Self-Directed Module

To be perfectly honest, I was not sure where I wanted to begin with this assignment.  I thought that maybe exploring Google Hangout would meet the requirement, but it did not take a full three hours (for the record, though - I explored, tried a ‘hangout’ within my own school, and then set up a ‘Mystery Number Hangout’ with a colleague across town, and it was very easy and really fun!).  Next, I considered spending more time with coding, but I am concerned that I will not embed this into my curriculum enough to make it worth the time (currently, students have Kodable as an option during ‘fun Friday math’).  So, I finally just used the link What Innovation Looks Like in an Elementary School. that we were provided in the syllabus.  I am so glad that I did!  I ended up in a place that was totally unexpected.

The link referenced above provides brief synaposes from various educators about things that they are doing in their classrooms.  The reason the article kept my attention was one of the first quotes by the author of the article (Juliani), ‘the biggest misconception we have with innovation in education. Technology doesn’t necessarily lead to innovation. Instead, technology often allows for new ways of teaching and learning…but only if used for the right purpose’.  I really connect with this idea.  When working with young learners (who are still learning to read and write) I feel strongly that they shouldn’t just be ‘plugged in’ to meet a time requirement.  If technology can’t improve what I’m doing then it probably shouldn’t be used and the author of this article (who is a K-12 tech educator) agreed!  

I played around with a few of the things mentioned early in the article (youtube for example), but became very excited when I started to read about the Global Read Aloud Project created by a fifth grade teacher (Pernille Ripp).  The goal is to connect as many people from around the globe as possible with just a book!  The books for this year (2018) have not yet been chosen and the actual event doesn’t begin until October, but I’m really excited.  I signed up via the google form so that I will receive updates and notifications as time gets closer.  I also made sure to ‘follow’ Pernille Ripp on Twitter so that I can use the hashtag #gra18 to participate in the book selection (people are allowed to suggest books and vote at two times during the process to help narrow down the list).  Lastly, (for now) I added GRA to my personal calendar in my phone for mid-September so that I do not forget to leave time in my lesson planning to include this in the fall.  Once the books are selected people can participate as much or as little as they want.  The timeframe is from the beginning of October to mid-November.  My personal goal will be to connect with at least three classrooms (I would love for at least one to be outside of the United States!).  For me, this project pairs great literacy with making connections outside of our classroom and therefore is innovative and worth the time!  However, since the GRA is still months away I figured I would take some of the time we were granted in this assignment to also look through Amazon at some of the book titles already being tossed around.  I am always in the market for new stories to add to my library and when they are mentioned by other educators (in a public forum) I figure they must be good.  I am really looking forward to participating in the Global Read Aloud 2018!