May 31, 2023 2 comments

Active Learning

Gone are the days of sitting in a classroom and furiously taking notes from the board because it just might be on the test. We have moved on from memorization to exploration. Active learning has taken us from a teacher-centered classroom to a student-centered environment where students become more responsible for their own knowledge. Tim Elmore (2010) states, "Today's young people are described as epic: Experiential, Participatory, Image-rich, and Connected. Teachers must remember that a lecture isn't enough anymore. For students today, almost everything comes instantly (Generation iY: Our Last Chance to Save Their Future, slide 12). Students no longer need us to be the primary source of all their information. Instead, they need us to help them understand what to do with it all, why it's important, and how to dig deeper through hands-on learning. 


But what does this look like?
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Any activities that require students to explore (i.e., problem-solve, think critically, research, etc.) and synthesize that information into a final product encourage active learning. Not only does it increase retention of the content, but it also builds 21st-century skills. 

For instance, there is a wonderful example that was created by Nicole Zumpano on how QR codes can be used for active learning. You can read more about it in her blog post, "QR Code Mysteries," or see my Active Learning Padlet to read about some of the highlights. 

Essentially, Fourth graders were introduced to what a quote is through a carousel activity. Famous quotes were placed around the room, but a word was missing. The students had to solve the mystery words through the use of the QR codes that were posted alongside the poems. Kids later created their own mystery word quotes and QR codes using QRstuff.com and a step-by-step guide. Not only did this physically allow students to move and explore their space as kinesthetic learners, but it also activated their minds in different ways. It taught them problem-solving and critical thinking through the mystery words and explored technology by allowing them to design their own version using what they learned about quotes and QR codes. 

Always ask yourself, "Does it connect to their lives?"
Anytime you sit down to plan the lessons you will be utilizing, educators should have active learning in mind. Active learning doesn't have to be a big project. It can simply be allowing your kiddos to partake in a think, pair, share, or a jigsaw activity. Both of these strategies require little preparation, and they don't take a ton of class time. However, they allow students to collaborate, move around, learn from one another, and figure out how to take the information they gathered and disperse it to their peers. You cannot force a student to learn; instead, one must create an atmosphere that makes students curious and interested in digging deeper. These are the classes that students look forward to going to and don't want to leave. This is when you start hearing, "Class is over already?!"

In my experience...
There have been plenty of times when I have worked alongside a fellow educator who teaches the same grade level and content area as me with the same standards and goals, but I still have students stating that they wish they could join my room. I don't have a dazzling personality or a never-ending stash of Cheetos. I have my good days and my bad days. I also prefer not to have little cheesy fingerprints all over my room. The difference is that when I plan, I always try to find ways to alter the curriculum to embed active learning. Suppose students need to show reading comprehension of a novel. In that case, I will skip the packet and have the students design a newspaper with a lead story, a character profile, related images, comic strips, advice columns, and so on. Or perhaps students will receive a choice board of possible project ideas. They can choose how to demonstrate their understanding of a book with activities such as dioramas, t-shirt designs, additional chapters, clay sculptures, radio plays, puppet shows, etc. Students even develop their own ideas that I would never even think about, such as my student who asked if he could use his 3-D printer to create a scene. The ideas are endless, and it's a ton of fun to see what they come up with! So I challenge you. Take a look at one of your lessons and see if it can be revised to encourage active learning. You can even ask the kids for ideas on what activities they would like to do. You'll never have a shortage of student volunteers who would love to join you in looking over a lesson plan and getting involved behind the scenes of the classroom.
May 25, 2023 3 comments

Mapping Your Digital Space

Hello, everyone! 
Being a part of the world of education has introduced me to many new applications and online tools. So many of our conversations, professional developments, and social media suggestions have us gathering various online tools that we need to store in a digital toolbox or risk forgetting all those rich resources. Heck, we even have a multitude of options to choose from when picking the digital toolbox we want to use to store all of the other resources we find! However, not everyone's toolbox will be alike. 

Image Source: Giphy

Similar to the physical realm, some tools are standard and others are used more depending on the specialty. Everyone has their favorite digital applications and websites that are comfortable and effective. Pinterest, for example, is an application that is used for curating information personally and professionally. Although there are other amazing applications that others prefer, such as Wakelet and Bublup, I always come back to my tried and true Pinterest. Why? All my stuff is on it! While other curating applications and websites may have better features, moving on from something you have spent years organizing and building is difficult. Is this always the right decision? Nope! But it is a genuine hurdle that stops many from considering updated alternatives that may have more useful features. CapCut, for instance. My students were creating book trailers this week and I suggested Screencastify but allowed them to use any program that they liked. Consequently, I was introduced to CapCut, and I have to admit it's pretty awesome. While Screencastify is certainly a great option depending on the task, CapCut is now a digital tool that I will use more, even though I am not as familiar with it. As a result of this new exploration this week, I really took a dive into what applications I use personally and professionally and how well I utilize them.

Analyzing Our Digital Space
David White, an expert on how teaching and learning can be enhanced through the utilization of the emerging aspects of digital practice, has created a method of analyzing our own engagement with the web. In "Visitors and Residents," h
e explains an activity that encourages us to explore our individual digital practices. He encourages people to physically map out the digital tools they use, when they use them (professionally or personally), and whether or not they are thoroughly utilized (visitor or resident). You start out by making a quadrant chart and brainstorming all the digital tools you use daily. You then determine if you use the tool more professionally or personally. After that, you need to explore whether you are a visitor or a resident. A visitor would be applications and websites that you use, but not very deeply. It is not about frequency of use but the thoroughness of use. A resident would be someone who makes full use of all aspects of that digital tool. You can see my own map of my digital space below. 

Mapping My Own Digital Space 
After analyzing my own map activity, there are a few things that I noticed. 

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First and foremost, I learned that Google is one of my core tools. Professionally, Google Classroom, Google Drive, and Slides are tools that are anchored into my everyday world. All of my work and my students' work is housed within Google applications. I know that I thoroughly use most of the features of these applications. Even Chrome is used completely, all the way from the extensions to the color coding and grouping of my ten thousand tabs.

Second, it is clear that there are some tools that I am very comfortable with (resident) but I only use them for certain tasks in the professional setting. As a teacher, this reminds me that the tools that I use all day, every day, will change when my school is dismissed for summer break. While I will still be using these tools periodically to plan and such, I will not be using them as thoroughly as I do when I am working with kids and co-workers. I'm not turning into a visitor, per se, but I am definitely taking a vacation from being a resident. This shouldn't be surprising, as I do take little breaks from certain digital tools throughout the week and even the day. For instance, I don't become a resident of FireTV until I am home. 

Finally, I am surprised by how many tools I use regularly, especially in the classroom, that I haven't really dug into more. I'm always in such a rush with the daily grind that I don't take the time to see if they have other features that may be beneficial to my students' learning. How much am I missing?

If you haven't already done so, I highly suggest you take a moment and really analyze the tools you are using. Are they being utilized the best that they can?


May 21, 2023 0 comments

Trends in Ed Tech

Hey, everyone!

Today I am going to be talking about one of the biggest trends in Edech, according to the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) - project-based learning (PBL). PBL allows educators to distance themselves from a "canned curriculum" that is difficult to accommodate diverse learners but still increases students' depth of knowledge (DOK). It allows students to take charge of their own learning and to dig deeper into topics in a way teachers are unable to do strictly with reading and writing. Classrooms can easily fall into a teacher-centered environment, but PBL allows students to take a topic or skill and empowers them to choose how they will learn it and demonstrate their knowledge. 

After looking further into PBL, I decided to look into some tools that can be used to enhance it. One tool that I chose to focus on was Padlet. Now, I have used Padlet in the past but only at a surface level. For instance, I often used Padlet just as a way to answer questions or share out answers with peers. I felt that I was tech-savvy because my students could play with colors, fonts, images, and .gifs. However, after exploring it further, it really is a wonderful tool that can be used for PBL. See my walkthrough of some of the features of Padlet below. 


Using Padlet, students are able to publish their projects or even create them. A student can create a radio play using their audio recorder, walk their class through how to code an application using the screen recorder, or they can use the video recorder to make a stop-motion video. The options are endless as long as some imagination and exploration are used. 

If you would like to look into Padlet or project-based learning further, please check out some of the following links. I look forward to our next adventure in investigating EdTech.


Additional Resources
May 17, 2023 3 comments

Reflection on the TPACK Framework

Hey, everyone! 

This week I spent some time browsing various frameworks, models, and matrices educators utilize to asses and structure one's integration of technology tools in the classroom. During my brief research of SAMR, TPACK, TripleE, and the Technology Integration Matrix, I found that TPACK is the framework I connected to most when reflecting on my time in the classroom. 

So what is it?
TPACK (Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge) is a framework for educators to evaluate how well they incorporate content knowledge, technological tools, and pedagogy into their lessons to create the most effective learning experience for their students. According to McGraw Hill Education (2019), teachers may only be strong in one category or even fall between two types and may need to reflect and learn how to include all three aspects of the framework (para. 4).

  • Technological Knowledge (TK) is knowing the best tech tools one could use to teach.

  • Pedagogical Knowledge (PK) is effectively choosing and utilizing the best strategies and activities to engage and assist students in learning. This may include webquests, debates, mapping, project-based learning, Socratic seminars, etc.

  • Content Knowledge (CK) is when the teacher deeply understands the material he or she teaches. This could be poetry, geography, art, math, biology, or other subjects.

In the diagram below, Mishra and Koehler (2009) go further by illustrating how the in-between categories can be broken up into Technological and Content Knowledge (TCK), Technological and Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK), and Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (PCK). This means that the teacher is adept at blending more than one knowledge. If educators achieve all three categories, Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge (TPACK), they successfully incorporate technology into their lessons (p. 17).

Image Source: Mishra & Koehler (2009)

Reflection
Reflecting on this framework was very enlightening, and it allowed me to figure out what areas I am strong in and what areas I need to focus on more. While I am strong in all the sub-categories individually and do a reasonably good job reaching that TPACK status, I am just grazing TPACK and not really camping out there. 

Yes, I use various technological tools that fit the content and strategies I teach, but I'm just touching the surface. I know what I'm teaching and how to teach it. I also have a significant technology toolbox that I am very comfortable with, but I also think my technology toolbox could use a refresher. I have a ton of tools under my belt, but technology is continually growing. I feel that a lot of the tech I incorporate has become stale, so I need to explore new ways to use it. 

However, I am excited about all of this as I already planned to dedicate part of my summer to refreshing the curriculum I was given this school year. This is perfect as it will allow me to be very deliberate with all the components of TPACK. Mishra and Koehler (2009) stated, "Teachers need to develop a willingness to play with the technologies and an openness to building new experiences for students so that fun, cool tools can be educational" (p.18), and I couldn't agree more. 

If you want more information, check out Matthew Koehler's page on TPACK. 




Sources:

Koehler, M. J., & Mishra. P. (2009, May). Using the TRACK Framework: You Can Have Your Hot Tools and Teach with Them, Too. Learning & Leading with Technology. https://files/eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ839143.pdf

McGraw Hill Canada. (2019, April 16). What Is TPACK Theory and How Can It Be Used in the Classroom?. McGraw Hill Education. htt[s://mheducation.ca/blog/what-is-tpack-theory-and-how-can-it-be-used-in-the-classroom/
May 11, 2023 3 comments

Welcome to My Nifty Notebook Nook!

A little bit about me...

Hello, everyone! 

My name is Desiree, and I am looking forward to learning some new tools to use personally and in my classroom. I am an English Language Arts (ELA) teacher and have taught at the middle school level for the last six years. I spent two years teaching sixth grade and three years teaching eighth grade. I am now finishing my first year teaching seventh grade. Last year, I changed school districts, so I have been spending most of my time just trying to get the lay of the land of a new place without having a total meltdown. I'm still standing, so I guess I'm doing pretty good! However, I don't know how to leave good alone, so I obviously needed to liven things up by enrolling in a couple of classes - eek!

Image Source: Tenor

Lucky for me, I have my two buddies, Duke and Cayenne, for a good squish when I'm stressed. They may or may not be as thrilled about it as I am, but they'll put up with me as long as they get their kitty crack (aka Temptations). 

 Image property of The Nifty Notebook Nook
 
I am hoping to earn my Master of Arts in Education (MAEd) by December, and I have planned to take all of my courses in education technology to also earn the tech endorsement. I'm really looking forward to this as I am always super interested in all the different tools and programs. I'm a quick learner and I can easily get lost for hours learning new technology that I can use for myself and, particularly, my classroom. Whether it's new ways for the kids to publish their work or to just review the content we have been studying, it's all beneficial. Lately, I have been particularly interested in organizational tools connected via different platforms. I am a complete planner to the point where I may or may not have a tendency to go overboard. I have already spent hours dissecting the syllabus and placing it in color-coded tables containing checklists, directions, and rubrics images via Google Docs. Okay, so I may have more than a tiny problem with overdoing things. However, as a kid, I really struggled with executive functioning and comprehension, and these sorts of tools made it possible for me to be a successful learner. I love introducing these tools to my students, who I see having the same struggles I did. 

Most recently, I have been looking into the website Bublup to see if I can utilize it as an easily shared online planner. There are plenty of online planners, but I still haven't found one simple enough for some of my struggling students. On Bublup, I discovered that I can share daily checklists with my students so they can edit them, and I can monitor that they are on track and managing their own workload. I'm still figuring it all out and deciding whether it is the best resource, but I can't wait to learn more! 

 
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