For If You Care to Know About the Use of Tech in my Placement...

My placement: Northville High School.  The community at whole: the most conservative in Wayne County (by far), majority upper-middle class.  Yet, it seems that, in the attempt to remain frugal and save as much money as possible for a rainy day (or another recession), that the school as a whole does not have the technology one would expect upon arrival (or more current textbooks/other materials/smaller class sizes...but that's another story).  However, this is not necessarily something  horrible, or causing the students a disadvantage--almost every student, at least in my classes, has at least an iPhone/SmartPhone, if not also a laptop, iPad, Kindle, Chromebook, etc.  When taking into account the larger picture, Northville does have a decent amount of technology available, at the very least, for teacher use.  For example, I have yet to see a room without a SmartBoard.  There is even a SmartBoard in the library available for student use...whether these, even, are completely necessary is still up for debate in my book.  But then again, I have a feeling I'm missing some of what they can do.  Yes, they are quite nice for taking typed, easy-to-read notes in class that can later be posted on a Website for student review; however, I have yet to see them accomplish anything that cannot be done with a bit of creativity, a whiteboard or chalkboard, and a good old projector.  Thus far, I believe my favorite aspect of a classroom is the whiteboard--I'm a mover and a writer, enjoying the greater movement offered by a normal board, unbound by a keyboard.  More modern projectors can also be hooked up to computers in order to display online content on-screen, which works well for world language classrooms when trying to show aspects of the culture, clips of videos, newspaper articles, etc.  But for other SmartBoard skeptics out there, there is this little guy:

 

Yes, they can be useful, but do they really transform education?  The greatest take-away from examining technology in my placement relates to the SAMR model...is it transforming education?  Is it augmenting learning (which SmartBoards can definitely do)?  Or are some of the sources of technology just a substitution for teaching?  Like the video, once thought to be revolutionary for teacher practice, some technologies are best only for the teachers, allowing them to take a break, especially if they do nothing with the new material they are giving students to work with.  Can videos and YouTube clips be beneficial to learning, and take it in new directions not necessarily possible before?  Definitely!  But not if teachers passively show a video and expect students to passively take in the information...more of an active process is necessary.

That being said, my MT does do a swell job in using the SmartBoard as both a notetaking tool and as a way to show students newspaper articles and YouTube clips...what really surprised me about Northville was the lack of things like Google Chromebooks, laptop carts, easily accessible computer labs, and the like.  If laptops are needed in class, it would most likely need to be a BYOD day, which, apart from bringing SmartPhones, I am reluctant to do, mainly because I do not know how many of my students have laptops...I could always ask, however.  EdMoto is used as a convenient, well-organized way for students to both turn work in and receive feedback for that work...look forward to a Webinar I and some of my colleagues will be creating around the educational benefits and uses of Edmoto next week!  In addition, grades and absences are reported using MyStar, a convenient way for students (and possibly their parents as well) can keep track of how they are doing in school.  As a whole, Northville is a healthy, safe learning environment with a fair amount of technology...often, the value in technology is how one uses it, after all, not in the device itself.

What about you?  I would love to hear about the technologies offered in your schools, and how you use them in order to teach in ways that may not have been possible without technology.

Sketchnoting...why have I never thought of something like this?

First off, what kind of world languages teacher doesn't automatically want to check out a blog with the name of "Langwitches?"  Complete with a little black pointed hat in the corner.  This is only the start of Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano's creativity, an EduBlogger to whom I responded.  Throughout her blog, she includes doodles, sometimes in combination with the types of images of something your would find on Google, like this walnut.  In this specific posting, "Sketchnoting FOR Learning," she writes the following about sketchnoting (using sketches as a form of note taking/visual summaries): "it helps me process and digest a talk, wrap my mind around a large amount of information and organize my thoughts better.  I am using sketchnoting as part of my learning process."  If sketchnoting is so helpful to her, then it could be helpful to my students as well...I set out to read more and skim through the PPT slides she had prepared for a Sketchnoting conference.

Admittedly, I love almost anything to do with art...drawing, watercolors, acrylics, pen and ink, you name it.  I was prepared to really like this sketchnoting idea, and I was definitely not disappointed.  With Sketchnote, one can do something as practical as make a shopping list, to posting a blog, organizing a lecture, making a birthday card, brainstorm, or even lecture.  Throughout the slides, she demonstrates many different uses for the Application.  In many ways, it can be used to extend and challenge students in a myriad of ways not typically utilized in the classroom.  Students often doodle when they are bored...but what about learning through doodling?

If you are interested in some sweet examples: http://langwitches.org/blog/2014/11/04/sketchnoting-for-learning/  and http://langwitches.org/blog/2014/09/24/sketchnoting-and-yet-another-dimension/
Oodles of resources are also offered under the prepared slide show.  She even has a Pinterest board with a variety of ways in which to use sketches and doodles in the class to enhance learning.



In case you couldn't tell, this particular posted excited me a little bit.  Especially as a language teacher, visuals can be crucial to facilitating deeper and more meaningful understanding.  I knew this had to be one of the EduBloggers I responded to...I have yet to receive a response, but I did only post today.  In my response, I wanted to thank Silvia for sharing this awesome idea without sounding too pumped...responses to someone else's blog can only contain so many exclamation points.  I thanked her for sharing her thoughts behind sketchnoting, shared a little bit about myself so as not to sound like a complete random person floating around on the Web, and basically said why I thought the concept was so interesting/thoughts as to how I could use doodles as a way to enhance learning in my classrooms.  In the end, I asked her if she would have any suggestions for me.  She seems very experienced, extremely on top of things, and I have no idea who she is, which makes posting to random people a little intimidating to me...but hey, the worst she can do is tell me I sound stupid or just not respond (which I wouldn't really mind...I'm shy when it comes to faceless Internet people)...and I highly doubt any EduBlogger would be actually rude.

Technologies on Technologies on Technologies

Almost every Teaching with Tech class this semester has consisted of presentations of new technological advancements that are either meant for or can be adapted for learning.  I have a feeling some of these are going to be fantastic for world language teachers, and am pretty pumped to try some of them out in the German classroom!

My own group drew attention to Padlet, an application that has been described by some of my colleagues as "Pinterest for Teachers."  I suppose this is accurate, but it can be used for so much more!  As a class, everyone created their own Padlet relevant to their own content areas, and I must confess, I was surprised by some of the creativity involved in creating these online bulletin boards.  I hadn't even thought of using the space in order to create a sort of matching/scavenger hunt activity...In my own German class, I used Padlet in order to link vocabulary words with pictures to make the meanings more tangible for my students.


Another tool I could really see myself using, or one similar to it, is Socrative (www.socrative.com).  With this device, students could take surveys and quizzes at home, thus saving class time.  Yes, they could, theoretically, cheat on these quizzes; however, they are just cheating themselves out of valuable learning for the test in this manner.  Furthermore, like we did in our own class, students can take quizzes in class with partners as part of a "space race," bringing in some aspect of competition.  It's pretty cool from a student perspective to see your own progress as your spaceship zooms across the screen!  Recently, my MT has also brought Quia to my attention, which seems an even better option; however, while Socrative is free, Quia requires a 50$ fee.  Quia does have 2,316 premade online German activites, which seem like they would be an excellent research.  Through Quia, one can also create a class webpage, an online schedule/calendar, upload pretty much anything, and modify pre-existing activities/share creations.  My MT is doing a 30-day trial period--we'll see how this works.  It appears to be a great collaboration resource with over 3 million activities in a variety of content areas.




Audacity, a podcast creating tool presented by a group of fellow MACers, will probably not make an appearance in my classroom.  It does seem to take a fair amount of time to teach students how to use it; in addition, I can find very authentic podcasts in German online.  My students hear my German every class; it's better for them to hear different dialects from authentic sources.  In regards to hearing their own language production, my students can simply record themselves with their phones or computers.  One German teacher, who is amazing at what she does, still uses a tape recorder with her students.  It works well, students learn German at rapid speed still, and it functions perfectly in its role...not everything that is new and current is totally necessary.

Also, if anyone needs a pick me up, found these little guys when we were creating our voice threads today (which, in time, will be awesome for use in a German class...too buggy for now, however):
Not going to lie, I kind of just want to be them right now...fat, happy and on a beach!

 

Thinking Outside the Box with David Theune

Rethinking rubrics, audience switching, motivation, cloud-based video systems, livestreams, audience variety, book clubs...Resource overload!  Last week, a guest speaker visited us here at UM: David Theune, a high school English teacher from western Michigan.  What might an English teacher know about technology that you don't, you might ask?  How might technology fall under connections, when it so often pushes people farther apart?

Honestly, I was ready to take a nap before David Theune walked into the room.  Despite having just given a presentation on Padlet (it's a pretty sweet resource, check it out), nothing seemed better than Mac 'n Cheese and my bed.  Seriously, how great does this look when you're sleepy and hungry...

I wasn't prepared for his big personality and dynamicism (might have made that word up, but you know what I mean)--his energy and intriguing presentation woke me right up.  Guest speakers tend to have about a 50/50 chance of being awesome vs. being boring; David fell into the awesome category.  So many resources for connecting with our students and the community, not even all technology based, in a mere 45 minutes or so!

One of the main take-aways for me was the switching around of audiences for student work.  Thinking back on my own experiences as a high school student, it certainly grew dreary knowing the only person to read and evaluate my work would be my teacher.  I would write a paper, turn it in, have it tossed back to me a week later with a big red grade on the front.  For less motivated students, where is the incentive here, especially if the teacher is not especially well liked?  This is one of the reasons I really enjoyed David's talk about rubric flexibility and switching audiences for student work.  Imagine how much harder students would try if their work mattered in different ways...for example, students wrote research papers on non-profit organizations, during which they basically had to call/e-mail the organization in order to obtain better, accurate information.  Students also ended up raising money for various organizations, which is awesome.  Like David said, giving students the opportunities to exercise choice and discover their own agency is important.  Students could also teach content to other students...

For other assignments, parents would either come in and teach or listen to student essays.  At the high school level, this is especially important; did your parents' involvement die down or cease all together as you entered high school?  I know my mom stopped even going to my sporting events by that point, forget about school work.  Why should parental involvement stop?  Why can't it just change to better suit student motivation and learning?  Studies have shown that increased parental involvement (not too much, however) helps increase student motivation and achievement...Students could also livestream for their parents in order to show them their class and what actually goes on in their school via ustream.tv.

As a whole, the presentation made me even more excited about trying new things in my own classroom, such as livestreaming students presenting in German for their parents.  It would be awesome for them to show their parents what they have learned, and most parents won't understand a single word!

Also, big Nelson Mandela fan...

    

Connections Across the Disciplines: Science-y Lesson Plan

Connections across disciplines in education have often intrigued me, especially when considering German.  We often hear about the value of collaborating with other professionals; however, we less often see evidence of results.  From my own high school experience, a disconnect was rather prevalent across the board.  Teachers did not seem to truly speak with one another in order to share ideas; the discrepancies between the most and least effective teachers were massive, even between subjects that seemed as if they could easily share resources and lesson ideas, such as history, French and English. Based off our in-class discussions, even science and math can offer insight into humanities and vice-versa, if the effort is effectively made.  Toss some technology into the mix, and it's amazing what types of somewhat newer and innovate lessons can arise.

A great example is demonstrated by Anthony, Katie and Lulu's lesson plan: https://docs.google.com/a/umich.edu/document/d/15qIX0LkUzhJaDpOfdiQVfv2_Qo2OSlOvrzyWdzvuX5k/edit.  If I were still in high school/middle school, I believe I would have enjoyed this lesson.  (And, just because photosynthesis still makes me think of sunflowers...)

Although mainly focused on biology with an additional twist of chem/math, this group not only integrated all components well, but enticed me to consider how some of their methods/use of technology could be incorporated into the German classroom.  Hooking the students with a short video could be a refreshing change every once in awhile, and the use of the PollRunner App could potentially be used to evaluate the pre-existing knowledge of students.  For example, before launching into a lesson on the past participle, it may be useful to first check their understanding of verb conjugations and the use of haben (to have) versus sein (to be) as helping verbs.

In addition, I enjoyed how towards the end of class, a return to the video was planned, followed by a discussion about what the students observed and what did/did not align with what they had just learned.  I find it useful to recap new materials in any class.  As a whole, the lesson plan was extremely solid and well explained; however, in order for the students to have a firm grasp of photosynthesis and all of its nuances, especially if they are learning it for the first time, the lesson would probably need to be revisited for at least a portion of the next class period.  Another point to consider: what if not all of the students have their own iPads?  Would the school provide them?  Would they need to go use a different computer?  What if several students do not have SmartPhones?  What are the intended ages of the students, and how technology literate are they?  As always, some issues do arise with BYOD.
   
That being said, the game seemed fun and educational.  If it could be worked into a lesson on photosynthesis, even if students only had the opportunity to later do it on their own time or all go to the computer lab at school, it would most likely be beneficial, especially for those not completely sold on being interested in math.  In addition, it reminded me of several enjoyable online German grammar games I wish to make accessible to my students, such as the following: http://grammatiktraining.de/spiele/krokoadj.html
                http://grammatiktraining.de/spielemenue.html

Organizing My Online Life

There are two sides to me--the one that loves chaos, and the one that needs structure, that needs to see everything layed out like it is.  It's one of the reasons why the summer portion of the MAC Program drives me insane; half the time I don't even know how many classes I'm actually taking.  Assignments for every course are scattered all over the place, be they actually under the assignments tab (novel idea), on a googledoc, under resources in CTools, in an e-mail, on the syllabus, and so on.  You get the gist.  Chaos, and not the type I like, has been thrust upon me.  Most days I feel like I'm trapped in this:

That would be traffic in India, where lights and street signs are more like guidelines that consistently get ignored.  Anyway, back to technology and how it can be amazing.  Yesterday, we presented in groups of three on ways to organize our lives.  Our lives as teachers, as students, as people trying to figure out the masses of information we've had hurled at us.  Being rather familiar with GoogleDocs, as we past Michigan undergrads have lived with it these past four years, I found Evernote to be highly useful for my life in the moment.  Just today, I utilized it to save a PDF and annotate it, as well as create a checklist.  So much satisfaction arises from checking those little boxes next to tasks.  I can create notes for each day of the week next week, go through the bazillion places I might find my assignments, and organize my to-do lists ahead of time.  It's like an anti-freak-out mechanism.  Why did I not know about this at the beginning of the program?!?  Plus, that elephant icon...I love elephants!  Basically, it was meant to be.

And Evernote was not the only exciting new piece of technology I learned through this assignment.  Blendspace, which I had likewise never heard of before, seems like a great online space for teachers to collaborate with one another.  Lesson plans can be shared with teachers all across the U.S.A. online, and I can view other's online lesson plans to draw from as well.  Teachers across disciplines within a school could even utilize this site to collaborate in ways that were much more difficult to coordinate beforehand.  As a future German teacher, I also find this especially valuable for sharing YouTube clips and audio of native German speakers for the class.  In addition, Blendspace does not only benefit teachers of all disciplines, but also the students themselves through the student-geared side of the website.  Teachers could hypothetically upload technology-based portions of homework to the lesson plan section of the website--it's so ridiculously easy, even I could do it.  

Kind of unrelated to this post, but food for thought, anyway:

Work Those Learning Muscles

I'm not going to lie, my first thought when I realized we were going to read about video games as a way to facilitate learning went something like this: Really?  Those mindless things my guy friends sit around playing for hours?  Playing FIFA can be good for your brain?  I guess I'll read more to find out...

After additional thought, I remembered the N64 my sister and I were allowed to play for 3 hours per week, and the types of thinking required in order to beat her.  Even with games like PacMan, I had to consider layouts of mazes differently, strategize about how to stuff my face full of those little dots without being eaten by the ghosts.  In the same vein, we were allowed to play computer games like Freddy Fish, Pajama Sam and some typing game a couple of hours per week, which also made learning, even learning how to type quickly, engaging to the point that we would forget we were actually doing math.

Some more recent online games I investigated this week were the icivics games, which have both playing and teaching options.  There were many options from which to choose; as an avid watcher of Law & Order SVU, I decided to attempt "Do I have a Right?"  I chose my animated character and had the option to work with one of two partners, thus becoming a member of the Mae and Freepress Law Firm.  Information about my partner, Freepress (who protects his clients' first amendment rights), and our law firm was presented.  Goals include hiring lawyers with different skill sets, letting clients know if they have a case, and, if they do, matching them with the correct lawyer.  Through playing this game, people become more aware of various laws and amendments.  The learner takes on the identity of a lawyer and interacts with potential clients, partners, and, eventually, judges and juries.  

    Because I have not played this game before, it is a learning process; sometimes, the only way to proceed is by making a mistake and starting over. Honestly, it isn't nearly as exhilarating as watching Law & Order, but it is definitely more interesting than sitting in class listening to a teacher lecture amendments and due process at you for the tenth time.  In addition, I now view games (as supplements) as another context in which students could potentially experience the content they are attempting to learn, while engaging their brains in various ways that sometimes fall by the wayside in a classroom environment.

Many other, possibly more fun/educational, games on this website include:

After reading about effective learning through video games, I also stumbled upon this interesting gem enumerating pros and cons of playing video games.  Some food for thought.  Any opinions about utilizing video games in the classroom or as an at home assignment to aid in learning, please leave me a comment!

Online Testing: Why It Isn't the Best Idea Since Sliced Bread

With the increasing technological literacy, policy makers and educators alike have been leaning away from paper-based readings, activities and assessments.  Even in our MAC Program, we are encouraged to do as much on our laptops as possible, such as taking notes, working on group projects, and reading articles as PDFs rather than printing them out and marking up hard copies.  Yet, we just read an article by Mangen et al. on the effects of text read on a computer screen vs. a paper-based text and what implications these had for comprehension; the paper-based text resulted in significantly higher comprehension than when the same excerpt was read onscreen (2013).  Thus, by asking students to take hugely important tests on a computer (ACT, GRE, LSAT, etc), aren't we already disadvantaging them?

Honestly, the only positives I can think of for online testing are those of saving paper and thus saving trees and possibly a bit of money.  However, online tests are not that much cheaper than paper tests and seem significantly more difficult to navigate.  For example, take a look at this bit of the Smarter Balance assessment we checked out in class today:  

When completing answers, I already felt frustrated and just wanted to close my laptop lid and stare at the pretty colors on the cover (usually I'm fairly patient and love challenges).  Why, you may ask?  My generation has grown up with computers; aren't we accustomed to them?  Don't we love using them?  Not for test-taking, and in my case, most definitely not for reading.  Look at this piece about Solar Power.  In order to do the reading portion, the test-taker has to scroll.  Already, this interrupts skimming and makes it far easier to lose where you just saw that extremely important fact that may be the answer to the first question.  In addition, I can't mark up the computer screen.  Sure, the ... bubble exists for note taking, but A) what if I didn't know that, B) what if I didn't know how to properly use it, and C) what if taking notes on the text is the best way for me to comprehend what I'm seeing? (and it is--I really struggle pulling what I wanted out of a text again if I can't annotate).

I dislike almost everything about online testing of this sort, from the splitting headaches that arise after staring at a screen for more than five hours to the absurd rule that one cannot skip a question and go back to it.  And do the policy makers that advocate for these end up having to take them?  No; for many, these types of tests are after their time as students.  The only upside I can really consider is the environmentally friendly aspect of online test-taking, but still...Americans do so much to destroy the environment that this pro pales adjacent to the large amount of disadvantages I see in relation to computer-based tests.

Some interesting research:

Mangen, A., Walgermo, B. R., & Bronnick, K. (2013). Reading linear texts on paper versus computer screen: Effects on reading comprehension. International Journal of Educational Research, 58, 61-68.

Dewey and Thoughts on Social Learning, Psychology, Technology and Teaching

Thoughts on My Pedagogic Creed by John Dewey:

Inheriting culture.  It's a topic that I've seen pop up in psychology, developmental, and anthropology courses.  However, it seems as if culture inheritance is just a piece of Dewey's "funded capital of civilization," one he sees as consisting mainly of social, environmental influences.  In the nature vs. nurture debate, Dewey stakes a claim more so in the nurture side when writing of education.  Up to an extent, I agree, although in as extreme a way as Dewey.  If an incredibly intelligent student exists, for example, in a context with a poorly equipped school with classes of over thirty students, or perhaps with great schooling opportunities but a tumultuous home environment, he or she will most likely not reach full potential.  Yet, if that student has just a few amazing teachers who establish solid, positive relationships, I like to think there's hope. Those social relationships we form are incredibly important.  Students are not in school only to learn content; that content, for some subjects, may change incredibly quickly.  Instead they are learning life skills: the ability to adapt and change, metacognition, how to interact with one another in a culturally and socially appropriate way, how to ask for help.

Something I heard earlier today at Scarlett Middle School struck me: we are going to be teaching students who will have jobs in ten years that do not exist today and will utilize technology that has yet to be invented.  Like Dewey states, it is impossible to prepare students for "any precise set of conditions," rather, I believe we can give them whatever thinking tools we can while building relationships and positive classroom environments and helping to create meaning between information learned in class and the outside world.  Sometimes, technology can help with this meaning-making, but it should not be used merely for technology's sake.  Dewey seemed to place a lot of emphasis on learning through images; again, I would agree that images, ie films, photos from the internet, drawings, etc, could enhance teaching in some instances but not others.  In my experience, using technology is very situational and context dependent.

It's super crazy how Dewey already mentioned psychology in conjunction with education over 100 years ago!  Cognitive psychology has only formally been in existence for approximately fifty years, yet Dewey already writes about how psychology grants a bit of insight as to the mental processes of which we are capable, without explaining enough or in such a way that such knowledge could be transferred to education.  Still today, after we have learned so much more about the structure of the brain and how it works, we don't really know how to apply much to education.  With all of the technology and educated professionals in the world, why not?  Why, with the extensive brain literature we have floating around in journals and on the internet, haven't more studies been conducted that can better be translated to teaching?  

Quotes I love:  "If we eliminate the individual factor from society, we are left with only an inert and lifeless mass."
"I believe that much of present education fails because it neglects this fundamental principle of the school as a form of community life."
--Information can't just be pumped into brains; context is crucial.  Each student is his/her own person with his/her own nuances, yet at the same time they all need to feel belonging, like they are wanted.

Side note: I'm a fan of that mustache.

Thoughts on "On Ed Tech and Dewey's Legacy"

I kind of love Dewey right now.  Who knew he already pointed out how inadequate didactic teaching teaching was in the early 1900s? (had to look up didactic, I won't lie..."inclined to lecture others too much, pedantic").  Yet there are still teachers, albeit the more ineffective ones, who will stand at the front of a class and just spew knowledge without bothering to connect any sort of meaning to it.  Those were the classes in high school where I would either manage to finagle a pass to the art room for the hour or sit and stare out the window at the trees.  Factual knowledge is so superficial without anything else connected to it, it hops in one ear, rattles around for a bit if it's lucky, then wanders right back out.  I couldn't tell you the capitals of every country in Asia anymore if my life depended on it, but I do know a starfish is the only creature that can turn its stomach inside out because I can link it to the starfish I would play with as a child.

Furthermore, Dewey stresses experience as not occurring in a vacuum.  This could potentially be a part of education where technology can be of great help.  In order to connect in-class learning to meaning, teachers could show relevant clips, photos and slideshows.  Other types of technology, such as Elmos and Smartboards, could make it easier to make things like "mind-maps" in such a way that the whole class can see thought processes and contribute.  Crazy amounts of information can be accessed through computers (whether it is useful, correct information is another story).  In addition, such technology can help students visualize connections.  I forget where I heard/read it, but supposedly students need to experience new information in at least seven different contexts before they can remember it.  Technology can add some of these additional contexts.  For example, as an aspiring German teacher, I would love to have access to various audio clips of native speakers with different dialects for my students.  If all they become accustomed to is my way of speaking and one another's, they will be at a disadvantage.  When I was a French student, I had only heard my teacher speak the language.  As soon as anyone else tried to speak French to me, such as my Grandpa, I floundered.  Perhaps they could even use Skype with students their own age in Germany.  But as with many forms of technology, Skyping for class definitely has its pros and cons.

More quoting: "I believe that the neglect of this [experience as key] is a cause of a large part of the waste of time and strength in school work.  The child is thrown into a passive, receptive, or absorbing attitude."