Professional Development Presentation

I was excited to present to the 2nd grade teachers at Freedom this past week. I created a tutorial that I narrated demonstrating how to create a KW chart using Kidspirations software. I was happy with the discussion that came from the demo. The teachers were brainstroming ideas on how they would be able to use this software in their classes. They thanked me for taking the time to introduce the software to them. It was at that point in the conversation where I asked them about training and the software the that district has available. They do not receive training. It is not offered to them. I then thought back to my interview I had with the head of the technology department in the Spring. He painted this beautiful picture of how the district is on top of technology. Taking a closer look, I guess they just have the hardware and software because they no longer have a technology implementation type person in the schools to assist the teachers in finding meaningful ways to use technology to enhance their lessons. They do have a media specialist in the library who is very knowledgeable but not available to assist the teachers in planning. This does not make sense to me but I guess this is reality in many of the districts. I felt like I had contributed something when I left the building that day and it made me curious about companies that offer training sessions for teachers. Just wondering if any of my fellow classmates have been apart of any of these sessions and if it makes sense financially to go outside the district to get the technology training. In order to meet the state standards in technology the teachers need to be trained so they can bring it to their students.

Final Project

Well, my final project is just about complete. I just have my professional development portion left. I will presenting a Kidspiration lesson to some teachers and demonstrate how to create a KW chart. I will also provide and example of how to incorporate it into their lessons.

I feel that the teachers will benefit from this professional development session because they are not currently utilizing technology in their classrooms as much as they could be. This will hopefully build their confidence to attempt bringing this software program into some of their lessons as well as give them ideas on how to incorporate it into their curriculum. Each classroom in the school has an overhead projector that is linked to the classroom PC which makes class activities using Kidspiration an easier task. The only other alternative they have for computers is a cart of laptops that the entire school shares. There is no technology person on staff in the school or district so the teachers have no one to go to for ideas on how to implement technology into the curriculum. I will be happy if I can get some if not all of the teachers I meet with to at least try the software with their class and see how easy it really is to implement technology.

Collaborative Learning

In my research this week on collaborative learning I have found several different types that I would like to list here and briefly describe:
Fishbowl -Teams of 3 or 4 work on a problem or exercise at the same time. Other teams of 3 or 4 observe the first teams. First teams focus on each others points of view by focusing on listening and paraphrasing of ideas.Second team focuses on how the first team functioned together, as a whole, to solve their problem.
Pairs Check - Teams of 4 work in pairs. One member works on a problem while the other coaches. Second member works on a problem while the other coaches. The pairs then check the answers with members of the same team.
Teams Check - Teammates help each other understand answers so that anyone on the team can answer the questions.
Jigsaw - This is for reading. Split the reading material into 3 or 4 parts. Divide the class into the same number of groups and give them the reading material. After they read it they explain it to their group. Then they break apart and explain what they read to another group.
Think pair share - Students think about a question then pair off and discuss with a classmate then share with the class
Think pair square - Same as think pair share only students share with another pairs of students
Word webbing - students as a team or individual construct a concept map within a specific topic. If this is done in teams, team members should use different colored pens to easily define who wrote what.

Social And Educational Networking

This post is in response to the article that Craig sent out regarding social and educational networking. As I first began reading the article I noted that Microsoft, Verizon and Newscorp were supporting the study. This made me wary of the study I was about to read. I was predicting that the report would strongly favor the use of technologies in the classroom for both socializing and education. I was right. They surveyed children ages 9-17 to find out what they do on these social networking sites. 59% of the students who took the survey discuss education and school work. What the study does not show is how many students in each age responded. I have several nieces and nephews who are on Facebook and are in high school. None of them use the site for anything but social networking. Posting pictures of friends and poking fun at one another. There is never discussion about schoolwork. These sites are great for recreation outside of school where they can post and share music and videos. I am still having a hard time accepting this and other forms of messaging for classroom use unless there are strict guidelines put in place. I have spent some time with the tech people in the Plainfield school district. They are monitoring every keystroke on every computer in the high schools. They have monitoring devices that notify the tech of a user trying to access a blocked site as well as students who try to get into a site through the back door. The technology that is available is mind blowing. Although the article was informative it did not sway me to bring all technology into the classroom.

Technology in Schools

After reading and discussing the Technology in Schools report I have become more aware of what should be included in good technology integration. Below is the list of the types of technology learning:

• Automaticity
  
• Content Expertise or knowledge
• Information processing and visualization
• Higher order thinking and sound reasoning
• Authentic learning

I need to keep these types of learning in mind while editing my Teaching Guide and developing my lessons. It is important to remember that all of these pieces should be contained in a Curriculum Unit. By taking one or two of these ideas and applying it to an individual lesson, it will make the task much more manageable.

Now I am onto thinking about my next assignment, collaborative groups. I need to work with my partner, Sarah and define this pedagogical approach and then discuss what makes it useful and when is a good time to use this approach and when is a good time to steer away from it. We will also develop a sample lesson to show how this approach could be applied in a classroom.

Pedagogical Approaches

In our last class we discussed the meaning of pedagogy. Pedagogy is the teaching style that one chooses. We researched 6 different pedagogical approaches and ranked them in order of preference. As we researched the different approaches we realized that several of them went hand in hand so it made it difficult to order them. I have a clearer understanding of my pedagogy in the classroom. I prefer to have the students work in groups where they can collaborate with their peers and exercise their social skills. I also feel this type of approach allows for problem solving with peers. It provides an open arena for students to talk out loud and have discussions that hopefully will lead to deeper thought processes. I also believe that children are more willing to be involved in learning if they can take an active role instead of sitting back and listening to a teacher lecture. Now that I am thinking more about this I think I need to reorder my list. I think several of these approaches fall under constructivism. It is under this approach that the others build from. In order to demonstrate the constructivism approach one needs to think about the thinking process that will take place during the activity and ensure that the students will be able to assess their own learning once the lesson is completed.

Meaningful Learning with Technology

As we discussed meaningful learning in our last class I was trying to keep my final project in mind to ensure that when I meet with the classroom teacher from Freedom Elementary I will be ready to suggest some meaningful technology activities.

What I was wondering about after class is how is technology currently being implemented into classrooms? Are the teachers being trained or exposed to technology enough to be able to create a meaningful technology lesson for their students? My first thought is that as long as their students are working on a computer they are getting their technology lesson so the activity might just be playing a game on the computer with no real connection to any subject that the student is currently studying. It is something the teachers have to do and may not necessarily put in the time to create a valuable lesson because they may not have the knowledge to do so.

I will be meeting with one of the Second Grade teachers on Monday morning to find out how she is currently using technology in her classroom. The only information I have at the moment is that there is no computer lab rather a media cart that houses 30 or so laptops which travels from classroom to classroom. I am eager to see what she is doing and how often she is able to bring technology into her classroom and lessons. I will do what I can to be sure that the lesson will connect to the students prior knowledge. I will also plan to have a lesson that will have an influence on the students values and everyday life. When the lesson is over I will need to measure the students understanding as well. I am hoping this will be a valuable learning experience for the two of us as teachers and also for her students.