ZOOMing in on the 4C's!

ZOOM: Student View

5th grade students in Mrs. Chamberlain’s 6th Grade Pre-AP Math class collaborate and learn together every day! The unique aspect of this class is that none of these students are physically in the same classroom as Mrs. Chamberlain. Northwest ISD’s 1:1 environment, along with a variety of digital tools allow students from across the district to interact, give and receive feedback, collaborate, create, and even work in groups. Every morning, students remote into Mrs. Chamberlain’s class via ZOOM. Students all have a Microsoft OneNote journal in which they share a collaborative whiteboard and have individual pages to solve their work. The students are enjoying the class, the challenge, and the ability to learn from anywhere. In Zachary's words,"What I love about the remote class is that I can see other students from different schools without having to get out of my seat." Kash adds, "I like that we can share thoughts across the district" and Holden comments, "I feel challenged in math this year and the problems are fun because they seem like puzzles."

OneNote: Collaborative Whiteboard

ZOOM allows students to communicate with each other in a variety of ways. "I like how you can mute and un-mute yourself, and how you can raise your hand, because it makes you feel like you're in an actual classroom with the teacher. I would say the most difficult part so far has been my Unit 2 homework," said Matthew. 

Group 3: Google Draw Work and Collaboration

Google Slides: Turning in Posters

Recently, students were put into groups of two to create a visual math poster on fractions. Students used Google Draw to collaborate and show their thinking visually. Once visuals were created, students uploaded their drawings to a collaborative class Google Slide so that they could give and receive feedback as well as learn from other groups. According to Blane, "the group poster was exciting because I got to work with someone I have never worked with before."

Students in this class are learning to communicate and explain their thinking across a variety of platforms. They are learning how to interact via audio conference, text chat, visual graphics, etc. This class truly represents 21st century learning and encourages students to take ownership of their learning. They are encouraged to take risks as they work with students from other campuses. This class is just getting started and these students have a lot to accomplish before the end of the year!

Student ISTE Standards:

• COMMUNICATION (1C): Students use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice and to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways.

• CREATIVITY (4A): Students know and use a deliberate design process for generating ideas, testing theories, creating innovative artifacts or solving authentic problems.

• CRITICAL THINKING (5C): Students break problems into component parts, extract key information, and develop descriptive models to understand complex systems or facilitate problem-solving.

• COLLABORATION (7C): Students contribute constructively to project teams, assuming various roles and responsibilities to work effectively toward a common goal.