Week 6 Reflection

It has been challenging to get back into the rhythm of blogs and commenting after two weeks of group work. Monday’s Twitter session helped to spark the ideas for serious games in the classroom. Some districts that I have worked at had standard games that they added to the iPads for everyone and this was good, but it was not as specified to the students and grades to be the most beneficial. The Twitter session was also the first time I though deeply about the difference between games and serious games. I had not heard of that terminology before, but feel that I have a far better understanding now.

The blog post this week was somewhat confusing for me. From what I understood we were supposed to answer the essential question with references in video format. I am not supper comfortable with video assignments, but hopefully it was kind of what you had in mind. At first I only saw blog posts and no videos and got quite concerned. Then a few days later I went back to read some other posts and started to see more videos which was reassuring.

I learned about some new educational games websites this week and how they could be implemented into the classroom. There were a few that really caught my eye. The website code.org looks like it could be a fun gateway for students to start building their coding knowledge without really knowing it. It can also start off simple for young or slower learners. I was also interested in considering using the website Get the Math to work on the smart board so that the whole class could work on problems together.

Gerald commented on my post this week and we talked a little bit about MathXL and how it is used in the classroom. I also commented on his blog and wanted to know more about hew he implemented cool math games within his classroom. I was hoping to see specifics about how he set up time for his students to go on the website, but he talked more about how the games are learning for many things, like logic, skill, and strategy. I also commented on Cherie’s Blog, I really liked how she talked about a website that could be used in the classroom and asked her about the specifics of how her school used the website throughout the day.

Week 6

Essential question: How are games providing new opportunities for differentiation in the classroom?

 All images were obtained from google. 

 References

12 Ways to Use Pokemon Go in Your Classroom. (2016, October 08). Retrieved February 22, 2017, from https://differentitech.com/2016/07/19/12-ways-to-use-pokemon-go-in-your-classroom/

Clark, D. B., Tanner-Smith, E. E., & Killingsworth, S. S. (2015). Digital Games, Design, and Learning: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Review of Educational Research,86(1), 79-122. doi:10.3102/0034654315582065

Differentiating Instruction Through Interactive Games (Tech2Learn Series). (2012, July 11). Retrieved February 22, 2017, from https://www.edutopia.org/tech-to-learn-differentiated-instruction-interactive-games-video

Hollowell, M. (2015, December 17). Augmented Reality for the Classroom. Retrieved February 22, 2017, from https://prezi.com/wd4iz9dhiuak/aurasma-for-the-classroom/

Mueller, K. (2014, June 10). Mixing it Up with Mangahigh: Using Games to Differentiate Instruction. Retrieved February 22, 2017, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/mangahigh-games-to-differentiate-instruction-kristof-mueller

Tenkley, K. (n.d.). Using Technology to Differentiate Instruction. Retrieved February 22, 2017, from http://teaching.monster.com/benefits/articles/8484-using-technology-to-differentiate-instruction

Reflection 5

This week I was not able to make it to the Twitter session, but I did go to the storify that Mariah made. It was nice to see the session in a different way and really take in what others were saying instead of worrying about what I was typing. It was great to think about the types of assistive technology that is already in most classrooms. When I was student teaching, we had iPads with visual audio stories and books on tape station. I also agree that a large part of what stops schools from getting specific assistive technology is money and who is going to pay for it. This can also take a long time to figure out which is sad becasue students are most likely struggling while this is happening. 

            This week I worked with the same group Cherie, Heather, and Gerald. Heather seems to be really good with technology and how to set things up, so she did that again this week. We had basically the same time layout as last week. We meet after class on Monday and decided to do a google hangout on Wednesday. By this time, we were supposed to have all chosen three assistive technologies that we would like to research more. While in talking in google hangout Heather set up a google slide and we all got on it and decided on the order and what theme to use. Cherie and I had three types of assistive technology that we were good with researching, so we decided to do three and heather and Gerald where good with two. It all worked out nicely. The link to the slides is https://docs.google.com/a/alaska.edu/presentation/d/1GQhOWpzRBvtdMzQGOAPy7HrE7omUWHJsa_mvzcuh3Io/edit?usp=sharing

I was really interested in Gerald’s Graphiti: Tactile Graphic Display. I have been doing some research in another class about people who are blind or visually impaired and I thought this was a great way to help students who are visually impaired to feel more involved in math classes. It was sad to see that it is not available yet, but hopefully it will be soon.

Week 4 reflection

This week’s tweet season helped me think more about how using assistive technology in a differentiated classroom can help students. I had not though so much about how the scenes would be used when using assistive technology. 

The group assignment went pretty well. We started off tweeting after our Monday session. We kind of set up what we would be doing and how it might work. Heather had a lot of good ideas that we ended up using. Then on Thursday we did a google hangout to check up on how everyone was doing with their part in the Prezi presentation. I had been struggling a little bit with my part which was process. I was not sure exactly what kind of process I was supposed to talk about. Then Heather found a definition in Tomlinson and I went with that. I am really glad we met up on Thursday because they helped me figure out what to talk about in my part. We also discussed how to do our references and voted on the best way. I did a lot of readings in order to try and figure out what process was, so I found a lot of good resources and found a better understanding of what assistive technology included. Never the less, I had a great group to work with and I am proud of what we created. 

Here is the link to the Prezi that our group created http://prezi.com/fbtsmzb72yaz/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Week 3 Reflection

This week I talked a lot of people. I commented on Josie’s blog about what DI could look like for adults and if it could work in higher education. Kendra and I talked about reflecting on our classrooms. I suggested that she might ask her students how they think everything is going. Kendra was not sure that would be a good idea. Her class is still in the first year of the transition and it tends to be the hardest year. I also chatted with Gerald about Wonderful Wednesdays and how that might work differently for high school students. It seems to me that parents of high school students are probably detoured from helping in high school classrooms because their children don’t want them to be there and/or they don’t think they have enough knowledge in that classroom.

               This week I thought a lot about what could change so that parents could be more involved in high school. It seems like it must come from the students themselves. I think that a lot of parents are more likely to help with after school activates. This is some interaction, but I’m not sure it’s enough. I have also been thinking about how I can make sure to reflect in my own classroom next year. If I am teaching in elementary school I would really like to try something like wonderful Wednesdays. Hopefully the district I work in does not require parents to have background checks like at Cherie’s school. I can see how this would be a good thing, but it also seems like it might take time and money that parents don’t have the time to deal with. I know it was hard for me to figure out how to get my background check and I don’t have kids or a full-time job.