Top 10 Things I learned about Technology This Year:

1. It's complicated, and you need time to play with it before you introduce it to students
2. Your students most likely know more than you.
3. But don't assume every student comes to you with the same amount of technology literacy.
4. When you begin to rely on technology, and it becomes second nature in your classroom, you can't imaging a teaching environment without it.
5. Like students, teachers will come to you with different levels of technology literacy, and don't assume they are going to like it. 
6. Technology glitches are going to happen, prepare for the worst, hope for the best and always have a backup plan. 
7. When you want to throw technology out the window because you and your students are so frustrated with it, don't really do it.  ( I did not learn that the hard way, though there were times when I wanted to test it out!)
8. Use your technology failures as a transparent moment with your students and debrief that failure with them, talk to them about how you felt, and how you overcame whatever it was.
9. Your students WILL blow you away with what they create using Web 2.0 tools...give them a voice, and they will speak!
10. Technology changes come fast and furious, as teachers, we owe it to our students to give them the opportunity to learn and master them in order to be competitive in the 21st Century workforce.   

Noel

Reflection on Chapter 11 - Brining It Home

Chapter 11 discusses the journey that teachers and students took to get to the end point.  As I look back on the year, I realize how tired I am!  But, it is a good tired.  It's time to debrief the project of student blogs and wikis...first with myself, and then with my co-teacher, Stephanie.  On page 161, one teacher writes about  how her student's blogs offered "...a window into the minds of my students like none I've ever had before."  I can't agree more.  I saw thinking out of a 6th grader that many would not think possible.  Blogs and Wikis give students a voice, and I am more determined than ever to continue these metacognition tools. 

Now for what I plan to work on in the future...I want to create a project in which students have to work in teams.  This has been an area that I need to work on.  This summer, I am going to take the time to look at all the amazing examples Reinventing Project-Based Learning has given, and start thinking how this will look in my classroom in tandem with the new curriculum.  I agree with the authors that the end of this project only signifies the beginning of another!

Noel

Reflection on Chapter 10 - Celebrating and Reflecting

As with the last chapter in this book, Chapter 10 resonated with me.  I am a firm believer in the reflection process, and believe that to take the time for student reflection is some of the most meaningful work we can give to students.  They need to process what they have learned in their own way.  The author writes on page 147, "reflection can be the thing that makes learning really stick."  Reflection time is student alone time with their thoughts, without the pressures of talking a loud in a class, or talking among their peers.  It is essential for kids to look back on their learning process so that they can better understand themselves as learners.  I believe that to start, reflection should be structured, to help draw out in students what we need them to do, because they are not used to this type of deeper thinking.  As students learn the art of reflection, it can be more open-ended.  In the past, students in my class, have learned amazing things about what they are capable of.  In the words of a students from last year, about her photo essay, she wrote "I have learned that when I put my mind to something, I can do great things."  This student can look back at this project, and when she is confronted with a tough assignment or tough decision, she will know that she can get through it.  So to me, reflection not only helps students better learn content, but it helps students better learn who they are. 

Reflection on Chapter 9 - Making Assessment Meaningful

As part of the Expeditionary Learning Network and philosophy, I have learned that everything we do, from our planning to student learning to student end products - needs to be meaningful and have a real world application.  Chapter 9 resonated with me because this chapter aligns tightly with some of the EL Core Benchmark Practices. 

On page 139, the author writes, "Active learning is a hallmark of good practices, and students benefit by being actively involved even in the assessment stage.  In a well-designed project, students know why their are taking on a particular task and how it leads them toward important learning goals.  They also know what "success" looks like, and they understand the various categories by which their performance will be measured."  I couldn't agree more.  Why should students be kept in the dark about what it is they need to demonstrate, and how the teacher will score them.  Understanding what is expected of them upright provides the student with a better sense of where they are going and how they will get there. 

I also completely agree with the section titled "Grades That Matter."  Students, for generations, have been inaccurately assessed based on their habits of work, and not what they know about the content.  As an EL school, we have learned about grade distortions, and taken them out of the students' academic performance.  Students are assessed on the content and what they know and don't know about it.  If a student turns something in late, or not at all, that is reflected in their Habits Of Work grades (that are not averaged into their final grade).  Now more than ever, I know exactly where my students lie in meeting their targets.

iPad envy

A few week ago, we were sent an email about the use of iPads in the classroom. The site discussed the advantages of this technology in the classroom..I don't need to be convinced though, of having this technology. We, Stephanie Gallegos and I, have had the fortune of having a classroom set of iPods this year, and it has transformed our teaching. Kids are more engaged, and involved...and we have enjoyed it too. As the year comes to a close, I realize how much my teaching has changed and how much I rely on being able to have my student access their blogs or the wiki, or TodaysMeet.

I am envious of those schools that can easily attain this technology...That their teachers don't need to look and apply for grants on their own to get things like the iPad. I defiantly have iPad envy!

Chapter 8 Reflection

Chapter 8 of Reinventing Project-Based Learning focused on building connections and branching out.  This chapter reiterated much about what I have learned from being an Expeditionary Learning School educator.  Students need real audiences in order for products to be meaningful and authentic.  Knowing that there is a broader audience beyond the school walls does help students focus more on the quality of work that they are producing. 

But having been a part of a school network that believes this, creating an authentic product is difficult and time consuming.  It takes careful planning, setting up experts, an audience and then working on the product, with multiple revisions.  It is a slow process, but students benefit from all of this work.  They experience what it is like to persevere through the learning, planning and multiple revision process.  And they feel a sense of accomplishment when all is said and done. 

A bit of a vent...

Class sizes aren't going to change, and neither will our technology access problems/issues change.  I was sad to hear that the Director of Technology position has been cut due to budget issues.  Who is going to champion now for better access to technology?  Who is going to ensure that teachers have equal access to computer labs...because right now, that is not the case.  Who is going to finally say that computer labs are obsolete, that we shouldn't be taking kids out of our classroom to technology, but the technology should be brought INTO the classrooms?  Our students won't be proficient in 21st century skills if we keep 21 century skills only in technology class - just like we are all teachers of reading and writing in our specific content, we should all be teachers of 21st century skills - and that won't happen until we have better and equal access to what our students need.  

Noel 

Technology Glictches...

Students are completing their final of their photo essay.  They have been working on and off between Tech class and social studies and writing class - taking pictures, downloading them, editing them into black and white, formatting Word document to our specifications, pre-planning in social studies, pre-planning in writing, rough draft, revising, typing draft, revising...and revising more.  Finally, last week, all their work was coming together into the beautiful final piece.  It's been HARD work for them, and us.  Computer issues have been many, mainly...getting students onto the server, because they couldn't.  Other problems, students working faster than other kids...so what do you do when they get done?  Or how do you support those students who are seriously behind when the number of students who don't need lab time outweigh those who do?  What happens to the student project who was almost done, and the computer just completely crashed his project, and no matter what you say, it is MONTHS of exhaustive work that has been lost, and the prospect of starting over is just too much?  I don't have the answers, and it is discouraging.  

One last question...maybe someone can help?  We want students to get onto our laptops under their server log in so that we can save their project onto a flash drive while we are in the classroom during other work.  This worked for us well last year. We can move on, without having to be in the lab.  However, when students have tried to login using our laptop, Microsoft Word does not exist...and they can't pull their project up.  It comes up as a text edit box thing.  Ultimately, students can't pull their projects up on our laptops...is it because we have Microsoft 2011?  

Noel

Reflections on Chapter 7 - Keeping a Project Moving

This chapter discusses the  importance of communicating with all the teachers involved in a cross-curricular project; and ensuring students are on the right track by asking the right question and becoming an observer in the classroom.  I liked the section about asking higher order questions - claiming that these types of questions are part of the everyday life of a project based classroom.  I completely agree with this, as asking these types of questions is just good teaching.  

At one point in the chapter, the authors discuss having students ask good question (for an interview, or to form a historical question to research).  I was hoping that the authors would spend time on how to teach kids to write a quality question that would drive their own research (which is one of the new Colorado Standards for history).  I am disappointed and frustrated that this was not addressed.

Leaving our Teachers Behind

I just got back from co-presenting at the Expeditionary Learning National Conference in Portland, OR with Stephanie Gallegos.  Our presentation relied heavily on technology - which has become an essential part of our active pedagogy.  We brought with us iPods from our classroom, we were going to have the participants use TodaysMeet.com to have an ongoing conversation with us during the presentation.  We were also using the iPods for video and music as part of our instruction with them.  I was quite shocked to find that there were many participants who did not know how to use the iPod.  I've been living in my little technology world with my students, that I have lost sight that there are many teachers who are not literate in technology, and some are even resistant to the new technology.  It makes me think a lot about how we have high expectations for students and technology...but do we have high expectations for our teachers to learn this? I keep thinking, how are we going to move our students into the 21st century when some of our teachers can't get there?  How are going to raise the bar without leaving our teachers behind? 

A Review on "Do Web 2.0 Right"

The last time we met as an E2T2 cohort, David gave us an article from the publication Learning and Leading with Technology from February 2011.  The title of the article is "So Web 2.0 Right"  The article is not a step by step guide on how to incorporate Web 2.0 tools, but more of a philosophy of Web 2.0 tools to consider.  The author, David Light, went into 22 schools and interviewed 39 educators throughout the country about how they incorporated Web 2.0 tools.  

As I was reading this, I found myself agreeing on what Light found based on what my experiences have been thus far with incorporating some of these tools into my own classroom.  Light writes that "we identified three elements that have clearly shaped how these teachers used Web 2.0 to create sustained, meaningful communication among their students:

• instituting daily practice
• carefully considering the audience
• teaching and enforcing appropriate behavior (11)"

Instead of using these tools as "special projects", teachers should use these tools "the same way adults use them in a social or business context(11)."  When thinking about this, this makes sense, especially when you look at standard #2 of  National Education Technology Standards (NETS)  for students.  This standard requires students to use digital media to communicate and work collaboratively. If students are using a daily blog or wiki to help build a common understanding of content, instead of just during "special projects" they are more likely to be motivated to use the tools, and use them correctly and more effectively.  

I was surprised about the section about audience and why some students don't post on a classroom/public wiki or blog.  While we have our entire reading class posting on their blogs, we are having a difficult time getting our entire social studies classes posting on the wiki.  Some students have forgotten their login information, and I don't have access to that, and wikispaces doesn't make it easy to get that information.  But I wonder if students fear posting their opinions because they don't have the trust in their classmates.  Which is what part of this section on audience discusses.  I will need to further think about this. 

Appropriate behavior is key on the web.  Just like we need to teach our students how to behave in class, and how to behave in groups, we need to teach appropriate web behavior.  I wonder what and how these teachers do to build online communities of appropriate learners and behaviors?  The article doesn't go into how teachers do this?  What do teachers in E2T2 do?  I'd love to hear your strategies...

Noel 

Peaks and Canyons

I would have to say that our reading blogs are going very well.  Students have gotten into the routine of getting their iPods at the start of class, silent reading and blogging their inner voice.  Stephanie and I have gotten into the routine of providing feedback on their blogs weekly.  This has become a well oiled machine.  What hasn't become routine, is students posting feedback to each other.  We have set each student up with a blog buddy.  They are to be posting a star (something that student is doing well) and a stair (something that student can work on) using the class rubric that we created earlier in the year.  However, not everyone is posting.  Students are to be posting on their blog buddy's blog during the first few minutes of tech class twice a week.  I wonder if Stephanie and I need to incorporate time in our class to ensure that this happens more regularly.  At least until it becomes routine.  

The Social Studies Wiki has yielded some AMAZINGLY deep thinking from the 6th grade.  I am blown away by it.  But I am disappointed by the lack of student involvement.  It seems to be a select few who continue to post.  So we are not reaching every student with this Wiki.  I wonder why - is it because some students fear posting because of spelling, or is it more of a technological issue and they can't remember their log in?  Or are they done with the topic?  We are about to launch into our next investigation - Mexican Immigration - a highly charged topic that may elicit more comments.  Any suggestions on how to reach all students with the Wiki?

We may try Survey Monkey and take a climate/readiness survey.  Will keep you posted...

Chapter 6 Review

I like how it was suggested in Chapter 6 of Reinventing Project-Based Learning that teachers should "Take time to inspire interest and learning what students already know and care about (95)" before launching a project.  Creating an immersion into a project helps to inspire and excite students about the upcoming work.  It may also help to aleviate student concern over the project as well if they aren't thrust into the project. 

I agree one hundred percent that teachers should teach "the fundamentals first (100)."  From experience, it is important to front load students with knowledge to give them the self confidence that they will need to perservear through a project.  It is difficult to, when first starting off, to identify what the fundamentals are, and easy to overlook things - especially with new technology.  Therefore, it is essential that you be transparnet with your students.  When you find you have made an error, and you need to take a few steps back with your students, you have to be able to swallow your teacher pride and take those few steps back with your students in order to move them forward.

There are a few things I would like to investigate further:

• I would like to see examples of Project Logs of Project Journals - sometimes I need to see examples of things before I can move forwad with them.  
• I would also like to further check out Screencasting - I have not heard of it until reading about it in this chapter. 

 

Cool Site - TodaysMeet

Last week Stephanie and I attended iPod training from Apple.  This was set up by the district for the recipients of the classroom sets of iPods.  We learned about a website called TodaysMeet.  It is a really neat site.  It acts somewhat like a Twitter account, but it is less binding -  to add comments, you don't need to create an account, and you don't need an email account.  But, you are limited to what you can post - you can only include so many characters.  A teacher can create a TodaysMeet address, and can open it for a day, week, month, whatever.  Students can access it during class time, and it can act as a way to post as a ticket in/out the door, as a way to post questions, comments during class, as a way for teachers and students to provide feedback and a way for teachers to adjust instruction based on student posts.  Teachers don't even need to have iPods or iPads...if you are in the computer lab for the day or whatever, create a TodaysMeet site for that day.  One drawback is that you can't delete posts once they are posted, and therefore, if you post without spell checking, you can't change it.  It is a free site...I think it has been up for about 2 years now.  We have been using it for a week now, and almost daily.  Students love it, we love it.  Feel free to check our posts out - be warned though that we use it in a variety of ways.  It's a constant feed, and jumps from topic to topic depending on our prompts, but the thinking is good.  http://todaysmeet.com/falk-gallegos

Noel

Suggestions?

Anyone out there have experience with Voice Thread?  What have been your successes and failures?  I have had great success with blogging and wikis and my class is about to start their photo essay product.  So I am not sure if adding voice threads would be a burden or add to the curriculum...voice threading would not happen until spring...  Any thoughts out there?

Reflections on Management Strategies for Teachers and Learners (Chapt. 5)

The idea of using a "project calendar" as suggested in Chapter 5 of Reinventing Project Based Learning seems like a simple suggestion...but it is a MAJOR element to a successful project and therefore, a suggestion that is worth its weight in gold!  Our 6th grade team has a website that we maintain together.  Each content teacher has their own "page" with a calendar of due dates.  So students and parents can access homework and due date information whenever they need it.  It has been successful, and having this website truly allows us (the teachers) to mold our students into becoming more responsible for their learning.  This chapter discusses using a web based calendar, or a paper calendar, or magnetic calendar...but I suggest you use them all.  Not all students have access to the internet at home, and all students should have equal access to important due dates.