Reflections on Implementation

Flexibility is an important key to have as a classroom teacher. I thought I was a flexible teacher until the spring of 2020. I have stretched and stretched my teaching plans this school year to adapt to the ever-changing demands of being an English Language Development (ELD) teacher during a pandemic. This flexibility pertains to the planning of my original implementation plan for this blog as it, too, has been modified. In reviewing my implementation plan, I have changed most everything I originally planned. In this final blog post, I will address my implementation plan, strengths, and weaknesses of the format. I will also examine what I learned about supporting digital and multimodal literacies with emergent bilinguals. 

I originally outlined my PEDDL draft plan (November 7) to include second-grade standards with one of my ELD small groups. I had planned to see my second-grade group during our first week of in-person learning.  It was during this time that I was going to have my students download the ChatterPix Kids app due to bandwidth issues with hotspots at home. However, due to COVID related issues, I was needed as a substitute in other classrooms.  I was not able to meet with my second-grade group to download the app.  

We only were in-person learning for one week and then returned to virtual learning due to an increase in COVID cases in our county. When we returned to virtual learning, the district implemented a different schedule. I needed to change my groups again in order to accommodate classroom teachers. This was not the biggest obstacle.  Reliable connectivity is the most difficult obstacle to overcome, and one that is out of my control. In looking at my groups, the most consistent group with reliable internet was a first-grade group. I also had these same students last year when I taught kindergarten. I decided to implement my new PEDDL plan with this group. 

The strength of my PEDDL plan was aligning what we were doing to meet first-grade standards. I scaffolded teaching the main idea to text by including many pictures for students to talk about and explain their thinking before applying the concept to texts. I chose chameleons as our topic. I wanted to use a creature my students did not know much about. I included a digital non-fiction book about chameleons and a video of a fiction text, The Mixed-Up Chameleon , to support our understanding of the main idea. I incorporated a directed drawing of a chameleon and we added three details as a modified graphic organizer. My students loved this activity and were able to tell me three details about a chameleon from the text (eyes move in different directions, fast tongue, changes colors). They were able to identify these details in our fiction video. With guidance and support, they were also able to explain the main idea with details about The Mixed-Up Chameleon.

A weakness of my plan was that I did not identify what my students wanted to learn more about. Chameleons was my topic; not theirs. Although they were engaged, I think, if I had found out what they were curious to know more about, their feeling of ownership about the topic might have even been better. Furthermore, I used a short nonfiction passage for a read aloud to practice listening to find the main idea. The passage was about how police officers help others. This was not the best passage to use as they didn’t seem interested. Lastly, it would have been beneficial to include another mode for my students to communicate their knowledge about chameleons. The ChatterPix app would have been a great tool for this exploration. I have explored using it, and I think it is a very engaging tool.  

In order to strengthen future lessons, I decided to seek support from my colleagues. In speaking with them, I discovered they have some apps available on their Clever account that I do not, such as Book Creator. When I called our Information Technology department to check on my Clever account and missing apps, I was told that I was listed as staff, not a teacher. They fixed this to reflect my status as a teacher. The first- and second-grade teams use the digital platform SeeSaw, and we figured out how to add me as a teacher to their classroom accounts. This way I will be able to use SeeSaw as a tool to create lessons for the students I serve. I recommend collaborating with colleagues before implementing any new digital tools. Speaking with colleagues can provide insight into what they are using and springboard ideas for lessons. I also suggest to contact the Information Technology department before implementing new apps or digital tools. This will help clarify any potential issues before implementation. For my specific situation, I believe using a document camera to show the writing process (instead of my whiteboard) would be a beneficial tool for my students. I am currently looking into ways to obtain one at my house since I am working from home. 

Incorporating digital and multimodal literacies with emergent bilinguals requires planning for authentic experiences. These tools should be integrated and support what is occurring in the classroom. Although I was not able to integrate the ChatterPix app, I discovered my students are flexible and will take risks in a remote learning situation with unstable internet connection. They are open to new ways of learning, have embraced our virtual classroom, and accepted challenges along the way with grace. My goal is for my students and I to continue to be flexible during this difficult time and to explore new tools to create multimodal texts.