Course Wrap-Up

I really appreciate Five-Star Academy providing this opportunity for free.  With a kid in college, not having to take classes at a cost is a complete blessing.  With my AdvancEd experience this past year, I have enough credits to renew my license without having to spend a dime.  Thank you for offering this.

As for what I can do with this information, my school corporation is moving into a new era of technology integration.  I am typing this on my new Mac Book Pro, I have an iPad, and am going to a meeting tonight to get an iPad for my 6th grade daughter.  As a teacher, I am going to be expected to use this technology more and more over the next two years.  The SAMR model was, without a doubt, the most useful piece.  As we go into our meetings over the next week, I will see how much of that is being shared with our staff.  If the SAMR model isn't addressed, I will offer the resources to my principal and maybe even be able to present some information to the staff.  The teachers in my building typically respond to a nice blend of theory and practical advice/how-to.  Our grade level teams work very well together, so they will be able to collaborate and investigate great ways to incorporate technology into their teaching.

Who is Keith Roberts??

Hmmmm....if I were someone else, say someone who knew me in college or high school, and wanted to know what that old Keith Roberts was up to these days, I'd have a riddle to solve.  Google tells me that there are, frankly, WAY more Keith Robertses in the world than I would ever imagine.  The first few pages of Google has Keith Roberts as a: ballet teacher, pastor, British author who died 14 years ago, in prison for life, sociology professor at Hanover, high school teacher in Nevada, music teacher in Gaston, Indiana, pastor, neo-natalogist, and soccer historian.  Which one could he be?  A little further research will help narrow down the list.  "If I knew him in 1993, he wouldn't have been 60 in 2000."  Information from some of the sites eliminates others.  "The Keith Roberts I knew didn't go to college in California" or "he didn't graduate from undergraduate in 1987."   "He hasn't been leading workshops for 30 years, he's only 40."

So I know Keith Roberts liked music.  He played piano.  Could he be the ballet master?  He was really tall, coordinated, and graceful.  Okay, not coordinated and graceful.  Let's look at the music teacher.  "About Mr. Roberts" on this Wes-Del website should help clarify things.  "...Mr. Roberts graduated from Manchester College in 1995..."  That's him!!  That has to be him.

Alright, back to the here and now.  My "footprint" is pretty small.   I was on page 3 of the Google search.  Maybe I need to update my webpage more often.  More frequent and newer updates may put me toward the front of the line on searches.  As far as responsible footprints go, I don't do Facebook, Linked In, stuff like that.  I don't think my blog has gone viral.  Who knows, maybe this one will.  Maybe not.  If the one about Miss Beadle didn't go viral, this one probably won't either.  I don't comment on articles or postings or videos on other sites.  Those sometime show up in web searches.  I think I'm a pretty respected member of my community and do a good job communicating to parents and my community.  So what if those obscure college acquaintances have to work to find me.  As long as they don't think I'm serving a life sentence.  I don't want that.

Module 7 Reflection

Susie spent hours collecting and curating resources for her upcoming unit on cells.  She is able to successfully use much of what she has found when implementing her plans.

The following year, when it is time to begin the unit on cells, Susie forgets about the resources she curated.  She essentially starts from scratch, performing the task of searching, saving, and sorting once again.

Create a plan or provide suggestions for ways to make your curated resources a regular part of your planning.

Based on what I have to do to write plans and make them available to my principal, I would include a section on technology.  In other words, I would suggest to Susie that every week in her plans that she include a list of technology uses or resources.  As she does this regularly, she will remember each week to either look back on previous years' plans or just simply remember that she has researched and curated resources.

Furthermore, a person who regularly does this will have a regular system for logging their findings, such as Google docs.  So, there are two habits I recommend for Susie that repetition will make easier: citing resources on a regular basis, thus tripping her memory about previous research; and keeping all unit resources in folders somewhere such as Google docs.

Sponge Bob and Motivation

It is good timing and a little bit of providence that it doesn't seem we are being asked to relate autonomy, master,and purpose to technology.  The first comment to be made is about the experiment Daniel Pink talked about.  The group with the money as incentives didn't go faster or do better because they were as equally unskilled as the other group.  They didn't know how to solve the problem or have the skill to do it, and offering all the money in the world wouldn't change that.

Speaking of non-technological, how does playing the recorder sound?  I know the purpose for teaching the recorder, but kids need to have one too.  I spend two semesters over two different school years trying to get them to master the basics so they can be autonomous at some point when they have the recorders at home.  Usually we only play in the music room, but last week I taught a class how to play the end of the Sponge Bob song.  They are never more motivated than when they are learning songs that other people know and will recognize.  We found a class to play it for and asked them to identify the song.  They loved performing for another class even though our experiment didn't go so well.  Apparently, out of context, that little diddy doesn't sound familiar. 

The point is that I have identified a scenario I encounter every year to be aware of these three important components of learning.  I will be conscious of pacing, skills, and specific material I use and use them to the best advantage.

Module 3 Reflections: Tiny TIM vs. Miss Beadle

Where do I rate myself in each area of the TIM?
So I am reading and watching all of the material for The Matrix, and confirmed what I have known: Miss Beadle (Walnut Grove. Little House on the Prairie. Ring a bell?) had me beat on technology use.
                                                         

                                                   
Ok, so that's not exactly true.  But I'm low down the scale on most things.  At the simplest level, I use  electronics to play music.  I use a projector/screen.  In math, I'm possibly in the adaptation level because I facilitate/assign material but the students do it at their pace.

Where could I reasonably be by the end of next grading period?
Possibly at the adaptation level.  Without devices such as iPads it will be hard to move past adoption.  But 4th and 5th graders will have iPads so I will look at ways to collaborate on or create projects for topics such as composers, music theory, or a unit I do on ballads.

What steps will I take in order to make growth happen?
The matrix we had, and the accompanying videos, was quite comprehensive.  That will give me guidance as I start planning.  I will be researching apps and programs available for use in the classroom as well.  More than anything, though, I appreciate the focus on the attributes of the learning environment, such as it being active, collaborative, etc.  Even Miss Beadle would have understood that with her chalkboards her lessons had to be engaging, collaborative, constructive, and authentic (remember the one with the leaf collections?).

                                                         

I will pick a series of lessons or a unit for upper grades and think of an end product, such as a video project we can put together at school, and plan that for the first part of next year.  I need to acknowledge that students will know how to do things with phones or cameras that I don't.  Part of that process will be to let them guide each other, and me, in creating and publishing these products.  Is that part of the problem some of us have in integrating technology?  "I can't teach the kids how to do or use this stuff?"  I don't really have to if some of them can be leaders themselves.  The one video had the teacher talking about several different software or media programs I have NO idea how to use.  Never even heard of most of them.  That's for me to fix, though.

Conclusion

• The TIM and SAMR information has been enlightening, to be certain.  I have had fun making the Little House on the Prairie references.  I suppose there are classrooms out there where the only difference between the Walnut Grove School and theirs is electric lights and indoor plumbing.  I really have been given an outlook on how to integrate technology into quality teaching I didn't have before.  I will put in the time and energy to figure out how I can get started on entering this century, not Miss Beadle's.

                                                                    

                                                      

Module 2 Reflection

It's harder to rate myself this time around.  I felt like I got the work done really quickly.  I read the material and posted/responded, then, BAM, I was finished.  Had I gone back and read my post, comments to others, and responses to my post, I probably would have caught the fact I didn't use a quote from the article. I was able to relate personal experience better this time around.  I also feel like the content lent itself better to us being able to evaluate the basic principles of teaching.  How do we teach ANYTHING?  Let alone "old school" or "new school" way. What are the steps to planning and carrying out a lesson?  Some of the material lent itself to that discussion.  In all, my participation was mostly effective, maybe exceptional in "relating personal experiences."

Module 1 Reflection

I laid out all of the material in front of me as I entered my comments and posts.  I made every effort to be exceptional, using terminology, examples, and clear and concise language.  I think (hope) I was successful in the first and third areas of the rubric.  I am admittedly lacking in the use of technology, other than using a projector.  My math kids use a computer program for everything, but I don't do anything other than organize work and quizzes.  I don't take credit for that.  That puts me, I would say, lower in the "use of evidence, examples, and personal experience" category, perhaps evolving.  Effective if you count me saying "I don't have much experience."  I was effective, maybe only evolving, in the collaboration area.  I try not to comment or expound when I have nothing really important, relevant, or insightful to add.  I guess I was going with the "If you don't have anything to say, don't say it" theory.  I read most of the comments as of Wednesday, and replied to the replies to my posts when it warranted.  That all being said, I am hopeful that I will learn and be able to apply many new things and will have lots of experiences and discoveries to share.  This is just the beginning!!