Castelar: 4th Grade

EDUC 679

Professor Hyde

Michelle Yuan

with Mr. Glen Kitayama

Physical Aspects of Classroom: MIL/ICT

• Chromebook cart is stationed between the sink and bulletin board on the east side of the classroom. Students have a 1 to 1 chromebook.
• Students desks are arranged in groups of 4.
• Student’s library is located on the west wall. Students will explore researching skills and reading extended information during free time.

• Document Camera is on the teacher’s desk at the front of the classroom. Projector is located on materials cart next to the teacher’s desk. Teacher’s personal laptop is connected to the projector during the entire school day, either on standby or projecting digital copy of textbook pages.

Physical Aspects of the School environment: MIL/ICT

• Parents are encouraged to download ClassDojo to follow students’ behavior in the classroom in real-time and information from the school.
• Students gain extended knowledge of research methods, methods of locating books, and other skills beyond the classroom at the library.

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Classroom Climate on MIL/ICT

Teacher (Glen Kitayama)

• “Not-so-tech savvy” - G. Kitayama
• Believes that new technology and learning platforms (i.e. SKIESLearn) are useful, but struggles to optimize and fully integrate them into his classroom.
• Enjoys using ClassDojo, 90 percent of instruction
• Prefers using Doc Cam and whiteboard for visual support

Classroom Climate on MIL/ICT

Students:

• All students enjoy tech time and anticipate the possibilities to access games on iReady and Minecraft.
• Some find the iReady reading and math lessons to be dry; others look forward to gaining comprehension and number literacy.

types of MIL/ICT is Present during Class Instruction

SKIES Learn platform

• Use digital copies from Amplify CKLA and Science
• Create cards for informative assessments

ClassDojo

• Teacher can give points through “On Task”, “Finished All Homework”, “Helping others”, “Participating”, “Persistence”, “Teamwork”, and “Working Hard”
• Teacher can take points through “Disrespectful Behavior”, “Late returning from lunch or recess”, “Off Task”, “Talking”, “Unfinished Language Arts HW”, “Unfinished Math HW”, “Unfinished Science HW”, and “Unfinished Social Studies HW”

types of MIL/ICT is Present during Class Instruction

iReady

• Assessments:
• Beginning of Year, Mid-term, End of Year
• Mathematics and Reading
• Lessons:
• Individualized lessons that students can improve math and reading skills

BrainPOP: Visual support for lessons in all subjects – especially for math and social science

Document Camera/Projector: Teacher scaffolds visual information, such as worksheets, alongside with verbal instruction

Chromebook (23 students): Each student gets one Chromebook during class instruction and access iReady and SKIESLearn

Strengths

SKIESLearn: Students are able to access SKIESLearn beyond the class set chromebooks after school hours.

ClassDojo: Parents have a window of the happenings in the classroom by following students’ behaviors in real-time through ClassDojo.

iReady: Progress is accessible online not only by teachers, but also parents and students

BrainPOP: A great visual support of subject and concept matters through video clips using storytelling and animation

Doc Cam/Projector: Students are able to see what the Teacher is modeling alongside with verbal instruction.

Chromebooks: 1-to-1 access saves wait-time and allows students to stay in-bound of instruction during iReady assessment, iReady lessons, and SkiesLearn decks.

Challenges

Absent: Limited images support

ClassDojo: Although ClassDojo provides a window of the classroom behaviors for each students, it doesn’t provide a holistic view of what is happening in the classroom.

iReady: some students either speed through questions or carelessly choose their answers. Therefore, their iReady results may not accurately reflect their comprehension skills and mathematical skills.

Chromebooks: Students cannot bring their chromebooks home, unless their parents signed a waiver/permission form. All students in this class do not have the form signed by their parents/guardians. If these students do not have access to a computer or internet service at home, they will not be able to complete any assignments that requires digital access. If they do not complete those digital homework assignments, then they lose that practice time for that particular concepts. As the year progresses, uncompleted assignments and lost practice time will add up exponentially.

Unanswered Questions

• How do we teach students digital citizenship and skills to protect themselves from dangerous sources in the digital world? When those skills are taught, how do we help students maintain those skills?
• Is it possible to delay the introduction of AI tools in the elementary classroom environment?
• What other technologies that assist student learning?