This is my concluding blog for 703, but my work is far from over. I am continuing to make adjustments to my website, my poster and my final presentation video. It is difficult to picture the weeks ahead without assignments, and projects.
The website is a collection of all our hard work this year, and you can't help but feel reflective as you work on it. In the beginning, as I looked at each of the assignments to be included, I had only fuzzy memory of the work that I was supposed to include, but as I dove back into this blog, and into previous assignments, I remembered each of them with clarity. It was only then that I began to understand how much had been accomplished since we all began this journey last spring. It isn't just that I can see how including research can improve your teaching technique, but more than that, a spirit of curiosity has invaded the way approach my teaching. As I plan for the future I can see how considering things from new or unique perspectives, can drive me into more research and testing in the classroom. So much can be gained from learning new techniques and approaches in the classroom. And more than that, so much can be gained from looking thoughtfully at the things that I am already teaching. Is there really a benefit to teaching students coding? Does drawing diagrams truly improve students mathematical understanding? Can problem-solving with robotics improve a students mathematical thinking? These are just some of questions that I have been thinking about. Working in this program has pushed me to have a more "scientific" approach to my teaching. I have been conducting data cycles for the last few years with my students, but these months in the Touro program has helped me to dig deeper into these data cycles and to keep an eye on whether the instruction being conducted, is achieving the desired goals. I hope to carry both this scientific approach and spirit of curiosity with me as I continue on my teaching journey.
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"And just like that it's over. We tend to our wounded and count our dead." - Lin-Manuel Miranda as Alexander Hamilton Well, this is it. The FINAL blog of my graduate school career. I have spent the last two weeks in a very reflective mood. I was thinking about my last minute (a day before the first class) decision to jump on the Touro Train. I am very glad that I did.
Perhaps it is only in building all the pieces of my website that I really understood how far we've traveled. All the little pieces I've added to the LIL are snapshots of the hard work and learning that has taken place. When I started putting the website together, it seemed an impossible task with far too many empty spaces to fill. Now, as I work on polishing it, and on my final presentation screencast, I can't seem to find a way to squeeze everything in. There are far too many stories, experiences and lessons to fit into a website or into a brief video. My reaction to these final assignments is one that I want my students to have as they come to the close of a project. I want them to reflectively look back and understand how much they have accomplished and how very far they have traveled. This might be a pretty big undertaking for 7 year olds. I really appreciate how this process, beginning with research and then moving forward has caused me to be very thoughtful about what happens within my classroom. It isn't enough to come up with carefully prepared lessons, I must evaluate and analyze those lessons based on the outcome. I might be aiming to teach my students how useful and effective computer science can be, but I need to assess whether or not that is what they have gained in my classroom. An effective teacher is in a constant research loop - designing, testing and redesigning. But it is not the students we are testing, but rather our lessons. As I design my website, I am always finding places where I can increase clarity and/or make overall improvements. Like the craft of teacher, I am in a constant state of self-evaluation. Good teaching involves self-evaluation that is always running in the background of every lesson, and this model will hopefully lead our students to become more self-reflective themselves as they determined their own levels of learning and understanding. As our graduate school days come to a close, my greatest thoughts, other than a constant stream of deadlines, is that it impossible to put a cap on something that will never be finished. As I said in my critical friends meeting, "I keep thinking I've finished everything, and then I find something else that I need to include or write about." And of course, in a larger sense, this is because learning always involves infinity. I have become a tremendous proponent of using the design thinking process to understand the world around me. It isn't just how innovations get built and created, it is how we teach and should be how we live our lives. There is no way that I could ever say that I had completely mastered the art of teaching, just as there is no way I could ever say that I had completely mastered the art of living. We identify problems, attempt solutions and then try again, and again and gain. This learning process has been heightened during this capstone project because I am required to reflect and write about this process on a weekly basis, but it is the same thinking I should be doing daily in my classroom. Did that lesson work? Why? Why not? How can it be improved? What goals did it meet? What goals should it meet? There is no end to the infinite loop of instructional improvement and personal growth. I can always be a better teacher; always. In the days of my speech and debate coaching, I would tell my debate team: Do not use absolutes! They are unprovable! When the opposing team would say things like "never" or "always", my students would vibrate with excitement knowing that was the moment they won the debate. And yet, when it comes to learning and teaching, absolutes are the only things that are true. We can NEVER stop improving our instruction, and we ALWAYS need to assess and reassess our effectiveness. As I go over and over my website, my poster, and my final videos, I can pin-point so many ways that it could be improved or clarified. Yet, this is the heart of the innovative teacher program; communicating the idea that learning is an infinite loop - whether you are the teacher or the student there is always more to learn.
It is ONE thing to have IDEAS about your video and entirely another thing to actually create it. I suppose this is not only true of video creation but of all things; lesson plans, music, art, life plans. We create an ideal of what we want to make but execution doesn't always live up to that ideal.
On the other hand, perhaps that is the greatest lesson we can teach our students; that the process of creation and recreation is not just a part of learning, but is actually learning itself. As to my video, I have a filming date set up -- and am working on the script. I've made a few videos for my students in the past and one mistake I've made is not really being sure of my lines. It made the video seem a little stiff and you could tell I was reading, so right now, I am working on getting the lines memorized. It makes a big difference. I am right now at the stage that the only thing I have left to do to complete the video -- is everything. As we come to the end of this incredible journey it is hard not to look constantly look back at how far we have all traveled. It isn't as if we have mastered a million new technological skills, but rather that we've gained new perspective about how to leverage our technology skills in the classroom to make a more powerful learning environment for our students. It was right around middle school that my teachers began asking us to meet with a partner to review each other's work. This seemed to happen mostly in my English and history classes. As a want-to-be writer, I really looked forward to hearing an opinion from an honest reader. I was hoping that I could get some feedback on my stories - especially when I struggled with an ending. Although, I felt a lot of anxiety about having someone read my work, I understood, even then, how helpful true feedback could be. You can imagine my disappointment when my classmate said, "I liked your story. It was nice." A true critical friend is someone who helps you to move forward. They can identify areas of clarity and encourage you to make sure to enhance them. They can also identify areas that lack clarity and help you improve them. A true critical friend doesn't simply stamp your work with a giant rubber "Nice" stamp, but rather, listens and considers your goals and then helps you to evaluate if those goals have been met. One of the best things about grad school has been the amazing educators that I have met in this cohort. Every single one of them is so intelligent and thoughtful. They push me to pursue excellence in my own work, as I observe the way that they complete their assignments and think about the craft of teaching. As we head into our final days and into our final project, I find myself relying more and more on their input. It was extremely helpful to sit side by side with a cohort member with the "What Goes Where on LIL?" document between us. As we reviewed our websites, I found myself making changes, taking notes, and asking questions. "What about this?" I would say, and then would thoughtfully absorb the answers. It was so helpful to not only have input from someone who was looking at my website with fresh eyes, but also to be speaking with someone who was attempting the same assignment. Having a critical friend take a closer look at my work, helped me to take a fresh and closer look at my own work. A critical friend can help you see your own work in a new light which can illuminate areas that need to be restructured, clarified and enhanced. A critical friend can speak truthfully to you about your work, and encourage you to improve. They are supportive and honest, sharing their observations about what you have created. It isn't that a critical friend is searching for flaws, but rather that once given your goals for your work, a critical friend can honestly share with you how close you are to accomplishing those goals. It is as though you are an Olympian in training and they are your coach; always looking for ways that you can improve and thus become champion. A true critical friend can lead to a place where you create something even better than you imagined and can leave you feeling like a true champion.
Working on my script for my 90 second video reminded me of how many, many, MANY details go into even the smallest piece of film. Through, twists and turns that are difficult to explain in a blog, my class and I were filmed for a year for a documentary that is coming out soon. The amount of equipment required for this simple shoot was astounding.
For even a simple 90 second spot, you've got to include a ton of different elements to make sure that you get your message across. Looking at all the examples, reminded me how very quickly 90 seconds can go past. I tried t keep some really important elements in mind.
1. Audience
I wanted to stay focused on my audience. My capstone project, like most, is aimed toward teachers. Teachers have to attend a lot of training and watch a lot of presentations. They are usually pressed for time. I wanted to draw my audience in by making my script dynamic and less a presentation with dull facts. In short, I aim to provide them with a picture of what my entire capstone.
2. Purpose
It is essential to stay on target and keep your purpose in your sight line. If the purpose of my video is to cause those who experience to look more closely at my capstone project, then my aim must be to cause curiosity. As I worked on my various drafts of script, it was this that I tried to keep in mind. I kept asking myself, "What words, images and explanations would cause a teacher to want to learn more about gamification?"
3. Creativity
This was really important to me as I worked on my drafts. Everyone has had to sit through presentation after presentation, and I am hoping to make my video a bit more creative. I want it to be interesting and informative. I am hoping that my finished product will be unique but still including all the essential elements of the assignment. I am hoping that if it is creative enough, it will be a focal point that draws people to the website, and even more importantly, pushes them to consider utilizing gamification in their classrooms. I will be using WeVideo because I am familiar with it. I have already made three videos for my students this year with it. Whenever I launch a new quest for my students, I create a video launch. I love the way you can edit multiple layers of both sound and film in WeVideo, and how easy it is to incorporate green screen elements whenever necessary. I also consider Adobe Spark, as I love all the elements you can use with it, but wanted to focus on making my video, not on how to make a video. I plan on exploring Adobe Spark more in the future. After spending 18 years teaching in the private school system, I found myself without a job. I was a teacher without a classroom. I spent the next year and a half substitute teaching in the Napa Valley Unified School District. I subbed at every high school, middle school and nearly every elementary school in our district. I worked nearly every single day, and learned a lot about the schools in Napa. All of which is a really long way to say that I discovered that Phillips Elementary isn't like any other school in the district. I was so happy to be added to their staff four years ago, and three years ago my principal tasked me with creating and building a powerful tech program for our students. As a result, we've spent a bit of time talking about technology and the ways we want to empower our students. Most recently, we discussed the impact of tech on our youngest of students, who are coming to the Technology Design Lab for the first time this school year. Our emphasis for this young students is to build both literacy and computer literacy. We learned just last Wednesday (Sept 27th) that we have been given a grant and now are a magnet school. Our emphasis will be on leadership and technology . We had so many discussions last year as we went through the grant process about the role of technology in connection with the idea of leadership. The conclusion that we came to was that students today must have strong digital skills if they are to be effective leaders in their community. They must not only know how to use technology, but must understand the social, emotional and academic impact of technology. As students lead in their community, they can utilize their digital skills to communicate, rally and share their projects, ideas, and plans. We have relied on the ISTE standards for students, and they have been our standards. As a result of this grant, we are working on creating a clear, and succinct statement of what a successful graduate of Phillips Magnet School will look like. We are writing our mission statement as we begin this new journey. However, this mission statement has already been lived out for the past few years, as we already have embraced the idea that we must include a powerful digital toolbox in order to educate leaders. As a Title 1 school, we have spent many years trying to provide equity for our students. Creating a strong technology program was one way that we felt we could level the playing field for our students. Over time, I recognized that having strong digital skills could take my students from catching up to their peers, to providing them with an edge. Beginning to introduce them to the world of script languages: Java Script, html/CSS, SQL and Swift, provides students with a more advanced understanding of computer science, but also begins to introduce them to a new field. Students become exposed to all the many job opportunities associated with those skills. This is significant in a community such as ours.
One of my 4th grade students was able to spend the afternoon at Pixar studios, as result of our work in computer science. I had to wait outside the gates while she attended this amazing day, but on the ride home, she shared what she had learned with me, and her words demonstrate the powerful impact that technology can have on my students. "They have basketball courts, and a pool, and an exercise room for their workers. I think that is really cool." Here is where I expected her to talk about the fun of having those available to you, but my students seem to always surprise me. Instead she said, "It's like they care about you. They think it is important to be healthy, and so they have places for people to exercise. I want to work for a company like that. A company that knows I'll work better if I feel better. It's like you matter." She was 10 at the time. I try to keep this conversation close to me as we develop and craft our final, official tech mission statement. As with all other things in education, humans are at the heart of all our words, objectives and plans. Technology is just one more way to allow our students to express themselves, so that they can build a powerful, new world for themselves and their families. This is our mission statement: HOPE.
The objective of transliteracy is clarity of communication. Studying it is really asking yourself the important questions:
I have been teaching for over twenty years, and in that time the world around me has definitely changed! When I first started teaching, digital lessons weren't even a thought and now I can surf the internet to find all kinds of wonderful ideas to aid my teaching of any subject. For example, I recently added Kindergartners and first graders to my technology design lab. This would have been really overwhelming in my first years. However, I immediately went to my computer and began researching other teachers who instruct younger students about tech. It is amazing how much information and support I've gained from connecting with other tech educators.
When considering my own capstone, I have been thinking about the way that I learn and improve as an educator. I go to the web first. I do it before anything else. I love reading articles, but especially enjoy looking at screen casts, or brief videos that share information quickly. I am usually watching them with a second tab open so that I can try what is being taught while watching the video. I think this instant, personal instruction is a very effective way to support learners.
The last four years I have added so many new ways for my students to learn, communicate and express understanding. These are just a few that I have used in my classroom:
Nearpod Night Zoo Keeper Google Classroom Google Drive Google Forms Google Sheets Quizziz Weebly Khan Academy Teach Your Monster to Read Typing Web Bloxels Clicking on the Weebly link, you can really see my transformation. It is a website that I've been building for the last three years and it is always changing. Last week, in order to make some of the links more accessible to my struggling readers, and younger students, I converted all my "buttons" to images. Instead of struggling to read the text on the buttons, students can look for an icon or image and quickly find what they are searching for. This has really increased classroom learning time already. Students can quickly start building, creating, playing and learning. It was a simple change that leveled the playing field for my students. Now all my students have the same amount of work time. Struggling readers can access websites as quickly as those that are highly proficient, and all students can start creating nearly instantly. Transliteracy really pushes educators to consider what is their purpose. I know it is pushed me to consider what is the most essential. Do I keep doing things the way they have always been done? Is that what is most important? Or is it more important to find new and dynamic ways to impact my students? The answer is pretty obvious. When I was young, my mother once accused me of having a long conversation with a chair that she felt she couldn't interrupt. It wasn't the first time I was caught having a conversation with an unclear audience, and tragically won't be my last. For my research project website, however, I want to make sure that I have made sure to think carefully about my audience. My original thoughts regarding this entire process were narrowly focused in on the impact of computer programming instruction on student's development of their critical thinking skills. This resulted in my focus on encouraging and empowering teachers to incorporate true computer science training in their classes. This was a clear and specific audience; I wanted to reach out to all teachers, not merely those tasked with teaching technology to their students in the computer lab. But like all journeys, the line on this one was far from straight, and I suddenly found myself turning my entire class into an elaborate game. In order to spark interest, enjoyment and make the class more creative, I took those everyday ordinary computer science lessons, and made them all part of a game in which students begin as candidates for a new space program, that takes them through training until they become astronauts exploring deep space. This shift, has made it easier for me to shift the topic and titles of my project in such way that ore educators might be draw in to consider this approach. I am hoping that this thoughtful approach to my school year will lead to students enjoying learning in much they same way they might enjoy playing a game. This is, of course, a work in progress. I also hope to make clear to educators the differences between a classroom that employs games (gamified) and a class that IS a game (gamificiaton). It might seem like a small distinction, but the planning and thought processes are quite divergent. My hope is to craft my website in such a way that a curious educator could just glance it in interest, but then almost immediately think, "Wait, this doesn't look to difficult." Yet, more than encouraging teachers to consider gamification, I would love to inspire educators to begin to see their classroom, as something that can shift, grow and change. It does not have to follow traditional rules or expectations any more than it has to have desks and seats in neat little rows. I would love for teachers to begin to look around the room and ask, "What if I changed everything?" It is an interesting idea and even more so, to see how shifting the "norms" of the classroom impacts students. As one of my young students told an administrator the other day, "It is like they are tricking you into learning things." GottfriedIt is a little difficult for me to consider Lisa Gottfried's blog without factoring in all the things I know about her. She and I both are part of the original Digital Innovator's program with Napa Learns. We've spent many hours together trying to determine the best ways to inspire teachers to embrace innovation and bring technology into the classroom. This is what I know about her without even reading her entries; she is brilliant. This is not an exaggeration or rhetoric. She is one of the most intelligent, thoughtful people I have ever met, so it is no surprise that her blog is exemplary. Her presentation on all aspects of her project is thoughtful and clear. I could turn to any section and understand not only her thought process, but also the implications, examples and impact of the project as a whole. I really enjoyed when she included entries from her students as a deep look inside how everything can play out with actual students. I loved this thought that she penned, " How do we harness the power of blogging to get students jobs, create authentic writing tasks, and strengthen our learning community? " The idea that contained within the heart of her project was the idea of empowering students not just for now, but also for the future. Her target audience, teachers, were addressed at every turn. Her clarity of focus on demonstrating the ways that student blogging can enhance their learning and empower them for their own futures was clear within each page of her blog. She kept her main audience in front of her and it showed even in her choices for the student work she showcased. She was making a strong, and persuasive argument for the implementation of blogging in the classroom. DearbornAnn Dearborn's research project was also a close look at blogging in the classroom. Her project involved the use of blogs to encourage and improve student responses with their own and one another's reading. Her audience, like Gottfried, was teachers, and encouraged consideration for the use of this technique in more classrooms. Again her writing was tuned into her main audience - educators. Her reasons and research for the use of blogs within the classroom was clear, and she showed her thought process as she developed her thinking towards this technological integration within a reading classroom. I loved this question that she asked, " How could I make home reading more engaging for my students?" because it is one that many teachers ask themselves. The push to increase engagement and excitement with reading is the pot at the end of the rainbow that all teachers seek. SaslowAlexander Saslow's Build-a -Unit Toolbox is a project with science teachers at it's heart. His clear enlargements, and strong voice, compel you to understand that this toolbox will not only benefit science teachers, like himself, but all educators who desire to have a logical, streamlined and efficient method of planning lessons to support students. Saslow's title implies that he is reaching out to science teachers, but a more accurate description would be that he is speaking to all teachers and administrators who want their students to benefit from thoughtful connection between the never-ending world of standards and the everyday classroom. He makes this clear when he says, "This is the reason for this project - to make the standards accessible for ALL teachers." In all cases, it is not just the stated audience that comes across but rather that every aspect of their project is geared toward a specific goal - to enhance learning for students and to bring clarity and efficiency to the classroom. Toward this end, all three of these projects focus on speaking to teachers, but the result of their efforts is to benefit students. |
AuthorJen has been teaching school for awhile now. She's learned some stuff, but she's got tons more to learn. Archives
October 2017
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