What are the benefits of action research? The article that we read this week lists six benefits of action research. The benefits that I find the most exciting are those that emphasize the personal nature of action research that leads to the empowerment of teachers. Julie Nora's experience with action research demonstrates these benefits. Her state requires students to take a standards-based exam in the 4th, 8th, and 10th grades. As an ESL teacher, the question Nora posed is, "Does the explicit teaching of the NCEE standards enhance ESL student performance?" That's a powerful question! Here the state has introduced a new requirement and instead of jumping on the NCEE standards-wagon, Nora is saying, "Whoa! Is teaching to these standards going to make things better or worse for my students?" Teachers often get swept along in education reforms that get handed down to them by people who are not concerned with the needs of individual classes. Nora demonstrates how a single teacher can effectively stand her ground for herself and for her students.
What experiences do you have conducting research that could help you in this process?Although I have never conducted an action research project, I am a good researcher. I was a Literature major, so I had to write a lot of papers. I know how to gather information, analyze it, and determine whether or not it is useful. My experience with research will help me in the initial stages of action research as I formulate my question and gather data. It will also help me in the end stages as I analyze the results and reflect on what comes next. However, when you write a paper, you are not required to take action. It's the "action" part of action research that my previous experience cannot help me with.
What questions do you have? For my action research, I have asked the teachers of the 6th-8th Math class and the 2nd/3rd Language Arts class to use flipped classrooms in their instruction. Both classes are using curricula that are teacher-intensive which is fine when you are teaching one grade level but problematic when one teacher is trying to teach 2 or 3 grades during the same period. The problem I am having is, how do I measure the impact that flipped learning makes? What should I measure? How?
Monday, September 30, 2013
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Blog Post #3: Integrating Technology in the Classroom
Most middle school educators recognize the need for technology in the classroom. However, administrators look at the problem a little differently. Instead of asking how "I" can integrated technology into the classroom, administrators ask, "How do I encourage and empower our teachers to use technology in the classroom?" Even though our school is a small one and I only have six teachers, I still have six teachers and six classrooms that I worry about. At times, the problem of technology seems impossible to solve. Thankfully, Dr. Puentadura's SAMR Model gives a 4-tier approach to technology in the classroom.
What I like about the model from a teacher's perspective is that even if you find yourself at the Substition level, you can feel good about being on the "map". And, once you know which tier you're on, you can figure out how to achieve the next tier.
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| SAMR Model by Dr. Ruben Puentadura |
From an administrator's point of view, the model helps me to know where each of my teachers is and it gives me ideas for helping them to climb the model. It also makes me aware of the limitations that my teachers work under due to the lack of technology resources at our school. This awareness can help communication between teachers and admin because I know that I can only expect from them what our resources and the teachers' current abilities allow them to do. For instance, it would be unfair of me to ask that every teacher include a daily blog entry in their classes when we only have three computers. Also, if one of my teachers is at the Substitution level, I can not ask that she immediately structure a project on the Redefinition level.
I plan to help my teachers integrate technology by investing in more technology for our school. As I work on increasing our resources, I will help teachers design technology-rich learning experiences by, (1) introducing the SAMR model and having teachers evaluate which tier they are on; (2) sharing the tools that we have discovered in our class so that teachers can see what is available; (3) subscribe to a select number of premium sites that teachers can use; and, (4)work with teachers on a plan to climb the SAMR model with a goal to cross the median into the Transformation tiers.
Monday, September 16, 2013
Blog Post #2: Digital Citizenship
The question this week is: Why is it important to educate young adolescents about digital citizenship? This is a big question with a lot of different answers. For me, the most important reasons have to do with etiquette, accountability, and safety.
Some of the earliest teaching and learning are about social etiquette. We model "please" and "thank you," we tell them that it isn't nice to hit or push or bite. Children are taught to share and to address adults respectfully. They learn that nobody likes a whiner and the difference between an indoor voice and an outdoor voice. Clearly, etiquette is highly valued in society. Unfortunately, social niceties seem to disappear on the internet. The problem as I see it is that digital etiquette is not taught and reinforced in the same way that social etiquette is. Children are allowed online without digital etiquette instruction and very little supervision. The parent is not there to say, "If you don't have anything nice to post, don't post anything at all," nor to attach any consequence for rude online behavior, "I saw what you posted about Billy and I'm highly disappointed. You need to post an apology and you're grounded from the internet for a whole week." Etiquette is learned--who's teaching it? Why is it important for students to learn digital etiquette? For the same reasons that it is important for them to learn social etiquette.
Accountability is also a learned trait. The problem with accountability is that young adolescents are incapable of understanding fully the long-lasting effects of their choices. Online activity exacerbates the problem because once something is posted online--it is there forever! If a child gets into a fight on the school playground, discipline is meted out, apologies are made and then the incident exists only in the memories of the people who observed the fight. If the fight is recorded and uploaded, then the incident can be recalled at any time and for any reason. It becomes a possible permanent part of the child's identity. Our students do not understand the possible impact that these digital records can have on the perceptions that others have of them for years to come. So, while they are incapable of being fully accountable because they lack the ability to imagine the full consequences, the permanence of the internet makes it impossible for them to escape the consequences of poor choices made in adolescence. Although adolescents need to be educated about online accountability, adults need to figure out how to maintain the same partial-agency that we allow adolescents in the real world.
The same inability that makes it difficult for adolescents to understand the full consequences of their choices also makes it impossible for them to fully comprehend the dangers of the internet. We need to educate them about the dangers, but I don't think education is the full answer because adolescents feel invincible--and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Children need to be aware of the danger, but parents and other adults should have a stronger presence online because we recognize the danger in ways that adolescents just can't.
Writing this entry has made me realize that educating young adolescents about digital citizenship is only part of the answer. We also have to get more adults involved. This is a whole new world. We've got the Pirates and the Pioneers all navigating the same uncharted lands. We have a chance to be Pioneers and lay the foundation of digital society. If we take that chance, we will greatly lessen the harm that can come to our children from digital Pirates.
Some of the earliest teaching and learning are about social etiquette. We model "please" and "thank you," we tell them that it isn't nice to hit or push or bite. Children are taught to share and to address adults respectfully. They learn that nobody likes a whiner and the difference between an indoor voice and an outdoor voice. Clearly, etiquette is highly valued in society. Unfortunately, social niceties seem to disappear on the internet. The problem as I see it is that digital etiquette is not taught and reinforced in the same way that social etiquette is. Children are allowed online without digital etiquette instruction and very little supervision. The parent is not there to say, "If you don't have anything nice to post, don't post anything at all," nor to attach any consequence for rude online behavior, "I saw what you posted about Billy and I'm highly disappointed. You need to post an apology and you're grounded from the internet for a whole week." Etiquette is learned--who's teaching it? Why is it important for students to learn digital etiquette? For the same reasons that it is important for them to learn social etiquette.
Accountability is also a learned trait. The problem with accountability is that young adolescents are incapable of understanding fully the long-lasting effects of their choices. Online activity exacerbates the problem because once something is posted online--it is there forever! If a child gets into a fight on the school playground, discipline is meted out, apologies are made and then the incident exists only in the memories of the people who observed the fight. If the fight is recorded and uploaded, then the incident can be recalled at any time and for any reason. It becomes a possible permanent part of the child's identity. Our students do not understand the possible impact that these digital records can have on the perceptions that others have of them for years to come. So, while they are incapable of being fully accountable because they lack the ability to imagine the full consequences, the permanence of the internet makes it impossible for them to escape the consequences of poor choices made in adolescence. Although adolescents need to be educated about online accountability, adults need to figure out how to maintain the same partial-agency that we allow adolescents in the real world.
The same inability that makes it difficult for adolescents to understand the full consequences of their choices also makes it impossible for them to fully comprehend the dangers of the internet. We need to educate them about the dangers, but I don't think education is the full answer because adolescents feel invincible--and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Children need to be aware of the danger, but parents and other adults should have a stronger presence online because we recognize the danger in ways that adolescents just can't.
Writing this entry has made me realize that educating young adolescents about digital citizenship is only part of the answer. We also have to get more adults involved. This is a whole new world. We've got the Pirates and the Pioneers all navigating the same uncharted lands. We have a chance to be Pioneers and lay the foundation of digital society. If we take that chance, we will greatly lessen the harm that can come to our children from digital Pirates.
Monday, September 9, 2013
blog post #1: the more I learn, the less I know...
I learned this week that I am a digital immigrant, not a digital native. Finally! A diagnosis! For years I have wondered what was wrong with me. I have suffered with the following symptoms:
- I prefer phone calls to text messages
- I was Myspace illiterate (back when everyone had myspace)
- I have a facebook account, but I can only stand to check it once or twice a month--all those "friends" make my nervous
- I still own and use a paper phone book
- I don't twit or tweet because I am incapable of expressing myself in 120 characters or less
- I don't read text-speak
- I don't keep a blog
- I resent that anyone can reach me at any time through my cell phone or email
I have felt like a stranger in a strange country...now I know that I am!
Seriously, though, the articles and videos that we were assigned opened my eyes to problems that I had not fully considered in the past. I knew that our children were growing up in a world that is markedly different from the one I grew up in, but I didn't consider how those differences affect learning. Nor did I consider the need for teaching methods that are conducive to this new world.
The question that struck me hardest is, "What does it mean to teach in the 21st century?" I thought I knew, until the slideshow effectively demonstrated that what is needed is an entire re-thinking and re-vamping of both teaching methods and outcomes.
As I processed what I learned, I began to ask, "How much of this applies to my students?" While the rest of the world may be enjoying their 21st century full-time digital lives, I am not so certain that we in American Samoa are quite there yet. The available technology limits how fully we can live in the digital world--this is true no matter how old you are. So, are our children still considered digital natives? Are they digital immigrants? Perhaps they are part-time natives, like Sherman Alexie's part-time Indian, shuttling back and forth between two cultures, being shaped by both, but ultimately belonging fully to neither.
Whatever the case may be, I now have this question to answer, "What does it mean to teach in American Samoa in the early 21st century?" I hope to discover the answer during this technology class.
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