Week 6 Reflection

This week we had an EdCamp session with our class pod groups. My Pod discussed gaming in education, physical and mental health technology, assessment strategies, and UDL guidelines. Each of these topics were chosen by a different pod member based on their areas of interest. We discussed each topic and found some resources on them that could help us bring them into the classroom in the future.

Jessica’s topic for the week was gaming in education. Gaming in education is bringing video or computer games into the classroom for educational purposes. Including educational games, virtual reality technology, typing games, coding, or other types of gaming into the classroom can keep students engaged and deepen learning. Most students are already gaming at home, so bringing gaming into the classroom can add an interesting element to learning and assignments/projects. Jessica told us about an assignment where students built their own mining village in Minecraft as part of a social studies unit about gold mining towns. This is just one example of how gaming can be used to enhance student learning experiences!

Rachel’s topic for the week was mental health technology. In this discussion we mostly talked about resources teachers can use to implement physical and mental health practices in their classroom. We talked about apps, YouTube channels, and websites that can be used to guide yoga, meditation, brain breaks, or physical activity in the classroom. One resource that stood out the most was the Cosmic Kids YouTube channel. This channel features yoga, mindfulness, meditation, and relaxation videos for children. Using videos like this can make physical and mental health activities fun for students and help them develop healthy habits they can carry through their lives. Below, I attached a Cosmic Kids Frozen Yoga Adventure video. It is a great example of what is on the channel.

Alice’s topic for the week was UDL guidelines in the classroom. UDL guidelines offer a set of concrete suggestions that can be applied to any subject to ensure all learners can participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities. We spent most of this discussion time talking about the importance of incorporating the UDL guidelines into every lesson plan as you create it instead of adding them in as an afterthought. Incorporating the UDL guidelines into every lesson can be beneficial for all students and can make your lessons engaging and exciting for every student.

My topic for the week was assessment strategies. Assessment strategies give teachers information about their students learning and help them understand what students have learned, how well they have learned it, and where they may have struggled. In this discussion we talked a lot about the 3-2-1 assessment strategy. This a method of assessment where students record three things they learned, 2 things they found interesting (or two things they are going to continue to work on), and 1 new question they have. This assessment strategy can be used across subjects and can give teachers a lot of information on what their students have learned and what they may still be confused about. We also discussed using the proficiency scale, exit notes, daily journals, rubrics, self/peer assessment, teacher check ins, and the importance of ensuring students know exactly what is expected of them.

This weeks discussions were very informative and left me with a lot of new information! I am excited to have many new resources to look into and take with me into my teaching practice. I would love to do a larger scale EdCamp session with more of my peers to hear about more great ideas and teaching resources!