April Blog Post

What is your biggest takeaway from participating in BOAT this year? This could be your biggest "Aha" moment, favorite tool you've used, etc.

My biggest takeaway from participating in BOAT is really the reflection part. Reflecting on what I'm doing in the classroom and thinking about what I can do differently to make technology integration even better than what I've already been doing. I think that we've had a lot of great ideas shared and I've been able to consider ideas that I hadn't encountered before.

Some examples of great ideas I've heard were teachers talking about how they manage kids as they are using technology. I also think considering increasing communication and critical thinking through their technology is really helpful and great. I look forward to next year increasing where I am on the SAMR model because I feel that is a place I can really improve.

March Blog Post

March Blog Post

Consider the below ISTE Standard and answer the questions. 

ISTE Student Standard 4: Creative Innovator - Students use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful or imaginative solutions.
4a - Students know and use a deliberate design process for generating ideas, testing theories, creating innovative artifacts or solving authentic problems.
4b - Students select and use digital tools to plan and manage a design process that considers design constraints and calculated risks.
4c - Students develop, test and refine prototypes as part of a cyclical design process.
4d - Students exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance and the capacity to work with open-ended problems.

1. What have you done in your classroom that encouraged "creative innovation?"

I use Genius Hour and Project Based learning to encourage creative innovation in my classroom. We go through the Engineering Design Process in order to design projects and part of that involves generating ideas, testing theories, creating artifacts or solving authentic problems. We've used ShowMe and Google Classroom PDF editor in order to plan our designs digitally. They then go through and test and refine their prototypes which allows them to persevere through open ended problems. 
2. What things would you like to try to increase the "creative innovation" with your students?
I would love to integrate projects more in other areas like ELA and Math, but I'm struggling to find the time to plan it and to make it rigorous enough. 

I commit to increasing creative innovations by allowing more time for (starting science on time as often as possible) Project Based Learning.

February Blog Post

Read the following ISTE standard on Student Communication and answer questions 1-2 in your blog:

"Students communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media appropriate to their goals.
-6a: Students choose the appropriate platforms and tools for meeting the desired objectives of their creation or communication.
-6b: Students create original works or responsibly repurpose or remix digital resources into new creations.
-6c: Students communicate complex ideas clearly and effectively by creating or using a variety of digital objects such as visualizations, models or simulations.
-6d: Students publish or present content that customizes the message and medium for their intended audiences."

1. How are you currently incorporating this standard with your students?
2. How could you implement more of this standard with you students?


I use this standard with projects that we do, particularly Genius Hour. We work to choose the sources we will use, the way we will present and who our audience is, which will determine what we will choose as our presentation media. We have a step by step process that we tweaked that made it a process where they brainstorm, ask questions, choose their audience and media for their process, they research, then they create their presentation whether it is a website, a video, a poster, a model or whatever, then they present to the class.

I could implement this standard more if I had more time to plan with the fourth grade team to create STEAM projects. Then we could build projects that are more meaningful and related to everything we're learning, and they can incorporate great technologies. 

I commit to having my students practice communicating more kindly to each other because that is a struggle in our classroom.

January Blog Post

My thoughts about Collaboration in September are still pretty similar. I think that when it is working it is awesome. If you think about the 7 Mindsets, "We Are Connected". We do rely on each other and better things do happen when we work well together. The issue remains that it is hard to make that time. Also it's sometimes hard to have a consensus.

Collaboration with students involves having multiple students work together to accomplish a task. Sometimes that looks like a group of kids smiling and laughing and videoing each other like I saw today, while sometimes it looks like a couple of kids arguing with one another about which way they should do something. Sometimes it works really well. Sometimes you have 3 kids working together and one student isn't collaborating like they should, so that is what you're combatting.

I get students to collaborate on projects, activities, and other assignments. I think that to do that you have to set expectations for what each student should be doing. Sometimes they have different tasks while sometimes they are strategizing together on how to complete the task at hand.

Some specific projects and activities I've done that have resulted in successful collaboration are many of the ones we've done at STEAM. My favorite last year was the BIG Social Studies project where I put together about 50% of my social studies standards into one big project at the end of the year to finish them out along with some ELA, Math and Science standards. Those kids got so into it. Even the kids who typically aren't interested got involved and were creative and the groups that struggled, we talked as a group and split up what each student should be in charge of, then they came together to share their final product.

I commit to having my students grade their group work this month to see if that helps improve our collaboration.

December Blog for BOAT - Critical Thinking and Assessment

Student learning whenever a student creates a product to demonstrate their understanding is deeper. When a student is just answering a multiple choice test it becomes too easy. They can work backwards to find the answer and it doesn't take as much effort.

Teachers should create more engaging lessons for students so that they become more involved in the lesson. They are more likely to remember what they've learned and be able to relate back to it another time.

Teachers demonstrate creativity through our classrooms, our lessons, our anchor charts and more. I think kids know how creative we are based on how we teach.

Critical Thinking in November

Critical thinking is deeper level thinking that involves analyzing and evaluating information in order to come to a conclusion about something. Typically I think of solving a problem when I'm critical thinking.

Some activities that require me to think critically involve building lesson plans, solving behavior issues in my classroom, planning an assembly or a party, etc. I think we use critical thinking all of the time as we're just going throughout our lives and jobs.

Critical thinking is important because we do need it so often. We have to be able to solve the problems in our lives. Sitting there and saying that I don't know how to fix this and asking someone else all the time isn't going to work. We have to be able to analyze a situation, come up with solutions and then work to solve the problem or we're just stuck.

I think critical thinking is something that we take for granted. I feel there is a big push for it in teaching right now, but somehow we learned these things. If we can reflect on the practices that taught us these skills, then we can help our students to get there. I remember being a part of a really cool 5th grade pod that was like a city. We role played and pretended to be banks, writers, police, etc and had to solve issues in our town. It was such a fun way to practice the skills of critical thinking. Creating more real life type of issues and teaching through project based learning was really effective when I was a kid and it's come full circle and that's where we are at now. Back to project based learning.

I commit to increase and improve my critical thinking as a teacher by planning more hands on activities within English Language Arts.

October Reflection

Communication is how someone shares a message with someone else. There is one way communication where one person shares a message with others. There is also two-way communication in which people can share with each other. Typically two-way communication is more effective.

I communicate with teachers in person, via email, Twitter, Facebook, phone, text and through paper messages. Some paper messages can include grade cards, pink and blue forms, information about events, etc that we are doing that they need information on.

How do you communicate with educators outside of your building? Outside of your district?

When I communicate with educators outside of my building it is typically through Twitter or Facebook. Sometimes I email, call, or text with former colleagues. 

To add onto the questions and talk about my feelings about communication. I am actually a communication major. I think communication is a key factor in being successful in anything you do. Making sure to communicate is key in any relationship whether it is a marriage, a friendship, a community relationship, a student-teacher or parent-teacher relationship, etc. Staff members feel better toward their bosses when communication is done well. That would involve the method, the amount, the content and the clarity of the communication.

I will increase and improve my communication as a teacher by utilizing Twitter better.