Week 7 ~ Final Reflection

      In the wake of what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary, I cannot be more proud to be an educator.  I pray for the angels that are now in heaven and their families who are left grieving.  I commend the teachers and staff that did all they could to get students out of harm’s way even if it meant putting their life in danger.  Then there are the responders who have a horrific job by making sense of what happened and being messengers of tragedy.  We must now add another job to our many hats as a teacher…a protector.  With that in mind, I still think I have the best job in the world and in their honor, I am dedicated and motivated to make a difference.

At the beginning of this class, we were asked to reflect on our personal theory of learning.  I stated:

“Learning theories and instructional theories need to mesh together, using components of each, to develop a teacher’s own personal theory and ways of making every student learn.  By researching and trying new strategies, we should continuously teach ourselves new ways of keeping our students engaged and provide meaningful connections to the content.

I also stated that I followed a theory of cognitivism because of my educational training and professional development, understanding how each child processes the information directly impacts what strategies you use to teach the content.  Behaviorism is added to my personal theory because I believe there are ways to reinforce the desired behavior and change negative behaviors in students.  Dr. Michael Orey states that “Learning is what is going on in the mind of the learner” he also calls them “an active learner” (Laureate, 2011a).  This learning is knowledge of content and behavior together by using instructional strategies that are effective.  This course has deepened my knowledge of these theories and made me look at what I am now doing in my classroom.  The difference is when I first learned of these theories; I did not have much class room experience.  You were taught with the pretense of this is what you need to know about teaching.  Now that I am in practice and have developed a style based on those theories, I can now evaluate what I am doing.  With the technology that I have access to, I can integrate more visual elements along with the text and not only with English content but with social studies too.  Sketching a simple map of the trade routes of explorers and having students do that too as well in their notebooks is helping them make connections and remembering the information.  I am a believer in graphic organizers but too many styles can confuse kids as to which one to use for what task.  I have narrowed it down to a couple, with mapping now being in the forefront.  It can be used in story structure, history, writing, and is probably the most universal.

            Since I am a 1:1 computing classroom, the difference I will make in my instruction strategies is to really think through the meaning of the project and not just choose one tool over the next because the students like it but because it is meaningful.  I have already put into practice a few of the technology tools that have been introduced in this class.  The first is the online mapping tool I just mentioned.  Since my students all have Gmail accounts, they can make an account, create a URL, and either email me the link or post it in our edmodo network to me directly or to share with others.  They can also convert it to a PDF and print it for study purposes.  Students love to research the Google Chrome apps and they found Idea Mapper.  I loved that they were trying to research and take ownership of their tools too.  Our Media Center Specialist and our computer lab teacher have introduced both Prezi and Glogster to the students.  They really loved the VoiceThread presentation I made for our writing lesson on genres.  They are now creating their own by using it to introduce the vocabulary words for our weekly stories.  Each slide introduces a word; the text explains the definition, part of speech, syllable break down, prefixes or suffixes, antonyms, synonyms, and a sentence to show meaning.  A picture is included to enhance the meaning.  The student doing the voice over gives each word pronunciation and sound effects if it is applicable.  With the completion of this assignment, I will have a student created presentation to use in my lesson for every story in our reading book.  If I can show my class a new technology tool every quarter, I’ll be happy.  I do not want to overload or teach them about too many and not making them proficient in using that tool.   Dr. Pickering stated, “Strategies are effective only if students become proficient at using them” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011b).  If teachers take the time to instruct students how to use the strategies, then using them will result in greater learning outcomes. 

            Goals as an educator are important to have especially if they are long-term.  Goals show that a person is dedicated to improve themselves and in our case, when we do that, it directly benefits the students.  I am in the middle of reaching one of my goals, to get my Master’s Degree in Education.  Enrolling at Walden has put me on a path that I am passionate about and that is integrating technology in the classroom.  As hard as it gets, I am determined to complete this goal.  I’m in the last couple of weeks of my fifth class, with five more to go, I am amazed at what I have taken away from my courses already.  The difference between me and my undergraduate studies to me now, is experience.  I have put into practice what I have learned in classes, from staff development, from advice from colleagues and from what my students have taught me.  My goal in the next year as I continue through my Walden Experience is to enhance what I am doing, learn new strategies, integrate the new technologies that may not even be available yet and make sure that whatever I am doing is meaningful and appropriate for the content and the best way to present it to my students to make them effective learners. 

            Another goal of mine is to teach other teachers, be an advocate of technology integration.  If I can share new strategies or technology tools with others, it can only help them better themselves and their students.  Since I was a former computer teacher, some of my colleagues still look to me for help.  By being passionate about technology is my personal feeling but I do like to share that with others.  Last week, my principal did her Friday Memo in a VoiceThread presentation after I showed her mine.  I presented this technology tidbit at our faculty meeting.  This goal has two-way benefits.  As I show and share to others, I am also learning from other colleagues as well.  If it isn’t a new tool, perhaps it was a new way to use that tool.  Dr. Orey states that social learning is when “students actively engage in constructing artifacts and conversing with others” (Orey, 2011c).  Teachers should always be  a student themselves. 

 

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011a). Instructional Theory vs. Learning Theory

[Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011b). Program eleven: Instructional strategies, Part one [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Laureate Education, Inc. Orey (2011c). Program eight: Social Learning Theories [Video

            webcast]. Social learning theories. Retrieved from

            http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.e

            college.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

 

Week 5 ~ Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

                Dr. Orey states that social learning is when “students actively engage in constructing artifacts and conversing with others” (Orey, 2011).  The use of technology is aiding students to be not only social in proximity but can also be social in a global sense.  Technology is also integrated in this theory by connecting the learner to information and providing many ways of presenting and sharing both in a local and global sense.  When students are doing this in a group, collaborative learning is taking place when students are having constructive conversations and working together to create a product. 

            My students love to tackle a web quest.  “A well designed web quest task is practical, engaging, and elicits student thinking” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007).  When I taught third grade, South Carolina history, students were asked to research, explore and present a region of our state.  They had choices of ways to present their project and informational web links were provided.  Each group member had a job and they had to report their finding to the rest of the group.  I remember seeing and hearing student helping each other, having conversations about the content and asking for advice on how their part of the presentation was turning out. 

            Today I showed the class voicethread.com.  They are really eager to use it.  We are in the process of writing, illustrating, and publishing books for a neighborhood that feeds into our school that is majority Hispanic families.  The books that our fourth grade students are creating are a product of a collaborative group of three students.  The subjects of these books will be content related on a simplified level and purposeful in teaching English.  The topics of the books will range from community helpers, plants and animals, weather, historical symbols, and many more.  After showing the class voice thread, they had the idea to upload the pages, read the pages and include instructional information.  They said our ESOL and younger grades can learn from these books too if the teacher wants to use them and share with their classes.  All of a sudden, my students want to be writers and illustrators!  You know you have them hooked then you hear classroom content being discussed at the lunch table or at recess! 

 

References

Laureate Education, Inc. Orey (2011). Program eight: Social Learning Theories [Video webcast]. Social learning theories. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

            § Chapter 7,”Cooperative Learning”.                                                                          

 

 

 

 

My voicethread URL:  https://voicethread.com/share/3779206/ 

Next week our school will administer a practice writing test to pre-assess our third-fifth grade students before they take the South Carolina state test (PASS) in writing in March.  We have been learning and practicing the different writing genres.  This presentation is a summary of our notes for them to view as a study guide. 

 

 

 

 

Week 4 ~ Constructivism in practice

I liked the way Dr. Orey deciphered the difference between constructivism and constructionism.  The “v” word refers to the experiences a learner has “unique to the individual’s mind” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011). The “n” word is based on “first hand experiences” or “a theory of learning that states people learn best when they build an external artifact or something they can share with others” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).  The use of technology to provide these experiences is a good tool if the technology fits with the objectives and desired outcomes.  With everything that is available in schools now, the types of projects that students can create is overwhelming.  Dr. Orey suggests using PowerPoint.  It is a great starting point and most schools no matter how light they are in the technology department, I think would at least have access to Microsoft products.  If students know that their work is going to be viewed or shared to others besides me, I have noticed a difference in their motivation, their efforts, and in their pride. 

In this week’s reading about generating and testing hypothesis, I learned that it can be applied to more than science or math content.  Since I teach English / Language Arts and Social Studies, I didn’t see how the chapter could apply to my lessons.  Out of the six tasks, (systems analysis, problem solving, historical investigation, invention, experimental inquiry, and decision making) several of them can be used to promote higher thinking in my content (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007). My concept map from last week on the three branches of government was created after the students analyzed the parts by identifying the elements and purposes in a systems analysis approach.  Many web quests are based on a problem solving tasks where students collaborate to task on a role, solve a problem and present their findings in some type of presentation.  Historical investigation can initiate a great conversation when applied to history’s unanswered or unexplained situations or by changing a variable.  For example, last year I assigned a writing assignment that meshed the elements of narrative writing and incorporated events from American history.   The question they were asked is how the American Revolution could have changed if the technology we have today was present back then.  I had writings of Paul Revere riding a Harley, Ben Franklin using laser printers, Thomas Jefferson using a computer to write the Declaration of Independence, and colonists using Facebook to communicate and look up information for better farming.  In either task, decision making is evident when the student has to figure out how to proceed, organize and determine an answer or present their findings. 

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (2011).Cognitive Learning Theories. Baltimore, MD.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

§  Chapter 11,”Generating and Testing Hypotheses”.

 

Week 3 ~ Cognitive Learning in Practice

               Knowing how students learn is one aspect of teaching but understanding how information is processed is another.  Dr. Orey in our media resource stated that “integrating multiple senses in presentations improves learning” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).  As a teacher, our desired outcome is to have the student process the information we present into their long term memory.  It has to go through a process to get there and another process to recall it. 

            One way to present an engaging learning experience is to conduct a virtual field trip.  So many students lack the experience needed to understand certain concepts.  With budget cuts and lack of resources for families to provide experiences, virtual field trips is an effective way a teacher can bring the experience to the student right in the classroom.  Not only can you bring the student to any place mentioned in your content but you can take them beyond the typical place that it could be impossible to ever visit.  Some examples are to the moon, under the ocean, in a volcano or to other place you can imagine!  The field trip features in our media resource (Laureate Education, Inc. Orey, 2011) not only took the students to the theater where Lincoln was shot but also verified the information presented in their text to the real thing.  Questions asked by the teacher made them think on a higher level by making them come to conclusions based on what they learned and what they see on the trip.  The experience came alive to them when they could make connections to the events and the people involved in the historical event. 

            A unit of study that I am going to implement a virtual trip will be the three branches of government.  If students can make visual connections to the three buildings in Washington, D.C. then I believe the information will make the transformation into long term memory.  Dr. Orey explained Paivio’s Duel Coding Hypothesis (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011) as information being stored as pictures and as text.  With students taking notes, perhaps outlining the information using a concept map, students can connect the information with actual pictures and video.  Using as many senses as possible to connect information to meaning will help students not only store the information but also be able to remember it and apply it to new knowledge and build concepts and make new connections.   

 

 

References

 

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program five: Cognitive learning theories [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollge.com/ec/default.learn?coureid=5700267&cpurl=laureate.ecollege.com&survey=1&47=2594577&clientnodeid=984650&coursenau=0&bhcp=1 .

Laureate Education, Inc. Orey (2011). Program six: Spotlight on technology: Virtual field trips [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Week 2 Application~ Behaviorism in Practice

           There is a need and a place in classrooms for behavioral theories and strategies.  “Behaviorist techniques have long been employed in education to promote behavior that is desirable and discourage that which is not” (Standridge, 2002).  More so now, than ever, this is true.  Kids today are not coming prepared for school in many ways.  How they should behave away from home with other adults who are in authority, other than the parents, is not being taught.  It is now up to the teacher and other adults in the school to provide behavior instruction model it themselves and reinforce it when it is demonstrated.  The general idea behind behavioral strategies is to reinforce the desired behaviors and decrease the undesirable behaviors.  This reinforcement can take place both in a positive and a negative way.  In either case, the desirable behavior increases.  Positive reinforcement can be obtained by adding something the student will find appealing so that the behavior will be repeated.  Students really do want to please the teacher.  In my classroom I demonstrate this by giving praise, smiling, being complimentary, and rewarding when a student does something admirable.  Negative reinforcement is when something is taken away from the student they do not find desirable like homework, recess laps, and assigned seating for example.  The behavior that was demonstrated to earn those incentives will be seen again!   

            At our school, we have school-wide expectations as well as classroom expectations.  The one trait that they have in common is effort.  We have three levels of effort that we report using bimonthly progress reports that go home to parents.  Level 0 is no effort at all.  Level 1 shows minimal effort to accomplish requirements and level 2 is when a student consistently goes beyond the minimal requirement and surpasses what is expected.   The book, Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works, introduced me to an idea of using spreadsheet software so students can measure their own efforts in different classroom categories.  Students have different beliefs as to why they are successful or why others are more successful than they.  By using this spreadsheet, students “can change their beliefs and make connections between effort and achievement” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007).  This activity will make a concrete connection so that id students can see it for themselves, and then the effort will increase.  I have a quote displayed in my room that says “Failing is not an option and there are no excuses.”  The lack of effort is an option that usually coincides with an excuse.  I tell my students from the first day of school that this is unacceptable in my classroom.  Just telling them is not enough sometimes.  I think the spreadsheet idea is a tool I will implement right away!

 

 

References

Palter, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malinowski, K. (2007). Using Technology with Classroom

Instruction that Works. Denver: McREL.

Standridge, M.. (2002). Behaviorism. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on

learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

Week 7 ~ Class Reflection

The last seven weeks have been very enlightening!  I was hesitant about going back to school but I know now it was one of my best decisions yet!  While acquiring two Bachelor’s degrees, my college experience got better as I got older.  I gained more knowledge and was able to relate and make connections, it was more meaningful.  After only one, and my very first Walden online class and looking ahead at future classes, I believe I am going to be a better educator and right now, that is my passion.

Walking into the classroom for the first time as a grade level teacher back in 2009, I brought with me a wealth of knowledge and many years of experience of integrating technology into the curriculum.  In my second year, our school became a participant in the 1:1 Computing program.  It all came together for me.  To some degree I was “putting old wine in new bottles” as Dr. Thornburg said by using online grade books, taking attendance, keeping documents like lesson plans and correspondence on WORD and other Microsoft products.  Some of that is necessary but I was already integrating technology by using interactive software, using streaming media, and becoming a project based, student centered classroom.  My first experiences with web tools have me motivated and excited about the future.  Since our school is becoming more web based, Microsoft Office will soon be a thing of the past.  My excitement has spilled over into my classroom already.  As I have been learning about web tools, so have they.  I set up blogs for our next social studies unit, we have worked on a wiki and a few students helped my with my podcast project.  I then posted the podcast on our edmodo site and now they all want to make one. 

“Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society” was my first class at Walden.  I am completing this class with a deeper knowledge of what type of students are now, and going to keep coming through my door each year.  Our school’s focus this year was knowing your “who”.  An effective teacher knows about each student and what they carry with them, what makes them who they are.  We usually focus on home life, culture, socio-economic status, and learning styles but now we need to also add “digital native” (DN) and what 21^st century skills they possess.   This class has given me a deeper understanding of those students as it relates to technology.  I consider myself to be a “digital immigrant” (DI) myself but I became interested in technology at an earlier age than most DI’s so I made the transformation smoothly.  Typical DI’s conduct their classroom in a teacher centered style.  Students today do not respond to that type of learning if it happens all day long.  When students are put into the center of anything, they respond.  I give them the knowledge to get started, let them ask questions, and give them the guidance to research their own answers.  Much more collaboration is happening at all times of the day.  Students sit in learning clubs for group work but it is also set up if partners are required.  Seating is changed about 4 times a year to give them new perspectives and form new relationships. 

Teachers are life-long learners and we need to teach our students that mentality too.  The world of information and research does not sit still.  Things change over periods of time, both long and short.  What I have learned in my first college experience provides a base of learning and experiences but as time went on and experiences happened, I need to continue to build on or adjust that knowledge.  We also have to accept change, be courageous enough to take it on and with it learn flexibility and patience.  Teachers cannot sit still in the knowledge and ways of today.  We must take any opportunity to grow and continue to learn.  By pursuing my Masters is going to help me accomplish that but it cannot stop there.  Professional development is very important and we have to make time for it even if we aren’t getting paid for it anymore.  It teaching were on an hourly based salary, we’ be wealthy.  I didn’t become a teacher to be rich; I discovered a passion for teaching late in life but still not too late where I can’t make a difference in my students’ lives.  It is my responsibility to continue to learn and grow so I can be effective and prepare them for an unknown future.

Goal setting is important.  Our evaluations at my school are goal based.  I set up reading, assessment, and behavior goals for my students.  One of my goals for my classroom is to include the traits and behaviors of a digital native in my getting to know my students from the start of the year.  I was aware of these traits but before they didn’t really fit in with what was going on in the classroom.  I was fighting them instead of using them.  I know now that what the DN brings to the classroom very useful and the way I teach material and concepts needs to engage these types of learners.  Assignments and projects need to complement and enhance the digital native.  Another goal will be to be more efficient and effective using web tools and sharing that knowledge to my students and other faculty members.  With our Chrome Book computers, there will be lots of changes in the way we do things next year.  I don’t just want to use technology to do the same things only in different ways but I do want to do new things too.  By the looks from my new text books for my next class, I can see that I have only touched the tip of what I’m about to learn and achieve here at Walden Online.  Thank you, Dr. Calvin, for guiding me as I begin this educational journey.

Week 5 ~ Podcast

Week 5 Podcast

The project above took some thinking, collaborating, and effort.  It was my first ever attempt at creating a podcast.  It's a little rough, but I think I covered the requirements.  It is something I am going to keep trying to improve on.  When I do have a solid understanding, I will definitely implement it in the classroom.

I administered a survey to my students that asked questions about their experience with computers, what they think about computers, and about their learning environment. 

All but 2 students in my class have a computer at home.  One other has a computer, but no Internet service.  A majority of the students have used a computer at school from kindergarten or 1^st grade.  (If they were at my current school, then it was from kindergarten.)  When asked about usage, they all answered that they use them every day at school and a majority at home.  Every combination was mentioned, individually, in pairs, as a whole class, and in small groups. 

When asked about learning about the computer, when it came time to figure out a new game, almost all students said they do not need any help in figuring out how to play.  But often times when they have a new assignment on the computer, all of a sudden that drive to figure it out by themselves diminishes. 

I also asked if their good grades are a result of using technology.  The high students said they probably would have straight A’s anyway bit it makes learning more fun and they accomplish tasks faster.  The middle level students find using technology very helpful.  And my lower end kids say it can help them a lot because they stick to it more.  If it was a paper and pencil assignment, they do not put out as much effort.  Interesting!!!