Reflection: making it Meaningful

Introduction

It seemed millennia ago, but it was only a recent year from the last millennium, 1991. It was that year that I stood in my classroom surveying the landscape of desks and felt proud. On each desk sat a computer and I thought that I had arrived at near perfection. I believed that now my students were going to be ahead of the game, scores on achievement tests would improve, students’ interest and involvement in class follow the same pattern and our use of technology would cause a stir of excitement amongst parents, other teachers in the school and school board members. This was going to change the classroom forever. We were a small private school and funding did not allow for a lot of extras. The government at that time allowed nonprofit organizations to go to government surplus sights and take away equipment that the government had discarded due to upgrades or overstock. Through this program my room became “enriched” with technological hardware. The reality of it was that it was limited in performance, being surplus it broke down a lot, and though students enjoyed having their own computer at their desk, utilizing them as an instructional tool devolved into a love hate relationship where we loved them when they worked and hated them when they did not. Sometimes they became not much more than a paperweight with a very large footprint. The dream that technology would lead us to greater levels of performance faded as these tools were relegated more and more to word processing and drill and practice. In actuality the experience may have been a detriment to students rather than a help. It was not as useful or meaningful as intended. For this reason, when access to the web became a reality, it was with a bit of reluctance that this teacher began using the newer tools provided by the web. I was not sure that the web experience was going to be anything more than another ordinary tool from the pencil box.
Revelations and Realizations
It was not until the year four or five years ago that our school became networked and the classrooms had full access to the web. What impressed me most then was that the students seemed already so adept at accessing the information on the net. I was, as a matter of fact, more a co-learner than teacher in the endeavor. However I did notice one thing, my students had a tendency to go to a place, find information and copy it down for use. Although I had emphasized using more than one source in writing and research previous to using the web as a resource my students had exhibited satisfaction with the belief that because it was on the web it was legitimate information, an authority as good as any encyclopedia. It was then that I began to realize that although I was interested in using technology, and in many respects I was behind the curve in being comfortable with the using the web. As I worked with my students I found I still had a role to play that would be valuable as a co-learner. Two realizations impressed as I began reflecting on this role. One was that I need to model and utilize both the use of the web and the computer more. “Clearly, a teacher’s level of computer expertise is an influential factor in students’ success with technology.” (Eagleton and Dobler, 2007, page 25). The other realization was that though my students seem very comfortable with using technology tools, they do not always use them well. They do rely on the computer to provided factual information and as previously observed, are quite satisfied that any information found that seems to answer the question is good enough. As their teacher I can take students beyond that first attempt. I can show them that there is more out there to be discovered about they are looking for. There is better information, more sources, more points of view and new ways to discover what it is they are looking for and more ways to share it. My role then is, “to provide support to students as they attempt to make sense of information in an environment that does not foster the construction of understanding but merely provides information.” (Hoffman, Wu, Krajcik, & Soloway, 2003, p.343). This revelation was to me the job description of the teacher of today, supporter and guide, in finding knowledge, and in how to effectively use it for the benefit of self and contribution for the good of community.

Influences on the Future

It is now summer, school is out but as I look forward to the new school year I see the opportunity and the need for my classroom practices to change. The knowledge gained from the resources I have read during the time in spent take this course have fostered a perceived need for a reevaluation of practices and strategies I have used in my classroom. I have come to understand the trend away from the teacher as the fountain from which all knowledge is acquired. I actually look forward to a less teacher centered textbook referenced approach. The textbook will be present in my room because it is required. I find I have exhibited ease an with the feeling that the textbook is a guide at best and will be happy to have it on the shelf as a resource. I can now agree with Dr. Warlik, that in a time where change is rapid a textbook written five years ago may not be reliable and that it may be better to rely on a network that is dynamic and growing. ( Laureate Education Inc. 2009 ). I have used collaborative groups and teacher conferencing for a number of years. I have found, in this course support for the continuance of this practice but will update it so that students are sharing their work through wikis, blogs, podcasts, screen casts and other such offerings the web provides. “At the very minimum, students should present the results of the inquiries to each other, but you will find that students’ levels of effort and the quality of the inquiry will rise dramatically if they are asked to present to another class or set of classes, to their grade-level-peers, to the whole school, to parents, to teachers, to the community, or even to a global audience, via the Web” (Eagleton & Dobler, 2007, page 91). I have found the above to be true even when we were not presenting material produced using media or technology tools available today. Students in my room have always looked forward to hearing and sharing their work. In my room there is a microphone at the front of the room which identifies, “Center Stage”. When that prop is set up students know they are going to be sharing their work up front in two days. I usually read or show something I have written, practiced for performance, or have produced as a model for the students. Students sign up or sometimes are chosen by random draw to share with the class either from assigned projects they are working on or, something from their files they have produced in the past. Knowing the results such performances produce, I am looking forward to distancing classes from the textbook and teacher and featuring more quest and inquiry projects. It will take some adjusting on the part of teacher, but I anticipate more energy and involvement from the students. After watching the video featuring the classes of Vicki Davis, (Bidleman,C. 2009) I have determined to reach further outside the classroom to collaborate with other students elsewhere to make what we do in the classroom more relevant to the students. I do not think that they will mind too much if, “the school is turned upside down, and students become empowered to share more with one another. (Bidleman, C. 2009)

Professional Development and Goals:

I have contemplated and am anticipating a new approach to teaching this fall. If I have one goal that I would like to continue it would be to become more proficient at using the tools of the wiki, screen cast, voice thread and the blog. I understand that is not one goal, it is a list and yet it is part of one desire. I have enjoyed reading and learning from the videos, texts, reference materials of this class. However, I have found the stream of information sometimes to be like drinking out of a fire hose. This admission simply means, I need more experience and practice. With this realization now part of public record I purpose to practice using more of those skills till a level of confident competence is achieved. Put in terms of use in my own classroom, I purpose to practice the use of them so that I can work with my students, knowing the vocabulary of the tool at hand and having the knowledge to cooperatively find the answer we both seek. I am currently laying out the unit plans for the new year. I have determined to use the quest model this year in researching information for our unit topics. In the first quarter I will be instructing the class using a different web / technology tool per section of the chapter to. As the class and teacher become accustomed to the use of these tools the plan will be to let the collaborative groups choose by themselves which tool best serves the communication style they have chosen. This teacher in the meantime, will be practicing, and researching and blogging on his own.

Conclusion

I have used technology in the past as a machine to accomplish the tasks of teacher directed and led class. Technology was used as nothing more than an electronic pencil. I have used the strategy of collaborative groups and found students to be more responsive and involved in that method. I have come to the place where I realize the role of the teacher, my role is changing. My students are already out there using technology twittering, using the cell phone, face book, and Skype at home. As a matter of fact, my class will be using Skype to keep in touch with one of our classmates as he regularly reports in to us. It is skill such as these that we should be making connections to what we teach in class. Dr. Warlike suggests we put those skills to work, “If we bring that into the classroom then we can help them learn to work the information not just play the information. They need us to teach them how to use the information in context that is meaningful to the curriculum and to their future.” ( Laureate Education Inc. 2009 ) To accomplish that in improved and updated practices is my goal.





References

Bidleman, C. (Producer). 2009 Harness Your Students Digital Smarts [DVD]

Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the Web: Strategies for Internet inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press.

Hoffman, J.L.. Wu, H., Krajcik, J.S., & Soloway, E. (2003). The nature of middle school learners’ science content understandings with the use of online resources. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 40(3).

Laureate Education Inc (Producer). 2009 It’s Not About the Technology [DVD]

Final Thoughts, New Beginnings

     With the posting of this blog entry, I have finished a course entitled; “Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education Work and Society.” I must confess I did not find the class at first to be enjoyable. The fault cannot be attributed to the material, or presentation of the material. The fault is mine. The assignments which included participation in a wiki creation, production of a podcast and the blog, upon which you now read these words, were sufficiently frustrating to produce a fair amount of anxiety. Yet, I won’t soon forget the experience of anger, recycled determination, and joy of victory when I was able to complete the tasks successfully. (A lesson I will remember when I use similar projects in class). Oh, I guess I gave myself away. Yes, I will use what I learned, in my own classroom.
Lest I get too far ahead of myself I feel it necessary to confess owning up to the revelation, (through this course), that I am not as “with it” as I once believed myself to be. I do not think I can put myself in the category of “digital native”. Though, I have used collaborative groups and joint projects for quite a few years, used the computer to research, I have not used the technology that I have been instrumental in campaigning for at our school much beyond that of producing a finished research project.. My school has work stations that enable a majority of the students to be on the computer at any time. Classrooms are networked, the whole school is networked and the internet is accessible everywhere in the school either by hardwire or secure wireless access. And yet, until I enrolled in this course, my students used the word processor program, power point program and internet when I chose and directed. It has been hard to let go the reins and see what the students are able to show me, rather than vice versa. Perhaps the hard part was to accept that I am not a digital native. What has been revealed to me is that my students really won’t mind if I tag along on the journey with them. When I shared what I was learning in my class, my students considered it “cool” but asked, “So when are we going to start doing some of that in our class?” I told them, When I learn how.” I was reassured that they would show me how. Right then and there, I knew, nothing was going to be the same.
     Already, some of the regular features of our class are changing. The in room weekly newscast will after this course no longer be taped and played back for listening, it will be recorded digitally on computer and we are working with the school webmaster to turn the recordings into podcasts to put on the school website. She was excited, the students are excited and I? I am surprisingly looking forward to the new application, as a matter of fact, I have decided to let them produce it all and serve as consultant for content matter only. You should have heard the kid’s plans. My role has changed from getting, no pushing them to get involved to helping pare down what they will have time or room for.
      Eight years ago, when I first started to be involved in getting up to date, functioning working equipment into the school and getting it networked as it now is I wanted to take the course, complete the Masters program-technology integration in the classroom. I thought then it would be an area that would someday be a large influence on what we do in the classroom and how we do it. I was displeased I could not then enroll in the course. I am glad now I could not. I am at the place now where 21st century workplace skills demand the utilization, practice and training in the classroom and I feel rather awed that I get to participate in that experience. I still feel a bit unprepared, but I am a bit just too curious and intrigued to stand at the door and not enter.
     So how do I plan to go through the door? Completing more courses, finish the masters program, share with my fellow teachers and try stuff, (even if I don’t know if it will work at my current skill level, frustration and all). In another classroom, as a result of sharing some of what I have been learning in class, another teacher is communicating via the internet with two classrooms during their Wednesday science class. I confess, that is cool and I like being part of it. I mention that because I feel modeled enthusiasm affects students. I know I felt rather proud when I showed my students my blog. They actually congratulated me and I think, felt proud of me too. I plan on riding that wave through the door to the future.
     As for long term goals there are quite a few that I have listed. I have already noted the newscast change, to that I have already put the weekly spelling tests on the server so that students can take their tests by logging on to the server to take their test. This saves me time so that I can be available for other things during our language arts block. Research projects are changing from collaborative groups and Power Point presentations to wikis, podcasts, (hoping to learn more about video podcast). I am planning on implementing wikis this year to replace the traditional internet search and put on paper groups that I usually utilize. In consultation with the webmaster we are laying ground for blogs, wikis and podcasts on the school website where parents can access all of the above for viewing. As mentioned, we’ll start with our audio classroom newscast and add the video as we become more adept at producing copy worthy of posting on the site. All of the above features to be items of regular content within two years. That should give me plenty of time to become proficient and learn from and with the digital native in my classroom. Who knows, I may even appear to be a native myself. As to how to accomplish it? The equipment is in place, the plan? Just do it.

Partnership for 21st Century Skills

   I recently finished a visit to the P21 site. There is a lot of information there, for me, on the side of overwhelming. Having just recently experienced blogging, and constructing my first and only wiki, the idea of using such tools in the classroom is interesting but not yet compelling. I found the time spent on the projects to be more consumptive than efficient. I am studying, but am not convinced that using these methods in my classroom is at present any more efficient. This stand is contrary to proponents P21 supporters, I know.


My students are on computers using the internet every day. We research topics and share findings everyday in some subject. Groups work together and produce graphs for a project from charting progress of groups learning times tables to finding out just what an ecosystem is, what affects their balance, to what comprises a community, population and how global warming affects local and global ecosystems. Collaborative groups have been a feature of my classroom for a long time. Projects rather than textbook assessment have long been an evaluative tool for knowledge comprehension of subject matter. I have been pleased with the results of how we do things. Therein, lies the problem. I am pleased.

The P21 proponents are concerned with the gap in what is learned and what is needed for success in the 21st century. Information literacy, critical thinking, problem solving, communication skills, teamwork / collaboration, information technology skills and leadership. All these skills, skills noted by the likes of Thornburg, Dede and P21 we do in my classroom and without Blogs, and wikis. I have not been able to find the time amongst all the planning for the group discoveries we do to make time for this, to me, new collaborative tool. I know that proponents of P21 skills will probably say time is not an excuse and I would agree. Time is a resource, one that is in my day 6 1/2 hour teaching day limited and endangered by many demands of curriculum, programs and requirements of district and administration. If I am accomplishing creative and innovative thinking, lifelong learning, self direction and teaching social responsibility through the classroom methods I employ already then should I need to employ the tools of wikis, blogs, podcasts etc.? Or do I have to teach technology because everyone else is doing it. Bells and whistles?

The site was well organized and the video message by Ken Kay, President for Partnership for 21st Century Skills urgent and believable. I like the "snapshot" section in the Edutopia links for glimpses of what is being done and can be done in classrooms. I will study these sources as I continue to practice my style of collaborative learning within the confines of my classroom. On the use of newer tools, I will reserve judgment till better versed and rehearsed. Perhaps some of you out there can provide the success stories that will push me over the brink into the pool. Till then, I seem caught on the precipice.

Venturing Out a Wee Bit

Being a novice with this new tool, I think one of the safest ways at this point to use the blog would be to notify parents of the current happenings of the classroom. (Better stick to what I can't mess up to much for a starter.)  For instance, in our reading class, (4th & 5th grade), we currently produce a "radio" program using the senior edition of Weekly Reader.  The articles are assigned to students who check out the full stories, vocabularies, pronunciations, report to the class and we do a walk through and tape the stories for playback. There are announcers, advertisements and such. Later on in the year we do the same with the video camera and then, move on to produce our own in-house series of newscasts which we broadcast to the whole school.  Also, our school is currently participating in shared visits to classrooms to two other states via Skype. These are things that are enjoyed by our students and parents should be should be interested to know about this use of technology. I would be interested in the comments of parents and the expected brag factor I intend to use as a motivator to go to the next step.  As I become more accustomed to blogging, it is my hope that we can develop podcasts and use blogging to communicate with the other students as we are now doing via Skype. Wish us luck!

Hello all. Well, school has started yet again. I however have been slow in starting, there are many leftovers to finish from the summer construction frenzy. Seems my lot to get them done. Still, it is good to be among the fish again. We have some new faces as our enrollment is up. That means more in the school. I am looking forward to using the new classroom configuration and updates to the computer lab to go more places on the internet. In fact, I am taking classes in technology integration in the classroom. I am looking forward to using our capabilities to doing more than just using the technology we have to do the same old thing. I would like to use the technology to discover new, "feeding grounds". Seems we have been feeding at the same spot for quite some time. Though there seems to be food aplenty it is fed in the same way. I'd like to stir up the current a bit, scatter some of the food so we have to search beyond our regular expected places, dig a little more. The food seems the same though the food is delivered in new containers...it is still the same food. Perhaps, if we take the new containers and throw the food further into new areas we'll all discover some new food, excite the taste buds. As is, we swim over the same area year after year, oh, we do mix it up and reverse things and swim the other way once in awhile but, it is the same area even if viewed from the other way. Who knows? Maybe new food, and looking in other nooks and crannies of our feeding ground will give us new energy, new vistas, ...the possibilities are tantalizing...new tastes, different surroundings. I'll let you know how the adventure goes.