Week 1 Blog
Part 1 : Introduction
Hello everyone! My name is Ella Christensen, and I am excited to get started with this course. This winter will be my third semester taking online classes through Southeastern Oklahoma University. I am from Lincoln, Nebraska, and currently work as a fourth-grade teacher at the same elementary school I attended as a child.
I am working toward my master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in educational technology. This is my first course directly related to the technology portion of my program, so I am excited to dive in! As for my future professional goals and what I plan to do with my master’s degree, I am not exactly sure yet, but I am looking forward to seeing where it might take me.
When I am not teaching or doing schoolwork, I spend a lot of time with friends and family. Whether it’s going for walks, grabbing coffee, shopping, or cooking a new dinner, I love spending quality time with the people I care about. This past September, I got engaged, so a lot of my time has also been spent wedding planning!
Part 2 : ISTE and Nebraska State Standards
ISTE Knowledge Constructor Standard 3A asks students to plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other resources for their intellectual or creative pursuits. Students in a 4th Grade class are studying figurative language within grade-level texts and address english standard LA.4.V.2 Interpret an author’s use of figurative, connotative, and technical language in grade-level literary and informational text. Students will research different figurative language such as similes, metaphors, personification, onomatopoeia, hyperbole, and idioms. They will curate their findings into a digital collection using Google Slides. To research different figurative language types, students will use kid-friendly research engines such as Kiddle, PebbleGo, or Newslea. These search engines combined with a grade-level text using figurative language, will give them the opportunity to expand their knowledge on the an author's use of figurative language to provide deeper meanings. Students will use Google Slides to create a slide for each figurative language type. The slide will consist of the word definition, an example from research, how it was used in the text, their own example, and a visual or image to represent the word.
Part 3 : Kolb's Triple E Framework
Professor Liz Kolb's Triple E Framework (Kolb, 2011) discusses the importance of engaging, enhancing, and extending student learning. This is taken into consideration during this student activity. The use of technology actively engages students in their learning by giving them the opportunity to be creative. Students are able to use kid-friendly search engines to practice their research skills. Their digital portfolio on Google Slides gives them a creative freedom to make it look how they would like and organize their ideas in any way they want, while still following the structure of the assignment and including the necessary information. Students are not just passively listening to the teacher rattle off figurative language meanings and definitions. Students are able to actively search, create, and learn material in an engaging way.
This lesson also uses digital media to enhance and deepens students' learning. They are able to compare multiple sources, learn how to find reliable sources, and enhance their critical thinking skills through creating visuals of abstract information such as metaphors and idioms. Using technology in this lesson gives students a more concrete way to analyze, that a paper assignment couldn't provide to them.
Lastly, this lesson extends student learning in to the real world. While conducting research, students can see how figurative language may be used in the outside world. Whether it is through an advertisement of their favorite restaurant, in the lyrics of their favorite song, or from a book they read at home. They are able to make connections from the lesson to their own life, making their learning feel even more meaningful. This would also be a portfolio students can reference throughout the year or share with families at home.
Kolb, L. (2011). About the Triple E Framework. University of Michigan, School of Education.
International Society for Technology in Education. (2024). ISTE standards (Version 4.01).
Nebraska Department of Education (2021). Nebraska ELA Standards
Hi Ella! First of all, congratulations on your engagement - that is such exciting news!! I also love that you are teaching at the same school you once attended. I am currently in a similar situation. Although my school was torn down and rebuilt over the past three years, I am still teaching in my hometown where I grew up and continue to live, which makes the experience very meaningful.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog, especially since I teach middle school math and it was interesting to see a lesson designed for a different content area and age group. You did a great job tying your lesson to an ISTE standard, and I especially liked your incorporation of Google Slides. I was curious - would each student be creating their own Google Slides presentation and then sharing it with their classmates or just using it for their own personal reference?
I also appreciated learning about the research engines you mentioned. I had not heard of them before, but they seem like a great way to provide students with multiple research options and reduce the common frustration of “I can’t find anything.”
This was a great post - thanks for sharing!
Hi Ella, it's nice to meet you and I'm looking forward to working with you this semester. I have to say, it’s so cool that you’re teaching at the same elementary school you attended as a child! I feel like when you can tell students that you loved the school enough to go back, they invest - even just the slightest bit - more than before. I had dreams of returning to my high school to teach, but ended up changing counties. Congratulations on your engagement too. Balancing teaching, grad school, and wedding planning is no small thing!!
ReplyDeleteI also love your figurative language lesson idea. Having students research different types using kid-friendly search engines and then curate their learning in Google Slides feels like something that would give students autonomy, while not overwhelming them! I especially like that each slide requires students to connect a definition, a researched example, a text-based example, and their own original thinking. That structure pushes them past surface-level understanding and into real application.
Your connection to Kolb’s Triple E Framework makes a lot of sense here. The activity clearly engages students through choice and creativity, enhances learning by helping them visualize abstract concepts, and extends beyond the classroom by encouraging students to notice figurative language in everyday life. I also appreciate your point about this becoming a portfolio students can revisit or share with families. That adds a lot of long-term value to the assignment.
I look forward to seeing other ideas you have and what ideas I can gather from you and use in my own classroom!
Hi Ella!
ReplyDeleteI love that you are teaching in the same school where you grew up! I got that opportunity as well! When I completed my student teaching, I was in the same kindergarten classroom that I was a student in, and with the same teacher and principal! It was an amazing experience! And congratulations on your engagement and wedding planning! Your life must feel like a whirlwind right now in the best way!!
I loved the student friendly research options such as PebbleGo, NewsELA, and Kiddle. I had forgotten all about them! I used them when I taught 3rd grade, but being in kindergarten now I haven't thought about them in a long time. I love that in your lesson, your students are constructing their own meaning of figurative language through their research! Very thoughtfully designed!
-Erin Trammell
Hi Ella!
ReplyDeleteIt is so nice to meet you! Congratulations on your engagement! Marriage is so much fun! My husband and I are currently headed towards our two year anniversary. I love that you are teaching at the school you previously attended, that was my dream at one point in time. I moved away to be with my husband and am now teaching at a school I love! I also anticipate on getting my masters degree, but I am currently undecided on which route I want to take.
I like how you aligned the lesson idea with real world applications that will actually interest your students. Music and food are both very important topics in the mind of a 4th grader! Establishing a ground of true interest with your students will make your lesson truly memorable for the rest of their lives. You will be able to meet so many different learning needs and styles with your "creative freedom" approach! I am looking forward to reading more of your ideas in the future!
-Cheyenne Cardinalle