My MACUL Experience

In anticipating this event, I thought that I would learn more about tools that I am already familiar with, and be introduced to new ways to use them in the classroom. This was true for a portion of my experience. I sat in on a presentation about providing constructive feedback, in which the presenter was talking about using Google drive. She informed viewers that there is a research tool on Google docs and slides that allows you to search for information and photos in a sidebar, and when you insert these photos or information, they are automatically cited at the bottom of the page. This would be useful for my middle school students, the majority of whom are unclear when they need to be citing information. 

However, during this event, I also encountered a number of new tools and practices that I would like to try to work with and perhaps implement. For instance, one presenter talked a little about Lanshark, which is a site that allows an administrator type to manage the screens of all students in the classroom. The administrator has the power to freeze the screens of students who are not working, as well as redirect them to where they should be. When students are working on computers in my classroom, there is often a great deal of off-task behavior (youtube, games, etc.) and I think that having something like Lanshark would deter much of this behavior. 

Although math is not my content area, I sat in on a presentation from a math teacher's perspective on how to incorporate differentiation in the math classroom. She talked about Menus, which are projects that students work on throughout the semester that have 3 layers. The 'C' layer asks students to perform the bulk of the cognitive work of learning how to perform a particular math skill. The 'B' layer asks students to apply that knowledge, and the 'A' layer asks students to create a project (film a video, build something, etc.). 

Additionally, each layer has several sections, and students must perform one task from each section to complete that layer. This presentation was about math, but I could just as easily see using Menus to teach literary concepts or as a reading guide. It was amazing to see some of the work her students were able to come up with, and I think that much of it was because they were able to choose the activities they were most interested in. One student created a stop-motion video, for which she said that she had to take over 700 screenshots and put them together. When students are motivated, they will produce amazing pieces of work. This work may not have been possible had the teacher assigned every student the same project, and certainly would not have been possible if she followed the notes-homework-test style of teaching math. 

Altogether I learned about a number of tools and practices that I had not come across, and am interested in researching and implementing when I have time. I also saw a number of presentations from impassioned individuals, who reminded us that all of this is really about students. It was really a great experience. 

Technology Teach-In: Google Forms

Teachers (mentors and interns) at my placement are teaching a genre study Science Fiction unit in the coming weeks. This unit is pretty novel and exciting considering that Scarlett, along with Mitchell Elementary and Huron High School are moving toward accepting the IB framework, and this is the first lesson being planned using the IB unit planner and framework. It is exciting because it is new, but most especially because the IB framework is fundamentally student-centered. From what I understand, not having been to the training like my mentor teacher, International Baccalaureate schools use an inquiry-based approach to education. Students are at the center of this inquiry, and these are classrooms in which lessons are based on student developed inquiry questions and interests. Some teachers are apprehensive about this move, and I think that those apprehensions are primarily linked to a feeling that in a student-centered approach, teachers lose some of their control. Teachers move from being student-directors to facilitators of student learning, and oftentimes act as cooperative learners along with students. 

Part of the IB unit planner insists on students becoming more globally conscious both in their thinking, and in their use of technology to connect with and research various perspectives. In thinking about this "Tech Teach-In" assignment, I considered that technology could be entirely useful for this unit because it supports the IB framework, supports one of the major themes of Science Fiction in which there is generally futuristic technology that both positively and negatively affects a protagonist, and provides students an avenue to research and explore their own perspective as well as the perspectives of others. 

I am not the lead-teacher on this unit, however the role that my mentor teacher and I have discussed me playing in this unit, is acting as facilitator of student reflection through technology. We have signed out the computer labs for both Wednesdays and Thursdays throughout the five weeks of the unit. Students will use Google Forms two ways. One way will act as a check for understanding, where students are simply answering a short comprehension quiz on the novel they are reading. The second way, which is entirely more interesting to me, is as a way to explore their own inquiry questions. These Forms will be referred to as "Weekly Posts" where students are reflecting on the novel they are reading, the inquiry questions that the teacher poses, as well as the key concepts of the unit, in order to develop and explore their own interests. 

These Forms will consist of main unit inquiry questions like, "Does scientific advancement help or harm humanity?" and students will be asked to give information on whether what they are reading in their novels supports, challenges or adds to their initial answers to these questions. They should then form their own questions, based on what they are most interested in exploring in their novel. We will take these student-generated questions, and use them as topics for small-group discussion (perhaps grouping students by interest, if that seems applicable). Overall, I think that Google Forms is going to play a central, constant role in the inquiry approach throughout the unit. I know that there will probably be some hiccups with technology, however, all of my students have Google Accounts provided by the school, and we are providing them opportunities in class to do this work. I anticipate that this will run fairly smoothly.