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.

Coffee, Cookies, and Conversation

My goal after the new year is to begin a conversation that starts with a cup of coffee and some cookies. I have often held optional training sessions that look familar-- a small group of teachers in my lab, sitting at a computer, looking at the projector, maybe leaving with a new idea from what I had to offer.  But lately, I have been feeling like there is a need for something more.  Something more meaningful and more regular and when you add coffee and cookies to the mix, so much more comfortable!

My thought is to start a learning series that is established through educational professionals in the building sharing conversations.  It will not be a vent session or a formal training session.  I envision it more like a coffee house (minus the trendy couches and jazz music... well, we may be able to do something about the music...).  I would like to see us sharing with each other about what has worked and what has not worked in our classrooms.  I would like to share great technology ideas (minus the "training" feel) and other effective classroom strategies (such as Kagan, etc.) so that we can begin to grow together effectively as a building and become better educators.

I feel something like this could complement the PLC process that is in its early stages quite nicely.  Through the conversations had in this learning series, I can see the beginnings of the conversations that would occur in our PLCs. It will be interesting to see if this informal environment of teachers gathering to share best practices and enjoying professional conversations would generate more interest than any of my former optional training sessions. 

I'm hoping to get this off of the ground in January!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vizzzual-dot-com/2849856597/sizes/s/#cc_license

Introducing the Tech Center Technology Wiki!

Yesterday the Tech Center Technology wiki that I mentioned earlier made its debut at the Tech Center. It will always be a work in progress, but it has enough information to be useful to any technical and career education teacher. Check it out and forward it along to those who may find it useful. My hope is that one day it becomes a collaborative effort from many different schools, so we can continue learning from each other and exploring new worlds!

Tech Center Technology Wiki

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kassarar/ / CC BY-ND 2.0

Technology Wiki

I am in the process of creating a wiki that will house information about technology tools and how they can be used at not only the Tech Center, but also any technical school. I began the school year by sending out a tool of the week to my teachers via email, but I wanted a way to showcase several tools in one place, so teachers could browse and find ideas that would pertain to where they were at that point in time. Also, emails get deleted, ignored, or lost, so I thought this would be a great way to present the information permanently! In the wiki, I give specific ideas for each program area to hopefully get thinking going for how a tool can be used. I know I didn't see how technology tools could be used here initially, so by providing concrete ideas, I hope to stimulate creativity. My longterm goal is for this to be a tool for my teachers and any career and technical education teachers to use as a resource. It's only in the beginning stages now, but I am very hopeful that it will be a useful tool in helping me integrate technology. I also see that it could be a collaborative effort across the building and across different schools. I would like other schools and educators to be contributors by reflecting on what has worked, what needed tweaked, and suggesting new tools and ideas.

I will post the link soon, so be on the lookout!

Glogster

I first heard about Glogster last year, and I have been looking forward to getting a class to try it out. I presented student samples at our professional development session in August, and I finally was able to design a project for our Early Childhood students. The longterm goal of this project is that it will be accessible by the preschool parents once we get our preschool wiki up and running. It turned out the be a great experience for the students as well as the teachers, who are now really excited at witnessing the power of technology like this in the hands of their students.

Glogster is a free, web-based program that is used to create "glogs" or the equivalent of a digital poster. This innovative tool can contain video, sound, pictures, and text. It allows the students to be creative with backgrounds, colors, fonts, and graphics, and it can be about any topic, so it is perfect for a diverse school like the Tech Center! Plus, there is now an educational side, so a teacher can create a main account and student accounts that are all visible from the teacher login. And most importantly, it is easy to manage and safe to use.

The Early Childhood students just finished learning about two important play centers: sensory and block building, and rather than testing them through a traditional assessment, we decided to create a peformance-based assessment using Glogster. The students worked in pairs to choose their topic and complete their final products that consisted of:

1. One video, created using the Flip camera, explaining and demonstrating a developmentally appropriate practice in either block building or sensory play. The audience was the parents of our preschool children. The topic was how they could use block or sensory activities at home with their child to promote cognitive, social-emotional, and physical growth. This video was no longer than one minute in length.


2. Three pictures from the picture bank provided of preschoolers and student teachers in sensory and block buildling play activities. The pictures were to have a caption that described what was happening in the picture, how the activity was developmentally appropriate, and how the activity fostered cognitive, physical and social-emotional development and growth.


3. Recordings of the caption for each picture using http://www.vocaroo.com/.


4. A list of specific ideas for block building or sensory play at home.

We gave the students the freedom to pace themselves and work on the project in any order they wanted. The level of learning, engagement, and creativity was amazing because the students knew they had a real audience, the preschool parents, and because they were put in charge of the learning process. The project covered many 21st century skills, and the students stayed focused and engaged for the entire 2.5 hour classtime. The best part is that a project like this can be transferred to any classroom in any school.

Take a look at few examples:

Sensory Play

Block Building

Happy Glogging!