Summer

Summer is almost gone and I am facing a new job this fall. I will still be teaching writing but due to the economy trickling down and affecting teaching, I will also be teaching two sections of 7th grade Language Arts and two sections of 8th grade Language Arts. I brought home the new text books that we might adopt, hoping to get a jump on things... Oh well, summer is almost gone and I haven't opened any teacher editions. Sure am enjoying readng the newest Wheel of Time book though!

Expanding My Technology Horizons

Maybe I don’t think big enough. Maybe, as a writing teacher, I only think about my audience. Either way, I find myself thinking about the technologies that I have explored the past eight weeks and how my district will accept them rather than how I can use them. As a result, the majority of my learning has focused on what my district already has in place and how I can utilize that technology to the fullest. Since we are a technology rich district due to our Title One status, there is a lot of technology in our rooms! (I am still waiting on a request to use Moodle to develop my online unit, however…) So much so that I am coming under fire for not using my SmartBoard the way the district wants it used. Why, when there is so much more out there?

There is one exception to the amount of technology we use – online tools. I will continue to expand my students’ life experiences by creating meaningful lessons centered on local and global issues to meet 21st Century standards. I will allow them a creative, problem solving outlet and access to differing opinions through Voicethread. Blogs do the same thing, but without the visuals. Allowing the creativity of visuals will expand their digital literacy skills in ways that I can only imagine. Photostory also expands their creativity with the inclusion of visuals, but lacks the discussion piece. Voicethread includes the best of blogs and Photostory combined.

The more Voicethreads I put out there, the more my district will take notice. The more they notice, the closer to district adoption of Voicethreads I will come. Maybe the district will quit saying I need to use my SmartBoard for drill and practice lessons when they see how much more digitally literate my students are becoming from the experiences gained through collaboration using online tools…

Online Learning for Digital Immigrants

I have created a VoiceThread outlining a unit I would like to build in Moodle. Here is the link to the VT... You will have to copy and paste the link as I am having trouble inserting VTs into my blog.

voicethread.com/share/1004143/

Please feel free to view the VT and leave comments as I have asked for your advice. I think the title link may only provide you with the original copy. The address in te post should allow you to help me expand my knowledge base as a teacher.

Thank you.

Bullying

I tried to link the VoiceThread that my students created to this post, but it would not link. If you would like to view the VT, please check under "Useful Links." Please leave appropriate comments on the VT for my students.

Thank you!

I tried again and it did link!
http://voicethread.com/share/981513/

Reflection for EDUC-6714

As I look back over the last eight weeks, I realize that I have made more growth through this class than any other class during this Master’s program. Was it the class or was it the classroom situation I found myself in this semester? Doesn’t matter… the course work and the situation worked together to force growth for me. Having a blind student for the first time caused me to delve deeper into the principles of UDL. Delving deeper lead to growth for me and for all of my students, not just the blind one. I think, in a short eight weeks, that I have changed my mindset. I now look at the curriculum and content first and try to modify it, rather than find a variety of ways to demonstrate learning by my students. I now believe that content first, and making changes to it first, will lead to more growth for my students. Differentiated Instruction has not been moved to the back burner, by any means; but I am starting DI from a different angle.

The social network that was set up on Ning will become a valuable resource to pull from. By including a brief summary of what the various sites have to offer, research time to find what I want has been reduced. That leaves more time to focus on actual planning rather than research. Yes, good planning takes lots of time, but there are only so many minutes in the day and it is a reward to have a few spare ones. Cutting research time is one way to find a few spare ones. I intend to visit Ning frequently and post new sites that I come across; I hope my Ning members will do the same.

One immediate adjustment that has been made to my instructional practice is the way I plan. I spend more time on the content and finding ways to make it accessible. UDL philosophies account for this change. Other changes that I have made include showing our Special Education department the tools that are available on our computers already. Text to voice readers for MSWord has proved valuable. It opens doors for our blind student who was using her voice reader on her computer, locked away in a resource room. Now, the simple act of copy and pasting the content of a website into a word document so that it can be read without advertisements and sidebars has created another least restrictive environment for her. I just hope that our Special Education department will remember and apply these tools for other students. Having a clientele of Native American students who are predominately visual learners has taught me to make my lessons as visual as possible to expand learning. Having a blind student placed in my classroom has forced me to think differently about visual learning. How do I make the pictures available for her? How do I make the visual content that we spend so much time talking about available to her? How do I use the tools out there to “read” the pictures? I am still working on that one…

I have learned that technology integration does not mean putting a worksheet on a Smartboard. It does not mean adding a ton of pictures to a presentation. It does not mean allowing students to use the word processor and spell check. It means finding the best way to get the content to the student. Make the technology the background, not the foreground just because it is available. Make the needs of the student fit the technology available; don’t just make the technology available because it is sitting there. Follow Rick Wormeli’s philosophies. If the state mandated test is a writing prompt, then the summative assessment must be based on that prompt. This means that it is ok to use paper and pencil and leave the technology out when appropriate. But it is not ok to do only paper and pencil tasks if you want to bring your students into the 21st Century. Classrooms have to blend pedagogies, have to differentiate the content for the students, the need for the outcome, the task for the purpose.

Resources:

Wormeli, R. Busting myths about differentiated instruction. www.phsd.k12.pa.us/pdf/MythsDiff.pdf Retrieved 2/8/2010.

Universal Design for Learning and Differentiated Instruction in School

Reflection for EDUC 6713

Looking back over the last seven weeks at how unsuccessful I have been at accomplishing my original GAME plan, I would have to consider that I have failed miserably. But have I? Really? No. Insight into my own orange personality has shown me how difficult it is going to be for my ADHD students to set goals and reach them. That is why I have adjusted the GAME plan to meet the needs of my students by starting small with a predetermined goal of turning assignments in. Big successes such as NETS-S must be preceded by little ones.

I could not stay focused on my GAME plan. Maybe I did not choose well… I did choose my weakest areas to improve, but meeting the needs of my Special Education students through the use of assistive technologies came first. Was I wrong to set aside my personal goals to meet the needs of my students? No. The last student I put onto a voice recognition program told his Special Education teacher that Writing is now his favorite subject. Why? I can only surmise that my 6-Traits philosophy placed his spelling issues into an appropriate context. He has learned that he has good Ideas and strong Organization traits. He has become more willing to work on his spelling issues.

Was abandoning my personal GAME plan the right choice? Yes. I will work on strengthening my use of a wider variety of softwares and tools as the need arises. I am still the digital native to my poverty-stricken students. When that changes, I will continue to adapt.

Resources:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Culham, R. (2003) 6 + 1 traits of writing: The complete guide grades 3 and up. Portland, OR: Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory.

True Colors International. (2009). http://www.true-colors.com/.

http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForStudents/2007Standards/NETS_for_Students_2007_Standards.pdf

http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards?NETS_T_Standards_Final

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/photostory/default.mspx