All Things Digital Literacy - with a Focus in Podcasting (Pre-k through Grade 2)

What is All Things Digital Literacy?

All things digital literacy is the ability to use information and communication technologies. 

What is podcasting?

Podcasting is a talk radio, but on demand. Podcasting cover numerous amounts of topics for any age group to listen to. 67,000,000 podcasts are listened to monthly. 

How can I use this in the classroom?

Teachers can use podcasting as a guide to have students stay on track and get an extra chance to listen in on what is being taught. 

Teachers can use podcasting as a review. Teachers can post a review of a topic within the podcast to have students review before a group discussion. 

Teachers can use podcasting as an augmented lesson. Teachers can post their lesson in the podcast and then classroom time for applying the knowledge.

[If you do not know how to make a podcast there are a lot of videos on YouTube to check out on how to start a classroom podcast.]

Podcasting helps ELL students. It gives them guided instruction. These students are able to listen to the podcast as many times as needed. Sometimes you can change the language on the podcast which allows ELL students to listen to the podcast in their native language. 

Teachers can have students create their own podcast to demonstrate learning. This can be individually or in a group. Having students create their own podcast is great to use in digital artifacts where the students can carry this with them all the way through school. 

Teachers can create a podcast as a newsletter of the week. The teacher can share important information to give to parents and students. This is great because parents and students can listen to it and never lose the podcast because it is saved in the program you use. The teacher or students can create this podcast. 

Teachers can use podcasting as a way to give students instructions during stations. 

Teachers can have students create a podcast where they discuss an essential question that the teacher gives. 

"If music is inspiration and radio is theater for the mind, then podcasts are the exploration of the human intellect."

I will definitely be implementing podcasting in my classroom. I will use it as a newsletter and even have students listen in to podcasts already created. 

Edpuzzle

What is Edpuzzle?

Edpuzzle is a web application that allows you to take instructional videos and make them your own.

How can you make the videos your own?

You can edit the video and crop out parts that you do not need. 

You can record your voice on top of the video. Instead of listening to someone else's voice the students can hear their own teachers voice. This also allows teachers to take out information that was not needed in the video and put the information needed with your own voice. 

You can add audio pauses. This allows students time to work on something and not have to focus on what the video is saying. 

You can also add questions to check for understanding. 

Blendspace

Blendspace is a web application that allows you to create lessons by combining videos and other materials. Teachers can add videos, PowerPoints, photos, and quizzes. It is FREE for teachers. 

Teachers get immediate results from the students when using Edpuzzle. 

Edpuzzle is a great source for when you have a sub in class. You can still give the students the lesson exactly how you want it through Edpuzzle without having to be there. 

Here are several blogs for teachers to go to and learn more about how Edpuzzle is implemented in the classroom: 

-teachingtoday

-Edtech

-#teacherlife

-free resources

- edpuzzle

Edpuzzle is used by more than 50% of schools in the United States. 

Edpuzzle is a great resource for any teacher and all grades.

To get started using Edpuzzle, first you need to know what you want. 

What type of video are you looking for? 

What do you want voiced over the video to teach your students? 

What questions are you going to ask to see what your students learned? 

Do you need to add pauses? 

Are you going to include other materials within your video? 

Key things I learned:

Make sure that no matter what kind of video you show to your class that you always watch it first. 

Make sure you double check your voice over so that is makes sense. 

I will include Edpuzzle in my classroom so that I can implement videos in the class when I normally could not because of the commentary. 

Student Led Conferences

What is a student led conference?

A student led conference is when the student shares with their parents their learning and progress.

The students get to share what they want to share and what they want to get better at and set goals. 

Student led conferences is a new concept. For the last century teachers have been the ones giving the conferences. Allowing the students to lead the conference allows a deeper connection for students learning. Students may not be there yet in their learning. The power of yet, it is okay because a student may not be there yet. Do not rush students. Let them lead at their own pace. Just because a student is leading the conference does not mean the teacher will not get a say in anything. 

4 Types of Student Led Conferences

1. Fresh Grade

2. G Suite for Education

3. Seesaw

4. Book Creator 

This is a great resource for teachers. Teachers get to see what students are excited about in their learning. The students get to choose the work they are most proud of. It is important for the teacher to remember that what they choose may not reflect their best work, but it is okay. It is important to allow students to feel like they have a say in their learning and take ownership of their learning. Allowing students to lead a conference starts to teach them leadership skills. It can be a time for teachers to teach the student the role of a leader and speaking. It places the responsibility on the student. They learn that they are responsible for their own learning. Students are held accountable to make sure they have everything prepared for the conference. Students grow more from the student led conferences because they get to be apart of their goals. Students gain more confidence in student led conferences. Students see the importance in learning and why they need to give their best. 

Student led conferences is awesome for ELL students. They are able to communicate to their parents in their native language. ELLs are able to see the value in their learning and teach their parents what they are learning in class. 

I will definitely implement this in my future classroom! I think this is great to use. I would have at least 3 student led conferences and at least 2 teacher led conferences a year. This allows the parent and teacher to see what is important to the student. The parents are also able to hear from the teacher to see how their student is doing. 

Flipped Classroom

What is a flipped classroom?

The idea of a flipped classroom was started by two chemistry teachers in 2007 by Jon Bergmann and Aaron Sams. A flipped classroom is when students learn at home and come to school to apply their learning. This can look like students watching videos, going through a PowerPoint, or listening to a Podcast.

Students who struggle benefit more because keeping up with the rest of the class is not an issue.Using a flipped classroom helps students to learn at their own pace. Teachers are able to spend more time making sure students can apply their knowledge to the content. It makes learning personal. Students have access to the material at all times and can revisit the lesson when they are struggling to understand or those that are ahead and can access the next lesson's material. Teachers are able to give more time to support students individually which makes student and teacher interactions occur more and impact students. Teachers are able to adjust the lesson to meet the students at their ability level. Parents are able to be educated and help their student out because they are able to access the lesson material. The flipped classroom is compatible for all learning styles. 

How to implement a flipped classroom:

A flipped classroom does cause for a different classroom management style. 

It is important for a teacher to review, revise, repeat throughout the process of implementing a flipped classroom. 

How to implement:

1. Plan - gather all outcomes

2. Record - make a video or podcast 

3. Share - send to students

4. Change - students are ready to go in-depth 

5. Group - separate into groups to discuss and give assignments 

6. Regroup - get students back together to dive deeper into the topic

Classroom Management: 

Noise is good in a flipped classroom. It means that students are interactive and engaged in the lesson. 

It is important for the teacher to decide who to spend time with during the class time. The strugglers or advanced? When students start to get off topic and distracted, the teacher redirects through intervention. It is important to provide structure when needed for students because a flipped classroom tends to not follow a traditional structure. 

What I learned and How I will implement a flipped classroom into my classroom:

I learned that it is very beneficial for students both struggling and above level. I learned it is important when you implement a flipped classroom you need to choose the technology you are
most comfortable with. I will implement a flipped classroom when I have a substitute. This allows the students to still learn from me and be able to not get behind because I am not there. 

Whole Brain Teaching

What is it?

Whole brain teaching is an active, engaging teaching method that incorporates kinesthetic movement with language to maximize an inclusive learning environment.  

Whole brain teaching was founded by Chris Rekstad and Andrea Schindler. 

The goal of whole brain teaching is to create peaceful classrooms full of orderly fun.

It is called whole brain teaching because it involves the whole brain in learning. 

Parts of the Brain: 

broca's area system - verbalizing content

visual cortex - seeing gestures

motor cortex - movement 

limbic - emotional 

wernicke's area - hearing a lesson 

How is it used in class?

> Attention getters -

Keeps students engaged and focused. 

> Mirror words - 

students repeat words and gestures throughout the teaching

> Hands and eyes - 

students fold hands and eyes are on you

> Silent mirror - 

students listen quietly, but mirror your gestures

> Magic mirror - 

students listen and make their own gestures 

> Whole brain teaching rules 

     1. follow directions quickly

     2. raise your hand for permission to speak

     3. raise your hand for permission to leave your seat

     4. make smart choices 

     5. keep your dear teacher happy

> Teach - Okay - 

allow students to take turns teaching their partner 

> Score Board - 

teacher marks a score based on how the class is doing - 

oh yeah we are doing great 

oops we will keep trying

Whole brain teaching is great to implement in the classroom. It stimulates and motivates students who are struggling. The hand movements trigger the brain to remember. ELL students are benefited because they are able to work together with other students and teach other students. Whole brain teaching uses the whole brain. This method encourages a more engaging learning environment. It promotes good behavior and physical health. I learned that test scores rose by an average of 11%. I learned that 50% of student behavior improves. I will incorporate several of the methods within whole brain teaching to help with classroom management. Whole brain teaching helps students learn how to think critically and make meaning of information. It is important to remember that meeting the basic needs of students reduces stress and increases learning. 

The Orton-Gillingham Approach

The Orton-Gillingham Approach

An institute for multi sensory education founded by Samuel T. Orton and Anna Gillingham. 

Samual and Anna orginally created it with dyslexic students in mind, but over the last couple years it has been incorporated in general classrooms for all students. This approach explicitly teaches students the elements of language. It even teaches students how to decode and encode language which will help them become better readers. 

Students stay engaged with this approach because it gets students moving and actively involved in their learning. Students are able to practice independently and gain more confidence in their schoolwork. This practice also gives them the ability to attack new words. The Orton-Gillingham Approach builds language into the students world and meets each student where they are at. The Orton-Gillingham Approach has proven to show student growth. 

OG Strategies

Visual cues are constantly used throughout the lesson and used to assist in writing. 

Card Drills

Vowel Intensive

Letter Formation Techniques

Spelling Strategies 

Decoding of Words

Tapping Out Words (pound hand)

Repetition to Enhance Automaticity

Structured and Sequential Leaning Experiences

In the Classroom:

The Orton-Gillinham Approach is very easy for teachers to incorporate in the classroom. It improves reading and writing. Students were excited they could remember what they learned and could use strategies to attack a new word. Students start to learn their strengths through this approach. The Orton-Gillingham Approach is sequential. This is important because it helps the teacher and gives more understanding for the students. This approach is used in grades K+. 

What I Learned and How I Will Implement the Orton-Gillingham Approach in My Classroom:

I learned the value of finding other resources to incorporate in your classroom beyond the curriculum. If Orton-Gillingham is not used at the school system I am placed at, I will definitely incorporate some of the strategies and approaches to their teaching method. I really like how this approach goes so in depth in learning the English language through reading and writing. It shows the importance to learning and gives a purpose for the students as well. I learned that this approach reaches so many different learning styles and gets students active in their learning. It is amazing to see how effective this approach is and the impact it has on the students.  

Conscious Discipline

Conscious Discipline 

Conscious discipline is a relationship based discipline. It is an emotional-intelligence program to help respond instead of react to conflict. Conscious discipline teaches us to think through things.

Within conscious discipline one must know that rules do not govern behavior. We cannot change people. We need to know that discipline needs to be effective instead of the traditional punishments. Conscious discipline teaches students to solve problems and to not avoid conflict. It teaches students to self-regulate their own behavior and when students self-regulate they will be aware of what their body is doing.

How do you use Conscious Discipline in the classroom?

Create a safe place

Teachers can create an area in the classroom where students go to cool down and to self-regulate. In this safe place, teachers can add pillows or stuff animals to help students. It is also important to include mirrors with the emotions on one side and the mirror on the other. This allows students to look at themselves in the mirror and figure out what they are feeling. They will have a picture of the emotion to understand what they are feeling when they look in the mirror. The student will go to the safe place to let out their emotions and self-regulate. The student comes back to the rest of the class and picks up where the class is at. This decreases interrupts and allows the student to learn to self-regulate instead of the teacher doing it for them. 

Choice Board Greeting 

Allows students to say how they feel, but choice how they will walk out their day. 

Create a school family 

Teachers can create an atmosphere of family. Teachers can establish routines and rituals to do with the class daily. This benefits the teacher just as much as the student because the teacher can learn where the students are at that day. 

Breathing exercises

Breathing exercises helps students to calm down and focus. 

Benefits

- Increased academics

- Composure

- Encouragement for the student and each other

- Learn to make smart choices 

- Empathy towards others

- Learn the consequences for ones owns actions

What I learned and how I will implement it in my classroom:

It is important to know that if you, the teacher, decide to implement conscious discipline in your classroom you must go ALL IN. When you decide to implement conscious discipline, remember that it will take a lot of your time at the beginning but know that the benefits are worth it. There are so many resources available for teachers to learn more about conscious discipline and how to start to implement it in the classroom. It is important to teach your students to self-regulate and deal with conflict. For one, it limits the amount of tattling you will hear in the classroom and most importantly it will benefit them in the long run. I know I will use breathing exercises, create a family in the classroom, morning routine of greeting and meeting together, and create a safe place in my future classroom. 

For more information, go to consciousdiscipline.com

STEAM in Grades K-2

STEAM is a great program to implement in ANY classroom. STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics.

STEAM takes STEM to the next level. STEAM removes limitations and replaces them with inquiry, wonder, critique, and innovation.

STEAM teaches students how each of these subjects are connected. It is an educational approach to learning in the classroom that engages students in inquiry, discourse, and critical thinking. STEAM allows students to be hands-on in their learning and move at their own pace. STEAM takes learning beyond the textbook and incorporates Bloom’s Taxonomy.

To begin, teachers need a focus. First, find a topic or standard. Then figure out how you want to implement it in your class. Do you want to incorporate science, technology, engineering, art, or math? Maybe you can use multiple of them. Next, how do you want to use it? Do you want to implement the STEAM lesson whole group or small group? During all of this, teachers can get support from teachers in their school that have already implemented STEAM in their classroom and get ideas and tips from them. Teachers can also research tools and strategies on the internet to help them. One key thing to remember with STEAM is that it can be messy.

STEAM in a K-2 grade class incorporates a lot of the senses within the science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. STEAM can look like finding a solution to slippery shoes, working with robots, learning how to make colors, working with fabrics that are from other parts of the world, creating a volcano, and so many more ways to teach about these topics.  

Using STEAM in a K-2^nd grade class is VERY beneficial. STEAM is an educational approach that gives deeper meaning and understand of the real-world. STEAM helps ELL students to get more involved in the class. It challenges the ELL students to learn more about the language and work with other students. It teaches students to persist through and problem solve. It is also a great way to teach students that it is okay to fail and that it is a way to get to the answer. STEAM teaches students to focus on details and make observations. Students are able to link things they see in the real-world to what is being taught in the classroom.  

Virtual Field Trips

Virtual Field Trips is an online resource of destination-based videos for social studies, geography, science, and literacy curriculums.

Virtual field trips allow students to travel all around the world right in your own classroom.
This engages students and helps them to stay focus. Students are able to see relativity or size of a place or animal.

virtualfieldtrips.org is a great resource for teachers for virtual field trips that is categorized by state and standard. There are free resources available for teachers of any grade level and for any topic! Teachers can even go to YouTube to access virtual field trips.

Virtual field trips are great for helping develop social and emotional skills. Students are able to understand a different perspective through taking a field trip to another place or see an animal virtually than on paper. Virtual field trips help bring global awareness to students. Many times students do not know what is going on across the world or even in the next state. Students are able to see what is going on in the world around them and even communicate with someone from that area to ask essential questions to bring more understanding. Students are able to understand cultures and places.
Teachers can even use Skype for virtual field trips. Teachers are able to Skype with people who are working in a specific career or live in another country. This is great way to introduce different careers and bring understanding to a culture. Students are able to communicate directly to the person and ask questions to deepen their understanding. Students are more engaged and will take the experience with them forever.

There are so many benefits to using virtual field trips. For one they are affordable for everyone! Students are able to go places that they normally cannot because of cost or lack of time. So many virtual field trips align with the curriculum and this would give students access to do more research on topics. Virtual field trips support all learners and creates global citizenship. There are no restrictions! Students are able to explore and zoom into areas throughout the field trip and take more time than being on a tour at the actual location.

Nearpod

Nearpod is a collaborative board to integrate into any classroom and makes a presentation interactive!

The presentation is a lot like PowerPoint or Google Slides, but the presentation can be on a student's device and controlled by either the teacher or the student. This is a great tool for teachers to use to make lessons interactive, produce realtime responses, and show student activity and progress monitoring.

The presentation can include:

-quizzes

-open-ended responses

-fill in the blank

-draw-its

-session reports

-virtual field trips

-videos

-audio

-3D photos

-sway 

-activities

With each of these responses in Nearpod, the teacher has the ability to have the student's name show or not show when they respond. Teachers can either use Nearpod in a live lesson or have students go at their own pace. Live lesson allows teachers to control when students can view parts of the presentation and not get ahead in the lesson. Teachers can also give students access to the presentation and the students can go at their own pace.

Students are more acceptable to learn through Nearpod because it is interactive. Students are able to look at teacher instruction in a whole new way. Teachers are also able to see realtime responses from the students while presenting and make changes as the teacher needs to for the students to better understand the material or go deeper into the material. Students are actively engaged in the lesson and can give feedback immediately without disrupting the class.

COST |
Silver Membership - Free
Gold Membership - $10/month
Platinum Membership - $29/month

I had never heard of Nearpod before the presentation about it, but I will definitely be incorporating this into my classroom! I will be using these features that I think are very important for teaching and instruction:

Nearpod 3D Feature < 

This feature gives students access to view 3D images while the teacher is presenting. The students can manipulate the image to investigate and notice details on their own device that they normally could not in Google Slides or PowerPoint. 

Virtual Field Trips < 

This is an amazing feature that allows students to explore a place that the class is discussing. Just like the 3D feature, students can manipulate the field trip on their own device or the class can take the trip all together. This is great for students to study more about a topic or place! The virtual field trips take students to places that the class cannot take altogether. The field trip includes sounds and students can look all around as if they were there in person.

Sway < 

Sway allows students to study more about a person. This feature teachers can add details about someone and the students can click and explore the facts instead of just reading the facts off a screen. This makes learning more interactive and helps to keep students focused!


I will incorporate these features in mostly science and social studies instructional time. This is great to use when teaching students about our local and national government, animals, parts of a cell, and historical figures.