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Neebe, D., & Roberts, J. (2015). Power up: making the shift to 1:1 teaching and learning [Kindle].

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What are your long-term goals for infusing technology effectively?
Technology use is something that has been growing in my school. Even though my high school classroom is not 1:1, I’m fortunate to have access to a Chromebook cart. There is only one other teacher within my department, and we share the cart between our two rooms. This is the second year with this arrangement, and I’ll admit that I’m still learning about how to effectively use Chromebooks and different digital tools. As our book states, “We have just adjusted ourselves to a new mind-set - accepting ongoing change as part of the learning process” (Neebe & Roberts, 2015, “Common Questions About 1:1,” para. 9). Learning how to use technology is an ongoing learning experience, and my ultimate long-term goal is to keep on learning and adapting to our technologically driven world.

One specific goal that I have is to incorporate technological tools that will enhance my teaching, not replace it. I teach Family and Consumer Sciences, including Food Prep, Life Management, and Child Development. A lot of what I teach focuses on physical hands-on experiences as well as important skills such as cooperation, collaboration, and problem-solving. I know how important these skills are for students to learn and practice, and how much they aid in the learning process. So when choosing digital tools to use, I want to make sure that they are still allowing my students to use those skills. Last year, I incorporated Google Classroom with my classes. I loved that the apps within it still allowed my students to communicate, get instant feedback, and stay organized. Neebe & Roberts state that as we learn to use tools that duplicate what we already do as educators, we will begin to see how we can use those same tools to go beyond what we already do (2015, “Shooting for the Moon,” para. 2).

Another goal that I have is to use more technology tools for assessment. After a previous class here at Wilkes, I’ve learned about many tools that can serve this purpose. However, making that jump to all-digital assessments is a little bit intimidating. I have already used some of the assessment tools within the Google platform such as in Docs and Forms. But, the majority of assessments that I use are still traditional as in pencil and paper. I know that by making the switch to all digital, both my students and myself will ultimately benefit. I’ll be able to give them instant feedback and practice using digital tools all while eliminating paperwork and potentially lost work. I just need to make that jump!

As the authors of our textbook described, the path to an all digital classroom is long and may take anywhere from three to five years to complete (Neebe & Roberts, “Shooting for the Moon,” para. 1). I’m looking forward to learning more about technological tools and how I can reach my goals for infusing it effectively in my classroom.

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The roles of teachers and students often change in a 1:1 classroom. What adjustments do you anticipate? Reflect on one concern, as well as one hope for how the shift might lead to improvements in teaching and learning.

In a 1:1 classroom, the roles of teachers and students are flipped. They can totally differ from what we ourselves have experienced in our education, and what others perceive a classroom looks like. This change takes time and effort from everyone involved and can be challenging. My school district has not implemented 1:1 completely  yet. But, I can see a lot of adjustments that will need to be made once it is. One of the biggest ones I can foresee is simply making everything digitized. In Chapter 2, Jen Roberts talks about a situation where a fellow teacher came to her for help on how to make a vocabulary activity digital to eliminate paperwork. Roberts helped her to determine the best way to do that, and guided her through the process. I couldn’t help but think “this would be me!” when asking for help. I have 4 filing cabinets at school that contain all of the worksheets, activities, tests, etc. that I use throughout the year for my classes. Even though I have already made some of them digital, I know that making them all online, implementing a LMS that best suits the needs of my classroom, and training both myself and my kids on how to use it will be a big challenge.

Although it will take a lot more work initially, I know that it will definitely pay off. I hope that the shift to 1:1 will allow my students to become even more prepared for life after school by teaching them important skills that they may not get to practice as much in a traditional setting. Shifting to 1:1 makes students more accountable, involved, and engaged in their learning. They participate in more self-driven tasks, and often have to use higher-order and problem-solving skills to complete them. As our authors state, “the person doing the most work is doing the most learning” (Neebe & Roberts, 2015, “The Students’ Role in a 1:1 Classroom,” para. 3). I think that sometimes my students expect to be simply given all the knowledge that they need, rather than discovering it for themselves. So I hope that 1:1 will help to change their perceptions and create a better learning environment for them and their future.

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Which of the five strategies for engagement are you most excited to try and why?

The engagement strategy that I am most excited to try is Educational Games. When I was reading this section in the textbook, all that I could think about was The Oregon Trail game that I use to play in elementary school. Not only was it fun, but I learned so much from it! Educational games can have so many purposes in the classroom. They can be used as a way to check for understanding, assess students on what they’ve learned, or help students to learn new study habits. They can also be a way to introduce new content and allow students to explore topics in further detail. So many students play video games at home. So, drawing on that interest and implementing games where they are learning or practicing what they have learned is a great way to get them excited about what is going on in class.

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How can digital collaboration tools help you share resources and find time to work with your colleagues?

Digital collaboration tools can help teachers share resources and work together regardless of time or space. The other teacher in my department and I work very closely together. In fact, our rooms are connected by a door that is constantly open. But, we don’t have the same prep period, and there are days where we barely get to talk interrupted. Because we teach the same classes, follow the same curriculums, and like to keep our classes all on the same track, collaborating with each other is crucial. We find ourselves sharing paper copies (that can often get lost in the mix) or texting/emailing each other ideas and activities that we have found throughout the night. Neebe and Roberts state that “when digital collaboration becomes the norm for teachers, it breaks down the walls of our classrooms” (2015, “Collaborating with Colleagues,” para. 8). By using one of the tools in the chapter as well as the tips they have suggested, we really could break down the walls of our classrooms. Making this change and having everything organized will be especially helpful when our school does decide to make the switch to 1:1.

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Helping students reach a larger audience can also raise privacy concerns. What are the norms for student privacy in your community? What steps will you need to take, such as obtaining permission from parents and administrators, before publishing student work for a larger audience?

Publishing student work for a larger audience opens up new doors for our students. Not only does it allow them to gain feedback from others, but it also unintentionally pushes them to produce work that they’ll be proud to show off to the world. However, keeping their privacy throughout this is important. In my school and community, different steps are necessary to protect student privacy. First, a permission form that is recommended by our administration is sent out at the beginning of the year for parents to sign and give consent for their children to be photographed in the classroom. Those forms are then kept on file with both the classroom teacher as well as building administrators. For publishing student work for a larger audience, I’d follow the same steps. First would come getting administrative approval. Next, I would need parental permission. After the project is completed and student work is published, I’d also share their work with both administrators and parents to share how their hard work has paid off.

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What are the challenges of creating lessons that reach all learners?

Each of our students are unique in how they learn. Some are advanced, some need extra help, and some fall in the middle. Regardless of their abilities, learning styles, and interests, it is up to educators to ensure that they are gaining the necessary knowledge and skills that they will need to succeed both in and out of the classroom. Differentiation is something that will always be ongoing, and not always simple. One of the biggest challenges of creating lessons that reach all learners is forming groups without students realizing it. Our authors state that “when a teacher differentiates assignments, provides varying content, or encourages multiple methods of mastery, students talk” (Neebe & Roberts, 2015, “Differentiating with Dignity,” para. 2). In my experience, this couldn’t be any more true. Because my school is not totally 1:1 yet, it’s difficult to hide the different activities and materials for groups from other students. As more technology is infused, though, it will become easier and more efficient for support to be invisible, pervasive, and targeted (Neebe & Roberts, 2015, “Accessibility for All,” para. 5).

Another challenge of differentiation is doing so in a way that successfully reaches special needs students. I currently have about 30 students with IEPs that I teach throughout the day. Just as they all have different interests, learning styles, and abilities, they also have different requirements and restrictions that I need to take into account. Finding technological tools and applications may be difficult at first to find what works for each individual student. Chapter 6 does give many examples to try, but it would still be a challenge to implement them while still teaching the same lesson to all students in the classroom.

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Consider an upcoming assessment (formative or summative) for which you’d like to rethink the feedback process. Which of the six strategies identified in chapter 7 do you think can best support your students and ease your workload and why?

Neebe and Roberts (2015) discuss that feedback should be “informative, timely, useful, and mutually beneficial” (“The Challenge of Giving Effective Feedback,” para. 6-9). After reading this chapter and reflecting on assessments that I give my students, one that I would like to rethink the feedback process for is a storybook project in my Child Development class. After discussing the developing toddler’s brain and how children’s books build language and social development, I have my students create their own story book. They create an original story with a specific theme, and incorporate different components to make it a learning experience for young readers. Of the strategies identified in chapter 7, I think that the one that would work best for this is peer feedback. Neebe and Roberts (2015) state that “when we design opportunities for students to hear from their classmates, everyone benefits” (“Six Strategies for Stronger Feedback,” para. 5). This dives deeper into the importance and positive impact of having an audience that chapter 5 in our textbook talked about. I think that by implementing peer feedback throughout their creation process (not just at the end), my students will be able to fine-tune their story books by seeing the highlights of their work as well as things they need to change or improve upon. It will also help to ease my workload because I’m usually the one going back and forth between students by giving feedback and answering questions throughout the whole project. By allowing their peers to help, I would be able to oversee more students more efficiently as well as give more specific feedback that builds off of what their classmates had already discussed.

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Go back to the second half of chapter 8 and review the process for design thinking. Which steps could you easily leverage in your classroom? What roadblocks might occur? Brainstorm some ideas about how to overcome the possible roadblocks.
As I was reading about the process for design thinking, I was thinking about how I could implement each step in my classroom. I think that the easiest steps to leverage would be the first three - empathize, define, and ideate. Even though high schoolers don’t always have the best reputation for showing empathy towards others, I truly do see them demonstrating it every single day. I see that my students want to connect to others, even if they aren’t always successful at doing so. By tapping into the needs and desires of real people, that connection could motivate them to not only identify a problem, but also to then define it and work to find a solution. Implementing the ideate step may be a little trickier. Just like Neebe and Roberts state, “some of the fastest ways to kill a brainstorm - taking turns, writing everything down, or starting with a leader - are all fairly common practices in classrooms” (2015, “Step 3: Ideate,” para. 1). I’m definitely guilty of doing those things. But by using the key principles that are listed, I think that I could spark some great ideas from my students.

I think that the biggest roadblocks would occur during the last 2 steps - prototype and test. This is because both of these steps take a lot of time and materials to complete. In the textbook, it describes how Chiang’s students spent weeks on just the prototype step. Although I do have my students for the whole year every day, I still have a lot of content that I have to cover in my curriculum. Not to mention, a limited budget to do so. To fully implement design thinking, I would have to revamp my curriculum to ensure that not only would I have enough time to fit everything in, but that it would be meaningful learning. That way, students could gain the hands-on experience that can help them to transfer their learning to other aspects of my class, other classes, and real-world experiences. As far as materials needed, I could reach out to other teachers to perhaps collaborate on a project together and therefore share materials. I could also reach out to local businesses and community members for potential donations. By doing this, students could get involved in the process and collaborate with others in the community. This might lead to more ideas and creative thinking, and could result in an even better solution to the problem they are working to solve.

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"Imagine that the school bells are silent and the clocks are frozen. How would you spend your class period if time were not constrained?"
If school bells were silent and the clocks were frozen, I would spend my class period by having students explore more complex content and be given more of a choice for what we are studying. My class periods are 42 minutes long, and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't wish we had at least double that time together. In my food prep class especially, the clock is my biggest enemy. On lab days, the first 10 minutes are usually taken up by an introduction/demonstration, and washing hands and prepping areas. The last 10 minutes is always set aside for kitchen clean up. So, that leaves my students with only about 22 minutes to cook! Only having this short amount of time really limits what skills I can have them learn and practice, and what recipes I can make with them. But without time being a constraint, my students could learn more difficult skills such as how to make cakes, pies, or soups from scratch. They could also have more freedom to choose what they'd like to cook, and experiment to create their own unique recipes. I think that if the clocks were frozen at school, the possibilities for new learning experiences would be endless.

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What reservations (if any) do you have about using social medial for professional learning?

Social media is an easy way to become connected. You can collaborate with other professionals around the globe, and open a world of new ideas. In the past, I rarely used social media for professional learning. In all honesty, I just never realized all that was available. Websites like Twitter and Facebook are more commonly for personal use, and I always just stuck to using them in that way. But, especially as we have switched to remote learning, I’ve seen the power of using social media for professional learning. I joined private Facebook groups for FCS Teachers in both my local area and across the country, and I can’t express how much it has helped me during this time where I feel as if I’m teaching in a way that is far out of my comfort zone. The ideas, sharing of activities, and overall support of teachers to each other has been overwhelming in such a positive way. I truly do feel that this major change in education would be even more stressful without the network that I’ve found online.

The only reservation that I have about using social media for professional learning is the aspect of privacy. As an educator, I think it’s important to practice the same safe digital citizenship that we strive to teach to our students. A lot of the groups that I am a part of on Facebook are private and by approval only, but it still makes me a little wary when others share things like where they teach and details about their district. I’ve personally chosen to not really post or share things, but to just explore and respond to ideas and activities that others have put out there. I think that as long as educators are practicing online safety and professionalism, social media can be a powerful way to connect with other teachers and to adapt to our ever changing classrooms.

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In this assignment, I compared 4 popular models that are used for infusing technology in the classroom.

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In this assignment, I dove into Mobile Learning as an emerging technology in the classroom.

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In this assignment, I explored 6 different emerging technologies and found sources that supported the use of each one.

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In this assignment, I reflected on how Bloom's Digital Taxonomy is supporting teaching in learning in the evolving classroom.

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In this assignment, I focused on Bloom's Remembering Level by participating in visual notetaking.

Website used: https://muro.deviantart.com/

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I have heard of sketchnoting before, but honestly I have never utilized it. However, I really enjoyed this activity! After visiting Muro, it took awhile for me to navigate all of the tools and learn about what each one did. Once I got the hang of it, it went fairly quickly. As a teacher, I give my students guided notes in the forms of outlines that they can fill in while learning. Sketchnoting, however, could be a new and fun way to reach students who are more visual and auditory learners like myself. Listening to the TED talk while writing and drawing out the ideas really helped me to understand the message more, and I think it could do the same for many of my students. I’m already thinking of ways to infuse this digital tool in my classroom!

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In this assignment, I utilized the Understanding Level of Bloom's Digital Taxonomy by exploring the Feedly website.

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Feedly is an amazing website that allows you to search for blogs and subscribe to them. I can see this site being used in the classroom to support the Understanding level of Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy, and beyond. Some of the key terms within this level are interpreting, classifying, comparing, advanced searches, blog journaling, categorising and tagging, and subscribing. Using Feedly would allow students to do each and every one of those.

Students can practice advanced searching by exploring all of the available blogs based for things related to the content that they are learning. When they find blogs, they can read the articles, interpret them, and use them to deepen their understanding. They can subscribe to blogs that they like, and classify and categorize them by comparing the overall subject matter of the blog. Finally, students can use Feedly and the blogs found on it as examples to inspire their own blog creation.

I enjoyed exploring Feedly, and as my district has moved to exclusive online learning, I am eager to find ways to use this with my students.

References:

Churches, A. (2008, February 07). Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy. [PDF File]. Retrieved from

https://live.wilkes.edu/content/enforced/263745-11150.202010/Blooms_Digital_Taxon

my.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=4NuPTEirgelVIjmJUtY6VEenG&ou=263745.

Feedly - www.feedly.com

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In this assignment, I practiced the Applying Level of Bloom's Digital taxonomy by creating a model floorplan along with a rubric to support it.

Made at https://floorplancreator.net/

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Rubric created at https://www.quickrubric.com/r#/create-a-rubric

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In this assignment, I practiced the Analyzing level of Bloom's Digital Taxonomy to break down information using an Infographic.

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I’m familiar with infographics, and have used tools like Piktochart in my own classroom. However, I’ve only ever used it for presentation and comparing/contrasting ideas. But, I have some ideas on how I could use it for data literacy. In my Parenting class, we discuss a lot of different reports that include information on statistics for things like shaken baby syndrome, sudden infant death syndrome, and childhood literacy development. I think that after reading those reports, I could have my students create an infographic to better make sense of the data. Then, we could display them in the classroom. I could use them either as an assessment in itself, or as a sort of study guide for students. Having them create the infographic would definitely encourage them to visualize and interpret the data as well as to make connections to other aspects that we discuss in class.

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In this assignment, I practiced the Evaluating Level of Bloom's Digital Taxonomy by creating a podcast about a popular digital tool.

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Targeting Higher Order Thinking with Technology

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Targeting Higher Order Thinking with Technology

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Exploring ways to use technology to create meaningful student learning experiences.

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Hi everyone! I’m Kristin Reed and I am a High School Family and Consumer Science Teacher. As you may already know, there are millions of Web 2.0 tools to use in the classroom. But today, I’d like to talk to you about one in particular that I’ve enjoyed using with my kids at school - Piktochart. Piktochart is a web-based tool that allows the user to create a variety of different visual representations, such as infographics, presentations, reports, posters, and flyers. It’s insanely easy to use, and gives users the ability to choose a premade template or to start from scratch and add text, graphics, shapes, and charts as they please. Best of all, this tool has a free version that allows you to create up to 5 visuals per month! As a teacher, Piktochart can easily be used for student assessment. You can have them create a presentation to show their understanding of facts or information at the end of a unit. You can have students sum up an experiment by displaying their findings in a report using charts and graphs. You can also use it as a tool for analyzing data, by having students create an infographic that demonstrates a new way to make sense of the statistics or numbers. This would also be great for teachers who are looking to switch up the roles in their classrooms, where students would become the teachers by creating a poster, infographic, or even a flyer to teach something new to their classmates. I myself have used Piktochart to have my students compare and contrast two concepts by creating an infographic, and my students absolutely loved it. Piktochart is amazing to use because it is allowing students to take what they have learned to not only CREATE something, but to demonstrate their learning in a way that is so much more fun and meaningful than traditional tests. This is because it can better reach students that may have differing learning styles, by tapping into the visual, verbal, and logical aspects of teaching. The process itself of creating the visuals gives students the chance to practice important 21st century skills all while letting them be creative. There are so many cool ways that you can use this Web 2.0 tool for assessment in your classroom, so go ahead and check it out for yourself!

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When I first saw that we had to create an audio podcast this week, I was nervous. I’ve never had experience creating one, because honestly it sounded difficult and time consuming. But this experience really proved me wrong! The website anchor.fm couldn’t have been easier to use. Once I recorded my audio, it was really easy to go step-by-step to create and publish my podcast. I’ve been trying to find a different yet easy tool that I could use to help my students reflect on projects and labs that they complete in my class. After using anchor.fm, I feel confident that this would be a great tool for the job!

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In this assignment, I practiced the Creating Level of Bloom's Digital Taxonomy by producing a digital story about a famous woman in history.

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Sojourner Truth may have lived over 100 years ago, but she is still one of the most famous women of all time. She was an African American evangelist who not only dedicated her life to her faith, but also to obtaining equal rights for both African Americans and women in her time.

Sojourner Truth was not actually born with that name. She was born Isabella Baumfree in 1797 to slave parents in Ulster County, New York. She was first sold at a slave auction at age 9 to an owner that was cruel and violent to her. She was sold two more times by the time she turned 13, and ended up at home of John Dumont in New York. There, she became the mother of five children.

Dumont promised her that he would make her free in 1826 as long as she worked hard for  him. When the time came, however, he changed his mind and refused to let her go. So, she grabbed her baby daughter and walked away and onto freedom in another part of the state. She was taken in by a kind couple, who helped her when Dumont tracked her down. They bought Isabella from him for $20 until the New York law that emancipated all slaves took effect in 1827. She was finally free!

Even though she was free, her five-year-old son Peter that she had unfortunately left behind when she escaped was not. He was illegally sold to a family in Alabama, where slavery was not yet illegal. She filed a lawsuit against the man that sold Peter to get him back, and won! She became the first black woman ever to sue a white man in the United States and actually win the case.

After that, she moved to New York City and found a job as a maid for a preacher. This is also where she embraced her own Christian faith. She felt so strongly that it was her obligation to go out and speak the truth, that in 1843, she officially changed her name to Sojourner Truth. With her new name, Sojourner began traveling across the Northern states to not only teach about the gospel, but to also speak out against slavery and oppression of African Americans and women.

Sojourner became an abolitionist and in 1851, she spoke at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention. Her speech, known as “Ain’t I a Woman?” caught the attention of President Abraham Lincoln. He invited her to the White House and appointed her to the National Freedmen’s Relief Organization, where she continued fighting for others. She encouraged men to enlist in the Union Army during the Civil War. She also rallied to help give food, clothes, jobs and land to black refugees.

She spent the rest of her life sharing her faith and speaking out against discrimination of her race and gender. After a life of fighting, she died on November 26, 1883.  Sojourner Truth left a behind a legacy. She was courageous, kind, and a teacher of one of life’s ultimate lessons – to never stop fighting for what you believe is right.

Bibliography

Image used from Discovery Education with permission:

Corbis, (2006) Illustration of Sojourner Truth. [Image]. Available from http://www.discoveryeducation.com

History.com Editors. (2009, October 29). Sojourner Truth. Retrieved April 11, 2020, from https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/sojourner-truth

Sojourner Truth. [Reading Passage]. Available from http://www.discoveryeducation.com

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Twitter Handle - @Kristin53679725 updated to @MrsReedFCS

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#games4ed (April 9th, 8pm)

Topic and overview:

The topic of the chat tonight was Choice Boards. This immediately grabbed my interest because as I've been exploring new ways to present enrichment activities for students during this time, choice boards have been consistently suggested. During the chat people shared their experience with choice boards and how they've used them both in class and remote learning. We also discussed considerations to be made when using them during this time, options for both online and offline activities, and ways to have students share their learning with classmates and teachers safely.

Overall, I really enjoyed this chat. It went really fast and at times it was hard to keep up with answers. I also kept forgetting to respond to questions using the "A1" format, and I kept having to delete and resubmit my tweets. But, after the first few questions I started to get the hang of it. I got a lot of good ideas as well as feedback from others. I think that especially now, these chats are an easy and effective way to collaborate with other educators and get new ideas for things to incorporate into remote learning. I definitely plan to join some other chats in the near future.

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In this assignment, I created this ePortfolio to organize and display all the work that I did throughout the EDIM510 course.

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I’ve honestly never done an online portfolio, for myself or with my students. But using Padlet to do so was extremely easy! It was simple to choose a format, add sections, and upload and/or paste the information in. It was nice to look back and remember all of the work I’ve done throughout the class, and to reflect on how much I have learned from beginning to end.

Portfolios are not just a way to show student growth. They’re also a fantastic way to get students actively involved in their own learning. It allows students to organize their work, reflect on what they have learned, and see their growth in a tangible way. I’d love to use portfolios in each one of my classes, but especially so in Food Prep. I would love students to see where their kitchen knowledge and skills started, and how much they progressed throughout the year. They could include reflections on labs, worksheets/assignments, videos of them cooking and performing kitchen skills, and pictures of their completed recipes.
Students change so much from the beginning of the year to the end. We as teachers see and realize that, but the students themselves often don’t. Creating a portfolio would allow them to do that while creating a lasting memory for them.