Lesson: For this
project-based learning experience, students will start a recycling area in
their home for two weeks.They will
explain why it is important to recycling to their family.Students are to create a PowerPoint
presentation with photos and present it to the class.
Objective: After
this lesson, students will be able to describe the importance of
recycling.
Project-Based
Learning: The idea of project-based learning is very beneficial for
students.It allows students to apply
the information they learn into different settings.For kindergarten, I believe project-based
learning is best used as a classroom collaborative project.I believe this because students of this age
do not have the skills necessary to work collaboratively on their own.However, these projects could be completed if
students work with their parents at home with their help.I do hope to use more project-based learning
projects in the classroom based on science and social studies.I feel these two subjects lend themselves
more to project-based learning.
Application: I
focused on the Personalization Principle for my multimedia elements for this
week.I focused on conversational
wording rather than formal in order to help my students connect with the
questions and information better.
Reflection:After this weeks focus on project-based
learning, I hope to incorporate more project-based learning.However, I do not believe rubrics are
necessary for my kindergarten age group.I focus more on completion of projects focused on content, rather than
multiple specifics that rubrics focus on.I hope for my students to start to understand the idea of project-based
learning by completing the projects.I hope
that as they continue their education they can focus more on rubrics.
Lesson: This
concept map would be used as part of my science instruction.It would be spread out amongst multiple days
to allow for students to focus on one season at a time.I chose to focus on images and videos as they
are most appropriate for my Kindergarten students.
Learning Objective:
After this lesson, students will be able to describe the 4 seasons and their
weather.
Collaboration: Collaboration
is an important part to learning.I
believe collaboration allows for students to support each other in problem
solving.It also allows for students
with varying achievement levels to help each other.I can assign higher students with lower
students in order to help support them.However, it is important to reinforce that everyone must contribute in
order to make it effective.
Application: For
this assignment, I focused on the Segment Principle.I want my students to focus on one season at
a time in order to not be overwhelmed with all of the information.Therefore, I made four different branches on
my Concept Map in order to do so.
Reflection:After reading more about collaboration this
week, I plan to brainstorm more ways to use technology as a tool for collaboration.I feel it is difficult to do with
Kindergarten aged students and would be much easier with students in a higher
grade.
References:
Equinox and the Seasons [Image]. (n.d). Retrieved From: http://www.freestockphotos.biz/stockphoto/15148
Fall [Image]. (n.d). Retrieved From: http://www.freestockphotos.biz/stockphoto/15148
Rain and Sun [Image]. (n.d). Retrieved From: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Weather-sun-clouds-rain.svg
Lesson: These QR
codes would be implemented in my Reader’s Workshop as a listening center. I
would cut the QR codes out and laminate them and placed on a ring. Students would then use iPads/iPods to pick a
story’s QR code and listen to the story as they follow along with a hard copy
version in the classroom. Learning Objective: Students will listen to these stories as they
follow along with their finger in a hard copy book. Augmented-Learning: I
would use augmented learning during my Reader’s Workshop Centers and Math
Centers. These centers require students
to be independent while I work with a small group of students. Augmented learning such as QR Codes could
allow me to record directions or answers to worksheets for students to use for
help, rather than interrupting my work with small groups. However, if I do not have the necessary
technology, this will not be possible. Application: My
Reader’s Workshop Listening Center QR Code cards aligned to the Coherence
Principle which reduces extra material that is not pertanent to the
multimedia. The QR Code cards only
include the QR Code, book title, and author’s name. The cards also address the Segmenting
Principle by only addressing one book title at a time rather than including
multiple QR Codes on one page. Reflection: This
week helped me to consider more ways to include technology into the
classroom.I plan to implement my QR
Codes into my Reader’s Workshop centers next year.I have created QR Codes before, but I was
able to explore more sites during the assignment to see which program I like
the best. I also considered using Aurasma for this assignment, however, I did not think it fit the needs of my students. I believe they needed something that was consistent with a QR Code image. With Aurasma, I feel the trigger images change and would be more difficult for my students to remember what to do.
I
chose to evaluate this video.This instructional video teaches students how
to count to 100 by 5’s.This is
appropriate for my kindergarten classroom because it combines learning with
movement.I find this technique to be
the most beneficial for students of this age group.This video would be used for our daily review
of counting by 5’s.
I
applied the Ten Factors to Consider When Evaluating a Podcast to this video:
1.Is the
content appropriate for your current area of study?
-Yes, counting by 5’s is a Common Core State Standard.We review counting by 5’s on a daily basis in
order to meet this standard.
2.Does the video add to or enhance your current lesson
plan?
-I believe
this video adds to our typical counting by 5’s by adding movement and song.
3.Does the content and production of the video meet
school and community standards for acceptable use in your school?
-Yes, this
video meets the CCSS for kindergarten and is appropriate for kindergarten
students to view.
4.Is the content of the video well organized and easy
to follow?
-Yes, the
video is in order and concise without too much information.
5.Is the content of the video compelling enough to hold
the attention of your audience?
-Yes, the
song and dance keeps the attention of kindergarten students and allows them to
retain the information in a kinesthetic fashion.
6.Is the video in a digital format that works in your
classroom?
-Yes,
it available on YouTube and passes the restrictions placed on certain YouTube
content.
7.Was the video produced by a source you consider
credible?
-Yes, Jack
Hartmann owns a business that produces numerous educational songs.
8.Is listening to the video the best method of learning
about this topic for your students?
-No, the
best learning for the video would be with movement and singing of the students
as well.
9.Is the video supported by additional online content(
a website with further resources or archives, for example)?
-Yes,
https://www.jackhartmann.com/
1. Does the video include any usage rights that limit
the broadcast or distribution of content?
-There are no
restrictions in the classroom for viewing.
I also compared this video
to the Instructional Media Design Principles from week 1.The main principle that I noticed it applied
to was the Temporal Contiguity Principle.This principle discusses that graphics and narration are presented
together.In the video, numbers are
presented at the same time the narration/song addresses it.The Embodiment Principle is also
apparent.The man in the video has
human-like gestures with song and dance that children can copy.
Part 3
Lesson: This
video was created as a daily reminder of our letters, letter sounds, and
letter-sound-word connection.When
students enter kindergarten, they do not all know the letter names or
sounds.This video would be used as a
daily review of these prior to our ELA lessons.I believe it is important to teach students letters and sounds of the
alphabet comprehensively, rather than independently.
Learning Objective:After this lesson, students will be able to
identify and apply the letters and letter sounds to their reading and writing.
Creativity:I believe creativity is becoming less
important in schools.After leaving my
job as a Pre-K teacher and now a kindergarten teacher, this has become more
apparent to me.As the academics become
a more important piece, creativity and the arts dwindles.With that being said, I try to incorporate
creativity through art activities in my classroom.These typically connect with a science unit
about animals and the seasons.As for my
own teaching, I am always trying to be creative in my delivery of lessons, I attempt
to never deliver lessons in the same exact way each day.Consistency is important at the young age I
teach, but my students and myself get extremely bored with the same thing
everyday.Therefore, I develop new and
different ELA activities each week.When
thinking about different multimedia materials, I always think to myself, ‘Would
I want to watch this if I was in kindergarten?’If the answer is no, then I continue to work until I can answer yes to
this question.This is where my
creativity comes into play.Kindergarten
age students want to see color and sound together and through creative and
different processes, I believe that can be reached.For pieces of multimedia I discover, I
typically ask myself the same question.Children of this age need stimulation and I select videos to reach this.
Application: This
week, I designed my instructional video with the Spacial Contiguity Principle
in mind.This principle’s idea is that
printed words and graphics are near each other.My video has graphics and letters that are close to each other and at
times overlap.My idea behind this is
that students will keep a mental picture of this in their mind when they are
applying the concept to their ELA activities.I do not believe my video explicitly allows for creativity.However, I believe it will lead to creativity
in their connection of letter-sounds and words.My hope is that by introducing students to letter-sound-word
connections, they will eventually develop their own words to connect the sounds
and letters to.
Reflection:I had seen the TED Talk by Sir Ken Robinson prior to this week, but it was a nice refresher on the idea of creativity.I taught GSRP (Pre-K) for two years before
becoming a kindergarten teacher.I
believe the most important concept we had to have in our daily activities was
creativity.All of our activities were
required to be open-ended.This was
implemented in order to allow children to be creative in their thought
processes and work.I was able to
witness eye-opening work from my students with these open-ended
activities.However, when I went to
kindergarten, everything changed.I feel
it is expected that everyone do the same ‘cookie cutter’ projects.I do my best to keep this ‘open-ended’
concept, but when it comes to the academic portions, it is not always
available.While creating this
instructional media, I noticed I was very focused on using images that were
Public Domain.Prior to this course, I
would say I didn’t really pay attention to copyright laws.However, I am happy I have become more aware
as I believe it could have had negative consequences eventually.
Gif was created using makeagif. Youtube video:Hitesh Gusani, "Timelapse Butterfly Coming Out of Pupa," via Youtube, June 4, 2012, Creative Commons Attribution,
Original image was taken from Wikipedia: "Butterfly", May 10, 2016, Public domain.
Butterfly Image was taken from Pixaby.com: "Butterfly," April 22, 2016, Public Domain Other Images: Picktochart
Lesson: Digital images are helpful for kindergarten students
to have a visual representation of the information they are learning
about. With these different images, I
plan to show students different aspects of butterflies, including: their body
structures, life cycle, and interesting facts about butterflies. This will be spread out throughout the
week. After they have seen and discussed
this information, they will write a sentence about anything they have learned
about butterflies as well as draw a picture to represent their sentence.
Objective: After this lesson, students will be able to
recall visual and auditory information about butterflies to demonstrate their
learning.
Application: The design principles from week 1 apply to both
my lesson plan and digital images. Two
aspects I focused on were the Coherence Principle and the Segmenting
Principle. For my lesson plan and digital
images, I applied the Coherence Principle by reducing extraneous processing by
eliminating extra information that does not focus on the topic at hand. For example, my lesson is spread out
throughout the week with different topics on different days. Spreading out this information allows for
students to focus exactly on the days information without overstimulation. For my digital images, I included information
and pictures only relevant to our topics.
For example, my GIF focuses on the metamorphosis of the butterfly from
the chrysalis. This allows us to talk
specifically about this stage of the life cycle without including extra
irrelevant information. I applied the
Segmenting Principle in my lesson plan by breaking up the information into
separate days, this allows students to focus on different aspects of
butterflies on separate days. For my
GIF, I segmented the life cycle of a butterfly into different stages, this GIF
focused on the metamorphosis into an adult butterfly. I believe that breaking down the life cycle
into different GIFs would be really helpful for students to focus on the
different aspects of the life cycle.
Reflection: Before
reading about access, I would identify myself as a person that lacked
awareness. Although, I have been
educated through my education classes on educating those with disabilities, I
haven’t had a student with an impairment in my classroom. Therefore, I never really applied access
principles into my classroom. However, I
realized that as a teacher of kindergarten students, their computer
capabilities are limited and I need to adapt my lessons and information to meet
their needs. I feel this applied to the
idea of access. I really enjoyed making
the digital images this week. Although,
I believe I am tech savvy, I just never had an interest in creating
images. After this week, I believe I
will use digital images more often, especially GIFs. GIFs are a perfect way to show students
little snippets of information you want them to focus on without showing long
videos.
