I have been struggling with a school project. I am creating a network learning space (NLS) for my third graders. We will use this space to access learning materials and content, practice 21st century thinking skills, communicate instructions and ideas, and build a strong community. Click the infographic to the right for a larger version and to learn more about my (NLS). I have enjoyed the planning of this NLS. What I am struggling with is that I am focused on using the network to communicate to my students and push content to them not on creating a true community. Without the ability to contribute and interact students are being denied the practice of 21st century skills, and there is no impetus to develop the desired strong community. My mindset about students contributing and collaborating has been wrong in the development process. In my class I have a high percentage of students that I have to be aware of their behaviors at all times and I have been fearful that the lack of in person monitoring in the NLS may set these students up to fail. To keep these students from making a mistake with the NLS, I effectively decided to cut them off completely from the benefits of open communication and sharing. In the end the long term benefits of the NLS are going to out weigh the short term struggles of appropriate online communication. To fix this I first needed to change my mindset to one that is embracing the ambiguity that I see in empowering my students to share freely and openly. |
So the focus of my new mindset is how do I support my students in making appropriate choices on the NSL not dictating the choices themselves. As a teacher I know: if I want my students to do it, I need to teach it. I started this week with three activities that I am using to teach my students how to appropriately communicate in the NLS and that mirror the activities they will use when working independently or in groups in the NLS.
First I created flow maps for routine activities that students will engage in on the NLS. I posted them in the NLS in a reference area and lead the whole group to find them. These flow maps cover tasks like joining new groups, accessing content, attaching files, and responding to posts. After discussing the vital flow maps created their own hard copies of the vital flow maps for offline reference. These flow maps will help students be more independent when using the NLS and by making their own flow maps they has started thinking about how they want to access and use the NLS.
Next students worked in pairs to follow the steps of a flow map supporting the uploading a picture of a paper and pencil activity. Students had time to draw and color a picture that will be used as their Edmodo profile picture. Then students supported each other in taking clear pictures of the drawings and and uploading them to the correct Edmodo forum. I want students to be proficient in taking clear pictures of paper activities and uploading/attaching files because one area I want students to interacting around is discussions of their work. One expectation for using the online math program, Zearn, is that students use paper note-catchers during video lessons. I want students to share and discuss those notes. This seems like a great opportunity to have students communicate using 21st century skills, discuss their mathematical thinking, and practice writing notes.
Finally I introduced a few discussion groups on Edmodo to highlight how it is appropriate post in the community. There is a school wide policy concerning appropriate digital communication but I also want students to understand the difference between using academic language to share and when they are free to be informal. The discussion groups feature pictures of community members, exemplar student work, or engaging pictures shared on Instagram from groups like National Geographic or NASA. Students have been free to respond to these pictures informally or formally, with formal responses being incentivized. The exceptions for formal responses have been included in the post and generally have a sentence stems for students to follow. Student who chose to respond formally can win prizes and have been featured in the NLS
I have been excited by the buzz my pre teaching activities have created in my class already. I am now fully embracing the ambiguity and looking forward to freeing my students to using the NLS to share and collaborate.
First I created flow maps for routine activities that students will engage in on the NLS. I posted them in the NLS in a reference area and lead the whole group to find them. These flow maps cover tasks like joining new groups, accessing content, attaching files, and responding to posts. After discussing the vital flow maps created their own hard copies of the vital flow maps for offline reference. These flow maps will help students be more independent when using the NLS and by making their own flow maps they has started thinking about how they want to access and use the NLS.
Next students worked in pairs to follow the steps of a flow map supporting the uploading a picture of a paper and pencil activity. Students had time to draw and color a picture that will be used as their Edmodo profile picture. Then students supported each other in taking clear pictures of the drawings and and uploading them to the correct Edmodo forum. I want students to be proficient in taking clear pictures of paper activities and uploading/attaching files because one area I want students to interacting around is discussions of their work. One expectation for using the online math program, Zearn, is that students use paper note-catchers during video lessons. I want students to share and discuss those notes. This seems like a great opportunity to have students communicate using 21st century skills, discuss their mathematical thinking, and practice writing notes.
Finally I introduced a few discussion groups on Edmodo to highlight how it is appropriate post in the community. There is a school wide policy concerning appropriate digital communication but I also want students to understand the difference between using academic language to share and when they are free to be informal. The discussion groups feature pictures of community members, exemplar student work, or engaging pictures shared on Instagram from groups like National Geographic or NASA. Students have been free to respond to these pictures informally or formally, with formal responses being incentivized. The exceptions for formal responses have been included in the post and generally have a sentence stems for students to follow. Student who chose to respond formally can win prizes and have been featured in the NLS
I have been excited by the buzz my pre teaching activities have created in my class already. I am now fully embracing the ambiguity and looking forward to freeing my students to using the NLS to share and collaborate.