3.1 Classroom Management & Collaborative Learning
Candidates model and facilitate effective classroom management and collaborative learning strategies to maximize teacher and student use of digital tools and resources.
Artifact: Homework Hotline & Twitter PLC
Reflection:
The Homework Hotline & Twitter PLC is a 1.5 to 2 hour training on creating a classroom website and using Twitter with students. This training was offered at my school with about 25 participants attending. A wiki was created for the training so teachers could have all documents in one location. Teachers can also refer to the wiki for extra help during or after the training session. This training session allowed teachers to create a classroom webpage that was useful for students and parents. Teachers learned how to create and update their webpages. Examples were shown to give teachers an idea of how they could utilize their webpage. The webpages became student friendly as they included weekly lesson plans, PowerPoints, due dates, important announcements and vocabulary among other things. Twitter training was also available for those that were interested in staying. Several teachers set up a Twitter account and began using the tool with their students and parents just a few weeks later. Using Twitter allows teachers to send out important announcements and upcoming due dates to students and parents as text messages on their cell phone.
The creation and implementation of this training session demonstrates mastery of standard 3.1 in that I modeled classroom management strategies using the classroom webpage and Twitter. Teachers learned how to create an effective classroom webpage that became useful to their students and parents. Teachers also learned how to use Twitter with their students and parents in order to remind them of important announcements or upcoming due dates. This featured helps many parents as they have a cell phone but no Internet connection at home.
I learned that many teachers are afraid of exploring technology on their own. Many teachers did not have a classroom webpage set up as they were afraid they would break something. I also learned that teachers are on very different levels of technology use. Many just needed a training session to get them started and then they were on their way. To improve this artifact, I would have done the two trainings on different days. It was a lot of work just having teachers create a classroom webpage. Several teachers could not stay for the Twitter training, as it took longer than expected to get though the first session. I did enjoy working with teachers on their webpages as they were all very different and had great ideas on how to use it in their classroom.
Creating this training session impacted faculty development. All the faculty members that attended did not have a working classroom webpage before attending. After, however, they left with a shell that they could continue to add information and improve upon. Teachers informed students and parents of their classroom webpages to stay up to date with important information. Observing teacher webpages and discussing with teachers how they are using their webpages in their classroom can assess the training. Speaking with teachers about how they are using Twitter in the classroom can be another way to assess the training.
The Homework Hotline & Twitter PLC is a 1.5 to 2 hour training on creating a classroom website and using Twitter with students. This training was offered at my school with about 25 participants attending. A wiki was created for the training so teachers could have all documents in one location. Teachers can also refer to the wiki for extra help during or after the training session. This training session allowed teachers to create a classroom webpage that was useful for students and parents. Teachers learned how to create and update their webpages. Examples were shown to give teachers an idea of how they could utilize their webpage. The webpages became student friendly as they included weekly lesson plans, PowerPoints, due dates, important announcements and vocabulary among other things. Twitter training was also available for those that were interested in staying. Several teachers set up a Twitter account and began using the tool with their students and parents just a few weeks later. Using Twitter allows teachers to send out important announcements and upcoming due dates to students and parents as text messages on their cell phone.
The creation and implementation of this training session demonstrates mastery of standard 3.1 in that I modeled classroom management strategies using the classroom webpage and Twitter. Teachers learned how to create an effective classroom webpage that became useful to their students and parents. Teachers also learned how to use Twitter with their students and parents in order to remind them of important announcements or upcoming due dates. This featured helps many parents as they have a cell phone but no Internet connection at home.
I learned that many teachers are afraid of exploring technology on their own. Many teachers did not have a classroom webpage set up as they were afraid they would break something. I also learned that teachers are on very different levels of technology use. Many just needed a training session to get them started and then they were on their way. To improve this artifact, I would have done the two trainings on different days. It was a lot of work just having teachers create a classroom webpage. Several teachers could not stay for the Twitter training, as it took longer than expected to get though the first session. I did enjoy working with teachers on their webpages as they were all very different and had great ideas on how to use it in their classroom.
Creating this training session impacted faculty development. All the faculty members that attended did not have a working classroom webpage before attending. After, however, they left with a shell that they could continue to add information and improve upon. Teachers informed students and parents of their classroom webpages to stay up to date with important information. Observing teacher webpages and discussing with teachers how they are using their webpages in their classroom can assess the training. Speaking with teachers about how they are using Twitter in the classroom can be another way to assess the training.