Genius hour is a movement that allows students to explore their own passions and encourages creativity in the classroom. It provides students a choice in what they learn during a set period of time during school.
WHERE PASSIONS COME TO LIFE!
Benefits of Genius Hour:
Genius Hour fosters lifelong creativity and critical thinking. Students can develop more interests and set long term goals. This 20% time allows students to work towards these personal interests and goals.
Genius Hour supports tech-centered classrooms. When students are given the opportunity to explore interests using technology, they will become more comfortable navigating online and become less intimidated by it.
Genius Hour promotes learning beyond the classroom. Students are able to practice navigating non-academic content with a focus on inquiry and research.
Potential Genius Hour Hurdles:
Some students, whether it’s suppressed confidence or lack of confidence, may feel anxiety in a genius hour setting. They might become overwhelmed because they do not know where to start or how to identify their passion project.
Managing Genius Hour in the classroom can become a hurdle for some classroom teachers. The thought of having to manage a classroom of students that are not independent could prevent a teacher from implementing this 20% time. In order to overcome this obstacle, teachers must release responsibility and trust that students will make good use of their time.
I have had several opportunities using both Google Meet and Zoom conference calling. We used Zoom for faculty meetings, professional developments, parent/teacher conferences and IEP meetings. For the whole year of virtual learning, we used Google Meet for our synchronous instruction with the students. For this course activity, Nicole and I met on Google Meet. We discussed and explored the following features it provides to support student/teacher communication and collaboration:
The Chat Box: This can be used for the teacher to communicate with students who need redirection or repeated directions. It can also be used for student’s quick answers to a question or checking for understanding.
Whiteboard/Jamboard: This tool acts like a virtual whiteboard that the teacher and students can write and type on. You can open this up to work collaborative with students and have brainstorm sessions.
Breakout Rooms: This is best used to pull a small group of students for intervention/support. This can also be used to have students breakout into groups for collaborative work.
Q&A and Polls: These are fun and engaging tools to use for a quick student survey and/or a quick assessment to check for understanding.
We also explored and discussed the different layouts like tile view to see all or some of our students. We discussed the presentation mode and practiced this with one another. Lastly we talked about how to find and share the meeting code with others.
How might I use these tools in the future to either connect with other teachers or to help my students connect?
Although we will not be using virtual streaming this upcoming school year, I still plan to use these collaboration tools in my classroom. I plan to use Google Meet to have my students collaborate during guided reading. They will meet and discuss their story and review their follow up writing assignment. I think it would be fun to have a buddy class and students can collaborate with other students from another grade level and work on a fun activity or read a story together. I plan to use the breakout rooms next school year since our students will still need to be distanced from each other. I will use this for intervention support and math club. I could even use Google Meet to help students who are at home working on a homework assignment or may need additional assistance on an in-class activity.
We will still use Zoom and Google Meet to have meetings with my teammates and parents at home. I think virtual meetings will still be around to take place of in-person meetings due to the convenience.
We became somewhat dependent and comfortable with these web conferencing platforms. Now that students are coming back into school, we will lose the main purpose of these platforms but they still provide great resources to use in and outside of school.
Twitter can be used in many ways for social learning and collaboration. If taught the correct way and used in an effective manner, students can benefit a lot from the platform. Of course, like the other social media technologies, there can be some barriers and negative aspects about the social network site. Listed below are the pros and cons of implementing Twitter into the classroom.
The Pros:
The Twitter site is user-friendly and highly interactive. Students can easily navigate the site, which lowers the time being spent on teaching how to use the platform. Students can communicate directly with learners and connect to subject matter.
Twitter is accessible from any device or location. Students can access Twitter from student laptops, tablets, or even their cellular devices.
Twitter allows for real time discussion and collaboration. Students can use this platform for after school hours to complete in-school or homework assignments.
Twitter can be used to build a strong classroom community. Students are taught and encouraged how to respond positively and effectively to others. They learn about digital citizenship and get to put this practice into play.
Twitter can be looked at as distracting for students. Some students may not follow the expectations and rules of using the platform. Students can become sidetracked from the activity and just want to communicate with their friends.
Twitter lacks visual and text content. You have the ability to link in youtube video links but only one image at a time. If you are using it as a literacy activity you can only use up to 140 characters.
Students could put themselves at risk if they post private information about themselves or others. There is always a risk of scams, therefore the teacher needs to be aware and monitor the stream constantly.
Using Twitter frequently will limit the time for face to face communication. Younger students are still working on their communication skills so it would hinder their chances to improve these skills.
Twitter opens up a risk for cyberbullying. Teachers will need to be alert if such things occur and monitor how students are interacting on the platform.
As a professional development tool in education, Twitter can be used as a forum for teachers to share and collaborate on their practice. Educators can share lesson ideas, management techniques or simply ways to use Twitter effectively in the classroom. It can act as a safe place for teachers to share their ‘grows and glows’ and connect with other educators. Whether the Twitter account is public for all educators or created for the School District, teachers can share practical information, district news and updates, and find and collaborate with like-minded educators.
Flickr is a photo sharing platform where others can upload and share photos privately or publicly. Flickr can be used in the classroom in various ways. Flickr could simply be used to upload and share photos of school or classroom events. Parents and staff would have access to these pictures to stay connected with the school community. Students could use Flickr for a class introduction project at the beginning of the year. They could explore Flickr and find 10 photos that represent them and who they are. Flickr could be used for student research projects and presentations. Flickr could provide suitable images for their science and social studies projects. Some examples would be an insect/animal research project, global warming, pollution or history project. Flickr can help educate students on the different licenses and copyright restrictions. Flickr could be used for a creative writing and storytelling activity. The classroom teacher would provide a storyboard of photos and have students generate a story using the photos from Flickr. This photo sharing platform can be used as a lesson resource for teachers so they can make their lessons interesting and engaging for students. Flickr allows students to be active participants in their own learning and has the added benefit of giving students practice with photo licenses and sharing settings.
When teachers collaborate with one another, it benefits the whole school community. Educators all have their own teaching style, ideas and creativity. If we blend these creative ideas and knowledge with each other it can only magnify the success for our students. By working smarter and not harder, teachers can produce effective lessons in half the time. We can delegate specific jobs and work as a team to produce reliable assessments. We can generate short and long term goals for our students as a grade level or school. In my school district, we are currently working in PLCs, professional learning communities. In this group, educators come together by grade levels and discuss what we want our students to learn, how they will best learn it and how we will assess and measure their understanding. We plan, teach and assess like each second grader is our own and not divided by classroom. This collaborative environment is positive, effective, and improves teaching skills and the academic performance of students
Student Benefits
Just like educators, when students collaborate they are able to share and learn from one another. This collaborative learning allows for students to trust one another, build social skills, engage in their learning while also building their confidence. Collaborative learning makes students with different backgrounds, race, or upbringing, come together. They are able to hear different opinions and learn more about one another. Being engaged and heard from classroom peers can give the feeling of importance and value. The learning experience becomes more fun, and students are eager to learn more. The best learning is happening when students are doing it together with the guidance of the classroom teacher.
As I researched many educator blogs and student blog work, I came across a 3rd grade teacher’s classroom blogging page that immediately caught my interest! She uses the blog across various curriculum content and has a student blog account set up for each one of her students. Each student was able to customize their own blog and submit their entries on their own pages. The project that I would like to use in my future second grade classroom is the ‘Quick Write Fridays’. Every Friday the classroom teacher will post a short paragraph explaining why she chose that specific writing topic and her connections to the concept. She will then provide several writing prompt choices that her students can choose from and begin working in their own blogs. I love the idea of giving students a choice and allowing them to run with their own ideas. The classroom teacher also used this blog so her students can write book summaries and check student comprehension. I also love that project idea and believe my second graders could apply these skills towards the end of the year! I was very impressed with what these third graders could accomplish on the blog. Just from reading through their blog entries I could tell that the students were engaged and excited to participate and demonstrate their work through Edublogs.
Article: Teacher’s Essential Guide to Google Classroom
Author: Kate McGinnis
Location: Online Article
Relevance of Source: Kate McGinnis is an educator and aspiring product designer. She has taught and designed curricula in many different schools in Spain and the U.S. and worked with learners of all ages, from 3-year-olds to adults. Kate turned to technology to streamline her workflow and to create more engaging, learner-centered activities for her students. Now, she works to help design the tools that teachers and students are using to create thoughtful classroom communities, enrich learning, and have more fun at school.
Summary: Google Classroom is a central place where teaching and learning can come together. On this learning management platform, you can stream assignments, advance communication and collaboration, as well as grade and post graded assignments. Once you add and invite your students to your own Google Classroom, it will provide an available link to your own classroom’s Google Meet. Google Meet is a live video streaming system and will be protected for only you and your students to access. All assignments, apps and websites are housed in your Google Classroom for students to easily find and complete. Parents can also be invited to your classroom so you can communicate and provide assignment and assessment scores. Google Classroom provides for differentiated instruction, you can personally assign students specific links or assignments. For further student support, you can add other educators, specialists or support teachers to your Google Classroom. Once they are added they can interact with your students and provide resources to assist in their learning. To make your Google Classroom more engaging for your students, you can add Google Workspace tools and other Google applications. Google Classroom is very secure and has a data privacy and security plan for all Google Workspace for Education products.
Reference:
McGinnis, K. (2021, May 27). Teachers’ Essential Guide to Google Classroom. Common Sense Education. https://www.commonsense.org/education/articles/teachers-essential-guide-to-google-classroom
Google Jamboard
Article: How to use Jamboard in the classroom
Author: Matt Miller
Location: Ed Tech Blog Website
Relevance of Source: Matt Miller has spent more than a decade in the classroom, creating unique learning experiences for his students through technology and creative teaching. He wrote the book Ditch That Textbook about innovative teaching ideas and rethinking education. He is a Google-Certified Innovator, a mark of distinction for cutting-edge use of G Suite tools in the classroom. He has been named one of the top 10 influencers in educational technology and elearning worldwide.
Summary: Google Jamboard is a collaborative online whiteboard that provides students with numerous learning opportunities and activities to enhance their learning experience. This website demonstrates how to locate and access Google Jamboard in the Google drive. It reviews all the tools and the purpose for each of these tools. Matt Miller reviews various ways to boost student collaboration and communication with this tool. Students can use the ‘sticky notes tool to brainstorm and display their thinking. Students can create posters or presentations using Google Jamboard. Teachers can use this as a demonstration tool or teaching whiteboard. Google Jamboard is a great tool for sorting, polling, and storytelling activities. Teachers and students can collaborate together on a jamboard as a graphic organizer for literacy activities. Google Jamboard can be used for formative and summative assessments as well. It provides opportunities for whole class instruction, group work or partner activities.
Reference:
Miller, M. (2021, June 9). How to use Jamboard in the classroom: 20+ tips and ideas. Ditch That Textbook. https://ditchthattextbook.com/jamboard/#:%7E:text=Jamboard%20is%20great%20for%20brainstorming,%2C%20let%20them%20collaborate%2C%20too!
Google Forms
Article: Using Google Forms to Inform Teaching Practices
Author(s): Ha Nguyen Georgia Southern University, Eryn Michelle Stehr, Heidi Eisenreich, Tuyin An
Location: ERIC: an online library of education research and information. Journals at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern.
Relevance of Source: Kay and LeSage (2009) conducted a literature review of research on use of student response systems in university courses (typically Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics courses) and categorized benefits into classroom environment, learning, and assessment. The objectives of the proposed session are to discuss how using Google Forms will benefit those three above categories.
Summary: Google forms is an effective tool in the classroom. Educators are able to use this tool for various learning and assessment purposes. Classroom teachers can use Google forms for formative or summative assessments. The application is user-friendly and provides immediate feedback. The data is collected and organized into Google Excel Sheets. Google forms can benefit the classroom environment by providing data from surveys from parents and students. This application can also be used to check student understanding during or after a lesson. The classroom teacher can simply create a multiple choice, fill in the blank, or short answer exit ticket for students to complete. Within Google forms you can insert images and videos to support ELL or at-risk learners. There are endless possibilities for what Google forms can be used for in the classroom. Students find this resource to be engaging, easy to navigate and interactive.
Reference:
Nguyen, H., Stehr, E., Eisenreich, H., & An, T. (2018). Using Google Forms to Inform Teaching Practices. Proceedings of the Interdisciplinary STEM Teaching and Learning Conference, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.20429/stem.2018.020110
In the springtime, I educate my second graders on the characteristics and life cycle of an insect and the students will complete an insect research project. We adapted this lesson to include more technology this past school year by having the students use Google Slides as their final presentation tool. I have revised this lesson again to include the bookmarking tool, Symbaloo.
I chose this lesson because I felt my students could have used more online resources for the researching aspect of the project. We only provided the resource PebbleGo last year and there was limited information on their specific insects. I want to provide more online resources for my second graders, however I wanted to find a tool that is easy for my primary students to navigate and understand. The Symbaloo bookmarking tool seemed to be the best fit for this type of lesson and grade level.
One advantage for adding Symbaloo to this lesson will be that students are provided with various resources all in one location. The students will not have to jump back to Google Classroom to find another link to click and add more tabs to their web browser page. Symbaloo is also very simple and user-friendly, so my second graders would not have a difficult time with the technology. One disadvantage I could see happening is that we would lose time in the actual lesson because I have to introduce and model a new bookmarking tool. Introducing new online resources takes some time with my younger students so I would need to embed more time in my weekly lessons plans to make sure the expectations are met when needed. There may also be more technical difficulties and required support navigating these new resources from Symbaloo. All in all, I think this lesson has improved by adding this bookmarking tool and my students will benefit from this revision.
I hope to use The Old Reader Account to collect and have all resources in one place. It will allow for my students to easily click a link and keep all online tools in one place. I would use this personally as well. I like the RSS feed better than opening several tabs on my Google Account. I bookmark a lot of tools and websites but I sometimes can never access these if I am not logged into my Google Account. If I use The Old Reader Account, I will be able to access all my classroom resources from one space and share these with other educators and/or my students.
RSS Feed: Blog – Free Technology for Teachers: I chose to subscribe to this blog feed because it provides various free technology tools that I can implement immediately into my classroom. The blog provides video tutorials and descriptions so I can easily learn and apply this new tool with my students. One of the most recent posts is about Google and the updates that will be coming later this summer and fall. This is important for me because that is the LMS platform we are currently using within our district.
RSS Feed: Blog – Second Grade Perks: This blog feed is relative to my current teaching position. I found this blog to provide valuable resources for my second grade students and literacy lessons. This blog focuses on primary reading skills and strategies. This is a huge focus in my profession and my end goal is to be hired as a reading specialist in my school district.
RSS Feed: Blog – Edutopia: I chose the Edutopia blog feed because it provides articles about social and emotional learning and differentiating instruction. This past school year was a difficult year for both teachers and educators. It was imperative that we watched over and met our students’ emotional and social needs during this pandemic. This blog feed provides strategies on how to modify the instruction to meet students academic needs as well.
RSS Feed: Search Term Alert: Council Rock School District: I chose the search term for my school district so I can receive alerts on any new articles or documents being posted and publicized. It is imperative to me to stay updated with what is being done and altered in my school district. A lot has changed over the past school year and we have hired a new principal so other procedures or protocols could be altered as well.
RSS Feed: Search Term Alert: Second Grade Tech Tools: I chose the search term for Second Grade Tech Tools to receive any new information or resources for online learning. I want to incorporate more media technologies and review other primary teachers’ virtual lesson plans. Technology is a wonderful way to broaden a child’s learning experience and opportunities.
Hello fellow educators! Today’s blog post will focus on web technologies in the classroom. As a primary teacher, I have always looked to technology as another learning tool and resource. As some may see it as intimidating, I see it as intriguing. Over my 10 years of teaching, I have found new web technologies to introduce into my classroom and have seen only positives from all these resources.
I see web technologies increasing my student’s engagement and responsibility for their learning. As I introduce more technology my role as an educator changes a bit. When students are using technology as a tool or a support for communicating with others, they are in an active role rather than the passive role of recipient of information. My students would be actively making choices about how to generate, obtain, manipulate, or display information. Technology use allows many more students to be actively thinking about information, making choices, and executing skills than is typical in teacher-led lessons. Knowing this, I want to continue to use Google Classroom and all the learning applications that come along with it. I want to integrate social media technologies into my classroom but follow protocol on directing my students with safety and privacy guidelines.
