Research, Research, Research ... AAAHHH!!!

Let me start by stating that in research I think many different methods can be used for the same research question, I believe despite the textbook differences, much has to do also with the researcher themselves and their abilities to stay ethical and unbiased. How a researcher views and analyzes the data is of the most value in my opinion yet there are definite situations that require specific methods. In the scenarios that follow, I have tried to use the textbook definitions to breakdown and determine which method would work appropriately and in my opinion best. I am interested in learning from what others will say about my conclusions and how you all interpreted the scenarios.

Scenario 1: Ten students are available for in-depth interviews. Participants will be selected based on their involvement with the peer mediation program. They will be observed over three weeks. Analysis will attempt to determine issues concerning peer mediation.

A qualitative research approach would be suitable here. As described this method would work best for a variety of reasons. The first being that we are using a small and purposeful sampling strategies, by choosing students that have already participated in a mediation program (McMillan and Schumacher, 2008). The purpose of the study would be more exploratory in nature as they are planning to interview the participants, observe their interactions over a short period of time and then determine if there are any concerns in the mediation program as is. The researchers will employing the strategies of direct observation and interview which will involve a in-depth look at the participants “feelings, beliefs, ideas, thoughts and actions” (McMillan and Schumacher, 2008, p.136)

Scenario 2: Two classrooms of students are selected. There are 30 students in each class; each group will have similar demographics—age, sex, race, socio-economic background, etc. Classes will be randomly divided into two groups of 15 students. Of these two groups, one randomly selected group will get training on peer mediation and the other group will not. Thus in each classroom there will be one group that is trained in peer mediation and one that is not. Analysis will occur on which groups have the fewest office referrals.

A quantitative research design would be most appropriate in this scenario. The use of a random sampling and two classrooms lends itself naturally to the quantitative design and secures the validity and credibility. The sampling is larger than just one classroom so concern of influence of one specific individual is limited but the group size is manageable for the research. However, the use of statistics secures the quantitative style (McMillan and Schumacher, 2006) as the researchers use the number of referrals or lack of to be the determining factor of whether the mediation group is effective or not.

Scenario 3: A school counselor is interested in knowing how student attitudes affect the value of peer mediation to decrease the number of office referrals that are being filed for inappropriate interactions.

Throughout this research a mixed-method design would be best. The researcher will obviously be using interviews, surveys and /or observations which are more inline with a qualitative design. Using an explanatory design, the researcher would look at the group that produced less referrals and decide what attitudes and behaviors from the mediation group participation had influence. (Mcmillan and Schumacher, 2008)

Scenario 4: Peer mediation has become widely used in many schools. The feelings of those involved in the process are little known—either from those doing the mediation or those receiving it. The ZASK-R Acceptance Preference Survey will be given as pre- and post-tests to 40 students participating in mediation. Follow-up interviews will be conducted on a bi-monthly basis.

This situation would also require a mixed-method approach. The use of the ZASK-R survey will give the quantitative data needed to support the research and provide credibility. Similarly as important in this study though are the qualitative aspects of the study, which are using interviews and a purposeful sampling. Using a comprehensive sampling of the forty students involved in the program uses a qualitative approach of purposeful sampling. Throughout this research a triangulation method would be followed as both qualitative and quantitative methods would be used concurrently (McMillan and Schumacher, 2008)

References:
McMillan, J. H., & Schumacher, S. (2008). Research in education: Evidence-based inquiry (Laureate custom edition). Boston: Pearson.

I am struggling here a little bit with all the technical terms for research. I think this is why I was never draw to research in the first place. Funny thing is I sat in several seminars at a formative assessment convention this Thursday and Friday in Columbia, South Carolina and so much research was thrown at us. I was impressed that my attention was sparked up a bit more as I recognized the terms that I usually blew off before. However, I still found it amazing that these researchers were so excited by data and results and the whole process! This is just really not my thing I guess, but I am hoping I can find a new interest in research as I begin my own exploration.

As I delve into this venture I plan to use Exploratory design under the Mixed-Methods measure sby using things such as literature and past research to decide if using technology-based games will help my student learn and retain their facts.

Statement

I plan to determine if technology-based games increase skill levels and retention in remembering math facts based on achievement test scores in middle school students.

Who: middle school students
What: technology-based games
Why: increase skill levels and retention of math facts

Questions
1. What are technology-based games that support retaining mathematical facts? (Qualitative and descriptive)
AND
2. Do children that use technology-based games to learn and retain their facts have better overall performance on achievement tests than those that do not? (Quanitative and Relationship)

Can Technology-Based Games and Activities Strengthen Facts Skills?

Facts tests are a weekly event in my classroom even though I teach middle school mathematics. This surprises many of my colleagues, my students and their parents. Facts tests are usually not given after third or fourth grade, however I insist on these to build my students’ speed and accuracy. My experience throughout the years and through informal research shows children that can recall their facts quickly and accurately experience more success in class, both in class grades and standardized test scores especially in higher level courses.

My original goal was to find research to support rote memorization as an acceptable and successful method for learning mathematic facts. I planned to use brain research to help support this idea, however in this course I must incorporate technology and this required a bit of a shift on my part.

My goal will be to find research that supports technology-based games and activities to foster learning math facts to develop stronger and more confident students in mathematics. Therefore my research statement is:

I plan to determine if technology-based games increase skill levels and retention in remembering math facts based on achievement test scores.

Who: elementary and middle school students
What: technology-based games
Why: increase skill levels and retention of math facts

Reflecting on EDUC-6711I-3 Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology

As I wrap up this class I think back to my first assignment asking me to describe my theory of education and after taking this course I am confident that I am on the right track for my students. Education should be engaging and enjoyable and involve many interactive activities using various forms of resources through hands on manipulatives to web based communities. Technology is a must in today’s classroom and promotes a very inviting, fun and challenging environment that is focused on learning. After taking this course I feel secure in my theories and plans but have noticed that I take one concept to heart a bit more. The idea of Paivios’ dual coding hypothesis has made me more conscience of incorporating several ways to introduce concepts and multiple ways to have the children experience the lessons (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009).

Walden’s program has made me become more aware of many different technology tools that I can be using in my class without any financial commitment and actually providing opportunities to really interact with the machines that my school has made a financial commitment to. First tool that I have already begun to use is a Concept Map, using these maps has brought a new level of understanding to my students and in their eyes doing this on the website is fun and creative. What I found as frustrating and a formatting nightmare the students have moved through rather easily. This once again echoes the ideas of Prensky and his comments about Digital Natives (Prensky, 2001), these children have no fear and sit down and start playing and figure out the formatting issues in minutes. One concern I had when working with a map myself was that the formatting of the map would distract from the concepts of the project but fortunately the students did not encounter these issues and got right into the assignment.

Another technology tool introduced to me through this course was Voice Threads. I knew immediately that I would love this tool and I have my students working diligently right now to complete their stories and illustrations so they can get on it. I also have shared the idea with colleagues to spice up their unit on China and Confucius, so I know that this will become a regular part of my curriculum. It is rather exciting to learn about things that can be immediately introduced and worked into current plans and curriculum, rather than learning of this great new thing but it will require a lot more work. Voice Threads have probably been the highlight of this course!

Both of these tools will support student learning in my classroom by engaging the students and allowing them to construct something that they see as purposeful and useful. Students get excited and involved when they are active and working on technology and using either concept maps or voice threads are great ways to have the students share their knowledge with others while building their own knowledge and ideas.

Making goals is always a difficult part of these courses for me. I have so many things I would like to do but I never like to think of them as goals. “Goals” sound so formal and official and leads to the possibility of failure but for the sake of the course, I can commit to two more goals. At work my current goal is to work on building and promoting our Center For Differentiation and I would have to include this goal for this course. As I hope to bring interactive hands on activities to all the students in my school through this center of resources for teachers, I must think about incorporating technology. I am committed to finding and including activities and games for the center that use technology. Interactive Web quests or Voice Threads like my brownie activity or similar would be great ways to engage the students, teach concepts and use technology. Having students participate in activities on concept maps or wikis to build or support their vocabulary for mathematics would be a perfect addition to our Center For Differentiation and would help other teachers provide interactive activities and technology. Therefore, I feel confident that this would be a definite goal for me to focus on throughout this year.

A second goal which I would like to continue to develop for my students and myself are creating inquiry based lessons. Lessons that have the students making the findings and then having the teacher tie up those ideas and any loose ends. I find that I can be in front of the classroom using lecture style and although I am a believer in this method, I would like to limit the times that I just disseminate information and promote ways for the students to be the ones that discover the rules and properties of mathematics. I do this in many ways in my classroom but when it comes to the textbook material, I revert back to the lecture style teacher that our children of today have a hard time relating to. My goal would be to develop, find and use inquiry based activities for all concepts I have to teach in my courses. Needless to say that technology will play a major role in this development. Most lessons that are being created today involve technology and I plan to continue to use a variety of technological tools to help me achieve this goal.

This course was a productive one that offered me a refresher in theories and provided me with the background and research for the ideas I use in my classroom. Technology is an integral part of today’s society and it needs to be a major part of my students learning process. Through Voice Threads, Web quests, Content Maps, Wikis, BlogSpot’s and more, I am prepared to conquer this challenge and bring technology into my classroom daily!


Resources:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program one. Understanding the Brain [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore: Author.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1. On the Horizon, 9(5),1-6.

Brownie Recipe

Cooperative Learning Voice Thread

What great ideas I have been reading about this week! I am a huge fan of group work and interactive lessons that promote teamwork. That is how we most likely will have to work for the rest of our lives. There are not too many professional opportunities to work totally independent of others, rather most careers include teams even networks of colleagues that people must work with. Many sales careers even require internet networking to help build their market.

This makes the need for integrating technology in school lessons even more valuable. As our business world builds its reliance on these technologies and networking sites, our students need to be building their experience on these. Although I find that constructionism lends itself to using technology and social learning opportunities, it must be used in moderation just like all the other theories and styles we have been discussing. One specific modality can not be single handedly promoted in a classroom. A positive, interactive, engaging learning environment needs to use a variety of approaches and activities including independent learning opportunities as well as social learning groups.

It was encouraging to hear Orey specifically discuss mathematics in the video (Laureate Education Inc., 2008)as he explained constructionism and cooperative learning within the classroom. Many times math is left out of the explanations and it becomes difficult to apply what is being said to math. His statement, "teach problem solving and provide support when needed" (Laureate Education Inc., 2008), really struck a nerve for me. All too often teachers worry about scores and requirements and they forget about the learning to learn aspect of teaching. Students will really listen and think when they need an answer and cooperative learning problems based activities would provide a great opportunity for this. Students become actively engaged and have interesting discussions and questions arise throughout the process.

I will be looking forward to trying to use technology to create an interactive learning opportunity that students will have to work with partners to create a project. My initial attempt of using a VoiceThread will provide students with a new and unique presentation to increase interest and promote active engagement in a mathematics lesson.

Resources:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program eight. Social Learning Theories [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore: Author.

Yes there are DUMB questions?

"Do we HAVE to think?" or "Can’t you just tell me the answer?"

These are two examples of those dumb questions that DO exist!!! Even though educators tell students “the only dumb question is the one not asked”, dumb questions DO exist, and these are two examples! Why would any teacher or person accept that type of lazy defeatist attitude? Anyone that does is definitely not operating under a constructivist theory.

Orey(2001) states that America's producing underachieving students that focus on memorizing facts and processes to get the "test" correct. We are creating a lazy group of children that do not know how to think! This is sad … and unfortunately dumb questions, comments or attitudes similar to those above are the culprit. It is too time consuming to allow the child time to think or resources to make conclusions instead teachers tell students the answers or outcomes without allowing any thought or exploration.

According to Piaget and constructionism (Orey, 2001), learning takes place when pupils are actively engaged and/or constructing. They are creating ideas and drawing conclusions and assimilating or accommodating for the information just observed. This requires thought and time to question, which is what makes the strategy of generating and testing hypotheses (Pitler, Hubbel, Kuhn,& Malenoski, 2007) so vital to a constructionist’s classroom. The students are not just provided the answer and then told how to think about it. They are given models or scenarios and must make observations and analyzations so they can draw a conclusion and/or work on a plan if necessary. An example provided in our text Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works (Pitler etal., 2007), required students to look at a financial situation where they had to decide how much money to invest and at what rate. The teacher provided the students with technology to do all the math calculations for them. This was a valuable time saver and enabled the teacher to then focus on the goal of the lesson. The computer did the time consuming work that would have required students use so much energy and effort and time that when they needed to look at the data, their systems were exhausted.

However, having that spreadsheet to make that information readily available provided the students with real time data that they could discuss, manipulate and make conclusions about. By doing this the students can play with many different situations and find the answer to the question instead of having the teacher simply state how they would do better and why.

Having technology do the intensive part of the project allows the teacher to have the time and willingness to attempt project based learning. I think of this much like the simple calculator in a mathematics class. Once it has been established the child knows the basic facts teachers can allow children to use calculators to do the computations so the student can use the brain power and energy to follow and find certain processes required. That is what technology can do in many situations particularly in many situations that have to do with collecting and displaying data.

Often times analyzing data is the standard that our students struggle with school wide yet almost every child can make any type of graph in any type of situation, they just do not know how to understand what the display is saying. The children have just routinely memorized the process of making a graph, they have become lazy and do not and can not think critically (Orey, 2001) of what that information says. Build this skill by insisting that the technology do the computations, collections and displaying so the child’s brain can be left to analyze and connect with the data. It is only through allowing these types of situations to occur that we will ensure a future of thinkers!

The television game show, Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader shows us all what these trivial facts do for us. NOTHING! A rocket scientist, (easily considered one of the most intellectual careers around) could not get past the first round on a fist grade level question. This genius was unable to spit back this trivia, and he is a genius doing remarkable things, this should prove that we do not need to know every little thing instead we need to focus on learning how to learn. My very wise brother has always told me the smartest people do not know all the answers but they know where to look to find them. That is my goal for my students, let them think about where to find the answer and ways to get there to learn the answer and eventually they might end up knowing many of the answers and without a teacher ever telling them one answer!

Good luck to all of us in trying to achieve this. It is a lot easier said than done especially when politics enters the real world of education but hopefully the few will prevail and teachers can begin to make a difference one student at a time! Perhaps even begin to create Americans that are not “underachieving memorizers” (Orey, 2001) but rather critical thinkers ready to conquer the world!

LORI POWERS

Resources:
Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Main_Page

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Cognitive theorists believe “learning is a mental operation that takes place when information enters the brain through the senses, undergoes mental manipulation, is stored, and is finally used” ( Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2003, p.16) and there are many resources in today’s educational system that support this thinking. This week I was re-introduced to several techniques that I have used in the classroom many times and find very valuable but over the years I have become lazy I suppose and never really thought about the theories behind the activities. Renewing my foundations to education has really been an eye opener for me and a journey that my students will benefit from.

Over the years I have found activities that have worked and have developed a style in my teaching and never really put the energy into referencing these activities and lessons to theories. My instructional methods are a “mod podge” of sorts that does not rely on just one theory or style but rather a fine blend of many. Depending on the specific concepts and/or curriculum and the group of students I am working with my techniques will vary.

Our text, Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski2007) lists a few different strategies that would be successful in the classroom while supporting the cognitivist’s point of view. “Cues, questions and advanced organizers” (Pitler et al., 2007) provides various samples of graphic, narrative and expository organizers, and numerous types of questions and questioning styles to provide the students with the opportunities to link learning to prior experiences and knowledge. This ability to connect with prior knowledge allows the student to transform this short term memory information into long term memory (Novak & Canas, 2008) and provides the learner with not just a written form of the information but also a visual form of the information therefore providing for multiple intelligences. Developing solid note taking skills is also essential for the students and again would concur that connecting the important facts with prior knowledge in a meaningful way to the learner is vital for those following a cognitive theory.

Concept Mapping is being labeled the “New Model of Education” (Novak & Canas, 2008) and requires that teachers be adequately trained on this type of instructing or guiding because it all starts with an essential question. Novak states that the “first step to learning is to ask the right question” (2008, p.12) and this would coincide with what the cognitivists believe. Ask a question based on your prior knowledge and you can link this new experience to an “old” experience and then find an easier more permanent connection to your long term memory. The questions need to be relevant and meaningful (Novak, & Canas, 2008) to the students to help retain the information and develop that connection even further. Cognitivists would expect that learners be exposed to physical experiences that would involve many of their senses. Touch, smell and sight are very important to the cognitivist theory. Hands on or actual real life experiences would be the best but when physically impossible technology makes it possible to bring these opportunities to the classroom rather inexpensively and quite conveniently. When discussing events in history or mathematical concepts that relate to the real world what better experience then to bring the children there. Our video resource (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008) refers to a virtual tour of Ford’s Theater that Lincoln was killed in, and reveals students as they experienced the lesson differently once they had the tour as compared to the textbook picture. I use virtual tours to insight interest and excitement. When we started our banking unit I took my students on virtual tour of the US Mint. This 15 minute experience provided my students with the concrete image to connect the new knowledge to, therefore giving it a better opportunity to stay in their long term memory and become learned knowledge.

Reading this material rejuvenates me as I begin to reinvent or confirm my style and my philosophy and connect it with theorists that I have studied years ago. In the everyday world of teaching and mothering it is easy to throw these formal titles out of your mind but I am relieved to know that the strategies and techniques that support these theories are being actively practiced in my classroom on a daily basis.

Please share with me some interesting virtual tours that you have been on or hope to go on. I would love the ideas and I would love to hear about the experiences. I also would like to hear about any experiences anyone has had with concept mapping in mathematics. I struggle as I try to incorporate a concept mapping activity into my current course.

LORI POWERS

Link to US MINT TOUR: http://www.usmint.gov/mint_tours/index.cfm?flash=yes

National Zoo's webcams: Virtual field trips to see the animals.
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/WebCams/default.cfm

Yellowstone National Park Webcams: Old Faithful:
http://www.nps.gov/yell/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm



Resources: ( I apologize as I can not get the formatting on this blog to post my resources in correct APA format.)

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program six. Spotlight on Technology: Virtual Field Trips [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore: Author.

Lever-Duffy,J. & McDonald, J. (2008). Theoretical Foundations (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Novak, J. D. & Cañas, A. J. (2008). The theory underlying concept maps and
how to construct and use them, Technical Report IHMC CmapTools 2006- 01 Rev 01-2008. Retrieved from the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition Web site: http://cmap.ihmc.us/Publications/ResearchPapers/TheoryUnderlyingConc eptMaps.pdf


Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Main_Page

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Practice Makes Perfect !?!

Our school had curriculum night last night. I met many of the parents and shared my beliefs and theories in education and my expectations of their children for the year. HOMEWORK was a huge part of that discussion. As you know I teach math to sixth graders and nightly homework is a requirement in my courses. Although I share answers the next day and have active discussions regarding the homework I do not individually check homework for my students, I require they put in their effort to correct and understand their homework.

As I discussed this with the parents last night I could not help but think of these theories and strategies that we are studying and how I can just fit right into parts of all of these beliefs. I want to share with you my comments and ask you, am I actually seeing myself in all of these theories just as I can identify with all of the symptoms of any disease I read about on line. Am I a “theoretical hypochondriac” or do I truly follow the theories of many of these theorists and possibly fall rather heavy on the behaviorists side?

Homework is for practice and preparation. My students practice the skills introduced that day and then read and outline the next section to prepare for the following day’s lesson. I ask that parents stop children when the child hits 40 minutes or any tears and report this to me. I anticipate the practice exercises to average 20 minutes a night and 5-10 minutes reading and outlining. If the children require more time than that I do not want them going on because chances are they are not understanding and I do not want them practicing the wrong way. My students know this and understand their goal is to practice, and because the text I am reading states, “homework should be identified and articulated”(Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007, p.187), I discuss this often with the children.

My policy states that students bring homework in and check their answers with those on board, anything wrong is first discussed with classmates and then brought up to teacher in a whole group setting if the problem can not be resolved. This procedure clearly shows the students that they are responsible for their homework. Ultimately they will see that their effort during homework time should directly correlate to their success in my class. Although the idea of keeping a spreadsheet recording effort to success, which is also listed in our text (Pitler et al., 2007), is a wonderful visual to provide the children providing the immediate feedback they need to believe the theory. Mastering any skill requires practice and that is what homework provides in mathematics… practice, practice, practice! After the initial skill is mastered then it can be presented in applications and bring the information into the brain through networks and strengthen any necessary connections so the concept can become a memory (Laureate Education Inc., 2008)

Behaviorists believe in the idea that practice makes perfect! Memory can be built, behaviors can be improved and the world can be a better place if we all included a little bit of the behaviorist theory of practice makes perfect and reinforcement and punishment can produce amazing results. Now there is always a skeptic that will yell out an exception but I dare you to sit back and truly think how you learned and are as successful as you are. If you hung out with my Dad you would have no option but to listen, if he did something wrong he was beat, if he did n't do his homework he was beat, if he didn’t eat all his dinner he was beat … eventually he learned to do all those things without a battle and has become a success today! Mind you, he also had to walk up hill, both ways in the snow with holes in his shoe. Isn’t that how it goes? Seriously, reward and punishment works, the affects do not have to be that extreme and in all honesty I am sure my father was not beat for everything but that is what he remembers, punishment for not doing something right. Behaviorist techniques of reward and punishment have been used for centuries before it was even named actually, so it can not be that bad!

Therefore I feel a sense of peace as I assign my homework and require my students follow through on their activities or suffer the consequences of bad grades or home time restrictions. All I am doing is what generations before me have been doing, the only difference for my students is today I incorporate some technology with their assignments. Their stories of struggle will be telling of how they had to wait for the dial up connection to load their online textbook to be able to do their homework or how a virus wiped out their whole paper just as they were about to save it.

The resources we are using are changing but the ideas behind education does not have to totally change with it! Use the technology to make skill and drill and the record keeping of these skills more efficient. Find ways to incorporate these stimuli and response programs into your classroom to help with the basic concepts that do have to be memorized. The children will find them interesting, challenging and rewarding and will be pleading to “play it again” and I promise that is not the response when you hand out a worksheet or try to do flashcards.


Here are a few of my students’ favorite behaviorist style websites for mathematics:

Place value : http://www.mrnussbaum.com/placevaluepirates1.htm

Coordinate graphing: http://www.mathplayground.com/Locate_Aliens.html

Fraction addition: http://fen.com/studentactivities/MathSplat/mathsplat.htm




RESOURCES:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008b). Program two. Brain Research and Learning [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore: Author.


Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD

Reflecting on My Course

What a week, this is an exciting time! I am completing my third course through Walden University and just starting my new year at school. Happily I can report my classes are fabulous and we are already on a roll trying new ideas and using definite 21st century technology! As Thornberg and Davidson discussed in the video “using different media and technology is fun” (Laureate Education DVD, 2008) and I will second that!

This course has introduced me to many new and exciting ideas that I can use immediately in my classroom. Blogging and using wiki pages are the two of the fastest and easiest ways to bring me into the 21st century and engage my students daily.

One of the greatest lessons I have learned and have brought back into my classroom is the idea of this generation as being a group of multitaskers. Teacher Jeff Houston points out that he researched that students have been found to be doing activities that total up to 26 to 27 hours a day (Laureate Education, 2008). Students are able to do many things at one time and want to do things immediately, and technology allows them this opportunity.

I have always agreed with the philosophy that education should be student centered and driven, engaging and interactive and these ideas have only been supported through this course. Listening to teachers vignettes and reading about various ideas, I have been able to think in new ways and make adjustments to current activities that assured involving technology. This course has in fact brightened up my activities and put a new spark into my daily plans. My first example is the first homework assignment, typically I would have had the students write me a letter or send an email sharing about themselves and their likes and dislikes, this year I used my blog through my work website and started the technological ball rolling. Within 24 hours I have already had 27 responses to my blog and there is an immediate feeling of excitement and interest involved in their responses.

First thing I plan to do to continue my growth with technology is to complete this Masters Program. Within my current school I will be practicing and learning new things on the equipment that we have, specifically the interactive smart board since all of our classes have just been outfitted with this hardware. Many teachers look to me to assist them and I am consistently looking for new hints and suggestions to share with them. I will also be continuing to attend professional seminars and conferences. This fall I will be attending a South Carolina formative assessment conference and will inevitably attend technology driven sessions when I am there. In the early part of next year I plan to attend some of the technology conferences offered within the math department so that I can begin to acquire a navigation system for my classroom and use graphing calculators on a more regular basis in my pre algebra classes.

Trying to think of two long term goals is a bit overwhelming as I try to incorporate these small advances into my classroom and daily plans this week. I keep repeating Richardson’s (2008) advice to start small and relieve myself of the pressure of having to transform my classroom immediately. I started this week using a blog to get to know my students and set the feel for technology. This has been an exciting start so I want to incorporate this into a long term goal. I would like to offer professional development opportunities to educate those in my school to also embrace and incorporate technology on a regular basis. As I read Prensky’s (2001) writings I can identify the majority of my colleagues as Digital Immigrants and I know they do not understand the students are multitaskers, they will need my inspiration and assistance as they try to make adjustments to their own style and lesson plans.

My second goal is to promote the importance of students having daily computer access. I have volunteered to cover a computer lab for one hour afterschool every Monday. This time will provide the students with the valuable computer time they need. The students will be able to participate in blogs, wikis or other assignments and creations. “Technology allows children to break down walls and allows the children to take control of their learning” (Laureate Education DVD, 2008). In order to achieve great levels of growth the students need time with the technology. These projects will be reported on and displayed if possible and this data will be useful to attempt to get more computers possibly even laptops for all students. Data will definitely be needed to support our request for more technology or readily available technology for all students. Therefore my overall goal will be to continue reaching out to the community and proving the needs and benefits if all children can have access to technology on a regular basis.

As this course ends and I reflect back on my initial checklist I can report a definite shift to the left for all areas of the checklist. I have moved towards using or understanding the need for technology much more after this course and can proudly say that one particular component I have made huge gains on is using a variety of digital tools. My classroom has already seen some significant changes in just the first week back to school this year and I anticipate carrying out many more plans that include and use 21st century skills and objects (Cramer, 2007).

Cramer, S. (2007). Update your classroom with learning objects and twenty-first century skills. Clearing House, 80(3), 126– 132.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Baltimore: Author.Richardson, W. (2006).

Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1. On the Horizon, 9(5),
1-6.

Are My Students Digital Natives or Digital Immigrants?

Please listen to my very first podcast as I had the pleasure of interviewing a few of my students after conducting a classwide survey of technology use. It was rather interesting to see through my students the concepts discussed in our resources this week. The number of children that just remember technology always being available and always having access to a computer and even remembering or being told by parents as early as two or three years of age was rather surprising to me. All of the students pointed out that they do not use technology in school near the amount of time outside of school, yet interestingly this did not seem to be surprising to them. The children just mentioned it as if this is how life is supposed to be.

The children I interviewed through Audacity were Susie C., Alyssa P. and Ronnie P. and they are all middle school students. I will attach the written survey that I submitted to my students via email but only have added clips to my podcast of my interviews. As a rookie to podcasting, I must warn that my clips are not flowing as well as I like but this too will get better as this "semi-digital native" continues to practice with this media.



MY PODCAST click on this link to hear this weeks podcast.


My technology survey click on this link to view my technology survey.


RESOURCES:

Dretzin, R., & Maggio, J. (Producers), & Dretzin, R. (Writer). (2008, January 22). Growing up online. [Television broadcast]. Boston: PBS Frontline. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kidsonline/

November, A. (2007). Banning student 'containers'. Technology & Learning. Retrieved fromhttp://www.techlearning.com/article/7468

Marc Prensky. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1-6. Retrieved July 29, 2009, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1074252411).

Marc Prensky. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 2: Do They Really Think Differently? On the Horizon, 9(6), 1-6. Retrieved July 29, 2009, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1074252431).

McHale, T. (2005). Portrait of a digital native. Technology & Learning. Retrieved fromDate Modified: 29 Jul 09 7:37 PM MST

A review of http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/

Feeling like you need a boost for the next school year?

21st century skills can provide that for you! Visit their website and you will be energized and revived to want to incorporate technology into your classroom. Our children’s educational needs are changing just as their experiences and prior knowledge are before they even enter school. With technology access and experience at the forefront, 96% of students are accessing online networking sites daily (Miners and Pascopella, 2007). Typical lecture style dissemination of material is not working for our youth any more and it is certainly not preparing them for a world that requires very specifics skills. According to the Partnership for 21st Century Skills these skills are: (http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=188&Itemid=110)

Information and communication skills (information and media literacy skills;
communication skills)
Thinking and problem-solving (critical thinking and
systems thinking; problem identification, formulation and solution; creativity
and intellectual curiosity)
Interpersonal and self-direction skills
(interpersonal and collaborative skills; self-direction; accountability and
adaptability; social responsibility)
Global awareness
Financial,
economic and business literacy, and developing entrepreneurial skills to enhance
workplace productivity and career options
Civic literacy

These skills have been echoed by many other resources and are proving to be necessary for our children to meet the challenge globally as our world “flattens” (Freidman, 2005) Throughout this website you will be given a number of links to resources to help you in your classroom and to help with professional development ideas.

The surprising thing about this site is that most of the partners are not educators but rather global leaders in industry. I was impressed to see executives from Dell, Intel, Lego, Sesame Street Workshop even speaking about the requirements and needs of the 21st century worker. Education must respond!!!

As I looked at one video and saw the states involved, I was a bit ashamed that South Carolina was not listed although some of our neighboring states were receiving awards from the organization. South Carolina must begin to step forward and look at these traits and skills listed above and incorporate these skills and the advice of professionals like Dr. Thornberg from the Thornberg Center. Our students need to be trying to compete in a global world and they are not receiving that preparation in our schools.
So if you need a boost and are ready to make a difference in your school and community take a look at the website for the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Perhaps you can join them in their mission to:

“Serve as a catalyst to position 21st century skills at the center of US K-12
education by building collaborative partnerships among education, business,
community and government leaders.”

(http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=188&Itemid=110)
Personally I plan to familiarize myself with the organizations Framework for 21st
Century Learning, ( http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/route21/)
which describes the skills, knowledge and expertise students must master to succeed in work and life. I invite you to take a look by clicking on this link and looking over the material! Students need to be held to high expectations with technology being a major part of their curriculum. Teachers and students need to be embracing the technology around them and finding ways to use it in the classroom. As educators this world is new for many but to the children they have a different view and can be invaluable resources. To educators I ask that you open your minds and listen to the children share their ideas and their experiences. It is through this method that we all will reep the benefits of teaching and learning!

Please let me know what you think after looking at the framework and share any ideas you might have! Good luck and enjoy!

Thank you for taking the time to make our students one step closer to children of the 21st century!

resources:

Friedman, T. (2005, April 3). It's a flat world, after all. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/

Miners, Z., & Pascopella, A. (2007). The new literacies. District Administration, 43(10), 26–34.

It's official... I am a blogger!

Okay I guess it is official... I am a blogger! I mentioned to colleagues at work that I had to have a blog for this class and laughed "what would I do as a math teacher?" They assured me that I can easily have an entry a day without any concern! Really!?!?! This surprises me.... I am a talker and love to tell stories but to write?

Well they have assured me that I will love this outlet! So I am excited! Now just to get participants... that's the next goal.

How would I get my 6th grade math students to use the blog space? For journaling and linking math to every day life would be the most obvious. I would like to provide a way for the students to add posts through comments that would show how they see math in real life and especially the material we cover when it arises in real life. So that would be a definite goal of my blog!

But what about the curriculum? Do you think the students would share their homework concerns with each other or confusion on a concept with each other through a blog? I think this would be a great use of a blog. Allowing the children to discuss the current homework assignment and the process they used to solve the problem. This is the ultimate form of learning I think. However, with my school's requirements that all posts should be screened would a homework/ concept help spot be beneficial if they have to wait to see their posts?

I am still trying to figure out how to incorporate links on my site, I might have to switch sources for my blog, I think having links and activities for the students to find interactive material would be great and comes highly recommended by my panel of experts ( Nonny's gang)!

Just some Words of Wisdom from me ... please share yours with me!!!

My First Blog

Okay so I came up with the name with A LOT of help from nieces and nephews and family.

Pow W.O.W. --- Powers' Words Of Wisdom

Not sure how many wise words will appear over time but I thought it was catchy and would attract my students.


With the help of Nonny's Gang (my children and nieces and nephews) I have decided on the different types of things I would like to include on my blog. They have informed me that links to math games is a must, lesson plans and assignments would be helpful, funny stories and then general tidbits about math that the students can reply to would be interesting to them. Since they are the population I am trying to hit... I am heeding their advice.

Now to just figure out how to add these sections to my blog!?!?!?!


The world of blogging has been quite overwhelming for me. I would find a blog but then couldn't return. Left comments and then realized they didn't post. Created usernames to some sites but then not sure how to get back. SO I decided to add a blogging tip section also if possible. I hope you have not had as many heartbreaks with blogging as I have. Hopefully after setting up some an RSS feed, things will get simpler, because then I will actually use it and benefit from it.

I wish you all good luck with this project and I request that you all share any advice you have for me.

Thanks for logging in and I hope this is the beginning of a very incredible adventure!!!

Happy July 4th!!! Let the fireworks begin!!!