Where am I, Technologically Speaking?

As an ENL instructor, I rely on technology to quickly learn the materials my students are struggling with develop lessons that are more accessible to them. They need a lower language load. I search for explanations in a more visual form or in their first language.

I use technology in every lesson, but sadly not very high in the matrix. During my contact time with each of my students, we use my laptop to work on class materials, sometimes we use the students' devices, and my ipad.

I help my students locate assignments on LEARN (not all, but most teachers in my school post all assignments and materials online), we access online text books and additional materials through the internet, utilize websites like quizlet.com for studying and prepare presentations with prezzie, powerpoint, and word.

Many of my students are new to the country and often new to the level of technology used in the regular classrooms. At the start of the school year I ensure that each of my students know how to access their LEARN accounts, textbooks and email. They are too embarrassed to ask for help with these issues in class and teachers are unaware that they do not know how. Often the new ENL students do not even realize that they were expected to visit LEARN or their email. They are confused about how other students knew what they should be doing.

When I prepare my ENL lessons, I utilize the internet to find grammar lessons to address specific grammar instruction and reading passages at the desired reading level, genre, and topic. I have found some amazing websites that have the exact lessons my students need. Each student I work with needs to work on different things and there are websites that give me instant instruction and practice items for their specific needs. I do  utilize a paper textbook/workbook that covers English language grammar instruction in an ordered curriculum from basic to more complex structures, but my students needs are varied. They need help fixing their written presentations and simply acting as their editor does not help them with future writing. They need to understand the grammar errors they are making in their writing and be able to fix them independently.

Matrix...I am simultaneously at the Entry, Adoption and Adaption levels.

Entry: Using spellingcity.com, quizlet, and other online sites that have multiple choice grammar quizzes. I love these sites for drilling and memorizing. They offer instant feedback to the students and with some I can monitor their progress.My students each have their own online log ins into my account. The environment for our instruction includes my laptop, a desktop computer if they need to work on something different from me, and if they have a smart phone or ipad I show them how to log in from there. I encourage them to use their personal handheld devices for google translate and itranslate aps.

Adoption: When I direct my students to conventional and procedural use of technology used in their classrooms. How to sign into LEARN, email, and texts. How to use online research tools through the school online library.  I don't post our lessons on LEARN and need to move into this level as a teacher. Our environment always supports accessing these tools.

Adaption: When I  show them how to use translation tools and find information in their first language for research. I also connect them with ENL websites for discussion boards and FAQs on English language grammar usage and idioms. Showing students how to use Easybib for citations while doing research. I try to make sure that my students are using the computer when they leave me to complete their assignments. If they do not have a computer at home, I make sure their study hall is located in my area (guided study hall) so they can use a computer. I also encourage them to come in before / after school to complete homework.

I really want to move up the matrix on my use of technology. I am counting on this course to push me along!

Mindsets in Education Always Changing and Will at the Start of its Greatest Change Yet

Sir Ken Robinson’s video, Changing Paradigms, claims that we are trying to meet the future by what we did in the past. I don’t agree. Changing mind sets has been an issue in education for decades.  In my lifetime I have seen many shifts, all in the name of improvement. Traditional classrooms with desks in rows, separate rooms and grades shifted to open concept buildings without walls where students moved freely to the level they chose. Then, the schools shifted back to traditional classrooms. Special education, once delivered in separate schools became illegal and students were fully integrated, even in cases where it was not the best environment. Now we see a small shift back to short pull out sessions when necessary. Atomic phonics based reading instruction approaches moved to whole language and back to explicitly taught phonics until a certain level mastered and scored through running records. Round robin reading once viewed as heralded pedagogy was  just banned this week in my district. Individual work moved to the cooperative grouping, ability grouping to mixed grouping to flexible grouping. Spelling and penmanship were core language arts curriculum, thrown out all together, added back.  Don’t get me started on the New Math, which is now ancient.

The schools of today certainly hold elements of the past, but they are greatly changed from the schools that I attended. My public school education was much poorer than the education my children receive. That difference was achieved through shifts in pedagogy ( approaches and content). My children are reading at a higher level, able to solve higher level math problems, and definitely write narratives and essays exceeding my abilities at their age. I believe strongly that educators are going to embrace the change in mindset that is required to fully utilize the information technology available. It just won’t happen quickly.

Why won’t it happen quickly? There is too much at stake. Public education serves our children, the very thing that most people cherish the most. Yes, our children are our future but more importantly they are our responsibility. No one wants their child to be the educational guinea pig. Past shifts in education have brought us great advances, but they have also left some casualties along the way as new methods did not meet the needs for all students and created unpredicted problems for others. Public education is not a private startup company that we can simply throw our money and talents into and take a huge risk that it will pay off because we have a vision. Educators and parents want to know that something works before they do something different.

The first step is the blended classroom. Here teachers can give students technologically advanced lessons while still utilizing the more traditional settings and lessons that have been successful. Teachers can first dip their toes in the water and wade into deeper and deeper technologically advanced lessons as they learn them and find support for their effectiveness. Educators sharing with each other is a key part to the changing mindset. It is impossible to become an expert in a field that is rapidly changing and advancing so a teacher must rely on the experiences of peers as a guide for what to invest time and energy learning and what to avoid.

Mindsets are being changed. Administrators are pushing for the change. Exposure to truly successful methods will pull teachers to make the change. Teachers themselves can feel the disconnect between their personal lives in the world of technology and the classroom without technology. As we allow students to bring in their various devices to the classroom and view them as assisting their educational pursuits rather than distracting them, we are making the first change in mindset. They are not toys, they are tools. The next mindset change is seeing educators as guides to learning in this environment rather than teachers.  That is a scary step, but once made, I believe it unlocks the potential for what can be learned through information technology age. Discovery learning at its finest. Teaching students how to find information for themselves, introducing the tools available and allowing them to discover the information they need.

What I am changing? That is harder. My current course policies...hmmm. I don't know how to answer that. I work outside of any course. I find myself working to change policies that put my ENL students at a disadvantage. Namely, allowing the utilization of translation devices and sources to obtain information in my students' first language. Most of the teachers I work with are now on board. It took some evidence in improved test results. What was first viewed as "cheating" is now seen as accommodating. Changing my mindset within my own course. I feel I am open to change, I just don't know what to do. That is why I am here in this course. Show me what I COULD be doing with technology to improve my teaching and I am eager to begin.

Self Evaluation Module One

Examination and analysis of relevant course topics: EFFECTIVE/EVOLVING

Reading over my responses to various comments and my own contributions to the questions raised, I connected what I understood of the course concepts to the discussion focus. I demonstrated understanding but not mastery. I am still evolving in finding exactly what I should be sharing in my reflections.

Use of evidence, examples, and personal experience:EFFECTIVE

I clearly incorporated personal experiences that contributed to the discourse but failed to use evidence from readings to further the discussion. To be exceptional, readings should also have been included.

Presentation of Ideas: EXCEPTIONAL

Ideas and clearly articulated with few errors. I read through my entries several times and made changes for clarity and conciseness. The class as a whole articulate themselves quite clearly. 

Collaboration with fellow learners: EFFECTIVE

Tricky to see the difference between the rubric description of effective vs exceptional in this area. "Consistently and meaningfully" are a bit too subjective statements for me to measure. I did try to be meaningful and expand the topics in ways that mattered to me. That being said, this week's topics did not lend themselves to the creation of meaningful discussion. The material was definitely needed and appreciated, but no one seemed to need a discussion to further their learning experience. 

Blog Newbie Writes her First Blog Post

Hello Readers!

I can now answer yes, to a question I thought I would never answer yes to,"Do you have a blog?" Why yes, I do! 

     

I have read a few blogs. Stumbled upon them as I google searched for advice on parenting issues, specifically parenting an athlete. I wonder if I have read blogs when googling for educational advice and simply not identified them as blogs! 

Although I write on this keyboard everyday to communicate, I never thought of myself as a "writer." It's not that I don't think I have experiences worthy of sharing with the public, I have never considered myself a gifted writer. My writing craft is not very colorful or witty. I hope this form of written expression opens a door of creativity inside of me. I appreciate creativity and admire those who seem to have a gift to create the novel or express things in a new and inspirational way. 

   

The casual forum of a blog might relax me enough to simply write and share meaningful experiences without feeling the burden of having to write with clever literary devices! As I feel my personal roadblocks to writing lifting, I can't help but hope that my students will also feel them lifting if they become bloggers!

I went back over this, my first blog, and made changes suggested in The 12 Dos and Don'ts to writing a blog by Brian A Klems. I added links, shortened paragraphs, added images, and fixed a few grammar errors! Blog one in the can and it did not hurt.