Essential Questions

Image by cocoparisienne from Pixabay

Essential questions provide context for individual understandings or skills. They connect the small to the large, the known to what still must be explored. If designed well and integrated into instruction, they help students think bigger, communicate better, analyze and synthesize what they learn and transfer that knowledge to other subject areas both inside and outside of school.

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Just in Time: Formative Assessment

Formative assessments are a key component of grounding students in 21st century skills. By providing feedback while students are learning instead of waiting until the end of a lesson or term, learners can recognize what they are and aren’t understanding. Similarly, educators can adjust their teaching methods to better meet their students’ needs.

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Building Independent Learners

As any parent or teacher knows, children learn best when they solve problems on their own. In this week’s module of our class Digital Learning Environments, I chose to look at how ISTE Coaching Standard 3e, which calls for  troubleshooting “basic software, hardware, and connectivity problems common in digital learning environments,” could be applied in K-5 elementary Technology and Computer Science classes. In this post I wanted to not only find digital tools that could support this standard, but more importantly, understand best practices for helping students solve problems they encounter when learning to code or use various software or hardware devices.

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Social Coding: Engaging Girls in K-8 Computer Science

“Female Pupils In Science Lesson Studying Robotics” by Highwaystarz-Photography
Getty Images Pro, via Canva.

In module 1 of our DEL program class Digital Learning Environments, we are looking at ISTE Coaching Standard 3 “Technology coaches create and support effective digital age learning environments to maximize the learning of all students” (ISTE, 2011). 

In this post I would like to explore how teachers can promote collaboration and cultural relevance in K-8 Computer Science lessons to increase girls’ interest in coding, addressing indicator a: “Model effective classroom management and collaborative learning strategies to maximize teacher and student use of digital tools and resources and access to technology-rich learning environments” (ISTE, 2011).

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Technology and Culturally Responsive Teaching

In the current module of our class Teaching, Learning, and Assessment 2, we are focusing on ISTE Educator Standards 5, “Designer” and 7, “Analyst.” I wanted to investigate how technology can support culturally responsive teaching by giving students alternative ways to share their backgrounds and learning, and by providing access to information and viewpoints that are outside those contained in textbooks and other traditional academic resources.

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