21 Century Classroom Blog

The application of the technology presented in the class opens my eyes to what is available to enhance education.  The concepts in this class help me use problem solving skills, which is critical for analyzing science topics and using technology.   It is good in a way, that I find all of these assignments difficult except the discussions.  I can relate to students who may find find technology intimidating.  I hope most of them do not.  I would like to use a wiki for the theory section of lab reports because students seem to have a difficult time finding information to base this section on.  In need of technology skills, each year I try to focus on another skill.  Two years ago, it was power points.  Last year, it was my web site and twitter.  This year, can be the wiki's.   I know I need to do this faster because technology is changing quickly. Directly for the students, I need to incorporate technology based assignments which they can use toextend their learning outside the classroom.

The impact of the shift in technology is that it expands the educational experiences for students.  They can  use a prompt supplied by the teacher, then create their own learning experience.  The teacher would need to become skillful in writing the prompts; grading the responses, and bringing the students back together to discuss their information about the prompt.  This would shift education from teacher focused to student focused.  Reviewing Bloom's taxonomy, this would develop higher order learning skills.  This iswhat education should do.

Finally, technology should complement other educational activities in a teacher's toolbox.  Each tool may reach different students, thus is useful.  It is important for teacher to  occasionally review what is in their toolbox and look for new tools.  This is exactly what this class does.

Reminding Myself of Connections

                Way back in the late 1990s when I was a video production major at Ithaca College, I had to keep up with technology. I didn’t have a choice because technology was such a large part of my major. I loved it and relished my educational luck. We had a cutting edge communications school that had all the cool new gear for audio, video, and film production, new broadcast technologies and awesome access to the newest computers for print and online news reporting too.  We were among the first schools to get digital editing computers and software. My class was even the first to get our own Ithaca College email addresses (that shows you how long ago I entered college!!!).  It was big deal that one of my roommates had her own computer. We still had to trudge through the snow and ice to print our papers on the dot matrix printers, but the technology that was available to me through school was amazing. Few of my counterparts at any other school in the country, save Emerson College or UCLA had the opportunities that I did; I was well aware of my fortune.

So, upon reflection of this excitement, it strikes me as very strange that when I became a teacher I stepped so far back from my love of all things techie.  When I went back to school to become a teacher I was encouraged to teach the “old fashioned” way- pick up a book, read, discuss, write.  I stopped thinking about all the cool things that technology could help me with as a teacher and the excitement that it engenders in young learners. I forgot, for awhile, how excited I was to have the opportunity to work with all the new equipment and software at Ithaca and it took me awhile to make the connection between my excitement for learning way back then and the excitement I could foster in my own students.

The more I learn about the technologies that are available to us, and how we can use them in the classroom, the more I love it!  Always adverse to cell phones in the classroom, this year I rethought my draconian response to seeing a phone in my room. On a whim, when I was frustrated and desperate for a jump starting student enthusiasm, I let my juniors write open responses on whatever device they had with them at the moment: IPad, smart phone, IPod, laptop, etc.  I just decided that I wanted to see what my students would do with the rare opportunity to use electronic devices with impunity: how they would behave and respond and if they would focus on their assignment. I was amazed at what they wrote in thirty minutes. Some students who never turned in any work were focused, writing and turned in their papers on time.  I had 100% participation. Who gets that result in a mid-level English class when the assignment requires writing? No one!! They were so excited to try something new with their devices that they didn’t mind the writing. This was a breakthrough moment for me. I realized that I had to find new ways to engage them and that the technology that I was fighting against was exactly was I so excited about fifteen years ago.  So, in my constant quest to improve student learning and my own teaching I constantly have to remind myself of this excitement and embrace the awesome technology to which we have access.  

The impact of the shift of technology

It seems like only yesterday that I was standing outside the library doors of the Middle School complaining to a, much younger colleague, Andrew Rogers, that I wish I had another approach to teaching the theme that I was about to. It was 2006.  He suggested I look up the theme on YouTube.  “My tube”, I replied, “what’s my tube?”  He laughed at me and began to explain about uploading videos to this website.  I could not comprehend what he was saying. I thought do I have to make a video and somehow connect it to the internet? How will that help me to teach my lesson?  It took me a few weeks to check it out.  I fell in love!  At home, I watched hours and hours of music videos. I did not use it in class much until three years ago.  It takes time to find something on Youtube that I believe will be professional, applicable to the lesson, and interesting to the students.  Now I use it regularly, professionally and personally. For the last two years I have used the following YouTube video in order to teach the verb endings for Preterite “AR” verbs. Tik Tok - Spanish Preterite AR verbs. I have had to warn the students to stop sing the song during quizzes and tests!

Just look at us taking this class!  I do not have to rearrange my schedule or travel to a campus in order to participate.  In 1997 I lost my job at the end of the fourth year at a high school in Florida because I had not yet taken a class about teaching Spanish in the elementary grades.  The class was offered only at the University of Miami every other January, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. Never mind the fact that I never planned on teaching at the elementary level, how was I supposed to take a class and work at the same time? It was devastating and I felt defeated. I moved back to Massachusetts with my husband and family; we had to sell our home.  That would never happen today with the innumerable online classes available.

Although the idea of technology frightens me, I have lived long enough to know that it is possible to understand and learn when and how to use technology in the 21^st Century Classroom and in my personal life.  The impact of technology has transformed me.  My three children, who range in age from 23 to 30, are plugged in… always.  Two of them and their families live in our house.  We text each other when supper is ready or any other message if we are not on the same floor because it is so much more civil than screaming up and down staircases.  We use online searches continually…What time is the game, what is the weather supposed to be, did you see that post on Facebook?  The impact is profound and breathtaking!

Improving Independence in the Classroom

21st Century Technology is such great thing!  It is so wonderful being an Occupational Therapist in this day and age, as I am able to use all types of technology to improve student learning.  Helping children to become more independent in the areas of occupational therapy within their school environment is my goal.  

Assistive technology is continuously changing and improving.  These technologies can make an enormous difference in children with learning disabilities. It allows children to increase independence and access the school curriculum.  As an OT, I am teaching children typing skills, how to use word prediction, zoom keys and colored keyboards.  Assistive technology allows an OT to individualize, adapt and modify to increase student success within the school day.  

The iPad is another 21 century tool that I often use.  The iPad offers so many apps that assist in improving skills such as fine motor and visual motor skills.  One of my favorite ways to use the iPad is for handwriting.  Many children are not motivated to write, however when the iPad is around it completely changes a kids opinion on handwriting.  The iPad offers a fun multi-sensory approach for handwriting and other fine motor tasks.  The iPad also offers a way to help with sensory processing skills.  Many children become more animated with the iPad and many children become calm while using the iPad.  There are many apps to create a "just right" engine level.  

New technology also allows for testing to be scored through specific programs.  It also allows for new and improved programs for children to use at school and at home to develop independence.  I am very excited to continue to work with and explore new ways to improve student learning with the use of 21st century technology.  

Accepting the tide of technology

For a while I was very hesitant to accept the tide changing and this world of technology moving into the classroom. I have always done lots of computer activities in my classroom as the subjects that I teach are vey new science disciplines with a lot of online resources. But I was (and partly still am) hesitant to accept the use of lots of technology like iPads and cell phones during class and, to a lesser degree, hesitant to move towards online assignments and discussions. One of the main points that opened my eyes (that Jim Adams said to me as we debated this in a happy, friendly way) was that one of our goals is to prepare our kids for education and life after high school and technology will exist in a big way in the post-high school education world. We would be doing our kids a disservice if we don't expose them to some of these technology tools that they will need to use and understand in college and beyond. I don't think anyone can really argue against this point and I do very much agree with it.

One of the biggest arguments I've had about using lots of technology in the classroom is that the kids grow up using it all, so they have a lot of technology in the other parts of their life. Why do they need more? Shouldn't we be exposing them to other things as we teach them? But, over the last year or more, I've begun to see that most students' uses of technology are so different from the ways that we can use technology in the classroom. Therefore, we are teaching them about it - we're teaching them how technology can be a real educational tool, not just one for social pleasure. For example my husband, Bill Graham, an English teacher at AHS, has used Twitter for the last four years for reminding kids about their homework. Each day he tweets from MrG'sHomework with each class' nightly homework. I think most/all of the English department is now doing the same thing. This was a way to show kids that even Twitter can be used in parts of their life outside of their social world. I know others at AHS have Facebook pages for their departments, classes, the library, etc. and I know there are countless more great examples in this same light.

One of the other great reasons for increasing technology in the classroom, which I've definitely realized much more since I've taken this class, is the ability to carry conversations on about class material outside the classroom in a way that doesn't easily happen in the classroom. Online discussions can provide a place for students to participate who might not participate much in the classroom setting. It then also allows other students hear the thoughts of these peers who do not participate much in the classroom. Lastly, it can create discussions about topics that you just don't have time to discuss in the limited class time. Sure, it might be something that not all students embrace in the way we would want them to, but I think the majority of the students will actually get more out of online discussions than in-class ones... not that I will stop those valuable in person discussions either!

Times are changing....I guess I should too.

I am a child of the 1980’s.  I learned to type on a typewriter; an actual real typewriter.  We pounded out the keys of each row, then patterns on the row, then multiple rows of the QWERTY typewriter to the beat of  “love me tender” by Elvis Presley.  I loved that class and the learning process. 

As the 80’s progressed, my family invested in a computer.  Times were crazy!  These little images of bars and balls going across the screen, programming and trying to remember how to change colors of the font and background, then, we had to turn in typed papers.  You hope you saved often because the computer would occasionally shut down and if you hadn’t saved, the work finished is GONE.  When I went to college, I took a word processor.  Problem #1: It would only hold some many “words” in the memory.  Problem #2: all of my work had to be more than the word allotment. 

My next fours years of college were spent trekking to and from computer labs all over campus.  I carried 3.5 disks around in my backpack.  Again, memory was limited compared to today’s standards, but I could fit a class worth of papers for a semester.  Life was good. 

Now, students leave for college with laptops and pads that have more memory on them that I could have ever imagined.  Students are blogging, making videos, playing games, music lists, and messaging friends all from one device.  We carry in our pockets and bags phones that make few phone calls, but can also send texts, take pictures and videos and send them around the world to friends and family in the blink of an eye. 

The point for all of this…..to rephrase what my dad always said, Times, they are a changing.  As technology shifts, so must we; the teachers, professors and parents of the next generation. Sometimes I argue, we want students to be more self-sufficient.  They should keep a calendar or an agenda.  Then I talk to a friend who checks her schedule on her phone that is linked to her husband’s phone and I am amazed at technology.  My next thought is, “we don’t let students use phones in class”.  If they could, would they use it for an agenda or calendar? A few teachers on campus “tweet” class homework everyday.  Isn’t that doing their work for them? Or, is it just the same as when I was in eighth grade and I had to check the board for that night’s homework?  Really, the goals and ideas are the same.  The tools are changing.  Updating myself to use these tools is my next goal.  

The Shift in Technology

I haven't been teaching very long.  I am going into my fifth school year with Ashland Public Schools.  Even over the past 5 years, I have experienced the shift in technology.  The year I started the main piece of technology we used in the classroom was an overhead projector.  I start this past school year by moving it out of the classroom.  I felt like it was taking up wasted space and used very little.  Two years ago, we received learning carts at our school that can be signed out per class.  Luckily at my school, I am one of the few who uses the learning cart often so I never have to worry about there being one available.  The learning cart consists of a hook up so you can either use the computer that comes with it or connect your own computer or iPad to it.  It projects whatever is on the computer screen onto the white board.  You can also project items by using the document camera.  This works similar to the overhead projector - whatever you place beneath it, it can project it up onto the screen.  I use the learning cart to show short videos connected to what we are learning or for slideshows.  Sometimes I put a read aloud book on it during snack time and the kids can watch a short video of a book being read aloud while they eat snack.  It just gives one more way for to students to access learning.  

This past school year, we received an iPad cart!  We have 15 iPads for classroom use.  We need to sign out the cart for the time slot that we will utilize it.  Once again, I feel lucky because there are only a few people that take full advantage of having this iPad cart.  I sign it out often!  It calms my class as they practice math skills or literacy skills during our center time.  

I also have two student computers in my classroom and a listening center.   It is interesting to see within the past 5 years how much has already changed within my building.  I am looking forward to seeing the continuous changes in technology over the years!

Technology Today

Technology Today!

Last week my 2nd graders sent their parents emails telling them about the story they had read and what their favorite part was. Today my students use the computers in the classroom to practice their math facts, iPods to practice spelling, and a few listened to a CD on at the listening center. And I had the last parent add their name to a conference slot online on the website volunteerspot.com without me having to do anything in terms of scheduling since the dates and times were already set up by me weeks ago. The students' activities made their day more exciting and interesting and the teacher's activities were made easier and less stressful because of the ease of using volunteerspot.

Elmos and Wikis and Blogs? Oh, My!

Six and a half years ago, I walked into my classroom for the first time.  I looked around, taking note of my materials, furniture, and surroundings.  First thing I noticed- the chalkboard mounted at the front of the room.  I did a double take...a chalkboard?! Second, the pile of computer parts collecting dust under the wall-mounted television (complete with VCR).  Where was the whiteboard? The document camera? Projector? Apple computers?  I thought to myself, "Jessica, we're not in Kansas (aka the glorious, brand new building I was privileged to student teach in) anymore."

Since then, I have been gifted a projector, laser printer, new-ish student computers, and lots of professional development for new technology.  My classroom website has evolved; the blog is updated (though not regularly enough) with photographs and anecdotes from the classroom.  Conference sign-ups and volunteering opportunities are managed with ease using volunteerspot.com.  Students are well-versed in technology- YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Parents anticipate updates instantaneously via email. Discovery Education provides a video for every topic, standard, framework, unit, lesson under the sun.  Technologically savvy students are more and more commonplace and I've had to keep up.  I tweet, Instagram, and Facebook with the best of them!

I still feel like my classroom is in the dark ages.  The new projector blew a bulb, therefore is unusable.  The wi-fi connection is spotty and temperamental.  The laser printer is black and white- no color ink in the room. No document camera, no Elmo, no iPads in sight.   While I appreciate and value what I've learned at PD days on the Elmo projector and Wikis, I feel I don't have the right "infrastructure" in my classroom to address the shift to the 21st Century.  Baby steps, I suppose...