Summary
The principal, Ron Tibbetts, for Henry Barnard Laboratory School in Rhonde Island documents the road traveled by his school to make it technology-rich for students and teacher candidates. The goal was to integrate technology into the daily teaching. Tibbetts states that this was not accomplished without a lot to time, planning, and effort on the part of the school. The process took several years and began by answering the question: what technology do we really need and would use on a regular basis. So that the school did not just spend money on new hardware they inventoried what they had then purchased samples and had teachers participate in pilot programs. By allowing the teachers to try the technology in the classroom first the school could make informed decisions on what technology to implement on a large scale. Then the school put together a committee to guide their efforts of increasing technology use. By the end of three years the school had made dramatic changes, by going wireless, adding teacher and student computers in all the classrooms (even the preschool), 2 carts of laptops for use, printers in every room, document projectors, flip cameras, two sets of I-clickers, and a technology classroom open to student use. During the acquisition of all this new technology the school began professional development trainings and added support by an on campus technology teacher, to provide hands-on assistance. With all the new technology, problems were of concern but the school looked at it as a way to create new solutions. Tibbetts admits that this may not be a rich environment because of the fact that technology changes rapidly but is committed to finding the best uses applicable to classroom that will improve teaching and further students achievement.
Review
I absolutely love how this school had a thoughtful plan to expand the technology use in their classrooms and that teacher candidates were able to use this in their courses and practical experiences with students. The process of allowing teachers to try-out the technology was a critical step that I think many districts leave out. By skipping this important step it forces teachers to use technology that they have no pedagogical connection to. I have heard many teachers lament over administrations forcing the use of a districts newest technology purchases. Also, the implementation of professional development is crucial. I think many schools buy technology and just leave teachers to learn it and use it on their own. That's where the negative attitudes of many come from. Teachers have enough responsibilities and I do not think that they can be expected to be experts in so many different areas. Having the support of a technology specialist and training is key to classroom integration. With these support systems teachers are more able to use technology to enhance their teaching and student achievement.
Tibbetts, R. (2009). ARTICLE: a technology-rich school?. Technology & Children, 14(1), 4-6. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
Thursday
Article 7 Technology Integration: Ideas That Work
Summary
Education World's Tech Team has done it again, providing teachers with another article pertaining to the use of technology in the classroom. The article includes teacher's testimonials of authentic technology use inside their classrooms that promotes conceptual learning while increasing tech skills of students. Also, there are ideas for specific programs and website applications to be used inside the classroom. The article ends with information for teachers and administrators emphasizing what makes a comprehensive and detailed technology program successful.
Review
This article reiterates the need for authentic use of technology in the classroom like David Bowman's article I previously reviewed. Again, I agree that improvement is needed to promote appropriate technology use. I believe this article has many more practical ideas for teachers to integrate. In addition to ideas, I appreciate the focus on what teachers can do if word processing is the only computer technology available to them, showing that technology does not have to be the latest and greatest gadget but something that transforms knowledge.
Starr, L. (2003). Technology integration: ideas that work. Education World Technology Team, Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech176.shtml
Education World's Tech Team has done it again, providing teachers with another article pertaining to the use of technology in the classroom. The article includes teacher's testimonials of authentic technology use inside their classrooms that promotes conceptual learning while increasing tech skills of students. Also, there are ideas for specific programs and website applications to be used inside the classroom. The article ends with information for teachers and administrators emphasizing what makes a comprehensive and detailed technology program successful.
Review
This article reiterates the need for authentic use of technology in the classroom like David Bowman's article I previously reviewed. Again, I agree that improvement is needed to promote appropriate technology use. I believe this article has many more practical ideas for teachers to integrate. In addition to ideas, I appreciate the focus on what teachers can do if word processing is the only computer technology available to them, showing that technology does not have to be the latest and greatest gadget but something that transforms knowledge.
Starr, L. (2003). Technology integration: ideas that work. Education World Technology Team, Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech176.shtml
Article 6 Thinking Through the Technology Puzzle
Summary
David Bowman illustrates ,the Do's and Don'ts of technology in the classroom and why there is growing backlash over its use in education, in his 2004 article, "Thinking Trough the Technology Puzzle". He begins by explaining why people are up in arms over technology. It's because for all the money spent buying it for education there has been little change in student achievement. This may be due to the fact most teachers see it as yet another subject to teach not something to use to enhance what is already taught. Bowman goes on to give examples of poor uses of technology in the classroom like teaching technology skills instead of other subject areas, using technology to produce something students would normally create by other means, and most heinous of all using technology as a reward for completing "real work". Then he counters that with examples of how to use technology to question, explore, create, and analyze in specific content areas. For example Bowman suggests using satellite photos of locations in books or visit the city government websites to gain an understanding of the area and context of book.
Bowman suggests that educators and the public need to change our thinking in regards to technology to help students live and learn in the current age. One way thinking needs to change for educators is to promote professional development so that technology can integrated in teaching. This will take teachers learning the skills and working together is teams to support each others efforts to integrate technology. He ends by describing what a technology learning environment should look like and what policy makers need to do to enhance technology use.
Review
In my practicum and volunteering I have seen all of Bowman's examples of what not to do and few of the things teachers should be doing. I have to agree that teachers have a hard time finding authentic ways to bring technology into their curriculum as an enhancement, not a distraction. But I have hope for understanding to change about technology with courses like the one we are in now and school districts creating technology teams and training programs. For instance this year my son's classroom was studying Westward Expansion and the California Gold Rush and his teacher integrated creating an audio version of a readers theater "Off to California" into the unit. The students gained technology skills while enhancing their conceptual understandings of the historical era and created a reusable artifact. I believe this is the kind of authentic application of technology Bowman was advocating.
Bowman, D. (2004). Thinking through the technology puzzle. From Now On The Educational Technology Journal, 14(1), Retrieved from http://fno.org/oct04/integrating.html
David Bowman illustrates ,the Do's and Don'ts of technology in the classroom and why there is growing backlash over its use in education, in his 2004 article, "Thinking Trough the Technology Puzzle". He begins by explaining why people are up in arms over technology. It's because for all the money spent buying it for education there has been little change in student achievement. This may be due to the fact most teachers see it as yet another subject to teach not something to use to enhance what is already taught. Bowman goes on to give examples of poor uses of technology in the classroom like teaching technology skills instead of other subject areas, using technology to produce something students would normally create by other means, and most heinous of all using technology as a reward for completing "real work". Then he counters that with examples of how to use technology to question, explore, create, and analyze in specific content areas. For example Bowman suggests using satellite photos of locations in books or visit the city government websites to gain an understanding of the area and context of book.
Bowman suggests that educators and the public need to change our thinking in regards to technology to help students live and learn in the current age. One way thinking needs to change for educators is to promote professional development so that technology can integrated in teaching. This will take teachers learning the skills and working together is teams to support each others efforts to integrate technology. He ends by describing what a technology learning environment should look like and what policy makers need to do to enhance technology use.
Review
In my practicum and volunteering I have seen all of Bowman's examples of what not to do and few of the things teachers should be doing. I have to agree that teachers have a hard time finding authentic ways to bring technology into their curriculum as an enhancement, not a distraction. But I have hope for understanding to change about technology with courses like the one we are in now and school districts creating technology teams and training programs. For instance this year my son's classroom was studying Westward Expansion and the California Gold Rush and his teacher integrated creating an audio version of a readers theater "Off to California" into the unit. The students gained technology skills while enhancing their conceptual understandings of the historical era and created a reusable artifact. I believe this is the kind of authentic application of technology Bowman was advocating.
Bowman, D. (2004). Thinking through the technology puzzle. From Now On The Educational Technology Journal, 14(1), Retrieved from http://fno.org/oct04/integrating.html
Wednesday
Article 5 Opus in the Classroom: Striking CoRDS With Content-Related Digital
Summary
Storytelling is a documented part of every culture and Teshia Young Roby, of Cal. State Polytechnic, describes the benefits of using digital story telling in the classroom in her article "Opus in the Classroom". Roby begins by explaining how digital story telling is engaging for students while enhancing their literacy skills by students clarifying their thinking and making personal connections to the story content. The literacy skills are not the only gains, students create self-acceptance by capturing their life and home cultural experiences to share. This new identity helps students not only understand themselves but discover similarities and differences of culture between them and peers through association of experiences. These new understandings give digital stories the power to not only create community but to raise awareness towards, perspective, and empathy towards need for social change.
For teachers digital story telling can be a vital part of pedagogical decisions and professional development. Teachers will make lasting authentic associations with their students home lives and classroom if story telling is seen as valuable to the curriculum. These associations result in teachers making informed, compassionate changes to their teaching based on their new understanding of students lives and the community they serve. In addition to making changes to teaching, the digital stories can be used by teachers in the future to introduce or supplement content to make community connections.
Roby also describes how digital story telling is a genuine exchange of ideas and couples teaching with the national standards in technology. The stories synthesize content, story telling, and digital media understanding by creating an enhanced reusable projects with images, sound, and video.
Review
I agree that the use of digital story telling would be a useful tool in creating a community of learners that are aware of the cultural differences and similarities they bring to a unique classroom environment. But I also see the potential use in other content areas as well, for instance in the primary grades making a digital story of a butterflies life cycle using journal observations as content or having foreign language students create stories of a virtual tour of a city highlighting the points of interest as a guide for peers.
I believe that the digital stories would keep students highly engaged and serve as wonderful tools for assessing the direction of instruction. That being said, the amount of time needed and availability of digital media to produce such stories may make implementing the use of them in the classroom difficult without extensive planning. I do not believe that it would be a feasible project to be done repeatedly and would worry about the loss of digital skills due to lack of use.
Roby, T. (2010). Opus in the classroom: Striking CoRDS with content-related digital storytelling. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 10(1). Retrieved from http://www.citejournal.org/vol10/iss1/currentpractice/article1.cfm
Storytelling is a documented part of every culture and Teshia Young Roby, of Cal. State Polytechnic, describes the benefits of using digital story telling in the classroom in her article "Opus in the Classroom". Roby begins by explaining how digital story telling is engaging for students while enhancing their literacy skills by students clarifying their thinking and making personal connections to the story content. The literacy skills are not the only gains, students create self-acceptance by capturing their life and home cultural experiences to share. This new identity helps students not only understand themselves but discover similarities and differences of culture between them and peers through association of experiences. These new understandings give digital stories the power to not only create community but to raise awareness towards, perspective, and empathy towards need for social change.
For teachers digital story telling can be a vital part of pedagogical decisions and professional development. Teachers will make lasting authentic associations with their students home lives and classroom if story telling is seen as valuable to the curriculum. These associations result in teachers making informed, compassionate changes to their teaching based on their new understanding of students lives and the community they serve. In addition to making changes to teaching, the digital stories can be used by teachers in the future to introduce or supplement content to make community connections.
Roby also describes how digital story telling is a genuine exchange of ideas and couples teaching with the national standards in technology. The stories synthesize content, story telling, and digital media understanding by creating an enhanced reusable projects with images, sound, and video.
Review
I agree that the use of digital story telling would be a useful tool in creating a community of learners that are aware of the cultural differences and similarities they bring to a unique classroom environment. But I also see the potential use in other content areas as well, for instance in the primary grades making a digital story of a butterflies life cycle using journal observations as content or having foreign language students create stories of a virtual tour of a city highlighting the points of interest as a guide for peers.
I believe that the digital stories would keep students highly engaged and serve as wonderful tools for assessing the direction of instruction. That being said, the amount of time needed and availability of digital media to produce such stories may make implementing the use of them in the classroom difficult without extensive planning. I do not believe that it would be a feasible project to be done repeatedly and would worry about the loss of digital skills due to lack of use.
Roby, T. (2010). Opus in the classroom: Striking CoRDS with content-related digital storytelling. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 10(1). Retrieved from http://www.citejournal.org/vol10/iss1/currentpractice/article1.cfm
Monday
Article 4 Disabled Bodies, Able Minds
Summary
Assistive technology has made just as many advances in recent years as other areas of technology and Diane Curtis describes just what benefits this has given to students in her article, Disabled Bodies, Able Minds: Giving Voice, Movement, and Independence to the Physically Challenged. Curtis shares examples from four students lives and how assistive technology has given them the ability to independently participate in a learning environment. The new technologies coupled with the efforts of organizations like DO-IT are demanding that school districts review their policies concerning the use of full-time aides instead of technology that would make students independent.
Review
The assistive technology is beneficial for disabled students to become involved in general education but I think more training is need for classroom teachers on the use of this technology and how to keep students motivated to use it properly. Concerns of cost do come to mind though when looking at districts being responsible for pay for the technology for each disabled student. Do the benefits and cost for one student justify it when it may prevent access for needed items or curriculum to other non-disabled students? I’m personally not sure, but feel that funding for this kind of assistive technology not be linked to districts general budgets at all so they are not forced to choose between the good of one student over many.
Curtis, D. (2005). Disabled bodies, able minds: giving voice, movement, and independence to the physically challenged. Edutopia. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/assistivetechnology
Article 3 Laptops for All: Using to Go Beyond Traditional Curriculum
Summary
Can you imagine laptops in the hands of every student and every teacher? Well, Roberta Furger’s article “Laptops for All: Using Technology to Go Beyond Traditional Curriculum” talks about just that. Furger reviews how the academy Moth Hall in New York Pioneer a program that involved all students and teachers using laptops. The school had taught academics in fairly traditional approach until 1996 when a class of fifth grade started the program that spread throughout the whole school by 1999. Since using laptops, teachers had to rethink how they would apply them in the classroom and develop policies for student use, safety, and repair/maintenance. Teachers decided that to make the most out of the laptops within their teaching, they must fit the technology into the curriculum and showcase student work through portfolios and project-based learning. The program has been highly successful and gains in student’s achievement have been seen. Similar programs are cropping up around the New York Community School District.
Review
The equity problems faced by students in terms of access to technology more than solved with this program. I believe that with the project-based learning students are not seeing the use of technology as an unrelated part of learning but essential to it. The program has helped to develop and maintain students generalization of content areas while engaging them in the ever-changing digital world. I do see however that explicit instruction would need to been given on an ongoing basis so that students do not only see they laptops as expensive toys.
Furger, R. (2001). Laptops for all: using technology to go beyond traditional curriculum. Edutopia, Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/laptops-all
Can you imagine laptops in the hands of every student and every teacher? Well, Roberta Furger’s article “Laptops for All: Using Technology to Go Beyond Traditional Curriculum” talks about just that. Furger reviews how the academy Moth Hall in New York Pioneer a program that involved all students and teachers using laptops. The school had taught academics in fairly traditional approach until 1996 when a class of fifth grade started the program that spread throughout the whole school by 1999. Since using laptops, teachers had to rethink how they would apply them in the classroom and develop policies for student use, safety, and repair/maintenance. Teachers decided that to make the most out of the laptops within their teaching, they must fit the technology into the curriculum and showcase student work through portfolios and project-based learning. The program has been highly successful and gains in student’s achievement have been seen. Similar programs are cropping up around the New York Community School District.
Review
The equity problems faced by students in terms of access to technology more than solved with this program. I believe that with the project-based learning students are not seeing the use of technology as an unrelated part of learning but essential to it. The program has helped to develop and maintain students generalization of content areas while engaging them in the ever-changing digital world. I do see however that explicit instruction would need to been given on an ongoing basis so that students do not only see they laptops as expensive toys.
Furger, R. (2001). Laptops for all: using technology to go beyond traditional curriculum. Edutopia, Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/laptops-all
Sunday
Article 2 The New Literacy
Summary
The 21st century has been a time of ever evolving change in technology and the job market. Sara Armstrong and David Warlick’s article, The New Literacy, explores what changes need to take place for students to succeed in the future job market in terms of literacy. Instead of the traditional 3 Rs skills, curriculum must evolve into the 4 Es, so that literacy is aligned with the digital and networked world. The 4 Es consist of Exposing Knowledge, Employing Information, Expressing Ideas Compellingly, and Ethics: Right and Wrong on the Information Highway. These four areas do not only include the traditional skills need but expand upon those with ones that will develop students ability to purposefully find, decode, create, and evaluate information in all forms. Armstrong and Warlick describe what this will look like and the reasoning behind it. They end the article with practical examples and resources teachers and administrators may use to support them in the perusal of the “new” literacy.
Review
I could not agree more that today’s students need to be versed in skills that will help create and evaluate information in an ethical way. I appreciated that evaluation is stressed because like the article states without it students could be put in danger. This is a very real threat because information that is presented in the most grabbing way will get attention whether it is valid or not and students need to be able to objectively evaluate what they see, hear, and read. Although I agree that students need these skills and the resources given in the article are very applicable. I do not feel that students learning to be self-educators is as important as these skills because if students can teach themselves they will have the tools they need no matter what changes there are in technology and the world of the future.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)