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What drives some of the thinking around
What drives some of the thinking around
Technology Integration these days?
Technology Integration these days?
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Self-Organized Learning Environments
Implementation
Elementary
Middle/High School
Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge
TPACK, or Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge, is a model that helps teachers consider how their knowledge domains intersect in order to effectively teach and engage students with technology. Learn more about TPACK and how you can combine your knowledge of content, pedagogy, and technology for innovative teaching and learning.
Substitution, Augmentation, Modification & Redefinition
(D) Bloom's Digital Taxonomy
(D) Bloom's Digital Taxonomy
The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE®) is a nonprofit organization that works with the global education community to accelerate the use of technology to solve tough problems and inspire innovation. Our worldwide network believes in the potential technology holds to transform teaching and learning.
(G) 21st Century Skills
(G) 21st Century Skills
(H) Google EDU
(H) Google EDU
Working to support education through our products, programs, and philanthropy. Use our creative, video-based lessons in the classroom or remotely to prepare students for the jobs of today and tomorrow.
(I) Boost EDU
(I) Boost EDU
BoostEDU is a program that supports teachers in transforming their traditional lessons into 21st-century lessons through an inquiry-based self-assessment and guided lesson design process.
(J) Makerspace Movement
(J) Makerspace Movement
(K) ACTEM
(K) ACTEM
ACTEM is a valued affiliate of ISTE and connects with more than 70 other affiliates to share best practices, increase service to members, and strengthen impact in local education communities.
(L) MLTI - SLAM
(L) MLTI - SLAM
The Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI 2.0) aims to engage with students in a new way through the "MLTI SLAM (Student Leadership Ambassadors of Maine)" initiative, which will provide school-based and student-focused opportunities for teams to grow into leaders of technology integration within their school and state. These events at select schools across Maine will build into the MLTI Student Conference experience in the spring.
The Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI 2.0) aims to engage with students in a new way through the "MLTI SLAM (Student Leadership Ambassadors of Maine)" initiative, which will provide school-based and student-focused opportunities for teams to grow into leaders of technology integration within their school and state. These events at select schools across Maine will build into the MLTI Student Conference experience in the spring.
Learn more about how MLTI SLAM (Student Leadership Ambassadors of Maine) will impact MLTI 2.0.
Learn more about how MLTI SLAM (Student Leadership Ambassadors of Maine) will impact MLTI 2.0.
Students and teachers will learn alongside one another within their schools, modeling lifelong learning and sharing lasting experiences. The "Student Leadership Ambassadors of Maine" initiative is aimed at increasing student agency as digital producers.
Students and teachers will learn alongside one another within their schools, modeling lifelong learning and sharing lasting experiences. The "Student Leadership Ambassadors of Maine" initiative is aimed at increasing student agency as digital producers.
MLTI Schools
MLTI Schools
Host events that inspire innovation and student agency.
Model best practices for other schools.
Build internal capacity through educator and student engagement.
MLTI Educators
MLTI Educators
Guide and develop student groups.
Learn alongside students.
Model lifelong learning skills.
MLTI Students
MLTI Students
Become part of a network of educators and students.
Provide support via live broadcasts.
Build internal capacity within schools.
(M) Maine Common Core Standards
(M) Maine Common Core Standards
Content Standards
The Department of Education maintains State educational standards for Early Learning (Maine Early Learning and Development Standards, MELDS), and for grades PK-12 (Maine Learning Results, MLRs) in English Language Arts, Health Education, Life and Career Ready, Mathematics, Physical Education, Science and Engineering, Social Studies, Visual and Performing Arts, World Languages. <<MDOE Website>>
For questions about standards implementation, please contact Beth Lambert, Director of Innovative Teaching and Learning, at beth.lambert@maine.gov
(N) SkillsUSA Framework
(N) SkillsUSA Framework
(P) Aim for High Ceilings and Low Floors
(P) Aim for High Ceilings and Low Floors
Rather than planning three different tasks for your class, put your energy into one great task with a low floor and a high ceiling. One that’s easy to get started with, but scales for your most interested students. We want tasks with low floors so students can get started without worrying about the task’s complexity.
The Floor
The floor tells us how easy it is to get started with the task. Low floor = simple starting point. Everyone can get on board. A low floor is inviting!
Tic-Tac-Toe has a low floor, while chess has a high floor. Even the youngest kids can start playing Tic-Tac-Toe pretty quickly, whereas I know many college-educated adults who cannot play chess. Its floor appears so high that they just never got going. A high floor is a barrier. It’s intimidating.
The Ceiling
The ceiling is the room for a task to grow. If a student finds something intriguing, how far can they go with it before they bump their head on the ceiling?
Tic-Tac-Toe has a very low ceiling. It’s simple to master. Play someone with any skill and you’ll always end with a tie.
Tic-Tac-Toe has a low floor and a low ceiling — the board game equivalent of a worksheet. Very few people over the age of six want to play Tic-Tac-Toe because there’s no room for exciting strategy and unexpected drama. Low ceilings are boring!
Now, chess has a very high ceiling. You could play chess for 60 years and still be learning. You see retired folks battling it out on a chessboard at the park. They are continuing to explore the game’s nuances. With its high floor and high ceiling, chess is rewarding… as long as you can get past the high floor.
We want a high ceiling. It gives students room to explore an idea before getting bored.
If the floor’s too high, some kids can’t get started. They get frustrated.
But that doesn’t mean we want simple tasks! We must pair that low floor with a high ceiling.
We Can Lower Floors
Here’s where we, the teachers, come in. A skilled teacher can lower the floor of any task. We do this all the time through modeling, guided practice, scaffolding, feedback, and proximity.
If I told you that you had to teach first graders how to play chess, I bet you could figure out a way to make it happen. Heck, my first-grade teacher even ran a chess tournament for us! Lowering the floor is all about scaffolding.
Here’s how you’d scaffold chess so that 5-year-olds can play:
Modeling: you’d show how each piece moves – not just verbally explain it. You’d model many sample turns. You’d give students a chance to watch you play.
Guided Practice: you’d give kids a chance to practice with each other with your input. You won’t jump right into a full game! We’d practice a couple of moves with a partner.
Start Simple: you’d try to reduce the complexity early. Start with simple examples. In the case of chess, there’s no reason you can’t play with just a king, a queen, and a couple of pawns on a smaller board. Then, once the student “gets it,” bring in another piece. Build towards the full set. Build towards a full game.
Proximity and Immediate Feedback: if you give kids a chessboard and then go sit at your desk, they’ll get confused, frustrated, and give up. When you stay close to correct mistakes, give advice, and gently guide the players, the chances for success increase.
A highly complex game like chess can be scaffolded so that any learner can begin playing! Anyone can start! Then we can remove the scaffolds until they eventually play the full game.
We Naturally Scaffold… Outside of School
Parents with zero background in education are good at scaffolding. They don’t invent separate games for their 5yo, their 8yo, and their 12yo. They all do the same activity, just adjusted as necessary.
⚾ Kindergarteners play baseball! We just scaffold it down. Same game, but make the field smaller, the game shorter, add a tee, and so on..
🎳 My 3-year-old can bowl! We just add bumpers and find a smaller ball.
🎻 In 4th grade, I learned the violin. My first instrument was smaller. My instructor added tape so I could finger the notes.
We don’t have to create three entirely different versions of chess or baseball or bowling or the violin. We just scaffold the real thing down as needed – and remove scaffolds as soon as possible.
That last part is key! Scaffolds are designed to be removed.
Low Floor AND High Ceiling
Low Floor AND High Ceiling
Your goal is to develop tasks that all students can get started with but also scale up for students who are ready for more. This is the easiest way to differentiate.
Plan for your highest-ability students first, then figure out how to onboard your other learners.
Why? Because it’s really hard to increase the ceiling on a worksheet! It’s much easier to lower the floor on something complex. You can always scaffold down (this is what teachers are good at!) – but you can’t always raise the ceiling.
So start high and then scaffold down as necessary.
Yes, this means you don’t start with “grade level” standards. Standards are minimum expectations for average kids. You have higher expectations than that, right? RIGHT!?
“More” Doesn’t Cut It
No matter how many times you play Tic-Tac-Toe, it doesn’t raise the ceiling. In fact, it’s one form of hell to be forced to play Tic-Tac-Toe over and over once you’ve mastered it.
More math problems won’t raise the ceiling, nor will another worksheet. Writing vocabulary words ten times isn’t any more complex than writing them one time. It’s just more.
Aiming High Benefits Everyone
When you aim high and scaffold down, it gives everyone an opportunity to go somewhere interesting. You never know who will take advantage of that high ceiling. Kids will surprise you.
When we offer a high ceiling to all of our students, we open the door for unexpected students to go further than we might have expected.
And with High Ceiling, but High Floor (👎): your kids will struggle to even get started.
Really, the simplest way to sum this up is to check: am I asking students to think or merely remember?
What To Look For
(Q) Do Schools Kill Creativity?
(Q) Do Schools Kill Creativity?
(R) Educational Quotes
(R) Educational Quotes
- “If a person will spend one hour a day on the same subject for five years, that person will be an expert on that subject.” ~Earl Nightingale
- “The world is a university and everyone in it is a teacher. Make sure when you wake up in the morning, you go to school.” ~T. D. Jakes
- “Shall I tell you a secret of a true scholar? It is this: Every man I meet is my master in some point, and in that, I learn from him.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.” ~Henry Ford
- “No thief, however skillful, can rob one of knowledge, and that is why knowledge is the best and safest treasure to acquire.” ~L. Frank Baum
- “Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.” ~Helen Keller
- “The difference between school and life? In school, you’re taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson.” ~Tom Bodett
- “The important thing is not to stop questioning; curiosity has its own reason for existing.” ~Albert Einstein
- “Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.” ~Ronald E. Osborn
- “The education of a man is never completed until he dies.” ~Robert E. Lee
- “Turn your wounds into wisdom.” ~Oprah Winfrey
- “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” ~Dr. Seuss
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