New Third Grade Webmix

I made a Symbaloo for my class this week. I chose an animal research webmix since my students are working on writing animal reports. I also included a how to video and examples of iMovie trailers so my students could get excited about our upcoming project. I will share the Symbaloo with my students using a QR code.

Third Grade Animal Research Symbaloo

How To Make An iMovie Trailer

Reflection on Strengths and Weaknesses (ISTE-T 2)

Before I started this class, I thought I did a fairly decent job of designing digital age learning experiences. Now I know I still need a lot of work, but I can identify my strengths and weaknesses regarding ISTE-T Standard 2. I think that I could use some work in all areas, but I would rank subcategory C as my strongest. I work very hard to offer various levels of each of the projects I assign for my students. Some of my students need much more scaffolding and modifications than others to get to the level of understanding needed to complete the projects. Some need accessibility options like dictation so that they can spend more time sharing content knowledge than typing their ideas. I also think I do a good job providing students varied formative and summative assessments (subcategory d).  I use observations, exit tickets, whiteboards, assessments, student feedback, etc. to guide my teaching daily. There have been many instances that I have gone another direction with a lesson because I realized that it wasn’t meeting the needs of my students (based on formative assessments). I use summative assessments at the end of units to guide future lessons and reflect on my teaching. I try to use digital projects as my summative assessments because they cover many standards and the students are much more motivated to complete a project rather than a “test.” I could still work on insuring that my projects reach the Redefinition level of the SAMR model.  The subcategory I feel weakest in is b. I would love to spend more time enabling students to pursue their individual curiosities (I am a huge fan of the emergent learning model), but I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around how to give students the freedom to pursue their interests, while also meeting required standards and time constraints. I also struggle with consistently giving students feedback regarding their progress towards goals. I know that this is extremely important, but I often run out of time in the day/s.