NETS Standard 2
Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessment incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the NETS•S.
a. design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.
One of the easiest ways to make a learning experience relevant to a middle school student is to provide them with an audience. One of the ways my students love to address their audience is through making movies. Our most successful movie to date is a video where my students teach their viewers some new vocabulary, called “Expanding Mood Vocabulary: More than Just Happy and Sad.” At last count this video had 180 views, and the blog post I wrote about making it has 14 comments. I also implemented digital reading journals in my classroom and saw many benefits over the paper variety thanks to that fantastic digital tool, GoogleDrive.
b. develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress.
Independent reading is a requirement in our school, but not all students enjoy reading self-selected books. As a way for our students to manage their own learning, my colleagues and I designed a self-assessment for our students using GoogleForms in which we allowed the students to express their feelings about reading. We then used this information to group them into reading groups that better fit with their own educational goals.
c. customize and personalize learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources.
Differentiated learning is one of the most important yet difficult tasks to accomplish in a classroom. Thankfully, using technology can make that differentiation easier. Sometimes letting the advanced students take an assignment to the “next level” using technology is the way to go, as described here in a blog post I wrote about a differentiated assessment. Other times, those students who are ahead of the pack simply need to move on and do something different. Last year, at state-mandated standardized test time (MAP testing) I had my advanced students create a “How to Be Ready for the MAP Test” video as an enrichment activity while I retaught concepts to the students who needed another shot.
d. provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching.
This year my colleagues and I are trying to ensure that our students are on track with the standards by identifying power standards and tracking our assessment data using Data Teams. As teachers, we track this data using a GoogleDoc so we can collaborate on the same document. As a powerful visual reminder and motivation to our students we post class proficiency percentages on a data wall in our classrooms.
