Capstone II Expectations

What are your expectations for this course?
What knowledge and skills do you hope to learn?
How will this professional development experience shape your future instruction?

I expect to be challenged during the rest of the Capstone experience.  I am looking to it as a means of focus, a way to keep me current in my practice.  I am especially looking forward to networking and collaborating with other educators.  Since I am not in a traditional school with core content areas, I hope to gain practical skills that I can implement in any environment.  I have often found that many conferences and professional development opportunities focus very closely on content, and it is challenging to find ways to implement that in my building.  Because the NETS-T are skills and objectives for learning, rather than a specific skill tied to a specific content or outcome, I think that after finishing the courses, I will be able to bring a more diverse range of instructional strategies to my teachers and students.  After the Introduction course, I have definitely gained a more complete understanding of the NETS-T than I had before, but I also know that I have so much more to learn as we progress.  I am looking forward to all of the changes that my project will undergo and to see that project actually take place in a classroom.

I hope to have a thorough understanding of the NETS-T and how to use those standards to guide planning for instruction with my teachers.  Because I am in a position to work with every teacher and student in my building, I want a broad viewpoint that is not limited by content, but is able to apply all of the standards to any instructional situation with ease.  With that in mind, I want to also have the foresight to know when technology may not be the most appropriate answer to an instructional situation, and I want to gain my teachers' trust so that they know that I am not going to be a technology evangelist, but rather an instructional specialist that they can rely on to find the best possible instructional strategy for any given objective.  Student learning is the goal, and I want to keep that as my true north.  I hope that through this experience I gain a confidence and awareness that I may not always have right now, so that the teachers always see a strong instructional leader whom they are comfortable coming to for assistance.

Your prior experiences using technology in the classroom.
Challenges and successes you have experienced using technology.
Any questions you have about the Capstone Program and the NETS*T.

Ever since I started teaching 9 years ago, I have tried to infuse my classroom with technology.  It was that drive that has lead me to my current position as a CRS.  I feel that I have quite a bit of experience using technology in the classroom.  As a regular classroom teacher, I was willing to give anything a try to engage my students.  Now as a CRS, I try to get my teachers to do the same things by showing them how many great tools are available to them to use.  Usually the technology I have used with students and teachers has been fairly successful.  We have met the typical challenges of technology not working because of division filtering issues or the resource not working the way it should.  We have also encountered issues with students not using the technology appropriately, but those kinds of challenges help to provide learning opportunities for the students and teachers alike.

I am feel more sure about my Standards 1 and 4 plan than I did before Capstone II began.  I was worried about how much technology is included, but I feel like it is less overwhelming now that I have revised it.

Reflecting

This week I spent some time reading and thinking about the practice of reflecting.  As a high school and college student, I often spent time reflecting on my writing, on readings, or on experiences, and at that point, it seemed more like a requirement, something to check off of the list and be finished with. When I was a student teacher, my cooperating teacher, required me to keep a reflective journal.  It started off as more of a listing of the day's events, focusing on procedure, but luckily my cooperating teacher was skilled in the practice of reflection, and she was able to help me move from that procedural type of thinking to a much deeper practice of metacognition that guided me to strengthening my beginning as a teacher.

I enjoyed reading "Fostering Reflection" by Lana Danielson because it clearly outlines the four types of thinking and connects those modes to reflective practice.  This prompted me to think about how I normally reflect and how we as teachers ask students to reflect.  I hadn't really thought about different kinds of thinking and how it could relate to reflection; it may be a bit shallow, but I thought reflection is reflection.  And I have to believe that this is a common assumption.  So let's look at the four types of thinking and how reflection can be used as a component of student learning.

1. Technologic or Formulaic Thinking-- procedural thinking that is based on pre-existing knowledge that comes from somewhere outside of the thinker
1. This kind of reflective thinking would be good for students to examine a process that is based on an already-established protocol.
2. Situational Thinking-- thinking that is rooted in an immediate moment in time and does not look beyond the moment to any root causes
1. Students can be urged to use situational thinking to guide behavior from moment to moment, but this kind of thinking will not serve to solve any core problems.
3. Deliberate Thinking-- deeper thinking that is used to go beyond the immediate situation to understand the core issue
1. Students can use this type of thinking to understand better understand a process or situation.  The students can call on outside expertise.  The students can reflect on a procedure that they are engaging in within a group project or within a lab environment, in order to understand why it is or is not working.
4. Dialectical Thinking-- thinking that builds on deliberate thinking to generate solutions
1. This is the perfect kind of thinking to use in a project-based learning situation as the students work through an issue and proposing solutions.

What is so great about reflection is that it can be done in a variety of modes-- peer-to-peer discussions, writing exercises, graphic organizers, etc.  And these can be enhanced through technology tools and resources to promote creative and deep thinking.  For example, blogs mainly focus on writing, but a reflective blog can contain images, video, audio, and writing, which engages more of a student's thinking and provides outlets that will help to generate a higher level of thinking.

Google Earth and Vo-Tech 2.0

I have always been intrigued by Google Earth, but I really didn't understand its capabilities beyond zooming into a region and exploring the landscape.  I spent some time on the Google for Educators site trying to understand how it could be useful in classes other than Geography.  Frankly, I was amazed.  Google Earth allows the user to create files that can be shared and edited on any topic imaginable.  I found files from the world's top ski resorts to "lit trips" that track a novels geographic progression in.  All of the information is contained in the placemarks that can be edited simply using text or more dynamically using HTML code.

That still brought me back to my usual starting point when using technology here: how could I integrate it into the classes we teach?  So far, I have focused on Culinary Arts because they emphasize a global perspective on foods, food production, and food culture, which made Google Earth a perfect platform.  We revamped a "Foods of the World" project that the chef has used in the past, which usually contained Internet research and a 1-2 page research paper.  We decided to use a new tool from 4Teachers.org called NoteStar to help the student groups manage their research and correctly cite their sources.  This was an excellent tool because the students were responsible for managing their progress, and the teacher and I could check the groups' progress easily.  After they completed their research, the students used Google Earth to enter their research into placemarks.  The placemarks corresponded with the country they were researching, and they learned how to imbed images into the placemarks using simple HTML code.

All in all, the project was a success!  We hit the usual bumps in the road, but the instructor liked the project so much that we have another in progress with the seniors that involves nutrition and traditional foods of other countries.

Check out the wiki for student samples.  These are a little rough, but they are still a work in progress.

In the future, I would like to utilize Google Earth's tour feature.  Using a microphone, you can easily record a narrated tour, which would be a great way for the students to practice their speaking skills.

Acceptable Use Policies

This week in Capstone, we have been studying and reviewing different school system's AUPs.  It was interesting to examine my school system's AUP in a more critical light and from a different perspective than that of an employee.  What I found most interesting was the differences in AUPs from system to system.  Some were very general and focused only on violations related to email and other Internet filtering issues.  Some only generally referenced the new and emerging web 2.0 tools that students and teachers are now actively using.  While many outlined the ways the AUP could be violated, only some were specific in what the retributions would be if the AUP were violated.
I believe that the AUPs are worthwhile and necessary in ensuring that the proper and legal use of technology and online activity; however, what I keep coming back to is the limitations to fully integrating the myriad of available tools and resources that some of the filtering and AUPs cause.  After collaborating with my colleagues in the Capstone I class, I feel incredibly lucky to be a part of my school system because we do have a wide variety of technology options available and while filtering can sometimes be an issue, there are many sites and resources open to us that are not available in neighboring systems.
This does bring up what is becoming an age-old argument-- that of filtering the information so tightly that students do not have the opportunity to make positive choices because they are never faced with the choice.  I realize that school systems are required by law to filter Internet access, but are we doing an injustice to our students?  We talk about Internet safety; we are required to infuse it into our curriculum.  But in a closed, sheltered environment is much of that conversation trite and unreal?  If the students never have a chance to practice the skills we tell them are necessary to be good "cyber citizens," then what kind of education are we really providing them?  Certainly not a "real-world" experience that is definitely one of the current buzz words and rightfully so.
Similarly, the other CRS's throughout my division and I have been waging a long battle to have student email access.  The filter blocks all webmail, and their active directory accounts have an email account, but it is disabled.  We have been given a variety of reasons why, but it seems archaic to promote "21st century" skills of communication and collaboration when a student cannot electronically converse with their teachers in school, using school system provided resources.
I'm curious when these kinds of disparities will begin to fade.  I know we have come quite a distance, but it seems we still have a substantial journey ahead.

Chickens and Eggs, Teaching and Pedagogy

I just happened upon a fabulously interesting article from the THE Journal while doing some research for my Capstone course. The article discusses this premise: "Why is a generation of teachers more knowledgeable about technology than any before it arriving in classrooms with little understanding of how to teach with it?"  Quite the quandry, it would seem, but the article makes a very good point-- without the the content knowledge, the technology is rendered useless in furthering student learning.  Fortunately, many teacher prep programs across the country are coming to this understanding, and instead of focusing on how to use specific technology applications, the focus has shifted instead to excellent teaching strategies that take advantage of education, following the TPACK method, which stands for technological pedagogical content knowledge. 

The article states it best: "TPACK says that you have to know three things to use technology well. You first have to know the content. It's going to be hard to teach calculus if you don't know calculus yourself. You also need to know the pedagogy associated with that content-- the instructional strategies that will be effective. Finally, you need to know the innovation or technology that you're going to then use."

What I like about this explanation is how it points to the inherent simplicity coupled with the awesome power that comes with being an educational professional. Statements like this quickly quiet those who say anyone can teach or teaching is for those who "can't."  There isn't anything quite the same as an educator who is intentional and committed and passionate and knowledgeable about their content and pedagogy.  When the content and pedagogy is supported by technology, they become unstoppable in the classroom, bringing student learning to greater heights. 

Diversity and Technology

When I was a classroom teacher, I spent time in professional development sessions about multiple intelligences and differentiation, and I knew what it meant to do that for non-technology activities.  Interestingly, I haven't really thought about varying technology activities to serve a variety of students, but after reading this and this, I see that there is a much broader view of technology integration in terms of providing all students with options that fit their learning styles, working strategies, and strengths and weaknesses.

I think we (I am definitely included in this club) get caught up in the excitement of using technology and trying something new in our classrooms, and we forget that all of our students come to us with a diverse set of needs that do not end when a computer is introduced.  A visual learner will be a visual learner in any situation whether there is a computer in front of them or not.  And what is even more important is that technology can provide a learner with an experience, personalized to their needs, to a much higher level than without.  It is important for us to tap into this in the classroom.

Eduscapes has a great Technology and Multiple Intelligences page that is full of links to a variety of resources.  A great place to start is about half way down the page where the nine different intelligences are listed.  The link for each intelligence contains a list of different technology tools and resources that target the intelligence.  For examples of specific lesson ideas that target each intelligence, take a look at this page to get ideas.

Not every lesson or project can target all student diversities each time, but having an awareness of how technology can be used in ways to help students learn better, only benefits the students as a whole.

ISTE NETS-T Certification

I started working on my NETS-T Certification in October-- that may explain the frenzied look in my eyes most days.  But so far, I feel that I have learned more about effective technology integration than I did in all of my master's degree coursework.  I know that from the sweat and tears (and there have already been tears), I will come out on the other side, a better teacher.

I am going to be putting some reflective posts up as part of the class.  I first thought it would be best to do that in a separate space, but I think it would serve a better purpose to keep those posts here.