MACUL Conference musings

Under the guidance and advisement of our University of Michigan School of Education Teaching with Technology professors, my fellow classmates and I attended a conference of the Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning, more informal identified as MACUL.

The three-day conference was held at the Cobo Center in Detroit, MI, and it drew over 5,000 teachers, administrators and faculty from all around the state. Ranging in age and experiences, each speaker and attendee was there for a common purpose: become a better teacher for the benefit and growth of our students. I had never been in a space so densely concentrated with educators. The experience that was initially overwhelming changed throughout my time there to become both a memorable and inspiring.

The theme of the conference focused on equipping educators with the tools and knowledge to develop a culture of collaboration within classrooms, schools, districts, and educators across the state and nation.

In the spirit of collaboration and sharing, below are some of the takeaways granted to me from one of the speakers during this conference.


Work Smarter, Not Harder: Time for Less Doing and More Being
Speaker: Derek Wheaton, Consultant

Description: Wheaton, an experience educator, principal, and teaching consultant presented numerous technological opportunities to decrease our work load so that we can focus our finite mental energies on the subjects that are the purpose for this career: out students.
In order to maximize out time for creative thinking, he encouraged us to reclaim our time and minds by optimizing, outsourcing, and automating.

Takeaways:
- 4C's to reclaim our time and minds

• Control your calendar
• Set priorities and write in your vacation time (otherwise, you won't go on vacation).
• Cluster your work
• Set specific times to work.
• Change the culture
• Educators and administrators should be there for their students, not stuck in the chaos that is overloaded email inboxes unnecessary time-consuming tasks. 
• Use of 21st Century tech tools
• Tap into the help that technology is offering.
• Click here for a listing of the technology applications presented in the seminar and access to the presentation slides (given freely by Wheaton). 

- In addition to accepting the help that technology can provide, you can make an impact in the lives and stress levels of your fellow teachers, faculty, and students in other ways. Giving space for gratitude in your day or classroom can have psychological and culture-changing effect.

• Commit random acts of affirmation
• Each day, identify one thing you are grateful for.
• Go on "gratitude walks", which means to go on a physical walks through the school for the sole purpose of expressing gratitude when an opportunity arises.

- Five Coping Strategies

• Set priorities for your time and focus on the situation most at hand.
• Use self-statements that are positive, uplifting, and empathetic
• "Delegate, Dump, Do, or Digitize it! (organizational skills that will free your mind and time)
• Only set attainable goals with appropriate time limits.
• Schedule your work according to your physical energy periods.
• Ex: If you're more productive in the morning, use that time to complete more mentally demanding work.

This seminar in particular left a great impact on me, and it presented me with many tools to aim the preservation of my time and mind as I continue developing as an educator. 

I hope these notes are both inspiring and thought-provoking to you as well. 

Using Cell Phones for Informative Assessment | Technology Teach-In

As a developing student teacher, I, at times, feel overwhelmed in my efforts to appease the continual onslaught of lesson planning. Hours of my week are put toward the gathering of materials and formation of realistic lesson plans—delusions of grandeur must at times be tamed by the reality of material resources and tweaked to more effectively address the context of my particular school placement. Recently, my professors have challenged my classmates and I to individually develop a lesson plan that integrates one of the everyday technological tools—blogs, wikis, cell phones, Diigo, or Twitter, to name a few—we have discussed in class. Given the context of my placement, this assignment is both challenging and intriguing.

When I assess the technological resources at my placement school, I am underwhelmed. Due to the normal financial issues that act as the Achilles Heel of many schools, the technological resources at my placement are limited. Those that do exist are in poor working condition or spread thin between the faculty. As I have discussed in one of my previous blogs, the ever present and most robust form of technology in my school resides the pockets, purses, or hands of many students: cell phones.

Cell phone usage in the classroom is normally discouraged by the faculty as it a source of distraction for students. Yet, in this new day and age where young babies know how to swipe on a cell phone or iPad before they can even speak—a scary thought—the prevalence and usage of cell phones in the classroom is becoming ever more commonplace. Although I recognize the negative impacts they can have in the classroom, I am challenged to change my perspective. How could cell phones be used in the classroom to further a student's learning?

This question served as the impetus behind the design of this technologically integrated lesson plan.

I am currently teaching Environmental Science, and I have been seeking out methods of assessment that I can use to develop a better understanding of where my students are in their mastery of the content and what misconceptions need to be addressed. Using polleverywhere.com, cell phones can help with this process!

This online polling system provides me the opportunity to ask my students questions to assess their understandings anytime during a lesson. Using their cell phones, students can anonymously text their answers to the prompt, and the responses will be tabulated in real time! The visual analysis will allow students to compare their understandings to that of the class, which presents an opportunity for student self-assessment, and it tells me how well students understanding the concept in question.

Below is a schematic of the entire process:

Using Poll Everywhere as a means on informative assessment in my future lesson plan will serve to uphold several of the student and teacher standards as set forth by the International Society of Technology and Education (ISTE). By utilizing Poll Everywhere as an activity in the classroom, students will be meeting the student standards for creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration, and digital citizenship (ISTE student standards 1, 2, & 5, respectfully). Using this technology tool, I can facilitate student learning, design digital assessments, and promote digital citizenship and responsibility (ISTE teacher standards 1, 2, & 4, respectfully).

The use of cell phones in the classroom is currently considered an issue of classroom management and an example of poor behavior. Applications such as Poll Everywhere may serve to change this perspective. This mental shift, however, could backfire if not properly framed ahead of time as students may view this activity as an encouragement to further utilize their phones during class. The reward of this activity, however, is enticing, and I look forward to implementing it in my classroom.

EduBlogger | Talking about trauma

There have been a lot of "firsts" so far in this EDU 504: Teaching with Technology class. I can now consider myself a blogger, and what's more is that I begun following other bloggers: EduBloggers.

When reading through the endless list of educators who are blogging, I was first struck by the shear number of individuals who are expressing themselves, sharing frustrations, triumphs, and insights via their blogs. The range of topics span from classroom management techniques to amusing vignettes, hilarious situations to tear-inducing tragedies. It is also wonderful to see that these writings are not simply drafted, posted, and lost to the black hole that can be internet, like shouting into darkness. Rather, educators are supporting one another through comments, supportive insights, and the generation of dialogue. When first seeing this, I thought to myself, "Wow. I'm stepping into a pretty great profession." I've thought that countless times before but never in the context of the internet or blogging.

One of the EduBloggers I found has a blog entitle Practical Theory: A View from the Schoolhouse. This title caught my interest as I appreciate greatly the efforts necessary to implement theory into practice, something much easier said than done. Those, like this blogger, who try will certainly have developed some wisdom along the way. I ended up reading one of the blogs within this site entitled "How does your school deal with student trauma?" The title struck me as it immediately resonated with my current student teaching situation. Although I recognize that all schools have students who have gone through some serious trauma, I would argue that where I am placed—an adult alternative educational center—has a uniquely high number of students with trauma. Each day I try to teach students Biology but end up helping students talk through issues they are going through, lending support, showing students that people care for them, or pointing them to resources they desperately need. What I have learned so far in my placement is the importance of building relationships with students as the first step before effective or meaningful learning can take place. 

This EduBlogger simply reflected upon how inhibiting traumatic events can be to learning in the classroom. He encouraged his viewers to reflect upon the way in which they think of their students, communicate with them, and the focus of their teachings. He urged his viewers to remember that we are teaching students / people a subject matter. We are not just math, english, or biology teachers; we are teaching people first. 

It was inspiring to see that conversations are being discussed on this pervasive topic of trauma. I am encouraged by the fact that teachers are taking it seriously, and I look forward to joining in this dialogue. Conversation such as this, as I see it, can only result in positive change in teaching practices, school climates, and in the lives of individual students.

Here is the link to Chris Lehmann's blog Practical Theory: http://practicaltheory.org/blog/

Musings on Prezi | Tech-Tools in Use

Recently, several of my colleagues gave a presentation on the cloud-based, potentially motion-sickness inducing (sorry if that's you), new presentation software that is known simply as Prezi.

Chris Anderson, CEO of TED (not one of my colleagues) stated that Prezi is,"...helping to reinvent the art of presentation." Bold statement. Short sighted, maybe? Regardless, Mr. TED's statement does reflect the apparent reason why Prezi got its start, which, according to my colleagues, was because people thought Prezi's older relative, Power Point, was, well, old and boring.

Prezi was designed to allow individuals to personalize presentations or to collaboratively develop creative ones. Instead of the sequentially predictable functioning of power point slides, Prezi utilizes motion to "captivate" the audience as you zoom through the story. For some viewers, this is a fun plus, but for others, it may send them running back to the steady and stomach-safe transitions of power point. My favorite aspect of Prezi, however, is the multidimensional and meaningful way in which Prezi allows you to visually explain conceptual relationships between topics.

Unlike power point, which simply moves you along from one slide to the next allowing little thought of connectivity between idea, the zooming capacity of Prezi allows its viewers to see concept connections spatially. This feature allows presenters to organize their thoughts in a very different way, and, wonderfully, it allows the viewers to follow along on the potentially crazy ride. Concept comprehension may be supported greatly by this application.

Although I am big supporter of Prezi's capacity to allow spatial organization of concepts, there are a few drawbacks that make me hesitant to encourage my students to utilize it. First, the immense potential for creativity that Prezi supports could also be its Achilles heel, at least in terms of the potential for students to become lost in the distracting world of templates, colors, and formats. If students can efficiently select the myriad options presented to them and actually get to the content, we might be in business. That is, of course, dependent upon the technological resources that are available to students. Where I am currently teaching, the school does not have the technologies necessary to support the demanding Prezi software. This limitation, if present, prevents the Prezi-plane from even getting off the ground.

Quotes to teach by — David Thuene, guest speaker

On September 25, an English teacher from Spring Lake High School gave a presentation to my Teaching with Technology class at the University of Michigan. His name was David Thuene.

As he spoke, his passion for education became evident, and the stories and lessons he shared with our class have impacted my development as a teacher.

Below are some wisdom-stuffed quotes from his presentation.
I bet you won't find a-one that you cannot apply to your teaching or to yourself as a learner.

I double-dog dare you.


1. "Teaching is so fun. I get to be the inspiration, not the information."

2. "If [students] don't care about a topic, it seems to encourage plagiarism."

3. "Art is never finished, only abandoned. If we're going to fail, which is OK, let's fail forwards."

4. "If teaching really is the greatest form of learning, than have your students do it."

5. "I have to think in non-Googleable terms."

6. "Only engagement can produce mastery."

7. From Penny Kittle: "Teaching is about honor and goodness and mercy."

8. From Kelly Gallagher: "Confusion is the place where learning occurs."


...I bet I won.

Tech in My Placement

This blog post is essentially a reflection upon an assignment given in my Teaching with Technology class. The assignment was simply to conduct a survey on the technological that existed in the school where I am currently student teaching. There are numerous schools represented in my class, and this survey, being conducted at each placement, made very apparent the wide range of technological assets between these schools. These differences stimulated a very interesting discussion regarding the impact of technology in schools and the potential limitations that arise at underserved or technology-poor schools. Additionally, this survey caused me to observe closely what technologies were available at my placement and get to know who maintained the technological.

First, let me describe the types of technologies available at my placement school. To be frank, the list is short. There are two computer labs in the school filled with old Dell computers. These computers are problematic and often inhibit student work as they are slow and tend to inexplicably malfunction. The poor functioning of these computers cause obvious frustrations within both the students and the teachers. When a computer fails, rather than move to a different computer, students will either use it as an excuse to leave or whip out their cell phones and disengage. These computers could be an amazing resource for the students, but more times than not, they actually result in the inhibition of learning.

The available technology in my actual classroom is even more sparse. Though the old chalk and stone (blackboard) is as dependable as technology comes, it obviously pails in comparison to the technological advancements to date that are utilized in many schools around the nation (and in many of my fellow classmates' placements). But hold on to your seats, there's more! We also have an overhead projector and wet erase markers! This at least allows us to bring some color into our note taking, and it allows me to make neat transparent pages on the school's copy machine.

Compared to the computer labs, the blackboard, and the over head projector, the most useful and ubiquitous technology that exists in the classroom and throughout the school are the cell phones that belong to our students. These little computers represent a huge window to the outside world and an opportunity for students to learn, but they unfortunately are more cause for distraction than a source of academic aid. Teachers throughout the school must constantly manage the (mis)use of cell phones during class. Asking students to put their phones away becomes both tiresome and frustrating. There are, of course, many explanations and variables impacting this current class management issue around cell phones—school policy, adherence and respect for school and teacher rules, lesson plan design, student motivation and level of engagement to name a few—but I want to simply emphasize the point that these great technological resources are not being used to their potential effectiveness in the classroom.

Based on the observations presented by my fellow classmates on the technologies found at their placements, it became apparent that several placements were similar to mine while numerous were not. Some schools are dealing with similar technological frustrations—cell phone management, out-dated and failing computer labs—while others were using their technologies to great effect. It seems as though technology can both impede learning (misuse of cell phones/computers/laptops, faulty computers) or facilitate learning (functioning computers, smart boards, individual laptops).

This assignment was helpful in continuing the conversation regarding the impacts of technology on the ability of students to learn. It seems, as can be said for many things in life, that technology must be utilized strategically and with directed purpose otherwise it can be a have a negative impact on learning. However, the availability of effective technologies in the school remains the primary issue in many schools such as mine.

Connections Across Disciplines - Technology Debate, AP Spanish

This post is written in response to a lesson plan developed by fellow colleagues Anna, Rebecca, Naomi, and Betsy—all Spanish teachers. This project was assigned as part of our EDUC 504 Teaching With Technology class, and as part of the assignment, we were directed to review a lesson plan pertaining to a different subject matter than we will personally be teaching in the future. This post is such a review.

This lesson plan was developed for an AP Spanish class in which the students would be debating on the use of technology in second language acquisitions—online dictionaries and web-based translators, for example. The objective of the assignment was for students to analytically construct arguments around an selected issue and be able to effectively communicate their reasonings to the class. The lesson plan was designed to span a day and a half, where the topic and assignment would be introduced on day one, associated homework would be given, and the debate would require the allotted time on day two.

Having taken Spanish as a minor in undergrad, I am well aware of the allure, fallacies, and frustrations that online dictionaries and translators present. Online translators can have a tendency to butcher anything longer than a few words, there is no recognition for cultural influences and slang, and if you utilize them verbatim for an assignment, you're teacher will not be pleased. On the flip-side however, they have served me well in the past as a resource for learning new words and comprehending short sayings.

Ha. It seems as though I'd have a thing or two to say in this debate, but I would have to freshen up on my Spanish before I could articulately communicate my thoughts in this language. And this is where I think this lesson plan has some serious merit: the debate.

Debates are difficult and stressful even in your native language, but for students learning to master Spanish, a debate could be equally stressful but no less rewarding. The use of debate to practice Spanish requires students to practice listening, thinking on their feet, and responding effectively, all of which, of course, in Spanish. Additionally, practicing debates in high school will likely serve them well in college, future jobs, and careers.

A final component of this lesson plan that I greatly appreciated was the integration of the class's derived social norms—a collaboratively written and agreed-upon set of norms that serve to support a rich and safe learning environment. Before the debate begins, the lesson plan states that students would be given time to write down an established classroom norm that may be helpful in the coming debate. I think it is great that the social norms could be brought into daily class activities, especially a debate which necessitates higher levels of student interaction. If I were to add to the planned closing/assessment, as described in the lesson plan, I would think about having students also discuss how the adherence or lack-there-of to the social norms aided or detracted from the process of the debate. This may provide an effective "book-end" to the lesson, one that again facilitates intention reflection on the social norms and potentially their application to future debates and interactions the students may have outside of class.