My students have not had technology in the classroom up until this year. My 7th and 8th graders were provided with Chromebooks  they were allowed to take home, while my 6th graders did not have any technology. I did not start teaching at Pittston Area until the beginning of November, and no true expectations for Chromebook use were set up before I arrived. I attempted to provide expectations for Chromebook use, but it was not as successful as it would have been from the start of the year. With the unfortunate situation of the pandemic, my 6th graders were provided laptops, but given no direction on how to use them.

My first goal for the upcoming school year with technology is to teach my students how to appropriately use the devices and learn specific expectations for what should and shouldn’t be done while using the Chromebooks. This can be started by teaching my students when they should have their laptops open and working, or when the technology should be closed and their attention turned to the front of the class. It is important that I teach my students how to be good digital citizens, and the impact that can have on their future. 

My second goal is to find effective, beneficial tools to implement into my classroom. Thinking about the different topics that I teach throughout the year, I want to provide my students with specific resources that they can go to for extra help. In our Chapter 1 reading, it mentions a Math teacher creating an Edmodo page for his students to ask questions. My goal is to set something similar up, so my students have access to myself and their peers for help when necessary. 

My final goal for infusing technology focuses on using technology as a tool to create new projects and communicate new information with others. To accomplish this goal, I must teach my students how to explore a new resource, practice and develop research skills, find quality information to back up new knowledge, and use different resources to build something new. In addition, I want students to become comfortable working together to build these new projects. Collaboration is very important, and if students can learn to work together through technology, they will be better off in the long run. 

 

After doing research on the four Pedagogies, I thought the SAMR and TECH model can be most useful. I struggled to choose between which of these two models I liked best because they are similar to each other, but different in their own way.  

I like the SAMR model because it focuses on specific tasks for students to demonstrate their understanding. It allows for technology to enhance student learning, but as students progress through the stages, they can transform their learning. The SAMR model could be very beneficial to teachers who are new to using technology. Throughout the year, the teacher can provide their students the opportunity to grow through the complexity of how they will use technology. Students will have the opportunity to learn how to use technology as a replacement for previous assignments, but as they start to enter the transformation stage, students will now be able to create something new. This new product could not have been possible without the use of technology, and really turns the tool on the side to the center point of their final knowledge.

When looking at the TECH model, I like how it focuses on the student/teacher aspects, as opposed to the task. This model still allows the incorporation of technology, but provides the students more choice on what technology to use and how to use it. As the model progresses, student choice is incorporated into student learning, with the guidance of the teacher. The teacher will provide a broad set of goals, and will provide assistance on how to reach those goals. The students will be provided available technology tools to be used in order to do so. The top stage really allows the students to drive their own learning. Based on their interests and ideas, the students will choose what they are learning, what technology they will use, and how to reach their set goals. The teacher will be available for guidance, but will be more hands off. As the students move through the stages of the TECH model, the students will be gaining more responsibility for their own learning. 

I did not like the TPACK model or the Balanced EdTech Integration Model as much as the other two models. The TPACK model provided the opportunity for some technology integration, but did not guarantee it every time. The diagrams showed the goal for pedagogy, content, and technology to be intertwined into every lesson, but it doesn’t guarantee that the students will get all three components. The Balanced EdTech and Integration model was more student centered, but had components that didn’t provide the students the opportunity to build on their technology skills. I liked how this method integrated technology to grab student attention, but that isn’t providing the student the opportunity to manipulate the technology themselves. The students can access different resources through technology, but aren’t necessarily doing anything with that knowledge. The TPACK and the Balanced EdTech Integration model also only used technology to enhance the current learning in the classroom. It did not provide instances for students to transform their learning like the SAMR or TECH models. 

 

 

 

References 

 

Classroom (Ed.). (2015, June 09). TPACK Framework. Retrieved June 

16, 2020, from 

 

Monterey County Office of Education. (2014). EdTech Theory and 

Frameworks. Retrieved June 16, 2020, from 

 

Neebe, Diana and Jennifer Roberts. (2015) Power Up: Making the Shift to 

1:1 Teaching and Learning. Stenhouse Publishers. 

 

Roberts, J. (2018, November 30). Turning SAMR into TECH: What 

models are good for. Retrieved June 16, 2020, from 

For this discussion reflection, I chose to answer question 1, with regards to a 1:1 classroom. At my school district’s most recent meeting, I learned that all of my students will be given access to a device for the upcoming school year. This is exciting and scary news. I am excited because it is essential for students to learn how to use technology appropriately in order to build their skills for college and future careers. It is scary because I am now responsible for educating my students on how to use programs that I may not be familiar with myself. 

I am anticipating for my classroom to run completely differently for the upcoming school year. My procedures and routines will need to be adjusted, in addition to the way that students now access my class information and materials. My classroom design will look different, in respect to how I have the desks set up. I will need to be strict with expectations of when and how the devices will be used, and teach them about the importance of their digital footprint. My students will now have access to different resources that I can incorporate into their daily lessons. Overall,  I am honestly anticipating craziness.

My concern for 1:1 devices is that I will not have access to the tools necessary in order to have a functional, learning environment. My school does not currently have a LMS (Learning Management System) set in place. I have shared ideas about previous LMS platforms that I have used, but have not heard anything about our school getting one. With technology being incorporated into the classroom, I want to be able to have a “hub” for my students to go to, where they can access all of the materials necessary for individual, group, and class work. I would like to be able to post videos to provide further assistance, along with supporting notes to provide as much support to my students as I can. If I am using a specific resource for a project, I want to be able to link it to my “hub,” so my students can log on quickly. Yes, students can bookmark a specific web page or link, but having a district wide LMS would be much easier on families and parents. This way, parents can keep track of one system, as opposed to logging onto Edmodo for Math, Google Classroom for Science, and Moodle for English. If my school district does not mandate an LMS, then I plan to create a “hub” of my own through Edmodo or Google Classroom. 

I think my students transitioning to a 1:1 classroom will be very beneficial. My students have no computer skills, and just give up on technology when they get frustrated. This is an opportunity for my students to learn how to use technology, and what to do if it doesn’t work the exact way they want it to. I think 1:1 in the classroom will provide students with more engagement in class, and allow teachers to differentiate the specific assignments students are doing, without knowing that their assignment is a little bit different from their peers. 1:1 devices provide the opportunity for me to implement STEM lessons in my classroom, in addition to PBL or Inquiry strategies. I will no longer have to reserve the computer lab or sign out a computer cart, in order to accomplish these different learning strategies in my classroom. I am excited to provide my students with the opportunity to learn digital collaboration, in addition to the collaboration skills that they currently have. This good news of my students becoming 1:1 with devices, makes me excited to try new things in my classroom. 

Speech-to-speech translation is software that allows someone to speak in one language, and translate what was said to another language instantaneously. A tool of this quality could change how schools run their English Language Learners (ELL’s) programs. This tool provides opportunities to benefit students, along with teachers, not to mention the students that are actual ELL’s themselves. 

As a teacher, it is terrifying to find out that there is a new student assigned to your class that speaks little to no English. The teacher is not expected to find a way to educate this child without being able to communicate with them. If the teacher had access to the speech-to-speech translator, the teacher would not have as challenging of a time. The teacher would be able to communicate their expectations with the students, and have the ability to get to know them better. The student would not feel as isolated from the classroom, or be completely overwhelmed by not knowing what is being said to them. The teacher can use this translator while teaching their lesson, to provide the ELL student with the ability to follow along. In addition, teachers can use speech-to-speech translation to communicate with educators from around the world. This could bring a new light to professional development and conferences. Educators can conduct video chats, and use speech-to-speech translation to share teaching techniques or their research on a specific topic. 

From the student standpoint, the incorporation of a speech-to-speech translator would be very beneficial. It would provide ELL students to communicate with their new classmates. Students would be able to build peer relationships and not feel so alienated from the class. A speech-to-speech translation could be used through a Pen Pal program with students across the world, except this time, the students will be able to video chat and have a verbal conversation back and forth. The students could do verbal speech-to-speech translation, instead of the chat text-to-text translation that is currently done now.

Speech-to-speech translation can be extremely beneficial to teachers and students. It can be welcoming to new students who do not know or are not confident in their English speaking skills. It can provide comfort to being in a new school, with people that students have never met before. 

Google Translate - A Personal Interpreter on Your Phone or Computer. (n.d.). Retrieved June 25, 2020, from https://translate.google.com/intl/en/about/

Google Translate provides the opportunity to speak across language barriers. This can be downloaded on a mobile phone or computer. Google Translate allows for people to speak into the phone, write out what they are saying, type a message, and even take a picture of a sign for it to translate.This is a free app that allows for communication all over the world. 

ITranslate Voice. (n.d.). Retrieved June 25, 2020, from https://www.itranslate.com/voice

iTranslate Voice is an app that allows someone to speak to someone in a different language as easily as possible. This app can be downloaded on any device. It provides the opportunity for people to speak or copy text to be translated. This app can translate over 40 languages. A neat feature it possesses, is their Phasebook. This feature allows someone to create a custom Phrasebook with specific phrases to help them converse easily with others. 

Jia, Y., & Weiss, R. (2019, May 15). Introducing Translatotron: An End-to-End Speech-to-Speech Translation Model [Web log post]. Retrieved June 25, 2020, from https://ai.googleblog.com/2019/05/introducing-translatotron-end-to-end.html

On the Google Al Blog, two software engineers shared their discoveries on end-to-end speech translation, a different version than previously discovered. This article explains how an older method of a sequence-to-sequence model, is used to translate speech. It is then compared to the newer method of end-to-end speech translation. There are examples that demonstrate how something in one language is translated into a different language. 

Jia, Y., Weiss, R., Biadsy, F., Macherey, W., Johnson, M., Chen, Z., & Wu, Y. (n.d.). Audio samples from "Direct speech-to-speech translation with a sequence-to-sequence model". Retrieved June 25, 2020, from https://google-research.github.io/lingvo-lab/translatotron/

This resource provides extra samples to support the findings from their findings in the Google Al Blog. This page provides examples of the translation from Fisher Spanish to English, along with examples from Conventional Spanish to English. This further supports the technique for making speech-to-speech translation possible. 

TED. (n.d.). Translate. Retrieved June 25, 2020, from https://www.ted.com/participate/translate

TED Translate is a resource through the TED Talk Website. This resource would be great for teachers to show to students, who may speak more than one language. It may also influence students to learn another language. This page focuses on how many translators there are for the company. There are currently 36,218 translators that speak a total of 117 languages. They take the time to translate the many TED Talks located online, so that people from all around the world are able to understand them. This could be a great attention grabber for some students who are English Language Learners. 

As educators, our job is to make sure that we teach all students that enter our classroom, no matter what academic level they are on. When it comes to creating lessons that cover all academic levels, there are certain challenges that appear. Personally, the two biggest challenges I have are the amount of time it takes to differentiate, keeping differentiation of assignments as low key as possible. Differentiation takes a ton of time to prepare. When conducting a lesson with tiered assignments, there are often 3 to 4 possibilities of what that assignment can look like. If students are conducting research, that quadruples the number of quality links provided to the students to help them. In order to provide my students with reliable resources and webpages, I want to be able to explore it and make sure it is of good quality and has the information necessary for their assignment. When it comes to finding new applications to help students, it takes a long time to go through each application to make sure there is no additional charge and it works as well as the explanation says. Differentiation requires a large chunk of time. I am sure as I get more experience teaching, and find quality resources, it will become easier over time. 

The second challenge I have is being discreet about differentiation in front of my students. I have tried passing out guided notes sheets while also passing out the regular notes, and my students can always tell who gets which one. I have tried calling students up in groups to get their notes packets, but they still make comments. In my classes, there are specific students that get pulled out of my classroom to take their quizzes and tests, so come test day the students all stand up and walk out to go to the other classroom. It is so hard to hide differentiation without having technology to do so. It would be so much easier if I could send one assignment to one group of students, while another set of students get a different assignment. It would show up in their email, without knowing their assignments are a bit altered. I am hoping that since our school is transitioning to a 1:1 classroom, I will have an easier time distributing differentiated assignments to my students. 

Bloom’s Taxonomy can provide support to teaching in the classroom in multiple ways. The first level of support it can provide is through creating lessons. In the framework of Bloom’s, teachers can identify what cognitive level their activities are at. If going through a lesson, the teacher notices it is only providing LOTS, they can create or find other activities that focus on the same material, but provide the students with a more complex assignment. This allows students to transform their learning and use the HOTS that form stronger connections with the material. The second way that Bloom’s Taxonomy can support teaching is through the creation of new units or projects. As teachers are creating new units, they can formulate a plan that hits all of the cognitive levels for Bloom’s. Teachers can use this framework to build strong lessons that allows students to conduct deeper learning with a deeper understanding. With PBL in mind, teachers can create activities that focus on each level of Bloom’s, but eventually build up to the HOTS necessary when it comes to creativity to build the final project. 

This framework also supports learning in the classroom. As teachers implement Bloom’s Taxonomy, students are able to make stronger connections to their learning, the higher they go in the framework. As students move up in the cognitive levels, they are using different thinking skills and capabilities than the ones in the LOTS levels. As students progress towards HOTS, they will have the ability to have more choice in the ways that they are demonstrating their understanding. Students can evaluate new information through a written assignment, recording an audio clip, building a presentation with visuals, or creating a mini video. Bloom’s Taxonomy allows student learning to build upon levels, as well as incorporate technology. 

Finally, Bloom’s framework allows for different options in student thinking skills. With LOTS, students are not challenged as much as the HOTS. LOTS is focused on memorization and recall, whereas HOTS promotes application and transformation. Students are challenged with the higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, and really have to practice this skill before they can create strong, fully developed projects. Students have to really take an interest in what they are learning, and completely participate in order to make the strong cognitive connections in the higher order thinking levels. 

I would have a more challenging time implementing the prototype and testing phases of design thinking. I believe this to be true, due to the lack of resources I have available in my school district. In order for students to make a prototype, they will need access to online resources or physical materials. Students can draw up prototypes, but it would be much more effective for students to create 3D models or use virtual tools. In designing and building a prototype, students learn a lot about what could actually work and what parts of the design must be adjusted. For students to draw out a prototype without actually building it, they may not create an actual solution due to the fact that they do not know if it would work according to their ideas. Yes, students would still be able to explain the design, but not allow anyone to actually try it out on their own. It would be hard for others to test and get feedback on a prototype, without having the actual prototype created. From the perspective of someone who needs to provide feedback, it can be challenging to give this information without conducting an actual test. 

Hi everyone! My name is Elizabeth Mikitish and I am a 6th, 7th, and 8th grade teacher at Pittston Area Middle School. I am in the process of completing my Master’s Degree in Instructional Media with a STEM Endorsement. This podcast is recorded for my EDIM 510 - Higher Order Thinking Class through Wilkes University. The main focus of today’s Podcast is to evaluate a Web 2.0 tool. The number of Web 2.0 tools that are available to teachers and students in the classroom are growing rapidly. There are online tools for almost anything a teacher can think of. For this Podcast, I chose to discuss the app TouchCast app, also known as TC app. TouchCast is a free resource for students to use in their education. There are in-app purchases, but the students can use the basic, free version to make quality videos. This can be found online through the website or downloaded as an app. TouchCast is an app that allows students to transform their video. With the use of a green screen, or any flat surface, students can insert backdrops and special effects. The students can record their audio right into the video, along with going through and adding additional animations later on. 

I can see students using this app to display their knowledge on any topic. Specifically in Science class, students can use the TouchCast App to create a 10-day forecast video that explains the weather of their chosen town. Students can set up different props to use in their video, along with changing their backdrop to a news station. While filming, students can take smaller shots to string together to form the full forecast video. This also provides the students opportunities to do outfit or background changes to make their videos more engaging. Students can upload images of maps, timelines, and videos. TouchCast provides students the opportunity to change up the way they show the teacher what they know. 

TouchCast allows students to practice those 4 C’s of 21st Century Skills. Through the use of this app, students must be creative in how they want to shoot their video. If they do not have a tripod, they must find ways to prop up their iPad or set up their computer to record their video. The students must use critical thinking skills, paired with creativity, to identify the necessary information that should be included in their video, along with what their script will look like. It is important for students to write their script ahead of time, so they can focus primarily on recording when it comes time. Using TouchCast promotes communication between students in order to figure out what background they want, what the script will say, and who will be doing what part in the video. In addition, throughout the entire time of completing this video, students are collaborating with one another to get the job done. 

This student-centered Web 2.0 tool is a very interactive and engaging resource. If you are looking for ways to get students interested in their learning, TouchCast is a great way to start. 

Reflection

This project was a little intimidating for me. I have never created a Podcast before, nor do I like the sound of my own voice when recorded. I had a pretty easy time writing my script once I knew what Web 2.0 Tool I was going to use and after taking some time to explore it. Once I downloaded the app and created an account, I had an easy time creating my profile and recording my Podcast episode. The most challenging part I faced was after I published it, trying to find all of the correct settings options and specific links.  I still am not sure if I turned on the correct settings, but I tried my best.

I can see myself having students create a Podcast with a partner. My students could bounce ideas off of one another and create short episodes that explain a specific Math concept. Students can also share their challenges and successes when learning a new Math topic. They can provide advice and strategies on how to make it easier for students who may be struggling. Creating a Podcast is not a time consuming project to implement in the classroom. Once students begin learning how to do it the first time, it will take half the amount of time for the next episode. 

In college I was required to make a Twitter for one of my classes, and then had to follow multiple educators to find specific tweets. Besides this small experience, I have not used Twitter. One concern I have with using Twitter or another platform is being unfamiliar with how the app works. My twitter account has had no action since 2016 when I had to use it for class. With uncertainty in who to follow and even what to look for, I have been hesitant to join the Twitter world again. Also, the Twitter feed is very overwhelming due to the fact there are so many educators sharing so much information. To open up the app and be blasted with this massive amount of information makes me not want to open the app. I think the feeling of being overwhelmed by the large amount of information is part of the reason as to why I have been so hesitant to join Twitter in the beginning. 

My second concern with using Twitter or another platform is the time commitment that goes along with it. I have moved schools three years in a row until a position opened up back in my hometown. This means I have had to relearn new school protocols, expectations, a different curriculum for multiple academic levels and subjects, not to mention moving to new areas. When I got home from work, I typically spent the rest of my evening planning and preparing for the following days. Taking on another thing “to do” overwhelms me and makes me think I cannot stay committed to it. With the mass amounts of information that is shared through Twitter, I don’t think I will be able to keep up with everything that is shared. Thinking about reading through all of the tweets that I missed and the new tweets coming in can almost become stressful. 

  

Transcript: 

 

For this digital story, I chose a picture of a model of an atom also known as the atomic model. “The term "atom" comes from the Greek word for indivisible, because it was once thought that atoms were the smallest things in the universe and could not be divided.” Atoms are the building blocks to ordinary matter. They join together to form molecules which then creates objects around us. If it weren’t for atoms, ourselves nor our food would not be here. Since the atom is so important to life as we know it, let’s break it down into three separate parts. 

The first part we will discuss is the electron. The electron was discovered in 1897 by a British physicist named Joseph John Thomson. He originally called the electrons corpuscles. An electron has a negative charge and is electrically attracted to the positive particle called a proton. The electron is located outside of the proton and orbits the positive particle. 

The final two parts of an atom are the protons and neutrons. Together, they form the nucleus of the atom. The nucleus was discovered in 1911 by Ernest Rutherford. Protons and neutrons are heavier than the electrons and they reside in the center of the atom. The electrons exist in a cloud and orbit around the nucleus of the atom. Protons have a positive charge and attract the electrons. The neutrons have a neutral charge and have no effect on the overall charge of the atom. A particular atom will have the same number of protons and electrons. Most atoms will have at least the same number of neutrons as protons, but this can vary. 

When students begin learning Chemistry, they learn about atoms. As students broaden their knowledge, they begin to look at the Periodic Table to compare different atoms that exist in our world. Depending on what students do in their future, their knowledge of the atomic model can be very beneficial for whatever career they set out to do. 

 

 

Image used from Discovery Education with permission

Getty, Atomic Model. [Image]. Available from http://www.discoveryeducation.com

 

Discovery Education, 2020. Thomson's Atomic Model. [Full Video]. Available from https://www.discoveryeducation.com

MonkeySee. (2012, November 13). What is an atom? [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-3I1JGW-Ck

Sharp, T. (2019, September 11). What is an atom?. Live Science. https://www.livescience.com/37206-atom-definition.html 

Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility - Office of Science Education. (2020). What is an atom? What are atoms made of?. JLab Science Education. https://education.jlab.org/qa/atom.html

My experience with this chat can be described in one word, overwhelming. So many ideas were coming through extremely quickly. Educators attended from all over the country. They were sending ideas, links, and images to respond to other people’s ideas. I tried to do the same thing by adding links that I learned about from our current class. I shared these ideas, but while searching for links I fell behind in the conversation. I didn’t quite figure out how to link my tweet to other people’s tweets to make sure it was directed at the correct tweet. As I continue attending Twitter chats, I will gain more experience and confidence to speak up and say more.

I can see my students using Padlet as a way to create an ePortfolio. If students begin this portfolio in school at a younger age, they can add onto it as they continue throughout the rest of their High School career. This way, as students enter the workforce or apply for college, they have an electronic portfolio already prepared that the students no longer have to worry about. I am sure employers or the admissions staff would be grateful for an online portfolio to use as an additional reference. As education changes and PSSA or SAT scores become less and less important, students are going to need to have another way to sell themselves to their future employer or college. A portfolio is a great way for students to make this happen.