Creating, Collaborating, Sharing & Publishing
BLOG OF OUR TECH NINJA CLUB'S JOURNEY
We started the Tech Ninja Club in September 2014,"Watch out here come our Tech Ninjas!" We wanted to develop a program to engage our 21st century students in technology, to create tech support in their classrooms/libraries, and to initiate connections outside each of our school buildings. With this in mind, we, the two Library Media Technology Specialists, started brainstorming ways to accomplish these goals with the support of our administrators. The Tech Ninja program was created to meet these goals. One of our goals was to provide our 3rd and 4th grade classrooms with student tech experts, who would provide support for teachers learning to implement new technology tools. The program allowed the participants time to explore, investigate, create, publish and collaborate within and outside our four walls, and build their confidence to assist others. Our Tech Ninja program used apps, websites, online polls, video conferencing, coding, programming robots, and iCentre (investigation stations) time as learning tools. In addition, we have embedded key components of digital citizenship throughout the program. The students met on their individual campus on Wednesdays after-school for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Our group time followed this basic outline: 1- Gathering activity (e.g., independent device use, video conferencing, digital conferencing etiquette game, media clips...) 2-Tips/Tricks to help their class (e.g., add favorites, Google search tips, save & upload…) 3-Featured App/Website (e.g., Chirp, Trading Cards, Thinglink, ScreenChomp, ChatterPix, Lego Movie…) 4-Spotlight Coding App (e.g., Bee-Bot, Kodable, Daisy the Dinosaur, Cargo-Bot…) 5-Robot (Bee-Bot) challenges and competitions. 6-”UCHOOSE” time (e.g., iCentre, work on digital projects, Bee-Bot challenges & competition...) The students were encouraged to post, take polls, and publish their projects onto our online (Edmodo) group. Our Tech Ninjas’ comments and published digital projects increased each week. These students have become our digital ambassadors as they learn and gain more confidence with different digital tools and knowledge of what it takes to be a good digital citizen as they interact within and outside their school's four walls. Our 21st century students are moving from “Digital Newbies” to “Digital Learners”. They are experiencing different technology activities needed to become our digital ambassadors to both their peers and teachers. When our schools participated in the “Hour of Code” in December, our Tech Ninjas assisted during the event. This is just one example of them stepping up to assist their peers, parents, and teachers with technology. They have demonstrated growth in the 4 C’s which is preparing them for successful interaction with their digital world. The Tech Ninjas have increased their digital aptitude. They are beginning to build their confidence to teach others, formulate multiple solutions, and are beginning to take charge of their technology learning and creations. “Watch out! Here come our Tech Ninjas!” |
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