In flipping through many of the suggested Edublogger websites, I noticed that there were a wide array of interests covered by teachers. Some were using technology to supplement student learning with video games and online language learning and math tutoring sites. Some were relating the issues they were experiencing at school, to their own lives and families. Some were merely tracing the events of their life, with sprinkled in happy teaching moments, when students were particularly engaged or had some sort of "Aha!" moment. Most of the English teacher blogs I looked through were dealing with the issue that David Theune spoke to us about...audience. One teacher mentioned that she didn't necessarily have to go outside the classroom to find an audience that students would help students be more dedicated and work harder to present a good project; she found that audience in their peers.
This English teacher began full-class workshopping in a high school class, which was something that I did not experience until college. This is a workshop where all students are asked to write a particular piece, but only a few student would have that piece workshopped by the entire class. Everyone in the class was expected to read the piece, give physical feedback, and come to class prepared to have a lengthy discussion about how that writer could improve the piece. Students are then asked to revise the piece multiple times, and form small groups where they workshop the various revisions together. In this case, students are motivated to do well because they will be under the scrutiny of an entire group of people, rather than just their best friend who they may or may not be motivated to work well for. In college, I found that this was an excellent strategy that motivated me to produce a first draft that I was proud of, and knowing that I would be expected to change my paper significantly throughout the revision process, made me motivated to revise multiple times and revise well. Some professors that I had would enter the better pieces into writing contests, which was a huge motivator to me, and something that I would suggest to this teacher as an additional motivator or reinforcement for producing great work.
The two Edublogs that I actually commented on, were ones that focused on issues on how to tell the difference between bullying and teasing, and on how to talk to parents about using technology outside of the classroom. The first was interesting to me because I have been experiencing a great deal of teasing in my placement middle school, and I have often wondered whether the teasing is actually just teasing or more severe. According to the article posted on Elona Hartjes' blog, bullying is more explicit than teasing in that bullying is a repeated act performed by an individual who is attempting to make another powerless; in other words, there is an inherent power struggle to bullying. This is why, Teresa Fisher's article notes, negativity directed toward students with disabilities is almost necessarily bullying if it is between a student with a disability and one that does not have a disability. The power struggle is inherent in that relationship, where the student without a disability works to make the student with a disability feel powerless in the relationship. I found this distinction between bullying and teasing to be very helpful in my thinking about how to approach student negativity at school.
The second blog from Bud Hunt focused on using an iPad outside of school. Hunt notes that oftentimes when there is an assignment, students will come up to him and say, "How long does it have to be," to which he responds (to the students' dismay), "As long as it needs to be." We grad students know that answer well. He relates this question to one he finds similar, "How long should I spend on an iPad?" or more often from parents, "How often should my student spend on an iPad?" Hunt responds that the task on an iPad should take nearly as long as the physical task. So, if a student is asked to create a movie, they might have to spend a great deal of time on an iPad to complete that task. I noted in my comment that although length of time and relativity are implicated in both questions, the second is more likely to come from parents who believe that students should not be spending all of their time using technology. Parents are told to limit the amount of time students are spending playing video games and watching TV, and they relate using an iPad to those things. IPads are technology too! Whereas the former question typically comes from students who are actually asking, "How little can I write to get by on this assignment?" There is a struggle here in that a teacher cannot say to parents, students should spend 30 minutes a day on an iPad, but it is also difficult to help parents understand that the iPad is a tool to supplement their learning and might actually make learning more efficient.
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Prezi
There were several Tech Tools in Use presentations that were interesting and informative, but did not present on tools that I found myself likely to use in the classroom, or to supplement student learning. For instance, I presented on Padlet, and although the tool is easily accessible and it makes it possible for many people (teachers, students, educators and the like) to communicate on one screen, it also requires strategic implementation. If I would like students to make use of the Padlet wall, I must be able to expect that they have access to the internet and a device. I may use Padlet to present a wall with particular information in class, but if I wanted to engage with the more interactive aspects of the tool, I would have to find some way to access technology in the classroom. The same can be said for Voice Thread and Socrative. Both require students being able to access technology. Prezi, on the other hand, is used more as a presentation tool, and could be used in the classroom in place of Power Point. The group presenting argued that Prezi is more than just a fancy Power Point, and I immediately disagreed. Prezi seemed to me like a Power Point that made people dizzy, however, after the presentation I thought of some ways to implement Prezi that might be more beneficial for students than a Power Point.
Power Point presentations move only in a linear manner. If one is presenting on a topic that necessarily calls for the use of linearly sequential information, then Power Point is a great tool. For instance, if I was presenting the summary of a narrative for an English class, and it was necessary for me to organize information in a chronological order, a Power Point might be the correct tool. However, if I were to present on a topic that was more relational than sequential, Power Point would still work, but Prezi might offer a more clear and comprehensive method of presenting those relationships. Last week I was teaching my 7th grade students about the ingredients that make up a mystery story, including types of characters, problems, settings, clues, etc. I wanted the students to be able to organize the information in a way where they would see how the topics relate and combine to form a mystery story. In this case, the genre 'mystery' is at the center and characters, problems and clues work together to make up the mystery. Although I could present this information in a Power Point, it occurred to me that it would make more sense to present this information in Prezi, where I would be able to create a presentation that takes the form of a concept map. In this case, the spatial organization of the information is important for student learning and understanding, so Prezi makes more sense.
The group did note that there are some disadvantages to using Prezi including, it might make people sick as it jets around from one topic to the next, it takes more time and thinking to create as you have to be aware of not only the information but the spatial arrangement as well, and it can only be accessed online. Whereas tools like Padlet and Voice Thread seem interesting and useful for me to use once in a while as an option for summative assessments, for students who are interested in and have access to technology, Prezi might be the type of tool that I could implement often as an English teacher. I would not necessarily ask my students to create Prezis, and rather offer it as an option along with Power Point, but I myself could use the tool more than I see myself using Voice Thread or Padlet. I would just have to be careful to move slowly, so as not to make students sick!
Power Point presentations move only in a linear manner. If one is presenting on a topic that necessarily calls for the use of linearly sequential information, then Power Point is a great tool. For instance, if I was presenting the summary of a narrative for an English class, and it was necessary for me to organize information in a chronological order, a Power Point might be the correct tool. However, if I were to present on a topic that was more relational than sequential, Power Point would still work, but Prezi might offer a more clear and comprehensive method of presenting those relationships. Last week I was teaching my 7th grade students about the ingredients that make up a mystery story, including types of characters, problems, settings, clues, etc. I wanted the students to be able to organize the information in a way where they would see how the topics relate and combine to form a mystery story. In this case, the genre 'mystery' is at the center and characters, problems and clues work together to make up the mystery. Although I could present this information in a Power Point, it occurred to me that it would make more sense to present this information in Prezi, where I would be able to create a presentation that takes the form of a concept map. In this case, the spatial organization of the information is important for student learning and understanding, so Prezi makes more sense.
The group did note that there are some disadvantages to using Prezi including, it might make people sick as it jets around from one topic to the next, it takes more time and thinking to create as you have to be aware of not only the information but the spatial arrangement as well, and it can only be accessed online. Whereas tools like Padlet and Voice Thread seem interesting and useful for me to use once in a while as an option for summative assessments, for students who are interested in and have access to technology, Prezi might be the type of tool that I could implement often as an English teacher. I would not necessarily ask my students to create Prezis, and rather offer it as an option along with Power Point, but I myself could use the tool more than I see myself using Voice Thread or Padlet. I would just have to be careful to move slowly, so as not to make students sick!
Friday, October 31, 2014
Tech in My Placement
In all honesty, I am often a bit depressed in class when we go into great depth about how to use all of these really wonderful tools like Socrative, Padlet, Blendspace and Voicethread in our classrooms. The reality, much of the time, is that the technology most simply does not exist to interact with these tools inside the classroom. Additionally, I am placed at a Title I school, so to assume that most students have technology or internet access in their homes, would not be wise. Many students note that they do not have internet at home and therefore need paper copies of documents that their parents need to sign, or of their grades from Power School.
The technology that teachers have access to on a daily basis is rather limited at Scarlett Middle School, although altogether, I think that the technology programs offered to students in the media center is extensive. On a daily basis, teachers have access to an LCD projector in their classrooms, which we make use of every day, and may have access to laptop carts or two computer labs. These labs are often taken up for standardized tests, and it is amazing to me how often our students take standardized tests. I felt as if the first two months of school were mostly dedicated to testing. However, when testing is not going on, it is fairly easy to reserve these rooms. For both laptop carts and the computer labs, there is a google document that all faculty share, and teachers may enter dates and times they will be using laptops or occupying labs. I could see interacting with either laptops or a lab once a week, but so far this year, the only time that my students have spent in the computer lab was for testing. My mentor teacher does not make use of these resources very often.
In the media center, there are about 20 computers, and on these computers there are many software programs to support students like reading and math games, concept map software, Power School to check grades, and software for creative projects like iMovie and Garage Band. Students do not have access to social media or email other than their google accounts on school computers. Additionally, I was interested to find out that each student has a google account, and the majority of them seem to be experts at navigating the basic functions of Google Drive. Over the summer, students were able to share documents with my mentor and myself without much guidance, and seemed familiar with how to find credible information and site sources. It does surprise me, however, that we do not make use of these skills as much in class. Perhaps when we get around to their final assessments for the unit, where students are expected to write a paper or newspaper article, these skills will be called upon. I am also interested to see how my mentor organizes and manages student work on drive.
Generally though, technology cannot be relied upon at Scarlett. Resources are limited and it is sort of lucky to beat all the other teachers to labs or laptop carts, so when I think about using a site like Socrative for quiz-taking, it makes me leery to plan a lesson around that tool when I cannot be sure that technology will be available. Recently I have seen my mentor become more lenient about the use of cellphones and tablets in class because we have had a shortage of books, and as Liz Kolb mentioned in her presentation, cellphones can most certainly be a resource rather than a hindrance in the classroom. I will be interested to see if my mentor and I can think through some useful ways to include cellphone technology in the classroom. We cannot expect that all students will have cellphones, but we can safely expect that one out of three students will.
The technology that teachers have access to on a daily basis is rather limited at Scarlett Middle School, although altogether, I think that the technology programs offered to students in the media center is extensive. On a daily basis, teachers have access to an LCD projector in their classrooms, which we make use of every day, and may have access to laptop carts or two computer labs. These labs are often taken up for standardized tests, and it is amazing to me how often our students take standardized tests. I felt as if the first two months of school were mostly dedicated to testing. However, when testing is not going on, it is fairly easy to reserve these rooms. For both laptop carts and the computer labs, there is a google document that all faculty share, and teachers may enter dates and times they will be using laptops or occupying labs. I could see interacting with either laptops or a lab once a week, but so far this year, the only time that my students have spent in the computer lab was for testing. My mentor teacher does not make use of these resources very often.
In the media center, there are about 20 computers, and on these computers there are many software programs to support students like reading and math games, concept map software, Power School to check grades, and software for creative projects like iMovie and Garage Band. Students do not have access to social media or email other than their google accounts on school computers. Additionally, I was interested to find out that each student has a google account, and the majority of them seem to be experts at navigating the basic functions of Google Drive. Over the summer, students were able to share documents with my mentor and myself without much guidance, and seemed familiar with how to find credible information and site sources. It does surprise me, however, that we do not make use of these skills as much in class. Perhaps when we get around to their final assessments for the unit, where students are expected to write a paper or newspaper article, these skills will be called upon. I am also interested to see how my mentor organizes and manages student work on drive.
Generally though, technology cannot be relied upon at Scarlett. Resources are limited and it is sort of lucky to beat all the other teachers to labs or laptop carts, so when I think about using a site like Socrative for quiz-taking, it makes me leery to plan a lesson around that tool when I cannot be sure that technology will be available. Recently I have seen my mentor become more lenient about the use of cellphones and tablets in class because we have had a shortage of books, and as Liz Kolb mentioned in her presentation, cellphones can most certainly be a resource rather than a hindrance in the classroom. I will be interested to see if my mentor and I can think through some useful ways to include cellphone technology in the classroom. We cannot expect that all students will have cellphones, but we can safely expect that one out of three students will.
The Classroom as a Stage
David Theune's presentation reminded me that a world exists outside of the classroom. I know it sounds obvious, but I think that the purpose we often give for assignments, is that we are providing students with information that will be beneficial to them in completing classroom formative and summative assessments. Often the purpose for these assessments is that, "this is they type of thinking that your teachers will expect in high school or college." In both of these cases, the purpose for the assignment is related to the classroom, the reward comes far later, and students do not see immediate results for the hard work that they do. In the eyes of a student, what is the incentive to work hard? When students are not motivated by college, how do we get them to participate in a meaningful way? How do we make the results of their work immediate and purposeful to their lives?
David Theune looks at these questions in consideration to both creative and analytical writing assignments.
Theune made an interesting point in his presentation, and one that I had not considered previously. Parents are involved in their students' lives in so many ways. They go to theater productions, sporting events or orchestra concerts, but they are hardly ever asked to come into the classroom and view how their children interact with the learning process. I think that this might be why, often, there is a disconnect between what teachers understand as the capabilities and dispositions of some students and how their parents understand their capabilities and dispositions. For the most part, unless invited by the student, parents do not often get a real insight into how their children perform as learners. Theune invites parents into the classroom for culminating events where students read essays to their parents, and more generally, parents may stop by whenever they would like or have time. In this way, the purpose for working hard on the essay is that the audience will not only be the teacher, but someone who is close to the student and who they care to impress.
Audience is the focus of many of the writing activities that Theune performs with his students. He has them participate in community projects, and he has them interact with students in other schools on the internet. According to Theune, audience matters! Students are much more likely to produce a project that they are proud of and put their best work into, if they are deeply concerned with appealing to their audience, or in the case of community work, if they know that their work affects people other than themselves. I found this presentation to be so useful, especially considering that my content area is English, and I often see my students struggling with the question of why the writing they do is purposeful. My mentor teacher often does a project where students each come up with a short story on a topic, and those short stories are compiled into a classroom novel. The novel is published and they may get a copy and copies for others. We are starting this project next week, and I am interested to see whether the work that students produce is of higher quality simply because the audience has changed. I imagine that they will be excited about this work.
David Theune looks at these questions in consideration to both creative and analytical writing assignments.
Theune made an interesting point in his presentation, and one that I had not considered previously. Parents are involved in their students' lives in so many ways. They go to theater productions, sporting events or orchestra concerts, but they are hardly ever asked to come into the classroom and view how their children interact with the learning process. I think that this might be why, often, there is a disconnect between what teachers understand as the capabilities and dispositions of some students and how their parents understand their capabilities and dispositions. For the most part, unless invited by the student, parents do not often get a real insight into how their children perform as learners. Theune invites parents into the classroom for culminating events where students read essays to their parents, and more generally, parents may stop by whenever they would like or have time. In this way, the purpose for working hard on the essay is that the audience will not only be the teacher, but someone who is close to the student and who they care to impress.
Audience is the focus of many of the writing activities that Theune performs with his students. He has them participate in community projects, and he has them interact with students in other schools on the internet. According to Theune, audience matters! Students are much more likely to produce a project that they are proud of and put their best work into, if they are deeply concerned with appealing to their audience, or in the case of community work, if they know that their work affects people other than themselves. I found this presentation to be so useful, especially considering that my content area is English, and I often see my students struggling with the question of why the writing they do is purposeful. My mentor teacher often does a project where students each come up with a short story on a topic, and those short stories are compiled into a classroom novel. The novel is published and they may get a copy and copies for others. We are starting this project next week, and I am interested to see whether the work that students produce is of higher quality simply because the audience has changed. I imagine that they will be excited about this work.
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Bio Connections
I think that Sara, Jesse, Wilbur and Sarah's lesson plan provides a great avenue for students to make use of technology in and out of the classroom. I could see this lesson working really well with a group of students in my placement at Scarlett, much like over the summer. The lesson involves teaching students about different species of trees both through traditional instruction, and a not-so-traditional activity, in which the students go outside, gather photos and data of various trees, and use that information to discover what types of trees they encounter. I think that the lesson is well-balanced in that, the students are provided with adequate information about species, and different ways to identify species prior to going outside to do the work.
I also think that the time constraints will work to the advantage of the educator(s), in that the warm up is a fun/short activity where the students start out activating their prior knowledge of parts of the tree, and the mini-lesson is both short and interactive. These activities keep the lesson moving, and provide the students with adequate information to do the final activity, where they actually get out into nature and move around. I see this lesson as being well-received by students because the majority of it is interactive and keeps the students moving. I think that the final activity benefits from time constraint as well. The students are given a limited amount of time to go out and collect their data, and additionally, they are given "one technology" per group restrictions, and I think that both of these things will keep students on task and diminish the possibility of them using technology for distracting purposes.
Additionally, the final portion of class, after students return to the classroom, is spent using technology to assess whether their identifications of the trees were correct, and to have a whole class discussion to assess how the students responded to the activity and whether they made any interesting discoveries. I like that the assessment for this lesson is a discussion rather than a formal test because I think that a discussion is an appropriate assessment for an activity and their experiences. Students will be much more excited to share the information they found with their classmates rather than do a formal writing or test assessment to show what they've learned. It also seems appropriate for a lesson that is primarily interactive.
Finally, this lesson was adept at providing ways for students to interact with technology. Students use technology when they are taking pictures outside, are provided an opportunity to use smart phones and tablets to look up information about their species, and it is suggested that if time remains, students might be able to put their photos on a smart board to share with the class. I wouldn't have necessarily thought of all of these very useful and diverse ways to integrate technology into the classroom.
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Becoming a Blendspace User
I was really pleased to be assigned Blendspace as the site I would present to others, because it was really easy to be enthused about the opportunities that this site presents. Both EndNote and Google Drive are useful sites for organizing online life for both students and teachers in that both allow you to store documents, organize your documents into folders, upload research, share with students and colleagues, etc. Whereas these two sites function as places to organize your documents and research, Blendspace acts as a forum where digital content is made accessible and easily organized for lesson planning.
The site is super user friendly. When you first enter the site, the front page makes a claim that lessons can be created in under 5 minutes. I did not understand how this was possible, but then when you go in to create a lesson, the site provides several easy drag-and-drop templates. You simply search for digital content, videos, images, audio, etc. from a variety of sites provided on the right side of the page (youtube, google, gooru, opened, educreations, etc.) and drag your desired content to a box to the left. You may then add text, or a quiz to the resource provided. The site also provides a user friendly pop up for creating a quiz, which includes a video tutorial. The string of digital content is combined into a lesson that teachers may share with the community on the site, but more importantly, that they may share with their students. A code is provided so that students may enter the page, view your lesson, and make comments and take quizzes on the information. Additionally, you may keep track of who is viewing your lesson as a way of assessing participants from your classes.
In presenting the site to my fellow students, some questions were asked that I didn't necessarily know the answer to, and required me to take a second look. For instance, we discovered that Blendspace also has a bookmarking tool that you can add to your search bar called "Blendspace It!" So then, if you find a resource outside of Blendspace that you would like to put into a lesson plan, you simply click the bookmark tool while you are on the site and it is placed in Blendspace for you. Additionally, I discovered that, although you are not able to follow individual teachers on the site, if you like a lesson using a heart icon the right side of the screen, that lesson is added to your homepage. Although I wouldn't become reliant on Blendspace for the majority of my lessons, I think that it is certainly a useful tool for differentiating instruction and providing digital content in a way that is easily accessible to all parties involved.
I also like that Blendspace does much of the work of filtering out digital content that would not be appropriate for the classroom context. When I typed in Shakespeare on the youtube tab, I was not immediately bombarded with content that was not educational, like video clips from Shakespeare in Love or something of the like. Most of the content seemed relevant, which saves so much time because, let's be real--how much time do you spend sorting through muck to find something you can actually use? Too much. Nobody has time for that.
The site is super user friendly. When you first enter the site, the front page makes a claim that lessons can be created in under 5 minutes. I did not understand how this was possible, but then when you go in to create a lesson, the site provides several easy drag-and-drop templates. You simply search for digital content, videos, images, audio, etc. from a variety of sites provided on the right side of the page (youtube, google, gooru, opened, educreations, etc.) and drag your desired content to a box to the left. You may then add text, or a quiz to the resource provided. The site also provides a user friendly pop up for creating a quiz, which includes a video tutorial. The string of digital content is combined into a lesson that teachers may share with the community on the site, but more importantly, that they may share with their students. A code is provided so that students may enter the page, view your lesson, and make comments and take quizzes on the information. Additionally, you may keep track of who is viewing your lesson as a way of assessing participants from your classes.
In presenting the site to my fellow students, some questions were asked that I didn't necessarily know the answer to, and required me to take a second look. For instance, we discovered that Blendspace also has a bookmarking tool that you can add to your search bar called "Blendspace It!" So then, if you find a resource outside of Blendspace that you would like to put into a lesson plan, you simply click the bookmark tool while you are on the site and it is placed in Blendspace for you. Additionally, I discovered that, although you are not able to follow individual teachers on the site, if you like a lesson using a heart icon the right side of the screen, that lesson is added to your homepage. Although I wouldn't become reliant on Blendspace for the majority of my lessons, I think that it is certainly a useful tool for differentiating instruction and providing digital content in a way that is easily accessible to all parties involved.
I also like that Blendspace does much of the work of filtering out digital content that would not be appropriate for the classroom context. When I typed in Shakespeare on the youtube tab, I was not immediately bombarded with content that was not educational, like video clips from Shakespeare in Love or something of the like. Most of the content seemed relevant, which saves so much time because, let's be real--how much time do you spend sorting through muck to find something you can actually use? Too much. Nobody has time for that.
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Scratch Fever!
One of our tasks for this week was to play a video game, and make a case for whether or not games are useful resources for teachers, or more generally, if students learn anything from playing games. We've all heard that children who play violent video games are generally more violent. Children who play video games in general waste hours on hours playing mindless games, rather than being productive individuals. Now, I'm not arguing that some do spend countless hours playing video games, and I do not necessarily condone it excessively, especially when it comes to the point that a student's social skills are lacking because they interact with others primarily via video games (my brother is a perfect example) and online. However, I do certainly think that there are merits to video games, and that integrating video games into the classroom can be a useful way to differentiate instruction and engage students.
I played the game Scratch, which is an animation creation game. You start out doing a tutorial where your first character is a cat. You learn that you can make the cat do certain things by dragging a motion, under a motion tab, to the blank script area. You then learn that you can add a sound, you can change the scene, you can change your character, you can make your character change colors by adding an event like "when the down arrow is pressed, the character's color will change," and you can repeat the sequence. The tutorial teaches you that if you have your cat take 10 steps forward, 10 steps back, add a drum beat before, in between and after the steps, and drag a repeat sign around the whole thing, the cat will dance. There are so many ways to combine these motions, sounds, events, etc. into the script to make an animation. The task is to decide how you want your animation to look, and then to create the perfect combination to accomplish your goal. I was hooked, and played the game much longer than I intended to. I was trying to make a dinosaur character dance, while changing color, and to the strumming of a guitar. I had a really hard time getting the sequence right so that the guitar would be playing while the dinosaur was dancing.
In my endeavor with Scratch, I could see many of the ideas presented in Gee's "Good Video Games and Good Learning" playing out. For instance, Gee states, "Players are producers, not just consumers; they are “writers” not just “readers”. Even at the simplest level, players co-design games by the actions they take and the decisions they make." This is true for sequential video games, which is what I think Gee is directly speaking to here, but with Scratch the player is most definitely the producer and a writer rather than simply a reader. The game provides the framework, but the player makes all of the decisions as to how the animation will play out. Gee then makes a suggestion that, beyond gaming, in classrooms students like to have autonomy, such as having a hand in writing their own curriculum, creating and establishing classroom norms, and generally having their opinions be heard and valued. The suggestion here is that, we know that many students enjoy video games, so what is it about video games that engages students? One point Gee is making is that having control/autonomy is important to a video game, and so why not make a classroom more like a video game?
Additionally, gaming provides a safe domain for students to take risks and fail. The Scratch game for me was a trial-and-error process, and I had to problem solve to reach my goal. I believe that if students are provided with a domain in which learning through trial-and-error, or learning from failure, is welcomed and encouraged, then the disposition that "it's okay to fail, just try again," will translate into their daily lives as well. If students are provided with a safe classroom environment that encourages risk-taking, they will be less likely to back down after failure. I think that integrating good video games into the classroom can be an excellent resource for teachers, but even if some teachers are hesitant, not using video games directly, but learning from them and developing an understanding of how students like to think and learn is also very useful.
I played the game Scratch, which is an animation creation game. You start out doing a tutorial where your first character is a cat. You learn that you can make the cat do certain things by dragging a motion, under a motion tab, to the blank script area. You then learn that you can add a sound, you can change the scene, you can change your character, you can make your character change colors by adding an event like "when the down arrow is pressed, the character's color will change," and you can repeat the sequence. The tutorial teaches you that if you have your cat take 10 steps forward, 10 steps back, add a drum beat before, in between and after the steps, and drag a repeat sign around the whole thing, the cat will dance. There are so many ways to combine these motions, sounds, events, etc. into the script to make an animation. The task is to decide how you want your animation to look, and then to create the perfect combination to accomplish your goal. I was hooked, and played the game much longer than I intended to. I was trying to make a dinosaur character dance, while changing color, and to the strumming of a guitar. I had a really hard time getting the sequence right so that the guitar would be playing while the dinosaur was dancing.
In my endeavor with Scratch, I could see many of the ideas presented in Gee's "Good Video Games and Good Learning" playing out. For instance, Gee states, "Players are producers, not just consumers; they are “writers” not just “readers”. Even at the simplest level, players co-design games by the actions they take and the decisions they make." This is true for sequential video games, which is what I think Gee is directly speaking to here, but with Scratch the player is most definitely the producer and a writer rather than simply a reader. The game provides the framework, but the player makes all of the decisions as to how the animation will play out. Gee then makes a suggestion that, beyond gaming, in classrooms students like to have autonomy, such as having a hand in writing their own curriculum, creating and establishing classroom norms, and generally having their opinions be heard and valued. The suggestion here is that, we know that many students enjoy video games, so what is it about video games that engages students? One point Gee is making is that having control/autonomy is important to a video game, and so why not make a classroom more like a video game?
Additionally, gaming provides a safe domain for students to take risks and fail. The Scratch game for me was a trial-and-error process, and I had to problem solve to reach my goal. I believe that if students are provided with a domain in which learning through trial-and-error, or learning from failure, is welcomed and encouraged, then the disposition that "it's okay to fail, just try again," will translate into their daily lives as well. If students are provided with a safe classroom environment that encourages risk-taking, they will be less likely to back down after failure. I think that integrating good video games into the classroom can be an excellent resource for teachers, but even if some teachers are hesitant, not using video games directly, but learning from them and developing an understanding of how students like to think and learn is also very useful.
Sunday, July 20, 2014
Common Core Assessment
As I was saying last time, I'm not comfortable with using standardized tests as a method of evaluating a teacher, but I'm also most certainly not comfortable with using them to evaluate student ability or intelligence. Doing well on the ACT, although perhaps a good predictor of how well you take tests and perhaps a good predictor of your academic skill-set, is not a necessarily a good predictor of how well you will do in college. Being smart and unmotivated is not a good recipe for doing well in college, and standardized tests do not assess your academic dispositions. Additionally, especially as a future English teacher, it seems almost criminal to teach students to the test.
In class we worked with the Smarter Balanced Practice Test, which is modeled after a computer-based test, and accessible by grade level. I chose to work with English at the eighth grade level. Not only was the content particularly difficult, it was also visually disconcerting, and the questions did not test how well students could read and comprehend the passage. The passage was dauntingly long. I know many adults (including myself) who would not have the patience to read through the whole passage, especially for a timed test, and especially for a computer-based tests when you feel like your eyes are bleeding the longer you stare at the screen.
Also, the layout of the test was not pleasant. On the left half of the screen you have the passage, and on the right are the questions which are differentiated in that there are multiple choice, short answer, read the passage and answer the question, etc. It is disconcerting to the eye to have passages on both sides of the screen. It is disconcerting to the mind to have 3-5 different types of questions to answer as well, and especially ones that include passages from the text in which you find the answer. What then, is the incentive to read the passage at all? If I am teaching my students how to pass this test, the message seems to be "do not read anything in depth." Read the questions and locate the answers in the text. The right answers are the goal, not necessarily comprehending the passage. Whereas in my classroom, I would like them to learn how to close-read passages, comprehend using critical thinking strategies, and to actively work with the text to construct meaning. The two are contradicting. How can you do both? And are both necessarily productive for the student?
I also discovered that many students go into test-taking already impeded by outside pressures. In class we performed an activity in which we were asked to respond to an essay question, some could use only their index fingers to type, some only one finger, some could not use spell check and then some had no restrictions. If a student goes into a test believing that they will not do well based on past negative experiences, then it is very likely that they will not be confident taking the test. If a student is hungry, has a headache, had a fight with their mom, or simply does not care about the test, they are restricted in how well they will do on that given day. The likelihood that for every student, the atmosphere and mindset for a standardized test will be just right is an impossibility really. All in all, it seems like the testing system as it is does a disservice to teachers, but most importantly it does a huge disservice to students. Students should be at the center.
In class we worked with the Smarter Balanced Practice Test, which is modeled after a computer-based test, and accessible by grade level. I chose to work with English at the eighth grade level. Not only was the content particularly difficult, it was also visually disconcerting, and the questions did not test how well students could read and comprehend the passage. The passage was dauntingly long. I know many adults (including myself) who would not have the patience to read through the whole passage, especially for a timed test, and especially for a computer-based tests when you feel like your eyes are bleeding the longer you stare at the screen.
Also, the layout of the test was not pleasant. On the left half of the screen you have the passage, and on the right are the questions which are differentiated in that there are multiple choice, short answer, read the passage and answer the question, etc. It is disconcerting to the eye to have passages on both sides of the screen. It is disconcerting to the mind to have 3-5 different types of questions to answer as well, and especially ones that include passages from the text in which you find the answer. What then, is the incentive to read the passage at all? If I am teaching my students how to pass this test, the message seems to be "do not read anything in depth." Read the questions and locate the answers in the text. The right answers are the goal, not necessarily comprehending the passage. Whereas in my classroom, I would like them to learn how to close-read passages, comprehend using critical thinking strategies, and to actively work with the text to construct meaning. The two are contradicting. How can you do both? And are both necessarily productive for the student?
I also discovered that many students go into test-taking already impeded by outside pressures. In class we performed an activity in which we were asked to respond to an essay question, some could use only their index fingers to type, some only one finger, some could not use spell check and then some had no restrictions. If a student goes into a test believing that they will not do well based on past negative experiences, then it is very likely that they will not be confident taking the test. If a student is hungry, has a headache, had a fight with their mom, or simply does not care about the test, they are restricted in how well they will do on that given day. The likelihood that for every student, the atmosphere and mindset for a standardized test will be just right is an impossibility really. All in all, it seems like the testing system as it is does a disservice to teachers, but most importantly it does a huge disservice to students. Students should be at the center.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
John Dewey knows where it's at!
Over the past few days, at least for me, the prevailing concern has been the idea that both students and teachers are subject to evaluation based on standardized tests. A House Bill passed in 2011, and extended upon in the legislation this year, has indicated that student test scores will account for 40% of a teacher's evaluation as effective or ineffective, and additionally that there were loud voices saying that it should account for 100%. Curriculums are designed to meet state standards, to ensure that students are achieving on standardized tests, and additionally to prepare students for college and future jobs. How often do you hear someone say that the purpose of secondary school is to prepare students for college? The sort of one-size-fits-all curriculum that is developed to meet state standards is not effective for all students, and often especially for students who come from generally low-performing districts and districts that lack resources.
John Dewey offers a very different view of what the purpose of school and education is for students. In "My Pedagogic Creed" under the heading "What School Is," Dewey states that he believes school to be primarily a social institution. Everything that I have been learning and reading about teaching students like social justice, social emotional competency, self-care, teaching the whole child, etc. points to the social aspect of education being more important or at least as important as teaching content. Having the ability to interact and collaborate with others is an essential skill both for college and the workforce, and not something that can be quantitatively tested.
Additionally Dewey says, " I believe that education, therefore, is a process of living and not a preparation for future living. I believe that the school must represent present life - life as real and vital to the child as that which he carries on in the home, in the neighborhood, or on the play-ground." Education does not serve the sole purpose of preparing students for a future that oftentimes is not currently relevant to them. I remember I used to say to my mom, "It seems like middle school is useless. It's like I am biding my time until high school when grades actually matter." In my mind school itself was an assessment, and if these grades were grades that no college or employer would ever look at, what was my incentive to do well? To learn? Nah. Then in high school I would say, "It seems like high school is useless. It's like I'm biding my time to get to college when my life actually starts." All in all, I think that my experience, especially my middle school experience, would have been different with the presence of a truly effective teacher who made me and the other students feel like we were valuable and validated our opinions. Or even, a teacher who simply differentiated instruction. Relate the content you are teaching students to daily life, make it explicit, and make it real. Literacy is a part of everyday life, so make it relevant!
In the final segment of his pedagogy Dewey touches on how school can be a part of social progress. His final statements are teacher-oriented, in which he says that teachers are not solely responsible for training individuals but for the formation of a proper social life, and also he states "I believe that every teacher should realize the dignity of his calling; that he is a social servant set apart for the maintenance of proper social order and the securing of the right social growth." I like the idea of teaching as a calling, and also the acknowledgment that becoming a teacher is a step toward social progress and reform, and finally that the teaching profession is a dignified profession. Not everyone can teach. It takes methods, skills, pedagogy and years of application and experience. It is dignified.
John Dewey offers a very different view of what the purpose of school and education is for students. In "My Pedagogic Creed" under the heading "What School Is," Dewey states that he believes school to be primarily a social institution. Everything that I have been learning and reading about teaching students like social justice, social emotional competency, self-care, teaching the whole child, etc. points to the social aspect of education being more important or at least as important as teaching content. Having the ability to interact and collaborate with others is an essential skill both for college and the workforce, and not something that can be quantitatively tested.
Additionally Dewey says, " I believe that education, therefore, is a process of living and not a preparation for future living. I believe that the school must represent present life - life as real and vital to the child as that which he carries on in the home, in the neighborhood, or on the play-ground." Education does not serve the sole purpose of preparing students for a future that oftentimes is not currently relevant to them. I remember I used to say to my mom, "It seems like middle school is useless. It's like I am biding my time until high school when grades actually matter." In my mind school itself was an assessment, and if these grades were grades that no college or employer would ever look at, what was my incentive to do well? To learn? Nah. Then in high school I would say, "It seems like high school is useless. It's like I'm biding my time to get to college when my life actually starts." All in all, I think that my experience, especially my middle school experience, would have been different with the presence of a truly effective teacher who made me and the other students feel like we were valuable and validated our opinions. Or even, a teacher who simply differentiated instruction. Relate the content you are teaching students to daily life, make it explicit, and make it real. Literacy is a part of everyday life, so make it relevant!
In the final segment of his pedagogy Dewey touches on how school can be a part of social progress. His final statements are teacher-oriented, in which he says that teachers are not solely responsible for training individuals but for the formation of a proper social life, and also he states "I believe that every teacher should realize the dignity of his calling; that he is a social servant set apart for the maintenance of proper social order and the securing of the right social growth." I like the idea of teaching as a calling, and also the acknowledgment that becoming a teacher is a step toward social progress and reform, and finally that the teaching profession is a dignified profession. Not everyone can teach. It takes methods, skills, pedagogy and years of application and experience. It is dignified.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)