"Students use the technology to learn, meet, play, and socialize in interconnected ways that afford them real opportunities to make learning replicate real life; these social network tools can quickly become part of their learning experience and are rarely far from the student’s reach." (Garland & Tadeja, 2013)
The following sections are ways to promote digital communication and collaboration in the classroom.
The following sections are ways to promote digital communication and collaboration in the classroom.
A Different Way to Brain Storm
Graphic organizers are nothing new. They are seen in text books, produced on posters, and taught in elementary school as a useful way to organize thoughts or information. A great way to make brain storming maps or thinking maps more interactive is to use digital platforms like bubbl.us/
![]() Here students can create their own bubble maps or thinking maps digitally rather than on paper.
Pros- -Legibility. Students don't run out of rooms when they are creating their maps and the lines are straight and easier to follow their thinking than if they were to create it on paper. This is especially important when in elementary grade levels. Usually the graphic organizers provided in practice books are too small to write on and their writing is often too big. This takes that out of the equation. -Color. Not only is using color visually appealing, but it has a purpose. Students can collaborate on on map using a different color to identify themselves or working individually they can categories their thinking by color. -Free. Although that does mean you are limited to how many thinking maps you use. On the bright side to pay to use this is relevantly cheap and there may be a discount if you are a teacher or school purchasing it. -No sign up required. If you want to by pass the sign in you can however be aware that if you do so it will not allow you to save content. This is a pro however if you are an elementary teacher and want to save yourself the time and hassle of trying to get your students to create accounts and sign in. Cons- -Time.This does take some time to teach to the students how to use, although once the basics are taught they take off with it. -Placement of bubbles. Because you can move the bubbles anywhere you want, I have found that some students will spend quite of lot of time moving, and then removing where they want to place their information to the point where not a lot gets done. It's a small con, just be aware that this may happen. |
Lesson Plan IdeasAnytime there is a thinking map required for students to produce Bubbl.us is a great tool to use.
Here are some examples : Language Arts- Mapping out character traits Beginning, Middle, and End for narrative reading and writing Main topic and key details for informational reading and writing Vocabulary: word, definition, used in sentence, part of speech, synonym and antonym Writing- Timelines for informational summaries Collaboratively working on a story different color for section of the book with each person responsible for one section. Science- Food Webs Flow charts such as the water cycle or for classifying animals Here is an example for a lesson on the rain forest using Bubbl.us /C:/Users/gagal/Downloads/Lesson%20Plan%20for%20Bubbl.us.pdf How to useCheck out this quick tutorial video on how to use Bubbl.us
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Collaborate with sticky notes and a bulletin board- digitally
How to use
Padlet padlet.com/ is an application that mimics a bulletin board where students can post to answer teacher selected topics or can create their own board to show their wealth of knowledge on a topic.
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![Picture](/uploads/1/0/2/8/102860404/editor/padlet.jpg?1504741565)
Pros-
-Price. t is free to use. Although if you want a teacher account or a school account it does have pricing for that. Creating a teacher account is as low as $12 a month and that is for unlimited students. padlet.com/premium/backpack
It's interactive- Students love to see what people are posting on the board and it the grid is not being used they can move the padlet sticky notes around to group them.
More than one person can work on it at a time- which makes this a great collaborative tool to use in the classroom.
Easy to use and customization- which appeals to students. Teachers can create a wall for students to answer questions to or post and download content on or they can create there own and make it theirs.
Share- Students can also easily share their wall with others in the class or outside of it, depending on what the assignment entails. For example an interest board shared with students in another country to see the similarities and differences on what students their ages like would be a great way to use padlet to share and create cultures and ideas.
Con-
No control in what the students post- The first time I used it in class for a cause and effect lesson I had some students that would put some inappropriate comments on it. As a result I had them delete what they had said. This is were teaching netiquette would work in nicely as a lesson though, to teach students that what you post and say online can stay with you and have a negative effect.
-Price. t is free to use. Although if you want a teacher account or a school account it does have pricing for that. Creating a teacher account is as low as $12 a month and that is for unlimited students. padlet.com/premium/backpack
It's interactive- Students love to see what people are posting on the board and it the grid is not being used they can move the padlet sticky notes around to group them.
More than one person can work on it at a time- which makes this a great collaborative tool to use in the classroom.
Easy to use and customization- which appeals to students. Teachers can create a wall for students to answer questions to or post and download content on or they can create there own and make it theirs.
Share- Students can also easily share their wall with others in the class or outside of it, depending on what the assignment entails. For example an interest board shared with students in another country to see the similarities and differences on what students their ages like would be a great way to use padlet to share and create cultures and ideas.
Con-
No control in what the students post- The first time I used it in class for a cause and effect lesson I had some students that would put some inappropriate comments on it. As a result I had them delete what they had said. This is were teaching netiquette would work in nicely as a lesson though, to teach students that what you post and say online can stay with you and have a negative effect.
Lesson Plan Ideas
Like using an idea board at home or in the office setting, students have access to a digital idea board in the classroom.
Language Arts-
Students can use this tech tool as a design board or a story telling board to conceptualize the beginning, middle, and end.
Social Studies-
As mentioned above create an interest board or a cultural board and share it with classmates and peers globally for others to add what they are interested in across the globe.
Math-
I do sticky note math in the classroom where a group has to solve a word problem and write down their answer and the way they solved it on a sticky note. Then they put it on a sheet of paper and pick as a team the best answer. To save on paper why not use padlet!
For more ideas on using padlet in the classroom check out the links below
www.educationworld.com/a_tech/using-padlet-in-the-classroom.shtml
ditchthattextbook.com/2014/11/03/20-useful-ways-to-use-padlet-in-class-now/
Language Arts-
Students can use this tech tool as a design board or a story telling board to conceptualize the beginning, middle, and end.
Social Studies-
As mentioned above create an interest board or a cultural board and share it with classmates and peers globally for others to add what they are interested in across the globe.
Math-
I do sticky note math in the classroom where a group has to solve a word problem and write down their answer and the way they solved it on a sticky note. Then they put it on a sheet of paper and pick as a team the best answer. To save on paper why not use padlet!
For more ideas on using padlet in the classroom check out the links below
www.educationworld.com/a_tech/using-padlet-in-the-classroom.shtml
ditchthattextbook.com/2014/11/03/20-useful-ways-to-use-padlet-in-class-now/
A digital classroom inside a traditional one
One of the best things that I have used in my classroom is Google Classroom classroom.google.com Here I can post assignments, announcements, or questions for student responses. It allows me to keep track of assignments, grades, and accountability of student work being completed. Parents can also get on board to see what their student is doing in school. The best thing is they can also do this at home, so then it becomes a classroom outside of a classroom as well.
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Pros-Everything is easy to find! You can label topics so that if all you want to examine is the students work in writing you can click on that topic and it will show you the assignments you gave.
Grading- You can grade assignments and give them back to students with comments and feedback. It is also an easy way to see at a glance who has completed an assignment because it separates them into turned in and not done assignments. For students it also tells them when they are late in turning in an assignment too! Parents- Parents can be invited to share the classroom where they have access to student work and can see if there child has completed assignments or are late/ missing them. Self saving- Especially in elementary grades it is awesome when work is saved without having to remind the kids to do so. Using google classroom allows you to use all things google (docs, slides, forms, etc) which means that work is never lost. It is saved on the students google drive. |
Lesson Plans IdeasMath- When in the classroom I put everything done under a specific topic. -Under math I tried to create an interactive notebook for my students with math, where it is a digital dictionary of math terminology that they create and have to give a definition and example on a google slide.
-Also I have uploaded nearpod presentations on the classroom so students can link in that way. Language Arts- -Quizzes I made from google forms from stories we are going over in class. -Uploading e-readers Writing- -I use Time For Kids articles in the class. When the students have read it, reread it, then they have a graphic organizer to fill out that helps with writing a summary with the facts. After that it's a rough draft, peer editing, and then finally the final paper in google classroom. They type it up in the classroom, I grade it with comments and correction marks if needed and then they have a second opportunity to correct even that. - Creating google slides for research papers Other resources using google classroom or a combination of the other resources: www.commonsense.org/education/app/google-classroom/flows Con-Need a google account- I am fortunate enough to have a 1-1 computer access in my classroom, where every student have a Chromebook. My school district has created google accounts for every student and teacher so it is really easy for me to get my students in the classroom. However if they do not have an account you have to create one which is time consuming especially since you have to make one they will remember and with as little information about them as possible so that their identity is safe still while they are online.
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Reference
Garland, V. & Tadeja, C. (2013). Educational leadership and technology: Preparing school administrators for a digital age. New York NY: Routledge. Retrieved from http://www.gcumedia.com/digital-resources/taylor-and-francis-inc/2013/educational-leadership-and-technology_preparing-school-administrators-for-a-digital-age_ebook_1e.php