After 36 years of leading the Hingham Middle School in Massachusetts, Principal Roger Boddie's students surprised him with a flashmob dancing tribute to him on his last day of his term on the job. It is touching to see how this affects Boddie as well as the students. Imagine leading a school for 36 years. That means that he probably had at least 2 generations of students. He became part of their families.
He obviously Made a Difference. He believed in his students and they responded. This aligns with the testimonials that I have been hearing all week at the ISTE conference in San Antonio.
I heard Kevin Honeycutt talking about his passion for teaching and challenging students.
Adam Bellow gave a moving keynote where he talked about Making a Difference in the world.
Jane McGonigal shaws how she had worked with learners and changed their lives through gaming.
There is no greater achievement than Making a Difference in someone else's life. That is why we became teachers. We want to make a difference it is when we receive acknowledgement as Principal Boddie received the tribute by his students that means a great deal.
Making Learning Meaningful means more than "getting the point across." Meaningful Learning is a transformative experience where learners are building a Relation with what they are learning. Instead of memorizing information that can be recited on a test on Friday morning, Meaningful Learning involves students:
Connecting to content because of interest.
Finding relevance because it relates to what they already know.
Having a great deal of freedom in how they involve themselves with the content.
Building a Relation with what you are learning involves making decisions about what you are learning and how you will learn it. It doesn't mean that the teacher is not leading the learning process. It means that the teacher is not the center of all content and the purveyor of knowledge to the learner. The teacher learns along with the learner. Today I am sharing my ideas with educators from around the world at the ISTE '13 conference in San Antonio. This is a huge international event where 20,000 educators from 70 different countries convene to share how they have been teaching and learn new ideas for how technology can be used to support learning. It is an INCREDIBLE event. I am presenting on Wednesday, June 26 from 11:45 - 12:45 in Room 217 D. I don't know how many people will be at the conference but you will be able to follow along through a couple of pathways from anywhere in the world. Twitter For all of you twitterers, we will use the hashtag#MLMisteWhen you tweet, include this hashtag in your message so that others can follow along with your ideas. If you want to see what was posted, click on the hashtag above and it will show you what has been said. Collaborative Notes We will also use collaborative note taking. This is a Google Docthat I created and then laid open to the world for anyone to edit. (tinyurl.com/MLMiste) This means that you just need to click on the link and it will take you to the Google Doc. You don't have to sign-in but you will be known as Anonymous???? when you are entering your ideas. Go ahead and add the info that you find interesting. Go out on the web during the session to find relevant information and add the link to the document. The Slideshow
I have posted this slideshow on SlideShare. You are welcome to follow along or use the content later with your colleagues or students. Just remember to provide attribution for where you found it. =-) (Will be posted before the presentation on Wednesday. Never know what else we will add.) Generations I will begin our discussion with talking about Generations. The world is changing and so are the learners we encounter in out classrooms. We MUST consider that if we are going to Make Learning Meaningful. Here is a small chart that distinguishes the generations. The rest of the content on this can be found in the slideshow above.
Readings, Watchings, Listenings and Doings (RWLD) Readings, Watchings, Listenings, and Doings (RWLDs) are online pages that hold digital content for topics that you are studying in class. Instead of relying on a textbook, you are providing your learners with Multimedia Opportunities to prepare for the work you will be doing in class. Check THESE Out!! Here are some examples of RWLDs that I use in my classes. They are designed for University classes at the University of Northern Iowa, but you could use this same format for 3rd graders. It's just a matter of making a blog posting.
This is the Flipped Classroom LONG BEFORE there was a Flipped Classroom You will can learn more about RWLDs at my posting Textbooks are NOT Enough Anymore! Thank You!! I hope that this session has been useful for you. I am interested in knowing if and how this material has been useful to you. I hope that this is just the beginning of our connection.
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I am privileged to be Skyping with Amy Kangas and her wonderful class of educators who are spending the next week exploring what it means to be a 21st Century Teacher. While I will just be there to answer questions and share some experiences, here are a few resources that might be useful for our discussion.
Fraser Cain in Courtenay, British Columbia, is SHARING THE UNIVERSE!
He is using Google Hangout to share this image on his telescope with other astronomers from all over the world.
English: Auroras on Saturn. Français : Des aurores polaires sur Saturne. Русский: Полярное сияние на Сатурне. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I know that the technology is here and I have connected with people all over the world, but this video brought me to tears. I don't know why, but the idea of connecting people from all over the world to through Google Hangout to see Saturn through a personal telescope in British Columbia, Canada, was incredibly moving for me, the teacher.
Sure, we have seen telescopic images on our televisions or even our computers, but this experience is not being directed by "The Establishment." It isn't something on PBS that someone in New York decided would be good for us to see. It is about a Canadian amateur astronomer connecting through Google Hangouts with individuals in Pakistan, Australia, U.S., Mexico, South America, South Africa and ??. It is an example of people sharing/learning/teaching with one another in a way that wasn't possible even 5 years ago.
This is what 21st Century Learning is all about. It is about connecting and collaborating and exploring on a global basis. It is about using our daily resources to constantly expand our opportunities with others.
What are you doing in your classrooms to encourage such collaboration?
Voki is a fun way to have an avatar introduction you to your class. I have asked my students to do this, but rarely have done it myself. I am going to do that this year. Should be fun. Here is the intro that I did for an INTEL course that I am taking called "Facilitating and Implementing Online Professional Development." Should be fun.
What do you use for introductions? Can you suggest Avatars that you can make talk? I tried Xtranormal but it didn't work correctly.
This is the day when we will appreciate you teachers who brought out the best in us. You made us achieve levels of excellence that we thought impossible. You challenged us to succeed!
I must admit that my best days in life are those when I made a difference in someone's life. It might be a student or a son or a grandson or a complete stranger, but I possess the Teacher's Gene and it is what gives me pleasure.
I recently had dinner with a couple of guys who were my college roommates back at UCSB. We started talking about retirement. I had thought about retirement before but that night I couldn't imagine living a life when I wasn't trying to improve our classrooms by providing future and present teachers with innovative learning experiences that they could use in their own classrooms. I couldn't imagine not working with students to challenge them to do the impossible.
I couldn't imagine not teaching.
I just bumped into Taylor Mali's talk on What Do Teachers Make. It is a 3-minute soliloquy about what a difference teachers make in the lives of their students. Here it is for you to watch along with a list of what Taylor identifies as "What Teachers Make." Go Taylor.
Teachers Can Make . . .
kids work harder than then ever thought they could.
a C+ feel like a congressional medal of honor.
an A- feel like a slap in the face
kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall in absolute silence.
parents tremble in fear when I call home to compliment students on their actions.
parents see their children for who they are and who they can be.
kids wonder, question and criticize
kids apologize and mean it
them write, write and write and read, read, read definitely and beautiful until they will never misspell either of those words again.
them show all their work in math class and hide it on their final drafts in English.
them realize that if you have this (brains) and you follow this (heart) then you don't have to worry about what you make ($$$)
What ARE the differences between the 20th and 21st Century Classrooms? We have heard a great deal about how the 21st Century Classroom's characteristics but I found that the 21st Century Schools website has a comprehensive comparison. How should we use this? I have introduced this in my classes and my students have found it to be a valuable tool fool as they evaluated their own classes as to their level of 21st Century qualities. Look these over and use them to review your own classes. How can you improve your teaching?
20th Century Education is teacher-centered with a fragmented curriculum and students working in isolation memorizing facts.
21st Century Education is student-centered with real-life, relevant, collaborative project-based learning.
20th Century Classroom Qualities
21th Century Classroom Qualities
Time-based
Outcome-based
Focus: memorization of discrete facts
Focus: What students Know, Can Do and Are Like after all the details are forgotten.
Lessons focus on the lower level of Bloom’s Taxonomy – knowledge, comprehension and application.
Learning is designed on upper levels of Blooms’ – synthesis, analysis and evaluation (and include lower levels as curriculum is designed down from the top.)
Textbook-driven (content comes from textbooks)
Research-driven (content comes from student research)
Passive learning
Active Learning
Learners work in isolation – classroom within 4 walls
Learners work collaboratively with classmates and others around the world – the Global Classroom
Teacher-centered: teacher is center of attention and provider of information
Student-centered: teacher is facilitator/coach
Little to no student freedom
Great deal of student freedom
“Discipline problems" – educators do not trust students and vice versa. No student motivation.
No “discipline problems” – students and teachers have mutually respectful relationship as co-learners; students are highly motivated.
Fragmented curriculum
Integrated and Interdisciplinary curriculum
Grades averaged
Grades based on what was learned
Low expectations
High expectations – “If it isn’t good it isn’t done.” We expect, and ensure, that all students succeed in learning at high levels. Some may go higher – we get out of their way to let them do that.
Teacher is judge. No one else sees student work.
Self, Peer, and Other assessments. public audience, authentic assessments.
Curriculum/School is irrelevant and meaningless to the students.
Curriculum is connected to students’ interests, experiences, talents, and the real world.
Print is the primary vehicle of learning and assessment.
Performances, projects, and multiple forms of media are used for learning and assessment
Diversity in students is ignored.
Curriculum and instruction address student diversity
Literacy is the 3 R’s – reading, writing and math
Multiple literacies of the 21st century – aligned to living and working in a globalized new millennium.
Factory model, based upon the needs of employers for the Industrial Age of the 19th century. Scientific management.
Global model, based upon the needs of a globalized, high-tech society.
Driven by the NCLB and standardized testing mania.
Standardized testing has its place. Education is not driven by the NCLB and standardized testing mania.
This is a site filled with resources for students. It is designed to "help students improve their technology proficiency as they prepare for success in the 21st Century." Topics range from Digital Footprint to Cyber Safety to Search Strategies to Troubleshooting to Career Prep to Mobile Learning to ???? This is maintained by 3 Michigan Intermediate School Districts.
Integrating
digital technologies into your curriculum is much more than just adding
a computer to the lesson. Technology must be considered as a tool that
will support learning experiences. It must be selected based upon
pedagogical needs rather than the other way around.
Effective
learning involves challenging learners with situations that are
relevant to their lives and are challenging enough to interest them and
engage them in the learning process. When educators discuss levels of
intellectual challenge, they typically compare higher-order thinking to lower-order thinking. These terms are best described by using Bloom's Taxonomy.
Thinking Blooms
Bloom's
Taxonomy was first published in 1954 when Benjamin Bloom and his
colleagues wanted to create a hierarchy of terms that they could use
when they were describing various types of questions that they might use
on a test. Since then, the taxonomy has taken on a broader meaning
which educators used to also describe educational activities.
In
the 1990s, one of Bloom's students, Lorin Anderson, lead a group of
cognitive psychologists who reconsidered Bloom's taxonomy and reworked
it to reflect 21st century learning. You will notice that the new
taxonomy has changed the static verbs to active verbs by adding "ing" to
the end. They also removed Synthesis and placed Creating on the top.
This
tool has been aligned with 21st Century in many ways. Andrew Churches
in New Zealand has provided a digital perspective where he begins provides
Bloom's Taxonomy with a context and then identifies a number of digital
tools that can be grouped into each level.
Bloom's Taxonomy Blooms Digitally.
Churches demonstrates that the Higher-Order Thinking skills are the top
three verbs, Analyzing, Evaluating and Creating. The Lower-Order
Thinking skills are the bottom three verbs, Remembering, Understanding
and Applying.
Kathy Schrock and Samantha Penney have used a more graphical format to align Web 2.0 tools with the new version
of Bloom's Taxonomy. Kathy limits her work to Google tools while
Samantha expands it to a wide variety of Web 2.0 tools. Carefully review
these sites to provide a background for your later assignment.
Is
there any sense in classifying teaching strategies, questions, Web 2.0
tools using an organizer like Bloom's Taxonomy? Can pedagogical
activities actually be restricted to one of 6 classifications? Probably
not. Grouping tools like these are designed to provide vocabulary for
discussions between professionals. Using these classifications I can
distinguish teaching for memorization or developing problem-solving
skills.
Adding Technology to the Mix
Technology
can be used in a learning environment but will it make a difference? It
all depends on HOW technology is used. Like Bloom's Taxonomy,
technology can be integrated in a variety of ways. These may include
teachers who operate at a basic level by using PowerPoint presentations
to support their lecture-driven methods. They also include the teachers
who step back and encourage students to use these tools in innovative
ways to create new projects and experiences.
The
problem has been to find a vocabulary to define these various levels of
integration. Apple Computer sponsored a decade-long research project
entitled Apple Classrooms of the Tomorrow (ACOT). This project involved
providing technology-rich classrooms by filling them with Apple IIgs
computers AND providing one for each of the students' homes (20th
century 1:1 computing.) As they examined the various levels on which
teachers used technology, they identified a 5 stages including: Entry,
Adoption, Adaption, Appropriation, and Innovation. Read the article, What is Effective Integration of Technology, and Does It Make a Difference by Debra Rein.
It is a short article, but it provides a background for the ACOT
Evolution of Thought and Practice. Please note that these levels of
adoption exist in any teaching/learning situation whether it is in
corporate, PK-12 or post-secondary settings.
Another model that is popular in the schools today is the SAMR model. It was developed by Ruben R. Puentedura, Ph.D. to describe a ladder of implementation that occurs as you integrate technology into your curriculum.
Dr. Ruben Puentedura, Ph.D. http://www.hippasus.com/rrpweblog/
Here is a video that describes the four levels of SAMR:
Did it make sense? Would you be able to identify and define the 4 levels of SAMR? If not, here is a Pinterest boardthat I found that is dedicated to SAMR. Did you find anything that better fit your learning style?
How would you match the ACOT 5 stages and the SAMR model? Do they directly link to one another?
The
key to successful integration requires a system to integrate the
research on Learning Environments with what has been learned about
technology adoption. In 2005, the Florida Department of Education created their Technology Integration Matrix (TIM).
This is a matrix that uses a series of 5 steps in technology adoption
that is similar to the ACOT set. It also has a set of desired learning
environment characteristics which include Active, Collaborative, Constructive, Authentic and Goal-Directed.
Go see TIM and play around for a while to see what they have to offer. You will even find some cells with video examples of lessons in a variety of subjects.
You will also want to visit the Arizona flavor of this matrix. It is essentially the same but it has video examples sorted by grade level. NOTE: My students like the Arizona TIM better than the Florida TIM. They have rewritten the descriptions and are easier to understand. They have sharp lesson plans that have been aligned with the Common Core state standards and provide assessments. It is a GREAT resource.
NOTE: I have been looking for such a matrix that displays this in a corporate training format, but to no avail.
Barriers to Technology Integration
Change
is not always easy. Even if an innovation can obviously improve
learning situations, there are a number of things that can get in the
way. In some cases it has to do with institutional barriers that get in
the way. Review (look for the highpoints) an article, Barriers to Adopting Emerging Technologies in Education by Rogers. This article looks at potential problems in the PK-12 as well as the University level schools.
Sometimes
the problem is in the attitudes and belief systems of the teachers.
This is another article which explores the Beliefs and Practices of
teachers in the ACOT study.
YOUR CHALLENGE: Technology integration has many faces. The Entry levels of adoption are not bad to use in the
classroom. Sometimes slideshows are the most efficient way to convey
information. The key is to move deftly along the continuum to ensure
that your learners are engaging into their learning experiences. The key to using the matrix is to identify where your learning activities reside on the TIM. Are you in the Adoption-Collaborative cell? Are you in the Transformation-Authentic cell? This is not a perfect science but it is a way for you to examine what you are doing and provide it a label. Once you have identified what you are doing, you can then look for ways to move it it up the line.
Look at your teaching/learning/experiences and find 5 instances of technology integration in your special
field of interest. You may find these in your classroom, in the room next door, on videos, on
paper or ????? The key is that you consider this important to your field of teaching and it is worth your time to evaluate. NOTE: Do NOT emphasize a technology tool. This challenge
asks you to find an actual teaching/learning experience where a
technology tool is used as part of lesson. The tool is not the center of
this activity but rather what can be done using that tool.
Spend a little time and evaluate it by:
Describing the example including level, subject, intended outcome and process.
Identifying the cell on the TIM into which it would be classified.
Explain why you classified it into that cell. What are the attributes that cause it to fit into that section?
Explain how this
would fit into your world of teaching/learning. How would/could you use
it in your classroom? If you don't have a classroom yet, then place it
into the classroom where you intend to work.
BAM!!!! Take it up a notch.
Now that you know where you are, let's do some traveling.
Select 3 of your examples
and consider how you would reorganize this lesson to move it to another
level. This means that after you have identified the cell where one
specific lesson's activities exist, you will identify changes you could
make in how you are designing the lesson's activities to move it to
another cell that is "Up a notch." You MUST identify the specific
coordinates of the cell where you are moving the lesson.
The Characteristics are not in any sequence, so how would you take it to another characteristic?
The Technology is in a sequence so you will need to move it to the right. Moving it to the right requires you, the teacher, to relinquish some control to your students. It is a process that allows your students to take on greater roles as problem-solvers.
What Should I Do?
Not that you have done this work, what should you do with it? Use it!!! You have made a change in your teaching strategies, so use it.
Want a place to share your ideas? Add them as a comment to this post.
I hope that this is will be the beginning of a series of writings that I will share here and in the future.
Please respond and give me feedback about how you are using the TIM to help you expand your teaching.
