Digital Citizenship In Schools
Relating what I read to Technology:
In Digital Citizenship In Schools by Mike Ribble, he proposes the following question:
1. Do we need to be in contact with other people all the time? His probing question had me thinking about my current practices and what my own school is doing to answer this essential question. My response can be found below:
1. I do feel that teachers, school staff, teachers, students, and parents do need to be in constant contact with one another all the time. I feel that this needs to be done in order to create a support system for each student within my school. With constant communication the support system of students can be kept up to date and accurate; regarding emotional/social/behavioral statuses, as well as their academics.
In my school, we use Powerschool. Powerschool is an online grade book that is accessible to parents at all times. Each teacher, parent, and student can access up to date information as it is entered into the teacher's grade books. Students and parents can see assignments and grades with room for comments, which allows parents a chance to constantly check in with their child's teachers without actually having to speak to them. This system allows all parties in the support system to be held accountable for each student's grades.
There is also a section on Powerschool called, student watch. Student watch is placed online and sent home on paper for each parent at the end of each week. On student watches, student's weekly grades and behavior results are posted. This is a wonderful system for teachers to use in order to keep parents and students feeling up to date on a weekly basis.
This system is great for myself; I never feel that I surprise parents at parent-teacher conference meetings. The parents of my students know what is going on in their child's life. I upload important information such as what we are learning in each class throughout the week, lesson objectives, common core strands, and pictures of the students hard at work. Parents and students rave about the constant communication in my class because it makes the support system stronger and parents gain easier access to support their own child.
In addition, I also post weekly assignment that need to be completed on my teacher web site, in case students leave their planners at school. This allows students to still be accountable for their work. If a student forgets their homework at school, a copy can be printed from my web site as well.
Relating what I read for use in my classroom and application of the Common Core:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.1c Ask questions to check understanding of information presented, stay on topic, and link their comments to the remarks of others.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.1b Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., gaining the floor in respectful ways, listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.1b Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., gaining the floor in respectful ways, listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).
It is important that parents have online access to the Common Core standards. I was thinking that many of my parents may not have realized how easy it is to access what students will now be learning in each grade in each subject area. I am going to post the common core web site to my teacher web site in order to further educate parents on what the state, my school, and my lessons will be doing to meet the needs of the students by aligning objectives to also meet the common core standards.
Relating what I read to The 4 C's:
Collaboration: A support system can only be successful if all people involved in a child's academic life are working together. I can help all parties be successful by allowing everyone to have a fair chance in working together as team.
Communication: In order to meet the needs of the students all people involved in a child's academic life need to be in constant communication. I can be sure to do this by posting information online, e-mailing, calling, and having meetings with parents, students, and teachers.
Creativity: With so much technology being used by students, parents, and teachers, everyone needs to find creative ways of using technology to make everyone involved in the support system easy access. Examples of creative technology are: e-mail, texts, conference calls, google hang-outs, skype, web sites, powerschool, teacher homepages, online homework assignments, posting homework pages online for printing at home, etc.
Critical Thinking: Teachers need to research the use of technology before using it in their classroom and with parents in order to check for glitches. I remember one time I thought I posted my assignment correctly online, and it turned out I saved it and never published it, whoops!
