https://padlet.com/eculhane01/fxc2g9y95vky en-us 2018-04-29 02:25:13 UTC 2026-01-14 18:46:27 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Apple.png eculhane01 https://padlet.com/eculhane01/fxc2g9y95vky/wish/256322939 My lesson plan created an opportunity for interest driven learning because the students were able to choose a topic for their PSA that spoke to them within a larger context of the environment. The only reason that I had the stipulation for that detail was to be able to share with the school as their audience for the upcoming holiday. I think that students are more engaged when they have choice within their projects and that it is important for them to explore something that they might not have been able to before. The students had to think critically and engage with the information they researched in order to have an effective storyboard PSA. As in the Connected Learning Classroom text, "I wanted to create a social media experience where students would compose interest-driven pieces of writing and then share the writing with their classmates" (12). I think that through my lesson plan, I was able to do just that and more because we would share their end projects with their school. Our text states that, "Writing about their interests for an authentic audience changed the way students composed" (14). I think that this would definitely change the way that students viewed their project and how motivated they would be to make it their best quality work. ]]> 2018-04-29 17:32:05 UTC https://padlet.com/eculhane01/fxc2g9y95vky/wish/256322939 eculhane01 https://padlet.com/eculhane01/fxc2g9y95vky/wish/256322956 My lesson plan gave opportunities for peer supported learning because students were able to discuss and work through each other's topics in dialogue. Although they all made their own end product, they were encouraged to talk among each other and to build ideas together to make them stronger. Another important aspect of peer supported learning that I wanted to utilize was, "Realizing that there was an audience for their writing and that their words should serve a purpose, students were more motivated" (29). I think that sharing their work with the student body at the school made their project come to life because it can and would effect them on a daily basis because it would be hung up in the school hallways and talked about. I also had the students share and reflect on their own and other students' work in the class. I think it is important to reflect and look at the process of creating more closely. ]]> 2018-04-29 17:32:13 UTC https://padlet.com/eculhane01/fxc2g9y95vky/wish/256322956 eculhane01 https://padlet.com/eculhane01/fxc2g9y95vky/wish/256322977 One thing that I really enjoyed about this lesson plan and this learning objective was that it reversed traditional teacher student roles. Peppler et al states, " This framework turns that model upside down, positioning the student as the participatory agent and primary source of intellectual capital and allowing the teacher to transition into a mentorship role" (51).  I think that this allows for a new type of learning to take place and gives our students a sense of ownership that they haven't previously had within their education. Another important piece of this lesson for me was the use of visuals and a storyboard because it allowed for a new way to have students express themselves and the content that they have learned. The Connected Learning Classroom text makes a great point saying, "Being literate in the twenty-first century arguably requires individuals to be adept “codeswitchers”—to be able to proficiently navigate a wide variety of text types" (51). I completely agree with this statement and think that it is our job to give students the chance to become familiar with other text types in order to keep up with our changing digital world that we engage with on a daily basis.]]> 2018-04-29 17:32:28 UTC https://padlet.com/eculhane01/fxc2g9y95vky/wish/256322977 eculhane01 https://padlet.com/eculhane01/fxc2g9y95vky/wish/256323012 Within my lesson plan, I had not thought of a way that I could further share this on a personal blog of my own as a teacher or something of that sort. I did find another helpful way of thinking of this principles within our text. It states, " the connected learning principle of openly networked is about creating opportunities for students and teachers to discover those people who love what they know to share that love with others" (72). I think that through having students advocate for an environmental cause that they care about, they are able to discover and share something that they love. I think that this is an important piece of learning and also personal development and finding who we are. Being able to explore things that we care about and love should be a core piece of the learning process. It is a way that we can have students foster the love of learning within our classrooms. ]]> 2018-04-29 17:32:52 UTC https://padlet.com/eculhane01/fxc2g9y95vky/wish/256323012 eculhane01 https://padlet.com/eculhane01/fxc2g9y95vky/wish/256323035 Having a project that was production centered was one of the key components of my lesson plan. I wanted students to be active and have a choice in what they made so that it could create a memorable experience for my students. Peppler et al states, "production-centered classrooms facilitate the use of “[d]igital tools [to] provide opportunities for producing and creating a wide variety of media, knowledge, and cultural content in experimental and active ways" (55). After learning about new digital tools in our class I was excited to incorporate it into my lesson plan and have creative way for students to display their knowledge for their audience. Creating a PSA for an authentic audience causes students to look closely at where they're getting their information from and what its saying. I think that they can transfer this critical literacy practice into many other aspects of their life, such as any instance in which they're getting information from a source. ]]> 2018-04-29 17:33:09 UTC https://padlet.com/eculhane01/fxc2g9y95vky/wish/256323035 eculhane01 https://padlet.com/eculhane01/fxc2g9y95vky/wish/256323073 One focus question that I had thought about while creating this lesson plan was from week 2 and is, "How do we make digital literacy interest-driven for students?". I find myself still wondering about this because I had put a limitation for genre in my planning. Is that okay? Should we stray away from doing so? If we don't give them a larger genre, how do we fit it into our lessons? Which unit would it go into? There are many questions I have surrounding this topic and will continue to explore this as I continue my pre-service teaching courses.

Another focus question that I have thought about during this creation process was, "How do we provide opportunities for students to support each other in creating, producing, and writing?". I think that giving our students opportunities to give each other feedback and have authentic audiences for their production will change the way they engage with their work. I think that if we're talking within a classroom that it'd build classroom community as well to help each other reach their best end product. It would promote great social skills such as teamwork and how to interact with others.

One last focus question that I have pondered while making this lesson was, "What is the relationship between critical literacy and digital literacy practices?". I think that these two are very closely tied and that in order to use digital literacies we must think critically about them and the information that they're giving us. In our society today being able to analyze information and see it through a critical lens is a must and I'm glad we're able to start giving these skills to our students at an early age. ]]> 2018-04-29 17:33:33 UTC https://padlet.com/eculhane01/fxc2g9y95vky/wish/256323073 eculhane01 https://padlet.com/eculhane01/fxc2g9y95vky/wish/256323185 I think that Pixlr Express was a good digital tool for this lesson because it allowed the students to make their storyboard PSA fairly easily. I liked the fact that you could add text to your pictures to make your message stronger. I think that the kids might like using stickers too, I didn't find one that was applicable to my topic so I chose not to use one. One constraint that I came across was that I thought you could draw on the images in Pixlr Express but I had confused it with this aspect of Seesaw. I think it would've been fun to use something like that within my student example. 

A challenge for me was coming up with a way to tell people my message with limited writing tools. I feel like other PSA examples that I've seen are often videos or comics which have more room for language development where I saw this was limited. A surprise was that I had remembered Pixlr Express as having more that you could do with it, so I was slightly bummed when I found out that there wasn't as much to do. I think I had somehow confused it with some aspect of Seesaw since that was our last digital tool we explored. Luckily, I was able to make it work and create a good exemplar and am happy with the lesson plan as it concluded. Something I've wondered is if you could have students choose to complete their PSA in a variety of formats, granted they'd be familiar with the tools and possibly older. It would be fun to give them options of a video, storyboard, or podcast and see which direction they'd go.

]]> 2018-04-29 17:35:00 UTC https://padlet.com/eculhane01/fxc2g9y95vky/wish/256323185 eculhane01 https://padlet.com/eculhane01/fxc2g9y95vky/wish/256323206 I think that I would revise this lesson when doing it with students by having more prior knowledge on what a PSA is and showing them examples. I think that they would still be able to do it with less instruction, but I bet their end products would be better with more because they'd have a fuller understanding of what they're making. I also think that I'd consider having students choose from a few different digital tools for their PSA such as a storyboard, podcast, or video. I think this would help give them more opportunities to explore these digital tools and express what they care about (their PSA topic of choice). It would also honor multiple intelligences and different types of learning which I think is important to think about within your classroom as well. 

I think that a PSA on an environmental issue would be more widely accepted than having it under a broader umbrella of anything that the students choose to research. I'd like to think that schools would be accepting of students researching something they care about and advocating for it. I also know that it might not be in a standardized test or in a prior curriculum so there may be push back from some staff. As a creative and positive person I hope to see and be in a more accepting work environment and if not become an advocate for one where students are able to use their voices.

I think that I would like to learn more about different ways teachers have incorporated PSAs in their classroom's curriculum and what they've found success with. It'd be fun to see more examples and explore different digital tools that I can use not only for this project but for others as well.]]> 2018-04-29 17:35:17 UTC https://padlet.com/eculhane01/fxc2g9y95vky/wish/256323206