Class Techie

Module 2

2009-11-14T12:05:00.000-08:00

How can CFQ's (Curriculum Framing Questions)help support my student's learning?

How can I plan ongoing student-centered assessment?

Content Questions

2009-11-14T08:44:00.000-08:00

What are Content Questions?

Examples:

Unit Questions

2009-11-14T08:41:00.000-08:00

What does the Unit Question Do?

Examples:

Essential Questions

2009-11-14T08:40:00.001-08:00

What is an Essential Question? What does it provoke?

Examples:

2009-11-07T13:33:00.000-08:00

This Module has made me think about my role as an instructional designer in the folowing ways...

Write about any other insights, questions, or concerns you want to address in your reflection.

2009-06-26T22:23:00.000-07:00

Classroom Learning and Instruction Theories

I have been teaching for eighteen years, during this time my teaching practices have changed along with the way students learn. My classroom instruction is eclectic strategies established by my knowledge of theories, best practices and most importantly my students’ interest, learning style and readiness level. I have learned a key factor in instruction is flexibility, what works with a class or a student may not work for others. Being knowledgeable of current research, teaching strategies and technology helps me develop an effective learning environment to meet the needs of my students.
Dr. Michael Orey explains the difference between learning and instructional theories. Learning Theory is the inspection of what is going on in the learners mind during the learning process. Instructional Theory scrutinizes strategies for changing the learning environment to guide the learning. (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). Simply put, learning theory is what is happening in the learners mind, this allows us to structure the learning. Instructional theory is what I do to ensure mastery of the skills being taught.
I incorporate parts of following theories, either overtly or covertly, into my teaching practices: Behaviorist, Cognivist, Constructivist, and Social Learning. (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). The usage depends on the objective being taught, the desired learning outcome and the students’ needs.
When designing lessons for my students I include the following information: State Standards, Learning Objectives, Pre-Assessment, Levels of Blooms, Key Vocabulary, Anticipatory Set, Scaffolding and Chunking, Lesson Delivery, Assessment, and Closure (formative assessment). I also incorporate strategies to be used to: Ensure active student engagement, comprehension input, and student motivation. Various grouping and cooperative learning activities are present in lessons.
Differentiated Instruction is infused into my lessons. To reach my students I need to know them, their learning style and readiness level. My digital literacy class is student centered with students working at their own pace move along at their ability level. I encourage and support students to reach for a higher level of learning. Students collaborate and work cooperatively to learn and embed the skills need for the digital world.
The students learn keyboarding skills along with basic digital literacy skills using Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point, and Outlook. Students communicate with others in different countries thru e-pals. The students have communicated through Skype and a Web Cam to communicate visually and verbally.
The Arizona Technology Literacy Assessment has been give to fifth and eighth grade students since 2004. My students have the highest scores in the state. 94% are at or above the state’s proficiency level. I take great pride in being able to instruct the skills need for their future in the digital world.
I love teaching my students digital literacy skills preparing them for the future. I am fortunate to be able to offer my students an opportunity to earn a world recognized certification of digital literacy. Since my students come to the class at different technological levels I must have a wide variety of strategies based upon theory and experiences to facilitate their learning.
The Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology Class has refreshed my memory on the importance of different learning theories and strategies to incorporate into classroom instruction. I have often used project based learning but this course has shown me innovative applications and Web 2.0 tools to add more depth and layers to my students products.
As I continue on my endeavor as an educator I discover and integrate ground-breaking ideas and strategies. I find that sometimes I am caught up with new ideas that I forget the tried and true old effect ones. Great educators are able to use a collection of various strategies and theories to meet the needs of students in the classroom. To do this the teacher must know their student’s interests, learning style and content readiness. Just knowing learning theories and strategies will not be of any use if a teacher is not familiar with the audience and how to best reach them.
The first goal I have set for the next school year is to guide and assist my students in becoming responsible for their actions not only in the cyber community but also in society. Students will be using e-pals, podcast, VoiceThreads, Wordle, Skype, wikis and blogs to communicate, collaborate and convene globally sharing their ideas, thoughts and products.
The second goal works hand and hand with the first goal. The building of a globally community in the classroom with students that are questioning, seeking discoveries and acquiring the desire to learn. My students will be able to view the world beyond the four walls of the classroom. I want my students to be full of questions, dreams and thoughts with the confidence to seek the answers and solve problems. I want to discovery the possibilities the world holds for their future. I believe without dreams there is no future. I want this global classroom community to present challenges for my students and myself. How will I do this? I will have high expectations for the community along with student centered inquiry based learning. I yearn to facilitate the ignition of now smoldering sparks in my students’ aspiration to make discoveries along the path to life long learning.

References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Understanding the Brain [Motion
Picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. Baltimore: Author.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Brain Research and Learning [Motion
Picture].Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. Baltimore: Author.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Instructional Theory vs. Learning
Theory [Motion Picture].Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. Baltimore:
Author

Voice Thread

2009-06-04T23:36:00.000-07:00

Social Learning through communicating and connecting using Skype.

http://voicethread.com/share/528995/

My internal microphone would not work thus I have no audio.
I now have an external mic and have left audio comments. Please let me know if they did not work. Thank you!

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

2009-06-03T21:40:00.000-07:00

Cooperative Learning Thomas Friedman author of The World is Flat, says today's students need to be able to learn and produce cooperatively. (2005) According to a chart of the average students retention rate produced by the National Training Laboratories are the following findings:
Lecture less than 10%, Reading 10%, Audiovisual 20%, Demonstration 30% Discussion 50%, Practice doing 75%, Teacher others 90%. Keeping this in mind, if students are collaborating, their retention rate will greatly increase.

Mrs. Ortiz's students are given the opportunity to work independently, in pair and groups. They are not only collaborating and communication they are also required to teach their information to the rest of the class. Students need to know the expectations and have the opportunity to set goals as to what grade they are striving for.

Keypals are a wonderful way to communicate and collaborate. I have used e-pals and I am able to view each e-mail sent or received. The e-mail program will flag possible Spam and inappropriate mail. Students love to learn what they have in common with others. There are also wonderful projects. The site is sponsored by National Geographic.

My students love WebQuest. The Quest usually requires collaboration with student working as teams. There are 100's of WebQuest on the internet. For classroom that do not have computers for students WebQuest still can be done, the teacher needs to go to the links and print out a copy of the information for each team.

Besides the Website creating programs mentioned in Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works a few others are: GeoCities. Microsoft Word and Power Point, and Google Sites. I prefer to use a blog rather than a website.

Collaboration Organization
Shared Calendars can be used for collaborating students to schedule dates for different components of their projects. Google Calendars are easy to use and post to the web.

Student often become frustrated when they change computers and can not locate and use their favorites or bookmarks. Social bookmarking not only solves this problem but also allows the sharing of bookmarks with others. Del.icio.us is the social bookmarking I use.

Communication Software
Skype is a useful way to communicate, collaborate with others. You can chat, talk through the computer and actually see each other. Since Skype does interfere with band width I recently had an overnight Skype Night. My students were able to see and visit with others in Sweden, Germany, China, India, Australia and England. The learned about the different school systems, history and cultures.

Communicating, Collaborating and cooperation are 21st Century Skills students need to be proficent with to be successful in like. Not allow our students to use this skills is doing a huge disservice to our students.

2009-05-27T21:52:00.000-07:00

Constructivism in Practice

According to Pittler, H. Hubbell, E. Kuhn,M. & Malenoski, K. there are six task students use to create and test hypotheses; 1. System analysis, 2. Problem Solving, 3. Historical Investigations, 4. Invention, 5. Experimental inquiry, and 6. Decision Making. All of these complex mental processes are generally present in project based learning.

Mrs. Omar's lesson on Savings, Investment and Interest Rates with her interactive worksheet is an engaging lesson. But I can't help thinking it could be better by tiering her lesson. She may be surprised that some of her students could create their own Spreadsheet. I believe the lesson is not truly a project based activity for the student, for the teacher, YES! A student just plugging in information to the premade sheet does not create higher level of thinking skills.

Mrs. Schwartz's lesson on Water ph Predication does require students to be actively engaged, make predictions, analysis and synthesis the information. Schwartz is using different instructional strategies to promote student achievement.

I was not surprise at the results of McDivitt's experiment. Video games are a huge part of a student's world. Also it is hands on and a form of competition, very motivating factors for students.

Educators need to realize just because a computer or some form of technology is being used does not mean it is automatically Project Based. We need to ask what is being created? To what degree? What is the outcome we are looking for? How will it be judged by process or product?
Or a combination?

My class is centered around project based learning and to be honest I do not know any other way teach. My students are engaged and motivated to learn. PBL allows my students to frequently make discoveries of new skills and knowledge.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Cognitive Learning

2009-05-20T23:09:00.000-07:00

Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers

This chapter has a variety of ideas to help with the organization and retrieval of information. An advance organizer helps with focusing on the learning process. The use of cues questions and advance organizers promotes higher level of thinking skills.

Word Processing Applications can be used for:
Advanced organizers, T-charts, rubric, brochures, definitions, stories, articles, artistic works, tables and charts

The book mentioned ideas for using a word processing program for organizers and advanced organizers. One idea they failed to mention is using the Drawing Toolbar to create shapes which students can insert their thoughts and ideas. This can also be done in Power Point. Many school districts spend money on software like Kidspiration when they fail to think about the capabilities of programs that they may already own.

Spreadsheet Applications:
Rubric, T-Charts, advance organizers, table,

I like the idea of having the rubric set up to tabulate the sum.

My students set up a personal grade sheet on Excel. The assignments, number of points the assignment is worth and how many points they have achieved are entered. I colored coded key is set up to help students keep track of their progress. If an assignment is completed and the student and or teacher is pleased with the cell is left white. But if the assignment is not done the cell is red, yellow means the assignment is being worked on and blue represents the assignment has been turned in and is waiting for a grade. Upon reflection I realize I need to monitor the grade sheet weekly and encourage students to be accountable for their grades.

Multimedia Applications:
Advance organizers, charts, tables

My district has not invested in purchasing any Organizing and Brainstorming Software. All of your classrooms have an interactive whiteboard. Smartboards have software that lends itself to easily creating organizers. Also there are many free tools on the web to help with creation of organizers.

Power Point is used in my classroom to create vocabulary books. I have not given much thought as to use it as a an organizer but since it has many of the same capabilities as a word processing it can be used as an organizer note taking tool.

Summarizing and Note Taking

This chapter is about tools students use to synthesize information into a concise new form. Summarizing and note taking are often not taught to students. Many teacher assume student know how to take notes or summarize.

Students need to be taught a variety of ways to take notes. Once they are introduced to note taking they should be allowed to take notes that is a best fit to their learning style. If we make them take notes a certain way the student will only do so to appease us. But we allow them to make notes that have meaning to them they are more likely to use the notes to refresh their memories and study for tests. Some students may take notes with a series of pictures this should be allowed as long as the students can explain how they relate to the information they are learning.

When students are given information this should be done in chunks. The students should be allowed to summarize the chunks of information every seven to fifteen minutes depending on the content.

2009-05-14T21:01:00.000-07:00

Educators expect students to perform at their best effort level to receive the best grade. Because we hand back papers with a grade, we expect our students to understand how their effort is paying off. We frequently say you need to try hard, or put more effort in which falls upon death ears. Have we trained students about the effect effort will have on their learning or do we just assume they know?

The authors Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. of Using technology with classroom instruction that works .contends that many students do not understand the connection between effort and achievement. It is believed that students need to see what effort looks like. Using a spreadsheet program is one way students can keep an account of their progress.

My students create on Excel Sheet to keep take of their assignments and the grades. A color code is used to help students keep track of their work. The colors represent: Blue is cool-turned in and waiting for a grade, yellow is no time to be mellow, I am working on it and red is Warning, get going! Students are to use their grade sheet, to monitor what work is turned in, corrected and needs to be done. I give constant reminders to check the grade sheet to see what assignments are missing. I have found this has not been effective. The handful of students that put in effort will diligently look and monitor their progress, but the majority of students are happy just to pass classes which can be as low as D-.

Perhaps combining a rubric similar to the one in the book with the one being used may help students to make the connection between effort and achievement. The students will need to reflect upon their effort by using the rubric. I am eager to try this next school year.

I am not a highly competitive person but I have witnessed how powerful competition can be in the classroom. Every year the class competition is between classes to determine which class can pass the most certification tests. This competition creates many positive interacts amongst the class members: motivation, students helping, encouraging and comforting each other.

Homework should provide practice, review and most importantly application of the content. According to Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. “Having students practice a skill or concept enhances their a ability to reach the expected level of proficiency. Multiple exposures to materials help students deepen their understanding of content and become proficient with skills”
I was amazed to learn that it takes 24 practice session for mastery of a skill. Before
reading this I believed the number was 7 ( West Ed-Teach 4 Success Workshop). So how do you have students practice 24 times without being boringly, repetitive?

My subject area is basic computer skills and not all of my students have access to a computer. The homework I give is to gather data to use in an assignment. This year I have given homework 4 times. Overall 20% of the students returned the work. I think part of this is because the students are not in a routine of doing homework in my class.

Technology is a great resource to aid students with reinforcement, review, practices and application. I enjoyed viewing all this week’s resources. Many wonderful resources are at our fingertips, some do not require being online or using a computer.

I know many of you only have one computer in your classroom. What are some of the ways you use or could use technolgy in your classroom?

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology

2009-05-09T16:45:00.000-07:00

Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology
(EDUC - 6711I - 1)
Instructor: Kathryn Arnold

Week 1: Understanding Learning

Classroom Learning and Instruction Theories

I have been teaching for eighteen years, during this time my teaching practices have changed along with the way students learn. My classroom instruction is eclectic strategies established by my knowledge of theories, best practices and most importantly my students’ interest, learning style and readiness level. I have learned a key factor in instruction is flexibility, what works with a class or a student may not work for others. Being knowledgeable of current research, teaching strategies and technology helps me develop an effective learning environment to meet the needs of my students.

Dr. Michael Orey explains the difference between learning and instructional theories. Learning Theory is the inspection of what is going on in the learners mind during the learning process. Instructional Theory scrutinizes strategies for changing the learning environment to guide the learning. (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). Simply put, learning theory is what is happening in the learners mind, this allows us to structure the learning. Instructional theory is what I do to ensure mastery of the skills being taught.

I incorporate parts of following theories, either overtly or covertly, into my teaching practices: Behaviorist, Cognivist, Constructivist, and Social Learning. (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). The usage depends on the objective being taught, the desired learning outcome and the students’ needs.

When designing lessons for my students I include the following information: State Standards, Learning Objectives, Pre-Assessment, Levels of Blooms, Key Vocabulary, Anticipatory Set, Scaffolding and Chunking, Lesson Delivery, Assessment, and Closure (formative assessment). I also incorporate strategies to be used to: Ensure active student engagement, comprehension input, and student motivation. Various grouping and cooperative learning activities are present in lessons.

Differentiated Instruction is infused into my lessons. To reach my students I need to know them, their learning style and readiness level. My digital literacy class is student centered with students working at their own pace move along at their ability level. I encourage and support students to reach for a higher level of learning. Students collaborate and work cooperatively to learn and embed the skills need for the digital world.

The students learn keyboarding skills along with basic digital literacy skills using Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point, and Outlook. Students communicate with others in different countries thru e-pals. Students will be participating in a Skype Night. We will be using a Web Cam to communicate visually and verbally.

The Arizona Technology Literacy Assessment has been give to fifth and eighth grade students since 2004. My students have the highest scores in the state. 94% are at or above the state’s proficiency level. I take great pride in being able to instruct the skills need for their future in the digital world.

I love teaching my students digital literacy skills preparing them for the future. I am fortunate to be able to offer my students an opportunity to earn a world recognized certification of digital literacy. Since my students come to the class at different technological levels I must have a wide variety of strategies based upon theory and experiences to facilitate their learning.