Shifting Focus

Four years ago our school made a major shift in science instruction.  Previously we had been very teacher centered with lecture, textbooks and some labs to support the topic of instruction.  However, four years ago we were presented with the opportunity to be a pilot school for the Indiana DOE’s Science Initiative Inquiry Based Instruction.  This was a HUGE shift in our instructional practices.  For a few of our teachers, they really felt out of their comfort zone.  We all participated in 2 weeks of professional development in inquiry based science instruction the summer prior to the pilot.  

We returned to our classes that fall excited to see what the year would bring and anxious about the thought of turning over the reins of much of our class to our students.  We had some bumps that first year.  Some of the teachers really wanted to go back to what we had done before, but for the rest of us and more importantly for the students we knew that we could never go back.  

Teaching in this inquiry based, student centered environment is not easier, but it is somuch better.  The first few years we never felt like we would catch up.  Every time we thought we had the units figured out the students would come up with another way to look at things.  Four years down the road and most of us feel pretty comfortable with this type of instruction.

As we implement 1:1 into our classes I feel that the inquiry instruction that we received as science teachers and the curriculum that we have been using has prepared us well for the integration of technology.  Research and collaboration which are such a big part of the science instruction are so much easier now than before.  Of course we are once again being pushed out of our comfort zone, but we have seen the fruits of this type of discomfort and are a little more willing to take risks than some of the other teachers in the building because of our experience.  

Classroom Management Challenges

The biggest challenge I have had with our 1:1 rollout is students’ technology issues.  My 7^th grade students have Netbooks that are on their 3^rd year and they are beaten up.  Our tech people are amazing and are constantly working on individual problems. We are fortunate to have a lot of loaners, but we still have issues with accessing the network, losing documents and other technological difficulties.  I am very big on modeling and teaching procedures at the beginning of the year.  I take a lot of time instructing students and allowing them to figure out how they will be using their devices in my class.  But no matter how much frontloading I do, there are always a handful of students that can’t get to where they need to be or find what they need to turn in.  With classes of 30+ and only 44 minutes to teach science per class, I don’t have a lot of time to troubleshoot.  I do have student techies in each class, but if they are helping a student that takes away from their instructional time.  Honestly I think it is something that I will just have to work with because it’s like the olden days when kids didn’t bring their supplies, a good teacher just has to have contingency plans.  Often I have them work with a partner or print out a pdf if they can’t bring it up on their computer.  I don’t want to lose instructional time so for now it’s what works.  

Communicating with Stakeholders

If I were to put together a presentation for stakeholders in Yorktown I would focus on the following three things:

1. Reasons for Integration

a.       Parents, teachers, school board members and the community need to understand the need to prepare students for the 21^st Century Global Community.  Many adults who have not been exposed to the rapidly changing need for 21^st Century Skills may not understand that we cannot continue to teach the way they were taught and expect the outcomes to be students prepared for the challenges of learning and living in today’s digital world.

2.  How technology will change day to day lives at home with homework, grades, etc?

a.       One of the questions/statements I get most often is; I liked it when my child brought home papers with grades.  Now I have to get on the computer if I can remember my password and look at a calendar and then find a link for schoolwork.  It’s so much more complicated.  Is there any way to make this easier?

b.      The answer to this is Yes and No.  Doing school is going to look and be different.  Providing training and workshops to help parents adjust to these changes is as important as the training to use the devices is for the students. 

3. Where to go for help?

a.       I believe this is the key.  If parents know that there are resources available to help them learn to use the technology such as short instructional videos, step by step instructional guides and a place to send questions and concerns than I think parents and teachers as well as all stakeholders will feel more comfortable with the transition. 

For many corporations funding as well as other concerns might be in the top three areas to address, but I believe for our community and schools providing the reasons for integration, how this change will impact them and how to find help would be the most important concepts to address with our stakeholders.

Role of Technology in My Personal Life

Technology simplifies my life both personally and professionally.  In addition to being a full time teacher and mother of three, I own a veterinary practice with my husband.  So I basically have three full time jobs and if it weren’t for technology each of them would require well over 40 hours per week.  Technology has allowed me to multi-task due to remote access.  Now, don’t get me wrong, there are many GREAT aspects of technology, but for me remote access is key.  I can attend a sporting event and watch my children and while waiting I can access email, Powerschool or my veterinary clinics remote desktop and work on files or whatever is needed.  I can go on vacation and make sure that things are going smoothly at the veterinary clinic as well as transact necessary business. I usually don’t take schoolwork on vacation because I vacation on breaks. 

There is a downside to this and that is, if you are workaholic like me, sometimes you can never disconnect.  That is why I have had to come up with rules like no texting, cell phones, ipads, or laptops at the dinner table.  I’ve had to force myself to limit the amount of time I spend remotely connected when I am away.  My ultimate goal is to go on a completely technology free vacation, but I’m not a camper so staying away from the internet and phone would be a challenge.  I do scuba dive and at least when I’m underwater I don’t have the internet, but I do have a dive computer so even in the ocean I find I love technology.  Learning to balance my love and dependence is challenging and something I constantly have to work on.  But I have been happily married for 27 years and have three great well-adjusted college aged children who all love technology.  So I must be doing something rightJ

Philosophy of Education

Although I am a Science teacher, I have come to learn that being a teacher is not about the subject you teach.  It is about the students you teach and how you teach them. It is about teaching students to think for themselves.   Today’s students are tomorrow’s future.  They deserve the best that society has to offer.  As a teacher, I believe it is my job to offer my best.  In partnership with the student, parents, and the school, I believe all students can learn when taught well. 

            I believe in order to successfully teach students to be life-long learners a teacher must also be a life-long learner.  Learning didn’t stop with the completion of my Bachelor’s Degree or Master’s Degree.  It continues both formally with further coursework and reading in current educational practice as well as readings in the ever changing world of Science.  Even more important than the formal learning opportunities are the informal ones.  The opportunities to be reflective about my own teaching and what works and what can be improved are what really motivate me.  I can’t expect my students to want to continue to learn and be challenged unless they see me continuing to learn and being challenged.

            Science may not be for everyone, but everyone needs science. As a science teacher, I believe it is my responsibility to prepare students for the world and their future, and understanding science is one of the keys to their preparation for becoming a contributing member of our 21^st Century Global Community.  Students require skills which inherently fall within the study of science and technology.  I believe the role of technology in the classroom should be two fold.  The first is to simplify tasks which has always been the role of technology in society.  The second is to be a resource for research and discovery which is essential for true scientific inquiry to take place.  Through scientific inquiry students learn to question, use field study and lab work to test their hypothesis by designing experiments and investigating questions. This allows the student to take responsibility for their own learning.  From these investigations students will become more proficient in making observations, solving problems and forming theories based on their research. These scientific skills are essential for use in learning both now and in the future.  And hopefully in the process, my students will discover just how much fun science can be.

Reflections on Tech Integration101

·  What are you most excited to learn about?

This is my first year teaching in a 1:1 setting and I am really excited to gain additional tools to make this a true learning experience for my students.

·  In which areas might you serve as a leader or "expert" for your coursemates?

I have always been successful with classroom management and prior to teaching science I taught computer courses and feel confident in my management skills in this setting. I know there are always new ideas and things to learn, but I know I have some things I can share.

I also feel very confident with inquiry learning.  I have had significant training in inquiry learning especially as it relates to science and STEM and feel I have a good grasp of this type of learning environment. I love inquiry learning in the science classroom.

I currently am using the Flipped Classroom Model in my Advanced Science Classroom and love the freedom and time that it frees up for doing labs and inquiry instruction during the class period.  I know I have a lot to learn as this is only my second year of flipping, but I really have found it to work well in this particular setting.

·  In which areas will you need to spend more time exploring and getting ideas from your coursemates?
I don’t want to just use technology for curriculum management and to move towards a paperless classroom.  I want to get additional ways to enrich the curriculum without overwhelming the curriculum.  There are so many awesome resources out there that sometimes it almost is too much to determine what works and what doesn’t.  I look forward to hearing from others what is working for them and what is worth investing my time and my students’ time in learning.

Course Take Aways

This is such a crazy time of year for teachers, but then again it is always crazy for teachers.  At the start of this course I wasn’t sure how I could manage especially when we had to postpone and then restart.  But once we were on a roll I began to look forward to what I would learn each week when the next Module was unlocked.  I really feel I learned a great deal about a number of new resources that I can use in my classroom and share with my colleagues and students.  The most valuable resources were SAMR and the Technology Integration Matrix.  I feel that of all the resources provided these are tools that I can use for a long time as I work to integrate technology through 1:1 in my classroom.  My principal has always said, “Now I don’t want these devices to become just an expensive textbook.” And although I knew what he was saying I didn’t have a complete picture of what not being an expensive textbook would look like.  Now thanks to this course, the resources and the collaboration I feel I am much better equipped to make sure that the device is just a tool to use in order that so much more can be done.

On a final and separate note, I probably should have put this in the survey, but I will share it now, I wish there would have been a little better chance to collaborate.  I know we all work at different paces.  Some like me try to get things done early and others wait until the last minute.  I wonder if putting a group of students into a cohort of 5, 6, or 7 might have been a better way to be sure that everyone got feedback from others.  I will be honest.  I didn’t read as many discussions and blogs at the end of the week and so I didn’t respond to them.  I don’t know I'm just “thinking-writing” out loud.  It’s made me think about how I would have a class of 30 interact.  I could see kids always wanting to give feedback to their friends and never to others.  I think even this concern provided me with an opportunity to learn about how I might want to do things differently.  I know it is important to give students freedom and I know collaboration is key in digital curriculum, but for me some structure might have provided a little more interaction and thus learning.  That being said, I learned a great deal and moved out of my comfort zone of thinking and that it good.  Thanks.

The Jury is Still Out On Facebook and Twitter in the Classroom

As we have discussed in this class, one of the best parts of digital curriculum is the opportunity for students to collaborate.  However, as we consider digital citizenship we must be sure that we are providing safe environments for this collaboration.  At our school we are allowed to use Twitter with our students, but not Facebook.  I’m not sure what my personal opinion is at this point.  I’m excited that we will be using My Big Campus next year which will allow for a Facebook like interface that is for school only leaving an opportunity for collaboration, but a safe environment just for our students.  I know this sounds like a cope out, but I just don’t feel safe enough to let my students out on Facebook just to be on Facebook.

My Big Campus to Curate

In our middle school science program we use science notebooks.  This becomes a document that the students take great pride and ownership in.  One of the biggest challenges for our department has been how to move this document to a digital format allowing students to archive all work while allowing us to grade and give feedback in a digital format.  We began using OneNote and with Skydrive and we had a very dynamic way to duplicate a pencil and paper tool to digital.  However as we move to iPads a useful version of OneNote is not available.  We spent some time with Evernote feeling that it was the best option, but after some trial runs feel that the time spent in development and the difficulty in sharing 150 notebooks with the teacher did not seem to be the best choice. So to answer the blog question, we are looking to My Big Campus and its bundle capabilities to create notebooks next year.  

I know there are a lot of tools available, but since we have decided to use the My Big Campus platform as a corporation we feel that using a uniform way to create a science notebook would be the best option.  

What works for me?

I have to admit my mind has been running since the start of this course.  This is due in part to the nature and content of the course and the fact that it has made me try to project out into my future classroom.  You see, right now, I do not have any computers in my classroom, so I have to make some assumptions about what will and won’t work for my students and me.  Add to this the fact that 3 weeks ago we were informed that the 1:1 devices that were supposed to make it to my grade next fall might not be happening and you can see why my head has been spinning.  The good news for me is that I am an eternal optimist and last week I got official word that 1:1 would be in my classes next year and so my envisioning of the future Mrs. L. Smith’s Classroom continues.  

So to the question of what works for me? I think two of the most powerful tools I have received in this class were the SAMR model and the Technology Integration Matrix.  Since I was introduced to them they have really helped me to look at technology and learning in a new way and I think they will help to guide me as I develop curriculum and integrate technology next year.  I feel very comfortable with the concepts of blogging, web 2.0 tools and even online assessments, but really looking at technology for more than just technology’s sake can be difficult for me.  I mean, I love to have kids on the computer, but was I making their learning anymore authentic or meaningful?  Now I have the tools to help me evaluate just this question.  

I’m not sure yet what will be hard to incorporate.  I know that sounds like a copout, but it really isn’t.  Again, because I am an optimist I sort of go in to things believing they could work until I see that for me and my situation they can’t.  As of today, I don’t really feel that way about anything we have studied in class.  The only thing I think that may be  issues are the programs that we have explored that have an associated cost.  For instance I LOVE the idea of VoiceThread, but it looks like to use it the way it was described in our exploration would cost money and money is going to be something that we won’t have a lot of.  So that will be the hard to incorporate part, but there is so much out there that is free I think I can find a workaround.

Camtasia in The Classroom

I began flipping my Advanced 7^th Grade Science Classes this fall when I learned that the class time was going to be cut in half, but the goal was to still try and cover the same amount of material.  “YIKES”!!!!, was my first response, but then I began doing some research on flipping and that seemed to be a possible solution.  I began using TechSmith’s Camtasia software to record my lessons.  It does cost and I know there are free alternatives, but the ease of use and editing made the purchase well worth it. 

Students watch a short (2-10 minute video) each evening and come prepared to work on labs or class assignments.  It’s amazing to me how something that might have taken 30 minutes of class time can be accomplished in 10 minutes or less in a video.  The students that need to pause and rewind can without making the rest of the class wait.  The feedback from the students and parents has been very positive and I certainly have been able to come much closer to meeting the goal of teaching the same number of standards in half the time.

I have all of my videos uploaded to youtube and then link them to my Weebly site scienceisfun.org.  Students can watch them anytime and anywhere as long as they have access to the internet via a computer, iPad or phone.

As our school moves to 1:1 fully next year, I see a number of additional uses for screen capture software both from the teacher perspective and from the students’ perspective.  As with all things technology, I am continuing to learn the best way to use these tools, but I see some great merit in flipping in order to have more class time for labs and other hands on experiences.

Technology Integration Matrix

Let me begin by saying that I really love the Technology Integration Matrix.  It reminds me a great deal of the Inquiry Matrix that we use when planning and evaluating inquiry in science lessons.  I also really appreciated the videos that could give you a visual real world snapshot of what each level looked like.  That being said I have to give a disclaimer.  I currently teach in a classroom with a smartboard, a teacher computer and 7 slow (and let me emphasize slow) old computers with limited software.  Because of this I am limited on what I can do as it relates to technology integration at this point.  But next year my students will have either netbooks or iPads and that is why I am working hard to prepare to use these awesome tools to their full potential.

On the following Characteristics of the Learning Environment (Active, Collaborative, Constructive, and Authentic) I would rate myself in the Adoption Level. I do use my technology all the time.  However, I would say that when I looked at the Transformation videos I am not far from allowing the freedom to choose, collaborate and control learning that each of these environments potentially have with the addition of technology.  We currently use guided to open inquiry and students do direct a great deal of their learning, their research, their problem solving and their final projects.  They are just currently old school (posters, some powerpoints or prezis), but the transition with our current curriculum next year should not be too difficult to move towards transformation.

In the area of Goal Directed, I am a little closer to entry level and think I will find this one harder to move from.  I say this because I am still struggling with how to allow students freedom to set goals while still meeting all the standards necessary for their grade level.  However, I currently do have the students do a great deal of reflection with their work and this along with additional training to move in the transformation direction will help me get there as well.  Ultimately I do want to do what’s best for the kids.  

Role of Blended/Online Learning in K-12 Education

When the concept of online learning first came into popularity it was for college students.  It made perfect sense to me as many college students, particularly graduate students, couldn’t make it to a “brick and mortar” classroom due to jobs, distance, and other circumstances.  I then began to hear of K-12 experiences and remember the fight that went on in the state house in Indiana over whether schools could be 100% online or what percentage online was appropriate.  I had very mixed feelings about this and still do.

The typical student that I felt would benefit from an all online school setting was the at-risk student who had been unsuccessful in the traditional classroom due to behavioral issues, bullying, pacing (too fast or too slow), family transience, and other special circumstances.  I thought, “Wow, if these kids could be taught from home, online how great would that be?”  Then about two years ago I began to get students back from the main blended school in this area.  They had failed miserably due in part to the same factors that I thought would have made the online school a perfect fit for them.  Parents wanted to have an easy out from traditional school and instead found that their participation in the process was much greater in the blended environment.  They became the one responsible for making sure their child was doing schoolwork and not playing online games.  Cyberbullying happened just like old fashioned bullying and sometime the bullying was even worse. 

After this experience I began to question how completely online learning would work for students.  I certainly believe that there is a place for distance learning and that the 21^st Century Student is a natural for this type of instruction.  I also believe education would be remiss not to teach students how to work in this environment as they will be required to use these technologies in college and in the workplace.  I just feel that there must be a discussion about how to best do this to enrich students’ learning experience.

Reflecting on Blogging

My principal has had a blog for some time now and has always been a big proponent of blogging, but I have never really gotten in to it.  I suspect the two main reasons are as a scientist I tend to encourage writing related to lab write ups and haven't really found blogging the best way to respond to labs.  The second reason is since currently some of our students do not have access to computers within 1:1 it's difficult to assign a project requiring blogging if they don't have a  computer.

I suppose both of those reasons could be evaluated and solutions and arguments for using blogging could be made.  It is for certain that next year when all my students will have a computer or iPad the lack of access would be gone along with that excuse.  I would be interested to see what some of you might think about using blogging for lab write ups.  In particular are there any science teachers out there that are using blogs for this purpose?

Thanks for any insight:)