Cyberlesson Reflection

 Worksamples

1.       How did you implement your cyberlesson? (small group, whole group, posted on the Internet to be done at home? Individually, as a learning center etc.)

I implemented this lesson in my second grade classroom during literacy centers, where my students work in small groups. They are grouped homogeneously, based on their reading levels and the DIBELS results. The topic was based on our Science curriculum of Soils. The students went to the computer during centers and completed the activity.  
2.    How did your students respond to the project?

All of my students were very excited to be able to read and find out more information about worms. They knew that they would get worms of their own to take care of in the classroom, so they were very excited to learn about what earthworms could do in soil. They were also very into the extended activities, and were able to discuss more complex information about earthworms and soil. There were also able to interact with other students who have learned about the same topic, through the websites. Since the computer in the classroom that I have is very old and very slow, I do not really use it. When they heard that they would be able to use the computer, they were really thrilled!

3.    Strengths?

One of the strengths of this cyberlesson is that it ties the use of technology with science and literacy. As aforementioned, I have one computer in my classroom and it is very slow. My students were highly engaged with the task and are asking when they are going to be able to do another cyberlesson. They were working together; discussing information they found and responding to it. Another strength I discovered was that no matter what group you were in for centers, you got to experience this cyberlesson. I noticed that this class has scored the highest averages on the district assessment. I feel that this is in part due to the cyberlesson, which made the information interesting and real to them. Some of the websites were awesome! Yucky.com and Discovery School had some great activities for students that I never knew about!  My students got to take a soil safari and explored the four layers of soil. This made what they learned in the unit more realistic.

4.    Weaknesses?
 This was a very difficult topic to be able to find information for second graders. I found lots of information, but it was geared towards an older audience. The websites that I did find were amazing, so I used those exclusively. Some of the websites were difficult for some of my students to read. Another issue I had was that in some groups, one computer was not enough. I wished that there was a least another computer so that all the students would get to go the places they wanted to go. Many of the students did not know how to use a computer, so I had to show them how to point, click, scroll and navigate through the cyberlesson. There were four sets of eyes looking at one screen. At times, I would split groups up, but the conversations were not as meaningful as it could have been.

5.    How would you modify the way in which you implemented the project to make it more successful?

I think that I would change the book that I used for the cyberlesson. I found a better text that breaks down the role of an earthworm and lends itself to more research. I may keep Wonderful Worms for my students who are not reading on grade level. I might also introduce the cyberlesson as a whole group. This would help with the different levels in centers and the discussion would carry over in to the research part of the cyberlesson. I could also make it a web quest where I give the students websites and they can complete a project on Earthworms. Next time, I would need to give a lesson on how to use the computer, because this is what took the majority of the time with the activity.

6.    Recommendations?

My first recommendation would be to have patience. Technology is a very intricate concept, and many children do not know how to use the computer. There might be small errors the students make; like clicking off the presentation, not knowing how to scroll down, or click to find an activity. These are all aspects of the technology learning process. My next recommendation is to do a lot of research to find websites and neat activities that link to what the students are learning. This is what made the lesson so wonderful for my students. I wish that the websites could target all students, but I will continue to search for websites so that ALL of my learners can reach success. My last recommendation would be to create a rubric for participation during the task. There were some students who participated a lot, some who gave minimal effort, and students who did not get the most out of the lesson. The rubric will give the students motivation to participate more and to inquire more about the topic.