Share any thinking, new design steps, progress, challenges, and/or successes you have experienced during this course. How have you evolved as an innovative thinker?
One of my biggest challenges this semester was creating a driving question that I "thought" I already knew the answer to. I thought I knew exactly what would motivate my students and I tried utilizing that knowledge to implement a new tool with my students. As it turns out, my students REALLY disliked the tool and really disliked creating videos that involved their own faces in the video. I was shocked and overwhelmed with how I was going to mold this into a capstone project so close to the end of the school year. I thought that I had failed. As it turns out, I realized I had been doing mini action research on motivating digital tools this entire school year. Every time I implemented a new tool in my classroom, I talked to students, asked them what they liked and disliked. I gave them surveys throughout the year to find out more. These mini action research projects led me to realize that one single tool was not going to be the key to motivating my students. It truly is a toolkit of tools that motivate my students. If a teacher only uses one digital tool all year, the novelty and magic of that tool will wear off. A blended technique where the teacher crafts each lesson and creates a unique learning experience with a variety of digital tools is key. I will admit, this has been one of the most frustrating semesters because I constantly second guessed myself, felt that I was doing things wrong or was not getting the answers that I expected from my student.s. I have been trying to do a lot more end user work with my students to find out more about their needs and what motivates them. That is what I am most proud of this semester.
4 Comments
Stephanie Jones
5/3/2018 11:11:22 pm
What a great self reflection! You truly have done a lot of research with your students. This allows you to gain a better view of what is a motivator for young teenagers these day; and it will help guide you next year as you get a whole new group of students.I don't know about you, but I am ready to start fresh with a new class and see where my new innovative ways will take me. I will have a whole year's worth of new knowledge to share with my students. I feel that I have professionally grown a lot since September. The process has been frustrating, but rewarding as the same time. Keep up your amazing work. You have defiantly paved a new innovative path this year.
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Jane Adams Gallagher
5/4/2018 08:34:35 pm
Good job Christina.
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Shawn
5/6/2018 07:51:08 am
This semester has been a roller coaster of emotions for me as well. I think it is great that you now have a new sense of understanding of how to motivate your students. I agree with Stephanie, I am ready to start a new with what I have learned from this program. Keep up the great work you are doing in your class, and I can't wait to see your final product.
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joseph williams
5/8/2018 12:43:10 pm
This is such an important realization. In years pass, I felt much like what you experienced. Trying to integrate a tool into my lessons often felt like a burden rather than a tool and students pushed back when I thought they would pull in. Every class and year is different. What this years groups might not have liked about Flipgrid could completely change with next years group. Having a toolkit for tech tools is like having a pedagogical toolkit, not every content strand lends itself to the same lesson design.
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