Within my GAME plan, I have made baby steps. Some days it feels like I may be moving backwards in my progress to create a classroom that is rich with technology, and embracing a more comprehensive approach to learning. I have been working on having students learning how to communicate online and being respectful, and appropriate. Today, we had an opportunity to discuss a chat board and ways to communicate within a closed setting. Many of my third grade students understood the concept and that they should always be appropriate. We compared the things they do online as their professional self, and what they do at home as their personal self. Anything they were going to do online needed to be treated as their professional self, because anyone can see or look back on what is out there. In the middle of the discussion, I realized that they just wanted to get to the chatting. Was this the point I should turn it over to them? I couldn’t help myself when I gave the ultimatum “If you do anything inappropriate, disrespectful, or otherwise determined to be out of line…. I will shut down the chatting for good!” Oh no! I had become the chat police! How would my students learn how to appropriately chat and communicate online knowing that I was watching and waiting for them to slip up? That session seemed to go just fine and they were so excited to just say hi to others publicly. It was like watching a bad first date, no one knew what to say to each other. One thing I will modify is to give students a topic to discuss, or a problem to solve. I have revisited the permission forms that students and their families signed at the beginning of the year and realized that most of the technology tools we use are covered in the form. However, when we start creating projects and posting them online, I will need permissions that are more specific and be clearer in my expectations of the students and their work.
Another thing we have been working on is student’s keyboarding skills. They are so excited and engaged in the basic keyboarding activities that come with our computers. Students actually look forward to typing the same letter a million times correctly just to see their words per minute score improve and allow them to progress to the next step. Are my students racing to the finish line? Are they truly understanding how to type, or just going through the motions and faking it to be the first? My third graders are incredibly competitive and I worry that they are not motivated to learn keyboarding, only the motivation to be done with it.
I think the more your students can practice their typing skills the better, even if they are racing to be first. You may want to tap into their competitive side to try to help their accuracy. Maybe you could chart a score that combines both accuracy and timing. This would encourage them to improve their typing skills, not just hit the keys faster. You could even acknowledge the most improved in each category. Maybe have a 'trophy' (like a flag or ribbon) that could be moved from student to student as each category is improved.
ReplyDeleteDon't feel bad about threatening to shut down the chat board! Students need to question themselves about what they post before they hit the button. You are teaching them the responsibility of being part of an online community and preparing them for the future. They will need to be careful with their personal postings at home as well as professional postings in the future if their employment requires them to communicate online. It sounds like you have really helped move your class forward with technology!