Action Research: Can After School Programs Impact Student Achievement in the Classrooms?

Participating and working on this action research was not only informative but also challenging. I'm very thankful that I worked it to completion with patience and no regrets. Technology is easier but it seems to have it's way of doing things. Here is the link to my action research: https://voicethread.com/share/5243757/

Hope you learn from it and possibly give me feedback to help me with my work.

THANK YOU! FAAFETAI TELE LAVA! 

Integrating Technology

How can we purposefully integrate technology and design learning experiences to engage young adolescents? EXCELLENT QUESTION! We have been at this for many years now; integrating technology into the learning processes. Technology is nowadays a routine followed and used by many to teach and learn effectively. Changes to it approaches really fast without us knowing of how to accommodate it into our classrooms in a way that’ll interest our students.

In my classroom, I currently integrate technology with my reading and social study classes. In reading, I use technology as a way of modeling a skill I’m working on. Last week, we worked with my students on a standard that focused on reading fluency. We explored reading intonation and expression and we were able to approach it using Reader’s Theater. Instead of the usual teacher to student routine, I passed out a hard copy of the story Lightning Larry and used a short clip of actors reading out the script of Lightning Larry while the students followed along. Everyone was into the reading by the actors as everyone was attentive. As follow up, I had my students practice reading the script before they recorded it live with a camcorder. My main objective for doing so is getting the students interested into what I was trying to share with them.

With Adobe Education Leaders’ SAMR model, Dr. Rueben Puentedura emphasized the four levels of working with technology.  Like I shared in the beginning, we been doing it for so long not even knowing the levels we were at from where we should be. I applaud the author(s) as it has enlightened the idea that we should maximize what we do to accommodate our student’s interest. The key word in the redefinition level of the model is redesigning or recreating something that they can consider as their very own work. When we allow our students to create their own original work, we giving them the key to performing at a high level of learn.

JUST ME, MYSELF & I: Digital Citizenship

JUST ME, MYSELF & I: Digital Citizenship: DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP? Very interesting. In the digital world of today, not being digitally involved can be ...

Digital Citizenship

DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP? Very interesting. In the digital world of today, not being digitally involved can be considered social suicide. It is no different than being left home alone or even alone in the wilderness without a soul to connect with. Literally.

I believe that it is important to educate our young people about digital citizenship because of the benefits and advantages they acquire from it. It is the way of schooling today where technology is required in order for students to receive the highest level of education possible. It can help them in making work easier & faster, and it can also serve as a tool that helps in obtaining new and useful knowledge through research.

HOWEVER, we as educators must always be on our feet in making sure that our students are utilizing the opportunity to it’s fullest potential. We know technology as being beneficial for our students; it also has its way of turning the opposite way. Young people today consider this a blessing as communication amongst them has become very accessible, but it also provides problems that we are trying to remedy today. Because of their knowledge of digital tools, it has become a burden to solve problems brought up by being digital citizens amongst our young people.

My personal solution to this is to continuously educate our young ones on the importance of utilizing technology to fulfill life’s needs, and not use it to accommodate personal vendettas. Let’s continue to educate them of what they need to do to stay digitally safe as well as use it to their advantage educationally. Let’s guide our students to learn more, but at the same time become knowledgeable of how to protect themselves from predators and problems who prey on weak digital citizens.

21st Century Skills

Talofa lava fellow MSLMEDers, I’m DIGITAL IMMIGRANT Larry. I have been in the teaching field ever since 9/11/01 and enjoying every bit of it. To be honest, I am totally amazed at how different students are today compared to when I was in school in the 80’s and 90’s. My school days were very traditional, TEACHER SPEAKS STUDENTS LISTEN, but now all that has changed.

It is why I now firmly believe that we must leave our past as a legacy and move on to trends to which our students are more comfortable with. STUDENTS OF THE 21^ST CENTURY SHOULD BE GUIDED BY 21^ST CENTURY TEACHERS & STRATEGIES. I am a total believer of Prensky’s Digital Natives and Immigrants article and a fan of Partnership for 21^st century skills. It represents what I TRY as a teacher to instill in my students every time they are with me. I emphasize with my students how leadership is vital, open communication, all-out creativity, being aware of issues that impact their lives (global awareness), effective decision making ability, solving problems in a positive manner, collaboration & teamwork and most importantly the use of TECHNOLOGY. TECHNOLOGY is the way of life today and education shouldn’t be any different. REALITY IS THE REAL THING WHEN REAL PEOPLE CHOOSE TO REALLY ACCEPT REALITY. The articles not only opens an educator’s eyes to reality, but it also stands to serve as sign informing to move in the right direction for the benefit of our students. To sum it up, I’ll leave you with my perspective of teacher, “DON’T JUST PREP YOUR STUDENTS FOR THE BIG TEST but PREPARE YOUR STUDENTS FOR REAL LIFE”.