Any Port In A Storm?

Friday, 5:00 pm

The wind is grabbing the clematis vine on the north window and slamming it against the windows leaving lashes of ice on the glass. The last gasp of winter reminds me that regardless of our technological wonders, we are still puny people at the mercy of the elements.

Likewise it often feels like we educators are being grabbed by the demands of technological integration - one minute we were basking the in false warm of spring and then it all changes. How do we respond? Spring jacket? Winter coat? Or just stay inside until it all settles down? But we also know that by Sunday it will all have changed again.

In the relatively short time we educators have been considering this perfect storm of technology and student-directed authentic learning, the discussion has moved from the “how to’s” of ICT to the “habits” of Will Richardson. The thinking is shifting from “it’s all about the tools”, (the kids already have those), to the intentional development of teachers as leaders of change. Technological integration has evolved into a discussion of teachers as learners/leaders who are acquiring the skills and the tools they need to become more effective. Jeff Utrecht demonstrates how this is a grassroots movement rather than a tech-department-mandated-technologies-add-on. Or as Will Richardson says, “Technology simply has to be “the way we do business” - so stop with the technology committee already, and start with the Modeling Learning Committee”.

The Issues

This video explains the barriers to integration techonolgy:

Chen (2008) identifies further barriers within an accountability culture of government, parents, administrators and even colleagues that demand standardized testing. He suggests that effective professional development reviews strategies for effective teaching and offers models of effective technology integration.

Implications for Learning and Teaching

Could we educators begin with the understanding that technology changes not only how we teach, but also what we teach – that technology could be taught as a part of a greater whole, rather than a skill set? How do students learn tech skills in their worlds? They learn them as they identify a purpose for them, as they need them. Should we not approach teaching tech skills in the same way so they become needed for a specific purpose much in the same way that dictionaries or pencil crayons are needed?

“In life and school, technology skills are embedded. They are in the conversations that teachers have with students about information and safety and communication. They are in the projects students do to more richly learn the curricular content of their classes. They are in the ways students communicate and they way they learn. And they are in the habits of teachers and students in both their school and daily lives. And in this way, the technology skills are embedded in this curriculum. “ https://newliteracy.wikispaces.com/

Cynthia, our discussion leader, invited us to consider models that would be useful in our practice. They ranged from pedagogical theory (McAnear, 2008) to instructional design (Summerville & Reid-Griffin, 2008) to useful tools (Starr, 2009). The TPCK framework (McAnear, 2008) addresses how the interactions of technology, pedagogy and content must be systemically considered in order for effective integration to be sustained. Carpenter and Carpenter (2008-09) further the discussion through their argument for integrating NETS and ALA standards in order to provide for consistent growth throughout the grade levels. Depending upon where the teacher is along her tech integration evolution, a particular model may inform aspects of her practice for a time. But I expect that the models themselves will evolve as well.

The question for us EDES students now becomes: How we encourage teachers to see the connection between technology and student-centered learning?

David Warlick is thinking through a framework that would be a wonderful starting point for teachers regardless of their tech fears or expertise. They could gain traction under their integration wheels within a culture that is “intentional in developing teacher leadership and helping them to see they have an advocacy role, where they understood they were an important part of leading the change “ With tools to give teachers voices and by teaching them how to become agents of change, he sees the shift occurring in how we “do” school.

Here is his framework:

1. What questions will your students be asking?

3. How will the assignment/unit talk back?

4. How will this increase the self-value of the student or develop something of value to

someone else?

5. Where are the opportunities to make mistakes safely?

6. Where is the opportunity for you to ask your students, “Surprise me!”

7. What will your students be able to do with what they have learned?

...And this question leads us back to the first one. I love the systems approach!

How does this week’s discussions and research impact my own practice?

I like what Michelle Smart says:

"We integrate technology where it makes sense to do so."

It is within this context of this week’s meta- analysis that I am currently posting links onto my Parenting and Pregnant Teen program’s class wiki. My students can now refer to the wiki for our upcoming fourth-quarter photography class. As post their portfolios (and baby pics!) to Flickr or on the wiki itself, we can access each other’s photos for collective critiquing. The advantage of joining a group on Flickr is that viewers other than our class can also critique the student’s photos and my students can see some amazing exemplars. My goal is to add a core component of this course onto the wiki each time I teach it. While it will not be completed this semester as I teach all the high school options courses, over time it will be developed with student input.

I will even post my own photos there as well, as I become a fellow learner with my students. As we develop this course together, it will be another step direction of integration through my altered mindset (Dweck, 2006).

Sunday, 10:00 am

The wind has blown for two days and nights and this morning it has finally abated. Some old trees have succumbed to these buffeting winds and have crashed along my woods trail, but that will make more light and food for the new growth forest.

While the storm was raging I had to adapt my own daily running routine by reluctantly moving into the confines of the gym and a treadmill...any port in a storm...

And in that process I learned to use the weight machines. I

never would have attempted this before, as they had seemed to me to be

intimidating and more time-consuming than my old Nikes-dog-and-trail model. But I approached these new tools because it made sense to do so. Just as teachers who move from “tech as tools” to “the way we do business”, it all begins with a shift in thinking: how to use the storm to leverage learning.

Perhaps tech integration could look ultimately like this….

Resources

• Cynthia’s Wonderful Wiki: our collective “go to sites” are listed here: http://notaboutthetools.pbworks.com/
• Kim Peacock’s are here: http://www.protopage.com/web2point0forteachers#Web_2.0_For_Teachers/Research_Tools
• TPACK Reflection: posted on my blog earlier today

References

Carpenter, D. & Carpenter, M. (2008-09, Dec – Jan). All aboard!: How a new curriculum-development review process brought teachers, administrators, and learning specialists to the table and resulted in some interesting uses of technology. Learning and Leading with Technology, 18-21.

Chen, C. (2008). Why do teachers not practice what they believe regarding technology integration? The Journal of Educational Research, 102(1), 65-75.

Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York: Random House Inc.

McAnear, A. (2008, February). School-wide technology integration. Learning and Leading with Technology, 5.

Starr, L. (August, 2009). Technology integration made easy. Education World. http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech146.shtml

Summerville, J. & Reid-Griffin, A. (2008). Technology integration and design. Tech Trends, 52(5), 45-51.