Blog 6: Integrating The Little Alchemy 2 into the Classroom

 Little Alchemy 2 

https://littlealchemy2.com

Introducing Little Alchemy 2:

I would introduce this digital game at the beginning of the school year and revisit it as needed to help students be more comfortable with the uncomfortable feeling of not knowing or understanding something. My goal for this game would be to build a growth mindset for my students through play. Students of varying ages learn skills and mindset best through play. This digital game allows for students to try, fail, try something new, and find success--building perseverance. There are plenty of handheld games, videos, or discussions that can be had about not giving up, but the act of playing games disguises it and makes it more engaging. There are questions students might have about what a new item is that they discovered, and I would encourage them to look it up and learn more about it.

Starting Screen: Starting elements and steam, hints option on the bottom (or to the side on a computer), your encyclopedia of items discovered, and clean up button (cleans up your working space for discovering)

Here is an example of how combining two objects in your "encyclopedia", earth and fire produces lava.

Encyclopedia: Stores your game stats, items discovered, and you can search for items here as well

What is Little Alchemy 2?

Little Alchemy 2 is a game where you start with the 4 basic elements: air, water, fire, and earth. From there you combine two elements together to create a new element/object. There are 720 of objects that can be created and unlocked by merging elements and other objects. You can leave and revisit the game and it will be saved with all your objects you unlocked. There is also an encyclopedia of the objects you discovered. Once all the objects have been discovered the game finishes with a black hole shooting out the objects with a message saying “everything’s discovered”. 

Implementing In My Classroom:

When implementing this into my classroom I would start by modeling for students how it works on the board. I would then have them all follow the same combination I did on the board, so they see how it works. From there I would tell them to continue trying combinations. I would let them explore without clear instruction and goals. As students worked, I would walk around listening to what students were saying. The hope is it that students try, fail, and continue to try. I will challenge students to do it without asking me for help and to just try their best. After the class spends 20min trying, we would move on from the game and transition to a reflection then class discussion. 

Goals:

• Growth Mindset
• Perseverance 
• Grit
• Frustration Tolerance

Differentiation/Scaffolding:

• Show students where hints for combinations are (they might find it themselves while exploring)

• List of some combinations
• Provide emotional guidance to help students self regulate, if they reach frustration

• Provide support if they ask

Assessing Students and Learning Goals:

• Written reflection

• Class discussion

• Vocabulary “Assessment”

• perseverance

• frustration tolerance

• strategy

• growth mindset

• fixed mindset

• SEL Exit Ticket

• One challenge I faced today was…

• The strategy I used to keep going was…

• One thing I learned about myself is…

Blog 5: K-12 Digital Platforms

Platform 1: Google Classroom

Overview:

Google Classroom is a widely used learning management system that supports digital workflow in K–12 schools. It enables teachers to distribute assignments, share materials, collect student work, provide feedback, and streamline classroom communication.

User Engagement:

Students access assignments, view feedback, participate in discussions, and collaborate through shared Google tools (Docs, Slides, Sheets). Teachers organize lessons, post notes/assignments, and monitor student progress, while parents receive guardian summaries on missing or upcoming work.

Influence on Communication:

Communication becomes more concise and asynchronous. Announcements and private comments replace frequent verbal reminders. Students who may be shy benefit from online discussion posts however, the tone can be misinterpreted without explicit digital-communication norms.

Information Consumption:

Students engage with multilayered resources: embedded videos, links, and PDFs and shifting learning beyond a single textbook. Search-ability and quick access support independence, but may also lead to superficial engagement if students skim instead of deeply reading.

Google Classroom: Different items teachers can post to relay to students. At the top you can see there is an area for "Grades" and on the left hand side it shows everything can be organized via topic, digital binder.

 

Impact on Learning:

Positive:

• Streamlines feedback and differentiation

• Reduces lost papers and improves organization

• Supports collaboration and accessibility tools

Challenges:

• Students may rely too heavily on notifications rather than intrinsic organization

• Tech issues can widen inequities if device access is uneven

Privacy & Safety:

Google Classroom complies with FERPA and COPPA guidelines, but risks still exist:

• Students can inadvertently share sensitive information

• School-managed accounts must enforce strong privacy settings

• Careful management by schools is essential.

Required Literacies:

• Digital organization — managing files, due dates, notifications

• Communication etiquette — appropriate tone in comments/posts

• Critical information processing — navigating multiple digital sources purposely

Teachers need platform-management skills; parents need basic digital monitoring and awareness of classroom expectations.

Facilitating Online Discussions in Google Classroom

Reflection:

Google Classroom has a strong impact on K–12 education by organizing learning in a central, accessible space that supports goals like collaboration, digital literacy, and student independence. It helps streamline assignments, feedback, and communication, making it easier for students to stay organized and for teachers to differentiate instruction.

Educators can use Google Classroom effectively by posting clear instructions, using multimedia resources, and giving timely feedback through comments and rubrics. When used intentionally, it enhances formative assessment, supports student engagement, and provides flexible ways for students to participate. Teachers have to be able to adapt quickly “when they face obstacles, they don’t wait for innovations-from-above to drop from the sky; they devise creative workarounds themselves”(Nichols, 2021). When challenges arise teachers work to come up with a solution on the spot. They don’t wait for someone to come with answers. Teachers and students work together to be resilient. Using Google Classroom provides ways for organization for students and clear communication with students, parents, and teachers. Parents play an important role by reviewing guardian summaries, encouraging responsible technology use, and helping their child manage deadlines. Their involvement strengthens the home–school connection and helps students stay on track.

Platform 2: iReady

Overview:

iReady is an adaptive online instructional program used in K–12 settings to assess students’ reading and math levels and provide individualized learning paths. It includes diagnostic assessments, interactive lessons, progress monitoring tools, and teacher dashboards that help guide instructional decisions.

User Engagement:

Students complete adaptive lessons, quizzes, and learning games that respond to their performance in real time. The platform gives immediate feedback, visual progress tracking, and personalized lesson playlists. Teachers use iReady to review diagnostic data, analyze growth trends, assign targeted lessons, and monitor student performance. Parents access reports (when schools provide them) showing their child’s strengths, areas of need, and time-on-task.

Influence on Communication:

Communication becomes more data-driven. Teacher–student conversations often reference lesson scores, growth goals, and need for reteaching. Students receive quick automated feedback from the platform, which can reduce the amount of direct verbal feedback they expect from teachers. Parents may rely heavily on digestible data summaries instead of full explanations of student learning needs, which can oversimplify the complex learning gaps.

Information Consumption:

Students interact with multimodal content such as animations, audio support, step-by-step walkthroughs, and practice grade level or scaffold lessons that meet their needs. Their “pathway” provides lessons that are adaptive, students consume information at a personalized pace. However, the “gamified” structure may lead students to click quickly through items without deep comprehension if not monitored or supported appropriately. 

iReady Family Report: This has the students scores from the diagnostic with the growth they made every time. It shows where the student is in relation to "on grade level". 

Impact on Learning:

Positive

- Provides individualized instruction aligned to each student’s level

- Offers consistent progress monitoring and growth data

- Supports foundational skill-building through, scaffolded lessons

- Gives teachers insight into specific misconceptions and learning gaps students have

- Provides a student/family report that is simple to understand

Challenges:

• Students may become overly dependent on the hints or the platform’s guidance

• Low persistence or frustration tolerance can hinder progress in adaptive lessons

• Too much time on screen can limit opportunities for hands-on math or reading instruction

• Some students “game the system” by guessing quickly to shorten lessons or toggle the screen to make it seem like they are working

iReady Dashboard: My Path Lessons with the students stats on the right hand side

Privacy & Safety:

iReady follows FERPA and COPPA guidelines. Still, because it collects detailed learning data, there are considerations:

• Sensitive academic data must be handled carefully by districts

• Students sometimes use shared devices–desktops, increasing the risk of unauthorized access

Required Literacies:

• Data literacy: Students and parents must interpret performance levels, lesson scores, and growth measures

• Self-regulation: Managing frustration, pacing, and persistence in adaptive lessons

• Digital navigation: Understanding how to access lessons, view feedback, and track progress

• Instructional data analysis (teachers): Interpreting the diagnostics, setting goals for themselves and the students, and planning targeted instruction

• Awareness of expectations (parents): Monitoring their child's time-on-task, encouraging appropriate use by their child, and understanding family reports

Reflection:

iReady significantly shapes K–12 education by providing personalized, data-driven instruction that aligns with goals such as differentiation, progress monitoring, and targeted skill development. Its adaptive lessons help students work at their own level while giving teachers clear insight into strengths and areas of need.

Educators can use iReady effectively by analyzing diagnostic data, assigning targeted lessons, and using the platform’s reports to guide small-group instruction. It’s important when “integrating social media in the curriculum needs to be intentional … teachers often lack training in utilizing digital resources … It is important that teachers are trained in digital tools” (Ledgerwood, 2022). When paired with classroom teaching and not used in isolation, iReady can deepen understanding and support meaningful growth. I have gone through at least 3 training sessions on iReady since last October. I feel well informed on how to implement it and best practice with it. When it comes to families, I was asked by my building principal to give an information session about iReady, reading the family report, and taking questions to help families have a good understanding of it. Parents support engagement by monitoring time-on-task, encouraging persistence during challenging lessons, and reviewing progress reports. Their involvement helps students stay motivated and ensures iReady use is consistent and purposeful.

Resources

Google. (n.d.). About classroom - classroom help. Google. https://support.google.com/edu/classroom/answer/6020279?hl=en Resources

Ready Central Resources: What is I-ready?. iReady. (n.d.). https://i-readycentral.com/

familycenter/what-is-i-ready/ 

Ledgerwood, K. (2022, July 31). Using social media to promote 21st-century learning. Technology and the Curriculum: Summer 2022. https://pressbooks.pub/techcurr20221/

chapter/using-social-media-to-promote-21st-century-learning/ 

Nichols, T. P. (2021). Innovation from Below: Infrastructure,   Design, and Equity in Literacy Classroom Makerspaces . In Special Issues, Volume 1: Critical Media Literacy : Bringing Lives to Texts (pp. 144–173). essay, National Council of Teachers of English.

Blog Post 4: Conducting Research on New Literacies Annotated Bib

A topic that interests me the most incorporates what students use a lot from day to day, social media and texting. My interest in this topic comes from working with middle school students and seeing firsthand how much of their social world now takes place in group chats. Conflicts, friendships, misunderstandings, inside jokes, and even academic collaboration often begin in digital spaces before they show up in the classroom. I’ve noticed that students make choices about tone, word choice, and humor. They are doing so without much guidance as well. For many students, their friendships and identities are shaped more through iMessage, Discord, or Snapchat rather than in face-to-face conversations. Adults often dismiss these conversations as trivial or disruptive, but to students, they are meaningful and emotionally significant. Personally, I find my colleagues and I doing the same thing. 

Understanding how students use language in group chats can help educators support both academic literacy and social emotional development. I want to better understand how these group chat interactions shape students’ social and emotional development, and how educators can support students in learning to communicate and navigate relationships in healthy, thoughtful ways online. Students use these digital means of communication and literacy in positive ways, but there are times I wish we had a class that addressed digital citizenship. These ways of communicating aren’t going away as much as I find educators and adults saying what happened to calling people or talking face to face. I want to explore how group chats can be understood as learning environments as an educator, and how to support students in building healthy online communication skills.

Ouellette, G., & Michaud, M. (2016). Generation text: Relations among undergraduates’ use of text messaging, textese, and language and literacy skills. Reading and Writing, 29(3), 499–521. https://doi-org.sunyempire.idm.oclc.org/10.1037/cbs0000046

Ouellette and Michaud (2016) investigated the relationship between college students’ frequency of texting, their use of “textese” (abbreviated or nonstandard texting language), and their overall literacy skills. The researchers found that frequent texting and the use of textese were not associated with weaker language skills. In some cases, use of textese even correlated with stronger phonological awareness, because students who creatively manipulated language showed an understanding of sound–symbol relationships. Rather than demonstrating linguistic decline, texting appeared to function as a parallel mode of communication with its own rules and structures. The study argues that digital communication practices can coexist with, and may even support, literacy development.

Semingson, P. (2017). Digital Literacies for Young Readers and Writers .Literacy Today, 35(3), 30-31. https://sunyempire.idm.oclc.org/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Ftrade-journals%2Fdigital-literacies-young-readers-writers%2Fdocview%2F1966005551%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D8067

Semingson (2017) emphasizes that in today’s digital-rich environment, young readers and writers engage with varied literacies beyond print — including video, blogs, games, and social media. She argues that educators should build classroom practices that acknowledge and integrate these new literacies by providing opportunities to “read, write, view, and represent” in digital formats. Semingson suggests that by doing so, teachers not only make learning relevant but also help students develop critical skills to navigate multimodal texts and the digital communication landscape.

Vanek , J. (2019). Digital Literacy . The Skills That Matter in Adult Education. https://www.air.org/sites/default/files/TSTMDigitalLiteracyBrief-508.pdf

In this brief article, Vanek defines digital literacy as the set of skills needed to “find, evaluate, organize, create, and communicate information” using technology and including digital citizenship (2019). Vanek also discusses why digital literacy is important in education and how to implement it: integrate digital literacy into instruction rather than teaching it separately, provide scaffolded tasks for students, make sure students have access and understand relevance, and teach the vocabulary of digital skills (2019). When students communicate through text, incorporating these skills is relevant and important. The article gives a strong definition and taxonomy of digital literacy and how it can adapt this taxonomy to group chats and digital communication among middle schoolers (ex. tone, group norms, conflicts, and identity).

Wray, D. (2015). An exploration of the views of teachers concerning the effects of texting on children’s literacy development. Journal of Information Technology Education: Research, 14, 271–282. https://doi.org/10.28945/2272 

Wray conducted a study exploring teachers’ perceptions of how texting influences children’s literacy development (2015). Many teachers in the study expressed concern that text messaging encourages informal spelling, abbreviated language, and reduced attention to grammatical conventions. However, Wray also found that these concerns were often based on assumptions rather than evidence: teachers acknowledged that students could switch between texting language and standard academic English when required (2015). There were 7 overall themes that they found through the study. The study suggested that texting represents a distinct register rather than a sign of declining literacy. Wray concludes that educators need a more nuanced understanding of how young people use language across different contexts and modalities (2015). Students are capable of code-switching between informal and formal language. Digital writing doesn’t necessarily harm literacy, but it adds another layer of literacy practice.

Zebroff, D., & Kaufman, D. (2016). Texting, reading, and other daily habits associated with adolescents’ literacy levels. Education and Information Technologies, 22(5), 2197–2216. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-016-9544-3 

In this correlational quantitative study, Zebroff & Kaufman (2017) examined a large sample of adolescents to explore their habits with texting and reading and if they were associated with literacy outcomes (such as word decoding and reading comprehension). The key findings were the number of text messages sent were not significantly a negative impact on literacy levels, there were cases where more texting had a correlation with a higher reading comprehension, time spent talking on the phone showed a slightly negative correlation with word decoding, but the effect size was small, reading traditional print has a stronger positive link with literacy practices and skills, and that there is a family/socioeconomic status impact on literacy skills (2017). Texting is not clearly harmful to adolescent literacy, and may even be positively related to certain reading skills; the bigger picture is more complex than the “texting ruins writing” narrative.