photo story lesson

This is the photo story that I have created for my second integrated technology lesson. Visit my technology integration page on my website to read more about the lesson plan:

One of those moments

I learned a lot this week about a new way of looking at math education that has completely changed my ideas about how I want to teach math if I end up in that subject area. One major element of my social studies teaching philosophy has always been that I want my students to engage in critical thinking about the subject material every day in my classroom, but I had never even considered how that would occur in math. Through my own math experiences and my jobs in college working with math students, I have always experienced math as based on three principles: that math is about knowing and applying the correct procedure, that the teacher shows the students the solutions and then the students repeat the procedure, and that there is one definitive correct answer. All those assumptions were rocked when I learned about a student-centered math classroom, whose advocates argue that students learn math better by actually doing it, promoting a classroom where teachers do not tell students how to do math as if it is a fact to be memorized but rather encourage them to solve tasks that get them to engage in the process of creating knowledge about math. I was enthralled to discover that the principle that students remember better what they think about on higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy could apply to math as well. If I end up teaching math, I will not have to cringe every time I tell my students that they "just have to memorize how to do it" because I have had a revelation that students will for sure remember math once they fully understand it. Since there not will be one ultimately correct way to solve a problem that the students either remember or don't, there will be no excuses for not trying to think about the problem because a student thinks they can't recall what the teacher wanted them to do.

Original Image: Math Class
http://www.flickr.com/photos/attercop311/3088780713/sizes/s/in/photostream/
By: attercop311

Released under an Attribution License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

Wikiing (vb.) Blogging Collaboratively

Yes I did just invent a new word for the title of this post. However, this novel verb is appropriate because using wikis is a very action-oriented process. Every person who is allowed to collaborate on a wiki has the power to add new ideas, elements, and pages or edit those statements that already exist. Aside from Google Docs, it is the best technology to use for collaboration because of the ease of allowing everyone in a group to contribute their own work, thoughts, and perspectives in a place where everyone else can immediately see them at their own convenience while still keeping the whole creation organized together. It allows group members to see both individual contributions and the sum of all their work without minimal effort to switch between those two views. This is what makes it better for groups to use than a standard website, which can only be edited by the creator. Even if all group members are allowed to have the role of "creator," that would only allow one person to edit it at a time, making it less convenient than a wiki. I had never thought about it before, but when I have group projects in my classroom that requires a presentation of results, I will at some point have students use a wiki to take advantage of the ease of collaboration. A wiki has the same advantages for group work over a blog because a blog is not a place where everyone is a equal contributor of knowledge. The blog may have significant interaction and conversation in its comments, but the blogger still had the power to solely determine the initial intent and content of any post. However, the fact that a wiki is so useful for group work also makes its uses more limited. In any context where students are creating presentations of knowledge that are primarily or completely controlled by one student, I would encourage them to use blogs or other websites instead because I would want the creator to have personal control over their work and have it safe from being edited by others without them even knowing. Even in a situation where students are required to provide feedback and editing for other students' projects, I would have the students use a blog or standard website instead in order for each student to maintain their own autonomy over their creation. Here is a screen shot of the wiki I made for this class, a task that I think secondary students would be able to do based on many topics in social studies:

Technology: For Teachers Only?

Yesterday in my TE class, I got to watch a presentation by a current social studies intern about incorporating technology into the classroom, specifically during our upcoming internship year. One of the tools she talked about extensively was Google Earth, explaining how her students loved when she used it, raving about how they were so much more engaged in her lectures, and showing us an example of a tour she had just put together as part of a lecture on the Civil Rights Movement. During this whole time, I could not help but compare what she was doing to the integrated technology lesson plan I designed for this class, which asked students to use Google Earth to come up with theories about how geography impacted Civil War battles. I was especially intrigued when she said that her main use of Google Earth was to keep students engaged, but she would never let students use it themselves because it is too much fun and they would simply goof off on it. Suddenly, an intern with way more classroom experience with me had unintentionally suggested that my lesson would be a complete bomb in an actual classroom. This was an important wake up call for me because it showed me how I may be taking my teaching philosophy too far. Although I would argue with her that teachers should not hoard the use of technology because they assume that students are too immature to handle it responsibly and use it productively, her comment made me notice that I have allowed a central element of my teaching philosophy, the emphasis I want to have on student discovery and student-created learning, impact my understanding of how technology can be used in the classroom. It has made me think overwhelmingly about how my future students will use technology in my classroom in lieu of also reflecting on how I, as the teacher, will use technology for instructional purposes outside of students doing assignments with technology. Instead, I need to make sure that I keep a balance in my classroom between technology that I use and technology that I assign my students to use, remembering especially that I should not expect my students to use technology frequently if I do not make a concerted effort to do so myself as well. This is a crucial light bulb moment for my continuing development as a future teacher.

Original Image: Lightbulb
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arenamontanus/481281796/sizes/s/in/photostream/
By: Arenamontanus

Released under an Attribution License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

How Do I Know?

Like many other kids, I was always changing what I wanted to be when I grew up, including possibilities such as meteorologist, mapmaker, and lawyer. It was only near the end of high school that I considered becoming a teacher. However, now that I am 5 weeks away from graduating and moving on to my internship, I confront the same question as many of my fellow seniors. How do I know that I'm really on the correct career path? One way I have been able to answer that question is by looking at how I prefer to spend my time. For one thing, I notice that whenever I have a paper due in my history classes, if I also have some type of reading for my education class, I will do that reading first because I prefer to spend my work time learning about education than writing about history. Furthermore, I always look forward more to going to my jobs, tutoring student athletes and teaching math recitation sections, or to my placement, than going to classes where I learn more content. It could also be some senioritis, but I feel like every step I take towards being a teacher is a welcome replacement for being a student and I would not feel that way if I were not going in the right direction. Even the hard work of designing and writing lesson plans is homework that I find enjoyable relative to any other assignments I have had as a student. In general, I have noticed that I prefer helping other people learn than actually learning more myself. I firmly believe that people should like their careers and I do not think that will be difficult for me, even though I do wonder how it is possible for a tax accountant to enjoy March and April:

Original Image: taxes
http://www.flickr.com/photos/honan/453195084/sizes/s/in/photostream/
By: Mat Honan

Released under an Attribution License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

My Two Sense on Technology Distractions

Every person at MSU, including all of the professors, knows that students in a lecture hall who brought their computers did not bring them because it is easier to take notes on their computer. They brought them because they want a distraction, whether it be Facebook Chat or flash games, from whatever the professor is trying to bore them with today. An article I found on Twitter argues that educators at both the secondary and post-secondary level have to watch out for the dangers of technology distractions. It argues that some high school teachers simply adapt technology into their classroom whimsically without worrying about any distractions it might cause for their students, specifically referencing the demand for computer labs in schools. The author also assets that students benefit more from taking notes by hand because they remember things better. Although I wholeheartedly agree with the suggestion of banning laptops in most college classes, I think this author has missed the main problem with technology use in secondary classrooms. The problem is not the technology itself, but rather how it is used in lessons. As long as technology is used in a purposeful, specific manner that provides students with a clear goal and established structure for what they should be doing with the technology, I think teachers can incorporate it into assessments, activities, and other lessons as much as possible. Distractions occur not because technology is inherently distracting, but rather because teachers have students use technology without a clear purpose. Why have students research and read online when you can give the same sources as handouts? Instead, save technology for having students create Prezis or storybooks for an assessment or for an online interactive activity that keeps students focused on the task at hand. Just like any other lesson, the amount high school students are distracted is more determined by the engagement, communication, and purposefulness of the lesson, not whether or not technology is used. Students still found ways to be distracted from boring lessons before technology came around:

Original Image: maybe it will help...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hansvanrijnberk/2598234846/sizes/s/in/photostream/
by: Hans_van_Rijnberk

Released under an Attribution License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

Ways to Use Google Docs

If I taught in a social studies classroom, one thing I would use Google Docs for would be whenever students were creating papers, reports, or presentations as a group. One of the major benefits of this is efficiency. Instead of all the students in the group crowding around one computer, with one person typing and four different people confusing them with different ideas, the students could work separately on different computers and all be making substantial contributions to the final product at the same time. Although this is somewhat possible without using Google Docs by simply splitting up the assignment into even parts for each group member to work on separately, Google Docs could streamline that process. First of all, students would be able to see exactly what their peers were working on at their own convenience without having to give up their own progress to go look at another computer. For example, if one student says that they just found a few pictures to add to a presentation and wants the rest of the groups to approve them, all the student has to do is make that simple request and each of his or her peers will be able to view the pictures at a convenient break point for them, either all at once on different computers or all separately at different times. Furthermore, it might even be a good idea to have one member of each group, preferably a student with high writing proficiency who also respects the work of other students, take on the role of editor, simply monitoring the rest of the groups' work and providing feedback on every member's contributions.

I also thought about a way to use the Spreadsheet function if I taught math. Since multiple students can edit it at the same time, it would be ideal for a group math inquiry lesson. For such a lesson, students each collect data individually, then combine all the data together, and finally use that data to discuss possible conclusions about math ideas. One example of this would be as an introduction to logarithmic and exponential functions. Each student in a group of five would be assigned a function, three exponential and two logarithmic. However, they would not know too much about how those functions work or what they mean. Instead, I will only show them how to use their calculator to determine points on the function. For example, students may have never heard of ln (natural log) before, but the only thing I would tell them is where the ln button is on their calculators so they could determine ln(x) for any x that I gave them. I would then ask each student to find 10 specifically assigned points on their function and record them in that group's spreadsheet. Google Spreadsheets are so useful for this lesson because they allow the work of data collection on these functions to be split amongst the group, but they would still all be able to input their data into the compilation spreadsheet immediately when figure it out. I would also be able to have them start with spreadsheets that have certain boxes colored in for a specific purpose. Once all the students in the group have inputted their data, the Spreadsheet will look something like this:

Then, the group would have a chance to brainstorm answers to the question of why Mr. V highlighted certain boxes different colors. They could all combine their suggestions easily in a separate document on Google Docs and then discuss them as a group, asking for clarification and pushing each other's thought processes. Hopefully, some of the groups would come up with some of the patterns indicated by the color coding, such as the ideas that e^x and ln x are inverses and the pattern that any number raised to the 0 power is equal to 1 while any logarithm of 1 is equal to 0.