21st Century Learning: No Time Left to Wait

Where does 21st Century Learning fit? As an intregal part of the whole educational process.

The first few weeks of Issues and Advances in Education Technology class gave us opportunities to think of ways in which to use technology. We considered collaboration as we brainstorm web 2.0 technologies to make our lessons more engaging and to tap into different styles of learning in our students. Yet this week’s readings and theme allowed us to stop and reflect on the purpose of the implementation of these different technologies. As a result, it becomes obvious that we must access 21^st century learning because it will allow our students to be prepared for a dynamic, skills based workplace.

The Partnership for 21^st Century Skills created a resource and policy guide that clearly define the reasons why these skills must be accessed in our students. They outline their first reason as the change in job changes and direction of the economy. “Today, the United States is more than 15 years into the information age. It was in 1991 that U.S. spending on information technology ($112 billion) first surpassed spending on production technology ($107 billion)” (Stewart, 1997). To further the point, the group presents a pie chart showing that 86% of jobs are now in the service sector. Students will not be able to get by any longer with physical, manual labor skills. The jobs just aren’t out there.

In many ways, teaching 21^st century skills align perfectly with the reasons for making sure teachers are pedagogically sound before utilizing technology. As the Partnership states, “the net effect is that companies – particularly those with heavy ICT investments – are hiring workers with a higher skill set, particularly expert thinking and complex communication skills” (Partnership). In order for teachers to access the complex communication skills in students and create critical thinking opportunites, they must be sound and quality teachers. It can’t simply be a matter of sticking laptops in a classroom and presto! Ann Thompson, director of Iowa State University’s Center for Technology in Learning and Teaching, agrees in her comment in THE Journal’s article on technology and pedagogy. She expresses her feelings on focusing too much on technology: “we all did at first: ‘If we just teach teachers how to use technology, they’ll figure out how to teach with it.’ Although it was an understandable approach, it really wasn’t the approach we should be taking’” (Journal). Glen Bull, co-director of the Curry School of Education Center for Technology and Teacher Education at the University of Virginia, outlines it even further. He states:

“You first have to know the content. It’s going to be hard to teach calculus if you don’t know calculus yourself. You also need to know the pedagogy associated with that content – the instructional strategies that will be effective. Finally, you need to know the innovation or technology that you’re going to then use” (Bull).

The reality is that teachers need to do it all. This isn’t an either or answer. Teachers must know how to access creativity in their students and to tap into critical thinking. They must also do this in a manner in which students utilize web 2.0 technology so that they are ready for the workforce. Allowing students to practice these skills will allow them to construct and create knowledge instead of simply reciting it. This is what will be the key to the future of our students and our own economy. Economist and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman describes it best. He states:

“Your ability to act on your imagination is going to be so decisive in driving your future and the standard of living of your country. So the school, the state, the country that empowers, nurtures, enables imagination among its students and citizens, that’s who’s going to be the winner” (Friedman). 

There is no more time to wait for 21^st century learning. It must begin now.

References:

Partnership for 21^st Century Skills. (2008). 21^st Century Skills, Education & Competitiveness: A Resource and Policy Guide.

 Schaffhauser, Dian. (2009). “Which Came First – The Technology or the Pedagogy?” THE Journal.

New Challenges (Week 8)

For teachers and juniors at Seattle Prep, the months of October and November mean one thing – National History Day madness! The extensive research paper known as National History Day takes over the lives of all involved during these cold, wet fall months. This means that while the students spend hours upon hours crafting annotated bibliographies and detailed outlines, teachers do the same in the assessment part of the process. While the paper is a valuable part of our curriculum, it also is very challenging! The result of this busy time is that I strayed from my technology goal of utilizing Moodle in that class.

Lucky for me, my site coordinator asked me to consider three to four observed sources of evidence from the SPU Intern Handbook. Upon reading through the list, I selected a few that will work including one around technology.

The three that I will focus on for the time being are:

Technology

Understanding of assessment

Student Reflection

This challenge to review what I need to improve upon comes at just the right time. This past week was a good week filled with assessments, varied lessons, meetings with many students (mostly around National History Day) and teacher collaboration. Yet when life gets this busy, it is great to sit back and review how we can improve rather than just trudge through it.

I look forward to finding ways to improve my success in these three areas over the next couple weeks.

Student Choice (Week 7)

A positive and impactful teacher-student relationship can make for a successful school year and potentially lead students toward continued academic achievement. As Robert Marzano illustrates in Classroom Management that Works, “if a teacher has a good relationship with students, then students more readily accept the rules and procedures and the disciplinary actions that follow their violations. Without the foundation of a good relationship, students commonly resist rules and procedures along with the consequent disciplinary action” (Marzano 41). I feel there are a number of reasons why I connect with my students and maintain a positive, strong teacher-students relationship, but one of the new more effective ways I make this happen is through choices.

By allowing choices to my classes, the learning process and classroom environment are no longer dictated by me; they are now a cooperative experience involving student buy in. I experienced this with my juniors this past week concerning a unit test on the Revolutionary War era. While we are wrapping up that three week unit (which seems rather short, but don’t they all?), we also began heading into the deadline times for their semester long National History Day project. While the students tried to balance their time, I asked them awhile back when they wanted to take the test. I gave them the option to take it the Friday before a long break (students had three days off) or the day we got back. They chose before the break. As the week went on, my teaching partner and I noticed they were definitely stressed about their amount of work. Through allowing flexibility and student choice, I received a rousing round of applause when I announced their test would be delayed until after the break. The irony and humor in the decision, as I told them in class, was that they chose the earlier date in the first place!

While I did change the date, I still allowed for their choice to hold the test on Thursday or Friday. By allowing this choice, students feel as if they are working with you rather than against you. It created a more positive classroom environment and also gives me the opportunity to hold steady to deadlines that cannot be moved due to school requirements. This provided me a great, concrete example of how student choice can aid in the teacher-student relationships.

Why Collaborate?

While collaboration applies specifically to this week’s tag in Issues and Advances in Education Technology, it can certainly be applied to nearly every aspect of effective teaching. In order for teachers to be outstanding at their craft, they must learn to work with other teachers through collaborative project. This learning process mirrors the learning that students go through in the classroom. As the Washington State Educational Technology learning standard (EALR 1) states very clearly, “Students use technology within all content areas to collaborate, communicate, generate innovative ideas, investigate and solve problems” (Standards). Yet technology doesn’t drive collaboration; it simply acts as a tool to reach that level of learning. As Robert Marzano states in Classroom Instruction that Works, the pedagogical reasoning behind collaboration exists in grouping and cooperative learning as a strategy to reach student achievement.

Marzano points to researchers David Johnson and Roger Johnson, who in 1999 identified five characteristics of cooperative learning. Marzano writes:

Positive interdependence (a sense of sink or swim together)

Face-to-face promotive interaction (helping each other learn, applauding success and efforts)

Individual and group accountability (each of us has to contribute to the group achieving its goals)

Interpersonal and small group skills (communication, trust, leadership, decision making, and conflict resolution)

Group processing (reflecting on how well the team is functioning and how to function even better) (Marzano 85-86).

With these characteristics in mind and the hard empirical data to back them up, Marzano makes the case for cooperative learning or collaboration. As the world and thus classrooms (and students) become more immersed in technology, it only makes sense to apply this same pedagogical reasoning to the use of new technology. Thus Washington State created new Educational Technology specific standards and schools look to find ways to utilize these collaborative tools like blogs, wikis, discussion boards, and chats. Yet as ISTE’s Wikispaces point out, which technology to use depends on the purpose of one’s collaboration. Additionally, Miguel Guhlin shows educators when to use blogs, wikis, and Google docs with the same reflection in mind. Choosing which 2.0 technology to use moves an attempt of fulfilling a standard to an inspired classroom with incredible learning opportunities.

I underwent this type of reflection this week as I discussed the use of Moodle in my junior history class. I spoke with administrators and our technology department head about this as a possibility and they are excited. I plan to start this in the coming weeks, but not just to do it because it is available! Bradford Davey writes on ISTE’s Wikispaces a description of my scenario almost perfectly. He describes a great collaborative project utilizing 2.0 technology, but writes more about the skills gained outside of that realm. He states, “Although digital videography is a great technology skill, it is not the focus of this story….Their critical thinking skills came from problem solving for the other school involved in the project, working to solve the logistics of time zones, and thinking differently about their ability to communicate to a much larger global community. The project truly changed their perspective” (Davey). I want to have an experience in my classroom like Davey’s. While I use pairs and group opportunities on an almost daily basis in my classroom, there are still students who do not participate as much as I would like them to. Additionally, some students process information in a different way and may not be ready to raise their hand in class. Lastly, some students may feel intimidated to participate, despite any welcoming activities I may involve them in, due to race, gender, socio-economic status, or a variety of other factors.

http://demo.moodle.org/

The use of Moodle can alleviate these concerns and engage students in collaboration they haven’t experienced yet. It can reach EALR 1.1 which states, “Demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge and develop innovative products and processes using technology” (Standards). I am excited to begin the process and look forward to the results of this collaboration in my classroom.

Resources:

ISTE Wikispaces. (n.d.). Retrieved from the ISTE Wiki: http://nets-implementation.iste.wikispaces.net/Communication++and+Collaboration

Marzano, R.J., Pickering D.J., & Pollock, J.E. (2001). Classroom Instruction that Works. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. (2008). K-12 Educational Technology Learning Standards Retrieved from: http://www.k12.wa.us/edtech/pubdocs/K12EdTechStandards_12-08_MostRecent.pdf

Blogs – No Longer Just for People in their Mom’s Basement

This week’s readings for Issues and Advances in Education Technology can be characterized as rationale for utilizing technology in the classroom and practical application of a specific technology – blogs or wikis. While I used blogs and read the Washington State learning standards in the past, putting these two items together this week allowed me a new perspective as I move forward as an educator.

By taking a look at the Washington State learning standards, it becomes quite obvious that the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction wants to be forward thinking, in preparing students to utilize technology. This applies to educators as well since we are the ones in charge of making sure this happens. The rationale for this approach can be seen in the standards document. It states:

“Educators have reported that integrating technology effectively has three positive potentials for the learner:

1. Technology motivates students to delve deeper into a subject area.

2. Technology has an inexhaustible flexibility – mechanically and creatively. Students create, manipulate and individualize their learning artifacts.

3. Technology increases teachers’ ability to meet the individual needs of all learners” (p. 4).

 With this in mind, teachers must find ways to use technology in their approach. While doing this, it also becomes clear that teachers must engage students in hands-on work with technology while understanding the ethical responsibility that goes with it. This can be seen through EALR 2 which states, “students demonstrate a clear understanding of technology systems and operations and practice safe, legal and ethical behavior” (p. 7).

http://www.blogger.com

EALR 2 appears to be what keeps many schools from utilizing technology. As Lavin, Beaufait, and Tomei point out in “Tools for Online Engagement and Communication”, it can be a challenge for a school to embrace technology like blogs. “Our own blogging ventures have to a large extent been focused on the long term: we tend to think in terms of introducing blogging into the system, as much as or more than introducing blogging to students. It is very tempting to expect students to create fully formed blogs with long posts, substantive comments, and a vibrant network of linked blogs, but thinking in terms of introducing blogging into the system (i.e., to fellow educators and into the curriculum) rather than to your current students encourages smaller and more realistic steps” (p. 387).

Thus as I embark on a new found journey to use blogs in my teaching, I have to find the balance of school acceptance and educational impact. I can’t just use blogs because I am taking this class and it is a new idea. It must be a pedagogical decision with school administration backing. Yet, it can be done and I plan on beginning the process as soon as possible.

One of the great ways to start using blogs as Lavin, Beaufait, and Tomei highlight is reading blogs first. “This point cannot be emphasized enough. Setting aside time within the context of the classroom (in a mixed class) or specifically requiring students to identify good posts and link to them, adding their own thoughts, is one of the things that has helped fuel the growth of blogging in our classes” (p. 388).

My junior history class conducts months of research for the National History Day project and they must learn to discern between credible websites and non-credible websites. If I assign them a chance to read blogs, not only will they have to search for information in reference to National History Day, but covertly I will be preparing them to write their own blog entries.

After my class reads these blog entries, I would love to get them to write blog entries or use a discussion board for a week or two of class. Instead of providing reading quizzes or questions, along with the other weekly assignments, I can set up a place on a blog or discussion board where they are required to post. As we all know, they will face this type of classroom environment in college, so why not get them prepared now? I plan on presenting this to my principal and Dean of Academics in the next two weeks. I think this can be a great opportunity to teach the use of blogs, the appropriate use of technology, and reaching that first and third goal set out in the learning standards. Students will delve deeper into material, while the use of blogs allows for different learning styles.

Beaufait, P.A., Lavin, R.S., & Tomei, J. (2008). Education for a Digital World. Commonwealth of Learning Retrieved from: http://www.col.org/resources/crsMaterials/Pages/edDigitalWorld.aspx

Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. (2008). K-12 Educational Technology Learning Standards Retrieved from: http://www.k12.wa.us/edtech/pubdocs/K12EdTechStandards_12-08_MostRecent.pdf

Communicating with Parents (Week 6)

My focus this week centered more on communication with parents than anything else. As we enter the seventh week of classes, it is more and more obvious which students need extra attention in order to ensure their success.

The proactive approach to communicating with parents usually results in success. A couple students of mine are not doing well in history due to various reasons. Instead of waiting (an obvious poor approach) or sending home a progress report, I found that emailing them with specific concerns reduces the anxiety and aggression of most parents. This was the case again with a few different sets of parents I emailed this week. Parents tend to want to work with me to ensure success in their children.

This isn’t the case with one of my students in particular. He/she really is facing an uphill climb as he/she currently sits below a passing grade. His/her struggles come mostly from immaturity and lack of organization. Granted he/she does not comprehend some of the material, but mostly he/she simply cannot keep things together to ensure assignments are complete and on time. In response to this, I emailed his parents a couple weeks ago with my specific concerns. The student spoke to me in class, but still did not show improvement. The trend continued this past week as we are still waiting for a paper to be turned in from him/her. I spoke to our Dean of Academics and his/her counselor and emailed his parents again. While I feel as if I am doing all I can with communication, I know I need to find a new approach.

My plan for this student and the couple others who sit below a C average in my class will be to find a time during the week that I can meet with them to go over their work. Specifically I will be looking for test preparation, notes, and completed assignments. I also plan to begin my review sessions before tests or quizzes again. As I start up this process again, I will email parents to close the loop and hope there will be family buy in. This challenge will always be present, as long as I am an educator, so continual communication is essential.

Using Technology

As I enter my third year of teaching high school students, it becomes more apparent that the students know more about technology than I do. Now this isn’t really the surprise. Generation upon generation inevitably becomes more technologically efficient than the previous one. At the same time, I am young enough at the age of 30 that I am not clueless either. Thus when I enrolled in the Education Technology class, my immediate thoughts went to catching up with students in this realm. Yet soon enough I realized that this class will enable me to bridge the gap in technological skills while using technologies that they don’t necessarily use. We will meet somewhere in between and hopefully I can be a teacher who uses this new information to improve myself and the learning that takes place with my students.

One of the new websites, which turns out to be a social bookmarking site, that I learned of this week is delicious. In spite of its intriguing name, delicious can really benefit a young professional or organization. To be honest, I didn’t really understand its appeal at first due to the fact that I use the same laptop every day and I utilize bookmarks. That changed when I read “Learning 2.0 for Associations”. The reading indicated that an organization or even a group of teachers could use a delicious site and bookmark beneficial or useful articles that all can browse and see. This could be incredibly helpful for professional development.

This week also provided the first opportunity for me to engage in a webinar. My wife’s uncle teaches at the University of Maine and utilizes webinars all the time and through conversations with him I became very interested in the idea. After experiencing it first hand, it becomes obvious how this can work in my classroom. With the threat of H1N1 this school year, going online for classes may come sooner than we are ready for. If I used a webinar, I could still teach a lesson or go over an assignment. Not only would it allow a class to not lose time, it can really help visual learners in my class. I imagine students who need more clarification on an assignment really benefiting from seeing how I interpret it.

Lastly, I encountered Sidewiki for the first time this past week as well. Although it turns out a lot of people encountered Sidewiki for the first time as it is a really new technology. I haven’t had a chance to experience Sidewiki very much yet, but I can see the value for authors of a website. Essentially the message board appeal is no longer limited to message board sites. As this quarter continues, I look forward to the opportunity to experience a variety of technologies that can aid my teaching.

Never Ending Assessment (Week 5)

It became suddenly clear to me this week that the expert teachers in this business aren’t necessarily the ones who engage students the most (although that is important) and they aren’t the ones who vary their teaching styles (although that is also crucial). The expert teachers are those who balance their schedules in order to stay sane!

Ok, so I am using a little sarcasm here, but it comes from a place of a tired reality.

As my classes progress through units of history, there comes need for more and more assessments. I continually evaluate how much I assess students for both their well being and mine, but inevitably my class schedules end up with larger quizzes, tests, and papers due near each other. This is the part that needs a little fixing!

I recently found myself with a large quiz from both juniors and freshmen on my desk accompanied by junior papers, a junior assignment, and three freshmen assignments. How did this happen? It is hard to remember now, but clearly I need to remedy the ways that I got to this place.

It began with getting out from under this pile of assessment. This weekend provided that opportunity as I spent hours upon hours grading. While it sounds laborious and not like a ton of fun, it actually eases my mind for the week ahead. When I start a week with a pile of un-graded papers, I feel anxious. When I start a week fresh, I feel re-energized.

Yet the solution really exists in the preparation. I will look at my next unit schedules to attempt to vary my assessments while also breaking up the workload. I need to ensure that I grade a little every day so that I don’t get overwhelmed. This requires a great deal of discipline, but I know in the long run I will feel much better for it.

With freshmen papers on Jewish history coming in tomorrow morning, this is the time to put my plan into action.