MACUL Conferene Visit

The MACUL conference is an annual education conference at Cobo Hall in Detroit, where educators from across the state and nation present and observe the use of technology for the advancement of K-12 education. As a cohort, we were lucky enough to attend the conference’s final day on Friday, March 20. The conference was a the first time I was with so many other people of the same field, but it was also an indication for me that I have yet to really break into the field as a professional, and have more progress to make.

This indication came early on, as even in the coffee shop outside of Cobo Hall, I spoke with other attendees who were able to speak about their years of experience at a school, and how this conference was or was not applicable to their context. Their anecdotal stories and mutual colleagues were things I hope to accumulate over the coming years, and the conference was a good first step. I felt a little out of place in the first session I attended. Although it was led by former teacher of the year Gary Abud, an engaging speaker and strong presence, the topic of teacher evaluation wasn’t really something I could resonate with, being only an intern. I politely exited the room midway through and reevaluated the schedule to look for the most relevant topic at the next time. I found that at the session: “

It was incredibly relevant for my current context at Tri-County, as the discussions of blending learning for at-risk students was the basis for the topic, where to administrators of such schools gave insight from their experience. The session also allowed me to feel more at ease as a professional in the setting, as I was able to speak to one of the presenters after the session for a few minutes, and compare his context to my own, and bounce ideas off each other. Points made by the two speakers, while maybe not all applicable to any at-risk setting, were incredibly poignant and honest. They shed light on the fact that at-risk and alternative settings typically are housed in old buildings or structures turned to educational institutions. The speaker brought up the fact that when a student is looking for a second chance, the least motivating thing is a physically unappealing or old space, and instead we should be working to give them the newest buildings and many resources. My notes are littered with one liners and bullet points made, as well as action items I hoped to share with my colleagues back at Tri-County.

The biggest point that stuck with me was related to students failing a class. In many situations, including unfortunately in my own school, failing a class leads to ask students to redo the same exact class. While in some cases, their poor results could be totally dependent on their choice not to try or do anything, but those cases are rare. Instead, a student’s performance has to be somewhat evaluated as well on the environment and context they were put in, the teacher they were with, and the type of work they were being asked to do. Instead of just repeating the same exact situation and hoping for a change, the speaker encouraged constantly reevaluating the process a student is going through, and working hard to put them in situations where they feel they can be successful, and will be willing to work hard for success. It isn’t easy, but it’s worth it, and I was happy to hear that type of thinking being shared in a full room of enthused teachers.

Teach with Tech Plan

Introducing students to stories of a different place or culture can be challenging. The experiences of those we read about can be foreign, or seem otherworldly, and we may find it difficult to understand why things are so different in other contexts. With that in mind, learning about that context, and hopefully understanding and appreciating that different context is a goal I hope to always accomplish with my students, regardless of the story we explore. In my teaching with technology, I hope we can gain a better understanding of Iran and its context within through the graphic novel "Persepolis."

Prior to reading the novel, I want to send my students on a Web Quest to find information about various aspects of Iranian life, both prior to and following the Iranian Revolution of 1979, to set the story in the novel. Students will be given personal laptops from a recently acquired laptop cart (so exciting, although not always functional!) and assigned topics, either personally or in a small group. They will hunt for information on topics such as how the government was pre and post revolution (Shah vs Islamic Rule), the two sects of Islam, education in pre and post revolution, rights of people pre and post revolution, etc. Prior to this lesson, I hope to instruct students on how to find credible sites online, and use search engines properly. Students will compile information they gathered on their computer, and then we will consolidate the information via Padlet.

I will create a Padlet page that will be collaborative for the class. They will upload their information onto the Padlet, by making it concise through bullet points, and then present their findings to the class as the Padlet is displayed on the board (I also got a projector this term after pestering the tech people of the Berkley School District for a month!). After we have this conversation, we will begin to explore the novel and refer back to the Padlet throughout. We will add observations we make in the novel about the information we had previously found, and create a more comprehensive page of information that can be used even later. I'm still trying to think of a good culminating use for the site other than for reference for future classes, and would love ideas on how I could wrap up the site/extend it even further.

Writing to an Edublogger

I think us teachers are incredibly lucky to have such a plethora of resources online for our benefit, and edublogging is arguably the most beneficial resource at our disposal. While collaboration has not always been a primary concern in the realm of education, the increase of technology and resources has allowed for an increase cooperation and collaboration amongst teachers, whether it be forums on mediums like Twitter, or lesson plan idea sharing on various websites, or sharing experiences in the classroom through blogging. For a new aspiring teacher like myself, utilizing all these resources can be of great assistance in navigating my new experiences as I interact with the students at my placement.

I went on the English focused blog huffenglish.com and read about a very relevant post regarding Writing Workshops in the classroom. The blogger wrote about how she conducts a writing workshop with her students, focusing on how students giving feedback to one another can provide opportunities for really meaningful learning, and aid them in sharpening their writing skills. Since I'll be teaching writing to my class very soon, reading this blog was helpful in a lot of different ways. What I wrote in my comment, however, was about the possible disconnect of the blog to my own experience in my placement. It seemed that all the steps taken were for a class that was already high achieving and willing to take big risks, showing their work in front of others. I didn't really see this working out in my classroom as well as it did in her own.

That's not to say it wasn't effective at all and could not be at all implemented, but just that I struggled to connect all the dots with my own placement. And this occurred across most of the blogs I read, unless specifically catered to high-risk teachers. This was a little frustrating and disconcerting, but nonetheless I feel lucky and blessed to have so many different teachers willing to share their thoughts and experiences for the betterment of others, and I have so much to learn from them. While blogging here doesn't seem to me as something I will continue often in my practice later, maybe this realization will make me want to contribute to the online blogging realm with my thoughts and experiences, with hopes that just maybe, it could help one similarly struggling teacher looking for guidance as well.

Prezi- Just for Show or is it More?

We've had some great presentations throughout the semester on various tech tools that we could incorporate in the classroom for different purposes, and the presentation on Prezi was no exception. However, unlike all the other tools, I came in with a solid familiarity of how Prezi works and what it is used for, and I also came in with my personal disposition towards the tool, and I'll admit it wasn't a very positive one. In my experiences throughout high school and undergrad, Prezi was used from time to time by my peers or by teachers in presenting material to a class. In pretty much all those cases, the application was used just to put a little more flash in the presentation as opposed to powerpoint, through fancy transitions and more intricate themes.

So with that in mind, I felt that Prezi is really not innovative in any way, and that it is useless in my book. Luckily, I have a cohort of open-minded and critically thinking classmates that help push my thinking about things further and open my eyes to new opportunities. Both the presentation as well as the discussions that resulted from the presentation led me to new findings about the tool, and how I can manipulate it to support my instruction. One of the main focuses was on the ability to zoom in/out from a panel into a different one, and the meaning I as an instructor can attach to that move within the presentation. It could help to further the attempt at deep analysis of a topic such as a historical event, or the development of a character in a story. Looking at various layers of the event, the feature could help support students in analyzing what is going on in the story, or what was a cause of real life event.

While I still don't see Prezi as a main source of presentations in my teaching, I think through these revelations about how it could be helpful, I'll consider it more as an option for specific lessons, or at least I'll investigate it further on my own to see if it's something I want to use.

Guest Presenter- Reflections

In our Educ 504 classroom, we've been so lucky to have hosted three excellent educators, who have enlightened us about new ways to gain the intrinsic motivation of students in the classroom, through things like cell phones, videos, and new ways to teach lessons in English and Math. I have benefited very much from hearing about their experiences and their thoughts on how education is evolving.

The first speaker in the series was David Theune, an enthusiastic and really intelligent English teacher in a high school. It was evident from the moment he began his presentation that he was an educator passionate about his work, and always seeking ways to improve his own practice as well as enhance the learning experience for students. The primary focus of his presentation, along with delivering inspiring quotes and anecdotes displaying the importance of teaching, was a tactic he had begun using with students when writing, denoting it as "Writing to Audiences." Now that idea isn't all that new, where different writing pieces done by students should be done with the specific audience that typically reads such pieces in mind. However, Theune took the concept to a new level by actually sending the work that students were producing to different audiences, whether they were peers, friends, parents, teachers, or other people. The students would be made aware that what they were writing was actually going to be read and reflected upon by another person, which he said drastically shifted their writing process.

In many situations, students dislike the process of continually developing their writing and writing multiple drafts. However, when they knew that someone real besides their teacher was going to be looking at their work, it is understandable that they would want to present something they are really proud of. And that's what happened, the writing made huge gains, and the students put their passion into their writing. As an english intern, I attempted to do something similar with the students I have been working with at TCEC. During our Professional Writing Unit, I had them produce cover letters, and instead of just teaching them the basics and writing one generic letter, 4 scenarios were created where they would be writing to a specific person at a specific type of business or workplace. What resulted was a lot more thinking about how to best address that person, and market oneself to that specific person's liking. It didn't click with everyone, and I wasn't able to actually send out their cover letters to companies for jobs, but I really love the idea and hope to use it moving forward.

Technology at Tri-County

Us interns at Tri-County have been told on multiple occasions that "If you can make it at Tri-County, you can make it anywhere." I don't present this quote to seem more capable or a better educator than anyone else in our cohort, as I'm sure that all of our group could handle themselves well in such an environment. I also don't mean to say I'm doing super well in my placement, because I'm hanging on for dear life in reality. Rather, I present this quote because I think in terms of the technological resources in schools today, Tri-County is definitely at the lowest end of the spectrum, and managing and navigating this fact has been an eye-opening and enlightening experience.

An idea of the technology that we are able to use in the school: There are two computer labs, with about 20 computers in each space. The space as a whole, however, is seen as a dreaded class to enter. This is because the room remains at an alarmingly high temperature, the computers are old Dell desktops that function far below our ideal level, and some of the computers have stopped working altogether. As an English intern, it is certainly the case that I'd want students working and improving upon their computer composition skills in order to prepare them for future assignments and pieces they may need to create. However, acknowledging the lack of resources, as well as the hinderance that this computer lab ends up being to learning, my mentor teacher chooses to have students pretty much handwrite all their work in our classroom, which has pros and cons.

Moving into our classroom, the technology is non-existent except for one computer, at my mentor's desk used for attendance and email. All the work is done in notebooks or on the chalkboard, and I feel that the students are getting such a short end of the stick in comparison to other schools in the Berkeley and Southfield school districts just a couple miles away.

I read my peer Mr. Antuma's blog about the same topic, and I think he hit the nail on the head about the hugely missed opportunity for technology in the placement, with the topic of cellphones. It is an epidemic problem in the school over misuse of phones, as students constantly have their attention away from the content of class and rather on the contents of their devices. I have yet to see any utilization of mobile phones for advancing learning in the classroom, but I don't say that to put down the efforts of the staff at the school. Rather, I think it presents the lack of motivation on the part of the majority of the students to be in the school environment and learn. I think a great topic for discussion amongst staff and students could be how to better manage cell phone use, as well as re-direct this use to a manner in which students and teachers are benefiting, working together to close the technological gap that they face at TCEC.

Connections Across the Discipline Review

As an English major, it was an almost default to cater my group's lesson plan utilizing technology around a work of Shakespeare. Our group wanted students to use the vast resources of the internet to explore various interpretations of the famous play Othello within the context of different cultures and countries. We would hope that students would use this activity to not only gain a better understanding of other cultures and the norms and values they hold, but also to reinforce or challenge the depictions and beliefs they had about the scene we reviewed. It was interesting and enlightening to look at a lesson plan within the scientific realm of biology, and I learned a lot from reading Jesse, Sarah, Sara, and Wilbur's Tree Species Exploration.

After going through their lesson plan, I admired the amount of depth in every element of their process, and really appreciated the development of the lesson through the order of the steps done (starting with the relevant bell-work, followed by a brief discussion and lecture, then changing the scenery and environment for the activity). I think the process would allow students to not get lost in all that would be going on in the class period, and I think the learning would definitely be internalized through the various mediums the students are receiving info (both lecture and personal exploration). In addition, I really appreciated the explicit directions that the group provided for how they would instruct their class in regards to tech. Especially in scenarios with technology being put in place, I think explicit directions are helpful and almost necessary to keep students on task, and maintain a manageable and healthy environment. Like I said, really love the depth that was elaborated on for each step.

Since the lesson was so in depth, it was not something I could really be critical of. However, I think the only area of concern was the feasibility of the whole lesson in one day, both due to accessibility issues as well as a time constraint. In terms of accessibility, it may just be important to consider any students with physical disability that may have difficulty completing such an activity, but I imagine the teachers could very possibly accommodate for that somehow. In terms of time constraint, I just think with all that is hoped to be accomplished in the lesson, it may be difficult to complete in one class and maybe the lesson could have occurred the class before, to allow more time for the exploration outdoors.