Objective:  After students learn about self-reflection by reading an article by Mr. Thayer; learn about blogs by reading one by Rajasekar Pandurangan; and study how the brain makes thoughts out of electrical connections by researching on Wikipedia; Ms. Virginia's students will write and post their own self-reflective blog, about one paragraph long, on the classroom blog, using public domain images, about the subject of Connections: Dendritic Crystal Formations, Fractals Patterns, Alluvial Fans, and Student Engagement.

 

Activities:

1.  Students read an article about self-reflection by Mr. Thayer called "Teaching Tools: The Importance of Student Reflection on their Own Learning" from his own blog at Thayerism.com.  

 

2.  Students read "How to Use Blogs in the Classroom: A 4-Step Guide" by Rajasekar Pandurangan on the Scool Bell Wordpress Blog.  This is actually a beautiful Infographic (see below) which explains blogs in a short but concentrated and attractive graphic.  

 

3.  Students research Wikipedia for information, images and ideas (as above) for their blogs.

 

2.  Students write their self-reflections in their blog posts.

 

3.  Students add relevant images from Wikipedia to their blog posts.

 

Web 2.0 as Assessment Tool:  The classroom blog is the internal blog from Wix.com.  Using it to post their self-reflections illustrates that the students have read the article, absorbed the infographic, successfully researched Wikipedia, and learned how to post on a blog!  The pros and cons of the Web 2.0 tools used here are on the page "Web 2.0 Tools" in the menu.  

 

Assessment:  Students' blog posts will reflect their understanding of self-reflection, blogs, research on Wikipedia, and something of how dendrites, axons, and neurons work together to create thoughts.  Their posts' images and words will reflect their understanding of the connections hinted at in the assignment.

 

Assessment of Teacher for PD Class:  Students will each complete feedback surveys, similar to the one here from Survey Monkey. com (Web 2.0 tool) about their own level of engagement in this Unit.  Ms. Virginia will write a self-reflection on this module and the surveys and post it to her PD classroom blog (blogger.com, a Web 2.0 tool), similar to the one shown here.

 

Plagiarism, Authenticity, Diversity, and Student-Centered Learning:

Since Ms. Virginia and her students will be working together so closely on this module there will be very little opportunity for plagiarism!  The work she and the students do together is authentically their own, with their own choices for images, dendritic learning, and language in blogs.  This module honors diversity by allowing each person to express their own individuality with great leeway as to how they express themselves.  In addition, all photographs will include alternate text for visually impaired participants.  This module is a wonderful example of student-centered learning as it potentially holds value for each student and is an opportunity for them to be creative.

 

The classroom's reflective blog posts follow here, with Connections: Alluvial Flow on April 24, 2015.  Scroll down a little bit.