ISTE Standard #3: Model digital age work and learning
Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society.
Indicator c. Communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital age media and formats
Description
There are three tools that I have used daily in my classroom during my teaching career that have served as a means to communicate information and ideas to students, parents and peers. These tools are Seesaw, Facebook and Smore. Through this course I have also determined a new digital age format to communicate using a Learning Management System known as Edmodo. Together, all four of these tools serve as a means to communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers.
Analysis
I selected Seesaw as a digital format to showcase how I communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers. I use Seesaw to communicate information and ideas with students in multiple ways. The first is though Seesaw's Skills feature. This feature allows me to communicate individual student standard based grades for each individual standard. Each student can click on an assignment and instantly view their grade and/or feedback. I use this feature to assign grades but I can also provide feedback in real time. I can ask students to meet with me for further instruction or provide additional practice. The possibilities are endless and it all occurs in real time.
Evidence #1
This piece of evidence displays the "teacher view" of the Skills feature of Seesaw. I cropped out student names that would be seen on the left of the screen. The standards are listed across the top of the image. Beside each student's name is their performance on the standard. The colors represent final proficiency. Red states limited understanding or no evidence of understanding. Yellow represents student may be proficient with the skill but with assistance or partial understanding and green represents proficiency of the skill. The numbers inside of each box represent the "attempts" for that standard. I selected this piece of evidence because it shows how I use Seesaw as a form of digital media to communicate academic performance with my entire class and their families. This piece of evidence meets the indicator because Seesaw is a digital tool that allows me to communicate academic performance with students on all standards.
Evidence #2
This piece of evidence shows how I communicate grades and feedback using Seesaw from a student's perspective. As you can see the assignment is uploaded and I have assigned the standard and 3 stars. This feedback was instant after the assignment upload. This evidence was chosen because it shows the student's viewpoint of my interaction using Seesaw. This evidence addresses the indicator because it displays how I used Seesaw as the digital media to share student performance information with individual students.
Another way that I communicate relevant information with students, families and peers is though social media. I use two types of social media in my classroom. I use both a classroom Twitter and classroom Facebook page daily.
Evidence #3
This is a screenshot from my classroom Facebook Page. The images display my students voting to pass a bill that was written by classmates. We used my classroom Facebook page to monitor the votes from all other classrooms to see which bill would be selected for the entire grade to present to our building principal. We used my classroom Facebook page to communicate with the other classes and monitor the votes. The students loved monitoring Facebook and watching the votes roll in. I selected this piece of evidence because it shows how I use the media tool of Facebook to share information with my students. This piece of evidence also matches the indicator because I used Facebook as a form of digital media to share important information with my students.
Evidence #4
This is a screenshot from my classroom Facebook page. I selected to screenshot an image of an announcement I shared with my families. At least one family member from all twenty-eight families in my classroom have joined my classroom Facebook page. I post updates and announcements about upcoming events both inside and outside of our classroom almost daily. I selected this evidence because it displays how I use Facebook to connect with families. This piece of evidence also matches the indicator because Facebook is a type of digital media that I use to share information with families.
Evidence #5
Evidence piece #5 is a screenshot of a video that I posted on my classroom Facebook page. In the summer of 2017, I attended the Kagan Cooperative Learning Institute with my building principal and one other staff member. By attending the Institute, there was an expectation to share the knowledge gained with other staff members. The majority of staff members already followed my classroom Facebook page but, those who didn't were invited to like the page for videos and photos of the Kagan Structures in action. Facebook served as a great tool to share the structures and then hold conversations with peers to help them use the Kagan Structures in their own classrooms. I received a lot of positive feedback from my peers by using Facebook to share videos and images for my peers to view on their own time. One of my peers even showed her classroom the videos to teach them how to use the structures. I selected this piece of evidence because it captures one way of sharing new information with my peers. This piece of evidence also matches the indicator because I used Facebook as a form of digital media to share new information with my peers.
Evidence #6
Evidence #6 is my weekly newsletter that I create and share using Smore. Each week, I share academic "happenings" in the classroom for each subject. I also share upcoming events, reminders and initiatives in the classroom. I update and share the Smore every Friday. I share the Smore via Facebook, Twitter and Email. I send the Smore via email to families, students and my grade level teammates. This allows me to reach students, families and peers all with one form of digital media. I selected this piece of evidence because it is a type of digital media that I use every week. It is user and reader friendly. I have almost fifty viewers every week so, I know that the information is reaching students, families and peers every week. Evidence #6 meets the indicators because Smore is a type of digital media that allows me to share relevant information with students, families and peers all with the same tool.
Evidence #7
Link to Edmodo: https://www.edmodo.com/home#
The final piece of evidence that I have included is a screenshot of Edmodo that I plan to use as a learning management system in my classroom next year. I included this as a piece of evidence because I plan to use Edmodo to communicate information with students, families and peers. I plan to share the Edmodo with all students and place daily station rotations and assignments within the LMS. I also plan to connect parents so they can view individual student progress in the LMS. I also plan to speak with my grade level peers to create an Edmodo for the grade level to share. I believe this could help with the sharing of ideas and collaboration. I selected this piece of evidence because I have discovered Learning Management Systems, such as Edmodo, to be a very beneficial tool in sharing information with students, families and peers. This piece of evidence matches the indicator because Edmodo is unique digital tool that will allow me to share information with students, families and peers. I look forward to implementing this tool into my classroom this fall.
Reflection
Upon completion of this entry, I have enjoyed the opportunity to reflect on my current processes of sharing information with students, families and peers using various forms of digital media. I found a great strengths of this reflection to be the variety of media tools that I currently using. Seesaw, Facebook and Smore are very different types of digital media tools. I find that each type of media helped me develop a new tech skill while also appealing to various types of students, families and peers. I like to think that I use a communication tool that appeals to everyone. With that said, this entry has also helped realize a great weakness in my classroom. I use Seesaw and Facebook to communication information with parents and peers mostly. I really need to increase the way that I share information with students digitally. I share information with students face to face everyday but, I need to improve their digital information reception. This weakness is why I selected to use Edmodo in this entry. Through my journey in this course, I have learned the power of a strong learning management system used in the classroom. A learning management system allows students to review information at their own pace while also review expectations as much as desired. So, I am thankful for this entry to help me realize that I need to share information with students using a greater variety of digital media. I am excited to try Edmodo as the learning management system to add another type of digital media to share information with students, families and peers.
