I have had the pleasure of digging deeper and trying to make better sense of the design idea and the relationship between technological knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and content knowledge. TPACK encompasses these three components. But what is it?
Adding technology components and UNDERSTANDING WHY WE ARE ADDING WHAT WE ARE ADDING, is essential and equates to students becoming engaged in their own learning. Technology in the classroom needs to be understood by the teacher - why is this being used, how are we using it, where can it make a difference, and what age group is the technology intended for? In my fairly new understanding of TPACK, I would love to share my knowledge with fellow teachers at my schools - at least begin a discussion about this important model - and share ideas, successes and flops. I also want to pull in our students! They know so much and have intimate details about what tech tools they use, what keeps them engaged, and where they feel successful. We always need this opportunity to learn from each other.
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Gaming is something until about 4 days ago, I was not really qualified to even blog about! Please bear with me, Cohort, as I stumble through this idea. I do not "game", at least not in my home or my school, so I suppose that would be no where. I have a PAST of gaming - a rich one really. I was big on Asteroids, Space Invaders, and Centipede. Oh, and of course Pac-Man. Guess if you dare, what year I was in high school. Yes, Atari days. Fast forward many years to when my son was in elementary (he is 19 now), we purchased a Wii...and we all discovered gaming again. Fun!
Gamification is the "application of game-design elements and game principles in non-game contexts. It can also be defined as a set of activities and processes to solve problems by using or applying the characteristics of game elements." (Wikipedia). In my OWN words, I see gamification as an experience that might have gaming elements but whose purpose is to incorporate ways to engage and motivate the learner. I am unlike most of my colleagues because the students at my school do not game in the classroom or at home - OK - not in the classroom anyway. Which is fine and they are living and breathing and learning - their parents chose my school because it was NOT traditional education. In my mind though, it does not mean that there should not be SOME interaction with gaming as a learning tool - it is just not within the founder's principals. NO worries. MY OWN kids however, (16 and 19) are very well versed at gaming both at home and in school. Both my kids loved Kahoot and Quizlet. It brought subjects like Spanish, French, math, and English to life! Fun quizzes and interactive vocabulary practice. They truly enjoyed these games in their classes. It brings out the competitive spirit and I think yes, learning happened! Before that, there was ST Math, that my kids adored. They could not wait to some home and continue with this so they could conquer another level. With the parent's permission, currently, I incorporate Starfall and Monkey Math into some of my weekly sessions in my resource room with my little ones. It helps to solidify some of the IEP goals and the kids love it. I use IXL with some of my older ones to work on math skills. I very much want to branch out and use many of the things I am learning about in 702. I know I will - especially with distance learning part 2 that is rapidly approaching. I realize that in the near future, I may not be at a waldorf school and I want to be ready with digital tools and learning games. I LOVE this guy. He is literally running to, "KEEP UP WITH THE PACE OF CHANGE". I watched the Ted Talk three times in a row. Eddie Obeng talks fast but he is very good. He has great ideas and clearly is an INNOVATIVE thinker, and used to be a teacher no less. Ebeng shares the idea that our complicated world, one that we work tirelessly to understand, to recognize, and to problem solve within, is about 300 steps behind where we need to be - at all times. He says the "Real 21st century around us is not obvious to us." We are seeing a world that no longer exists.
Take away's and connections:
Today I spend HOURS discovering different creative tools. Oh, and reading/studying/note taking on different articles, websites and blogs. I have learned a lot from all this "toolin" around. Although, I have never ONCE used any of these tools, I am beginning to peel back some of the layers and can see how I might use these in my instruction. The two tools that I spend the most time with were Kaizena and Screencastify.
Kaizena is an add-on that allows the user to add voice comments to a Google Doc or a Google Slide. I have heard about this particular tool because it was recommended by our ATL district rep as an assistive technology option for a student of mine. This student has a hard time with written expression, reading fluency, and comprehension. Unfortunately, this tool has received many negative reviews about its usability - or lack thereof. I did not have any problem with it, but again, I only peeled off a few top layers of what I think it can do. What it CAN do is help a student with a writing assignment by giving the student instant feedback via my voice recording. The teacher can add a link to a video or a graphic - attached to the exact place on the doc that might help the student. When Caitlin Tucker reviews the Flipped Model, she makes some great points. She says a flipped classroom should create time and space for students to work collaboratively in class while freeing the teacher to provide more personalized support. An application like Kaizena can help faciliate this idea. Giving the student quick feedback, things to think about, websites to ponder, etc, frees up valuable for time for the teacher/student connection. In addition, this is a lovely and quick (yay!) assessment tool. The teacher can gauge the level of comprehension and comment in real time. And of course it is a shared doc - so easy. Screencastify, at least for me, was new. I need to dig deeper but I played on it for a few hours and I like it. I can make a voice recording with or without video. I can create this audio and video right on a browser tab. I can see using this with a student who struggles with decoding. I can record myself actually reading the text while the student follows along. I can also annotate as I am speaking - highlighting, circling, etc. These visuals, along with the audio can really help make meaning more concrete. I can ask questions as the student is reading. In the Edutopia.org site, they discuss the power and importance of keeping the student engaged. It should be an active process. They should have the opportunity to hear questions, respond to the teachers' inquiries, and receive feedback - this ensures that the student will better retain the material - as an active participant. Eric Sheninger, in A Principal's Reflections, share that in a hybrid learning model, the key is to utilize the time with our students BETTER. These digital tools are just a few ways that we can do that. Copied here is my Driving Question Evolution doc:
I set out to answer a few questions. Maybe my initial DQ was too broad - but these are things that are nagging me on a constant basis. #1 What is the most relevant digital content that is district approved that relates to my student’s goals that can also keep them engaged? - If I “answer” this, I may as well research an entirely new curriculum for all academics for elementary level and share it with the district. This is too big. Brenna correctly mentioned that this might also entail a big “list” and should have more of a HOW at the beginning. #2 How do creative tools enhance learning for students with mild/moderate disabilities? - This is much more streamlined than the previous and it hits closer to home. #3 How do creative tools enhance learning for students with phonological processing disorder? - I like this latest DQ because when I am looking at my end users and how to go about my action research, I can easily (and excitedly) dive into specific kiddos that I work with, ones that have been a quandary for me in terms of best practices. Currently, I will go back and forth between 2 and 3. I think 2 is my big question but in my action research, I can incorporate 3. One thing I really enjoyed doing and has helped me with my ARP ideas, is the infographic I created. Something about the easy layout and visuals made it is tad easier to understand what my path will be as I embark on my action research. The layout of the ARP template is surprisingly clear to me. I had been at a place where the more I read and the more I tried to "unpack", the more confused I became! Seriously! NO fun and kind of scary. I will be honest though, this has been a sizable tug on my brain. I only have a draft of the ARP but just the layout and formatting is appreciated and helps with my own sense-making. I spent the entire day watching the links to Google Forms and Add on's. The great thing about the links (and why I spent the day) is that there are links in the links. I meandered off into sites about hyper links and my favorite - Choice Boards.
I have completed many Google Forms before but have not had the opportunity to create one myself. Add on's are clearly the most challenging thing for me - I studied many different ones and when it came time to downloading them and "adding" them, it is clear that I still need more time to learn how this is going to make my life easier. I enjoyed looking at Scott's tutorials - very thorough and CLEAR - thank you. I also likes everything from Matt Miller. My Forms were just a start but I really like the ease of it. Forms is something I will use with my students this fall for sure. I have been reading about this crazy idea of spending more in person time discussing ideas and giving FEEDBACK and spending less time on explaining directions, how-to's, why's, and reviewing the story. Forms can be a big part of the flipped classroom. I like how it jives effortlessly with one's google account. The graphics are really whatever I make it to be. The spacing and font are super clear. I wonder if any of this is available in Spanish? I would be interested in sending a Form to my families this fall and it actually could have been useful for this summers's ESY that I am teaching. For my future Capstone and action research, at the very least, I can send this out to my families to gather data! I look forward to gaining a further understanding of how this technology can help me gather data on my students, my families, and aid with communication overall. This gorgeous beast of a woman is my inspiration! She's doing it! She may not know how she got that far, she may have forgotten why she started, and she may have slight delirium - but she is making the trek. And she is proud. This images feels a lot like me.
Never have I ever had this much to digest - and I love to read by the way, always have. Every ICARE is so full of readings, websites, videos, blogs, theory, connections, and ideas, I sometimes wonder how we all are doing it - but it looks like we are. And it makes me proud. The book I truly go back to again and again is Baggio - I like the way it is written - it is accessible and I think it is so important in our teaching! I actually read ahead believe it or not. She makes remarkable but simple statements from her research: 1. Chapter 6: Visual design for learning must be interesting but not cognitively overwhelming - it must get the learner's attention but not overshadow the content. In my years of teaching - gen ed and special ed - I rely on the curriculum that is handed down to me from other teachers' (my first year especially) and what is district adopted material (aligning with state standards). I START each year, regardless of what or who I am teaching with the idea that I am going to CREATE something much better - build on the regular stuff with glossy, well crafted extensions that are REALLY going to help the kids connect to the material. Unfortunately, the year "happens" and I feel slammed, trying to do my very best with what I have. I crave meaningful content with excellent, relevant visuals. I want to create meaningful content for my visual learners. I wanted this before I ever heard of Baggio. 2. Chapter 4: Another favorite part of this book is when she dives into how people learn - influences are from prior knowledge, context, and expectations. I have always known about the prior knowledge piece although I was not sure WHY we needed this. I was confident that tapping into a student's prior knowledge simply made sense - I get to find out more about where they are coming from, which helps drive how I instruct. The student feels like they are part of the equation - the team. Their experiences matter! I have read and re read the SITE material and am still attempting to decide how to apply this model into my teaching - and how I can bring it to my end user. I have many questions in this regard. Instructional design is not easy and I have much to digest. I do understand at this point that we must understand the learners motives, social relationships, and how and why they use tools. We should create instruction that combines the learning of skills with the context in which the learner can apply those skills. I look forward to when I can apply some of these things I am learning with actual children in my class! Until very recently, I saw little or no value in introducing social media to a classroom - at least not at my school - a k-8 waldorf methods charter school. We are a no media school. We value and celebrate the whole child. Head, heart, and hands. We deliver instruction rich in hands-on activities such as painting, handworking, woodworking, farming, and eurythmy. We teach early reading through copying cursive writing. We teach writing through form drawing. We have chalk boards. We sing and perform and eat amazing organic foods for lunch. BUT, in the upper grades, I DO see the advantage of social media. Perhaps with something on the simple side such as creating and sharing slides on a google doc. Maybe a classroom facebook page, where students can post ideas, pictures, and stories - and comment on others. Maybe even using Kahoot or Socrative in the classroom to reinforce comprehension. In a typical middle school it is a no brainer but at this school, we tread very softly with this idea. In all, after 10 years serving these wonderful kids, I am confident that if we can incorporate more digital technology and some social media in the class, it will not be a mystery, they will be better equipped for the rigor of "digital everything" in high school, and we will help to create capable, well-rounded young adults. And the teachers and administrators ARE beginning to see the countless advantages of the computer interface. It is just...slow.
I am GETTING THERE with my driving question but even as I write this, I am thinking I may want to further tweak my DQ. In my SPED world, which I truly enjoy, I sometimes find myself over thinking and over worrying. Am I using the right program for this particular learner? Should I go outside of the box a little more? Can I keep my kiddo engaged if I work with a program that I am not even an expert at yet, but I think it would help him better achiever his goals? Don't I owe it to him? He's counting on me and so is his classroom teacher, and of course so are his parents. I want each session to make a difference! Reading these instructional models make me think, as they should, that I can do more for my students - but how to actually implement something outside of what I normally present is the challenge. Presentation...A key! Is just remembering a concept enough to learn with meaning? Learners might be able to remember features of a concept but that does not necessarily mean the will be able to identify and assign meaning. Clark tells us to add visuals to illustrate concepts whenever feasible and that there is good evidence that relevant visuals improve learning. This creates questions in my mind. Am I the best one to create visuals? What if it is wrong - or not good enough? Should my student create the visuals? Could they get "over-visualed" and then we are just swimming through clutter, searching for more white spaces? Another important part of the Clark ID is that concepts taught with example/counter-example, along with concrete definitions are a pathway to deeper understanding. I will be bringing these ideas into my teaching.
It is increasingly clear and utterly alarming that MANY families in Napa have a DEVICE in their toddler's hands. OK - I have no scientific data to prove this, only anecdotal. But at least before we hit pandemic days, I would be out all the time - parks, shopping at the Oxbow, farmer's market, restaurants, etc. If there was a kiddo in a stroller or in a highchair, more often than not, he or she had a phone in their little, sticky hands. And they were...happy? Hard to say.
I enjoyed reading the articles from the Digital Literacy Page from KQED. But I am an NPR/KQED kind of nerd anyway. One article said to, "Put the phone away when you are with your kids." and, "It is not a pacifier!" Idea being that our children need to see US, engage and learn from US. Sometimes life is boring and sometimes we look out the window when we are driving from Napa to Redding. Maybe we see a hawk or a beautiful field, or we imagine we see something wonderful, like a giant turtle in the clouds. Or we read a book - really? I plan on delivering some digital equity for all instruction this fall by diving into some of the great resources put forth such as the KQED articles. I plan to help my students understand that a phone has it's place but not when you are outside, taking a stroll with your family! I will also share information from the News and Media Literacy Resource Center from Common Sense. This is a different direction than devices in young one's hands, but the resource they put forth to discuss/elaborate/explain the current and often disturbing local and world news, is a jewel. And so timely. There are excellent articles and lessons there that can help our students understand what is happening around them. Big ideas are that they are NOT ALONE. Stuff is crazy right now. Also I will encompass Civic Online Reasoning from Standard's History Education Group. There are excellent videos and activities to help out young one's understand that, "These things have happened before...and people have gotten through it." Staying rational and calm is imperative. As educators, we are the model. I hope to see these ideas through and I appreciate the many resources given. |