Looking Back and Moving Forward

As I reflect on the past 8 weeks and the learning theories studied in the course, I feel that as educators in creating a differentiated classroom we should be careful to include activities that meet a range of theories. As I began the course, I had strong leanings towards the constructionist viewpoints and I held strong desires to have my students make connections to what they are learning. I still feel that is an important aspect of my curriculum and that is an important part of my instruction in my Social Studies classroom. Yet, I feel that I am leaning more towards the social constructionist theories when I integrate the technology in the classroom. So many of the technology tools that we have studied lend themselves to collaboration and students working together, that I am excited to see new ways of teaching the content in my classroom. Perhaps, the best classroom environment is a mixture of the theories so that the best aspects of each theory can help students learn to their maximum potential.

I think the most immediate shift that I plan to incorporate in my classroom is to turn my technology focus from using technology as an instructional tool and to begin using it as a learning tool. I have used a lot of PowerPoint presentations in my classroom and I realize now that the notes delivered by PowerPoint are not any more interactive than the old transparency on the overhead. I do already incorporate video clips and images but I plan to revise my presentations to be more interactive and less scripted so students are more focused on the information than on copying down what is on the slide. Also, I am looking to incorporate more web quests, where students are doing more web based inquiry activities collaboratively in order to acquire the information. The other means of technology that I think will most benefit my students is the use of the Voice Thread technology. I used it in my lesson plan and I am looking forward to how I can use it most effectively in my next unit of study. We are planning to start a class blog (I was waiting on permission) and I think the Voice Thread technology will be an excellent addition to the process. This will truly allow students to work together and collaborate. Additionally, the multiple options for the technology will allow students to record, type or even draw on the image to aid in understanding.

I would like to make a few changes to my instructional strategy and I know that change will not always be easy but is very necessary in order to prepare my students for their future lives. First, I would like to change to have my students be more independent learners, that they are able to problem solve, find the answers (even if they are not right before them in the book), and to come up with new solutions to issues that we discuss. I would like for students to be able to integrate and know what technology tool will help them find the information that they need most effectively and how to evaluate the quality of the information that they have located. In order to accomplish this goal, I will actually have to give up some control in my classroom. I have always been so concerned about the quality of information, that I am never comfortable with students doing inquiry (because I worry about if they find the wrong answer or incorrect information) and I am always pushed by our instructional calendar that requires us to reach certain topics by certain dates. I cannot control the calendar but I am going to modify how the students are responsible for information. This may not happen overnight but I plan to work consistently and pervasively at this so that my students become more self sufficient.

My second long term goal would be to create a 21st century learning environment, I do not have access to a smart board or Mimeo board in my classroom. I can access laptops/computer labs sometimes when needed but they are a shared resource. I would like to acquire a Mimeo board and/or an Interwrite tablet for my classroom. I would also like to be able to access a set of classroom response clickers (like those from Einstruction) that would allow me to do more assessments of student knowledge during class time. I think that students would be more engaged with these forms of technology and would be more involved in the learning process. I think that these interactive technology tools would help my students become the more independent learners that I desire to develop. I plan to try and see what funding sources I might be able to gain access to, in order to fund these purchases, such as grants from various organizations, PTA, or school funds. My hope would be to have increased the level of technology tools in my classroom by the beginning of the next school year.

Intergrating Technology Lesson plan

Here's my Voice Thread for my lesson plan activity. Students would work collabratively in groups to benefit from the social constructionist theory as they build comments to the pictures in the Voice Thread. Let me know what you think.

Social Learning or Really Learning

Middle School students are inherently social in their activities. I think there are very few times when middle school students would not try and complete an activity in class in a social manner. I know that most of my students work better and more efficiently if they are allowed to communicate while doing so. That being said, it is very important that the activity be structured so that students are able to utilize the learning time to learn effectively the material that is being discussed. I can plan a great webquest or a wonderful collabrative activity but if students are not grouped appropriately, if expectations are not clearly set for the students, if the activity is not monitored appropriately then students will not benefit from the learning experience. Dr. Michael Orey discussed that, "New technology forces the 21st century learner to process and apply information in a very different way and at a very different pace from any other time in history. As a result, the span of time between learning something new, being able to apply it, and finding that it is outdated and no longer useful continues to decrease." (Orey, 2001) So students will need to focus more on being able to apply the knowledge than being able to remember facts and dates, application of knowledge in real life situations will be key to student success in future employment. Therefore, we need to prepare students with "real life" application problems in our classrooms today to help them prepare (Pitner, et.al, 2007).

I feel that it is important for students to learn socially, I think that we are increasingly living in a society that is socially connnected. Students are connecting with other students on social networking sites for personal reasons, I see no reason why they would not be enthusiastic about having an opportunity to connect with others for academic reasons as well. In Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works, students are encouraged to work with other students to develop the skills in collabrative groups which will benefit them in the future with jobs (Pitner, et.al., 2007). I would like to explore more of the simulation games and activities with my students and to figure out an effective way to incorporate those in my classroom. I know my students play those types of games for social purposes, I would like to see them becoming that engaged in a game for an educational purpose. I think that more and more jobs in the future will require employees to interact with people that they may never meet physically, I think we need to give students the skills to learn how to do these things now, so that they are prepared in the future.

Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Main_Page

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Figuring out VoiceThread

This week I have created a VoiceThread account and I have created a voice thread to ask for suggestions on the best way to help my students understand the continuing conflict between Israel and surrounding lands.

What suggestions might you offer for students to understand the sources of conflict in the region of Southwest Asia?

Check out my VoiceThread and comment
voicethread.com/share/785864/

Constructing with Technology

Technology has opened so many doors to the world that classrooms never had before. Students are able to access more information at a faster pace than ever before. They can also eliminate the long process of gathering data which might contain errors as discussed in Using Technology in Classroom Instruction that works (Pitler, et al., 2007) so that they have more time for "generating and testing hypotheses" instead of looking for the information. I see technology as supporting the constructionist theory because they when they are able to do that they are "engaging in complex metal processes, applying content knowledge like facts and vocabulary, and enhancing thier overall understanding of the content" (Pitler,et al., 2007). Students can become more engaged in real life activities and will see more value to their learning as discussed by Dr. Orey (2001). Student learning can take more than one form, "Learning by Design" and "Project-Based Learning" (Orey, 2001).

I can see several aspects of this as having a postive constructionist impact on my students learning. I would like to know more about the online simulations, I just saw a presentation about Muzzy Lane's Making History: The calm and the Storm at the NCSS convention last week. I would like to try some of the simulation games in my class, the "Smog City" would be helpful as my students learn about the Asian Brown Cloud and it's impact on China's cities. At the same NCSS conference I learned about the site www.food-force.com which has students explore the mulitple issues of hunger and the challenges of developing a sustainable food supply. I believe by including these in my classroom my students will gain a deeper understanding and have a more realistic view of these world issues.

I think that having students create a project with a rubric is always a wise idea. That way students and parents clearly know the expectations of the project. I think that can also lead to greater understanding by the student because they know what is expected of them. The discussion of expectations and the teacher as a facilitator are key as well to creating a constructionist environment as discussed by Dr. Orey (2001). I think the more students are involved and engaged the more meaning their learning will have over time and the greater their retention of the content will be ultimately.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Main_Page

Technology can take learning to a new cognitive level

Just a few years ago, the options for projects and learning in the classroom were limited by the resources in the media center at the school. If students were to learn about a country and its culture, they were limited by the book and/or encyclopedia resources that were available in the center for students to use. The Internet and Internet resources have virtually opened the door to the world for all students because information and tools are so readily available to students. These "tools should provide students the ability to actively address meaningful questions and problem solving that are realistic and offer feedback" as discussed by Dr. Orey (2007) in Emerging Perspectives on Learning, Teaching, and Technology and they are readily available to all students. No longer should students be just researching a topic and just repeating the information, instead using technology tools they can translate the information into useable information that goes beyond the lower levels of Bloom's taxonomy. It is very important that students be able to apply what they are learning to real life situations and by using technology they can participate in learning projects that have more relevance to what they are studying. For example, students on my team are about to read A Christmas Carol in Language Arts and they are required to learn about the research process this quarter in class. They could have gone and researched the author or the book but instead by using technology they were able to research a multitude of topics about Victorian England. They transformed that information into a commercial about the Victorian Era and that commercial could be presented as a digital scrapbook page (like a print ad), a movie maker presentation, or a power point show. This used a variety of resources and this was done prior to reading the book. Students had to use the language of Victorian England and this really served as an advance organizer for topics they would be learning in class. As discussed in Using Technology in Classroom Instruction that works (Pitler, et al., 2007), "multimedia is very effective because it helps them both activate prior knowledge and develop a mental model to help them understand new information", using the information that they have researched students created the project and this will assist them in understanding the language and slang used in A Christmas Carol.

One strategy I would like to incorporate more in my classroom to support cognitive theory is the use of the problem/solution frame (Pitler, et al., 2007), we discuss lots of difficult issues in my Social Studies class and I think this would assist my student to look at the information more critically and to propose more possible solutions. Just this week we have been discussing the conflicts between the Israelis and Palestinian Arabs in the Middle East. Students were able to access many primary source documents using the Internet, far more resources than if they had only had access to the textbook. But the questions posed to students was to "think 20 years in the future and what did they see the future of Israel" I would like to introduce the problem/solution frame with students to encourage deeper thought so that they are not satisfied with just one simple answer, but would be looking deeper and for more than one solution.

Currently, I feel that I do incorporate a variety of graphic organizers and various forms of technology to support the cognitive learning needs of my students by providing links to prior learning and real life applications of technology. That being said, I do also feel that there is always the opportunity to include more technology to make the learning more real for students and I look forward to incorporating more in my class in the future. One thing I am moving towards including is to use blogging with my students to give students and opportunity to show deeper understanding of the topics discussed in class and to encourage supportive discussion by other students as well.

Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Main_Page

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

What's so bad about Behaviorism?

Behaviorism has really gotten a negative story in the past few years of collective learning and shared governance of the classroom. Students often feel that they are entitled to the incorrect behavior because it is more fun and/or because they choose to act in an way that gains attention for them. However, in actual practice, positive and negative consequences are part of the process. Dr. Orey discussed in the video that teachers are incorporating behaviorists techniques on a daily basis. As more positive techniques are incorporated in the class, students should continue to desire to work hard and to be motivated because they will be rewarded for their good behavior.

Since I teach in middle school, my students do not have the privilege of deciding which class they should be in the following year. Currently I have several techniques that might be good resources, but middle school students being middle school students, they might react differently to different tasks on different days. I had never thought of utilizing a rubric in which students rate their effort as discussed by Pifler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski, I thought was an excellent way to encourage positive rewards for increased behavior. Since students are making this decision individually, that also means I feel that their decision should also impact their opportunities. This might include but isn't limited to having students research on the computer, to compare their work/effort to their other students in the class. Currently, in another room on my team, there are currently lots of behavior issues in the classroom. Since the negative rewards are not working, to the point that some students have been put on a behavior contract at the school level, this rewards instead for the positive based on the amount of effort that that was put into the day. Students are rewarded for completing the page, not punished, this is one of many examples of evidence that I can submit.

I also thought it was very informative that they included so many different strategies, many of which I would not have considered Behaviorist theories prior to our conversation this afternoon. I will follow up with your child, and will be ensuring that the connections classes have all been informed as well. There is increased pressure (as discussed by my teammate). I do agree the more engaged in the activity, the less likely the students were doing their final activities at the last minute. I also feel that by doing this, we will see continued improvement as the class goes on - starting tomorrow.

Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology

I am looking forward to using this blog again as a discussion tool with class as we explore the topic of Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology. I am looking forward to continuing my experience with Walden University.

Looking back & forward

The first day of opening the syllabus and course overview of, Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society was more than a little overwhelming. I considered myself to be a fairly adept educator at using technology, I use my laptop daily, project PowerPoints, take my students to computer labs. I remember as I read through the description, I saw more and more terms that I had no knowledge of using or knowing how to access many of the activities. As I filled out the self assessment survey at the beginning of the course I found that I had a few often and many more sometimes when I reflected on my use of technology in the classroom. I have gained many valuable skills during the past 8 weeks that will be incredibly beneficial to me in my classroom in the future. I have learned how to create a blog, use a RSS account, create a podcast, and utilize a wiki to work collaboratively in a 21st century classroom.

One item that has made a huge impression on my teaching philosophy and use of technology was an early discussion by Dr. Thornburg (2004) that asked if we are doing different things or doing things differently. I think that caught my attention first because I had considered myself as using technology well in my classroom but when I truly analyzed my activities, I found that most of the activities were really just doing things differently not different things. I continue as this year begins to work on incorporating new technology in my classroom and to focus more on the process of "doing things differently" (Thornburg, 2004). I am looking forward to incorporating more technology based activities where students will need to work collaboratively to solve a problem or create a product that is up to the student to design. Thornburg & Davidson (2008) discussed that we must meet the needs of the digital natives, to involve them in learning that they are able to interact with in the classroom. Students are learning more but are not necessarily needing to memorize all that they learn. This requires a switch of mindset for most educators, including myself, who often feel that students must "know" something and of course our state assessments often require this element so we can not totally neglect it either.

I am interested in using podcasting and blogging in my classroom, not in the next two years, but this year in my classes and to continue to expand to the use of wikis as well. I had a lot of difficulty in getting the blogging portion approved due to restrictions on Internet access and the policies in place in my district. I was just able to get this approved to have a class blog for my class this year as long as I as the teacher control access to only class members, assign user names that are not identifying of the student and I moderate each post and approve all comments before they are published. I have started the process of implementing this by explaining the process on my syllabus (so that parents are expecting it), setting up an account with a classroom blog site and I have began the process of registering my 100 students for this blog. I am really looking forward to the more student centered approach to discussion that this will give my class. My plan is to begin with a weekly discussion question and to gradually expand that to a multiple times a week response to class discussion. I am looking forward to seeing student responses and interaction in a blogging environment.

I am continuing to learn how I can incorporate more technology and about the aspects of Web 2. 0 that are available to students today. I did not know what an RSS feed was at the beginning of this quarter and honestly could not imagine myself creating or using a podcast but I am planning on recording one to post on my homework site next week. I think I will continue to use more technology more effectively. My goals for this year is to utilize technology more effectively and to use the blog for classroom discussion. In the next two years I would also like to be able to use wikis for group collaboration but that will be harder to accomplish as every address that I have tried thus far that links to a wiki has been blocked by a system filter. The blog was complicated enough to get approved (multiple steps were necessary) I do not know if I will be able to achieve the wiki this year (maybe next year). I think both the blogging & podcasting that I plan on doing (we are going to do "radio show" with call in clients for different religions) and the class discussion will give my students more exposure to 21st century technology and the ways to use the technology correctly. When I am able to access the wikis that will give students the opportunity to work collaboratively and to create a finished product that is cohesive and incorporates the work of multiple thinkers and perspectives.

I truly have learned so much this quarter, I have grown from being overwhelmed at the beginning of the course to becoming closer to a 21st century educator. As a 21st century educator I am now prepared to assist students in gaining the skills and knowledge they will need to be successful not only in my class but in the workplaces of the future. I look forward to continuing to learn and grow as an educator. It is essential that we gain knowledge or we will be even more out of touch than our students imagine us to be already.


References
Thornburg, D. (2004). Technolgy and Education: Expectation, not options. (Executive
Briefing No. 401) Retrieved from http://www.tcpdpodcast.org/briefings/expectations.pdf

Thornburg, D. & Davidson, H. (2008). Digital natives vs. digital immigrants, letters to the
editor. [Letter to the editor]. OnCue, 30(2), 8-9.

Inside Scoop: Middle School students' view of technology

To find out how middle school students feel about technology in today's society, I prepared a survey of questions and distributed them to the 12 students in a summer school class who had returned a permission slip. I then interviewed the students and asked them four questions:
What is your favorite thing to do with technology?
How do you most often use technology in school?
How would you like to use technology in school?
How do you think technology will change in the future (by the time you get to high school)?

Students overwhelmingly are digital natives and are very comfortable with a variety of technology tools but we are not meeting those needs in the classrooms as most mentioned doing research or PowerPoint's with technology.

Here is a summary of my discussion with the middle school students.
http://www.podcastmachine.com/podcasts/1486/episodes/6921

Let me know what you think.

Putting it all together

In reviewing the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, I am amazed at all the groundwork that has been put in place and the research that has been involved in developing this partnership. I am a bit overwhelmed at how far we need to go to achieve our goals and to prepare our students for the new times that are rapidly approaching and are in fact already here. I really enjoyed the graphic that was a bridge with the outer circles of professional development and learning environments holding up the Core Subjects and 21st century themes which are supporting life and career skill, learning and innovation skills, and information, media & technology skills. I think that the diagram helps to bring all the aspects of the program together.

I thought it was interesting as the partnership identified the 6 elements of a 21st century education that the first focus was on core subjects, I thought it was meaningful as well that they focus on incorporating basic skills and 21st century skills and that they are not to be taught in isolation. I think that is more and more important as we proceed into this increasingly interactive world we are living in.

As we proceed into this 21st century world, we need to as educators be including the skills that our students need not because we just think they are a "good idea" but because they are a requirement. Miners & Pascopella (2007) discussed that students are "spending 27 hours a week online at home, compared to an average of 15 minutes per week at school." We must teach the skills not in isolation if they are to be used effectively and that is where the Partnership for 21st century skills is so important. By having an interactive framework to develop this strategies between business (employers) and schools (educators) then we will be able to make progress towards our goal of helping students have the critical skills they need to succeed in our rapidly changing world.

The implications of this are clear for me as an educator, we can not and must not disregard all that we already do... the basic skills, core curriculum are necessary for our students but we must do much more than just teach the content. We have to help our students become literate in so many areas of information literacy. They must be able to access information that they need (especially if we are no longer requiring them to memorize it), they must understand how to process that information critically, so that they are not believing things that are not real, and they must learn how to create something new and not just wait for the information/project to be handed to them on a silver platter. Students are going to need to be more outgoing and more involved in their classes, less sitting and getting information and more discovery based learning. Of course, this should not be a huge surprise to educators, I have always enjoyed a class more when I interacted with the materials than when I was forced to just "sit and get" information. If we can involve our students more and more we are hopefully going to have better and better results with our students. This will take a long time and require a lot of commitment of time and resources in order to be done effectively.

Using blogs to enhance learning in the classroom

Using a blog effectively in the classroom will allow students to learn to use a critical piece of technology that they will need in the future. One of the goals at my school is to create life long learners and using technology is definitely the wave of the future. I have not previously used a blog in my classroom and I considered two ways that I might utilize one in my classroom.

One way that I might see that one could use a blog in the classroom is as a scribe blog where one student blogs about the experiences of the class, what material was discussed in class, what the assignment / activity consisted of that day, what needs to be reviewed and/or completed at home and then other students could comment if they had questions, needed clarification, or felt that more information needed to be provided. I teach in a middle school and I currently am teaching a 7th grade Gifted Social Studies class. I do currently use a homework website where I post a summary of my class each day and post assignments and attachments for the class. The difference in using the scribe blog is that the responsibility would rotate among the students and they would have responsibility for the content. The advantage of this would also be found in the fact that parents would be better able to see what was going on in class each day and would have an additional source of information about what is being learned in class. This is particularly relevant for my class because I use the textbook very infrequently because most of what I teach is not in our textbook.

Since I am just beginning to explore the ways to best utilize blogs in the classroom, I think I would also be interested in using a blog to explore learning opportunities for students to hold class discussions about a common topic. I would post a weekly discussion question on Monday that either reinforced a concept from the previous week or one that would be discussed in class that week and would have students post a response. I think that this would improve writing skills as well and would help students realize that what they are writing is important. Students would also need to post responses to the other students in the class so that they receive feedback on their posts. This would be beneficial to students as well because we have several objectives that repeat for different units of study and would need to be applied to various regions of the world. These discussion posts would give students an opportunity to compare and contrast regions of the world and to get feedback from more than just their table which should lead to better understanding of the topic.

The one stumbling block that I have in utilizing this technology is the limiting number of computers in my classroom (1) and the limited number of labs/laptop carts in my school. I do think I could work around this by setting up certain response days in class. I would also need to find out more about the limits and filters placed on the Internet access at school as not all of my students have Internet access from home. I will have to explore more my school system's policies on using blogging in the classroom as well.

Welcome to my blogging adventure!

I am a seventh grade teacher of Social Studies in metro Atlanta. I have just completed my tenth year of teaching and I am working on my Masters in Education degree from Walden University. I am learning a great deal about intergrating technology in the classroom and I am looking forward to communicating with fellow educators about technology and Social Studies using this new format.