Graduate Work (EDT 520)
Twitter Chat Reflection
I connected with other educators through three different Twitter chats (I actually attempted four, but one did not take off). These Twitter chats are a great way to talk with other educators all over the globe in real time about a variety of topics! I was able to have conversations, ask questions, receive resources and tips, and share my ideas with others. After completing the Twitter chats I felt motivated to be the best that I can be and had new insight to bring into my classroom.
I joined four different chats and had four different experiences. The first chat I joined was listed as a chat about STEM education (#StemHQ), but I was the only one there! I was disappointed, because since I teach math and science, I was truly looking forward to that one. The next chat that I joined was #TEDedchat. This chat is listed as a discussion of Ted talk videos and Ted-Ed lessons, which I like to incorporate within my science and math classes when applicable. I found the actual content of the chat to be much more than just Ted Talks and Ted-Ed, as it covered ideals of great teaching. The weekly topic was about reflection, collaboration, and authentic situations within your lessons. This chat had a small group of people, all of whom were responding back and forth to one another. One participant gave me an excellent idea of how she works authentic data with her students. She has the students tracking the Nor'easters and uses the weather data to form data sets for the students to work with.
The third chat was #edchat and was centered around the question: 'Is it possible to have a quality curriculum without a textbook?' I found the topic to be interesting and something that I could contribute to, because for science, I use the textbook perhaps only 3 times a year. The chat itself was overwhelming as there were A LOT of people contributing, some about the question at hand, but others tweeting random graphics and promotions. I had to abandon this one halfway through because it was too much! I have decided that I like the smaller group chats where there can be real interaction! Because of this, I looked for these qualities in my last chat that I joined was #21stedchat, which focused around 21st Century education. The topic of the week was promoting leadership skills within your students. It was a smaller group of educators, so interaction was possible, although not as prevalent as #tededchat.
I could see using Twitter chat to build connections that bridge beyond my classroom. I was able to connect with educators all over the world through the chats, which would be impossible without the platform of Twitter. The range of topics is seemingly endless. I received great ideas and motivation to better my own practice. I love the idea of having students complete an exit ticket tweet observing the 140 character limit, it helps you concisely say what you want to say. I would be cautious about opening my classroom to the actual platform of Twitter and having students actually tweet, I would need to learn more about how other educators use social media within their classroom.
Click on the link above to see my experience!
Tools for Education
#1 Popplet
One of the tools that I tried was Popplet. This site enables users to create online mind maps that can be text, links, videos, drawings, and images. Mind maps are a neat tool because you can organize the content freely, and this online application breathes new life into the idea of a mind map. I envision using this tool to display content to students, but more as a way for students to create and organize their knowledge. I could use this to have students organize and understand relationships between the different forms of energy, but also this would apply to many different topics such as chemistry, force and motion, factoring, and much more!
Within the SAMR model, implementation using the capability to embed links and videos would bring the task to the level of modification. I would argue that it could be at the level of redefinition, because the task would look much different without the ability to embed videos, links, and images.
Screenshot taken by Samantha Dunton
#2 Flippity
The second tool that I looked at was Flippity. This site enables Google Sheets to be transformed into different review games, including a Jeopardy style game, flashcards, and hangman. As an 8th grade teacher, I am trying to help students develop study skills before they transition to high school. I see this being an excellent tool to help make review days fun in class, but also for students to practice independent study skills. On the SAMR model, I would classify the use of the review tools as substitution. The task is more streamline and easier for the teacher to execute, but I would say functionally it is the same as handmade flashcards or a homemade quiz game.
Screenshot taken by Samantha Dunton
#3 Tuva
The final tool that I am going to write about is Tuva, which is a site that allows students to create and analyze datasets. Within science, learning to communicate and analyze data are important skills for students to learn and practice. I am focused on bringing data literacy into my classroom and Tuva is a great way to do so. Students can input their data and quickly select what they would like for a type of graph, and what pieces of information need to go on each axis. This can take the often overwhelming task of asking students to select the best type of graph by hand, and allow students to quickly experiment and see different forms of graphs without the painstaking process of constructing each one by hand. With Tuva, they are able to quickly change the type of graph and the axes so that they can evaluate what type shows the trend in the best way! On the SAMR framework, I would say that Tuva allows the task of graphing and analyzing the graph to be on the modification level. It allows students to compare and contrasts the same data with a variety of different graph types.
**Note- I think that is still important for students to learn to set up a graph by hand, but Tuva can allow extensions and deeper analysis of appropriate types of graphs.**
Screenshot taken by Samantha Dunton
