My Final Project: Interaction and Collaboration

 

Who Am I? 

I’ve been teaching in Bilingual/Dual language classrooms for about three years. I am a Multilingual learner myself and I really understand how hard it could be to learn a new language. It is very important to me to support Multilingual Learners (MLLs) as much as I can. I will be teaching first graders next year in a bilingual classroom (80% Spanish and 20% English). Being in this journey as a bilingual teacher makes me understand that this takes time and effort and that I need to engage students in learning opportunities that help them grow and develop important skills. My students are my inspiration to continue developing and growing in my profession. 

 

My Tech Identity

When I first heard about Scott Noon’s 4-tiers of technology use, I wasn't sure if my tech identity was Techno-traditionalist or Techno-constructivist. It made me reflect on my position in relation to these tiers. As I was taking this course, I felt more confident that the tier that best describes who I am in terms of my training in technology is techno-traditionalist. I’ve been integrating technology in my classroom with my students, especially now at this time when things are continuously changing. I am open to learning to use different media and technology tools that are new to me and this course has offered me the opportunity to continue to do this.

 

My Why

I believe that learning happens when interactions between students and teachers occur. Students need opportunities for interaction with each other and with teachers. These opportunities could be in a small or large group or even one-one. I believe that students learn when they collaborate with each other to accomplish something (e.g. to perform and complete an activity, to work towards a specific goal, etc.). I understand that collaboration is one of the 21st-century skills that are important to develop in young children and that they are going to need these skills through their life in school, and eventually in college, and in their jobs.  

During my teacher evaluations these last three years, I’ve been trying to improve ways to promote collaboration among my students, especially when they are in small groups. I’ve been reflecting on how I can make this better to develop my professional practice and to improve students’ outcomes. In my years teaching as a Bilingual/Dual language teacher I’ve been wanting to improve how I engage students in activities that involve collaboration. Sometimes it’s hard for young children to collaborate in groups to complete tasks or to do activities, etc. But that doesn't mean that they can’t pull it off! In the past years, I’ve struggled with implementing effective ways to engage students in activities that require collaboration. This is where this project comes from! I understand the development of 21st-century skills, such as collaboration, are crucial for students' learning and for their future.  

I want to create an environment where students can collaborate and interact with each other. At the same time, I want to continue supporting Multilingual Learners (MLLs) in my classroom. I understand how important it is for the students I work with to use their home language when learning a new skill. These are why I believe interactions are fundamental in language development.

My Learning

This course has helped me so much to build and develop new skills in technology and to learn new content that I can apply to my professional practice. I’ve been able to interact, collaborate, and share a lot of ideas with a group of people, and to learn from them. I’ve been experiencing in this course what I would like to do with my own students. 

I’ve also been reflecting on my teaching experience and on my beliefs about how students learn. I've been reflecting on my why. Like Sinek (Golden Circle) says:  “Why is not a profit, is a result. Act and communicate from the inside out.” It is a process and it takes time. 

This process has also made me think about how to maintain a balance between the use of technology and media and connections with others. 

 

In my opinion, sometimes it is hard to step back and let students collaborate and work by themselves. At the same time, I understand the importance of the use of technology to establish connections that help our students to learn in a way that is engaging. I believe that collaboration and interactions are essential for learning in an online or in-person environment. So it is important to also give our students the lead and to let them figure out their world. As Mitra (A School in the Cloud) explains how he sees learning as a product of educational self-organization, not about MAKING it happen is about LET it happen.

 

My Action Plan

I believe that young children need a lot of experiences and hands-on activities before they are ready to engage in activities that involve technology. I also believe that Multilingual learners need modeling and visuals to eventually transition to activities in their second language. For these reasons, before I jump right into technology, I will start by modeling the use of the technology tools that we will be using. I will continue by grouping students and letting them interact with each other. 

An activity that I will do for each group is for them to read (or look at the pictures of a book) and then to draw about it. This will provide me with information on how students are interacting and collaborating in small groups. 

This course has given me the opportunity to develop a lesson to engage students in interaction and collaboration. I will be using Google slides, which is a tool that I often use but this time it will be different because it is going to be inspired by my why. I will use a Google slides Presentation and BoomCards learning media tool.  

On the first slide students will learn how to use different features such as to drag images, to use the mouse. They will work together to ask and answer the given question. It is important that I provide this learning experience before I move on to the next part. 

On the second slide students will access a spin wheel using a hyperlink. Why are they using this? Well, to be able to collaborate they’ll need to take turns. They will spin the wheel and whoever name shows up will go first and so on. After they do this we will move on to the next slide. 

On the third slide, they will access a BoomCards learning activity. I will give clear instructions before they access the activity. They will access the hyperlink and take turns, as they collaborate and interact with each other, to find the answer to each question. 

 

I’m looking forward to implementing this lesson with my bilingual students in the Fall and continuing this journey along with them!

Thank you! 💜

My PechaKucha

Final Project Rubric