Summer Institute in Digital Literacy 2017 - Day 5

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Please know this is my personal learning and reflections.
KEYNOTE
Deepening Assessment Digitally 
Troy Hicks and Jill Castek discussed how students can use digital tools to assess their work and how teachers can use digital tools to assess student work. They showed us two examples 


 As I mentioned yesterday, as I begin introducing more tools to students, I like the idea of using digital tools for students to highlight and reflect upon their learning.  I think students will take a risk and try something new when there is not a grade attached to it.  

 Digital assessment tool as a final grade requires that the teacher has already built relationships with their students.  There must be a sense of community so that students are not afraid to approach a teacher and question digital feedback.  I do not think it should replace personal conferencing with students.  Personal conferencing I believe is the most meaningful way to provide assessment as the teacher knows that the student is receiving the feedback and there is little chance of misinterpretations as teachers can react to student facial reactions and possible body language in the discussion. It also teach student very important interpersonal communication skills. 

 I also think that today's data driven teacher evaluation system needs to change before using digital tools as formative assessments will be "acceptable". 

Resources from the Session


BREAKOUT SESSIONS
There were no breakout sessions today which left me very sad as I love the hands on learning with smaller groups!
 
LEADERSHIP PANEL 
I confess I was disappointed I was not assigned to a panel that had a representative from West Warwick, the school with the amazing students from Day 2.  Our panel included 

1. William Yang, Assistant Principal, Edgewood Elementary School, Scarsdale, NY 
2. Erica DeVoe, ELA Teacher, Westerly High School, Westerly, RI 
3. Megan Jones, District Educational Technology Coach/TOSA, Citrus County Schools, FL
4. Frank Romanelli, Writing & Rhetoric Lecturer, University of Rhode Island 
5. Anne Kilkenny, Children’s Librarian, Providence Public Library, RI

 They discussed their definitions of digital literacy and how to take on a leadership role moving your school toward more digital projects.  

DYAD Project
At the beginning of the week we were tasked with creating a Personal Inquiry Project for students.  What felt like a very concrete format was given to us and we worked on it each day.  I thought it interesting as we discussed personal and personalized learning we were being given a format.  I understand the why, however, I know as a veteran teacher, how I best approach creating lessons.  
Our PDI Planning Worksheets! I finally had to print...scrolling to connect information did not work for me. 


I am a very linear person (can't you tell from my blog?) I wanted to focus on my approach to a project which will be a collaboration between myself and freshman humanities teachers. My role is to provide Research Bootcamp. Thankfully, I found Bill, (or he found me in the lunch line) a high school English teacher who wanted to focus on teaching students how to research using digital tools.  Bill is an East and I am a West so he didn't mess with my attention to detail and I was cool with him looking for the big picture.  We balanced each other well and had similar ideas about teaching with the kids we were trying to reach with this project. We used the time to create an outline of instruction.  While I had the guiding plan provided at this conference, we found it more useful to create an outline for the lessons and think about how to deep understanding with the personal Digital Inquiry Tools.

 We had an 18 page worksheet guide. Yes, 18 pages!! And I will confess it made my head spin. I did not feel like this format helped me maximize my use of time or understanding.  I found it to be repetitive and frustrating to work with as a single document. I toggle better than I scroll.  The pages we were to fill out included the initial planning, the Personal Digital Inquiry (PDI) Planning Guide, Your PDI Plan, Digital Products, Project Abstracts, Final PDI Summary, Project Reflection, and an "Other Resource" page.
 
I did have a great time working in the afternoon dyad sessions and sharing ideas and my favorite professional reading this summer.

ABOUT MY BLOG  A number of people approached me throughout the day asking about my blog and how I got started.  I really appreciate your enthusiasm for it.THANK YOU!   

 I have wanted to blog for years (I love to write) but could not think of a name.  So for 3 years I thought about a name. Then one day after meeting and talking to George Couros, I decided to just start.  It wasn't going to be perfect. Nothing ever is.  

 What I use my blog for: 
  • reflecting on my lessons and teaching practices
  • recording personal learning
  • connecting with school librarians, educators, families & community and students 
  • advocating for school librarians
  • keeping track for EOY teacher evaluation - I keep track of my professional development & Domain IV 
  • sharing, I don't believe any of us need to create our own wheels (lessons)
  • fun - I LOVE creating - it both the writing piece and learning how to do a bit of coding and embedding digital items
  • so stakeholders in my school district can see the work that I do
So for those of you who said, I have always wanted to blog...just DIVE IN and get started!  You won't regret it!

Comments

  1. hickstroJuly 28, 2017 at 10:33 PM

    Thanks, Kathleen, for your summary and reflections on our keynote. I am pleased to know that you found our approach -- and the resources -- valuable.

    I take your point -- "today's data driven teacher evaluation system needs to change before using digital tools as formative assessments will be "acceptable"" -- though I wonder if modeling the use of these alternative assessments, in your own school context, might be the first step?

    I hope that you are able to give some of the tools and, more importantly, assessment approaches a try. Please keep in touch and let us know how it goes for you.

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  2. kcurriesmithJuly 29, 2017 at 2:40 PM

    I absolutely plan to model and I know my administration will be onboard with new ideas. I learned so much this week and appreciate all the work you all did to make it so meaningful for us!

    ReplyDelete

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