Today in class we discussed the topics of coding and computational skills and their relation to the development of students’ foundational literacies. I personally had zero experience with coding prior to today, so in addition to learning about its applications to the classroom and how it supports student learning, I had a really great time doing some learning and exploring of my own! Foundational skills or foundational literacies describe an individual’s ability to understand the inner workings of the digital world to create, communicate and participate in it appropriately. Today we discussed the importance for students to understand the platforms and programs they use to participate in digital spaces. If students do not have the foundational skills to actively understand, question and critique the information they are exposed to and the methods of dissemination, then they could potentially be at the mercy of programmers/developers, which has significant implications in society and their ability to be digital citizens. To develop foundational skills, students can engage in activities that require them to work on their computational thinking. Based on discussions from our class today, I have learned that computational thinking doesn’t necessarily only happen in computing. We as teachers and therefore our students have most likely engaged in these skills and the language in other areas in teaching and learning. Computational skills include pattern recognition, algorithm, decomposition and abstraction. Some examples of where these skills can be developed in every day learning experiences include problem-solving, linguistics and language exercises, science, storyboarding, sentence writing, population trends and social studies, just to name a few. There are also more overt ways of teaching our students computational skills, and this is where the idea of coding comes into play. During a coding ‘playtime’ I had the opportunity to explore a variety of platforms and applications that I could potentially use in my own classroom. Each of these tools have direct affordances for use in classrooms and support the acquisition of foundational literacies and computational skills. I decided to draw a comparison between Code.org and Codeacademy.com and discuss the reasons why I could see myself using one over the other in my own teaching. After exploring two different coding sites, I think that Code.org would be more enjoyable over Codeacademy.com for younger students to initially be exposed to the idea of coding. The premise behind Code.org is to make a game or solve a puzzle by connecting different pieces of code. I could see this site being very powerful for primary students to help them begin to develop confidence using the internet to solve puzzles, recognize patterns and learn different algorithms, all essential computational skills. Codeacademy.com however would be fun to really see how websites are created and the language that is used to write words and images into a site. Now that I have experience using both sites, I am excited to bring my experience and knowledge into the classroom and share my own insights with students on the importance of being digitally literate and truly understanding the inner-workings of the internet. -Miss. Coleman References that informed this work: BBC. (2017). Introduction to computational thinking. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/guides/zp92mp3/revision Yadav, A., Mayfield, C., Zhou, N., Hambrusch, S., & Korb, J.T. (2014). Computational thinking in elementary and secondary teacher education. ACM Transactions on Computing Education, 14(1), 5:1-5:16.
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This week in my Technology Integration in the Classroom course, we were discussing the monster topic of Social Media. The following are my three main takeaways from this session. All suggestions and comments to these questions are welcomed and encouraged!
1. When is it appropriate to start introducing Social Media into an Elementary classroom and how to go about doing so safely? The time to learn about how to handle something is usually before the risk takes place. So, when we are in the situation, we are prepared with a tool kit to know how to respond appropriately. It is never too early to start having conversations about healthy relationships and healthy interactions. As early as Kindergarten and Grade 1 we can talk about why we should not send mean notes or what does kindness look like? It is important to cultivate conversations deliberately. Then, when media usage is more integrated in the classroom, that would be the time to include cyber bullying and other forms of media abuse into the conversation. We should include anecdotes and real-world examples. “What if…” and “What would you do?” scenarios should be included to get our students thinking and prepared to handle difficult situations. Teachers should include all stakeholders’ perspectives so students can learn through a series of experiences when to recognize when they might not have all the information. Tensions can be avoided if we stop and think, “Is there more to this?” “Do we have all the information to make judgement?” 2. What are age-appropriate Social Media platforms that classrooms can use to support student learning? Today we talked about what applications come to mind when we say "Social Media". Not surprisingly, the most popular included Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and LinkedIn, just to name a few. During our class time, we all collaborated on a Google Slides presentation to create what we named "The Preservice Teacher's Guide to Social Media in the Classroom". This guide actually turned out to be an awesome resource for information on what social media is, what affordances and constraints different social media can offer us and a long list of different ways to incorporate social media into your classroom. We're pretty proud of the document, so check it out! 3. How can students practice being responsible digital citizens? Are there platforms that exist to help scaffold student's ability to participate in online conversations? One of the biggest concerns that was voiced in class today was how to get students online practicing their digital skills but not run the risk of sending them off into the world wide web too soon or with too little parameters? To help address this fear, we came across some great resources that will allow students to practice their digital skills in a mock space, where they still need to be critical thinkers but their search options and access to information is limited. Some examples of these platforms are: KidzSearch, a kid friendly search engine, HootCourse, a virtual space similar to Twitter or Facebook, and TodaysMeet, an online discussion board great for giving all students a voice. These platforms align with our conversations surrounding frameworks of digital literacies and 21st century skills, as they promote collaboration, open sharing, communication, and creating and creativity, all of which we have agreed are important skills to foster within our students. Thank you for reading about my experiences learning about social media in the classroom! -Miss. Coleman |
AuthorJessica Coleman holds a Bachelor of Education as well as an Honours Bachelor of Social Sciences, both from the University of Ottawa. She is an Ontario College of Teachers certified teacher, currently working towards a Masters of Education degree at uOttaw, as well. Archives
September 2018
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