HOw can i foster engaged, independent, 21st-century learners?
Room 210: A glimpse. Student engagement increases as students can identify relevance of topic, skill, or context. Skills develop. Students appreciate choice and autonomy as they assume responsibility for their learning. The classroom culture encourages critical thinking, personal engagement in learning, experimentation with new technologies and media, a collegial learning atmosphere. Student achievement continues to be excellent and students enjoy and invest in their education, as evidenced by extensive reading, multimodal writing projects, and integration of digital literacies.
The initial version of my Compelling Question sought to examine how to creatively and effectively integrate technology in the classroom by using student blogs. The first iteration of this project had some success; students created blogs based on literary and course-related questions. Many integrated multimodal technologies to convey meaning. Students expressed that they liked the blogs, and found them effective for showcasing student work. Students explored new technologies like video, audio, map annotations, and design. Hosted on the teacher web page, the blogs were part of class work, so, unlike "real" bloggers, students didn't have an ownership experience.
The connections and overlaps between reading and writing, digital literacies, and understanding one's world reinforced the interwoven nature of learning as I progressed through the NLGL program. The stand-alone action research project or narrow inquiry into a pedagogical practice will not capture the complex and dynamic nature of the learning process. My real inquiry delved into how to integrate the technologies, modalities, and curricular goals--how to put my own learning into practice to best encourage and support this generation of students.
The initial version of my Compelling Question sought to examine how to creatively and effectively integrate technology in the classroom by using student blogs. The first iteration of this project had some success; students created blogs based on literary and course-related questions. Many integrated multimodal technologies to convey meaning. Students expressed that they liked the blogs, and found them effective for showcasing student work. Students explored new technologies like video, audio, map annotations, and design. Hosted on the teacher web page, the blogs were part of class work, so, unlike "real" bloggers, students didn't have an ownership experience.
The connections and overlaps between reading and writing, digital literacies, and understanding one's world reinforced the interwoven nature of learning as I progressed through the NLGL program. The stand-alone action research project or narrow inquiry into a pedagogical practice will not capture the complex and dynamic nature of the learning process. My real inquiry delved into how to integrate the technologies, modalities, and curricular goals--how to put my own learning into practice to best encourage and support this generation of students.