Self-Reflection: InTASC Standards 4 & 5

standard 4

Speaking with the classroom teacher, we decided to focus on digital citizenship for the project based learning lessons which can also double as one of their Service as Action activity. The MYP Coordinator agreed the students could use the main bulletin board in the MYP corridor to display their public service announcement posters, reaching a large audience. While the It’s a Digital  World  project does not address all of the STEAM content, focusing on English, it does include a couple of components. Technology is addressed as students research their digital world problem using online sources and then create their public service announcement using Canva, if they wish. Students also apply their knowledge from their Design and Art classes when designing their poster to make it eye-catching. The project further encourages students to communicate, raise awareness and challenge themselves to incorporate one of the solutions to the problem in their own lives.

The PBL project was meant to be two lessons but then the classroom teacher agreed to a third lesson, which is reflected in the lesson plan. I was happy with the extension, making it possible to add a mini review on summarizing, a skill the students use to complete their project. Also, like many of my lessons, some things took longer than others which is something I need to continue to work on, understanding the pace to expect from students.

Standard 4: Content Knowledge

The candidate understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline(s) s/he teaches and creates learning experiences that make these aspects of the discipline accessible and meaningful for learners to assure mastery of the content.

I think I had a good understanding of content areas. The digital citizenship bellwork questions allowed me to facilitate a discussion that was meaningful and connected to students’ lives. It was clear that responsible digital citizenship is necessary and it was their objective to highlight a problem and find solutions that they and their peers can implement in their lives. The discussion also provided students with the opportunity to explore each other’s perspectives, especially as they discussed the different scenarios (right, wrong, depends). I think I made a clear presentation that explained the project adequately. Even though a couple of the students still needed clarification, especially during the second lesson, I am reassured that this is not an unusual occurrence as I have often observed in the classes that I support.

It seemed that the students grasped the summarizing review via the bellwork and guided practice. Deciphering non-examples from the example challenges students to stretch their thinking and I think may keep them from making those same mistakes. My main objective was for them to understand how they can apply their summarizing skills, that they have practiced in their English class, to a real-world scenario that is relevant to their lives. I think using the skill of summarizing fits well with this PBL because for public service announcements, students must determine the essential idea and consolidate important details that support it for more concise understanding. Using think-pair-share, students increase their understanding as they attempt to agree on a final answer. Students need to talk, in order to think and learn, becoming resources for each other, just as one student pointed out during this activity.  

I used a variety of instructional resources, including the bellwork digital citizenship scenarios and non-examples described above. I also provided students with a choice board of topics including a free choice box. Alongside, I provided guided questions for analysis and self-reflection and the sources shared are differentiated for EAL students (kids website Newsela and short videos made by teens). The choice board provides students the opportunity to make their own choice, which works towards motivating and engaging them in the project when they are responsible for what they learn. The slides visually complement the verbal instruction and the students have access to them for reference whenever they need - they can access the public service announcement template, look at the example given and refer to the checklist. The checklist is also handed out to them; it helps them monitor their progress during the project, before they submit their final poster. 

standard 5

Standard 5: Application of Content

Candidate understands how to connect concepts and use differing perspectives to engage learners in critical thinking, creativity, and collaborative problem solving related to authentic local and global issues.

Students learn through direct experience that they personally can make a difference to raise awareness and have a positive effect on the school community. They are drawn into broader learning related to ethics, personal responsibility and digital citizenship. I provided students an opportunity to further practice their prior knowledge from Design and Art classes to complete this project (they learned about balance, white space, and use of contrast, lines and colour) as well as to deepen their digital citizenship knowledge from their Advisory class through research of a problem area, seeking solutions to the problem and developing original work. The project ensures students use critical and creative thinking when raising awareness about how to build a positive and supportive environment online and in the school community across the grades. 

I have Bloom’s Taxonomy close by at all times to refer to for lessons. With this project, the students encountered several cognitive processes from simply remembering (prior knowledge) to applying their deepened knowledge in a new situation (raising awareness) to evaluating information (including peer work and their own) to creating a product (PSA).

The bellwork discussion on digital citizenship, the teen-produced videos and the readings shared with the students provide them with different perspectives into the topic making the project meaningful for the students. 

I am so glad I had a third lesson as I wanted students to have the opportunity to receive feedback from their peers. Developing peer feedback literacy, I think, guides students to be more thoughtful about the criterion of the activity at hand and in the process they learn how to evaluate their own work better. I think the biggest benefit of peer feedback is that the students who are giving the feedback have to be aware and think critically about the lesson topic. It also ensures students are motivated to do their best knowing that their peers will be assessing them. (not shown on video)

The self-reflection focused on their approaches to learning and 21st century skills (see lesson plan for full list). My hope is that via self-reflection, students foster metacognition skills. (not shown on video)

What went well:

• Good understanding of content area

• Topic is relevant to student lives and advisory/unit

• Sequencing of the project in four steps - inquiry and analyzing (brainstorm and discussion), developing a draft (review of summarizing), evaluating (peer feedback) and then improving their draft for submission (creating final poster)

• Providing opportunity for critical and creative thinking

• Using varied instructional resources i.e. slides shared, checklist to guide progress, use of choiceboard and guiding questions, peer feedback organizer, self-reflection

• Accessing prior knowledge, review as needed

• Think-pair-share activity worked much better this time!

• Dfferentiated for EAL students with Newslea articles and short teen-produced videos 

What I could improve on:

• Instead of working independently, have students work in pairs for collaborative work

• Spending time on the guiding questions, more coaching and guidance

• Introduce an organizer for the PSA poster as some students spent too much time thinking about how to organize their information

• To incorporate more use of technology, the summarizing bellwork could have been completed as a Kahoot quiz.

• Offer more ‘product’ choice, for example, students could have used Flipgrid or another online video tool to develop their PSAs.

• Understanding the pace to expect from students

If I had more time:

• Students develop a questionnaire to test whether their PSA posters raised awareness. The goal of testing and evaluation is to see how the school community engaged with the posters, to get feedback, to discuss it with each other and to improve the design. They could answer questions such as:

• Does the PSA achieve the goal of raising awareness? 

• Are you convinced by this PSA? What are the reasons or evidence, if any?

• Does the school community understand the importance of digital citizenship?

• Of the solutions presented, what is one change would you make?

• Does the school community have an emotional reaction or a personal connection? What in the PSA makes you feel that way?

• Challenge students with a variety of texts, encouraging them to write successively shorter summaries, constantly refining their written piece until only the most essential and relevant information remains. The texts would be of interest to the students.

• After inquiring and analyzing the problem, students explore and create three design ideas (instead of one) for peer feedback and then they justify their chosen design via reflection.

• Have students reflect in a ‘project portfolio’ which I check frequently to ensure students are on the right track.

images from here.