For my field experience this semester, I am placed in a second-grade classroom at Hathaway Brown. Hathaway Brown is an all-girls, private, preparatory school in Shaker Heights. Considering this, the school provides its students with excellent resources, instruction, teaching, and, ultimately, an excellent education. I believe an excellent education engages students in active learning. Active learning requires students to be involved and interested in their learning. And, for that to happen, students have to be engaged in multimodal learning. This means they participate and learn using a variety of modalities.

As stated in Multimodal Composition and the Common Core State Standards, “Much of the work on multimodal composition is broadly situated within multimodality theory, which is based on the assumption that all meaning-making is multimodal, including linguistic, visual, audio, gestural, and spatial elements. A multimodal framework acknowledges that modes offer certain affordances, and the interaction between modes is significant for communication” (Dalton 2). Dalton goes further by describing how our communication and technology skills are developing. Further, “One of the biggest communication changes happening today is the shift from the printed word on a page to multiple modes of image, sound, movement, and text on a screen” (Dalton 2). This means it is essential for any school, especially a preparatory school, to be infusing technology into their teaching, curriculum, and learning to better prepare their students for the real world.

Based on my observations and interactions, I am led to believe Hathaway Brown is effectively integrating technology into their curriculum. I see this through their assignments, assessments, and activities, which do incorporate technology. In Hathaway Brown’s primary school, every student is fortunate enough to have access to iPads. Students have their own, school-owned iPad to use in the classroom, starting in the second grade.

These iPads are used primarily for academic purposes. Hathaway Brown does not promote the use of social media sites for their Prime students. However, families often provide their daughters with phones or iPads at home, and then students, particularly in third and fourth grade, will use a variety of these sites. As I was conversating with the students, I received mixed emotions and opinions on technology and the use of it. Several of the students said they enjoyed using the iPads, but very few were able to give me reasons why. Child S did say, “I like using the iPads because they have lots of facts and the book try, but they don’t have all the facts like I found this fact in the book, but I couldn’t find any other.” Child B said that she likes using the iPad but that she hasn’t used them lately because she prefers to use the packet of information. During my conversation with Child C, B, L, and S, Child C said, “I only got Apple for Christmas. I got an Apple phone, iPad, and Apple watch.” When I asked if the other students had a phone, I found out Child C had an iPhone 11, Child B had an iPhone 6, and Child L and S did not have one. Child L and S did not seem very interested in using technology outside of the classroom, whereas Child C and B were all about telling me how much they love to text, call, and play games with each other. Their favorite game right now is the app, Roblox. Based on these conversations, I realized that my students have different thoughts and connections to technology outside of the classroom. In the classroom, the use of technology, however, should be interesting and informative to every student. It should be used to “engage students in making connections between pedagogy and academic content,” which are vital to active learning (Lisenbee and Ford 1). The iPads and their availability at Hathaway Brown allow teachers the opportunity to enhance their lessons and curriculum and students to enhance their learning. This is seen with their big social studies project.

The students are currently working on a research project in their social studies class. Although this project does not involve all of Lambert’s seven steps of digital storytelling, I do believe it still provides the students with some of the same benefits. This project allows students to use technology, explore their interests, and discover their strengths. The girls chose a country they were interested in and that they wanted to learn more about.

They then used both digital and print resources to gather facts. In addition to books specific to their country, students used websites such as CultureGrams or CountryKids. After completing the research, they will each create their own presentation using Keynote on the iPads. As part of their presentation requirements, they will type, insert photos, and format text. Once they create their visual presentation, they will be able to present it. This will allow the students to share with their classmates.

In our Education Technology course, we have read and discussed how important collaboration and co-construction is to children in the classroom. Since this project is an individual assignment, this opportunity at the end allows students to share their thoughts and ideas with their classmates. However, it is just as important that the students are collaborating, con-constructing, and sharing with their classmates while they are designing their project as well. My cooperating teacher recognizes this and has thus divided the class into different colored groups. While the students are working at their tables, which are clustered in different groups, she pulls the colored groups one by one. This check-in time allows the students to share their progress, ask questions, and engage with their peers. I have noticed similar small group interactions in different subjects, such as guided reading and word study. It appears the students work independently, but not individually. Otherwise stated, the students complete their own work, but are assigned groups or work with their table groups to discuss ideas, questions, and concerns. One example of this is the social studies project, but another is the magnet word study activity.

More specifically, during this activity, my cooperating teacher would provide the students with different words, and they would have to use their magnetic letters to spell that word. The class was focused on practicing r-controlled vowels. She would have the students then switch the ‘or’ to ‘ar’ and vice versa to see if the new word created was a real word or a nonsense word. For example, my cooperating teacher gave the students the word ‘form.’ They spelled the word, then switched the ‘or’ magnet with the ‘ar’ magnet and created the word ‘farm’ which is, in fact, a real word. The girls each had their own boards and spelled the word themselves, but they were also allowed to speak with each other as they identified the words. Similar small group learning experiences take place though out the day just because of how the class and their desks are arranged. The desks are organized in clusters of four, two pairs facing each other. This set up allows the students to have their own space but work and collaborate with their peers when they need to. Since the students are very polite and respectful, the cooperating teacher does not have to worry about them being distracting or misbehaving. The students seem to be aware of their expectations and focused on their learning. Thus, there are positive communications and interactions with both their peers and their teacher.

Given this small group dynamic, I think it would be very beneficial to further integrate technology into their classroom by completing a collaborative project, where students create a digital story. I think one implication of incorporating technology into the classroom is that the students start to focus solely on the device and not the people or experiences happening around them. This is why I appreciate my cooperating teaching allowing students to meet and connect with their classmates.  I do see the value in each student creating their own social studies project so that they are learning what they are good at and what part of the process they enjoy the most, but I also see the importance of creating something together.

In addition to these social studies projects, the girls also use iPads in their Computer Science special class, which is once in their six-day rotation. I have not personally seen this special, but from my discussion with the teacher, the class uses a variety of coding applications and various apps during Computer Science. In their regular classroom, they generally use the iPads for research and educational apps. Girls use them to take pictures, watch videos, and record their voices as part of their math and literacy workshop stations as well. More specifically, they use SeeSaw for recording, Scan for scanning, and for researching, they have use sites such as National Geographic Kids, Scholastic, and the ones mentioned above. Certainly, the students are introduced to so many different practices, perspectives, and possibilities. The apps and websites they have access to provide them with unlimited knowledge, multimedia projects, and multimodal composition. By creating these projects and completing these different activities, the students are learning the curriculum but also the skills that are now required to be prepared for school, work, and life.