New Poll for Everett PLC

Which of the following LPS summer technology workshops would you be most likely to attend? iMovie iPhoto Photoshop Elements Digital Photography Basics Contribute for Individual Websites Power Point Microsoft Word for the Mac Microsoft Excel for the Mac    Free polls from Pollhost.com

Everett PLC Survey

What is the most valuable tool you have learned about this year? Blogging on Blogger Setting up your Linkin' Log Power Point Comic Life iTunes iMovie    Free polls from Pollhost.com

Going out on a limb...

One of my friends who is a technology trainer in another state wrote the following comment after reading my last blog...

So if I'm reading this right, in my role as a trainer I need to focus on getting teachers to use technology for themselves first before trying to get them to use it in the classroom with students.

I don't know if you come across any readings with the phrase "paradigm shift" but it seems to be the opposite. That we need to stop just focusing on training teachers on the "how to's" and focus more on the integration.

Let me know your thoughts

Well, here are my thoughts...I believe both - you should teach the teachers the "how to's" AND focus more on integration.

Here's my rationale for teaching the "how-to's" - teachers CANNOT teach students how to use technology as a problem-solving tool if they don't first learn to use technology as a problem-solving tool in their own personal affairs. Teachers have to be consumers of technology in order to see the dividends that will be reaped by their investment.

Here's my thought on integration - far too many times, training stops at the "how-to's", there is no follow-up, no accountability, no committment, no investment. Some of the best training opportunities I have had are ones that have required me to check back and prove how I have used the tools I was taught.

One answer I can see to this dilemma is Peer Coaching - pair teachers up in training sessions and have them check back with one another to see what they have done in their classrooms using what they have learned. Also, I think a great way to accomplish this would be Peer Coaching from the trainer - it would be great if trainers could check back with teachers for support.

Or, as I have been studying in my practicum, set up a Peer Coaching/Support network within a building. Our technology focus group has seen a lot of progress this year, and most of the credit is due to the amount of support we have within our group.

Another aspect of the literature review that was included in Dr. Dawson's report that I referenced in my last post was administrative support. This is what made the Everett Technology PLC so successful. The Professional Learning Community model was a great way for many of us to get involved in learning about technology integration. Some are in the first stages of integration, while others have proficient skills in technology integration.

I like the in-house, almost embedded-reporter way of accomplishing things best. In a perfect world, every building would have an integration specialist who could encourage technology integration on-site, but for now, supporting colleagues is the best answer I have.

Everett's Professional Learning Community

Many of the Everett PLC technology focus group members have blogged about continuing our technology group next year. I hope this will be the case. I have been reading a lot of research articles about professional development models lately, and have come to realize many things about professional learning.

One of my professors in Florida sent me a project report she has just finished working on with two other colleagues, exploring peer coaching. Dr. Dawson's work revealed many different types of peer coaching to me. I never really thought much about it before, but there are many different ways that it can be done. This is something that I would like to explore as we plan our Professional Learning Community activities for the 2006-07 school year.

Peer support is vital as we seek to grow and learn as educators, but even moreso as we look for ways to integrate technology into the curriculum. I want to include an excerpt from the literature review done for the Peer Coaching report. This helps me focus in on what our goal needs to be if we are to continue.

Prolonged engagement is particularly important when peer coaching is used to support technology integration (Bradshaw, 2002; Margerum-Leys & Marx, 2004) because it takes at least 3-5 years for teachers to become effective technology-using educators (Becker, 1994; Sheingold & Hadley, 1993). During this time the teacher progresses through a series of stages that begin with using technology as a curricular add-on or personal productivity tool and culminate with using technology as a tool to fundamentally alter teaching and learning pratices (Hooper & Rieber, 1995; Ringstaff, Sandholtz & Dwyer, 1997; Moersch, 1995).

Barron, A., Dawson, K., & Yendol-Hoppey, D. (2006). Peer Coaching.

Some people have commented also about how far they have come, but how much more they have to learn. Did you read the same things I just read? THREE to FIVE years!!! One down, a couple more to go!

One Small Step BEFORE Comic Life

I love using Comic Life, but I haven't been sure about finding a good sequence of lessons and activities leading up to comic life. It's a great evaluation tool, and it can be used to show how students have learned curriculum content, but it seems there needs to be a step to teach students about dialogue...the whole point of comic life!

This might be the answer. National Geographic for Kids has a "try this" page. On this page, there are a bunch of "Back Talk" pictures - these are pictures of animals, some with strange expressions. The animals all have a word bubble where you can (or students can) type in your own saying.

This might be a nice bridge between content and a final project using Comic Life.

Careers & Community Helpers Curriculum Unit

I just finished TEACHING my technology-enhanced curriculum unit. The unit is called "What do you want to be when you grow up?" It focuses on careers and community helpers. I wanted to write this unit because I have noticed that often, under-privileged children, like many of the children I work with can't tell you what they want to be when they grow up. I think that it is important for kids to dream and start working on life-long goals, even at an early age. I really think there's something to it - a correlation between this phenomenon that I have witnessed and the perpetual effects of poverty - a discussion for another time!

Anyway, the unit actually started as a webquest project from Internet K-12, which I took last summer. I took a much deeper look at this idea, and what I have come up with isn't necessarily a webquest anymore, but I guess, if you consider it's for kindergartners, it might be as close as you can come to one.

It was so fun to teach something that I knew so well - from the standards and objectivevs all the way to the finished project. I'm excited to share the unit because the final product turned out great! I think that UBD is probably crucial in the process of integrating technology into curriculum, as it requires you to think about the outcomes of the study early-on. The final product really drove the activities I chose and the sequence I used to teach them.

Here's a preview - look at Shanna's Show on the playhouse disney website. This quick little time-filler shown on the Disney channel is a great way to incorporate technology into a career unit for kindergartners. Because of their small attention span, this is the perfect size of video. There are other shows that focus on careers and community helpers, but they are 20-25 minute shows focusing on only one job. This way, we could explore many different careers in just a few minutes at a time.

Thinking About Designing Technology-Rich Curricula

My friend Cody shared a research article with me titled "What Happens When Teachers Design Educational Technology? The Development of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge" (The article is linked to the title of this post).

It discusses technology integration, and in and of itself technology is not an instrument that can be used to change our current educational system. There have to be teachers who are committed to using it.

"It is becoming increasingly clear that merely introducing technology to the educational process is not enough to ensure technology integration since technology alone does not lead to change. Rather, it is the way in which teachers use technology that has the potential to change education."

This diagram shows what the authors feel is important to establish a framework that is conducive to conveying knowlege through technology integrated curriculum.

This is their description of each area:
Content (C) is the subject matter htat is to be learned/taught. High school mathematics, undergraduate poetry, 1st grade literacy, and 5th grade history are all examples of content that are different from one another.
Technology (T) encompasses modern technologies such as computers, the Internet, digital video, and more commonplace technologies including overhead projectors, blackboards and books.
Pedagogy (P) describes the collected practices, processes, strategies, procedures, and methods of teaching and learning. It also includes knowledge about the aims of instruction, assessment, and student learning.

What we should be striving for is that middle ground - the technological, pedogogical content knowledge. This is where we can design learning experiences that are grounded in process not product.

Koehler, Matthew. and Punya Mishra. "What happens when teachers design educational technology? The development of technological pedagogical content knowledge." Journal of Educational Computing Research. 2005: Volume 32, 131-152.

iPod Shuffle

I was able to use some of my money from doing home visits to get an iPod Shuffle for classroom use (thank you, Roger)!

I have been diligent this year about loading all of the CDs I use for instruction into my iTunes and organizing them in playlists by theme. The shuffle has taken me to the next chapter in this quest to streamline my classroom audio needs.

For every kindergarten theme we teach, I usually have a center set up with books on tape for the kids to listen to. Remember the old days when we had to pop in the cassette, rewind it (because in my haste to get to the next tape, I didn't rewind the last time!), press play, adjust the volume....

Now, I can transfer all of the cassettes to CDs (now, scholastic has books available on CD as well), and load the CD in to my iTunes playlist for a theme. CDs are much easier to handle than cassettes (no rewinding) but an iTunes playlist with all of the stories is better yet. Even better than that is transferring the playlist over to the iPod shuffle. This way, my laptop is not necessary for the books to be heard. If I have to be gone, the books will go on without my laptop. Also, if I need my laptop to provide another computer for the group at the computer center, it will be available. Or, I can use the time to get my laptop set up for the next learning activity so that things are all ready to go, using technology to minimize transition times as much as possible!

It's a good thing!

Week 4 – Designing Technology Rich Curricula

Starting my Theme Unit: Kindergarten Careers/Community Helpers
What do you want to be when you grow up?

National Educational Technology Standards(NETS)for K-2 Students addressed:

Students use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and promote creativity.
Students use productivity tools to collaborate in constructing technology-enhanced models, prepare publications, and produce other creative works.
Students use technology to locate, evaluate, and collect information from a variety of sources.
Students use technology tools to process data and report results.

Literacy Objectives:
0.7 Exploration/Inquiry: The student uses information and study skills to research personal questions, interests, and real-world contexts.
0.7.1 Asks questions to get information and understand events.
0.7.2 Finds information to answer questions from observation, books, and other people.
0.7.3 Records information and observations.
0.7.4 Contributes to a class report.

0.11 Interpersonal Communication: The student communicates in small group discussions, group work, and collaborative projects (oral language.)
0.11.1 Shares thoughts and information.
0.11.3 Asks questions for information or clarification.
0.11.4 Contributes to classroom discussion.
0.12 Presentations: The student speaks before a group to express or defend an opinion, present information, give directions, tell a story, or share a book.

Character Development:Character Education, accordingObjectives:
C.4 Interacts with others appropriately.
C.4.2 Develop and display communication skills.
C.4.5 Allow others opportunities to express ideas, thoughts, and feelings.
C.4.7 Lead, follow and work cooperatively with others.

Social Studies:Social Studies, according to LPS Objectives:
SS.K.2.3 Describe sumilarities and differences among city and farm communities.
SS.K.2.4 Discuss the influences of African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, Native American, Mideast Asian American and European American men and women.
SS.K.2.6 Recognize that many different people share the earth.

Students will complete a webquest in a group of four students. Groups will select a career or community helper to research. Students will identify 3 things that describe the job they have chosen. They will draw pictures of each of the three items that describe the job and one final picture that reveals the job they have researched. This will be presented like a riddle, pictures will be scanned and put into power point slides for presentation.