Moving Mindset

Will Technology Work for me in 
Lower Grade Classrooms?

I think I would like to add more technology to the lower grade classrooms.  I feel that our digital native students need the technology to enable them to be better more well rounded students.  I am very willing to make this change.  I want to help my students have a more hands on approach to learning.

However, with doing this in the lower grades, I feel that as a teacher I will have to help them with their personal learning.  I do not think that students in the lower grades need to learn only from technology.  They need to have a balance of technology and hands on learning.  Having technology readily available for all students, will help the students that do not have access to technology at home.

Even though, I am very willing to add as much technology as possible into the lower grades, I am not sure that it will be easily possible, due to the fact that some students may not be ready for the technology.  I feel that it would be hard to allow the students to use much technology at the beginning on the Kindergarten year.  I would begin the kindergarten students off with learning technology safety.  I feel that teaching the students how to be safe and use the technology to benefit them, is very important.  

I worry about giving students to much technology time will effect their divergent thinking.  I want my students to continue to be creative and imaginative thinkers.  I feel it can be challenging to balance physical book time and technology time.

As the teacher, when using the technology in the classroom, I believe that I must be able to demonstrate and have a great understanding of  the best way to incorporate the technology and be competent in being able to explain how to use the technology.  I would chose to use the iNACOL standards.  Being that in the lower grades technology would just being introduced to the students, I would pick and choose which standards I would use.  I would want to be able to incorporate the iNACOL standards with the current state educational standards.

Resources
-Engaging digital Natives Video
-Before Bringing in New tools, You Must First Bring in New Thinking
      By:Mark Prensky
-http://www.onlineprogramhowto.org/teachers/role-of-teacher/
-http://fun2binfirst.blogspot.com/

Authentic Assessment

Is authentic assessment possible in every subject area?

        
      Yes, I believe that authentic assessment is possible in every subject area.  However, the key to authentic assessment is that the teacher and students MUST care about the curriculum.  I do not think that every lesson that is taught can have an authentic assessment attached to it.  The teacher needs to pick and choose when to use authentic assessment.

Can all grade levels demonstrate mastery?

     Yes, all grade levels can demonstrate mastery  through authentic assessment.  In the lower elementary grades, the students can make a poster or perform a skit.  This will show that the students understand and retained the lesson that was taught.  In the upper grades, the students can perform a skit, do experiments, journaling, or produce a video.  This will show that they learned the material.

Is it practical for teachers to complete these types of assessments in the high stakes testing environment?

     Absolutely!!!  Students need feedback outside of high stakes/standardized testing!!  As a teacher, we need to supply our students with lower stakes assessments.  These assessments provide our students with the ability to be creative and use resources not available with high stakes testing.  When students are giving the opportunity to own their learning and use different methods of expressing what they have learned, they will be more engaged.

Resources:
-http://oureverydaylife.com/definition-authentic-assessment-useful-students-special-needs-    6725.html
-http://tamaravrussell.blogspot.com
-chenloyola.wordpress.com
-http://successimg.com
-http://www.edutopia.org/10-assessment-tips-for-class
-http://www.brighthub.com/education/online-learning/articles/35429.aspx