Since I have already integrated many web-based technologies into my classroom, I think I had a fairly strong knowledge of how to use and manipulate the tools for my desired outcomes. However, I believe that the process by which I apply and implement the tools has improved greatly, which will hopefully allow me to evaluate the overall change enacted by the tool in a more systematic way as well. One of the main goals I had for the certificate courses was to develop a more systematic approach for seeking out new technology tools, meeting curriculum standards, and improving and extending the learning experience in authentic ways. I also really hoped to gain a better understanding of how to use research to drive technology integration, as well as my own ability to assess how learning was actually improved by using the technology tool. I have made substantial progress towards these goals.
One of the most important things I learned during this course was how to focus my own approach towards technology in order to work towards real change. While I was always a strong believer in using technology to re-create the learning experience (not merely for its own sake), I believe that I have developed a much more straight forward method for applying new technology tools in my classroom. Part of this method is identifying and evaluating the issue first, using research to guide my choice of tool and implementation process, determining how I will assess the change in learning via the tool, and reflecting on future improvements and adjustments. Another key element of effective teaching that I reconsidered during this course is to apply what I already know about effective teaching strategies to technology integration. For example, students learn better when they are engaged in the material, which often times in language arts means having the power to choose reading material of interest. This is often limited when working with traditional textbooks, and I can see how teachers could easily incorporate the same limitations into a technology based lesson where students respond to the same electronic article. However, I believe I have really learned to focus on overcoming traditional limitations. If technology tools allow for more effective teaching strategies to be incorporated into the classroom, it is important for me to be aware of creative opportunities to adjust my own curriculum.
My current goals are focused on actually implementing many of the projects I have created over the course of these classes, as well as additional project ideas I have brainstormed. One of the greatest limitations of taking these courses over the summer was the inability to actually implement the work into my classroom. This required me to make guesses and predictions instead of actually analyzing authentic results. Unfortunately, assessing and analyzing the outcomes of using the tools was one of my main goals, so it will be important that I continue to focus on this goal in the coming months when I am actually able to see the technology projects in action. I hope to carefully evaluate and reflect on each of the new technology components I have created (from StAIR’s to WebQuests) in order to better guide future instruction and my own effectiveness as an educator. While I have many more ambitious goals to follow up with (as outlined in my technology plan), of more immediate concern is to stay focused on assessing real change, no matter how busy or frustrating the upcoming year may prove to be.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Project Evaluation
Approaching Future Projects
One of the most important things I learned was how to develop a purpose for creating new projects. Previously, I always focused attention on using technology to enhance and improve relevant, content based learning that was already taking place in my classroom. However, my approach was that when I found an interesting tool, I would think creatively about how I could apply it. While I think this worked well and the majority of the projects I created were beneficial, this didn’t always mean I was improving the areas of my instruction that were most important or that most needed revision. Instead, I have learned to really evaluate my content and identify a problem or pattern of student work that clearly needs to be targeted and improved. Then, spending time researching and developing a project using a new technology tool is completely worth the time investment because I will know I am aiming to make a serious and important improvement in education, moreso than just improving a unit where students are already finding success.
Lessons Learned
It is important to apply the same methods and strategies of effective teaching when using technology, both in teaching students how to use the tool and in guiding students to use the tool to develop skills. I think revisiting the 7th grade research unit from the beginning helped me to realize where all of the holes were. Specifically, we were assuming far too much on the student’s part, expecting them to use skills and strategies that require far more practice than one or two class periods. This realization allowed me to utilize task analysis—really break down every skill required, how to explicitly teach that skill, and then create opportunities for students to practice and receive feedback on their ability to use each skill. It seemed like this requirement would take far too much time to tackle, especially when there are so many other benchmarks to meet as well. However, that is how this project helped me because I also realized that just as teaching too many tools would be overwhelming it is also irrational to throw too many skills at students and expect them to use them all at once. Therefore, I realized that by spending a small amount of classroom time over a longer period of weeks would allow students to build and develop their skills through the use of the technology tools. Then, by the time we fully dove into the research project the required skills would be honed and students would also have developed strategies to engage with research and informational reading online.
This understanding really forced me to rethink the way I think about lesson planning. Many teachers feel the pressure of having to teach far more content standards than there is ever time to teach. But my two greatest lessons here are first to sort the standards and choose the most important ones to focus on. It is far more beneficial for students to leave a course with a deeper understanding of the most important standards, than to leave with a brief overview of one hundred standards, especially because the skills and strategies required throughout the course of the year (the ability to summarize, analyze, synthesize, evaluate, create, differentiate, conclude etc) can only be truly utilized when an individual has deeply engaged with content matter. My second point is that when approaching genre-based learning, we tend to teach one genre in its entirety before moving on to the next. Instead of viewing our instruction as complete, consecutive, and concise, by allotting small increments of instruction over a longer period of time, students can actually start to build on their skills and are far more likely to transfer and retrieve these skills when necessary. I had never thought of teaching a unit in this way before, but after creating this project I realize that sometimes it is the only way to fully prepare students for what you expect them to do.
Project Revisions for Future Use
I will definitely be using this project again next year, but the biggest thing I will change is the incorporation of blogs. As mentioned previously, I was concerned that overwhelming students with too many tools at once would be counterproductive, so instead I used the commenting tool on the social bookmarking site for students to post their assignments. Looking back, I think this was the best decision to not overwhelm myself as well. The techquest project was implemented over the course of 24 weeks, with the goal of leading students into a 12 week research unit that included a WebQuest based mini-research paper, training in MEL, and an extended and in-depth final research paper. All of these elements are completely new to my classroom, so that alone can be both exciting and horrifying. In addition, I was asked to support implementation of this same project development in two other classrooms. So needless to say, even the incorporation of one more unknown element (blogging) could only add to the uncertainty and necessary training required. Instead, I feel that now I have had the chance to see the projects and units in action and analyze student work, I feel far more confident in implementing this project again next year. As a result, I also feel more comfortable revising the project to include the use of blogging. While I knew from the start that it would be the best way to achieve my desired outcome, I also realize that change takes time, even for ourselves, and scaffolding our own learning is just as useful for us as it is for our students.
One of the most important things I learned was how to develop a purpose for creating new projects. Previously, I always focused attention on using technology to enhance and improve relevant, content based learning that was already taking place in my classroom. However, my approach was that when I found an interesting tool, I would think creatively about how I could apply it. While I think this worked well and the majority of the projects I created were beneficial, this didn’t always mean I was improving the areas of my instruction that were most important or that most needed revision. Instead, I have learned to really evaluate my content and identify a problem or pattern of student work that clearly needs to be targeted and improved. Then, spending time researching and developing a project using a new technology tool is completely worth the time investment because I will know I am aiming to make a serious and important improvement in education, moreso than just improving a unit where students are already finding success.
Lessons Learned
It is important to apply the same methods and strategies of effective teaching when using technology, both in teaching students how to use the tool and in guiding students to use the tool to develop skills. I think revisiting the 7th grade research unit from the beginning helped me to realize where all of the holes were. Specifically, we were assuming far too much on the student’s part, expecting them to use skills and strategies that require far more practice than one or two class periods. This realization allowed me to utilize task analysis—really break down every skill required, how to explicitly teach that skill, and then create opportunities for students to practice and receive feedback on their ability to use each skill. It seemed like this requirement would take far too much time to tackle, especially when there are so many other benchmarks to meet as well. However, that is how this project helped me because I also realized that just as teaching too many tools would be overwhelming it is also irrational to throw too many skills at students and expect them to use them all at once. Therefore, I realized that by spending a small amount of classroom time over a longer period of weeks would allow students to build and develop their skills through the use of the technology tools. Then, by the time we fully dove into the research project the required skills would be honed and students would also have developed strategies to engage with research and informational reading online.
This understanding really forced me to rethink the way I think about lesson planning. Many teachers feel the pressure of having to teach far more content standards than there is ever time to teach. But my two greatest lessons here are first to sort the standards and choose the most important ones to focus on. It is far more beneficial for students to leave a course with a deeper understanding of the most important standards, than to leave with a brief overview of one hundred standards, especially because the skills and strategies required throughout the course of the year (the ability to summarize, analyze, synthesize, evaluate, create, differentiate, conclude etc) can only be truly utilized when an individual has deeply engaged with content matter. My second point is that when approaching genre-based learning, we tend to teach one genre in its entirety before moving on to the next. Instead of viewing our instruction as complete, consecutive, and concise, by allotting small increments of instruction over a longer period of time, students can actually start to build on their skills and are far more likely to transfer and retrieve these skills when necessary. I had never thought of teaching a unit in this way before, but after creating this project I realize that sometimes it is the only way to fully prepare students for what you expect them to do.
Project Revisions for Future Use
I will definitely be using this project again next year, but the biggest thing I will change is the incorporation of blogs. As mentioned previously, I was concerned that overwhelming students with too many tools at once would be counterproductive, so instead I used the commenting tool on the social bookmarking site for students to post their assignments. Looking back, I think this was the best decision to not overwhelm myself as well. The techquest project was implemented over the course of 24 weeks, with the goal of leading students into a 12 week research unit that included a WebQuest based mini-research paper, training in MEL, and an extended and in-depth final research paper. All of these elements are completely new to my classroom, so that alone can be both exciting and horrifying. In addition, I was asked to support implementation of this same project development in two other classrooms. So needless to say, even the incorporation of one more unknown element (blogging) could only add to the uncertainty and necessary training required. Instead, I feel that now I have had the chance to see the projects and units in action and analyze student work, I feel far more confident in implementing this project again next year. As a result, I also feel more comfortable revising the project to include the use of blogging. While I knew from the start that it would be the best way to achieve my desired outcome, I also realize that change takes time, even for ourselves, and scaffolding our own learning is just as useful for us as it is for our students.
Online Teaching Experiences
I was very excited when I read through the list of suggested tools to create online experiences. I realized that students leaving my 7th grade language arts class will already have accumulated the required 20 hours of online learning based on the projects and tools they will be using in my class alone. Some of the tools and projects I have already had success using in my classroom and will continue to implement this year, while others are new projects I have been creating over the course of the summer. One example is the use of WebQuests. My students will be using a WebQuest about the research process to help develop their skills at researching and organizing a thesis based paper. Some of the strategies used in this project include scaffolding, opportunities for feedback, and the use and evaluation of rubrics. Another technology tool I will be using is the RSS feed in collaboration with online researching skills. Students will be creating and following their feed reader over the course of the school year, practicing informational reading skills for assignments based on the articles they find. Then, the final 12 weeks of the school year are dedicated to the research process, including the WebQuest and an extended research project that will require students to use both their RSS feed and a social bookmarking account. One last tool to discuss is podcasting, which though it is not labeled as collaborative, will be used collaboratively for a book talk project. Students will partner up to write, record, and mix a podcast “book talk” promoting an independent reading book of their choice. This project integrates content from general genre study and the drama unit (script writing). The heart of this project relies on cooperative learning, and many students naturally take the role of “expert” in the lab, supporting other classmates in troubleshooting and brainstorming.
While I would be very comfortable leading an online course as opposed to simply an online learning experience, I think this type of learning is most appropriate for high school juniors and seniors who have the initiative and dedication to manage their learning independently. I also think that online simulations and conversations with experts might be harder to incorporate into the language arts classroom. One reason is the difficulty of integrating content standards, though I do think somehow communicating with a published author would be a very engaging and encouraging experience for students. But this leads to another difficulty: the challenge of setting up this type of experience. I think it could be done, but outside funds and cooperative planning might be required.
While I would be very comfortable leading an online course as opposed to simply an online learning experience, I think this type of learning is most appropriate for high school juniors and seniors who have the initiative and dedication to manage their learning independently. I also think that online simulations and conversations with experts might be harder to incorporate into the language arts classroom. One reason is the difficulty of integrating content standards, though I do think somehow communicating with a published author would be a very engaging and encouraging experience for students. But this leads to another difficulty: the challenge of setting up this type of experience. I think it could be done, but outside funds and cooperative planning might be required.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
TechQuest Implementation
The following podcast outlines the highlights and difficulties of implementing my TechQuest project in my classroom.