Post date: Nov 28, 2010 10:2:12 PM
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxoaXRwb3J0Zm9saW98Z3g6MzA4NTUxYzliZDMzN2E1
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From English teacher wiki:
Use this page to post and explore educational theories relevant to technology integration. Be sure to include links when possible.
"People attribute success to different sources: to their own innate abilities, to the assistance of others, to luck, and to effort. Of these possible attributions, the fourth, effort, is the wisest choice for someone who intends to achieve success or maintain it, as it is the only one within an individual's control" (Pitler et al., 2007, p. 155). We NBHS English teachers need to focus on the instructional strategy of reinforcing effort to ensure that all of our students understand that trying leads to good grades.
Technology makes it easy for students to track their progress on a spreadsheet. The first step is to create an effort rubric for students to use to grade their effort. Good categories to include are Class Notes, Attention, Participation, Homework, and Studying (Pitler et al., 2007, p. 156). Have students create a spreadsheet with the same categories, covering a three or six week grading period. At the end of each week, have students rate their effort on the spreadsheet. They will fill in the last row of each week with their actual grade. After a few weeks, students will be able to see that as their effort grades improve, so do their class grades. To make it even more accessible, have students turn their data into a bar graph or line chart that graphs progress.
We can also use the survey technology discussed below to teach students about the correlation between effort and success. "When students have well-known or personal stories from which to learn, effort is reinforced, and students begin to take responsibility for their own success" (Pitler et al., 2007, p. 161). One school uses SurveyMonkey to "collect anonymous effort data and stories from the school's juniors and seniors in the National Honor Society." The survey data is then shared "with incoming freshmen to show them the ways in which students like them have overcome difficulties and achieved with strong effort and good attitude" (162).
With a little effort and technology, we can really show our students that they control their future, and that is powerful.
Click here to see examples of effort rubrics.
Click here to create a survey for free.
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
From e-mail from department head 12/10/09: The District Technology Committee is compiling information to help in long-range tech planning. Could you respond to the following questions by Monday, December 14th? Your answers can be lists, instructional needs, or brief notes/observations. This will help to determine the true needs here on our campus. Thanks for your input!!
1. Please list three instructional areas of improvement that correlate to your Campus Improvement Plan and can be enhanced by using technology and or technology integration:
“Gaps among economically disadvantaged, white and all students on TAKS performance”
“Identify and recruit more first time college bound students into advanced classes”
“Offer a variety of interventions to support all learners throughout the day and after school” (“Campus Improvement Plan, 2009)
To increase student interest in post-secondary education for non-traditional college students, the lessons taught in pre-AP and AP courses must tie in with students’ current lives. The best way to do this is with the use of technology. They can work on real projects that make a real impact, with experts from all over the world, if only they have access to the Internet.
We need to work with community members to ensure that all students have access to technology. This means getting at-home broadband access for those families who can’t afford it.
Until teachers feel comfortable letting students use technology, it doesn’t matter how many computers we have at school, because they won’t be used properly. We need ongoing, just-in-time (as opposed to just-in-case) technology training (Solomon & Schrum, 2007, pg. 100)
Here a link to some resources on Universal Design Learning
2. Please describe two areas of concern at your campus where there is little or no technology support in the areas of Hardware, Software, Technology Integration, and infrastructure.
There is no real-time support for anything. Part of the reason that teacher are so hesitant to integrate technology is that if it doesn’t work, they are left with nothing for their classes to do.
There are not enough computers on campus. You can’t let the students truly discover, then construct knowledge using technology, because of the constant knowledge that “we only have the lab for x more days.”
Here are some links
3. From your campus point of view what would you like technology to look like three years down the road?
Students are in charge of their own education, and teachers provide guidance, context and support. We connect.
Every student has their own laptop computer with broadband Internet access from anywhere (school and home). Only with 1:1 access will we truly be preparing our students for the 21st century. Two working examples:
One project can be worked on for credit in several classes. Here is a cool example: http://www.edutopia.org/collaboration-age-technology-blood-bank-video
No more spending money on expensive software and data servers. Web 2.0 makes it possible for students to house projects on the Internet and lets multiple students access a single document from anywhere (instead of having several versions of the same thing, locked away on the district’s server).
Some things I have done with web 2.0:
http://sites.google.com/site/romeoandjulietthemes/home (with two partners)
http://nbhsenglishteachers.wikispaces.com/Exploring+Teaching+with+Technology (this site was created for a hypothetical group of teachers, but the content is accurate)
http://www.nbisd-tx.net/education/staff/staff.php?sectionid=104& (teacher site)
http://www.nbisd-tx.net/education/club/club.php?sectionid=729& (NBHS yearbook site)
http://animoto.com/play/UPNpdzH2vyraevbjr0F78A?utm_source=project_complete_email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=project_complete_email&utm_content=main (a digital holiday card that I will be sending to my students’ parents, this also has uses for students to put music to presentations they have created, like making a music video that goes along with the theme of a song)
Google docs
Free online versions of Word, PowerPoint and Excel
Can be edited by creator and anyone granted permission
Google sites
Make a nice website with several creators or just one
It’s how we made our Romeo and Juliet project above
TeacherTube
YouTube for educators/students
Animoto
Make videos set to music. Get an all-access educator account that you can share with your students for free.
Some explanation of some basic Web 2.0 tools:
http://www.teachertube.com/members/viewVideo.php?video_id=4339&title=Wikis_in_Plain_English (login: nbhsjournsliam, unicorn)
http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=140530&title=Google_Docs_in_Plain_English&ref=Nbhsjournalism (login: nbhsjournsliam, unicorn)
If you come by my room, I will show you some great things my students have done using web 2.0 tools.
References
Campus impreovement plan new braunfels isd: new braunfels high school. (2009, September 12). Retrieved fromhttp://newbraunfels.tx.schoolwebpages.com/education/sctemp/ea70b6c6bd6f5c8e3718acb07dfcd214/1260638883/08_09CIP.pdf
Solomon, G. & Schrum, L. (2007). Web 2.0: New tools, New schools. Eugene, OR: Internatinal Society for Technology in Education, 99-116.
"Certain instructional techniques are very effective in supporting students as they learn to recognize patterns; other techniques are better suited to supporting students as they learn strategic skills or as the build engagement with learning. We can accomodate diverse learners by using a repertiore of teaching strategies suited to each of the brain networks" (Rose & Meyer, n.p. 2002).
The three brain networks are recognition (recognizing patterns), strategic (creating patterns), and affective (student's emotional involvement with a lesson) (D. Rose, CAST, 2009).
In order to maximize instruction, the affective network must be supported. We do this by offering "choices of content and tools," "adjustable levels of challenge," "choices of rewards," and "choices of learning context" (Rose & Meyer, 2002). Technology makes this possible.
I just learned about a free, web-based video-making program called Animoto. I will be using it, along with some other programs, to "expand my offering of content and tools" (Rose & Meyer, n.p., 2002). I have often incorporated a project called "Your Romeo and Juliet Soundtrack" (R+J Soundtrack.pdf) when teaching "Romeo and Juliet." Students are responsible for creating their own version of Romeo and Juliet and scoring what they feel are the most important scenes. In the past, they have just listed and provided rationale for the songs. This year, they will be expected to create a music video for one of the songs. I will provide "multiple pathways for achieving their goals" (Rose & Meyer, n.p., 2002) by letting students choose the way they create the video. They can use Animoto, Flickr, PhotoStory, iMovie or anything else they have access to and feel comfortable using.
Click here to learn more about Animoto.
Click here to learn more about Flickr.
Click here to view CAST films on brain research.
Lessonbuilder.cast.org. (nd). The brain research. Retrieved on Nov. 12, 2009 from http://lessonbuilder.cast.org/window.php?src=videos
Rose, D., & Meyer, A. (2002). Teaching every student in the digital age: Universal design for learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Available online at the Center for Applied Special Technology Web site. Chapter 6. Retrieved on Nov. 12, 2009, from http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/
“UDL mirrors the universal design movement in architecture and product development. Think of speaker-phones, closed-caption television, and curb cuts, all universally designed to accommodate a wide variety of users, including those with disabilities,” says Anne Meyer of the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST). “The same features that are built in to help those with disabilities benefit everyone,” (2009).
The key is flexibility. Teachers should “set learning objectives that are specific but flexible” and “allow students flexibility in personalizing the learning objectives” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, p. 17-18). Technology can be used to create this flexibility.
One way is through data collection via an online survey. I used Survey Monkey, a free and user-friendly online survey creator, to help students assess their own work. I turned the rubric into a series of questions for student groups to answer about the product of their Greek Mythology Web Quest. (They had designed the product and the mode of sharing.) A sample question:
Does your project include a picture of your product?
Yes, it has the logo, a reference to the Greek character, and it looks great.
Yes, but it doesn't have a reference to the Greek character.
Yes, but it looks like I drew it in under 60 seconds.
No.
Students answered approximately 20 questions of this nature. The final page explained the significance of their answers, then gave instructions on how to proceed:
Mostly A's means you are on the right track.
Mostly B's means you need to add a little more detail.
Mostly C's means you need to elaborate on and rework your project.
Mostly D's means you need to do your project.
Go back to the WebQuest, and make your project better. Keep working until you run out of time or have all A's on both quizzes.
Survey Monkey aggregates the student responses into usable data.
Teachers can view all group responses as a bar graph.
link to final reflection powerpoint:
Or view individual group results.
I used this information to guide a mini-lesson on widely deficient areas and to guide discussion with individual groups. The individual group results from Brittany and Diana (shown above) showed that these students did not have a handle on their product, and that only one of them felt she knew what was going on. I was able to ask them specific questions when I met with them in class, determine the cause of the misunderstanding (an extended absence), and help them plan logical next steps to improve their product.
Creating the survey took some time, but it also saved time, because I did not have to run copies, and aggregated results were available at the click of a mouse. The survey helped all students assess their own progress in a way that was friendly to learners with varying abilities.
Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works offers another use of the online survey: giving students input into the planning of a unit. In a short “pre-assessment survey,” students in a 7th grade social studies class were given a short essay about the background of a specific battle to be studied, an open-ended question about the essay (to gauge prior knowledge and misconceptions), and a list of five curriculum objectives to choose among. Based on the information gathered in the survey, the teacher chose to cover the objectives “‘explain how the Japanese battle plan progressed and how the Americans reacted’ and ‘explain why the Battle of Leyte Gulf was a major turning point in World War II.’ He’ll address the other objectives in relation to these main two objectives.’” Throughout the unit, he used the open-ended responses about the essay to address specific misconceptions and tie lessons to student prior knowledge (Pitler et al., 2007, p. 27).
We NBHS English teachers should “rethink critical elements in education, like goals, and materials, and methods, and assessments” (R. Jackson, CAST, 2009) and make what we do adhere to UDL standards. If we do it right, it can make our instruction more meaningful for our students and actualize “the opportunities inherent in two great challenges facing today’s educators: the challenge of learner diversity and the challenge of high standards” (Rose & Meyer, 2002). In other words, we can leave no child behind and achieve college readiness.
Click here to see my entire survey.
Click here to view CAST films on UDL.
Lessonbuilder.cast.org. (nd). Universal Design and Universal Design for Learning. Retrieved on Nov. 12, 2009 fromhttp://lessonbuilder.cast.org/window.php?src=videos
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Chapter 1, 15-38.
Rose, D., & Meyer, A. (2002). Teaching every student in the digital age: Universal design for learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Available online at the Center for Applied Special Technology Web site. Chapter 1. Retrieved on Nov. 12, 2009, from http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/
According to the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL), constructivist theory says that "Learning is both an active and reflective process. Learners combine experiences (action) and thought (reflection) to build meaning. Both parts must be present to support the creation of new knowledge" (SEDL, 1999). We English teachers need to provide assignments that not only allow learners to combine experiences and thought, but inspire it. We should use technology-based, student-led projects to meet this need for our students.
If we are successful, increased student learning will not be the only gain. Other parts of our classroom workload can be lightened. For example, in a two year project called Applying Technology to Restructuring and Learning (ATRL) conducted by SEDL, "Most teachers reported that, as a result of technology groupings, overall student behavior improved and discipline problems diminished" (Burns, 2002).
One barrier to student-led technology projects is assessment. Students expect to be graded fairly. Parents expect grades to be rational and supported with a rubric. Administrators expect each grade and its criteria to be documented. Since it would be impossible to create an all-encompassing rubric and impractical to create a discrete rubric for each individual project, I have the student teams create their own. Our process is taken from a practice used in construction: At the beginning of each project, the project manager meets with each subcontractor and clearly defines the work expectations and schedule for that particular job.
Once initial research is conducted and students have planned their projects, we have scope-of-work meetings where student groups define their projects for me (the project manager) and we agree upon a rubric they have created. This system of assessment creation has five major benefits:
It promotes student ownership in the project
It mimics real-life work experience, making it more authentic
It allows projects to support varying performance levels of students
It ensures that there is no misunderstanding about project expectations
It lets learners combine action and reflection to build meaning and "support the creation of new knowledge" (SEDL, 1999), the very definition of constructivism.
Constructivism in action
Click hereto view sample rubrics created by students in my Journalism I class. Log-in information: middle initial: I, last name: Journalism, zip code: 78130, password: unicorn
Click here to view sample constructivist assignments from my Journalism I class. It is the wiki I use for class, so you can see everything we have done for the past two months.
Click here to see a constructivist assignment I used with my English I class.
References
Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, (1999). Learning as a personal event: A brief introduction to constructivism. Retrieved on November 12, 2009 from http://www.sedl.org/pubs/tec26/intro2c.html
Burns, M. (2002). From compliance to commitment: Technology as a catalyst for communities of learning. Phi Delta Kappan, 84(4), 295-303.