Digital Citizenship

One of the biggest challenges facing students/parents when in comes to technology in Kent City, is that large parts of the district still do not have access to high-speed internet.  Recently, we decided to eliminate the paper publication of the school newsletter.  This has been extremely controversial as 40% of district parents indicated in a recent survey that they could not access it if it was only available on-line.  However, we have eliminated the printing of progress-reports and parents have not been complaining.  As a teacher, however, I can't tell you how many times I've followed-up on a low progress grade, only to find that parents were unaware that their student was struggling.  This may not be due to the inability to access the grades, but simply lack of interest.  However, some parents indicated they still had dial-up.

A better example of the problems with limited technology came when I assigned students a group project using Google Docs (so they could collaborate on the assignment).  I spent almost three weeks offering time after school so students would have access to technology.  Sadly, many of the students who did not have access to technology at home also did not have access to transportation (aside from the bus), so it was difficult to require the use of technology and I had to make many exceptions. 

I found a professor that sees this trend with many of the students he works with that are from rural West Virginia.  He states "It hasn’t been so long ago when I still had dial-up, which is so frustrating it’s not even worth having, so some people don’t even have it, or if they do have a dial-up internet connection they don’t deal with it, because it’s a pain in the neck" (Source:  Rural students and challenges of technology:  http://bit.ly/1380mr5).

Our district has tried to address this problem by making our school wi-fi accessible, so that parents or students who are attending sporting events or even waiting to pick up a child from practice can access the internet on their cell phone.  This has only been available at the middle and high school since April, 2013, so I haven't had a lot of parent feedback.  However, my son, who often spends a lot of time with me after school, loves it!  He can use his ipod to gain access to the internet.  This adds additional issues for security since he doesn't have to go through the schools security like he did on my classroom computer, but I try to monitor his activity as much as possible. 

This leads to the second element of using technology appropriately, how much time is a healthy amount to spend on the internet?  I found plenty of evidence (ironically on the internet) to show that there is a lot of concern about the amount of time people spend on the internet.  There were 45,400,000 hits for "internet addiction".  The website http://internetaddictiondisorder.org/ indicated that the internet becomes an addition when you are only happy while on the internet, and unhappy when you are not.  I found that their "internet addiction test" was very interesting, but I was concerned that they did not offer any credentials or details about their therapists, yet were willing to bill your credit card for a "donation."  Another site had a similar test at http://bit.ly/167lRc2. 

 According to a study by Stanford University:

The researchers found that 68.9 percent were regular Internet users, which is consistent with previous studies, and that:

13.7 percent (more than one out of eight respondents) found it hard to stay away from the Internet for several days at a time

12.4 percent stayed online longer than intended very often or often

12.3 percent had seen a need to cut back on Internet use at some point

8.7 percent attempted to conceal nonessential Internet use from family, friends and employers

8.2 percent used the Internet as a way to escape problems or relieve negative mood

5.9 percent felt their relationships suffered because of excessive Internet use.

Aboujaoude said he found most concerning the numbers of people who hid their nonessential Internet use or used the Internet to escape a negative mood, much in the same way that alcoholics might. "In a sense, they're using the Internet to 'self-medicate,'" he said. "And obviously something is wrong when people go out of their way to hide their Internet activity." (Source:   http://stanford.io/1aL9NOU)

Several websites gave tips for internet safety, which may be a starting point for this issue.  A website called kidshealth.org (http://bit.ly/13g5ANY) recommended that parents always be aware of what sites their children visit and keep track of the length of time spent on the computer.  Being a parent myself, I will testify that this is easier said than done.  I set the timer at home, but sometimes I get distracted at school and find that one (or both) kids have been playing educational internet games for 3 hours.  Not that the games are bad in themselves, but no one wants their 3rd grader playing computer games for 3 hours straight.  Now that my children are a little older and can go outside unsupervised, I have them play on the playground for 45 minutes first to get some exercise before sitting down to play games.  They also have a lot more opportunities to participate in after school activities.

I have a 5 year-old great-nephew that loves "Minecraft".  It's a great game, but he doesn't like to do anything else.  I watched him play "minecraft" while sitting on the dock of a lake, while all the other cousins (11 total) had fun swimming and playing together for over 2 hours.  I questioned his grandparents about it and they said he has gotten hurt because he tries to walk and play his game.  However, they didn't feel it was their place to limit his game playing. 

I believe that this will continue to be an issue that educational systems must deal with as internet access becomes more and more available even in the rural areas of our country. 

Meeting the needs of our learners in KC

Of course, we are concerned in Kent City that we meet the needs of our students and fulfill the requirements of the Michigan Merit Curriculum.  I believe that this has been a focus for our district for some time, but as with most teachers, I'm not always aware of the district plan.  I called our school find out what the plan included.  I spoke with our IT person, and she explained that in the next year we will be partnering much more collaboratively with the ISD to fulfill these requirements.  She indicated that we will be getting a lot more training in the area of technology with the hopes that every teacher in the district will be using DW, SIS (Infinite Campus) and LMS consistently to help meet the needs of our students.  She also reminded me that we are a Google Docs schools (which I believe would fall under the LMS umbrella) and we will continue to have more training in that area as well.  I love Google Docs and was very excited to hear that we would continue in that area.  I love to have students collaborate together to create a document or presentation by sharing documents over Google Docs.  I even taught my 3rd grader how to use Google Docs and she collaborated with another classmate from home on a project for her Spanish class. I can't wait to find more uses for the new school year. 

CMS/LMS

When I first read the assignment, I thought that I wasn't familiar with Learning Management Systems.   However, I'm happy to report that I've been using one quite successfully for quite some time - My Big Campus.  A LMS is technology that allows teachers to plan, deliver content and assess student learning.  I have just begun to discover all of the benefits of using a LMS, but some include the ability to have web-based discussion in a safe environment, the ability to give feedback almost immediately and the ability to monitor and assess student learning much quicker.  I've used My Big Campus primarily to give quizzes/tests and to take surveys, but I know several other colleagues have used it to a much greater depth than I have. I love being able to give students the feedback on their learning before they even leave the classroom!  Results can be posted by student number to keep information confidential.   It also helps me determine who needs additional time for learning a standard, so that I can assign them homeroom time to reteach that skill.   It has built-in security features and can be monitored by staff (although I have never tried to do this myself).  I spoke with my principal regarding this feature and he said that several students have "been disciplined" for "inappropriate usage" of MBC. 

Website Evaluation

When I thought about the subject at hand, I couldn't help but connect it to the popular commercial from State Farm.  While the commercial is actually about apps for insurance, it also highlights the dangerous trend of people believing everything they read on the internet.  Humorously, a guy claims to be a "French model" and the women believes him because she read it on the internet, even though he doesn't look like a model and can hardly speak French.  Believing that I was much more sophisticated than that, I looked at the websites that we were asked to evaluate.  I have to admit, I could have easily been fooled and this scared me when I thought about what sources my students were using for their research.   

I've actually seen the first website, as it popped up during a google search while I was researching something for my classroom.  I didn't really look at it for long, since the language was unacceptable for classroom use, I quickly moved on to a more acceptable website.  Thinking about it in this context, however, it seems more more sinister.  When you look at who created the page, it's somewhat difficult to discern that it is a white supremacy group, a pretty biased source.  I'm pretty sure the average middle schooler wouldn't take the time to figure out the source of the information. 

The DHMO website was even trickier, at least for a non-science person like me.  There was an air of authenticity about the website because it was connected to several legitimate websites and I couldn't figure out who created it.  I mean who is Tom Way?  A famous scientist?  Someone who works for the government?  The website wasn't very specific about who this man was.  I also looked at when it was created, and it showed that the site had been updated today.  The only thing that gave away the authenticity of the website was that at the very bottom in tiny blue print were the words "content veracity not implied", meaning the content wasn't reliable.  Also, when I clicked on the US Environmental Assessment Center, it took me to a site about the dangers of DHMO.    I had to do a second google search, however, to find out that DHMO is another name for water.  I'm not sure that everyone who looks at the site would take the time to cross reference and most middle schoolers wouldn't know the definition of veracity.  I'll admit I wouldn't have known the definition if it wasn't defined in the description of the assignment.

Finally, the rennets website was confusing because it offered a made-up definition of rennet, with really cute pictures to verify the definition.  Also, when I double checked with a google search, rennets are a key part of the cheese-making process.  However, there were somethings that were suspicious.  Who are Mark and Jamie?  There is no further information about who they are, and what kind of credentials they have.  So I clicked on the "about us" tab and found out that they made most of the information up and they admit it. However, if you didn't take the time to click on the tab, you could confused about the source of rennets in cheese-making. 

I've been suggesting to students to look for websites that end in edu or gov, because they are more closely monitored than other sites.  While this is a good starting point, I think that it should be mentioned that even these sites should be evaluated further, especially for bias.  I'm wondering how much training we give students regarding evaluating websites, because I found though this assignment, it is easy to be fooled.     

What works best?

As many times as I've heard the phrase "research-based" strategies talked about in my district and in teacher inservice, I've never seen the research presented so clearly.  It was very refreshing to read that most educational strategies work, yet we want to focus on the ones that repay effort invested.  When you have no focus regarding what strategies work better than others, you feel overwhelmed trying to implement them all.

I noticed that classroom size does seem to have an influence on student learning.  That said, it wasn't as significant as I thought it would be and that was very surprising to me.  As a teacher who had several classes of over 35, it gives me something to tell parents who are worried that their student will be at a disadvantage.  It seems that other factors can balance classroom size.  My classes seemed to bear this out - I always felt (and test grades reinforced this idea) that my bigger classes were learning more than my smallest class.  The two bigger classes had students who were motivated to learn, whereas my smallest class (of 29) had students who struggled in all classes and were much more difficult to motivate to learn.  Finally, as someone who has always been envious of "team teaching" - it seems that although it may be more enjoyable for the teachers, it doesn't have that much effect on student learning.

Our district has been talking about the influence of the teacher, and this research supports that it is the most important factor influencing student learning.  Of the top 6 influences, 2/3 are teacher driven.  This is empowering!  Since the evidence points to the fact that reflection is so important, I can easily provide more opportunities for reflection and this will increase student learning.  It also supports what we do in TLA!

Our superintendent is always saying that we need to "through some things out" and "focus on what works", but I haven't always been sure of what to throw out.  This website has been very informative and I think will certainly help in sorting what to "get rid of" to make teaching more enjoyable and effective. 

Universal Design for Learning

The UDL guidelines for teaching make sense to me.  One of my first complaints as a teacher, was that I didn't know how to reach all of my students.  Some seemed to know everything that I wanted to teach them, while others appeared to have never been in a social studies classroom before.  A good colleague of mine said that we couldn't  reach all of them, that's why we "teach to the middle."  I tried that for many years and was frustrated by the number of students I knew were falling through the cracks.  I'm so glad that someone finally said there isn't a child right in the middle - that the problem was in the curriculum and traditional teaching methods. 

To reach all students (the goal of UDL), teachers should allow for multiple means of representation.  I believe this supports several theories in education about good teaching.  Beginning with teaching vocabulary and activating  prior knowledge to the multiple intelligence models, the experts have always said that good teaching presents new information in several different formats instead of just one.  Sadly, many teachers felt they couldn't do this, because they had too many standards to cover.  I'm happy to say that my district leaders say that we are teaching too much and that we need to eliminate standards.  They believe that the key to education is to "go deeper" and cover each unit well.  We are told that we should take the time to use formative assessments and reteach when material is not understood.  As a district, we are taking the needed to steps to make this a reality.  I loved the "HIAT - UDL tool finder."  It makes using new technology to support your lessons easy.  I shared this website on our district's SS blog and I'm sure other teachers will love it! 

The second part of UDL emphasizes giving students multiple means for action and expression.  This means that the teacher is giving students several ways to express what they have learned, rather than relying on traditional paper and pencil, multiple-choice assessments to measure student learning.  I have worked to make sure that all students are aware of the objectives for each unit.  I have written them in the form of "I can" statements and give each student a copy so that they can check them off as they reach the objective.  I have also developed projects to give students additional formats to show their learning.  However, I have not utilized electronic forms of communication yet.  I went to a National Quiz Bowl competition in May in Atlanta, Georgia.  I brought a stack of DBQ essays to grade in between matches, and felt good about using my time wisely, but lamented the fact that my bag weighed about 100 pounds.  I looked at the teacher next to me and she was grading essays too - but on her tablet.  I need a tablet first, but feel I could easily incorporate this into my lessons. 

Finally, UDL emphasizes giving multiple opportunities for engagement.  I feel that my prior blog speaks to this.  By incorporating more technology, a teacher gives more opportunities for engagement and with less burden on the teacher!  I feel very excited about using more technology to increase student engagement and decrease the work load for myself.  Technology seems to have the answer to several of the problems that I've been writing about, everything from finding the time to give prompt feedback to making the learning relevant - I just need to take the time to find which technology works for me in my district. I am so glad that this class is giving me the opportunity to do that!

Do we really need technology in the classroom?

If we want to make learning fun and meaningful to today's students, then we need technology in the classroom.  As I listened to the clips about the power of technology when learning, all of the verbs describing learning through technology are what I want my students to be doing when they are learning in my room:  collaborating, focusing, engaging, and learning at their own pace.  I was particularly impressed with the idea that technology creates an authentic audience - they aren't just creating something to turn into my desk, so I can give them feedback when I get to it.  Rather, they can have people from around the world give them feedback in a much faster, more authentic situation than I can create.  They take ownership for their learning - and that sounds exciting to me! 

When I consider the last video, and I keep an open mind (as someone who often complained about how much time my son spent playing World of Warcraft), then I can admit that the descriptors of someone with a "gaming disposition" is exactly what I'm striving to create for my learners in my classroom.   Wouldn't most teachers describe their ideal student as someone who has a passion for learning, craves feedback (so that they can improve their learning) and can collaborate/analyze/synthesize information.  That's how the clip described a gamer - and someone who has 21st century skills!  Even better, the technology is the motivating factor, not something the teacher has to artificially create. 

If you are still reluctant to embrace technology in the classroom, John Seely Brown gives the best argument for getting past your fear.  He reminds us that most new ideas don't work.  This doesn't cause fear in a gamer, but rather intrigue.  How can I make it work for me?  Can my friends help me?  Can someone across the world help me?  If we could embrace this attitude when trying new technology in the classroom, we could get beyond our fear, and reach our kids.