This week we were asked to reflect on the following:
“Take a moment to consider the
steps you have taken toward meeting the goals you established for learning
about technology and technology resources. • Are you finding the information
and resources you need? • Do you need to modify your action plan? •
What have you learned so far? • What new questions have arisen.”
First, my two goals:
•
I will find a tool that will allow students to determine their specific
learning style and then use it to focus individually on the students as they
are working with assigned activities.
• I will begin to work with Edmodo and
determine is usefulness in comparison to the Wikispace I already use to share
classroom information and notes.
At this point, my
first goal (specific learning styles) has fallen to the wayside. I was unable to locate much information, or
time to implement it. At certain points
teachers have to cut their losses, realize what will work and what will not,
and try again when things slow down a little (maybe Summer?- Ha!).
Edmodo has been my focus. I currently have my files and such linked to
my wikispace, but I have found that a few teachers are also using my
stuff. Which, I am okay with but they
have NOT asked for my permission. I only know they are using it because parents
will make comments of “oh, my son’s teachers said he was going to love you and
that she uses some of your handouts from your website!” These are not teachers at my school; these
are teachers from filter schools and other schools outside the district. Edmodo will allow me to monitor who is seeing
my documents. This was something I found
out this week – document sharing.
I also was able to
spend some time with Edmodo yesterday and I almost have it set up for my
students. I have spoken with a few
teachers and they recommend not allowing student commenting at the
beginning. This last for a few days/a
week and then speak with the students about proper usage of communication. I will follow through with this.
Finally, I still have
students that say, “what did I miss while I was out?” I found that because students did not have to
sign-up for my wikispace that they continue to ‘forget’ that I have it. (How?
I am not sure. I have signs posted
my room and mention it once or twice a week.)
If I begin to post assignments through Edmodo, they will HAVE to sign in
and see what is going on – as well as work on the assignment.
I plan to give the
student the assignment on Monday to sign up for Edmodo, put in my code, and
then work from there. My biggest question
right now is dealing with parents – and how their access will be changed. They will need to set up an account as well
and I am currently working on this. Has
anyone else worked with parent access?
Danielle
Danielle,
ReplyDeleteOne of my goals has also been to work with and utilize Edmodo in my classroom. I have the same frustration of kids seemingly forgetting I have a blog were I post assignments, etc. no matter how many times I talk about it in class. I also then like the idea that when I post an assignment on Edomodo, students have to check it to find out what is going on. I also ran into the problem with getting parents signed up, unfortunately, the colleague that I have been collaborating with who already uses Edmodo, does not have it set up for parents as it was, “too much work to bother with at this moment.” So I cannot be much help there. If you come up with any good ideas, let me know, I would be interested.
And sorry to hear your other goal fell the wayside, but keep your head up. Like you said, maybe that is something for the summer :)
Mark
Mark,
DeleteI agree with the "too much work to bother with a this moment" comment. I think I am going to do it with my kids until Christmas and then send out an email with parent directions at the beginning of the year.
As I told Emily below, a colleague of mine gives a policy and procedure quiz at the beginning of the year. I believe I might do this in a few weeks - once I have a few 'daily policy/procedure reviews.'
Danielle
Danielle!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post on Edmodo. This is a goal of mine as well and actually I'm glad you mentioned in your post about not allowing communication for a couple of days for the students. This is great because I often worried about the students and making appropriate posts. I would like some time to discuss this with the students as well as it is really important and need to be reminded for what its purpose is and why it is used! :)
I'm trying to figure out how I can incorporate more of the class website into my classroom as well because I run into the same issue with my students forgetting where they can find assignments or posts I have made in regards to what we are doing in class.
As far as getting parents set up, if you have a lot of parental involvement in your school, it might be beneficial to host a time in your class after school where you can instruct parents on how to access the site. Or sending out a mass email with information on how to get set up - although it might be likely they will just delete it as "out of sight, out of mind" maybe? I'm not quite sure. I haven't used the parent feature to Edmodo so I am not sure how much it entails with getting parents set up.
One of my goals also fell by the wayside. I think it is okay - it's what you make of the situation and maybe this summer will be another opportunity to try it again! I know me personally, I just don't have enough time in the day to do everything I want to do! :)
Good luck with your goals! It sounds like you are making progress. I love your posts on Edmodo and will keep checking in with you because this is something I want to get up and running, and used in my everyday teaching practices.
Thanks Danielle!
-Emily
Emily,
DeleteI actually was in a meeting with a colleague the other day and I mentioned how much student tend to forget about the website. She said she actually tests her kids over the policy and procedures in her classroom at the beginning of the year! Now that we are coming back from a break I think I am going to give Edmodo a week or so and then give a classroom policy and procedure quiz to see how the students are doing. This next week will be a good review for many students.
Danielle
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ReplyDeleteDanielle --
ReplyDeleteI have been using Edmodo in my 9th and 10th grade English classes, but just for a couple of weeks. I have some thoughts, and they are just that -- thoughts! I hope you can maybe benefit from them.
Anyway, we have a school website upon which I post my class assignments and provide links for websites or handouts from my classes. I expect students who have missed class, or forgotten what the assignment is, to access this information from the school website.
However, my first impression of Edmodo is that it is going to provide a different kind of communication tool for my students and me, other than to post assignments. I am going to use it more as a discussion/blogging tool. For example, for my media literacy unit in 10th grade, I had students post what they feel is an 'upside' and a 'downside' of living in a digital world. They then had to post replies (similar to what we do at Walden) to at least two of their classmates, either asking a question or furthering the discussion somehow. It was SO great -- I can't tell you how much we all enjoyed the discussion online.
Yes, I did go over proper communication on a blog, and gave all the warnings, and I do have my Edmodo set up to monitor all blogs before posting. But I will never regret having them jump right in and start posting right away. It was educationally sound, and very motivating for the students.
Now that we are registered, and everyone is posting, I will provide a topic or assignment every Monday and require that students post and reply by that Friday. My posts will align with what we are doing in class, and hopefully encourage them to have deeper, more meaningful conversations about our classwork, and best of all, do all of that while using technology! Thanks for your post! Mary
Danielle,
ReplyDeleteYour issues with other teachers using your handouts without permission falls squarely into one of my GAME goals, that of teaching digital citizenship to my students. While I don't advocate singling out your colleagues to students, you may want to consider turning this issue into a teachable moment for your students. By pointing out how others may be taking advantage of your work without permission and how that has affected you, you could help students realize that they must give proper credit for their own research. I think a real life example would give a lot more credence to what we are always telling them. Think about it!