Gamification: How much is game playing, how much is educational? These are the questions I get when I discuss gamification with teachers who are nervous about bringing digital games into their classrooms. Gamification helps to create a fun atmosphere in a classroom that engages students more than any worksheet. It is the engagement piece that is the incredible magic of gamification. Since the internet has become such a huge part of a classroom there are so many amazing resources out there that have created a fun and engaging digital game. It is quick and easy to implement these games into a classroom. I have found that students are more engaged and excited about class when I can present the information in a fun and exciting way. As a result, I find that the behavior challenges become less and students are excited to come to my classroom. My goal as an educator is to make learning fun and exciting for my students. This year has been different as I haven't been in a classroom, but I have helped teachers implement some of these amazing online games in their classes. All the teachers have been nervous, but come back with excitement. They see more engagement and excitement in their students and are able to use the data from the program to grade and know where each student is academically. This is the part that is incredible. These online games produce reports for teachers to share academic information about the students. Not only are the students enjoying the games, but the teachers are provided with important information that can help drive their instruction. I feel like there are so many unexplored opportunities to use gamification in a classroom.
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As a teacher I used Google forms to give a science test. I chose to use Google forms because it was easier to use pictures in the quiz than it was in Echo. It was easy to create the test, however I don't think I used the grading part correctly. I found the grading part more difficult than on Echo. If I did a quiz again on Google forms, I would work with another teacher to see how the grading could be simplified. As the coordinator for the elementary Migrant Education program I use Google forms every summer to do an all staff survey. The survey is used to compile information from the staff about the summer program. This has been a very helpful way for the staff to give feedback about the program. I take the feedback and then this helps me to plan for the next summer. I also have to use this information for the documentation that is required for the migrant ed program.I would be interested to see if there are any addons that can help streamline this process. I created a Google Form for ELL students to fill out. This was very helpful since I had 5 different teachers give the survey to their students. I was able to compile lots of information from the different teachers. I loved how all I had to do was provide a link and all students had access the the survey. This was great. Again, I would be interested in addons that would help me to streamline the process. I have also used Google Forms and the addon Form Mule to send out emails with data to a whole student body. This was incredibly helpful to send out specific data to a student body
Social media CAN be used to help teachers connect with each other and share ideas. These ideas can be about behavior, lessons, technology in the classroom, self care, and/or organization ideas. Really any appropriate topic can be shared on social media. Other teachers can be a teachers best resource, and teachers in other parts of the country and world can be a huge source of knowledge. Critical issues to consider and the different education systems within the worldwide teaching community. Also, teachers need to be sure that the interactions are all positive and supportive. I think this is the number one expectations. Teachers should use social media to support one another and learn from each other. I know I would love to visit other countries and learn about their cultures and their education systems.
If I came across an inappropriate post by a student I would be sure to take a screen shot, bring my concerns to my principal, and ask where the principal would like me to go from there. I would want to make sure my reaction was done appropriately and within the legal rules set by the school district. Also, by informing the administration, they would be able to help me find other resources on campus to support the students. Most of all I would want the student to know that I responded to their post because as their teacher I care about them and want to make sure they are ok and that they fully understand the repercussions of putting out the type of post they did. As an Academic Specialist I have been introduced to a huge number of new to me online tools. The one that blew my mind the most was an extension to Google Sheets called Form Mule. This extension is incredible. This extension allows you to take information that has been input into a Google Sheet, and email the information to individual students. How incredible is that. I use this tool when I am emailing a whole middle school their most recent MI and RI scores. I am able to collect the necessary data, organize it in Google Sheets(which is another skill I had to learn this year), create a general letter template, and then email a whole school of students their MI and RI scores. I like being able to do this so that all students have a place to go to find their scores. (Unfortunately not all students write down their scores as they are suppose to.) This helps teachers because they have a common place to tell students to go to locate their past scores. This is especially helpful at the beginning of the school year. This would be helpful in a classroom as you could send out a similar email to students with test scores, RI and MI scores, or anything else that is helpful in your classroom. A strength of this tool is the ability to send out information to a large number of individuals. The drawback, you have to make sure that your data in Google sheets is 100% spot on. If there are any mistakes, then the emails will send out incorrect information. Learning how to create these Google Sheets can be daunting and time consuming. Luckily, the first one is always the worst, and it can get more efficient as you use these tools more often. I spent a few hours with a coworker who has used this tool in the past. She helped me problem shoot, lay out my spreadsheets, and already knew which Aeries query was needed to pull the necessary information. I knew this was the right tool since it did work in the end and the students were able to access the correct data in their emails.
As teachers it is important that we don't just assume students know how to use a digital resource. Even with our full schedules, there needs to be a time to teach students how to use these digital resources that we are asking them to build their learning on. I always think back to the phrase, "Go slow to go fast". We, as educators, need to go slow and teach how to use the digital platforms that we are asking students to use, and then the students will spend less time trouble shooting and learning how to use this digital platform, and will spend more time focused on the learning element. In middle school students come with a large range of knowledge when it comes to digital resources since they all come from different elementary schools. Some students may be experts on a digital resource, while other students have not experience at all with the same platform. I have found that at the middle school age the students are my best resources for teaching how to use these digital platforms. In fact, they have taught me so much about the possibilities that these programs present. I have seen students light up when a classmates asks me a question, I am unsure of the answer, and they know the answer to it. That student then becomes the expert and teaches both myself and their classmate. It is incredible to see how much they are willing to share with each other. This type of interaction helps to build a strong classroom culture.
As an Academic Specialist my focus would be on how to implement a school wide system of teaching digital citizenship for middle school aged students. First I would find an agreed upon time that all teachers would agree to teach digital citizenship. I would have each grade level focus on the same topic each week, but the discussions may look a bit different based on the grade level. After getting feedback on what the teachers see as the most needed topics I would locate those lessons on the various websites that we got to explore this week. I think it is important to look at the different resources so that the lessons stay fresh and don't get stale. I really like the Compass game. I think students being able to direct their own learning and exploration into their learning is so helpful, however teachers shouldn't only use this as the only way they teach digital citizenship. The great part is, now that the middle schools are 1:1 with devices, students can practice their digital citizenship skills. This is a great opportunity for teachers to remind the students about what they learned and how it is applied directly to what they are doing in class. For example, in the reading of the nine elements of digital citizenship they talk about how we need to discuss digital commerce with the students. This is now one of the most common ways for students to purchase items. If a math lesson is focusing on purchasing items, and students are looking up prices, this is a great chance to bring this into the lesson. The Common Sense Media site has so many resourceful lesson plans that are all ready to go with all the necessary resources. I think this is great for teachers because if they see a need as they are teaching they can go here and find a suitable lesson. Even better there is close to no prep for these lessons. Digital citizenship is so important and so often forgotten while teaching. We as teachers need to remember that this is an new frontier that we are all trying to work through, so we need to provide our students with all the tools we can.
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May 2020
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