My Personal Theory of Learning stressed the importance of relevancy in the selection of both materials and methodologies. I continue to see the tremendous impact to be had from creating units of integrated study that have relevance in the lives of my students. As stated, many of those whom I teach come from families where education is less than a priority. Most of the children that entered my classroom last week see little importance in the traditional tasks that they have previously been asked to perform in school. They see no correlation between school and their “real” lives. I believe my greatest challenge this year is to change these attitudes. I hope to teach my students how to learn and to empower them to take action in their own school as well as in their community. The resulting attitudes and abilities will, hopefully, lay the groundwork for creating engaged citizens.
During the 2009-2010 school year I plan to become a collaborating partner with Clemson University’s Automotive Safety Research Institute, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and Michelin as we work to develop a model plan for teaching safety and mobility. To this end, I plan to engage my students in the use of a writing engine that guides students through the writing process as they utilize the Cruiser Safety Curriculum as a point of departure. This on-line tool will allow my students to write and have their writing reviewed by peers as well as by me. These writings will also be available for parental review as well as review by participating students from other schools. The anticipation of a live audience will provide motivation for my students.
Though I have just begun to scratch the surface with podcasting, I plan to further utilize this tool. My students can take their writing one step further by podcasting their ideas. Because safety and mobility are topics appropriate for all students, I believe that this point of departure will have meaning for my students. I believe that podcasting will help to provide my students with a purpose for sharing their findings as well as a stage for presentation. Providing students with real world problems and tools to interact with these problems allows them to assume increasing responsibility for their learning, giving them more motivation as well as feelings of accomplishment-setting the pattern for them to become successful life-long learners.
I plan to extend my use of iMovie during the current year, as well. To add meaning to this tool, I will initiate a safety patrol “club” at my school during the next month. Students will attend weekly training sessions related to responsible pedestrian safety and will use these ideas as points of departure for the creation of public safety messages to be aired on the school’s closed circuit television channel. Students in grades 4 and 5 will be eligible for participation in this club, and will serve as ambassadors for the school. They will continue to grow responsible attitudes, beginning with the ground work that I have laid for them in the third grade. They will further utilize their story telling skills and cooperative problem-solving strategies to promote responsible decision-making. Two spin offs of participation in this club will be the encouragement of individual expression, unlimited creativity, promoting collective knowledge construction, and individual reflection. Service in the Safety Patrol Club will provide students from all backgrounds, with varying academic abilities, opportunities to engage in authentic learning. I hope that my third graders will be motivated in their writing using the on-line writing engine and podcasting as they move towards the hope of serving as a safety patrol when they enter the fourth grade.
Students who elect to participate in the Safety Patrol Club, will have weekly training sessions throughout the year. Following participation in the fourth grade, students may elect to seek participation as a leader in the group while they are in the fifth grade. I believe that using technology to help drive involvement in this program will help promote thinking, improve student behavior, and promote a feeling of empowerment among my students. I hope to study MAP and PACT scores for my students this year. I will be interested to see whether or not the increased use of technology and the anticipation of additional opportunities in the future will both motivate students as well as increase their academic performance. I also plan to administer a pre/post attitude test to students to determine their feelings related to pedestrian safety. I will use the data collected to determine whether or not attitudes related to safe decision-making are actually occurring.
My plans to increasing the deliberate use of technology to support the development of a safe lifestyle as it relates to mobility will benefit students in their present lives as well as I the future. I plan to begin attending training sessions related to the writing site during the month of September. I will also administer pretests to my students in the next three weeks. Then, I will begin teaching the Cruiser Safety Curriculum during the final weeks of Sepember and early October. I will spread the integration of these units of study out throughout the year. During May, I plan to host a school-wide Safety Fair, to be led by my students. They will use the information, skills, and attitudes they have developed as they share messages of safety with the school population. They will also have a safety cinema where students can preview the many products created by my third grade students this year. Those fourth and fifth grade students who participate in the Safety Patrol Club will also participate in the Safety Fair. Hopefully, these activities will add a sense of relevance and direction for my students.
