REFLECTIONS
Summer 2015
OMG! Looking back over our summer session I realized the tremendous amount of technology I was exposed to and “learned “how to use. I started the summer at a technology level 1. I basically used email, googled information, created rudimentary presentations, used some very basic SMARTboard applications and played around with some of the functions on my smart phone. I am still a long way from even being proficient with the use of this technology, but will continue to build my proficiency in the use of these tools.
One of the most exciting moments was receiving my SurfacePro3. How cool was that? I use it constantly and am continually uncovering new and exciting features and uses. I had many first time experiences. I opened and used Facebook, YouTube and Twitter accounts. I learned what a hashtag (#) represented and how to use it. I shot photos with my phone and tweeted them. I created slide presentations, images with text and even, memes. I took my first “selfie”. I produced live, stop action, image and animated videos with audio soundtracks. I also am building a professional website. WOW! That really is a World of Wonder. I am proud of what I accomplished, although the process was, at times, very frustrating and time-consuming, but the benefits will far outweigh the pain when I can confidently use these technologies in my classroom to enhance the learning experience.
Speaking of WOWs, I really enjoyed these presentations and found many of them very informative and interesting. I especially liked the one on the “Wonder of Water” (LOL). I will definitely be incorporating a similar concept in my classroom. Look for details in “Looking Forward”.
Most of the assigned readings offered incredibly good information. I am going to generally address my key takeaways. I believe one of the key ideas was to teach for understanding, as opposed to teaching for knowledge. This took many forms, from relational understanding to aesthetic understanding. I still find that there is really not a consensus of how to define, validate and assess student understanding, but rather almost limitless and diverse strategies available. I think the key is to find distinct strategies or a combination of strategies that work for you, your students, classroom, school and community.
Another major area explored in the readings was knowing your students from the inside. What background knowledge, cultural influences, beliefs, misconceptions, preconceived ideas and experiences do your students bring to the classroom? As Lee S. Shulman (1999) writes, “the most important single factor influencing learning is what the learner already knows. “ One of a teacher’s biggest obstacles in this learning process is the “Curse of Knowledge” (Heath & Heath, 2007). We need to explicitly go back to the student’s starting point and proceed from there.
Finally, I really embraced the TPACK model in both the readings and lectures during our class time. To integrate content, pedagogy and technology within a defined context is one of the most intriguing models, strategies and concepts about teaching I have encountered in all my professional development. I am not just saying this to gain favor, I really believe this model is very relevant to the times and provides a framework for best practices of STEM teaching. I also agree that technology in the teaching environment should not be used for technology sake but must be used to enhance the learning experience. “Technology must be repurposed for education” (Mishra, 2012).
In all honesty, this framework has completely changed my teaching practice. I have always attempted to create a learning environment through backward planning. Unfortunately, I was almost completely focused on the content and based my teaching on student mastery of these content-based skills. However, this framework and the ImagineIT project have forced me to refocus my approach to teaching and consider a “big idea” and what skills support that idea. I want my students to be able use this learning to understand and build upon what they encounter in the future.
Another key component of our summer session was collaboration and socialized learning. Crossfires, improvisation, ultimate stem, maker’s fair, play stations, deep play and many more activities truly reinforced collaboration in learning. The benefits of collaboration became very evident in these activities with the sharing of a variety of ideas, expertise, knowledge and creativity contributed by each group member. Each group member brought a unique set of skills and talents to the group, that when combined made the final outcome better than that of the individual. From my perspective, I especially appreciated the expertise in using the technology to complete these different projects. The improvisation seminar provided a lot of great ideas for building teamwork and creating a learning community where collaboration is both productive and purposeful.
I’m still overwhelmed by the amount of information and work we accomplished in our first 11 days. Cosmos, olloclip, Fibonacci number sequence, Storify, long tail, whiplash, Plickr, all things Google, tech tips, Museum of Science and Industry are just many of the activities and experiences that I will continue to look back on and use in my teaching.
I think the most important message was to take a closer look at the world around us.
Looking Forward
The ImagineIT project will have the biggest influence on my teaching this year and beyond. This course has completely changed how I will approach teaching in my classroom. As I’ve stated, I have always used backward planning in preparing my units of instruction for the school year. This year, my main focus is not on the content but the “big idea” or goal that I want my students to master this year. Content, pedagogy and technology will then be integrated into a cohesive curriculum to achieve this goal. This year, I want my students to understand the content they need to learn as a 5th grader, but I want them to leave my classroom as mathematicians.
Throughout this course, I have developed this context of becoming a mathematician and been able to define three areas of focus that include perseverance in problem solving, productive collaboration and number sense. I want my students to see, think, act and communicate as mathematicians. I want them to be able to look and experience the real world and develop a mathematical lens to not only solve problems, but also be able to define them. A lot of our activities in class built on this central theme. I will now present real world situations and have my students analyze the situation, identify, define and solve what type of problems we can derive from the given information.
Collaborative activities will become an integral part of each class from turn and talking to a partner to some of the improvisational activities for the entire class that we learned this summer. Further, I am in the process of developing a way to assess the collaboration to ensure full participation and contributions from each team member. Some ideas include participation goals, rubric for group work, and self, peer and teacher evaluation of collaborative work.
I will develop number with daily math/number talks where students must use mental math and explain their thinking to the entire class. Another activity is based on the WOW activity during our class. I plan to have a Math is FUN activity. The acronym, FUN will stand for Fantastic, Unbelievable Numbers. Each day one student from each of my three math classes will be asked to find a number that is amazing or interesting.
Content was really not a part of our summer experience and is dictated by the Common Core State Standards. So this component of TPACK was not really a part of my summer learning experience. However, I am more acutely aware that I need to focus my teaching of content from what the student already knows and avoid the “Curse of Knowledge.” I need to teach from inside to the outside (Shulman, 1999).
Pedagogically, this summer inspired me to include more visual, active, collaborative, technological, and maker activities. A big part of each content-area will be based on Problem-Based Learning that is the focus of my Deep Play Group. I look forward to learning more about this process and using it in my teaching.
As far as using technology, I do have and use a SMARTboard. I plan to expand my use of technology in the classroom based on this summer experience. Initially, I will show an animated video based on that day’s lesson, create interactive check-ups (formative assessments), make available homework help online and suggest games that are available to reinforce the content of each unit. I want to involve the students in using technology to develop problems, show problems and demonstrate their thinking in solving problems, but I need to assess technology availability. My class has limited use of computers and laptops during the day and many of my students do not have computers, smart phones, or Wi-Fi access.
I am building a separate website for my classroom, based on what I learned this summer. However, I decided to get more experience and am using a different website builder. This website will include a brief biography, contact information, my i-Video (Yeah!), an overview of my ImagineIT project and 5th grade curriculum. It will also have a brief description of daily lessons, projects and homework assignments.
Professionally, I will continue to increase my technological foot print. I plan to update and improve my website. I also want to become a more prolific user of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. For Deep Play, we have identified several hashtags and experts in Problem-Based learning that we will be following. I want to discover new and exciting technological tools and programs I can use to enhance the mathematical learning experience in my classroom. As we discussed in class, I need to repurpose the technology available to support my students in becoming the mathematicians I envision.
The entire scope of what we learned in the first 11 days will filter down throughout the year. I can imagine constantly referencing our readings, agenda, presentations, projects, tweets and Facebook to build my teaching tools and strategies on an on-going basis. It is difficult to truly foresee what I will use and what will be purposeful until I incorporate the many ideas I have taken with me and reflect on the effectiveness of these new ideas and how they impact my student’s learning and understanding. The main goal is to have my students become mathematicians.
Bibliography
Shulman, L.S. (1999, edited by instructors).What is learning and what does it look like when it doesn’t go well? Change, (31)4, 10-17
Skemp, R. R. (1978). Relational Understanding and Instrumental Understanding. The Arithmetic Teacher, Vol. 26, No. 3 (November 1978), pp. 9-15.
Heath, C., & Heath, D. (2007). Teaching that Sticks
Learning from Creative Teachers. http://punya.educ.msu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Creative-Teachers-Henriksen-Mishra2013.pdf
Mishra, P. & Koehler. M. J. (2009). Too cool for school? No way! Using the TPACK framework: You can have your hot tools and teach with them, too. Learning & Leading with Technology, 36(7), 14-18.
Mishra, P. & the Deep-Play Research Group (2012). Crayons are the future: Rethinking Technology & Creativity in the 21st Century. Tech Trends, 56(5), 13-16.
Shulman, L.S. (1999, edited by instructors).What is learning and what does it look like when it doesn’t go well? Change, (31)4, 10-17
Skemp, R. R. (1978). Relational Understanding and Instrumental Understanding. The Arithmetic Teacher, Vol. 26, No. 3 (November 1978), pp. 9-15.
Summer 2015
OMG! Looking back over our summer session I realized the tremendous amount of technology I was exposed to and “learned “how to use. I started the summer at a technology level 1. I basically used email, googled information, created rudimentary presentations, used some very basic SMARTboard applications and played around with some of the functions on my smart phone. I am still a long way from even being proficient with the use of this technology, but will continue to build my proficiency in the use of these tools.
One of the most exciting moments was receiving my SurfacePro3. How cool was that? I use it constantly and am continually uncovering new and exciting features and uses. I had many first time experiences. I opened and used Facebook, YouTube and Twitter accounts. I learned what a hashtag (#) represented and how to use it. I shot photos with my phone and tweeted them. I created slide presentations, images with text and even, memes. I took my first “selfie”. I produced live, stop action, image and animated videos with audio soundtracks. I also am building a professional website. WOW! That really is a World of Wonder. I am proud of what I accomplished, although the process was, at times, very frustrating and time-consuming, but the benefits will far outweigh the pain when I can confidently use these technologies in my classroom to enhance the learning experience.
Speaking of WOWs, I really enjoyed these presentations and found many of them very informative and interesting. I especially liked the one on the “Wonder of Water” (LOL). I will definitely be incorporating a similar concept in my classroom. Look for details in “Looking Forward”.
Most of the assigned readings offered incredibly good information. I am going to generally address my key takeaways. I believe one of the key ideas was to teach for understanding, as opposed to teaching for knowledge. This took many forms, from relational understanding to aesthetic understanding. I still find that there is really not a consensus of how to define, validate and assess student understanding, but rather almost limitless and diverse strategies available. I think the key is to find distinct strategies or a combination of strategies that work for you, your students, classroom, school and community.
Another major area explored in the readings was knowing your students from the inside. What background knowledge, cultural influences, beliefs, misconceptions, preconceived ideas and experiences do your students bring to the classroom? As Lee S. Shulman (1999) writes, “the most important single factor influencing learning is what the learner already knows. “ One of a teacher’s biggest obstacles in this learning process is the “Curse of Knowledge” (Heath & Heath, 2007). We need to explicitly go back to the student’s starting point and proceed from there.
Finally, I really embraced the TPACK model in both the readings and lectures during our class time. To integrate content, pedagogy and technology within a defined context is one of the most intriguing models, strategies and concepts about teaching I have encountered in all my professional development. I am not just saying this to gain favor, I really believe this model is very relevant to the times and provides a framework for best practices of STEM teaching. I also agree that technology in the teaching environment should not be used for technology sake but must be used to enhance the learning experience. “Technology must be repurposed for education” (Mishra, 2012).
In all honesty, this framework has completely changed my teaching practice. I have always attempted to create a learning environment through backward planning. Unfortunately, I was almost completely focused on the content and based my teaching on student mastery of these content-based skills. However, this framework and the ImagineIT project have forced me to refocus my approach to teaching and consider a “big idea” and what skills support that idea. I want my students to be able use this learning to understand and build upon what they encounter in the future.
Another key component of our summer session was collaboration and socialized learning. Crossfires, improvisation, ultimate stem, maker’s fair, play stations, deep play and many more activities truly reinforced collaboration in learning. The benefits of collaboration became very evident in these activities with the sharing of a variety of ideas, expertise, knowledge and creativity contributed by each group member. Each group member brought a unique set of skills and talents to the group, that when combined made the final outcome better than that of the individual. From my perspective, I especially appreciated the expertise in using the technology to complete these different projects. The improvisation seminar provided a lot of great ideas for building teamwork and creating a learning community where collaboration is both productive and purposeful.
I’m still overwhelmed by the amount of information and work we accomplished in our first 11 days. Cosmos, olloclip, Fibonacci number sequence, Storify, long tail, whiplash, Plickr, all things Google, tech tips, Museum of Science and Industry are just many of the activities and experiences that I will continue to look back on and use in my teaching.
I think the most important message was to take a closer look at the world around us.
Looking Forward
The ImagineIT project will have the biggest influence on my teaching this year and beyond. This course has completely changed how I will approach teaching in my classroom. As I’ve stated, I have always used backward planning in preparing my units of instruction for the school year. This year, my main focus is not on the content but the “big idea” or goal that I want my students to master this year. Content, pedagogy and technology will then be integrated into a cohesive curriculum to achieve this goal. This year, I want my students to understand the content they need to learn as a 5th grader, but I want them to leave my classroom as mathematicians.
Throughout this course, I have developed this context of becoming a mathematician and been able to define three areas of focus that include perseverance in problem solving, productive collaboration and number sense. I want my students to see, think, act and communicate as mathematicians. I want them to be able to look and experience the real world and develop a mathematical lens to not only solve problems, but also be able to define them. A lot of our activities in class built on this central theme. I will now present real world situations and have my students analyze the situation, identify, define and solve what type of problems we can derive from the given information.
Collaborative activities will become an integral part of each class from turn and talking to a partner to some of the improvisational activities for the entire class that we learned this summer. Further, I am in the process of developing a way to assess the collaboration to ensure full participation and contributions from each team member. Some ideas include participation goals, rubric for group work, and self, peer and teacher evaluation of collaborative work.
I will develop number with daily math/number talks where students must use mental math and explain their thinking to the entire class. Another activity is based on the WOW activity during our class. I plan to have a Math is FUN activity. The acronym, FUN will stand for Fantastic, Unbelievable Numbers. Each day one student from each of my three math classes will be asked to find a number that is amazing or interesting.
Content was really not a part of our summer experience and is dictated by the Common Core State Standards. So this component of TPACK was not really a part of my summer learning experience. However, I am more acutely aware that I need to focus my teaching of content from what the student already knows and avoid the “Curse of Knowledge.” I need to teach from inside to the outside (Shulman, 1999).
Pedagogically, this summer inspired me to include more visual, active, collaborative, technological, and maker activities. A big part of each content-area will be based on Problem-Based Learning that is the focus of my Deep Play Group. I look forward to learning more about this process and using it in my teaching.
As far as using technology, I do have and use a SMARTboard. I plan to expand my use of technology in the classroom based on this summer experience. Initially, I will show an animated video based on that day’s lesson, create interactive check-ups (formative assessments), make available homework help online and suggest games that are available to reinforce the content of each unit. I want to involve the students in using technology to develop problems, show problems and demonstrate their thinking in solving problems, but I need to assess technology availability. My class has limited use of computers and laptops during the day and many of my students do not have computers, smart phones, or Wi-Fi access.
I am building a separate website for my classroom, based on what I learned this summer. However, I decided to get more experience and am using a different website builder. This website will include a brief biography, contact information, my i-Video (Yeah!), an overview of my ImagineIT project and 5th grade curriculum. It will also have a brief description of daily lessons, projects and homework assignments.
Professionally, I will continue to increase my technological foot print. I plan to update and improve my website. I also want to become a more prolific user of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. For Deep Play, we have identified several hashtags and experts in Problem-Based learning that we will be following. I want to discover new and exciting technological tools and programs I can use to enhance the mathematical learning experience in my classroom. As we discussed in class, I need to repurpose the technology available to support my students in becoming the mathematicians I envision.
The entire scope of what we learned in the first 11 days will filter down throughout the year. I can imagine constantly referencing our readings, agenda, presentations, projects, tweets and Facebook to build my teaching tools and strategies on an on-going basis. It is difficult to truly foresee what I will use and what will be purposeful until I incorporate the many ideas I have taken with me and reflect on the effectiveness of these new ideas and how they impact my student’s learning and understanding. The main goal is to have my students become mathematicians.
Bibliography
Shulman, L.S. (1999, edited by instructors).What is learning and what does it look like when it doesn’t go well? Change, (31)4, 10-17
Skemp, R. R. (1978). Relational Understanding and Instrumental Understanding. The Arithmetic Teacher, Vol. 26, No. 3 (November 1978), pp. 9-15.
Heath, C., & Heath, D. (2007). Teaching that Sticks
Learning from Creative Teachers. http://punya.educ.msu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Creative-Teachers-Henriksen-Mishra2013.pdf
Mishra, P. & Koehler. M. J. (2009). Too cool for school? No way! Using the TPACK framework: You can have your hot tools and teach with them, too. Learning & Leading with Technology, 36(7), 14-18.
Mishra, P. & the Deep-Play Research Group (2012). Crayons are the future: Rethinking Technology & Creativity in the 21st Century. Tech Trends, 56(5), 13-16.
Shulman, L.S. (1999, edited by instructors).What is learning and what does it look like when it doesn’t go well? Change, (31)4, 10-17
Skemp, R. R. (1978). Relational Understanding and Instrumental Understanding. The Arithmetic Teacher, Vol. 26, No. 3 (November 1978), pp. 9-15.