The Introduction to Blended Learning and Online Teaching course has had a positive influence on me as an educator. The course has allowed me to collaborate with peers and see many different facets of education in the 21st century. I have learned valuable tools that I have been able to and will continue to be able to utilize in my classroom.
This course is just and introduction and to me it has done just that. It has become an introduction to further exploration into the key philosophical viewpoints that this course had brought up briefly. I can bring the knowledge of tools back to my corporation to share but more importantly, I can take the lead in asking the tough, guiding questions that need to be asked. We need to plan with foresight proactively when looking into what is best for our students rather than planning re-actively.
I will be taking on leadership roles next school year in planning for teaching a segment of the teachers on how to appropriately and effectively use technology in our role in remediation and everyday teaching. This course has opened my eyes to different viewpoints and uses for technological tools that I will be able to use on a daily basis. I hope to continue to learn and utilize the resources provided during this course to seek out this continuing education through collaboration and exploration.
Monday, May 26, 2014
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Tracking Cyber Sasquatch-Digital Footprint of Adam Clark
Not surprisingly, there are several Adam Clark's in the world. When simply Googling my name, I do not show up on any of the 18 pages. The only thing that remotely links to me is a link to Facebook and LinkedIn where you can peruse through 617 Adam Clark's to find me. When Googling "Adam Clark Indianapolis," you would have to go to page 10 to find information about mt attendance at an iPad conference. I know employers are thorough, but with so many candidates, I have my doubts about how willing they are to go through page after page and link after link in order to dig up information. Luckily for me, there are no red flags that will show up but also nothing to promote myself to my potential employer.
With such a common name and overall nonexistent search results I have work to do to create a positive digital footprint. A lot of the work that I have done in my career that would provide a digital footprint was at my previous employer that was a small rural school with very little digital presence and at a time when the internet was used mostly to research browse, shop, and email. For me to improve my footprint, I will need to become more involved in activities and projects that are noteworthy and hopefully successful. This will take time but slowly I can add to my footprint one activity at a time and hope that it somehow registers as a blip on the Adam Clark Google radar.
As for students, this is where the digital footprint becomes vitally important. These students are growing up in a time period where their every action digital or physical, can show up for the entire world to see. Not only do the students need to be cognizant of what they post and reveal to the world via social media. They also have to be aware about what can be revealed beyond their control. Pictures, video, and descriptions of actions or activities can be posted at any time from anywhere by anyone. Nearly everyone always has a camera that can record video, sound, and images with access to the internet. These students live in a world where anything they do or say can become public knowledge. Anything they do during the formative years can be used against them when they are 25, 30, or even older. They will have a written record of their mistakes and growing pains on full display. We need to teach them to be aware of the digital responsibilities and to approach everything with maturity. It basically comes down to making the right choices and knowing the possible consequences.
Not everything about being in this digital world with an increasing probe on our everyday lives is a negative. Students today have ample opportunities to create positive digital footprints that were not around when I was growing up. If you were lucky, you made it in the newspaper for an achievement or activity when I was growing up. People might read it that day or that week and then the paper was recycled or thrown away. Today, that information is archived and available online. Potential employers may be able to see the activities and the positive change that you made to your school and community. In order to help as teachers, we need to continue to foster growth through positive opportunities for students to showcase their leadership, determination, intelligence, and abilities. These students have amazing opportunities but it is up to them how they will be viewed. When viewing their digital footprint will they be the shining star, the beacon of light that the search results are drawn to that emit a positive gleaming beam? Will they be the dark shadow, every word sucking the life out of every job possibility? Or will they be like me, the Great Cyber Sasquatch, where even with an extensive search, you only find partial footprints and unverified stories about the existence of their digital footprint? The choice is up to the students and the support group around them to make their footprint a positive one that will enable them to be successful and at the top of every employer's want list.
With such a common name and overall nonexistent search results I have work to do to create a positive digital footprint. A lot of the work that I have done in my career that would provide a digital footprint was at my previous employer that was a small rural school with very little digital presence and at a time when the internet was used mostly to research browse, shop, and email. For me to improve my footprint, I will need to become more involved in activities and projects that are noteworthy and hopefully successful. This will take time but slowly I can add to my footprint one activity at a time and hope that it somehow registers as a blip on the Adam Clark Google radar.
As for students, this is where the digital footprint becomes vitally important. These students are growing up in a time period where their every action digital or physical, can show up for the entire world to see. Not only do the students need to be cognizant of what they post and reveal to the world via social media. They also have to be aware about what can be revealed beyond their control. Pictures, video, and descriptions of actions or activities can be posted at any time from anywhere by anyone. Nearly everyone always has a camera that can record video, sound, and images with access to the internet. These students live in a world where anything they do or say can become public knowledge. Anything they do during the formative years can be used against them when they are 25, 30, or even older. They will have a written record of their mistakes and growing pains on full display. We need to teach them to be aware of the digital responsibilities and to approach everything with maturity. It basically comes down to making the right choices and knowing the possible consequences.
Not everything about being in this digital world with an increasing probe on our everyday lives is a negative. Students today have ample opportunities to create positive digital footprints that were not around when I was growing up. If you were lucky, you made it in the newspaper for an achievement or activity when I was growing up. People might read it that day or that week and then the paper was recycled or thrown away. Today, that information is archived and available online. Potential employers may be able to see the activities and the positive change that you made to your school and community. In order to help as teachers, we need to continue to foster growth through positive opportunities for students to showcase their leadership, determination, intelligence, and abilities. These students have amazing opportunities but it is up to them how they will be viewed. When viewing their digital footprint will they be the shining star, the beacon of light that the search results are drawn to that emit a positive gleaming beam? Will they be the dark shadow, every word sucking the life out of every job possibility? Or will they be like me, the Great Cyber Sasquatch, where even with an extensive search, you only find partial footprints and unverified stories about the existence of their digital footprint? The choice is up to the students and the support group around them to make their footprint a positive one that will enable them to be successful and at the top of every employer's want list.
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Curating Efficiently
Susie spent hours collecting and curating resources for her upcoming unit on cells. She is able to successfully use much of what she has found when implementing her plans.The following year, when it is time to begin the unit on cells again, Susie forgets about the resources she curated. She essentially starts from scratch, performing the task of searching, saving, and sorting once again.
There are many options for Susie to save time and create better lessons that motivate and inspire her students. As previously mentioned, Symbaloo is a great option to create a webmix of online resources. Pinterest is also a popular tool to use and both it and Symbalo are able to shared with teachers and students.
If Susie is not comfortable with various web 2.0 tools, she could always create folders on a flash drive or computer. She could even create a binder with materials labeled by unit. No matter what method she prefers, the importance is creating a system that is efficient and purposeful. Time is something that we can never get back. Once it is spent, we can never get those minutes, hours, and seconds back. We always have to take time away from something else in our lives to make up for that lost time. Susie should save time and curate efficiently so that she does not waste precious time each year.
Monday, March 31, 2014
Daniel Pink's Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose
Traditional U.S. education methods focus on squashing creativity, individuality, and autonomy. The assembly line factory approach of creating learners is still highly prevalent in the methods and structure of today's classrooms. Autonomy is not rewarded and questioning purpose is frowned upon and considered insubordination. Students are considered subjects and the teacher controls all power in the classroom, traditionally. In order to truly transfer the ideas that Daniel Pink is suggesting requires a paradigm shift in the classroom.
In order to allow students autonomy, it needs to be taught. Letting the students have control without guidance will not be successful because historically they have not been given this. Amanda Fisher referenced this in the introduction video. It will take time for them to become comfortable since they have been spoon fed and told what is and what is not acceptable for so long. A simple way that teachers do introduce autonomy is by providing choices on simple projects. The RAFT (Role, Audience, Format, Topic) strategy has been popular for awhile and is a minor introduction for introducing more autonomy in the classroom. Given a open ended theme or idea, the students have control over the various elements that the project involve.
With required standards, it is nearly impossible to give students control of what is taught, but they should have some control of how they receive this information. Present a variety of multimedia that they can access to get the information. Provide mini-lessons that offer the same content that can accessed differently such as either podcasts, written, videos, and more hands on approaches, if possible. There are many other possibilities to increase autonomy in the classroom. It just takes some time for both teacher and student to become comfortable with the new approach.
I feel in order for students to truly gain mastery, the content needs to be relevant to them. If it is not relevant, then the information will not stick with the student. They will just learn it to pass a test and forget it and move on. If you think back to your days in high school, what sticks with you? Was it the math unit that you scored an A on or was it a lesson or idea that you felt connected to? You may not have received an arbitrary grade that showcased mastery in this lesson but you felt invested in it. Having meaningful content that students feel is relevant to them and their lives will help foster mastery. If they know the purpose for completing the tasks and learning the information, they will become more personally invested. Some content areas are easier to make relevant than others, but that should at least be the focus.
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Cool Tools- Khan Academy
One tool that I find incredibly useful and user friendly is the Khan Academy app and website. Khan Academy is available to download from iTunes App Store, Google Play, Android, and also able to be accessed online. Khan Academy offers online videos, examples, and other materials that cover several subject areas. Khan also allows students to earn points and badges along the way and provides instant data to teachers about their students' progress.
Currently, I utilize Khan Academy for supplemental practice and provide students information to review and gain a deeper understanding of the material in their classes. Students can also access the videos from home if they need additional help while away from school. I also plan to use Khan Academy during math remediation to provide additional practice materials and to track student progress. Through the use of Khan Academy, the students can move through the content at their own pace and can focus on what they need to work on. I feel that Khan's Academy would fall under the modification level of the SAM-R Model when used appropriately as a supplement to instruction.
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Technology Integration Matrix
Based on the Technology Integration Matrix, (TIM), I would rate myself in the adaptation/infusion area and the class environment would most likely fall under collaboration/constructive. As a special services teacher, I am not a traditional role. I am not currently teaching core classes where I am planning and delivering the curriculum. My role is to help foster growth and facilitate the students mastery of the learning objectives. Due to this, I am not always able to use technology in ways that are authentic and innovative. I need to find student centered resources and activities to meet the objectives outlined in the students' courses as well as prepare them for future success. I also need to find better opportunities to allow my students to prosper and take ownership of their education. I feel that I can do a better job at providing meaningful uses of technology to my students that are engaging, authentic, and goal driven.
Monday, February 17, 2014
Moving Mindsets
In order for instruction to evolve and grow to help foster students in the 21st century, policy and policy makers need to evolve and transform as well. Many schools believe in ideas like Relevance, Rigor, and Relationships. While the intent of this theme this might not be that students need more homework, many schools perceive this ideology as meaning just that. That is the easiest way out to justify rigor. Rather than focusing on quality, schools focus on quantity. As a teacher, I only have as much control over my classroom as my district will allow. If I teach a course that has common curriculum with other teachers it is difficult to make sweeping changes.
However, we can make incremental progress by making minor steps towards changing the culture of our classrooms. Allowing students to submit their assignments in a variety of different mediums and formats for credit. Finding creative ways to reach every student should be the goal of every teacher. Moving away from the black and white idea regarding homework of do they have it done or right or do they not. If the students do not have it done, what are we doing to ensure they either acquire the skills from the assignment or find an alternate means to gain it? If the homework was not so vitally important for all students to do it, then why was it assigned? This is the mindset that needs to change. We need to stop being concerned with the status quo and become flexible in ensuring that all students are acquiring knowledge in some way rather than sticking to the tried and true method of assigning homework and grading homework. We need to stop passing over the students that are not doing the work and find a way to meet them where they are at and make sure they gained some knowledge from the assignment. It may be picking a sampling of the most important pieces of the assignment or focusing on one major aspect that you wanted them to learn but having them show their knowledge in a different way. Quality over quantity should be the focus. The real rigor is ensuring every student is working to acquire skills and knowledge. Rigor is not gained by completing pile after pile of homework that teachers do not analyze and does not display actual knowledge gained.
However, we can make incremental progress by making minor steps towards changing the culture of our classrooms. Allowing students to submit their assignments in a variety of different mediums and formats for credit. Finding creative ways to reach every student should be the goal of every teacher. Moving away from the black and white idea regarding homework of do they have it done or right or do they not. If the students do not have it done, what are we doing to ensure they either acquire the skills from the assignment or find an alternate means to gain it? If the homework was not so vitally important for all students to do it, then why was it assigned? This is the mindset that needs to change. We need to stop being concerned with the status quo and become flexible in ensuring that all students are acquiring knowledge in some way rather than sticking to the tried and true method of assigning homework and grading homework. We need to stop passing over the students that are not doing the work and find a way to meet them where they are at and make sure they gained some knowledge from the assignment. It may be picking a sampling of the most important pieces of the assignment or focusing on one major aspect that you wanted them to learn but having them show their knowledge in a different way. Quality over quantity should be the focus. The real rigor is ensuring every student is working to acquire skills and knowledge. Rigor is not gained by completing pile after pile of homework that teachers do not analyze and does not display actual knowledge gained.
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