Moving Forward and SITE As I move forward with my driving question, I am hoping to accomplish two goals: 1. Demonstrate the need to shift toward "true" coding instruction in schools and 2. The ease with which ANYONE (students and teachers) can develop coding skills. Therefore my audience also addresses two audiences - teachers and students.
Sociocultural An obvious area that will need a great deal of focus involves the peopel who will be learning. The teachers who consider including coding in their classroom come from a varied environment and with different skills regarding technology. Some teachers love and embrace technology - always looking for new ways to innovate and move forward, while others are reluctant to incorporate any technology in their classrooms. They don't see themselves as technology experts, or may even see the increased use of technology as a negative trend in schools. It is imperative that I make sure to engage all of these individuals. Teachers are on the front lines of technology instruction, and so they must be fully trained and supported in order to train and fully support their own students. The students who will be experiencing the training also have diverse background and exposure to tech. Access to technology is the new divide - those who have WIFI and devices and those who do not. Any study that addresses anything technological must take into account that not everyone has access. It is not just a matter of differences in the quality and types of equiptment, but more than that, some students have no access or equiptment at all. Informational The biggest question that I have faced all along, is what has laready been studied regarding the impact of computer programming on critial thinking skills. Despite the tremendous push for more and more inclusion of coding in the classroom, there seems to be little study of what impact this has on students' thinking skills. If I am to persuade my audience of the necessity and importance of coding instruction, I must have evidence and support of its value for students. My own research was a small and limited study, and while it supported the concept that coding instruction does impact critical thinking in a postive way, it is far from enough to convince a school or a teacher, that learing HTML is an essential and important skill for the average 5th grader. I will also need to look at what support materials both the instructor and the student will need to succeed in teaching and learning coding. I am already aware of many places where students can learn to code, and plan to include descriptions and evaluations of them. I hope to create an ongoing resource hub and plan to garner input from other more experienced coders. Technical Considering the technical aspect of this endeavor could feel overwhelming. What access to technology do students have? What resources exist within the community? How can I overcome the technology gap between students who have access and those who do not? What are the necessary steps to take a student or a teacher form zero knowledge of computer programming to proficiency in some of the basic skills? What computer languages and/or activites are appropriate for each grade level and who is that determined? It is clear that my Capstone is in it's infancy stage with more questions than answers at this point, but the SITE model is helping to refine and clarify what it is that I hope to accomplish with this project. I understand the importance and impact of developing an understanding of coding and am slowly beginning to think of ways that I can demonstrate this importance, and support others to consider dipping their toes in the waters of coding instruction and learning.
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I am a huge fan of using social media to fuel your personal learning network (PLN). I began utilizing Twitter nearly two years ago, but really embracing it as a PLN support system, a year ago. I have made connections with fellow educators around the United States, and connected to resources that have transformed not only my classroom, but the classrooms of my coworkers. I have spent a great deal of time sharing the power of social media with my coworkers and have even set up smaller twitter chats to help them see how they can connect with other educators. One of my most powerful connections involves a teacher who lives in Tennessee. We met in a twitter chat and discovered the following: we both teach technology, we both teach at a Title 1 school, we both teach students who have little to no WiFi access outside of school. It is so powerful to share ideas, tips, and plans with someone who has a similar teaching position. It is so rare, particularly when you are a specialist, to find someone who is doing just what you do, and I only found her because of social media. It is important to remember, however, that my twitter account is a professional one -- it isn't appropriate for me to retweet news from my favorite film actor or musical group. As a professional, I must make sure that my twitter account is professional too. This caused me to create two twitter accounts - one is personal and one is professional. Thoughtfully and carefully tweeting, retweeting and responding is important as I maintain a professional social media footprint. B. I do not follow any students on social media. I do follow several former students, but did not start following them until they were 18 years old. Having taught high school for nearly a decade, I found this a necessary and essential policy. I do NOT want access to my students social media accounts, and have made my personal social media accounts private. According to district policy, teachers must not be social media friends with students. However, I do occasionally accidentally stumble across a student social media account, or have researched a student's social media in order to solve a problem, or research issues of bullying. One extreme case occurred when I was teaching high school, and one of my freshman girls was suicidal because of them rumors a boy was spreading about her through social media. I contacted my principal and showed him the posts that had written about her, and her own posts about her personal despair. We met with her and her parents, and were able to get her the help she needed. While, I disagreed with some of the responses my principal made (the boy suffered NO consequences for his actions), I am grateful that I took the time to listen to my student, and had the technical savvy to research the situation. Today that young lady is twenty-five years old, and a crisis counselor. Social media was a powerful tool in this situation, and gave me the evidence I need to force the principal to take this issue seriously. I do not have a class Instagram account or class Facebook account. Having spent a year being filmed for a documentary, I am VERY aware of the necessity of waivers and student's privacy rights. I have seen some fantastic examples of using a class Instagram, and am not necessarily opposed to its use but would NEVER include pictures of my students faces without permission, and would endeavor to use pictures of projects and work, rather than people. It is ESSENTIAL to be familiar with your district guidelines, your school's guidelines, and which students have opted out of your school's media release. I've included a link to the document we created regarding creating social media guidelines because I'm really proud of the document we created, and also because I think it is important and useful information to consider. CLARK
Key Ideas Costs of Ineffective Training
BAGGIO Key Ideas
Clarity is everything.
When planning any lesson whether it is reading instruction or technology instruction, it is essential to know and understand what it is you want your learners to master. Clark breaks down the important components to ensure that this clarity of purpose takes place before beginning your lessons. Clark's Developing Technical Training lays out the process of building and creating effective lessons to support technical training. Moving from assessing need to implementation are a series of steps that looks closely at what skills and understanding is necessary for corporate and classroom success. Tying this together with Dervin's Sense Making and understanding how our students process information, empowers educators to create lessons that effectively deliver essential content to our students. It isn't enough for math teachers to understand how to add and subtract themselves, but rather they need to know the essential steps for completing these processes, and understand how the individuals they teach understand and process those steps. All of this is pushing us closer and closer to providing content that is not only pertinent to our students, but digestible and practical. The driving question I began with: What impact does learning a computer programing language (html/css) have on critical thinking skills, remains relevant to me and my students. As I continue forward building our technology design lab, I want to ensure that content I deliver is practical, accessible and relevant. As my students begin their journey through the digital landscape, it is important that I thoughtfully empower them to navigate this road in ways that are safe and useful. No learning exists within a vacuum nor is it disconnected from other subjects or content, so as I build lessons I must not only look closely at the content I am delivering but ways to connect to other areas of student learning. Need to Know: Which computer languages would be most useful to students? What activities are supported with these languages? How can computer programming become embedded with regular course content? How can I create cross-curricular connections? Audience: Teachers who use technology or hope to begin using technology. Update to driving question: Is teaching computer programing an appropriate use of educational time? OR Is Hour of Code a waste of time? I have recently become VERY addicted to screen casting and have been using ScreenCast-O-Matic. I have even taught my students how to use it, requiring them to create a screencast of a slide deck as the last assignment of the year. I really appreciated how easily it synced with Google Classroom. All my students had to do when they had completed their assignment was click a button and add it to their assignment!
Last week, however, I discovered Soapbox which is a free Chrome extension! It has some amazing aspects that other free screencasting programs lack -- the ability to edit! Soapbox not only allows you to edit your material, but even edit the view. You can start out with a shot that includes your screen, and a small webcam window in the corner, but then you can switch and have the web cam go full screen. You can also have the computer go full screen, and can even add an action statement at the end of your video. This is a tool that would be awesome for classroom instruction, and to introduce to students who in my classroom are working with Chromebooks. I love finding useful extensions that work well with what we already have. I tend to use Safari at home, as I have a MAC All in One, but have added Chrome as a choice so that I can play around with Soapbox this summer. I am really looking forward to working with it next week during curriculum development -- my favorite week to gear up for the next school year. I've seen it used and used it on a very limited basis to date, but loved its sophisticated look and ease of use. I think my students will be really excited about it. You can find it in the chrome extensions. My foray into a digital classroom experience, stemmed from necessity. That's the way these things usually go, isn't it? I had just been hired at my current site as an ELD instructor, and I would have 8 different classes coming to see me each day. It was a complicated schedule that left me with trying to figure out how to manage so many classes. I also had to update my credential — as I had earned my teaching credential in the DARK AGES, and needed to add some certifications. In the process of taking a class online, I was assigned looking at some online resources. IN the process of doing this homework, I saw a blurb about Class Dojo. The rest is history, as they would say.
I had been overwhelmed with trying to keep track of classroom management with 8 different classes, and Class Dojo was the perfect solution. This was in the early days with their own digital experience, and it was pretty much simply a class management app. They have made quite a journey in the last three years, and so have I! We have both come to see the digital experience as one that can really add to the classroom, not just logistically but in the areas of collaboration, community, creativity and even mental health. Their emphasis on building a positive classroom community that supports the learners fits beautifully with my own. I plan to continue to use this app as I have for the past three years. Looking at my classroom and determining "how I am going to incorporate teaching digital literacy" is pretty much what my class is all about. I begin the first project each school year focused on making sure that my students are safe and competent on the internet. Many people tend to focus on cyber bullying and the largest aspects of safety (not giving out personal information), but I am trying to fine-tune these lessons, especially because I teach the same students for four years. I want my program to progress, as they progress. Common Sense Media has the best material I've seen, and I use it in conjunction with Near Pod to build lessons where students look at things like digitally enhanced use in advertisement, and gender roles. Understanding the world of digital media is a new aspect of reading comprehension. Students must be taught how to interpret this new vast world. The other aspect that I consider part of digital literacy involves the how of digital life. I spend a good portion of my early classes — especially with my 2nd and 3rd graders teaching them all about Google docs, slides, sheets, forms, email, etc. I also spend a small portion of each class with my 2nd and 3rd graders teaching them keyboarding — however, I do not simply let them play keyboarding games, but rather teach them correct hand position and help them with drills. I would love for our school to be able to purchase and use Keyboarding without Tears which is a phenomenal program that supports reading skills, while practicing typing. Tragically, it is VERY expensive. For now, I direct them while using Typing Web -- requiring them to work on the lessons — not just play the games. Our school is in a fortunate position, in that we have a credentialed teacher in the computer lab (technology design lab). This is not something most schools have, and computer time become less digital instruction, and more completion of various computer programs/games (FAST Math, Gigi Math, Read180, iRead, etc). I am hoping that our model becomes the norm because asking teachers to add true digital instruction into an already packed schedule is an awful lot to ask. Dervin's Sense-Making is not for the faint of heart. It is a concept that requires careful reading, rereading, and thought. I found that the best way to understand what I was reading was to create pictures and diagrams. This helped me understand what was being communicated to me. I also read the article in small chunks and then reread it another time using my own drawings as references. Interestingly, the drawings that I created nearly matched some of the diagrams that were included in the reading. This gave me a sense that I was understanding what I was reading. This confidence led me to continue forward, and make more notes and drawings. It was the encouragement that I needed to reassure me that my understanding was on the right path.
Dervin was trying to communicate the important idea that it is essential to understand HOW individuals make sense of the world around them. Specifically for my classroom experience, it would be helpful for my to understand how students make sense of HTML or CSS. If I have a clear understanding of THEIR understanding, I can connect to them in ways that help THEM make sense. Relying on MY understanding doesn't necessarily assist my students. I need to consider things from their perspective and must understand how THEY make sense of computer programming so that I can better help them bridge the gap of their understanding. Sharing the material that Dervin has written with others would be no small task. Understanding my "students" for this task would be essential. I would of course break into chunks as that is the way that I and my colleagues approached it. But it would be important to understand how my students best learn new and complex material. Do they learn best through video examples? Role play? Reading? If I were to truly explain and assist them across the gap I would need to understand how they make sense of complicated information. What would be the most effective way for them to bridge that gap of understanding. Sense-Making
Perhaps the reason that sense making is such a complex and dense topic is simply because it is taking a close look at human behavior and humans themselves are complex. Sense making is a beautiful portrait of the complexities involved in education. Students are infinitely unique, and thus the way the understand and interpret the world around them is infinitely unique. Sense making is an approach to understanding these complexi As a teacher of technology, I spend the first part of every school year teaching digital citizenship. We spend a great deal of time talking about our digital footprint, building a positive online presence and thinking about personal security. We spend time talking about the importance of being thoughtful about our passwords and our user names. It is usually right during this time, that students are given their school wide accounts to things like iRead or System44, typing web, Reading Inventory or FASTmath. Inevitably, the password that has been given to them is: Password.
I find tremendous irony that the same institution that values, and endeavors to teach them importance of online safety does not follow the rules when assigning accounts to students. I understand the difficulty of creating usable passwords to our youngest students, but the disconnect between what we teach and what we do is significant. Students in my classroom must first earn their Internet Driver's License before being allowed out on the internet at school. This License has two components: Internet Safety and Technical Skills. For the first aspect we spend a good deal of time discussing, watching videos (Common Sense Media) and creating a pledge to remain safe on the internet. They also sign an agreement that involves appropriate use of computers at school. It is important to establish parameters for the professional use of computers while at school. The second portion of our class involves making sure students have the basic tools necessary to contribute and collaborate in all their classes. Students learn how to create in google slides, docs, and how to share these with teachers and classmates. I also instruct them on the use of their school email. Involved with all of this instruction I teach them the specific skills of inserting links, pictures, screenshots, as well as how to utilize research and editing tools. This is taught 3rd-5th grade. Our younger students learn how to log on to their Chromebook, how to email, and how to insert pictures. They earn their Driver's Permit. I use a WONDERFUL resource from Teachers Pay Teachers. It is a series of slides (google slides) which teaches students each of these skills. The culminating assessment project is for students to create their own Internet Driver's License which includes the skills they've been working on. They must take and insert a picture of themselves, and edit the License to standards that they are given. Our students exist in a wide digital world that is full of dangers and pitfalls, as well as opportunities and amazing experiences. It is our responsibility to send them out to meet this world armed with the necessary skills to not only succeed but to ensure their safety and privacy. Competency-Based Classrooms
I spent two years teaching in a school that embraced competency-based learning, as discussed in the article by Katie Varatta. Students were given an assessment of math and reading skills, and then scheduled a plan based on that information. As a result I had students of all ages learning to master fractions, or a multi-grade level group sitting and discussing a book they'd all been reading together. My favorite story from this time, involved a student who had failed algebra three times. He felt completely helpless when tackling it, and was defeated. His parents were determined to try a new approach and enrolled him in our school. During his intial assessment, we discovered that he had no understanding of fractions. He could not even correctly identify 1/2. He then set about to mastering this missing skill which he rapidly did. He then went on to successfully complete algebra - earning high marks on his exams. The contrast between this students past school experiences, and the success he found in a competency-based program highlight what works well when students are allowed to master skills before moving on. This student had been advanced year after year and always struggling because of this one glaring gap in his math education. Once this gap was addressed and master, he was able to move forward with success. Simply moving him along, and even hiring tutors to help him with his algebra were useless because he had not mastered a previous and neccessary skill. I've also had experience with this, using Khan Academy with my students. My 5th and 6th graders worked their way through a series of lessons teaching JavaScript, Html/CSS and SQL. Students moved at their own pace, and some raced quickly through the early lessons. The best experiences from this activity was the community of learners created in this environment. Students helped each other, and cheered each other on. Best of all, because I was also completing the same lessons, students would teach me and help me through lessons that they had already completed. There was a corporate recognition that some students found certain lessons easier than others and could help those who struggled, but later those same "experts" might need help on a different lesson. It was a beautiful environment where everyone - student and teacher were learners. Which is not to say that the complications addressed in the article aren't real. Managing a large group of people working on different levels and on different skills can be very complicated. Utilizing students and working with small groups who are struggling with the same skill are the best ways to manage such a diverse learning environment. |
AuthorJen has been teaching school for awhile now. She's learned some stuff, but she's got tons more to learn. Archives
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