Glogster to Demonstrate Learning

We have almost made it the whole way through our environmental changes unit!  Most of my students have nearly completed their Focus Questions scavenger hunt.  I explained how they will be using their research yesterday.  If you'll recall earlier in the unit, I introduced my classes to Glogster as a way for them to demonstrate their learning through a graphic representation.  They caught on very quickly since I had spent time during the first six weeks teaching them how to save pictures and insert them into word documents. 

After working on the assignment sheet and rubric, I realized I was being very specific and this was the most intricate project creation I have asked for this year.  I decided I should create an example for them.  I also created a resources sheet since we are starting to learn how to cite our sources, as well as a How To sheet for them to refer to if they forget how to save an image, insert an image, save their glog, or create a hyperlink.

Here is my environmental changes glog.


I have been encouragecd to not just talk about what my students are doing in this blog but to also reflect on how what I'm doing is changing my own practices.  A well taken point.  I am a completely different teacher this year than I have been in the past.  The past three courses I have taken have changed how I think about my lesson plans.  It has been extremely easy to simply go with the flow of public education.  They give you everything so you don't have to think.  Teacher's editions, pacing calendars, top-down directives due to low testing scores.  Not to say that my administratio or district doesn't encourage "out of the box" thinking.  That is said often but with the next breathe often comes something else they are requiring us to do. 

I have decided what is best for my students is to encourage creative thinking, problem solving, and digital creation of products to demonstrate learning.  I am a constructivist at heart.  I desire my students to build on what they already know and seek out answers to questions they have.  I want them to build their own learning.  If I were a secondary teacher, I would be researching ways to create PLE (personal learning environments) with my students.  Some of my peers may consider me to be obsessed with using the internet.  Maybe I am right now because of the class I was in. 

The bottom line is that the internet can be a useful tool to students when they learn how to yeild it.  Books are great but the slow publishing process can mean that their information is dated and inaccurate as the world changes constantly.  The internet changes constantly and so we can find very updated information when we look at websites critically.

I have spent a lot more time finding resources that are useful to my students.  As fifth graders, I want their frustration levels low so they can feel successful and are willing to continue to try to create new and more innovative items.  For their choice board homework, two of my students are trying to use Dipity to create an digital timeline of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.  Some others are creating Museum Box presentations to present a pollution problem and solutions.

So in reflection over the past few weeks, my efforts to infuse my lessons with technology have been met with enthusiasm by my students.  I have gotten feedback from several parents that they are pleased their students are learning to use the internet savely.  And I have seen my kids trying new ways to learn about a subject they are intersted in.  I feel like I'm finally become the type of teacher I had envisioned myself being when I first got my certificate.