In an update on the status of my personal GAME plan goals, I
feel that I have made some progress this week.
In reference to the NETS-T
goal indicator 2b (ISTE, 2012) of allotting of more time in my
schedule for students to research topics of their own choosing, the first
session took place on Friday. Before turning the students loose to search the
internet, I reviewed the ground rules for internet searches and went over the
Acceptable Use Policy that each student signed at the beginning of the
year. We discussed what should be done
if some unfiltered content appeared on their screens. We also discussed possible consequences for inappropriate
searches. All students seemed clear on
the directions and the consequences.
With that reassurance, I let them begin searching.
I
monitored their screens scrupulously, jetting around the computer lab like a
hummingbird in flight. I didn’t want to
take the chance that they would search content that was not permissible. I was very pleased in that they started with somewhat
mild topics like cars, foods, and animals.
As one person would find something they liked, their neighbor would
change the topic of their own search and join in. Then the students would discuss what they had
found. The students were looking for
recipes, dogs “just like their own’, cars they would like to own, and one child
even conducted research as a follow up of to a discussion we had had in
Virginia Studies. The students were
actively involved and excited about what they were doing. And, the best part was, they were learning
new information in the process.
One
problem or issue that did surface during this phase of my plan was that the
students wanted to print everything they found.
Luckily because there is only one “black” printer to handle two computer
labs and the students know they have to have permission before printing, they
did not go crazy printing everything in sight.
In fact, they realized that most of what they wanted to print would not
turn out the same in black and white as it appeared in color. They were easily persuaded to view only,
rather than to print their new found treasures.
I can envision though, that in the future, they are not going to be as
complacent. Therefore, it will be
necessary for me to have a plan in place for them to save or capture their work
the next time.
In
reference to my second goal of communicating digitally with my students from
NETS-T 4d (ISTE, 2012), I took two steps forward and one step back, so to
speak. In my original plan, I had envisioned
individually emailing my students through one of the reading programs already
in place. The more I thought about this
idea, I questioned the fact that others would have access to the messages—mainly
the software company and the central office staff. I knew that I would not be saying anything of
a personal nature, but didn’t want the children to reveal personal information
that they wouldn’t want others to know.
Plan B
of my goal was to enlist the help of Edmodo (www.edmodo.com),
a site recommended by several of my Walden colleagues. I signed up for the program and created my
classes. After receiving the codes for
the students to use, I showed them what the home page looked like and told them
they would be receiving a parent permission slip that needed to be signed and
returned before they would be allowed to access the site. This parental permission was required because
my students are under the age of 13. They
were excited about this new opportunity, but it will be another week and a half
before I will have any users—they left for Spring Break and will not be back
until April 8.
Facing
that time delay, I went back to my original plan and sent out a group email
message to all of my students through their reading program’s email section. While it was a mass message so to speak, it
was a form of digital communication.
Some of the students will access this program during break, so I may receive
some responses before they return back to school. Otherwise, I will be awaiting
their permission slips to join me in Edmodo in April.
All in
all, I think it has been a productive week.
I will continue to work on developing more content to add to Edmodo, I
will monitor my email via their reading program software, and I will continue
to schedule more time for the students to engage in internet searches on topics
of their choosing. I am anxious to see
where these steps will lead.
References
Edmodo | Where Learning Happens | Sign up, Sign In. (n.d.). Edmodo
| Where Learning Happens | Sign
up,
Sign In. Retrieved March 27, 2013, from http://www.edmodo.com/
ISTE. (2012). NETS for Teachers. Retrieved March 13,
2013, from
When a project is self motivated like personal research you are always going to get more involvement. Have you considered having the students start from a student friendly search engine? Knowing they are in 5th grade, but still wanting to make sure that no inappropriate material, may save you from having to flying around the room to monitor. Also have students give you one URL that they feel really covers what they want in their topic and let that be the only one that is printed if they really need something. Be careful with having they write their papers and having the webpages up at the same time. I did this for a project last year and some students tried to just cut and past info straight from the website into their paper. I then had to take a few steps back and go over plagiarism more in depth.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to hear how this project turns out!
For this first experience with student choice research, the students conducted more of an "open search" rather than a search for a project. That is why I was being so cautious. When we do "official research" I am going to have the students present their search topics to me prior to them using the computer. Since this was an impromptu activity, I wanted to make sure they were staying focused.
DeleteI do plan to have the students use a student centered search engine—one of the sites you actually recommended through your blog. I do think that this will keep the content appropriate and safe for my students. Also, I have learned the hard way that students very often will copy and paste information and think nothing of it. One year I even had a child complete a state research project by copying and pasting. The child printed pages from the internet and glued them to her tri-fold board, not even bothering to edit anything. She was confused as to why she received a failing grade. Student instruction on summarizing and the consequences of plagiarism are definitely needed prior to the students engaging in research.
Thanks for all of your suggestions!
Stacey,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you are learning a lot from carrying out your GAME plan. I am hoping to do a similar research project that you are currently beginning with your fifth graders. A colleague of mine had her students choose their own topics this fall and ran into a few issues. Here is a run-down of the advice she gave to me: Let the kids explore freely for at least two days before deciding on a topic. The topic they choose needs to be focused with a specific purpose but flexible in case their research takes them in a different direction. Check in with each student as often as possible to offer guidance and to ensure all are on track to finish. Finally, reviewing how to cite sources for words and images is needed almost everyday.
I hope some of that advice is helpful to you. I know I will be using it when I try a choice project with my students.
Katie Weichert
Katie,
DeleteThanks for your advice. I will take it into consideration when working with this project.