Underage Children and Social Networking

Underage Children and Social Networking

Shalynn Weeden, Bethany Cooke and Michael McVey

In this article the authors aimed to determine if schools could have an impact on teaching social media safety to children and parents of children ages 7-12.  I found it very interesting that children as young as 9 years old have access to social media sites.  It also amazes me that parents and children are often unaware of how much access an unknown adult has to their children.  This further supports the case for earlier education about digital citizenship and online safety courses in schools.  The article also discusses how parents and other family members would benefit from such opportunities about online safety.  I do agree with the authors when they discuss that the age restrictions on most of the social networking websites are not much more than suggestions.  This makes it a priority to parents and educators to explain and understand the privacy settings of many of these websites, because children are going to join these websites.  If we do that, then at least students will be more aware of the dangers of social networking and hopefully aid them in making wise choices when engaging in them.

Growth as an Educator

What is one way in which you grew as an educator from this class and how will you continue it?

I feel like this class has help me develop my interpersonal skills when relating technology to my peers. This class has given me several tools to use when introducing and explaining technology to other teachers and why they should use it in their classrooms. The readings and assignments have been very insightful on the potential of technology use in the classroom. I believe these skills will help me in my efforts to help other teachers integrate technology into their classrooms.

What I learned from the OR Project

Did you learn about your teaching style in the OR project? - Discuss your teaching strengths and weaknesses from this on blog.


While teaching my OR project to a fellow teacher at my school I found out that I did have a specific teaching style that I have grown accustomed to over the past year. I have been a very big advocate of the flipped classroom at my school, so in similar fashion I flipped my OR project. I compiled many video resources describing the technology I had chosen to teach, the Google Drive app for the iPad. I also made a screencast of myself doing a walk-through of all the major features of the app as well as how to setup the app for collaboration in the classroom. One of the strong points about teaching a technology in this way is that the person learning the technology can go back at any time and re-learn the material in the videos, it is no longer a one-stop-shop. One of the weakness however is the amount of time it takes to watch an instructional video about a topic, I found problem out from teaching my students this year. In making an instructional video you must take into account the person watching the video and how often they must pause the video and take notes for example. This can make an 10 minute video turn into a 20 minute video very easily. This makes it very important to limit the amount of material presented in a single screencast. I tried to limit myself in the video I made for the project; however it turned out to be a little over 12 minutes in length.

Professional Development Post

Share one of your Personal Professional Development goals by 3/28 - respond to someone else's by 4/2 with suggestions.

V.  Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership:

Teachers continuously improve their professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in their school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources.

·      Current Skills: I am currently a graduate student at the University of Oklahoma.  The masters’ degree that I am pursuing is in the College of Education’s Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology program with emphasis on teaching with technology.  I am also very active with professional development.  In my five years of teaching I have attended several AP workshops for chemistry, with the most recent being focused on digital technology use in the chemistry classroom.  I attended the National Flipped Education Conference in the summer of 2012 and have given two professional development talks about the flipped classroom to the teachers in my district. 

·      Need: I believe education can no longer be a one-person show.  Teachers must learn to effectively communicate with each other if we plan to increase the levels of student collaboration.  The field of education is changing everyday and new mandates are being added all of the time.  For a teacher to remain caught up with the changing times they must take their professional development into their own hands. 

·      Goal: It is my goal to renew my ISTE membership at the end of the school year and register for the ISTE conference or FlipCon (Flipped Classroom Conference) in the summer of 2014.  I would also like to prepare a session to submit for consideration about the experiences I have had using the flipped classroom model and iPads in the classroom.    

·      Measure: I plan to renew my membership with ISTE as well as register for one of the two conferences listed above.  I also plan to create a presentation to submit for approval to one or both of these conferences. 

·      Short-Term Plan: By the end of the school year or by the start of the next I will renew my membership to ISTE. 

·      Long-Term Plan: Over the course of the next school year I will figure out the conference dates of both conferences and decide which is best.  I will then apply for funding through the school or save the money myself.  I will also work on a presentation idea for the conference and have it ready to be submitted by December 2013. 

    Assessment: I will have reached my goals if by the summer of 2014 I still a member of ISTE and am attending either the ISTE conference or FlipCon, giving a presentation over my flipped classroom.

Update on Teaching Project

What is your status on your technology teaching projects -update me on your blog - What has suprised you so far?

I have just started to work on my Teach Someone a Technology Project. Over spring break I worked on finishing my Professional Development Project and had a Skype call with Dr. Cullen over my final project. I decided to do my final project over teaching someone how to use the Google Drive App for the iPad. I have been reading many great things about how great the update has been for the App. I have been messing around with it myself the last couple of days and found that it is a great collaboration tool to use with students if you have access to a class set of iPads. With the recent push for more collaboration with the shift to Common Core, I was planning on teaching this technology to one of the English teachers that I share ideas with on a regular basis. Currently I am in the process of gathering resources and putting together handouts and videos explaining cloud computing and the google drive app. Hopefully in the within the next week I will have a chance to sit down with him and teach him the technology because we are both very busy with track and baseball.

Ertmer & Leftwich Article

"Teacher Technology Change: How Knowledge, Confidence, Beliefs, and Culture Intersect

This journal article brings up some very good points about what is expected from teachers and students in regards to using technology to facilitate learning.  One of the main problems that it points out is that our students are simply not being prepared for the highly technical world that we are living in today.  This fall in large part on the education system and more so on the teachers.  The article gives statistical evidence that teachers are using technology more; however, they are not using it to help students "facilitate learning."  Most are using it for administrative tasks and student activities that require little collaboration and interaction.  From this the article points out that, "we need to help teachers understand how to use technology to facilitate meaningful learning, defined as that which enables students to construct deep and connected knowledge, which can be applied to real situations" (Ertmer, 2010).  The Purpose of the paper is taking a closer look at technology change through the eyes of the teacher.  It investigates the necessary characteristics and qualities that teachers need to enable them to make a change that introduces meaningful technology experiences.  It then explains how schools can support teachers as they try to integrate technology.  Some of the things that the authors point out to help aid in teacher change are overall knowledge of technology and how much confidence teachers have in themselves to facilitate student learning with technology (self-efficacy).  Teachers beliefs or expectations also play a big roll in technology integration.  School culture also influences technology integration, based on the importance placed on it by the school as a whole.  The article then concludes by addressing the factors that affect teacher change and how programs can facilitate a change in teaching.  It address two approaches that address the factors above, one is during teacher education programs at the university level and the other is during professional development programs at the school level.

This article got me thinking about how I started integrating technology into my classroom.  At the university level, my pre-service training included very little practice on the "how to" involved with technology integration.  We learned of different tools, however most of my methods classes were still modeled after and catered to the students of the past.  When I graduated and started teacher, my first couple of years I was mainly a lecturer with some studented centered labs and activities but I found myself wanting more and observed that not all of my students were being services.  The students were not getting out of the material what I knew they needed to.  The past couple of years I started to look for more ways to make chemistry relevant to high school students, this is when I came upon the Flipped Classroom model.  My school was very supportive of my shift to use technology and I considered myself very knowledgable when working with technology.  This meant my self-efficacy was very high and I knew I could figure out a way to work through the problems.  I also believed that my students were being better served by using more technology for meaningful interactions.  However, my school culture is starting to change to a more technology friendly environment as far as equipment and teacher training.  Mostly this has been due to teachers trying to find better ways to reach students and the district providing resources for the teachers to be successful.  I just hope the enthusiasm continues after the "newness" wears off.

Sandholtz Chapter 5

Sandholtz Chapter 5: Redefining Student and Teacher Roles

Chapter 5 focused on the role shifts of the teacher and student in a technology rich classroom.  It followed the movement of the classrooms from a teacher-focused environment to more student-focused one.  Students began to take on different roles including experts and peer tutors, not only in content, but also in technology.  Students began to help other students with technology problems and even helped the teacher learn new things about the technology.  Some of the teacher were apprehensive about letting  the students have this much control; however, once they saw the benefits, they realized that this type of collaborative learning helped to reach every student in the classroom.  Many of these teachers reorganized their classrooms to facilitate more collaborative interactions.  The remainder of the chapter discusses some considerations that must be taken into account when changing the roles of the classroom.  For instance, having not only advanced students act as experts, but also low achieving students, which acts to increase their self-esteem.  They also point out that students should be allowed to not only share their expertise with peers, but also parents, teachers and administrators.

This chapter is very helpful to me, because I am always looking for ways to increase student collaboration in my classroom.  My flipped classroom model already lends itself to being more student-centered, however I find myself always looking for more student collaboration, in particularly using technology to do so.  I love the idea of student roles as experts and peer tutors.  I think I am going to try this in my class next unit, because it has been very hard to have meaningful peer interaction when I am letting students pick their own groups.  Perhaps if I assign a groups, with each group having a peer tutor or "expert" I can always make sure that every group has someone there to answer questions when I am not around.

Sandholtz Chapter 4

Sandholtz Chapter 4: Managing a Technology-Rich Classroom

Chapter 4 dealt with how teachers adapted to having technology in their classrooms on a daily basis.  It describes how the teachers dealt with changes brought about by the technology.  One of the first things it addresses are the concerns teachers had and how they related to the first 3 levels of technology integration.  In the entry stage of the integration, teachers had many concerns, mainly stemming from the unfamiliarity with the technology and not knowing how the students would react to it.  They had concerns about student misbehavior, in particularly cheating, as well as the environment of the classroom and concerns with technical problems and how class would function with added distractions.  In the adoption phase, concerns and apprehension from the teachers turned into problem solving strategies and teachers anticipating problems before they began.  In this stage the teachers could stay one or two steps ahead of the students on almost all of the problems outlined in the entry phase.  In the third stage, adaptation, teachers began to use technology to manage the classroom.  They began to use technology to develop new materials, keep records, keep grades and most importantly realized that technology could save them time.  The chapter then concludes by addressing classroom management and how it changed for the teachers involved.  At first the teachers viewed the technology in the classroom as a concern, however, after the first few stages of integration the teachers began to use the technology to aid in classroom management and instruction.

This chapter is a great picture of how powerful a successful technology integration can be.  After reading this I can see why many teachers do not make it out of even the first stage of technology integration.  Many of the concerns I hear from teachers at my school were similar to the concerns that were outlined in the first pages of this chapter.  I believe that many teachers are scared off from using technology in the classroom by some of the concerns outlined.  For instance I went through the first two stages earlier this school year in my classroom.  I was given a classroom set of iPads and had many of the same concerns about classroom management, the physical environment, software, etc.  I had to kind of find my own way of managing an entire classroom of iPads.  At first it was kind of hectic because the kids always wanted to get on YouTube and download apps to play, however after a few weeks we established a set of rules and a point system that rewarded them for good digital citizenship.  I have to admit it took some nights thinking about different ways to harness the power of the iPads for use in the classroom and was not easy, but I got better and better at coming up with ways for the students to express themselves using the iPads.  I think this level of not know what foot to put forward is why many teachers choose not to integrate technology into their classrooms.  I don't think it is that they don't want to, it may be they just don't know how?

Sandholtz - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: "The Evolution of Instruction in Technology-Rich Classrooms"

Chapter 3 discusses how instruction must change in order for technology integration to be successful.  On page 36, the authors state: "Technology by itself was not a silver bullet," they go onto say it adds a new level of complexity to a teachers already long list of challenges.  However, teachers that were prepared to replace their old beliefs with new ones and embrace the technology would lower the challenge drastically.  Much of the rest of the chapter goes onto to discuss the stages of instructional evolution of technology in the classroom.  The five stages they present are entry, adoption, adaptation, appropriation, and invention.  The first level, entry, consists of initially getting the technology into the classroom, unpacking the boxes and booting up the computers.  The second stage is adoption, in which the teachers tried to integrate technology into their lesson plans on a daily basis.  The third stage, adaptation, occurs when the students and teachers become more comfortable using technology during the school day and incorporate it into more and more tasks.  In the fourth stage, appropriation, teachers experience a change in the way they think about technology and become "masters" of the technology and it seems effortless.  In the final stage, invention, teachers begin to experiment with other forms of instruction and other ways of relating material to students.  For example, project based learning, team teaching, individually paced instruction can occur during this stage.  The rest of the chapter deals with supporting teachers during technology integration and finding ways to help them confront changes in their instructional beliefs.

I think it is amazing that this book was written in 1996 and many of these principle that these teachers are advocating in this chapter like project based learning, cooperative learning and team teaching are once again education "buzz" words today.  We are living in a time where more and more schools are spending big money on technology for their students and as a result more and more teachers are at the entry and adoption stages.  I believe it is critical that teachers are supported during these stages to ensure that they try to adopt technology and change the way they "instruct" their classes.  Many of the teachers at my school are in the second stage and want to move more toward the adaptation phase, but little support is present for them to be successful.  In the age of the Common Core more and more emphasis will be placed on technology and instructional practices that promote more than just rote memorization of facts.  Student need to be able to problem solve and create.  Technology can help greatly with this, however if teachers are not prepared than how will our students be?

Professional Development

What are some things you can do for free to improve your technology skills?

Probably one of my biggest resources for me and my classroom is YouTube.  YouTube is a great place where I can go and get ideas for projects in class as well as learning how to use new technology.  For instance at the beginning of the year I had to teach myself how to use Apple Configurator, a Mac based program to control large amounts of iPads.  No one else at my school had any clue how to use the program or even how to manage classroom sets of iPads, so I took it upon myself to learn as much as I could about it.  I watched a 50 minute lecture given by a school technology coordinator outlining there large iPad rollout plan using Apple Configurator.  It gave me a great idea of the tips and tricks of how to use it proficiently.  

Google is also another tool that I use very frequently when I have problems with technology.  I just type in the question I have an usually I can find the answer within just a few clicks.  I have also started to browse other teachers blogs of how they use technology in the classroom (thanks to blogger!).  It is amazing the resources you can learn to use for free on the internet.  Lastly, however not free, with my subscription to ISTE I have access to many online resources about technology use in the classroom.  

One thing, that I believe is a great resource, are the other teachers at my school.  I know there are some teachers doing great things in the middle school and elementary that I would love to learn about.  However, finding the time is hard to do, especially with testing approaching.  

Video Project Software

I am planning to use Camtasia Mac for my screen capture project and iMovie for my video project

Common Core Standards

Question:

What do you know about the common core standards? What scares you about them? How can you become more knowledgeable about them?

Response:

I like many of the other teachers in Oklahoma are learning on the fly when it comes to Common Core.  From what I have learned from professional development inservices and workshops is that Common Core standards are a set of national standards that allow every student in the U.S. to learn the same set of skills that will help them to be successful at a second level.  This could be college, vo-tech or on the job training.  However, from reading some of Patsy's blog (the resident Guru on Common Core) I found out exactly how Common Core relates to Oklahoma.  I remember hearing about most of these things over the past year, however, no one explained them with as much simplicity as Patsy.

From what I have learned, the Common Core Standards now only encompass English Langauge Arts, Literacy and Math.  At our school we have been working (probably not enough) with english teachers for how to best incorporate non-fiction texts into a science, history and math classrooms.  However, this is a hard process because it is hard to get a clear picture of what types of questions will be asked.  It is nice to hear that the testing company now has resources online that show the types of questions that students will be assessed on.

One of the things that scares me the most is the rapid change.  It seems that people higher up the ladder decided that we must change something in order to prepare our students in a better way and this is product.  The whole program seems rushed.  The standards are supposed to be in full implementation                                                                      for the 2014-15 school year and we are just now getting sample questions.  Most of the textbooks that we use for each subject were purchased before the shift to Common Core, so they offer little help to prepare students.  This leaves teachers with only one alternative, make their own material and when it comes down to it many teachers would rather use pre-made materials instead of making up an entire curriculum for an entire year of teaching to Common Core Standards.  This is probably why most of the training we have received has been on how to modify existing materials to meet CCS.  It seems unreasonable to ask teachers to change much of their teaching style and content within less than 2 years.  From experience I know that there are teachers out there that are very scared of the quick time table.

Another thing that scares is that they are now (January 2013) just getting around to publishing the first version of the "Next Generation Science Standards" (www.nextgenscience.org).  These are still in the development process and it is not known yet of a date for implementation.  However, once they do finish the standards it will be up to the states to adopt them as part of the CCS movement.  My guess is the only way to be prepared for CCS is to do the best to become educated on the standards themselves and the way they will be assessed (PARCC).  

Chapter 10 Response

Preventing Cyber Bullying

Sameer Hinduja and Justin Patchin

In chapter 10 the authors discuss a number of ways that teachers, administrators and parents can help prevent cyber bullying.  It starts by addressing the teachers role in preventing cyber bullying.  Teachers can do a number of things to prevent cyber bullying but first teachers must be aware of the level of cyber bulling at their school and the must educate students about examples of it.  The major step that educators can do to help decrease cyber bullying is to increase the awareness of acceptable uses of technology at school and at home.  With clear rules that are reinforced by the teacher, students will be more aware of classroom computer use and portable electronic use (cell phone).  Rules can also effectively be reinforced by peer mentoring that helps students relate to one another about cyber bullying issues.  Schools can also do much to change the climate by helping to maintain a safe and respectful school culture, limiting inappropriate web material with filtering software or even the implementation of a school wide anti-cyber bullying program.  The chapter then concludes by discussing the parents, students, and law enforcement's role in preventing cyber bullying. 

I have heard a number of teachers at my school say, "There have always been problems that with bullies at school...I made it through it, so will they."  However, as this chapter outlines, the major difference between then and now is...technology.  It seems to me that technology has given the word bully a new meaning.  Bullies no longer have the persona of being a big, bad person that is going to take your milk money.  Now bullies can hide behind computer screens or behind a facebook/twitter page.  For example, either this year at my school two students were suspended for making a twitter account making fun of some football players after a the team suffered a few losses in a row.  I read some of the tweets that these kids were posting and it horrified me the types of things kids will say about each other.  Schools must do something to help students see the harm these types of messages can do towards their peers.  I realize schools can only do so much, so when does some of the responsibility fall to the parent/guardian? 

Chapter 11 Reflection

Top Ten Rules That Govern School Authority Over Student Cyber Expressions

Jill Myers, Donna McCaw and Leaunda Hemphill

Chapter 11 discusses the majors principles brought about as the result of court rulings regarding cyber bullying.  Most of these deal with what student(s) can or cannot say about another student or group of students at a school.  Students still have 1st amendment rights much like any other person.  However, these rights are restricted to what is appropriate for the school environment.  Other rules that come up are as follows: #2 Censoring a student if they are a substantial disruption to school activities (threats of a shooting, etc.), #3 Censoring a student if they are distracting from the learning environment (racial/sexual comments), #4 Profane language not acceptable for a school setting (bullying language on campus), #5 Actions on school grounds and off (what is acceptable off school is not alway acceptable at school), #6 Schools may edit school-sponsored expressions (editing publications), #7 Regulation of school sponsored expressions based on pedagogical concerns (must be during school hours), #8 Off-campus expressions that have a direct tie to the school (must disrupt a school activity), #9 Expression restriction if it is not a shared value (school obligation to promote socially appropriate behavior), #10 True criminal threats (Must be reported).  The authors point out that if followed these rules will help assist in making appropriate boundaries in cyber expression. 

This chapter throws many laws out that I never knew existed and I am pretty sure that most teachers feel the same way.  However, after reading it is clear how most cyber bullying goes without being detected until it is way to late.  Many students, especially cyber bullying types, have an attitude that they can say whatever they want to whoever they want and the school cannot do anything about it due to the first amendment.  If more teachers were aware of the the limitations that students have regarding their 1st amendment rights it would be more clear to them when students do step over the line.  A good administrator should let teachers know of these kinds of laws and regulations, especially with the ever-deepening dependence on technology.  In light of the current national events, keeping students safe is the one of the highest goals of many school districts.  To make this a reality and really dampen school violence teachers must be informed of their duties to point out cyber bullying and stop it before it goes to far.  

Chapter 9 Reflection

Policies, Procedures, and Contracts

Communicating Expectations to Teachers, Students, and Parents

Aimee M. Bissonette

In chapter 9 Bissonette discusses the many policies that schools adopt to define the rights and responsibilities of students, teachers, and staff.  Some of the major policies she lines out are acceptable use policies (AUPs), bullying policies, parent permission slips, photographic releases, and disciplinary procedures.  The chapter defines all of these agreements as contracts that layout expectations, define rights and responsibilities, describe procedures, and detail consequences.  These contracts can be constantly amendable to adapt to the changing school climate.  Administrators can propose new policies, but they have to let all those affected know (students and parents).  Bissonette, then goes into great detail about schools AUPs.  She points out that for a school to have an effective Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) it must be under constant review and amending, because technology is constantly changing and new risks come up everyday.  Bissonette then ends the chapter by discussing the role of schools in effective policy adoption.  She outlines a five-step plan for policy adoption, in which communication is key (to students and parents).  

Last year at my school we underwent a massive student/teacher handbook revision.  Before last year no one could remember the last time major revisions were done to the student/teacher policies, so this was a major task that a group of teachers worked on for almost the entire year.  However, looking from the perspective of the information in this chapter, we still do not have a very specific AUP.  Our handbook most puts the terms of acceptable use squarely on the teachers judgement.  This is a scary fact based on the information in chapter 9.  I wonder if more schools are like ours?  I believe many schools are behind the times when it comes to adapting their rules to include new technology.  I wonder if other schools have gotten in major trouble from having very loose AUPs?

Chapter 8 Reflection

Assessment in the Partnership Pedagogy

Marc Prensky

Chapter 8 discusses assessment in both a traditional and in a partnering setting.  Prensky discusses the two types of assessment that are the most usual: summative and formative.  He points out that formative is the most useful of the two due to the fact that enables the student to receive feedback on their work.  Then however, Prensky, goes on to discuss the most useful types of assessment in a partnering setting, most of which fall under the formative umbrella.  One of the types of assessment he discusses is called Ipsative Assessment, in which the students try to beat or better their personal best.  Other types that are successful in a partnering setting are peer based feedback (Peer Assessment), evaluation from a real-world audience (real-word), students understanding their own assessment (self-assessment), allowing students to use tools familiar to them (21st century assessment) as well as the standardized test put forth by governing bodies (summative).  Prensky concludes the chapter by discussing major fears by teachers and administrators about partnering and new types of assessment which include, a fear of students not learning enough to be successful on standardized tests and a fear that the new activities/assignments students are doing in partnering classrooms will not count because they are not tested.  He concludes by pointing out how to assess how well an administrator supports partnering as well as the parents of the students and the school as a whole.

Chapter 8 deals will something that caused myself and another teacher much free time this past summer.  Early in that summer we both with to the "Flipped Classroom" conference in Chicago.  There we were introduced to the flipped classroom model as well as a standards based grading/mastery approach to student assessment.  In a flipped classroom teachers have more free time to move about the class and constantly assess what a student knows in a variety of ways.  For example, a teacher may ask the student questions about a lab, help them with practice problems, ask them to do an example problem for them, ask them to explain a concept to them...the possibilities are endless on how a teacher can assess a student.  However, not many of these are summative in which you can put a grade on.  For instance, why make a student do 20 practice problems when they can do 5 and then explain it to you perfectly.  A mastery grading scale allows you to assign a mastery score of 1-4 (4 being mastered) on a particular skill or objective in a unit.  Allow, like Prensky outlined in the chapter, it took our principle a little getting used to for him to get all the way on board.  

Chapter 3 Reflection

Strategic Leadership 

Lynne Schrum and Barbara B. Levin

In Chapter 3 Schrum and Levin discuss ways to promote technology integration with in a school district as well as discussing models for which the process can be promoted.  One of the current models for adoption of technology with in schools groups teachers into 5 major categories of tech adopters.  The innovators are the first group, which make up 2.5% of the whole.  These people are the ones forcing the change in the schools to use technology.  Next are the early adopters, 13.5%, who are early leaders that adopt new technology easily.  This group influences the next group, the early majority (34%), who accept the change, but carefully consider it first.  The last two groups are the late majority (34%) and the "Laggards" (16%).  These two groups are slow to enact a change or may not even change anything at all.  The other model that Schrum and Levin discuss is the Concerns Based Adoption Model (CBAM).  This model is an approach that anchors on individual reactions to change in a situation, by implementing a step-wise process that allows teachers to master smaller tasks that build on each other.  The rest of chapter 3 discusses steps toward a successful technology integration.  The success of any change depends on the support of the teachers that are using it.  Support described in the chapter comes in the form of PLCs, technology leadership/planning committees and teachers leaders.  The more support teachers have about using technology in the classroom the more apt they are to use it.

I have to admit I have found myself in similar situations.  I would consider myself an "innovator" at my school based on the fact that last year I probably bugged my principal nearly every month about getting classroom sets of iPads to use in the high school.  This paid off because right before school started this year he called me in and said here you go.  We have two carts that are for the entire high school (~400 enrollment) and the carts are mostly used for myself and one other science teacher.  Some of the other teachers have checked them out for a few days here and there (the early adopters), but for the most part I have them everyday.  Going off of what Schrum and Levin have outline, I would say that this is not a very successful technology integration.  There was not any support in place (professional development, technology coordinator, planning committee, system of teacher leaders), to ensure the success of the roll out.  We are in our 1st year of PLCs, but in order to really harness the power of the new technology steps must be taken toward the implementation of some sort of goal.  Sadly, this happens at many schools.

My idea for my audio project

I was thinking of recording the directions for a chemistry lab or class activity...assessing them with some sort of pre-lab questioning.

Chapter 7 Reflection

Chapter 7: Why Use Web 2.0 Tools With ELLs?

            Chapter 7 deals with the best ways to foster a comfortable and beneficial learning environment for English language learners or ELLs.  This is a growing question in the country, due to the fact that 10.5% of the total public school system’s students are ELLs.  The main problem identified is the fact that it takes most ELLs five to seven years to develop an academic language to be functional with textbooks, class lectures, essays, and educational videos.  However, with the use of web 2.0 tools, this process may be shortened due to the fact that students, when using these tools can be provided with extra opportunities to do meaningful work from the comforts of their homes or any place they want.  There are also a variety of tools they can harness and use to foster language acquisition, for example: language podcasts, instructional videos on YouTube, blog entries and wiki entries to name a few.  The Web 2.0 tools all the student to create and practice in a safe environment where they face little or no pressure from their peers as the practice. 

            After explaining the benefits of using Web 2.0 Tools with ELLs, it goes on to point out the correlations of using these tools to the TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) standards.  Many of these standards were made to foster practice of English in a social setting and in a more content oriented setting.  Some of the things they suggest to use to accomplish some of the objectives are: blogging, Facebook, VoiceThreads, podcasts, researching, creating wikis, creating a website and many others to publish student interests and work they create.  The chapter also explains that the TESOL has produced technology standards as well that outline different productivity skills that ELLs should possess.  Web 2.0 tools help to foster the technology skills that ELLs will need to be successful later in life. 

            The chapter ends by discussing the safety concerns that many schools feel when letting students publish work and create work online.  Worrying by educators and administrators often leads to schools locking down networks and banning digital social media from students.  This is often the response rather than teaching students proper technology etiquette, which in turn forces many teachers away from using technology in the first place. 

            In my setting I do not deal with many ELLs, however I have had a few that I have dealt with in the past and even one student in particular this year.  In the past when I have had ELL students I have tried my best to make accommodations and help them learn in the same ways as other students, but with a normal lecture driven teaching style I was always limited by time in my interactions.  However, this year after flipping my classroom I have more time to devote to students that need extra help. 

            This year I have in my class a foreign exchange student from Germany that speaks fairly good social language, but is lacking the academic language in English needed to be successful in chemistry.  However, after talking with the student I found out that he had taken chemistry before in Germany, so I learned quickly that I would have to find a way to relate the material to what he had previous learned.  In addition, this year in class I have adapted a more technology driven curriculum, by using instructional vodcasts that the students watch and by using an online course management system called Moodle.  On the moodle site the students take online quizzes and respond to prompts as well as respond to other students posts.  Just by observations and in terms of overall grade I have seen that my ELL student has taken a natural interest in learning with Web 2.0 tools.  I believe this has made the link between social and academic language an easier transition for him and it is something that helps me continually monitor his progress.     

Chapter 5 Reflection

Chapter 5: Understanding Youth and Digital Media

            Chapter 5 deals with understanding the current youth population and how digital media is a constant addition to their daily lives.  One startling statistic that the chapter states is that students on average spend nearly six and a half hours a day with some sort of digital media.  The chapter then goes on to discuss how teachers can use this information to adapt what they are doing in the classroom to foster the interests that students already have in digital media.  However, this is not an easy thing to do, due to the fact that the current U.S. education system is not prone to change very easily.  But the fact is that, we as educators must change the way that 21^st century learning occurs, teachers must try to understand the learners that they have in front of them.  Although, to understand the students addiction to digital media, the chapter outlines what digital media actually is.  With an understanding of digital media, we can then “discuss students’ participation with digital media including how they produce and distribute media and engage in appropriating, recirculating, archiving, and annotating media content in powerful new ways,” states the book on page 82. 

            Teachers must not be afraid to harness the power of digital media.  For instance, one example states that teachers believe that text messaging is a sloppy and rush version of written work, however, students do not use texting to master English, they use it for communicating and dealing with each other.  Students are using digital media to foster new relationships with peers in a way that previous generations have not seen before.  This fact fosters the idea that students can learn in new environments where peer-based learning, collaboration and creativity are highly valued.  In turn, students take more ownership of their work and get more out of it.  Peer based learning is a power thing, especially when students are allowed to use their comfortable working knowledge of digital media.  New forms of collaboration and communication are being generated everyday and they are great for integration into the classroom bringing in engaging, student-centered learning experiences. 

            Over the past year I began to look at my teaching practices and found that what I had been doing was simply not work with students.  Previously my policy with personal technology was to tell students to put it away and it became an ongoing problem in my classroom.  However, I began to do a little asking around and with more and more research I found ways to integrate the students natural abilities into my curriculum.  I began to add more technology-based applications of chemistry as well as letting students create and collaborate with each other on projects and assignments. 

            For one project in particular I asked students to make a video over a particular element or group of elements.  I was blown away at the quality and amount of time students put into work they found interesting and enjoyable.  These student groups seemed to management themselves and they held each group member accountable for the job they were assigned.

            I also found out that students are great teachers of their peers, partly due to the ways that they communicate with each other.  On twitter I follow a few of my students and I have seen that they have a system of communication with each other and remind each other when things are due and even answer each others questions about different classes.  While in class I have seen student that understand material teach other students in their group how to do very complex problems and have even heard students say after that “they explained it to me better than you Mr. Forester,” and my usual response is “great.”  I do not care where, when or how the learning is occurring, all I care about is that it is happening.  Happening with the help of new Digital media.