Final Course Reflection

Most certainly, I have engaged in some major professional growth in the last few months.  ISTE 5a  participate in local and global learning.  I attended the CUE conference this summer because of my connections in the class.  My brain hurts from all the growing I've done.  ISTE 3c Collaborate with students, peers, and community members using digital tools.  Our class blog is up and running because of the gentle push to create and model digital learning.  My students are sharing their work and academic successes with parents and family members through our blog.  I resisted using Remind.com last year because I thought Classdojo was just fine for communication.  The delay feature on Remind has been very helpful in monetary and time saving measures.  I'm using Google docs to create timelines for field trips and flexible grouping for parent chaperones that both Kathy and I can view and alter.  Before our "field trip" at school Monday, we sat down and created a google document that was shared with administration and the secretaries.  I was able to edit my groups at home, and the document was done before the secretaries saw it, probably not before Lara saw it because she's miss prompt pants:)  Miss Lovely Lisa Sedgewick helped me create an assignment with our new math curriculum.  She even showed me how to changed the passwords to something all my students can remember, who creates a program that will not let you print out passwords, you must remember them as you type them, oh happy day I love remembering things, NOT.  We will be taking a math test online, first time for me, when we are done with this GLAD training.  My student project had my students working as project teams to produce original works that will be posted on our blog Friday. They were proud of their work, it was cute, and they transferred their learning to digital media by working on the project. After taking the final course reflection I noted many areas of growth.  Months ago I was learning to design digital age learning experiences and assessments, and now I am integrating them into my practice.  Before the course I felt like a novice creating digital learning experiences for my students.  I thoroughly enjoyed developing the digital age learning math experiences with my students as part of the class project, and I am able to integrate these practices into my pedagogy.  As I posted the videos on our class blog over the weekend, I was able to communicate with parents and students, yet continue with the district professional development this week. This allows time to communicate relevant information and ideas with students and parents on a regular basis, which I was learning to do before this course began.  I'm working on incorporating all of these strategies into my teaching on a regular basis.  We've expanded our Pinterest boards to one shared 2nd grade GLAD board.   I still prefer Facebook over Twitter but I may move to the dark side :) someday just to see what it's all about #curious. Here's my Prezi reflection of the course.  Some items have been repeated in another format, and I'm rather proud of these accomplishments because I've been working toward communication like this for several years.
Final Reflection Prezi

Learning Environments

 If I were to design the ultimate learning space it would be flexible.  Desks with soft comfortable chairs would sink into the floor when group or center space was needed.  You said the ultimate environment, and a desks when needed/not needed at a moments notice would really be fun.  A few taller tables for those wiggly students would hover near the back of the room.  I can see a nice comfortable rocking chair at the back of the room as well.

Learning Environments SketchNote

 I loved rocking my kids when they were little.  The six classic (13 year old) computers I currently have would be replaced with desktop computers or laptops.  I envision a nice charging station for my Ipads and lovely working headphones to accompany them.  The softest most comfortable rug imaginable would center itself in the gathering space near the rear of the room.  Food is fun and great for learning, so a small kitchen area is a must.  Playground equipment is always a problem, so organization for that equipment would be in the wall near the door.  Pinterest is my research tool of choice, so that would be the first place to look for ideas.  I'd like to pursue this plan, but money and time are an issue, and both of those are in very short supply.  I could ask Charlene Knowlton to help, as I started a Gofund Me but didn't quite finish it:)

Communications and Collaboration

I improved communication with parents and students this year, as I added Remind.com as a tool and I absolutely love it.  My job is so much easier because of this technology, which will probably cost us money in the future.  Messages are scheduled or sent immediately. Our book return to the library is much better this year because I send reminders the night before.  Many parents understand our reading homework better because I sent a short explanation the night it was due.  I should be spending a little less money on class activities because Remind is so efficient.  Communication and collaboration takes place when I send text messages requesting items for our class.  It's so nice to be able to let parents know we have plenty of cider, but we need cupcakes.  All of this done over the weekend, when the items are needed on Monday ( can you say stress relief and less money spent needlessly).

Our class blog is also a huge success.  The photos and class videos entice parents to visit the site and read the information.  My students love to add their work and I am happy to share their successes with parents.  Last week I was able to add both links to Scholastic Reading Counts to our blog. Parents and students now have access to this technology at home.  They can read, take tests at home, and check to see if a book has a quiz all after school.  Our PTSO purchased the online program.  It was expensive but I believe it's very worth the cost. We are collaborating in our efforts to improve reading when parents use the tools I provide in the comfort of their own home and their kiddos come to school joyful because they read 3 books.  Mrs. Scaggs' Class Blog  When visiting my blog make sure you scroll down and check out our Doubles Rappers..........and the Shy Rappers.

Asynchronous,  that would be most of my communication and collaboration.  Pinterest boards are accessed when needed and at varying times and places.  Remind.com messages are sent when the need arises, and I collaborate with colleagues when we plan events, and most importantly, have time to do so.  If you really want to streeeeetch the term, our synchronous collaboration is scheduled by the district:)  I can teach using synchronous communication when students are absent, yet able to practice spelling words, take the practice test, and the final test, all while using the same Spelling city we access in class.  We haven't done a google hangout as synchronous collaboration with second grade, not everyone is there yet.  I'd like to have a shorter meeting one week, stay in my classroom, save my precious planning time, and collaborate with other second grade teachers, because we accessed google hangout.

Curation and Creation

Our Making Meaning curriculum has a cute Kevin Henkes book included in the series.  I purchased several books by that author, and wanted resources and videos to go with this book.   I used many of the videos and read alouds from my Symbaloo while we ate apple crisp with ice cream.  It's nice to have educational books to view and videos when we have a class party.  These items were the icing on the cake to our class party.  Things can get a bit hectic when you are serving food to 26 active 2nd grade students, so having access to all of those items in one area was so very nice.  Sometimes pinterest is blocked, so this was much more accessable.

I didn't create my own video for this Symbaloo because we just created our own video with a Doubles Rap, and that took a while.  We are currently working on our doubles facts, so I did not add anymore to the Keven Henkes Symbaloo.  Here's the link to my class blog with the doubles rap.
Mrs Scaggs' Class Blog
My parents loved it, and the kids enjoyed showing what they were doing in class.  They were able to practice their facts and view the video at home with their parents.
https://www.symbaloo.com/mix/kevinhenkes1

Here's a video of students working on their project, the math paper that we modeled our project after, our working copy, and our final products, enjoy.
Vivavideo of students working on project
working copy
Final Product    Yes, I know they are so cute!
Final Product
Final Product