I’ll keep this short as the video explains most of you. Any new educational technology can be complicated to dig into from scratch as you attempt to align it to learning outcomes. Well, a new feature that Pear Deck has introduced has taken a giant leap forward to help educators do just that. Before we jump into the new features, if you are unfamiliar with Pear Deck and why my students and I consider it the #1 EdTech tool that helps their learning, check out the video in the previous blog post. But if you are more concerned with why you should even dive into Pear Deck or learn about this new AI generation of Pear Deck sessions to a learning target, check out the video below. Like I said, I’m keeping it short so you have time to watch the video. If you have questions, please contact me at mohammam@elmbrookschools.org or the Pear Deck Learning team at support@deck.peardeck.com . Also, check out the amazing Stacey Roshan's video on this update.
This post is part 2 of my constellation construction. Read part 1 here.
Once I had a vision for my classroom, or the why for my classroom, the next step was to consider what it would look like in the classroom. The Institute calls these “learner look fors”. I have a vision, but what evidence would I look for from a the perspective of an outside observer.
- Students propose and engage in different forms of learning- modes, methods- based on their needs
- Students' interests and strengths drive their connection to the content
- Feedback drives next steps of learning and conferring is happening face to face and digitally
The vision and look fors are things we are working towards. The next part of the “what” is what elements would be considered key parts achieving that vision in my classroom.
After determining the “look fors”the next step is to find elements that align with the look fors. The honeycomb has many elements that are considered part of a learner centered ecosystem. With nearly 40 identified elements in 4 different focal spheres, no classroom model can intentionally focus on all. So as a part of the process, I was asked to focus on the essential elements to my vision from the different levels. Those levels are:
- Students propose and engage in different forms of learning- modes, methods- based on their needs
- Students' interests and strengths drive their connection to the content
- Feedback drives next steps of learning and conferring is happening face to face and digitally
Before choosing the elements, one really needs to understand what they entail. From the Interactive Honeycomb one can get more information on what an element entails, including resources for implementation. A key to this step is thinking intentionally and not overextending the vision.
After elements were chosen, I was asked to think about how they connected in my mind to build a physical representation, a constellation of elements. I'll address how they are connected in the next post.
Before thinking about how an element will be implemented, the teacher really needs to understand what each element entails. Once identifying the elements, the teacher needs to understand what the element entails. I was asked to reflect on my current level of understanding of each element. This is where the resources from the Institute come into play. For each element they have rich pages that address why the element is important, what the element entails, and resources that address how educators can implement practices related to the element.
This is really important to understand. Before you can design how to implement a practice, you need to know what it is. It's not enough to choose elements to implement, educators need to know what the practices entail before looking at how to implement.
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