EDTC 6431 Individual Project and Reflection

Phase 5 of this assignment asks for a reflection upon the lesson, the lesson objectives, instructional strategy, materials, and the assessment because only through the reflective and revising process does a great activity form. My project was a Choose Your Own Adventure writing project with the objective of: Middle school language arts students (audience) will demonstrate at or above standard mastery in creativity and innovation (degree) on all rubric criteria (behavior) by collaboratively and individually analyzing and creating their own adventure stories using digital tools (condition). This lesson works as a performance task assessment following a narrative writing unit. In this way students are able to put to work their knowledge of various literary elements and writing skills. The project provides multiple ways to assess students, such as, collaborative skills, organizational skills, peer feedback, technology citizenship, technology usage skills, writing conventions, and creativity.

Although I have yet to teach this lesson, there are some areas of concern, revision, and consideration that I can foresee will be needed. The first being group collaboration. 6th grade students still have a hard time focusing and staying on task. Collaboration will need to be an area added to the assessment rubric. Also, peer revision and feedback are areas students are still developing in. I will need to provide a written guide/checklist on areas for peer editing. As for digital tools, I do foresee having to provide further modeling and help for the Inklewriter platform. I will also need to check with our IT guys to ensure Inklewriter is a website that is not blocked from student access.  Also, I will need to have my students get permission from parents to set up Inklewriter accounts because they are under the age of 13. According to Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), children  under the age of 13 should not be asked to set up accounts without parent permission. (Miller, 2016). In the future, I would like to explore other formats for the final project. Hopefully, finding a user friendly platform that allows students to incorporate images, graphic, and music into their final presentation.

As for the instructional process, I feel the process will need to be taught to reveal any true problem areas. I like that students can have an option between digital graphic organizers and printed ones. This gives not only the student options, but the teacher as well in dealing with students who are not using technology responsibly or being positive group members.

Overall, I think the incorporation of tech into the lesson will greatly engage students. While allowing a wide array of subject and collaborative freedom will provide greater student buy in. I think students will enjoy this process of creating and sharing stories with their classmates.

Reference

Miller, B. (2016). Can I Use This App or Website for My Class? What to Know about Instructing Teachers and Students on Digital Citizenship, Digital Footprints, and Cybersafety. Knowledge Quest, 44(4), 22-29.