Final+Project+Schroeder

Daniel Pink says in his book //To Sell is Human//, “We have a lot of learned behavior of compliance, and hunger for external rewards and no real engagement.” **The Ecosystems: ** The ecosystems of Technology, Classroom Norms and Routines, Assessment, and Instructional Strategies are ways to create “real engagement.” I believe it is our job as educators to design instruction that engages students. Students need to understand the relevance of the material they are learning and be able to make connections. I strongly believe they need the time to practice, take risks, and apply their learning. They need to be problem solvers and innovative thinkers and it is our job as educators to help them develop these 21st century skills.

Technology is a new way of thinking and learning for our 21st century learners. I believe that the school staff needs to be part of this new way of thinking, which means we need to rethink our curriculum and design purposeful lessons that engage students by utilizing technology. In the Mark Presnky article “Our Brains Extended,” he says, “thinking, acting, relating, and accomplishing—in the technological and fast-changing context of the future—are where we should focus our students' attention. I agree with this statement and believe that educators need to meet the students where they are at and we need to reinvent the way students are learning.

As a School Social Worker I believe students need access to technology during social work sessions. Classrooms are changing and instruction needs to change as well for all staff working with students. The delivery of social work services is changing as well to meet the needs of our 21st century learners. In the past social workers did many pull out sessions with students and currently we are following more of a push in model to assist more students and collaborate with teachers. I believe I need to be flexible and collaborative when working with classroom teachers to deliver services and meet IEP minutes.

However, as a Social Worker I follow the NASW Code of Ethics which is a guide to the everyday professional conduct of social workers. It provides social workers with core values and ethical standards that inform social work practice. One of the ethical responsibilities to clients or students as a school social worker is maintaining confidentiality. Therefore, it is difficult to integrate technology with students while maintaining privacy and confidentiality. I need to be creative in utilizing technology with individual and groups of students because I understand the benefits to utilizing technology to engage students. I believe I can use Knowmia with the students to create a social story to meet their needs. A social story can be a written or visual guide describing various social interactions, situations, behaviors, skills or concepts in a defined style or format.

I would like to implement Knowmia with the students to create a social story and compare the results of student's learning through utilizing Knowmia vs Microsoft word during social work sessions, therefore maintaining confidentiality. Due to district guidelines, elementary students are not allowed to create Knowmia presentations therefore, I have created a Knowmia presentation utilizing a social story that my students can view during social work sessions. (see artifact one for example.) In my current practice I write social stories in Microsoft word and insert pictures to visually assist students (see artifact two for example.)

I have created a google form survey to acquire student feedback about utilizing Knowmia as an instructional tool (see artifact three for example.) This artifact can be utilized under two ecosystems, assessment and instructional strategies. I will use the results of this survey to provide students with meaningful feedback and design my instruction to meet the students needs. I will also utilize this information to differentiate instruction for students based on the feedback received about how students learn best. This will be helpful information to compare learning social stories through Knowmia (technology) and learning social stories through Microsoft Word (paper).

It is important that norms are implemented effectively to create a positive culture of shared responsibility for learning. There is a procedure to establish norms and it is critical to involve students in the process of developing norms. The artifact I have attached is an example of how I have implemented the process of norms with a 1st grade group. We incorporated all of the student’s ideas and came up with a “code word” to make students in the group aware when they are not following the norms. The students developed the norms together. During each social work group session the students review the norms before group begins and then the students reflect on the norms at the end of the session and self-monitor their behavior and how they followed the norms. (see artifact four for example.) **Artifacts: **


 * Artifact One: Lesson on Knowmia **


 * Artifact Two: Social Story **


 * Artifact Three: Google Survey **


 * Artifact Four: Group Norms **