Self Assessment Assignment

Technology Education Self-Assessment Assignment

Flipgrid in the Classroom

The article, “9 New Ways to Use Flipgrid in the Classroom”, stood out to me as a flipped model of teaching allows for students to connect with each other throughout their learning process while building a community. The key word, “community” is how I choose to frame my class mission statement. Students being able to learn, create and collaborate in this flipped model leaves way for experience driven learning.

One concept that stood out to me in this article was the idea that sharing and celebrating student’s work can be made easy with the Flipgrid app. “For example, students in a history class could share a long-term project they have completed, walking through what they learned and what they created. Peers in the class compose video responses, providing positive feedback on the work completed”. As an educator, I always enjoy watching students celebrate their peer’s wins.

Flipgrid has been an app that I really only tap into when students are absent or needing to submit something while not within the classroom walls. The takeaway that I learned from this article was that Flipgrid can also be used to build student portfolios, invite outside speakers and even allow for the celebration of classmates’ work.

Modeling Blended Learning in PD

I chose “Modeling Blended Learning in PD” after watching the clip at the top of the page titled, “A Student-Centered Model of Blended Learning”, explaining how students feel an immense amount of pressure when the classroom model does not involve a student-centered approach. In particular, blended learning, self-paced structure, and mastery-based grading were three specific goals the educator addresses in regard to bettering their classroom structure. In the article, “Modeling Blended Learning in PD” by Roxi Thompson, it is discussed how educators learn in a similar way as some of their students. According to Catlin Tucker a PD developer, incorporating five important pillars of blended learning is needed to support an educators understanding and retention of the concepts at hand. The environments that she discusses are, “mix of online and offline activities, choice, physical movement, collaboration, and small group/one-on-one support” (Thompson, 2023).

One specific concept that I learned from this article was, that meaningful collaboration is vital for both students and teachers. Engaged learning and working together develops an environment set up for true understanding of concepts at hand.

Discuss how you can apply what you learned to your classroom or occupation.

I intend to use the plan for physical movement engagement activates as stated by Thompson. This is extremely beneficial for students who need the interaction and movement pieces in a lesson. The requirement for learners to stand up while collaborating seems so small, but with such a bug impact.

Reading the Virtual Classroom Is Hard, but It Can Be Done

What an interesting article, “Reading the Virtual Classroom Is Hard, but It Can Be Done”, by Youki Terada was! I chose this article primarily because I do not teach in a virtual setting anymore, but can always benefit from the changes in this realm of education. This article addresses how to gauge and assess a students’ understanding in the virtual setting.

One concept that was woven through the entire article was, clearly establishing feedback tools such as nonverbal feedback, exit slips, Flipgrid and any quick formative assessment of the content. I loved learning that feedback is key while teaching in a virtual environment. As educators, especially behind a computer screen, we can lose the brief touches that we have in the traditional classroom setting to gauge understanding.

I will apply this to my classroom by implementing smaller check-ins throughout a lesson to ensure that students are understanding the content. Fortunately, this is much easier when you can sense a child’s engagement in person, however I found some of the formative tools addressed in the article to be easily implemented in my own classroom.

References

A Student-Centered Model of Blended Learning. (n.d.). Www.edutopia.org. https://www.edutopia.org/video/student-centered-model-blended-learning

Modeling Blended Learning in PD. (n.d.). Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/blended-learning-pd

‌ Reading the Virtual Classroom Is Hard, but It Can Be Done. (n.d.). Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/reading-virtual-classroom-hard-it-can-be-done

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