EDU 6949-Internship Week 4
So far there are two main texts that we are using to support learning in the classroom. We use Everyday Math and Early Northwest Coast People to teach math and a variety of integrated social studies, history, art, communications and language arts lessons.
In math, it seems to me that the expected role of the teacher is to be a transmitter of information and the students are simply there to learn what the text says to. The lessons are very planned out and structured and there is little to no creativity needed to make them “work”. Even though they seem to work effectively, there is not much room for students to explore or discover concepts on their own. Every other lesson or so, there is an “exploration lesson” where no instruction is given and students are only given directions on how to finish the lesson on their own or in small groups. I (as well as the students) enjoy these lessons because it gives students a chance to use what they have learned to solve problems on their own while using their own strategy. I realize that math is a pretty cut-and-dry subject, but students need to still be able to make it their own. This allows them to connect with it better on a personal level which will increase the probability of having those math concepts stick in their memories.
On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, the Storypath approach is much more interactive. The teacher becomes a narrator and group facilitator and the students literally transform themselves into the characters of the village. This dynamic is completely different from the hour we spend in math. The students are excited and invigorated and could easily spend an entire school day doing only lessons for this unit. It allows them to be creative while also learning about life for the people of the coast in the 1800s. In my opinion, it is a great way for students to really get involved with their learning because it encourages students to think and act like the early people. These are the kinds of experiences that students remember for YEARS to come!
Both of these texts have influenced my experiences as an intern because they are showing me how students react to different learning situations. While most students are doing well in math and understanding the concepts, it is incredible to see how much more students flourish when the learning reins are handed over to them. I wish that ALL areas of study could be as exciting and rewarding (for both me and the students) as they are during the Storypath lessons.
EDU 6949-Internship Week 3
Having 26 young students depending on you to teach them what they need to know to be successful later in life is a very daunting task. This 26-on-1 interaction is one that I have not experienced outside of the academic world. The only time when I have experienced anything like this, was during staff meetings at the resort I worked at for a few summers during college. There were about 15 to 20 of us with one person telling us what events were coming up in the week, customer service skills to work on, and any schedule changes. We had to take turns talking, just like students do while I am teaching a lesson. I think this experience has prepared me for the future because it taught me to listen to everyone’s opinion, reflect on how it affect me (or those around me) and how to take turns talking. This may sound like something you learned in elementary school, but it is MUCH harder to do with a room full of adults. This has readied me for my own classroom because I will listen to all of my students opinions, reflect on how it affects me (or other students), and to have a classroom management plan for turn taking.
All of the experiences (past and present) have helped me reflect on how I want my future classroom to look.
EDU 6949-Internship Week 2
After the second week as an official full time student teacher, I have had a lot of practice with the math lessons, and have started working with individual students on revising some paragraphs for a social studies project. The math lessons are pretty straight forward and it’s easy to follow them using the teacher’s manual. So most of my memorable interactions have been working one-on-one with students revising and editing their work. They have been working for the last three weeks, researching their own very specific topic. It was so rewarding to see them SO engaged with their work. With a few students, I spent several minutes having in depth conversations about what they were researching, what they found interesting, how they found their information etc. It was very surprising to me how easily conversation flowed between me and the students. I didn’t feel like I had to “dumb down” the conversation, but instead felt like I could carry an almost grown up discussion with a few of the students.
These interactions have helped me realize the kinds of characteristics that I want in my future classroom. I want my students to look at me as a resource to help them further their learning–I want them to feel that I am more than just someone who tells them what to do during the day and pass out homework at the end of the day. I want to have interactions that reinforce a cooperative, understanding, calm, learning environment where they are free to express themselves.
EDU 6949-Internship Week 1
Lucky for me, this past week was not my first in the classroom. I met my mentor teacher almost a year ago when I did my first set of observations. Ever since then, I have volunteered in her classroom.
This week, however, was different: I was immediately given more responsibilities and am now there all day, everyday.
I jumped into teaching math in the mornings with the 3rd graders (the class is half 2nd grade, half 3rd grade). I have LOVED being able to teach after volunteering for so long. The students are great and are patient with me if I get flustered or forget something–this is definitely a learn-as-I-go experience!
My impression of John Hay Elementary School has remained the same over the last year–it is an awesome place for learning and growing. All of the teachers and staff I have met have been so nice and helpful. They all understand the importance of teaching and how it can impact a child’s academic experience. What made the biggest impression on me last April was the effectiveness of classroom management in Mary Lou’s 3rd grade class. They knew exactly what was expected of them and were such self-sufficient, self-starting students that there was little to no supervision needed when they were working on their own. It was so refreshing and inspiring to see just 3rd graders taking control of their academics. I knew from that moment that I had a lot to learn from Mary Lou!
The beginning of this year started off great with a full class of eager 3rd graders. However, a few weeks into school things shifted around a little. Due to the larger than normal amounts of 2nd graders and John Hay, Mary Lou was asked to take on a joint 2nd/3rd grade class, relieving the 2nd grade teachers by dropping their class sizes. Being the gracious person that she is, Mary Lou gladly accepted the challenge. This also turned out to be a great situation for me because my ideal classroom would be either 2nd or 3rd grade!
I am ecstatic to see what the next 13 weeks will bring!
EDTC 6432-Computer Authoring: Journal 10
As I wrap up my last week for the quarter, reflect back on everything I have learned and everything I still have to learn. It is only proper that this weeks articles are about future technology and how it applies to the classroom.
The 2009 Horizon Report: K-12 Edition presents six “technologies to watch” as they become more popular. I understand that collaborative environments are beneficial to teachers and students because it is increasing in the workplace. Tools that foster this type of leaning through online collaboration are also important. Online communication tools are important to students because they use them on a daily basis outside the classroom-teachers need to tap in to this resource to “keep up with the times”. This also goes for different types of mobiles. Cell phones are becoming increasing more advanced with applications that use GPS, internet-streaming and multi-sensory applications. I can see how smart objects could be useful in the classroom–some are able to “combine the ability to sense themselves and their surroundings with the ability to control a computer or access online content” (pg.5). This would almost serve as your own personal classroom assistant! It is also interesting how popular the personal web is becoming. This allows users to create personal webpages with content linked to their interests. It would be interesting to see the variety of content for any given classroom of students. The only technology that I did not understand was cloud computing. Is it a mass storage device or some sort of large online database? They used examples like Flickr, Google and YouTube but I am still confused about how these “clouds” work and how they could be used for educational purposes…
The second article, The Horizon Report, outlined six more “technologies to watch” and put them on a scale of when they could be put to use. Within the next 12 months we can expect mobile computing and open content. These allow students to have constant access to their class through the internet. In the next two to three years we can expect electronic books and simple augmented reality. The electronic book craze has caught on widely with the Kindle from Amazon and the iPad from Mac. It would be awesome if every student had access to one of these products during the school year. I had never heard of simple augmented reality, but the concept of “blending virtual data with what we see in the real world for the purpose of enhancing the information we can perceive with our senses” seems like a very unique and enriching idea (pg. 21). Four to five years away we can expect things like gesture-based computing and visual data analysis. Gesture-based computing will allow students to easily work collaboratively while engaging more of their senses. I am still unclear about what visual data analysis is, but if it truly “augments the natural abilities humans have to seek and find patterns in what they see” then this will be a very valuable tool in many subjects (pg. 30).
I have enjoyed my time in this class learning about different technologies and how I can apply them to my classroom someday. Below are three examples of work I have done this quarter in which I have learned a new technological skill:
A customized webpage I designed for a future class
A screencast of how to use the customized website
A webquest project I created as part of a geography unit
References:
Johnson, L., Levine, A., Smith, R. & Smythe, T. (2009). The 2009 Horizon Report: K-12 Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.
Johnson, L., Levine, A., Smith, R. & Stone, S. (2010). The Horizon Report. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.
EDTC 6432-Computer Authoring: Journal 9
Incorporating technology into lesson plans can be difficult enough–now try having your students compile and edit videos! The two articles this week gave me a lot of insight as to how to make this happen.
Aim, shoot, ready! Future Teachers learn to ‘do’ video by Dr. Pedro Hernández-Ramos outlined a typical two hour workshop to teach students and teachers how to shoot and edit their own videos. The only thing that confused me about this article, was that the author seemed to talk about the workshop as if it were designed for students, but then kept bring up issues about how teachers (especially preservice teachers) were reluctant to use this type of technology in the classroom because of their lack of knowledge about videos. Personally I think everyone in the education system should learn the importance of technology and how it can help everyone reach new goals.
I really liked the set-up of the two hour workshop: conversation, guidelines, shooting, postproduction, film festival. It allows the participants to experience all stages of movie making in a concise amount of time. While postproduction takes half of the workshop and shooting takes a quarter, there is still time for instruction and admiration of other projects. I think that when the audience are people that you truly want to impress, the quality of work is much higher–these workshops allow this parameter to be put in place.
Which leads us to the second article: Authoring With Video by Barbara Strassman and Trisha O’Connell. They explain how students nowadays can express themselves much better through mediums other than writing. Authoring With Video (AWV) allows students to write about a subject in a way that brings out more creativity and individuality. It “literally helps them see the need for more detail and elaboration in their texts and can increase student engagement with written language and increase the quality of the writing produced” (pg. 330). I completely agree with this statement because I have experienced it first hand. When I was given a choice in school on how to present a final project, I never chose “write an essay”. I always chose ways like: create a collage; paint a picture/series of pictures; create a diorama; make a picture book etc. I felt like I could express my ideas and understanding of the project more if I could be visual, rather than just through words.
As the saying goes, “a picture’s worth a thousand words”!
I tried looking up the AWV homepage listed in the article, but the page no longer existed. Click here to go to the “Authoring with Video Teacher Resources” page.
References:
Hernández-Ramos, P. (2007). Aim, shoot, ready! Future teachers learn to ‘do’ video. British Journal of Educational Technology, 38(1), 33-41.
Strassman, B, & O’Connell, T. (2007). Authoring With Video. The Reading Teacher, 61(4), 330-333.
EDTC 6432-Computer Authoring: Journal 8
Podcasting is something that I have not experienced yet. I went to the University of Washington for my undergraduate degree and I was in a class that offered podcasts that I did not take advantage of. It was interesting reading Cara Lane’s article Podcasting at the UW: An Evaluation of Current Use because it made me realize that I had missed a great learning experience. She notes some strengths and weaknesses with using podcasts that I agree with–while they help with studying and clarification of difficult topics, I can’t help but wonder how many students would use this method instead attending class. Although her findings show that this was not a problem, I speculate that podcasting could be very heavily relied upon as a substitute for actually being in class.
The recommendations she listed are very helpful if you are interested in incorporating podcasting as part of your curriculum. The best idea was to directly reference visual materials that may be used and the repetition of student questions. What I did not quite agree with was her last point: consider options that provide opportunities for students to contribute audio content to the podcasts (pg. 4). If podcasts are typically being used in larger classes, there could be hundreds of response podcasts. I would think it would get hard to organize, listen, and respond to all of them. Like mentioned in the 7 Things You Should Know About Podcasting article, you would need an aggregator to help with organization. (It is a “site that collects, categorizes and then makes available podcasts for subscribers” pg.1). That way it would be easy to access specific podcasts and respond to them.
Personally, I do not think that podcasting would work very well for elementary students. I think it would be an acceptable homework assignment to listen to various podcasts, but not as a supplement to class lessons.
Interestingly enough, the following website shows a few elementary schools that have their own podcasts:
http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/story.php?itemID=11850&version=2747&pageID=6986
References:
EDUCAUSE Learning Iniative. (2005). 7 things you should know about… podcasting. ELI 7 things you should know, Retrieved from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7003.pdf
Lane, C. (2006). Podcasting at the uw: an evaluation of current use. The Office of Learning Technologies, Retrieved from http://www.washington.edu/lst/research_development/papers/2006/podcasting_report.pdf
EDTC 6432-Computer Authoring: Journal 7
I enjoyed reading this weeks articles about the online learning tools, WebQuest and Web Inquiry Projects (WIP). It is very important for current and future teachers to know how to use tools like these. Erdogan Halat states in his article A Good Teaching Technique: WebQuests, that “using technology in teaching and learning has positive effects on students’ motivation, attitudes and achievements and also supports peer interactions in the classroom” (pg.110). These are some great reasons to incorporate this style of teaching and learning in every classroom. This quarter has been my first experience with WebQuest’s and I have enjoyed doing projects for this class from them. The five “critical attributes” of the WebQuest make it very clear what is expected of the student, how they are to do it and how they will be graded. The information from Halat’s article was very straight forward and presented some great pointers on how to include this type of learning in everyday classrooms.
The second article, Kickstarting Inquiry with WebQuests and Web Inquiry Projects focused on comparing WebQuests and WIPs. This article showed both strengths and weakness for each style and how they can be implemented in the classroom. In my opinion, WIPs should be used for upper level education because they “require students to play an active role in defining their own tasks, determining procedures necessary for completing the task and finding the online resources that will help them complete the task” (pg.3). WIPs are geared for more independent learning and discovery. I think students should be introduced first to WebQuests and then WIPs. This way, they start with very detailed and structured assignments to build the knowledge base needed to become more independent learners and researchers.
All in all, both articles presented great information that I can use in my future classroom. I assume that I will be using more WebQuests than WIPs, but getting my students comfortable with using technology in their discovery of new information is the key.
The following are the main websites for WebQuest and WIP:
References:
Halat, E. (2008). A Good teaching technique: webquests. The Clearing House, 81(3), 109-111.
Molebash, P, & Dodge, B. (2003). Kickstarting inquiry with webquests and web inquiry projects. Social Education, 1-5.
EDTC 6432-Computer Authoring: Journal 6
After completing the third skills test and reading this week’s articles, I now see how online learning is important to our students success. After learning how to create a screencast to show my students how to use a customized webpage I understand that they need to learn more and more about technology in order to be successful citizens. Michael Barbour’s article Research and Practice in K-12 Online Learning: A Review of Open Access Literature compares different categories of virtual schools and the pros and cons of them. He first sites two different ways of categorizing virtual schools: “Clark’s Seven Categories” and “Watson, Winograd, and Kalmon’s Five Categories”. They both include the same basic categories–state level, multi-district level, individual district level and charter/private school levels (pg. 3-4). I think that these distinctions are essential, but that they should be narrowed even more in the future. That way everyone could be on the same level, not having to interpret what another “category” is saying.
I agree with the pro’s Barbour stated about online schooling. I think that it does: promote a higher level of motivation, expand educational access, provide high-quality learning opportunities, improve student outcomes and skills, allow for educational choice and provide administrative efficiency (pg. 4-5). However, some of the disadvantages he lists are not clear to me. He states that there will be “access issues surrounding the digital divide” (pg. 5). Does he mean that students will have trouble accessing technology if they are not in a traditional school setting? Or that if the student is not a digital native, they will struggle? He also says that there are “student readiness issues and retention issues” (pg. 5). Are students not evaluated on whether they should or should not be enrolled in online schools? I would think that since this is such a different way of learning that some sort of process would be in place to make sure the students WERE ready…
The second article this week, National Standards of Quality for Online Courses written by the North American Council for Online Learning (NACOL) outlines the standards and sub-standards that all online courses must have. Honestly, if you didn’t know you were reading standards for an online class, you would not have guessed it until you reach sections (D) Technology and (F) 21st Century Skills. The other sections could be applied to any other subject or lesson plan: (A) Content, (B) Instructional Design, (C) Student Assessment, (E) Course Evaluation and Management. I understand the components of all the sections except for “(F) 21st Century Skills: the course intentionally emphasizes 21st century skills in the course, including using 21st century skills in the core subjects, 21st century content, learning and thinking skills, ICT literacy, self-directed learning, global awareness, and includes 21st century assessments as identified by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills” (pg. 7). I’m not sure what the 21st century skills were so I looked them up. I found a lot of information from the website for The Partnership for 21st Century Skills that clarified my questions.
Overall, the skills test and above articles helped me appreciate online learning. I am aware that I will be using technology in my teaching in the future and am confident I am learning the skills to incorporate it appropriately.
References:
Barbour, M. (2009). Research and practice in k-12 online learning: a review of open access literature.International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 10(1), 1-22.
National Standards of Quality for Online Courses written by the North American Council for Online Learning
EDTC 6432-Computer Authoring: Journal 5
This week we re-visited the articles from two weeks ago about how to bring technology into your classroom and use it successfully. After rereading them, I revisited my concerns about being able to use creative technology with older students. I was previously uncertain about how Resnick’s cycle of: imagine, create, play, share, reflect, imagine etc. would pertain to older students. But, after thinking more deeply about what these steps really mean, I am now clear about how this process can be used in middle level classrooms.
To interpret the words “imagine”, “create”, “play”, “share” and “reflect” literally does not leave much room for varying explanations. But if you look at them in a different light, you can apply them to most any setting. I looked at these steps as the process you normally go through to write a paper:
- I see “imagine” as the beginning of the creative process, done individually.
- “Create” is like the rough draft of a paper. Your first “stab” at the subject.
- To “play” with something, is to have others read your work and revise it.
- To “share” your work is to make the final draft and publish it or turn it in.
- You “reflect” on your work by rereading it and looking to see if there is another way to write the paper–to rewrite it from a different perspective.
- And then the process starts again
This process made me think about how I could use technology in many different ways. When I look at this process in this new way, I can see how it would help explain new ideas and concepts to students in any subject. This is important to understand because the new “fad” in teaching can change at any moment. We need to have a solid understanding of how to teach, no matter what the current new style may be.
The following is an interesting compilation of sites of how to adjust your teaching style to fit your student’s learning styles: http://www.teachersnetwork.org/ntol/howto/adjust/
Monroy-Hernández, Andrés and Mitchel Resnick. 2008. Empowering Kids to Create and Share Programmable Media.Interactions, pp. 50-53.
Resnick, Mitchel. 2007. All I Really Need to Know (About Creative Thinking) I Learned (By Studying how Children Learn) in Kindergarten. Proceedings of the 6th ACM SIGCHI conference on Creativity & Cognition, pp. 1-6.
