#MACUL14

This past Friday I had the great opportunity to attend TheMichigan Association for Computer Users in Learning (MACUL) conference in the lovely city of Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was a great entry point into the world of teacher education conferences yet to come in my career as a continuously evolving educator. I was pretty daunted by the list of presenters for the final day of the conference, particularly since so many of them seemed interesting to a newbie teacher like myself; I didn’t want to miss out on something good to take back to my placement setting and my future classroom wherever that ends up being.

Upon reflection I felt as though two of my sessions were ultimately related to one another: writing and making it authentic for the students in my classes. The first session I took advantage of was Fostering Authentic Writing through Digital Feedback. The presenter talked about how he uses platforms like Google Docs, forums and blogs to ask students to be reflective about their writing in addition to utilizing their functions to be a place of conversation about students writing both with the teacher and their peers. He walked us through his process of commenting on papers and how digital feedback can offer a chance to expose students to hyperlinks and embedded rubrics that allow them to continue growing in their paper writing throughout a course. I really want to experiment more with Google Docs during the remainder of my student teaching, particularly because of the ease of sharing and editing papers. All in all, this session reminded me of feedback practices I should be engaging in while commenting on student papers:

• Quote students work directly in my comments if it’s great/noteworthy (This also helps them see how quotes are embedded in text instead of just “floating”)
• Comment on the piece of writing as a reader not an evaluator (As a reader…)
• Personalize comments with two positives and one suggestion (I wonder if…)

These comments by their teacher and peers help students to make changes and alterations to their writing in a way that makes it authentic to them as a writer. I hope my students will come to see the benefits of feedback offered digitally and how it can help them with their writing on a multitude of levels.

The second session was entitled Friday Night Lights, Classroom Style. The basic idea presented was creating opportunities for authentic audiences in which students can share their writing both locally and on a global scale. David Theune, a high school English teacher, created this idea merely 500 days ago in which he asked parents to come into the classroom to hear students read their writing, ultimately sharing it and having it evaluated by someone other than their teacher. This expanded into other projects such as having students research local non-profits and voting on the best non-profit to receive a monetary donation from each class. Possibilities for other audiences include peers, younger students in the district, and the student’s personal choice. His enthusiasm was awesome and he really inspired the group to think about what we need to accomplish in our curriculums and then ask ourselves “who could be the audience?” This is something I want to continue thinking about because I think my middle school students both now and in the future are stuck in a rut of writing for the teacher because I’m the one who delivers the final grade and determine if they did something “right” or not. I don’t like the way this is and hope to change my student’s outlook to take charge of their writing whether they are sharing it with a parent or across the nation via an online platform.

At the end of the day I was pretty inspired about changing some ways I present and organize my content for students. I have started to think about my content area in a new light: utilizing digital feedback while constructing assignments that can be conveyed to authentic audiences for my students to consider. I don’t really want my students to think about and write their papers just to please their teacher and to get a good grade but to have English class become an experience for them that can relate to their lives both inside and outside of the classroom. I hope to continue thinking and researching how other teachers have been able to make these opportunities available in their classrooms.

Also, can we take a second to note how I’m seriously lagging in the Twitter professional networking game? If you’ve also been inspired to tweet, network, and connect after MACUL find me @kelseystrait

Edubloggers and Flipping English

After attending that really sweet Flipping Physics presentation a few weeks ago, I was left struggling to see how I might be able to "flip" my English or History classrooms in the future.  There were questions of what topics to flip, how to flip (video, podcast, readings?), how much time and effort this whole thing would take, and just how would I get my students to do what I asked them, particularly at the middle school level?

In response, I Googled "flipping English" and basically searched until I found myself two teachers who have been flipping their English classes for quite some time.  The first flipping English edublogger I found was Thomasson and Morris Flip the English Classroom.  They're actually two teachers living across the country from one another, collaborating on their flipped English classrooms!  This partnership is probably worthy of an entire blog post in and of itself, but I'll stick to flipping English.  They've created a series of videos on a bunch of different topics which you can find on their Youtube channel.  What I really liked about their website was how they listed several ideas for what could be flipped in an English classroom based on what they've done or what they've discovered from others.  Like I had initially imagined, topics such as grammar and writing are probably easier to flip, even if it's just by audio recordings for students to listen to before class.  What still stumps me (and these two teachers) is how to successfully flip reading.  I guess you could technically say that asking students to read outside of class is some sort of variation on flipping English, but is there more teachers could be considering?  I told them of my concerns for what to do with my future English classes and they replied that they mainly share videos of themselves reading text and walking through the writing process with their students in various segments.  Their videos aren't high quality, but I think that makes them endearing and applicable to students (in one video they ask students to describe a famous cat meme for practice with a literary device).  Once again, keeping learning relevant and interesting to students is key, particularly if you're asking them to work outside of class to learn the material first.  For more specifics on their ideas click here.

I found another really great flipping English teacher named Catlin Tucker, who also happens to be really into technology in the classroom as well (double win!).  I still had some questions about using videos and equity in terms of access to computers amongst students should I decide to flip my classroom.  One of her posts talked about the utility of TedEd in creating a flipped classroom.  The possibilities with that program sound great, and I know one group who's doing their webinar on TedEd, so I think I'll leave it up to them to tell us all about it.  I like the option of selecting videos that are already made on the web because they require less time on my part preparing and editing,  particularly if they are really great for my students learning.  But, if we assign videos to watch every night, what about the students who don't have access to internet or a computer for whatever reason?  I asked her about that in my comment on her TedEd post and she divulged a great idea.  While she has never really struggled with equity issues because of her school's scheduling (students can use the libraries computers on off days from class), but she also compiles a Google map embedded in her website that identifies all the locations on campus and in the community where students can find computers and internet for free!  I really like this idea and am thinking about even printing off copies for students in my classroom next year depending on where I end up teaching!  Catlin's website has so much to offer teachers, especially in terms of technology and helpful hints to make the inclusion of technology in our classrooms that much simpler; I plan on bookmarking her site for future reference!

I'm quite thankful for the internet for assisting me in finding these lovely edubloggers who are also interested in (and actually implementing) flipping their English classrooms particularly since I was feeling a little lost after seeing how cool the concept was in a Physics classroom.  These teachers showed me a number of possibilities that I had not thought of before, and I'm eager to continue checking in with them to see how it's going.  This is a great example of the collaboration that should exist between teachers; we can and should be seeking each other out in order to learn about new ideas and practices to facilitate our students learning.

Record Players in the Classroom?

We've talked in the past about what types of technology we would want in our respective classrooms to contain; everything from overheads to Elmo projector things and an iPad at each desk.  These are all educationally useful in a variety of ways but I'm starting to wonder about the use of "old" technology in the classroom.  See Exhibit A:

Exhibit A

My mentor teacher broke this bad boy out of hiding this week to play an old-school record for our students.  The record player is stashed away in his office otherwise and according to the permanent marker on the outside case, it belongs to my school's media center. We're doing a few scary, sci-fi stories this week in honor of Halloween, so yesterday we spent the day reading a play about Orson Welle's War of the Worlds broadcast on the radio in 1938.  This year marks the 75th anniversary of the enactment, and there was a special on PBS this past Tuesday about it.  We spent most of the hour reading aloud the play, each taking a separate part and then at the end of the class my teacher explained more about the importance of radio during this time period, and how people received all of their national news and information from the radio.  Thus, it was quite easy to understand how hearing theses fake news reports on the radio lead people to believe there was an actual alien invasion.  Needless to say, many of the students were fascinated that people used to sit in front of radios with no screen, listening to the news and shows of the day, similar to this happy family:

My mentor teacher is in possession of an original record recording of the 1938 radio broadcast that terrified many along the Eastern seaboard of the United States that night before was under attack. This  showcases the power of description and human reenactment of written scenes.  We ended each class period by taking a listen to the original broadcast of War of the Worlds and quite frankly I think I would have been convinced aliens were here if I had originally only heard this on the radio.  It retained that old record sound that's kinda scratchy and with voices that are occasionally muffled by old microphones.  It just seems more academically and culturally authentic coming from an old-fashioned record player than playing an up-to-date Youtube video.  You can hear the same recording online here.

What was really fascinating to watch was how intrigued the students were by this seemingly archaic piece of technology.  There were a few kids who had no idea what the thing was!  The majority of my students were born in either 2000 or 2001 and to many of them a record player is something a really old relative might still have at their house or something they would see in an antique store.  They all wanted to take turns putting the needle on the record and asked my mentor teacher numerous questions about it throughout the day.

While we may talk about the newest types of technology we want in our classrooms I was really impressed with my mentor teacher and his inclusion of the record player in our class yesterday.  I think that some "older" forms of technology really offer a new learning experience for our students.  The Larry Cuban reading from this summer states that useful instructional technology is anything that instructs students "in a more efficient and stimulating manner than sole use of the teacher's voice" (p. 4).  This particular example allowed them to imagine some aspects of life when radios were the most prevalent form of technology available to the average American and they could really only achieve this envisionment by listening to an old-fashioned record player.

Technology at My Placement

When thinking about Ann Arbor Public Schools, many might think that technology plays a integral roll in a child's education.  It seems like a pretty up-to-date and relatively prosperous city, why wouldn't our students have access to one-to-one technology or inclusion of cell phones in the classroom?  However, this isn't really the case.  There are still processes to follow in terms of checking out computers and cell phones are prohibited from being used.  Needless to say I've been pretty intrigued by the uses of technology at my placement site thus far.

There have been no initiatives as of late to start providing all AAPS students with laptops and iPads like other districts around the nation, but there are some steps being taken in order to allow students and faculty to integrate technology into their academic lives.  Although it's not required, most students have a Gmail account, and as of last week, use Google Docs with relative ease for writing a paper (we're working on analyses of biographies in my English classes).  There are several Mac laptop carts available for teachers to use throughout the school, so my students have been able to remain at their seats and type their papers over the last week.  There's also two brand new Mac-filled computer labs in the school!  These computers are filled with exciting programs that I've never even heard of (which leads me to suspect that many teachers in the building have no idea about them).  I was really interested a program that can make comic strips and a few other graphic design/artistic programs with names like Scratch, Fetch, Sketch Up and Art Rage.  Since I'll be teaching full-time next semester, I hope to become more aware of what the school computers can offer in terms of making student projects just a little cooler!

My school has access to a variety of databases to help students research for educational purposes, but how much of this is used by the middle school population?  I don't really remember doing too many research projects in middle school, but maybe times have changed; I'll have to look more closely at what these databases can do for my students.  One of the more interesting things about the technology at my placement is that the firewall blocking access to sites like Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter is easily removable.  A staff member can unlock the firewall to show a Youtube clip in their class, but if they neglect to reauthorize the firewall, those "forbidden" sites are open to the general public at my school.  For our 504 survey, I went to a computer in the library and proceeded to log onto my Facebook, access our class wiki and even was allowed to proceed onto Twitter (even though I don't have an account).  While students are forbidden from using any personal cell phones or internet-accessible devices during class time, I thought this was really interesting.  I can remember my days in middle and high school where the sites were always blocked and we could proceed no further even if we tried.

However, I think one of the bigger issues with technology at my placement is just the general ease of use.  My mentor teacher has complained before about how none of the LCD projectors are mounted to the ceiling, thus making it a "big" hassle to roll the cart out into the middle of the already cramped classroom area to deliver a slide show presentation (which are not the norm in our class).  If anything, I believe that if the projectors were on the ceiling and all students had easy access to a laptop/iPad (something like one-to-one technology), more teachers in my school would be ecstatic about technology in the classroom.  Instead of planning ahead to check-out the laptop cart or to schedule time in the media center with the computer labs, teachers and students would be able to use technology right in their respective rooms when needed.  It sounds cool, but like we've become aware of these initiatives are costly, and might not be the best instructional strategy for our students.  Once again, there is always more to think about than meets the eye when discussing technology in our placements for the year!  What have you been noticing at your placement?

Student use of Capzles?

After presenting about podcasting in our Teaching with Technology class this past week I thought more about a question Rory had posed to our group.  Did we find any examples of student work with podcasts during our research?  When I thought about it further I realized that throughout the whole process of researching about podcasts, we had never really discussed showing examples of student podcasts in our presentation.  We were primarily focused on how teachers could create and use these tool both in their classrooms and for professional development.  Yet, it's also important to realize that our students could use these very same tools we're talking about for class assignments and larger projects.  So while I hope to find more information about student podcasts examples on the web, I was interested in the next groups presentation about Capzles.  You can typically find their website here if your internet is working: http://www.capzles.com/

Capzles is basically a linear showcase of pictures but you can also include PDFs and Word Documents.  It's similar to Prezi is some sense, but not as potentially nauseating with twists and turns.  It's called "Social Storytelling" because you can add pictures and label it with a date, then the pictures are shown in a timeline fashion.  In essence, you can add music to set the stage to talk about the Renaissance in Europe through a scan of impressive pictures depicting paintings from the time.  There are a host of Capzles pre-made on the website, which is great for perusal and if you don't want to spend time making one on your own.  But it's so simple to make, you might as well take the few minutes to upload a bunch of pictures before class starts!  Some of the few drawbacks I noticed so far was that you can't embed things like Youtube videos as seamlessly as one might hope.  And we're all still confused as to how PDFs and Word Documents can successfully be uploaded and used via Capzles.

One of the things I liked most about Capzles was that there were basically no words showcased throughout the presentation.  I like this better than other presentations like PowerPoint because I think a lot of people get stuck just reading the words verbatim from the slides instead of elaborating on the content.  This is where I think Capzles would be great for students to create in class.  Because you can't really put words on a slide, my students would have to present about a topic by preparing beforehand what they are going to say.  Now I believe they could still use notes/notecards for their information, but like I said, I think it's a lot better for both the presenter and audience members to not listen to a presentation that is just listed out word-for-word on the slides.  While my English content group might have made a silly Capzle related to Harry Potter (what up Potter Puppet Pals?!) I think Catherine brought up a great idea that Capzles could be used to showcase the plot arch of a story we could be reading in class.  Each slide could represent a depiction from that part of the novel.  I wonder if students could upload pictures of their drawings if there were no pictures available online?

Ultimately, I find that these presentations are also interesting to look at from the students perspective.  How can they create something from these tools?  If we're responsible for their technological literacy, shouldn't we be informing them about these awesome tools they can use too?  I'll be looking forward to the remaining presentations to see how my students can implement these in the classroom.

Sounds great, but wait...

I had the opportunity to attend a similar Grassroots Google presentation by Pete Pasque during professional development for the Ann Arbor school district prior to the beginning of the school year.  And, just like last time, I was blown away by the opportunities presented and was confronted with the sheer amount of things I just want to try out in my future classroom.

Basically I was like this 

As an English teacher who's conscious of the environment, I would love nothing more than to conduct a majority of my student's writing online via a platform like Google Docs.  I have already used Google Docs in a variety of settings throughout college, and can see the benefit of being able to comment directly on a student's paper and for student's to be able to use these tools in collaborative projects with their classmates.  Not only can students work on something during the school day, but they can also access the same work on their computers at home or elsewhere.  I like it all even more when I consider that each of my students could create their own Google Site in which to display the very best of their work throughout high school.  I don't think art and design students should be the only ones who are encouraged to maintain an online portfolio of work.  It would be a great platform for teachers to consider when attempting to write letters of recommendation, and can serve as a mini library of growth for each student as they become better writers over the years.  When I think back to my collection of papers from high school, my best papers were filed away in a folder in the office until I graduated and now I'm not even sure where that folder is.  These sites would be available to expand and grow with the student even after high school.

However, the more I scheme and plan about all the cool stuff I could implement with my students, my mentor teacher brought me back to reality with his twenty-ish years of teaching experience.

He basically looked like this

He was of the opinion that this whole Grassroots Google extravaganza sounded great as well, but until we have something like a one-to-one technology ratio for our students, how will this be completely equal for all students?  Some students don't have access to computers at home, and sometimes the media center doesn't have great hours for extra homework time.  Even Pete mentioned that a generous handful of kids tend to stay after-school to use the computers available for their online work (which is great that the school accommodates this, however, this isn't always the case).  The kids at my placement aren't allowed to whip out their cell phones in class yet, so some things might just have to wait in terms of other technology being used in the classroom.  However, I had a really interesting discussion with the media specialist at my placement the other day and she believes education is on the cusp of accepting all sorts of new technology including cell phones in classrooms and more one-to-one technology.  I agree with her, mostly because I'm hopeful that schools will adjust some of their policies in light of the increasing amounts of technology at the hands of our students.  It is a dawn of a new technological era in education isn't it?  

It's Digital Classroom Discussion Day!

In class on Wednesday we were given time to overlook the new Common Core State Standards and the Smarter Balanced Assessment (which will test the effectiveness of CCSS instruction).  While this was just a short time exploring each of these, I found the assessment to be very intriguing since it will take place entirely on the computer with various reading, writing and listening components.  This means a lot of typing and required familiarity with the functions of computer technology.  Obviously there are pros and cons to this new format of examination, but I think the situation proposed in class merits a little further thought.  Our dilemma presented to our various content areas consisted of the following:

In March of 2015 (your first year teaching), all of the 11th graders in your school will be taking the Common Core Exam online.  Student performance on this test will determine:

- whether or not your district will move closer to being taken over by the state.

- whether you will be deemed ineffective, provisional, or professional (two consecutive ineffective ratings is grounds for termination).

- the public perception of your school, which will impact enrollment, which will impact budget ($7000-ish per student), which will impact your livelihood.

School profile:

1200 students

60% have access to computers at home (90% of those share the computer), 70% have smartphones

3 computer labs with 2001 model Dells

Three LCD projectors to be used on a check-out basis only

No technology budget

No mandatory typing class

40% of teaching staff will be retiring within 5 years and thus are resistant to what they view as the latest “fad” (Common Core and Smarter Balanced)

In a nutshell, what would our action plan be to prepare for this assessment?  I gathered with my fellow future English teachers and we began brainstorming.  One of the ideas I (we) liked the most was the concept of a "digital classroom discussion" day.  In our minds it would take place in one of the school's computer labs, where the teacher would set up a chat room where students would then silently type their responses to teacher or student prompts.  Thus instead of having a typical verbal discussion everything would be typed and printed for the students to read and contribute to.  Sounds kinda cool right?  But there are a few kinks that need to be worked out: where will the chat take place online?  Google Docs?  Would each student be only recognizable to the teacher?  What if several students are hogging the "conversation" with their typing? Would this really help the students understand and comprehend the day's lesson?  When thinking back to the presented dilemma we were thinking this would be helpful to develop the typing skills that would be necessary for the written portions of this new online assessment.  In addition, it plays into the idea of teaching with technology that we've been discussing throughout the semester.

One thing I've really liked about this class so far was the opportunity to collaborate with my English teacher colleagues.  I thought it was great to bounce ideas off of one another or to just giggle in the corner of the room since we can select  and read morbid stories in a class and somehow call it a lesson.  Especially when it comes to implementing technology in the classroom, collaboration is pretty crucial to figuring out what might work and what doesn't in order to facilitate student learning.  I'm excited to see what else this class has in store for us come fall!!