district paid for SeeSaw but I do not see that happening. I like how it is so teacher and student-friendly. Maybe one day my district will purchase a license for us.
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I love Seesaw! As a teacher, I could assess students and push it out to their parents instantly. Parents appreciated knowing where their students were and they loved pictures and videos of activities we did in class. My students loved online journaling. As a parent, seeing what my kids were working on in school was wonderful. When I asked what they learned about during school, I was able to be more specific thanks to Seesaw…it helped prevent the “nothing” answers! Ha!
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SeeSaw is cool. A school where I worked used it and everyone loved it. Journaling online was engaging for students and an easy way to document learning for parents to see. Teachers used it to keep in touch with parents, too, which kept communication timely and efficient. This is a positive example of how technology changes the learning environment. Thanks for sharing. Great post, Morgan!
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Seesaw is an app that I also use. It can be helpful when posting assignments and activities for students! I have also used it as a way to post video links to read alouds and daily check ins!
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What a wonderful post about digital literacies. Thank you for the list of websites and apps that support classroom teachers and students. I love storyline online, epic books, and Seesaw. I am looking forward to implementing Vooks next year. I love that you have your students’ journal on Seesaw and how wonderful that you are going to have them collaborate and share their entries with each other…you are so creative! This is definitely a 1st-grade version of a blog. Keep us posted on how they respond to each other!
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Great post, Morgan. I appreciate the examples you showed us where you used AI to create differentiated lessons for your students. That’s cool. I think I’m afraid of AI, probably because I don’t understand it yet. But thanks to your encouragement, I’m going to give it a try!
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WOW! Thanks for the examples of how you use ChatGPT in the classroom. I never thought to use it to create decodables or a rubric. How clever! This will save me an immense amount of time and money to create specific themed decodables based on a particular skill. Thank you times a million! Love this post and looking forward to trying it in the classroom!
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I loved how you used chat GPT to create materials for your classroom. I think that it can be helpful with lessoning the struggle of creating and designing materials for the classroom. Teachers are still needed to teach students even with AI, but we can use it to help our teaching!
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I agree, teachers are still needed! AI can only go so far and then the teacher needs to step in.
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I love the charts you posted illustrating digital citizenship, especially the one for younger children. This is so helpful and serves as a reminder for kids in the classroom to visualize the do’s and don’ts of digital citizenship. It is interesting that older students struggle with identifying whether a source is credible. To help our students we must teach media literacy skills. Great post! Thanks!
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I love the chart for children about digital citizenship! It’s clear and colorful and gets the points across in a fun way. Teachers could use this in their classrooms to highlight lessons taught about digital citizenship. Nice post. I enjoyed reading it.
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Teacher Talk with Mrs. Tucker 
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