The second graders in my field placement are very active in the classroom. They seem to have a good relationship with the teacher and enjoy talking with her and one another during snack time and recess. It is a very personal and social environment that has been established, and I have noticed that every student has someone to talk to (no one is without a friend). The teacher often uses technology to help her students stay alert throughout the class period. She will use the smart board for most of the lessons, and students also have access to iPads during their center time. Students use ABC mouse for most of their activities in spelling on their own during this time, and the teacher will come around to check on their progress. With the smartboard, the teacher usually demonstrates how to write in cursive so that the students can copy it in their workbooks. She also uses the smartboard to play videos from GoNoodle to give students the opportunity to take a “brain break.” The students respond well to the visual examples she gives during the lessons on the board, and they also stay attentive during centers while on the iPads. I talked to a few students about what they do at home, and most of the responses I received were along the lines of: “I play fortnite,” or “I like to watch movies.” This didn’t really surprise me because I know that screen usage is a common thing among adults and children alike. I have not recently noticed any types of digital storytelling in the classroom to date. Most of the technology in the classroom is used by the teacher for modeling.
Since the students seem to respond well to the demonstrations, digital storytelling would work in this classroom if the teacher ever wanted to share a digital story with her students. The majority of her students are visual learners, so taking in information through a digital format might actually help her students get more out of a lesson. In the same way, they might be able to make their own stories. On page 90 of “Critical Lessons and Playful Literacies: Digital Media in PK–2 Classrooms” by Nicholas E. Husbye, 2nd grade boys make their own digital story and play during filming sessions. Not only could this function as a learning opportunity, but it could also be a type of “brain break” for the students. Instead of GoNoodle where they only dance, they would be active and creative at the same time. They can interact with material in a new way that relates to them, which might make a student view their screen in a different way. “From a developmental perspective, when children learn to think as media producers and not just consumers, they begin to see multimedia texts as malleable and negotiable through their coauthoring experiences in collaborative productions (Husbye 91). For example, they won’t just be taking in information, but they will start creating their own. The teacher could even use this as an assessment to check what information her students are understanding and how they are applying it.
Educational Tech | Kate Brunn 