After a week hiatus, I am now faced with the project of thinking about creating an ideal learning space in my classroom that utilizes technology and collaborative learning. Unfortunately I am limited technologically and collaborative learning isn't a safe practice inside juvenile hall....so I will have to think about an ideal classroom separate from my current teaching assignment.  In addition I am required to utilize the notetaking method of sketch notetaking which will be a real challenge for me. I am a methodical notetaker, very linear, what a surprise.  I like my notes to be organized, but I will try my best.

First let me think about what elements I would need in an ideal classroom.  First off, I would use tables instead of desks, where groups of two to four students can sit with each other in order to collaborate.  Secondly, I would have a work table that includes markers, art supplies, colored paper, utensils needed to create and organize student work. Technologically, the classroom would have notebooks and WiFi where students are able to take computers to their work area to collaborate with each other.  Students would also be able to access the Smartboard easily and work on it as a group. A color and a black and white printer will be available for printing student work. Walls would have meaningful posters related to topics covered in class, a word wall that constantly changes according to topics covered, and a timeline that represents the time period covered during history.

Here is my first attempt at note sketching...

This week I will address how do my interactions with students, teachers, supervisors or parents make use of Communications & Collaboration? What is most surprising to me in these interactions? Most of the time, I e-mail constantly or text using my phone. I prefer people to text or e-mail me because I am not always available by phone and I rarely check my voicemail. Texting and e-mail is a 24 hour, seven-days-a-week and I can answer them at 10 at night or 6 in the morning without waking anyone up. It is really convenient. I communicate with my students mostly by direct interaction. I give them assignments on the computer which they share with me and I write back comments. I would probably say this occurs about 10% during class time. Some of my students use independent study programs where I e-mail comments to them after I grade their work. I collaborate with other teachers through our PLC in meetings. I also share almost all of my documents with other teachers through Google. While my PLC work together on shared themes in math, english and history we do not necessarily share the same methodology of teaching the curriculum. I have incorporated most of my lessons through Google and they use other ways.

I'm not really surprised by the interactions I have. I teach in an isolated classroom away from a school. Besides working in my PLC, I do not have much contact with other teachers, supervisors or parents. While I can contact parents to discuss school related issues, I am apprehensive to deal with parents whose children are incarcerated. I would prefer to talk to them face-to-face, but there is not much opportunity for this to occur.

The second thing I need to address is which modalities, strategies and tools do I use most often and which modalities could I use more often in collaboration and communication. As stated before, I e-mail and text when I have time to respond to another's communication. In the mornings, before school starts, I fill out attendance in a google sheet that I share with the Edops secretary but this is still more asynchronous than synchronous. I rarely communicate synchronously unless I am in a situation such as a class where I am given an assignment and need to answer the assignment within a specific time period.

The opposite is true with collaboration. I think that I am much more synchronous in collaboration efforts, mostly because the collaborations I am involved are structured and have a time table. Occasionally they can be asynchronous as I run into people in person or online where we discuss a shared issues.  

Can I be more collaborative and communicative in different ways than I already am? I'm sure I can. I usually change the way I do things when something isn't working or I have the opportunity to see or learn a new way that I find to be beneficial.  Sometimes, it may not be my ideas to make the changes, but I will need to go with it becuase it is the new way of doing things.

This Will Revolutionize Education

Mostly I have been blogging because of a class requirement, but in this instance, I would like to share a video I showed my students today. We watch this gentlemen quite frequently for science class, but occasionally he covers other topics such as this one. I think he made some valid points and my students like what he had to say as well. Check him out.

Curation and Creation

This week I have worked on using the program Symbaloo to curate sites I believe will be helpful to my students.  The internet sites I chose related to the work we do in class.  Some of them are education sites we use on a daily basis, others relate to special projects, and then I added a few that will help my students with their writing experience.

I'm not quite sure how to share this with my students because of the limitations placed on them, but I am going to try sending it to them through Google, then have them add it to their bookmarks bar so they can access it when they want. I will have to try it next week and I will let you know how it turns out.  I might have to try several things before I get success.

I will share the site with my PLC only because they share some of the students, and we are studying the same themes in english, math, and history.

For our next assignment, I want to try a couple of things. First I found a video about animating with Google slides.

I really liked this activity because my students have experience with Slides and this would enhance their knowledge of what they already know.  I'm thinking this would be great to have one of my students create a presentation like this using WWI images and statistics. 

In addition, I want to use the program GoAnimate to make a cartoon video to explain an idea to my students. I'm not sure what they will look right now. Something will come to me over the next week while I'm teaching or driving to and from work.  Sometimes, I just need to relax my brain and ideas will come. One reason I will choose to do make a cartoon animation rather than video tape my image is because I think my students will like it more. Another reason is that I can script it more carefully and control what appears on the video. I think this will be a lot of work and I am not very comfortable with the process right now, especially since I have never done it!  There might be an advantage in giving my students a break from my direct instruction.  Plus it would be great to give them the opportunity to create one of their own.

ISTE: Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments

The International Society for Technology in Education, (ISTE), provides a set of standards and performance indicators for teachers to build into their daily teaching routines. The overall purpose of standard two is to challenge teachers to utilize technology in their presentation of information and assessment, as well as giving students an opportunity to creatively develop projects, learn to research effectively, and incorporate the research into a meaningful medium to share with others.

There are three sub-sections of standard two that I will focus on: 
B) Develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress.
C) Customize and personalize learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources.
D) Provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards, and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching.

This is the first year where I have been able to use Google and all of its applications, therefore I am just a beginner when it comes to using standard two effectively. Of the three subsections, I would say, sub-section 2D is my strongest.  I assign a variety of assignments to my students using Google Slides and Google Docs. Students learn to share their document with me where they can present it to the class on the Smart Board, and I can give them on going feedback on their progress.  I develop vocabulary quizzes and reading comprehension questions through Google Forms. I have just added Flubaroo to my repertoire of digital tools to grade my multiple choice assessments. Students use programs such as Khan Academy and Odysseyware for independent study work. Both these programs are common core friendly and give students quick feedback on their progress. Our PLC has developed math assessments where we use Illuminate to grade and track progress.  

Sub-section 2C would be my next area of strength.  Most of my assignments are made with the diverse learning needs of all my students.  Sometimes I do have students are off the charts, either extremely low or high.  Most of them function between the 4th and 8th grade levels of math and reading comprehension.  Having assignments where students can type rather than write is a confidence builder for most students, plus it is easier for me to read and grade. When a student finishes his or her regular classroom assignment, they can access on-line learning programs, allowing a more directed independent-study experience, while the rest of the class finishes. Technology has helped give extra time for students who need it.

The least skilled area for me is sub-section 2B.  First of all, the environment where I work does not allow students to pursue their own "individual curiosities," because of the restrictions of probation. This year they have much more freedom than in previous years since our server has been pulled under the school district umbrella and the firewall allows students to reasonably browse in Google. This area is a tricky subject, and I don't want to seem pessimistic about my student population.  In general, my students are very limited by their own lack of educational experience.  To help my students complete assignments, I have to restrict their options rather than increase them because if they have too many choices they get overwhelmed.  They tend to lack ability to pare down and prioritize information. 

I think that I am on the right path as far as strengthening my skills in using technology in the classroom  I try to take advantage of opportunities such as this class where I can get exposure to new methodology. I don't have a lot of time to explore the net and try new programs on my own. Therefore I depend on what others are doing and their success with the program. I think this is an accurate assessment of where I was before completing this module.  My goal for technology is related to my own personal knowledge of digital tools and passing that knowledge on to my students.  The ways it might be different is the awareness of the standards and with awareness comes ideas of how I can be more effective in the classroom.