Standard 2.3 - Authentic Learning
Candidates model and facilitate the use of digital tools and resources to engage students in authentic learning experiences. (PSC 2.3/ISTE 2c)
Artifact : Engaged Learning Project
The Engaged Learning Project is a personal finance lesson plan that I developed to be used after state testing with my 7th grade social studies students. Students do not have enough exposure to personal finance in school, it is an authentic skill, and I wanted to design a lesson that had higher levels of engagement for students.
This project was designed to have a provide an engaging lesson for students that allows them to role play real life scenarios and use technology to complete the lesson. My role during the lesson would be to model digital citizenship for my students and choices that demonstrate my ability to manage my personal finances. After delivery of the initial information and setting the stage for the lesson, I would become the facilitator of the lesson to allow students to make their own decisions on personal finance.
The end-product that students produced was a portfolio that consisted of a monthly budget that had been managed over time, research on careers, and performance of researched and chosen stocks and mutual funds. Considering the breadth of this topic, a variety of digital tools and resources were used. Technology was implemented through the use of [1] investment software (Zacks, Google Finance, and Wikinvest), [2] Career research through GACollege411 and payscale.com, [3] Google Drive to record and manage their portfolios, and [4] Google Sites to publish information to the web. Choice was a powerful motivator for student engagement because they were able to make decisions that followed them through the entirety of the unit. Once students became comfortable with the digital tools, I was able to step back and become the facilitator because the students were able to correlate their learning with an engaging, authentic learning experience. Next time, I will be sure to do a Google Hangout with an outside expert on personal finance to hone in on theis authentic experience.
The implementation of this artifact had a profound impact on student learning. Students were interested in each other’s careers, compared salaries, married for money, and learned several online resources for managing money. They began to independently research personal areas of interest that were related to finance.
This project was designed to have a provide an engaging lesson for students that allows them to role play real life scenarios and use technology to complete the lesson. My role during the lesson would be to model digital citizenship for my students and choices that demonstrate my ability to manage my personal finances. After delivery of the initial information and setting the stage for the lesson, I would become the facilitator of the lesson to allow students to make their own decisions on personal finance.
The end-product that students produced was a portfolio that consisted of a monthly budget that had been managed over time, research on careers, and performance of researched and chosen stocks and mutual funds. Considering the breadth of this topic, a variety of digital tools and resources were used. Technology was implemented through the use of [1] investment software (Zacks, Google Finance, and Wikinvest), [2] Career research through GACollege411 and payscale.com, [3] Google Drive to record and manage their portfolios, and [4] Google Sites to publish information to the web. Choice was a powerful motivator for student engagement because they were able to make decisions that followed them through the entirety of the unit. Once students became comfortable with the digital tools, I was able to step back and become the facilitator because the students were able to correlate their learning with an engaging, authentic learning experience. Next time, I will be sure to do a Google Hangout with an outside expert on personal finance to hone in on theis authentic experience.
The implementation of this artifact had a profound impact on student learning. Students were interested in each other’s careers, compared salaries, married for money, and learned several online resources for managing money. They began to independently research personal areas of interest that were related to finance.