My GAME plan requires a shift of
philosophy, and begins with small steps.
Since I am aiming to engage students in real-world problem solving, I
need to be more aware of current real-world problems that are age appropriate
for various groups of students that I may work with. My first small step is to make myself more
aware of what is going on in the world.
I want to do this by viewing websites and reading newspaper
articles. As I had planned, I started an
Evernote file to keep track of websites I can visit for this purpose.
Since I know that I am about to
begin a connection between 4 classes at my rural Minnesota elementary school
and 88 students in Spain, I attempted to find out more about what is going on
in Spain. However, it was difficult to
find real world problems in Spain that would be appropriate and compelling for
the second and third graders with whom I will be working.
I have thought about starting our
interaction with this real-world problem: “students in different countries
don’t know very much about each other or the problems kids in other countries
face”. The students could certainly use
technology to help solve this problem, especially since we have access to an
overseas group of students, and they have access to us. This cross-cultural connection will allow the
opportunity for self-reflection and exposure to differences (Cennamo, Ross,
& Ertmer 2009). It might be
interesting to ask the students in Spain what they think are the biggest (or
most interesting) problems there, and to have our students communicate about
problems here in the US.
My next step will be to communicate
with the teachers involved in this project to find out how much time they are
able to invest. This will determine what
we will be able to do with the project.
As our school’s Technology Integration Specialist, I have to find a
balance between promoting 21st Century Learning and respecting
teachers’ general feelings of being completely overwhelmed. In order to be granted access into a
classroom, I often need to reduce the amount of time I would ideally like to
use for an activity. I plan to give the
teachers a basic outline of what I would like to see happen in our communication
with the class in Spain. We will discuss
how this helps to meet my goals and theirs, and plan from there.
References:
Cennamo,
K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for
meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education,
Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI think your idea of asking the students “what they think are the biggest (or most interesting) problems there” would be a good start. Maybe all of the students could do a writing assignment with this prompt to get ideas flowing, or even a brainstorming session with their teachers. The results may provide you with insights you have not thought of. I am sure this happens to all of use, where we think that our students are thinking and feeling a certain way and by listening to them or talking to them in casual conversations we realize our thoughts were off. So maybe letting the students guide the topics will help. How often are the students going to communicate with each other? On an individual bases or as a class? This sounds like an exciting project, I have always wanted to travel to Spain I am sure participating in an activity like this would only fuel this for me.
This sounds like a fun educational experience your students will never forget, have fun with it.
Tami
I am so excited for you and your students!!! I love to reach out to other countries and cultures in an effort to become more educated and create long distance bonds. I am very fond of your idea to have students utilize technology in order to communicate the issues that are going on in each country. This allows the students to set the bar on the important issues that affect them each day. I believe this allows your students to have a greater interest in the entire project: I know that I would!
ReplyDeleteI also think that you are on the right track in your thought pattern where the teachers are concerned. It takes very little to add to an already full plate and instantly feel overwhelmed. I like the outline of what you plan on implementing and also asking how much time each teacher will be willing or able to invest. This gives the instructor a bit of control as well. This sounds like it will be a successful as well as very interesting project. I can't wait to hear more as you move further into progression of the project.
Hi Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to share how you will carry out your game plan. I think that it is awesome that you have connected your classroom to classrooms in Spain. I agree that it is a great idea to research what is going on over in that area. I actually have a student that lived in Spain for several years and he said that their educational system there is a lot more strict in regards to many things than it is here. Have you thought about having the kids do a meet and greet day to get to know the other students and ask them about their country and ways of life? This might be a good way to help the kids learn about the different situations over there as well as help the students in Spain get to know your kids.