Blog Post #6

When implementing games into the classroom, it is important to understand the benefit of these games. One of the assigned readings lists the key properties of games: games are built around problem solving, games assess skills, games assess if a player can move onto to harder challenges, games collect information about players and track it over time, games integrate learning and assessment, games provide information for players to improve, and games can be equitable (Gee & Schaffer, 2010, p. 12-15). If you look at these key properties of games, it is very similar to school assessments. We want students to solve problems, we assess if they can move on, we collect data on students over time, and we give students extra support in areas they struggle in. These are all properties present in games, therefore, why can’t these games be used in schools? The article states the obvious, “Parents and teachers rightly ask: ‘Will this help my children do well on the tests they need to pass?’” (Gee & Schaffer, 2010, p. 25). Games rightfully may receive push back from educators and parents who are unaware of the benefits and who worry about test scores. However, the focus should not be test scores, but should be preparing our students for the real world to solve real life problems, like the problems they solve in games.


The game I chose was a simulation game where students are participating in a virtual knee surgery from Edheads. This game would be beneficial for a middle school science class during the human development unit where they are learning about different body systems: muscular system, skeletal system, etc. The learning standard I would use for this game is “MS-LS1-3. Use arguments supported by evidence for how the body is a system of interacting subsystems composed of groups of cells.”. In addition to a middle school science class, this game would also be beneficial in an anatomy science elective class or even a health class. The game gives students a visual and hands-on approach to see how bones, muscles, ligaments, and tissues all work together in the human body. Additionally, students can relate the game to the real world because knee surgeries are very common procedures. When presenting this game to my students, I would do so after the muscular and skeletal system units so students have the proper background knowledge before playing. The game could be done independently or as a group, I personally would do it as a group to encourage student discourse and collaboration. To differentiate the lesson, I would provide students with a reference sheet with definitions and diagrams of the skeletal and muscular systems. I also would like the reference sheet to have a list of different medical devices. Students can then reference this sheet when playing. The game assesses student learning throughout with questions. Students can not move on until they answer the questions correctly. While students are playing the game, I will be informally assessing them by walking around to see how they are playing the game. Students will also be assessed by their completion of the game. After completing the game, students will have a better understanding of how body systems work in conjunction with each other.

 

Further Questions:

- When and how often should games be implemented in the classrooms?

- How do we address the inequity between students who do not have access to basic video/computer games at home?

References:

Gee, J. P. & Schaffer, D. W. (2010). Looking Where the Light is Bad: Video Games and the
Future of Assessment. Edge: The Latest Information for the Education Practitioner, 6(1), 3-19.https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303856565_Looking_where_the_light_is_bad_Video_games_and_the_future_of_assessment

https://edheads.org/play-virtual-knee-surgery/

Blog Post #5

 Case Study 1: Google Classroom 

Overview: One platform that is very big in my district and is required for secondary grades is google classroom. Google classroom is not a new platform and has been around for roughly 10 years. I remember using google classroom myself in high school for a few classes (2014-2018). Since my time in high school, google classrooms have gained a lot of traction especially during the pandemic when school turned digital for a few months. Google classroom is a website where teachers can post lessons, tests, homework, grades, and other instructional tools for both their students and parents. In secondary grades, these platforms allow teachers to stay organized with all of their class sections. Google classroom can also be advantageous for primary teachers to keep students up to date if they miss school.


User Engagement: This platform is typically used by teachers and students only, but parents can be added as well. To add people to your classroom, you are given a code that you can share with whoever you invite including students and parents. Google classroom is very helpful because anytime a student is absent, themselves or their parent can simply log onto google classroom and make up whatever they missed on that day. I had separate classrooms for each of my periods which kept everything organized. Another neat aspect is I could schedule assignments to post at separate times so students couldn’t start assignments early.


Influence on Communication: Google classroom allows more communication between teachers and students/parents outside of the classroom. Allowing parents to join your classroom is beneficial to keep them in the loop. If you co-teach in a classroom, you can also have more than one teacher on google classroom and both can post. This allows a seamless amount of communication between all parties that work with that student. Another aspect of google classroom that enhances communication is the teachers ability to make announcements and comments for students. Teachers can post a general announcement that is sent to anyone that is part of the classroom. The announcements can be reminders to study for a test or that an assignment’s due date is approaching. Teachers can also comment on a student's assignment and students have the ability to respond to that comment. Google classroom also allows discourse between students. Teachers can post questions that students can answer and their classmates can comment on their peer’s responses. Discourse is very important inside of the classroom and google classroom furthers discourse by supporting it outside of the classroom. 


Information Consumption: Teachers are able to separate classwork for students into categories seen in the image. For example, when students have a graded lab, it would be posted as an assignment. When I would have students do closed notes with a powerpoint or study material, it would be posted under material. Questions are how discussions between peers are facilitated. Students are able to share their ideas and information they learned through this tool. You can also track grades on google classroom and post due dates. If you use any additional platforms like edpuzzle or websites, students can access them through the platform which allows the teacher to track the information students are reading/visiting. This ensures that students are getting credible and correct information. For example, I had my students create a powerpoint about different types of bacteria borne illnesses. I provided students with links on our classroom of websites to visit for information to ensure they had correct facts to complete the project.

Impact on Learning: Google classroom, like any other platforms has its benefits as well as its challenges. I asked my own students why they like and dislike google classrooms. Overall, I got a positive response but they did point out the flaws. Some benefits were the ease of navigating the website. Students said it isn’t hard to find things or turn assignments in. Students also said it keeps them organized and informed about due dates. Some drawbacks of google classroom was the lack of accessibility. Not everyone students in our district has a chromebook or wifi which can make using google classroom challenging.

Student comments: Positive

“Easy to function and navigate.”

“It keeps everything organized.”

“It reminds me when something is due.”

Student Comments: Negative

“It is hard to access assignments when you don’t have wifi or a computer.”

“I prefer paper copies, I don’t like everything online.”

“It can be overwhelming since all my classes have a their own classroom.”

Privacy and Safety: Google claims that their platform is very safe and “school friendly”. Google states that they allow administrators who use google in their school to manage the security of their google accounts. Google is also an ad free platform where students won’t be subjected to potentially dangerous or influential ads. Google does tract data, as does any online platform, but you can read up on their data collection. Below is a link with more information about Google's privacy policy.

Google Privacy Info

Case Study 2: Padlet

Overview: Another platform that can be used in a K-12 context is padlet. I was recently introduced to padlet by another teacher. I have been exploring the platform and am excited to implement it in my classroom next year. This platform has a lot of different options to choose from to make lessons engaging. The platform can be used in any discipline and every grade because of all the versatile features. For example, a secondary teacher may use padlet for message boards to discuss topics with students, whereas a primary teacher may use it to look at a story line after reading a book with their class.


User Engagement: This platform is very engaging and collaborative. Padlet has a “wall” which teachers can add content to. However, the platform allows other teachers, students, and parents to add to the wall. Padlet can be accessed by anyone a teacher allows through a shared link, QR code, and google classroom. To only allow certain students or class periods, teachers can lock their wall and create a password that they only share with their classes.


Influence on Communication: Padlet allows for more communication between teachers and students/parents. Allowing parents to join padlet and add to the wall or just view the wall to see what their children are learning/creating is a great way to get parents involved in their child’s education. Traditionally, parents would only be allowed to see their child’s work if they brought it home or went to open house/conferences. This negatively affected students who only had one parent or had parents who worked and couldn't attend these school functions. Through this platform, parents can view their child’s work online at their leisure. Padlet also allows the teacher to facilitate communication through blogs, message boards, forms, and much more. This allows not only the teacher to communicate with students, but allows students to communicate with their peers in an educational setting that's outside of the classroom.


Information Consumption: Teachers and students can be very creative when designing and adding to their digital class wall. Teachers simply select the grade level which has options from K-higher ed. Then, the teacher selects a category: Activities, assignment, collections, communication, exit ticket & feedback, icebreakers, lessons & visual aids, notes, people management, project management, resources & files, and task management. For example, I teach in a junior high so I selected 8th grade and communication and the picture below was my choices of what to use. Similar to google classroom, teachers can filter and censor what information is being accessed through this platform based on the activities and grade level they chose. This feature makes myself, as an educator, feel better about using a platform that I know is safe for my students and will not provide them with misinformation. 

                                                                                



Impact on Learning: Although I have not used padlet myself, my colleague and her students have had positive experiences with the platform. The multiple different features, customization, and the collaborative feature makes it an appealing instructional tool. I am most excited for the communication aspect. Student discourse needs to be facilitated more in classrooms and is exactly the reason I do group and partner work frequently. Padlet helps to further the discourse between students and even parents if they join the platform. I did some research to find feedback from teachers who use the platform in their classrooms.

Teacher reviews:

“Very well-structured, intuitive tool to support interaction; I much prefer it to Jamboard and Miro. I appreciate the sharing features, particularly the ability to generate QRs and download contents as slides and pdf.”

“I've only scratched the surface in terms of what Padlet can provide in my classroom, but I've loved using it for years. It's easy to set up, easy to customize, and easy to share out.”

Padlet Reviews

Privacy and Safety: The privacy policy for padlet is a little less clear than google classroom. They state that they do collect data from their users, just as any other platform, but when you visit other user’s pages on padlet, they can access your data as well. Padlet states by using their website, you are consenting to their collection of your data. Despite this, I still think padlet is a safe platform to use. Most digital platforms do some sort of data tracking into today’s society. I will attach their privacy policy below.

Padlet Privacy Info

Case Study 1 and 2:

Required Literacy: Google classroom and padlet require students to have digital literacy to be able to successfully navigate the platform. Throughout this course, we learned and stressed the importance of new literacy and how literacy goes beyond reading and writing printed text. We need to prepare our students for the digital world where they will need digital literacy. Students need to be able to navigate different platforms, access different forms of information, put information together, and communicate with others. Both google classroom and padlet support this form of literacy. An article published talked about the benefits of google classroom, especially during the pandemic. The article states, “Google classroom learning platform offers assistance to both students and teachers to connect, work together, create assignments, grade students and post materials. Likewise, students can also ask questions about the areas they do not understand.” (Oyarinde et al., 2020, p. 60). Google classroom offered so many benefits for online teaching during the pandemic, yet those benefits are still useful today for educators. The same can be argued about padlet.


Reflection and Implications: I am a big fan of google classroom and will continue to use this platform with my students in the future. I understand that equity must be taken into consideration when using these platforms due to lack of resources. Not every student has access to a computer or wifi outside of school. Therefore, I must remain mindful of these challenges and make applicable accommodations for those students. I believe that a child’s academic success can stem from their homelife. A review paper revealed that children with higher academic success have parents who read at home, set high education goals for their children, communicate with their child’s teacher, and encourage learning (Boonk et al., 2018, p. 10). Therefore, encouraging parents to join these platforms staying on top of postings and reminders to ensure that they are able to be a part of their child’s education as much as possible. However, I also must take into consideration that just because I open this digital platform to my parents, not all will join. I will need to find other ways to reach these parents. As we move toward a more digitally inclined world, we as educators must evolve our teaching. Using digital platforms like Google classroom and padlet will help improve the digital literacy of our students in this constantly changing world.

Further Questions:

- How do we keep moving toward digital instruction when some of our students lack the resources to participate?

- How do we get parents to participate in these online platforms?

References:

Boonk, L., Gijselaers, H.J.M., & Brand-Gruwel, S. (2018). A review of the relationship between
parental involvement indicators and academic achievement. Educational Research Review, 24, 10-30. doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2018.02.001

Community Reviews for Padlet. (2024). Common Sense Media. Retrieved from https://www.commonsense.org/education/reviews/3888349/teacher-reviews 

Oyarinde, N.O., Oyarinde, K., Gbemisola, O. (2020). Impact of Google Classroom as an Online
Learning Delivery during Covid-19 Pandemic: The Case of a Secondary School in Nigeria. Journal of Education, Society and Behavioral Science, 33(9), 53-61. doi.org/10.9734/JESBS/2020/v33i930259

Images are from Google Images and screenshots from Padlet

Blog Post #4

For my final project, I would like to research digital media/new literacy practices for ELL students. There are many considerations that educators must take into account when teaching ELL students literacy. Traditional literacy is a narrow-minded idea that can negatively affect ELL students. In previous modules, we learned that ELL students who are proficient in their native language score higher in English. Additionally, we are learning that to be literate has multiple meanings instead of the traditional definition we have always used. Therefore, I want to look at the challenges as well as solutions for teaching literacy to ELL students. I would also like to focus on how digital media/new literacy practices will benefit ELL learners.

With the ELL population increasing in schools, the need for ELL trained educators increases as well. This topic resonates with me personally because I work in a very diverse school district with a high ELL population. I have personally seen my ELL students struggle with content due to a language barrier. In addition, science is a very reading heavy subject that furthers the gap and challenges for ELL students. This research will hopefully further my understanding of ELL students and prepare me as an educator to help build their literacy skills in science as well as across other disciplines.

Annotated Bibliography:

Crosby, C. (2018). Empowering English Language Learners and Immigrant Students with Digital
Literacies and Service-Learning. The Reading Matrix, 18(2). Retrieved from https://web-p-ebscohost-com.sunyempire.idm.oclc.org/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=0fddcd4e-4aeb-4f24-9393-53b1d3a36b5a%40redis&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=132008204&db=eue

This article describes a study conducted on the digital literacy educators are already implementing in their classrooms and if these practices help empower their ELL students. Teachers reported their ELL students being proficient in social media tools and creating presentations. The area ELL students were least proficient in were creating and completing webquests. Therefore, the author recommended using digital tools like social media and gamification aligned with service-learning projects which focus on social justice issues. These projects help empower ELL students while building their digital literacy. The author suggest that service-learning projects should be required in TESOL programs to inspire students to make changes.

Farjado, M.F. (2015). A review of critical literacy beliefs and practices of English language
learners and teachers. University of Sydney Papers in TESOL, 10, 29-56. Retrieved from
https://openurl-ebsco-com.sunyempire.idm.oclc.org/c/hefeo2/openurl?sid=Primo&volume=10&date=20150101&spage=29&issn=1834-3198&issue=2015&genre=article&prompt=true&title=University+of+Sydney+papers+in+TESOL&epage=56

This review article identifies the challenges that both ELL students and teachers face when learning/teaching critical literacy, as well as different practices that can be implemented to help both parties. Some of the challenges described were that ELL students had difficulty comprehending sociocultural texts and couldn’t identify the author's purpose of the text. However, the author argues that educators must not underestimate ELL students and continue to challenge their literacy. The author recommends that educators use multimodal texts that include pop culture and digital texts that interest their students to implement critical literacy among ELL students. This article gave useful recommendations that educators should use when teaching their ELL students.

Yeh, E. & Mitric, S. (2020). Bridging Activities: Social Media for Connecting Language
Learners’ in-School and out-of-School Literacy Practices. International Journal of Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Teaching, 10(3), 48-66. doi.org/10.4018/IJCALLT.2020070104

The authors of this article investigated if social media platforms like Instagram in a multimodal digital storytelling model can enhance the literacy skills of ELL students and give them an additional way of communication. The authors found that using Instagram as a tool increased the literacy skills of ELL students by fulfilling the 5 learning objectives outlined. The data proposed that the majority of ELL students found Instagram as a meaningful source of communication and visited the site 5 or more times daily. This article shows that social media is a valuable tool that can be used with the ELL population in schools and can also be utilized as an affinity space where students can find others who have similar interests.

Yeh, E. & Swinehart, N. (2022). Social media literacy in L2 environments: navigating
anonymous user-generated content. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 35(8), 1731-1753. doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2020.1830805

This recent article presents a study where researchers reviewed the characteristics and trends of social media use among ELL students and how social media use affects their language ability. The study also presented the challenges ELL students face while viewing online content and how they conquer these challenges. The results of this study suggested that social media does increase language ability and yet there is a decrease in social media use among ELL students. Additionally, there are many challenges that ELL students face when engaging in online environments including information overload, difficulty navigating, evaluating information, and language discrepancies. This study gives insight on the importance of educators being prepared to assist ELL students on improving their digital literacy.

Yuan, C., Wang, L. & Eagl, J. (2019). Empowering English Language Learners through Digital
Literacies: Research, Complexities, and Implications. Media and Communication, 7(2), 128-136. doi.org/10.17645/mac.v7i2.1912

This article recognizes the tensions between ELL students and public education and emphasizes the need of digital literacy to empower ELL students. The article takes an “asset lens” approach which looks at student’s strengths as opposed to their weaknesses in a “deficit lens”. The authors highlight the dark side of education by explaining how for years, English-only programs were adopted in K-12 classrooms across the nation which deliberately hurt ELL students and widened the achievement gap. The article discusses how the use of technology in classrooms and promoting digital literacy empowers ELL students to participate as active learners in the classroom. By getting ELL students to participate it helps close the achievement gap.

References:

Crosby, C. (2018). Empowering English Language Learners and Immigrant Students with Digital
Literacies and Service-Learning. The Reading Matrix, 18(2). Retrieved from https://web-p-ebscohost-com.sunyempire.idm.oclc.org/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=0fddcd4e-4aeb-4f24-9393-53b1d3a36b5a%40redis&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=132008204&db=eue

Farjado, M.F. (2015). A review of critical literacy beliefs and practices of English language
learners and teachers. University of Sydney Papers in TESOL, 10, 29-56. Retrieved from
https://openurl-ebsco-com.sunyempire.idm.oclc.org/c/hefeo2/openurl?sid=Primo&volume=10&date=20150101&spage=29&issn=1834-3198&issue=2015&genre=article&prompt=true&title=University+of+Sydney+papers+in+TESOL&epage=56

Yeh, E. & Mitric, S. (2020). Bridging Activities: Social Media for Connecting Language
Learners’ in-School and out-of-School Literacy Practices. International Journal of Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Teaching, 10(3), 48-66. doi.org/10.4018/IJCALLT.2020070104

Yeh, E. & Swinehart, N. (2022). Social media literacy in L2 environments: navigating
anonymous user-generated content. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 35(8), 1731-1753. doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2020.1830805

Yuan, C., Wang, L. & Eagl, J. (2019). Empowering English Language Learners through Digtial
Literacies: Research, Complexities, and Implications. Media and Communication, 7(2), 128-136. doi.org/10.17645/mac.v7i2.1912