Wk 4 Reflection

The readings for this week revolved around student assessment.  I read through Ch 7 of the CAST book Teaching Every Student and it explained that, as we differentiate our instruction to meet the various needs of the students, we also need to differentiate our assessment strategies.  We often give tests in a single format, that may be a hindrance to some students.  For example, a paper-based test may not be the best option for a student with vision impairment.  The student may know everything being asked, but if (s)he has difficulty reading the material, the test score may not truly reflect what (s)he knows.  The material given in an auditory format may better suit this student.  So, we should set learning objectives and goals for our instruction and our assessment.  This will allow the students the flexibility to best learn and best show us what they have learned.

Also, what I see in many of my students is an inability to overcome test anxiety.  Many of my students perform particularly low on the high-stakes State Tests, even though they have performed at very high levels in my class.  When I talk to them, they tell me they were worried and confused and just could not get going on the test.  Well, their score does not accurately show their knowledge.

This brings up another point, that was not addressed in the readings, but is something to think about.  I believe that we are doing a much better job at designing classroom instruction.  Many schools focus on Project-Based Learning (PBL), small group activities, and technology initiatives to better allow for collaboration and general creativity.  But there is a disconnect when it come to our classroom instruction and the State testing.  For testing days, the students enter a sterile room (we are required to remove or cover everything in our rooms) and are required to work independently and silently on a paper-based test for 4+ hours.  Then the school district, school, teacher and student are all graded based on that one, out-of-context test.  Is that really how we should "test" our kids?

References:

Rose, D. H., & Meyer, A. (2002). Teaching in the digital age: universal design for learning. Retrieved from http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/ 

DI Staff Dev Reflection

After school on Tuesday I led a "Staff Development" over the Instant Challenge portion of Destination Imagination. It started off a little rocky, but I think it went well.

We were notified, on Monday, of EOC Training that would conflict. We were also notified of a faculty meeting this week. In light of these I should have scheduled my training for a different week, but oh well. My principal also holds a department chair meeting in the room I had reserved and she ran long. So we finally got into the room and got the training started.

I made a Prezi for this training (see previous blog post about this).  It was my first real Prezi and it seemed to run well.  I had to figure out some quirks of the Prezi, like my original presentation was too zoomed in.  (Tip: When you set the Path in Prezi, click on the Frame you want, not just the Text in the Frame.  When you click on the Text, it Zooms in to just that part and may cut off the Title and Frame).  The Prezi is pretty nice to organize all of you thoughts on one screen.  It also is a little easier to use than PowerPoint, especially when you are incorporating pictures, video, and fancy transitions.

There were 6-8 Team Managers in attendance, so not a big group, but a very motivated group.  They were very attentive and asked great questions.  The Prezi included just the basic thoughts of the presentation, the rest was explanations that I shared over the topic.  The whole event lasted for a little over an hour.  I may have to come up with more topics to share, or even come up with an Instant Challenge workshop for the kids to go through.

Destination Imagination - Instant Challenge TIPS

I have Appraised DI for that last 6 yrs, including 4 yrs at the State Level.  I have always Appraised Instant Challenge (IC), and typically they were technical challenges.  These are some thoughts I have decided to share with the world.  There are no spoilers, just thoughts on how to make your teams better.

There is a whole presentation that goes with this Prezi.  These are just the talking points

http://prezi.com/0zauphiin3-7/instant-challenge-destination-imagination/
http://tinyurl.com/irvingic 

Let me know what you think.

Wk 3 Reflection

This week has been brutal. I was out of town for the first half, and then watching my little one for the second half. So I was not able to get any of grad school work done until this weekend. AND, this weeks assignment was LOOOOOONNNNNGGGGG. It's 11:09pm and I am still working on it. This week we designed our own UDL Lesson Plan. Our group decided to cover the topic of Personal Finance and I chose to do a lesson on Balancing a Checkbook. I used the included UDL Lesson Plan Builder to create the lesson. This involved finding the appropriate TEKS and finding technology resources that fit the lesson. Then I needed to create an e-book to compliment my UDL. The e-book software was decent and had several advantages over something like PowerPoint. Read my review of the e-book here. (I have also just taught myself how to create a Prezi and I think it is AWESOME. I will be presenting to a group of team managers for Destination Imagination next week and look forward to using all these skills to impress them.) As far as my group is going, we were a little disconnected this week. Maybe me most of all. It was spring break and I think all of us were on different schedules. Next week should be better.

UDL and Technology

The videos this week focused on the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) standards and the readings seemed to focus on the benefits of integrating technology into the classroom. I believe these go hand-in-hand and technology will be a driving factor when it to integrating UDL.

First, let me explain my take on UDL. Universal Design is the concept that some things should be the same regardless of location, language, or any other factors. Some great examples are Stop signs, cell phone "bars" and wheel chair access ramps. A stop sign should look the same everywhere, so that even if I go to Arkansas, I know when I need to stop. Cell phone manufacturers have decided to stick with a similar looking icon to show the strength of a cell phone signal so that customers can pick any cell phone and know how to read the display without too much concern. Universal Design is especially important when it comes to helping people with special needs. Someone in a wheelchair should have the same access to a building as someone walking. So we have all agreed that curb cutouts should be of a certain size and a certain slope. All buildings have braille placards at the same height on the wall so that blind people can find them easily. These are just a few examples that illustrate what Universal Design encompasses.

These same types of concepts are now being extended to a teacher's lesson plans with the Universal Design for Learning standards. This makes it so a teacher can specify a certain learning objective and meet the needs of all the children being taught. Each child comes with a unique background and should be allowed to learn the objective in the best way they can. And not all children learn the same way. Some children do well with a traditional lecture. Some children do better with self-discovery. And some children with special needs should be given the opportunity to learn the same material with the appropriate accommodations or modifications. For example, a non-narrated film on the transformation of a butterfly would be pretty useless to a vision impaired student, but might be perfect for a hearing impaired student. UDL allows the teacher to set the learning objective while still maintaining flexibility to meet each student's needs.

How does technology help? Technology allows the teachers and the students to find the resources they personally need to be successful. We can subtitle a film for the hearing impaired. We can have a screen reader for the vision impaired. We can let the GT kids dig deeper into the subject on their own, even after they have exhausted the teacher's knowledge. You can allow the ELL students the ability to create a presentation that expresses their thoughts in ways their language can't. The internet gives low socioeconomic students access to resources they do not have locally. I have students that have never physically seen a mountain, but they completely understand how the mountain was formed and what it looks like because of the resources available on the internet.

Without technology, UDL is a struggle. It is hard to find all the necessary resources many of our students need without access to the internet and the connected world. Books and DVDs work for many students, but not all. When we fully integrate technology in the classroom, we can let our students discover the world on the terms they need. I am a technology guy and I believe in technology. Now I need to work on my UDL skills. It is hard to let go of the reigns and let the students direct their own learning. It is hard to step back and just guide the search instead of giving the information. Gives us 5-10 years and I suspect school will be dramatically different.

Resources:

The Impact of Technology on Student Achievement

http://lessonbuilder.cast.org/

http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/

Constructivism and Technology

The videos and readings for this week centered around the concept of Constructivism. In short, Constructivism is the theory that true learning comes when we connect new concepts to prior experiences. When we tie a new concept to what we already know, it "constructs" a bridge and allows us to expand our overall thinking. Sometimes this new material is added to the previous knowledge, while other times it adjusts our existing ideas. For example, everybody knew the world was flat until we learned that it really wasn't and even then we had to see if for ourselves. Constructivism seems to be closely related to Project Based Learning (PBL). Students are given a broad project and guided to finding the appropriate information. In these student-centered situations the teacher takes a support and guidance role, instead of a direct information-giving role. This is a significant departure from the traditional classroom. Constructivism and PBL seem to be the future of education and I wish I could implement more of it in my classroom. My personal problem, and I think this may be a common problem, is my complete lack of experience when it comes to designing a constructivist lesson. I grew up in the traditional classroom. I did not do many projects in grade school or college. Most of my class time was spent listening to lectures, taking notes, and doing practice problems. This is what I know. This is what I am comfortable with. I would love to implement a constructivist project in my classroom, but I really do not know how. And I have not been able to locate the appropriate resources. I believe that my personal reservations are echoed by many of my peers. We want what is best for our students, but we do not know how to begin this journey.

The readings did reinforce my concept of technology use in the classroom. Technology is not a magic cure to fix our students problems. Often times, just simply adding technology will cause more problems if it is not implemented correctly. Technology is a just a tool. Just like books are just a tool. Technology can be as simple as an electronic book (and be just as boring). It can also be a fully interactive learning device that connects several topics at once. But all of this is dependent upon the implementation. This quote, from an example scenario in one of the readings, sums it up quite nicely; "technology is simply a tool that assists Elizabeth’s ongoing assessment of the students’ progress and supports her in her efforts to make learning interesting, engaging, and meaningful to the students. Technology is not the key to the learning experience Elizabeth’s students enjoy, just the infrastructure that makes her efforts productive and sustainable" (Sprague & Dede, 1999).
I believe the future of education will see Constructivism and technology combined into a seamless learner-centered lesson. We are still at the beginning stages of both. We see them being implemented successfully by some, while others are chipping away and trying them out. Eventually these two concepts will be as mundane as the overhead projector and we will look back and wonder how we used to think the world was flat because teachers stood up front and lectured to us about it.

Reference:
Sprague, D., & Dede, C. (1999). If i teach this way, am i doing my job: Constructivism in the classroom. Retrieved from http://imet.csus.edu/imet9/280/docs/dede_constructivisim.pdf