Transforming Teaching with Technology: 6th Grade Co-Teachers Showcase

Smart Start Grant Showcase Transforming Teaching w/ Technology (T3) Teachers: Alex VanAernam & Corey Battersby Title: 6th Grade Gen Ed and Special Education Co-Teachers District: Elmira City School District

DESCRIPTION In order to facilitate student writing skills, we completed a Writing Skills Mini-Series. This was a week-long session that focused on the various aspects of writing (purpose, sentence structure, and using details). In this lesson we focused on students using details to enhance their writing. Here is a link to the full lesson plan for Writing Skills Mini-Series Using Details.

GOAL(S): TECHNOLOGY USED: Student Learning Intentions: 1) I am learning to use new writing strategies so that I can produce quality work and improve my writing. JamBoard - Notice and Wonders YouTube - Video Clip Analysis 1) I am learning to add details to my writing so that I can produce quality writing. Schoology Assessment Piece - Short Story Editing Microsoft Form - Reflection Survey

STUDENTS RESPONSES The students gained an understanding of using descriptive words to explain topic. The students also gained knowledge on how make inferences using context clues. Making a lesson around game-based learning helps students understand the standards in a non typical way. Most of the students felt more confident in their abilities to add details to a story after completing the lesson.

SUCCESSES/CHALLENGES/CHANGES SUCCESSES CHALLENGES CHANGES We were surprised at how well they did with the game of Taboo. Most of the students had never played it before, and since it was the one activity that we were focusing on the longest in the lesson they did well. They did not get bored with the game and wanted to keep playing beyond the time limits. We would likely change the Jamboard to a Flip response instead. This would allow our students to verbally respond to a prompt rather than write. They would also have more creative freedom to edit, add filters, and use emojis. It still allows them to interact with technology and collaborate with their classmates. Due to the diversity in ability levels of the students the JamBoard was the biggest challenge. We were asking them to respond to a notice and a wonder about their 5 senses and the spelling made it difficult to read some responses. It couldn t really be modified for the students who needed it.

LESSONS LEARNED We created this lesson with the intention of incorporating and implementing as much technology as possible. We wanted to expose the students to new experiences and have them interact with each other while utilizing technology. However, we found that no technological feature would match the experience the students had when interacting while playing Taboo. They were all fully engaged with game and made important discoveries when it came to their ability to use details. This serves as a perfect example of how technology needs to be used in the appropriate places and it cannot be used to simply replace other methods of learning.

OTHER TEACHERS TAKE-AWAYS (This will be added by the facilitator after each presentation) LEAVE BLANK for the moment