Successful Practices Reflection
Reflecting on successful practices in a digital classroom, two practices really stuck out to me, Google Shared Docs and RSS feeds. When evaluating a successful practice I tend to think if I implemented this practice in to my classroom, an urban classroom with low technology and even lower academic levels, would it benefit my kids? The second aspect I consider is would it actually benefit them develop skills for the long-term?
Reading Lisa Neilsen’s post, I was actually very optimistic about the usage of Google’s Shared Documents options. Students and teachers can collaborate and combine ideas in a centralized location using the most common applications, Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, One Note and access them from their phones, tablets, and computers at home. Google Docs provides something that many of the other web-based programs do not, affordability. In a low income school district the cost of the program tends to be the number one factor administrators look at when implementing any changes. The cost of updating hardware or subscription fees often deters administrators and districts from enhancing classroom learning.
Google provides Google Docs for free and provides the same capabilities that Office 365 does without the overwhelming cost that providing would bring to a district of 4,000+ students. Google Docs also allows students to utilize whatever device is available to them with free downloads in the app stores, a shared cloud location with Google Drive (also free), and allows students to use any media available online collaboratively to solve any problem. Technology that maximizes efficiency with collaboration is one of the 21st century skills P21 discusses. It is my personal belief that Google Docs should be the foundation in which all classroom technology is based. From here other programs such as Blogs, Youtube, WebQuests, and more can be integrated in to the Google Docs program.
The second successful practice I thought would be an excellent integration in to the classroom in conjunction with Google Docs are RSS feeds. As a teacher, one of the largest struggles I have with my students is assisting them in finding appropriate sources for them to evaluate to benefit any project they are working on. With RSS feeds I can complete the “screening” process for them an link proper websites within the RSS feed. For example, in my history class we are discussing the role of the President in the operation of the country under the confines of the Constitution. With all of the unfortunate drama between the candidates this year, as well as President Trump, the amount of biased and inappropriate “news” articles on the web is actually a distraction from the information my kids need to answer their projects. Using an RSS feed aggregator such as Feedly allows me to put the sites and blogs I want my students to investigate without having to evaluate the billions of web posts available to them.
While these two successful practices may be the best fit in my opinion for my classroom, they are by no means the only two successful practices out there. I would recommend that you evaluate your students, your classroom policies, your districts economic status and fiscal accounts and then decide what is the best possible outcome for your students. This is really how successful plans are implemented. Without understanding these ideas, it really does not matter what you try to implement, you will be unsuccessful. As much as I love Discovery Education, (an extremely expensive program) my district will not pay for it and as such building my classroom around the TechBooks is only setting everyone involved up for failure. Remember the way to be successful is to set yourself up for success.
