Reflection: A Steep Learning Curve

In his book Web Literacy for Educators, Alan November (2008), in referring to the powerful communication tools available to today’s youth, poses the question: “Who should teach them how to manage the power of these tools?” (p.83). The answer, of course, is that we, the teachers, administrators, and schools that make up the educational system, must take responsibility for this important task. But how? Well, the first step, as Richardson (2009) asserts, is to become adept and passionate users of today’s technologies ourselves, thereby transforming our own learning practice and better understanding the exciting pedagogical implications of these technologies for our students and classrooms.

During this course, I have taken the first steps into a world that I had previously only observed from the outside, whose complexity overwhelmed and intimidated me, and whose potential for improving student learning I had not fully grasped. Over the last eight weeks I have come to understand how to use and set up a blog, quickly access information through an RSS feed, collaborate through a wiki, and create and publish a podcast. Today, I feel capable of and in the position to begin integrating these technologies into my instructional practice. Not only that, I find that I have become much more confident in my use of technology in general; today I am more likely to troubleshoot solutions to any technological problems that come up than I was before the course. Whereas in the past, I would have asked my husband for help, today he comes to me for assistance! Basically, I’m more comfortable with the technological tools that I use and I feel that I can go on to learn how to use the plethora of tools that are out there just as well as anyone. The veil surrounding the mystery of technology has been lifted!

Now that I have made the initial steps, I intend to continue developing my knowledge and skills by building on the base that I have attained in this course. I will continue to expand my use of collaborative tools such as social networks, blogs, skype, and podcasts in my personal life, and work to create my own Personal Learning Network. I also intend to begin using other tools, such as twitter and social bookmarking, which I have yet to try. Most importantly in our quickly changing technological landscape, I will keep my feelers out there for new and exciting technologies and applications by visiting sites such as Classroom 2.0 and The Teacher’s Podcast regularly.

I have two goals for integrating technology into my instructional practice over the coming two years. Both goals aim to have an innovating rather than an automating influence on classroom learning (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008) and to meet the “educational needs of young people entering a dynamic workforce where lifelong learning and creativity are among the few certainties for success” (Thornburg, 2004, p. 11).

My first goal is to develop and use a classroom blog to provide space for reflection and journaling, extend the classroom conversation, and post links, assignments, and the like. Aside from helping with course management and thereby encouraging student responsibility and self-direction, a classroom blog will provide students with an authentic audience for their work, which is a powerful motivator. Most importantly, blogging allows us to move away from the traditional teacher-centered classroom, where the teacher is the sole judge of student work which has been produced for the sole purpose of pleasing that judge, and move towards a student-centered classroom in which student writing is made available to other students, who in turn can respond with comments. In this sense, integrating a blog into the classroom environment can help establish a social, collaborative atmosphere in which meaningful dialogue takes place outside of the confines of the physical classroom.

My second goal is to integrate podcasts and/or wikis into the classroom as a way for students to consolidate their learning and present their work to a larger audience. This kind of presentation not only requires a whole different level of student ownership of work, it is also great fun. Publishing meaningful content on the Web is what November (2008) describes as “probably the most powerful opportunity the Internet can provide – the ability to communicate within a global forum, build knowledge content as a community, and publish writing to an authentic audience” (p. 80). I’m looking forward to facilitating a classroom experience in which students are encouraged to ask questions, seek answers, and work creatively to convey what they have learned to others. In short, I want to enable them to become collaborators in the co-construction of meaningful knowledge.

In meeting these goals, I hope to shrink the gap between the information rich, collaborative, and creative technological landscape my students inhabit in their personal lives, and the way learning is approached in school. I hope to create a classroom reflective of the realities of what Trilling (2005) calls the “Knowledge Age” and engage my students in the acquisition of 21st century skills such as collaboration, self-direction, media literacy, communication, and creativity. By incorporating technology into my instructional practice in this way, I also hope to get on board with what Richardson (2009) refers to as the “two unstoppable trends” of contributing to the flow of content being made available online, and creating that content in collaborative ways.


Resources:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008b). Program Two. Evolution of Technology and Pedagogy. [Motion picture]. The emergence of educational technology. Baltimore: Author.

November, A. (2008). Web literacy for educators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wiks, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press
Thornburg, D. (2004). Technology and Education: Expectations, not Options. Retrieved November 1, 2009, from Thornburg Center Podcasts and More: http://www.tcpdpodcast.org/briefings/expectations.pdf

Trilling, B. (2005). Towards learning societies and the global challenges for learning with ICT. TechForum. Retrieved from http://www.techlearning.com/techlearning/pdf/events/techforum/ny05/Toward_Learning_Societies.pdf

Do they fit the bill?

There's a lot of talk out there about "today's students". They live in a technologically rich environment, have skills their parents and teachers don't, and may even be evolving neurologically, thanks to neuroplasticity. But what I wanted to know was: do my 8th grade German Waldorf students fit the bill? Are they so-called "digital natives"? I surveyed 31 of my 8th grade English students, and followed up with a small group interview. What I found out, I've put together in a short podcast. Click on the link below to listen and decide for yourself if these students fit the bill...

http://tsenalapaul.podbean.com/

The Resource of the Century!

I’m just returning from a visit to The Partnership for 21st Century Skills and I feel a bit like Alice coming back from a trip down the rabbit-hole. This is a truly amazing and comprehensive website for teachers and administrators who are interested in preparing their students for success in a new and demanding world. We all know that technology and society have changed dramatically in the last several years, yet most of us teach in industrial age schools which focus on individual knowledge, thought, and achievement. Today’s society has made the shift to a teamwork and collaboration oriented, constructionist view of knowledge, where people from different locations and backgrounds come together to engage in complex problem-solving and communication (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008). We see this happening, we know the world is changing, yet our schools are lagging behind – and we often feel powerless to do anything about it.

The Partnership for 21st century skills seems intent on changing that, however! This forward-thinking partnership of businesses, educational leaders, and policy makers has clearly been hard at work developing a concept, backed up with resources and support, to help today’s educators take the steps needed to integrate 21st century skills into today’s schools. What most surprised me about the Partnership’s framework for 21st century learning (known as P21), was the minimal focus on the technological tools themselves; this site is not a tutorial on how to use one technology or another in the classroom. Rather, it is a comprehensive look at kind of skills and knowledge that our student’s will increasingly need, and ways to integrate these into our teaching practice.

My first thought once I got oriented in this site was, “Wow, somebody’s doing it! We’re not on our own!” We don’t need to reinvent the wheel – it’s been done, and the blueprints are here for the viewing. After navigating around this website, I began to realize that there are no excuses (even without school-wide internet access we can begin the transition to 21st century skills), all of the resources you need to begin adapting your instructional practices are available (I wouldn’t even dare to guess at the incredible number of quality links), and the support systems are in place.

One of the things I found most inspiring in the P21 Framework was the interdisciplinary 21st century themes, such as global awareness or civic literacy, which are meant to run through the traditional content areas and across skill groups. I find this approach holistic, in contrast to the fragmented, compartmentalized approach of the industrial past. Reaching across subject boundaries will certainly serve to inspire more flexible and complex thought and give rise to opportunities for quality communication and collaboration; it is reflective of the “elemental changes in the way that organizations organize and approach work” (Bates & Phelan, 2002, p.121) that have taken place in today’s economy.

Truly inspiring!


Resources:

Bates, R., & Phelan, K. (2002). Characteristics of a globally competitive workforce. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 4(2), 121.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). Program Eleven. Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work and Society. [Motion picture]. Technology Interfaces. Baltimore: Author.

Blogging with 8th grade English Language Learners

As an English language teacher, I’ve been pondering ways to use a blog in the classroom since the idea was first introduced to me this summer. Though I’ve got some interesting thoughts for how to use the blog with my 12th grade students, what I’m less sure about, and what I want to put out there today, is how best to blog with my 8th grade English Language Learners. Blogging in a classroom setting will be a new experience for my students, who are not used to technology being part of their school lives at all. For this reason, as well as language considerations and my own inexperience, I plan to start small. I would like to post a prompt every week in connection with the literature or topics we are working on in class, to which each student is required to post a response and comment on two or three of their peer’s postings. I would also get involved by contributing to the conversation. Additionally, to make the blog an interesting “destination”, I would like to post assignments, rubrics, and a class calendar to aid in student organization, as well as some fun pictures, captions, and quotes for them to enjoy.

This simple blog would serve the purpose of introducing my students (and their parents) to school-related blogging, as well as allowing them to share their thoughts with a larger audience, and engage in (hopefully) meaningful communication with their peers. The topics discussed in the blog would connect directly to content we are covering in class, and I believe that referring to comments which were posted in the class blog during classroom discussions would enhance lessons by engaging student interest, recognizing student-generated ideas or insights, and providing the opportunity to build on what was said in the blog in subsequent lessons.

Blogging is more that journaling in a different form. According to Bill Richardson, it sharpens critical reading and writing skills, develops media literacy and information management skills, promotes and supports student collaboration, and teaches about social (and technological) networks. For this reason, it is more than worth diving into. Nevertheless, I have some concerns about using blogs with my students. These are: lack of access to internet, parental displeasure (I’m in a very alternative school environment), and posting student work which contains grammatical errors (unavoidable if their contributions are to be authentic).


I look forward to reading your comments!