UDL Guidelines in Practice: Grade 1 Mathematics

EDUC 6713 REFLECTION

The acronym GAME really helped me focus on the steps I needed to achieve my goals and I think this will be especially helpful for my students. My first goal of explicitly teaching and modelling safe, legal and ethical use of digital information (NETS-T 4a) has already lead me to plan this exposure into my curriculum. I have spent considerable time planning for implementation. My lesson plans are ready to go. I am ready to monitor and collect data so I can evaluate the impact on my students and, assuming all goes well, I am excited about sharing these new techniques with my colleagues and administration. My second goal (NETS-T 5c) was easier to implement since it involved me monitoring and reflecting on emergent technology tools and resources. My personal learning network has offered plenty of opportunities and a large amount of helpful advice. I have prepared my technology journal but, until school starts, it will not be possible to reflect on the implementation of new tools and resources.

As I mentioned, the acronym GAME will help my students see each step of the process clearly. However, with such young students (first graders), I will need to give the students clear examples and alternative language for the words Monitor and Evaluate. Plenty of modelled examples should help them to see how they can look reflect back over their learning in order to measure its effectiveness. Teacher-assessments, peer-assessments, audience feedback and self-assessments have always featured heavily in my instructional practice.

I had already thought that I was doing a good job of integrating technology. However, this course has shown me that there are gaps that need filling. Mostly, I feel that there needs to be an increase in conversations about the ethical use of technology school-wide. Many teachers use technology for research but it is not always effective and students are not expected to quote sources.

Our curriculum is based on inquiry and therefore problem-based learning is a big feature of what we already do. Students are guided to locate their own inquiry questions and the teachers provoke deeper thought with problem-based questioning.

This course has made me reconsider the effectiveness of social networking/online collaboration. I feel that this is an area that I have tended to avoid with my young first graders in favour of all the other wonderful things that can be done with technology to extend my students’ learning. However, this year I will be moving to third grade and I already have plans to include online collaboration as a regular way for my students to reflect and report on their collaborative projects. In order to do this, I will assign time at the beginning of the year to explicitly teach some rituals for the regular use of these technology tools. With regards to digital storytelling, it is my intention to spend more time investigation and evaluating the most appropriate digital storytelling tools for my particular group of students for this upcoming academic year.

Reflections on my progress so far

The first of my GAME plan goals was to implement the explicit teaching of safe and ethical practices in all my classes. The information I need to achieve this goal was covered in our previous course. The QUEST strategy for teaching safe and ethical practices is spelled out in the course material provided and I am very much looking forward to trying it with my students on a regular basis.

Aside from these resources, I will also need to begin writing curriculum and lesson plans that include this new information. Since, I do not teach within a National System I feel that there is easily time in our syllabus to include this. Obviously I will not know how successful or effectively it will be until I have had a chance to reflect and evaluate the lessons.

Discussions with colleagues will have to wait until school starts again. I imagine that most of the teachers will be interested in what I am saying but will naturally look to me and my class trialling the lessons before making any changes in their own classroom.

My second goal involves staying up-to-date with current developments and I believe that I have been doing this through my learning network. Similarly to my first goal, I have many ideas about implementing technology into my lessons next year and this is also why I was motivated to ask for a change of grade level for next academic year. I have very much enjoyed teaching first graders but I felt that I could integrate and extend my delivery of technology much more with older students.

At this point, I do not feel that I need to modify my action plan. Kaladia has kindly offered me some food for thought. Her main question was how would I go about getting colleagues to collaborate with technology integration. In fact, I do not believe that my goal is to have colleagues collaborate on projects. Since I am not the technology co-ordinator I have the space to create my own personal goals. I do hope that some of the other teachers might be inspired or at least show an interest in what I am trying to achieve.

Over the course of many weeks on the Master’s Course, I have learned a great deal with regards to the difference between technology teaching and technology integration. Mainly I have learned that there is room for both, although I do believe that the integration part can often lead to the former as the students practice using software and become more familiar with different technology applications.

I am reassured to know that integrating technology is an enormously valuable tool for 21^st century learning and not just a fad.

Resources need for GAME plan

As I mentioned in my initial posting, there are several actions that I would like to take in order to achieve the goal of advocating, modelling and teaching legal and ethical use of digital information and technology. The first would be to open these discussions during grade level and whole school faculty meetings. To discover what is happening in other classes and to reach a consensus on how we can all move forward in order to ensure consistency across the grade levels. The next stop is two-fold: planning for and explicitly demonstrating good practice in the classroom.

I hope to achieve the implementation and explicit teaching of safe and ethical use of digital technology through the QUEST strategy covered in Week 7 of EDUC 6712. I do not believe that I will need any additional resources than I already have at my disposal. However, regular and reliable access to the internet will be necessary. The greatest resources that I will need to successfully achieve this target will be careful lesson planning and assessment.

Since we are halfway through the summer vacation, I have not yet been able to carry out these plans but I intend to begin as soon as the new academic year starts.

I also wrote in my initial posting that, for me, there are two greatest sources of information and education in this regard. The first is my personal learning network online: other professionals sharing their experiences and knowledge and the older students creating and demonstrating how they use technology. “After you’ve identified your learning goals, you need to take action to meet those goals (…) You could take a class. You could ask others. You could research information online or in books. You might even ask your students” Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer (2009) p.4.

It is nothing new to me to be regularly reading and checking my aggregator for interesting posts on new technology tools and their application. During the holidays I am fortunate enough to have additional opportunities to refine, revise and add to my personal learning network. One of my favorite ways of keeping up with new developments during non-teaching times is to read educational publications and technology-related materials such as Mac Magazine.

This is my GAME plan

I would like to make a more conscious effort to explicitly advocate, model and teach safe, legal and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources (NETS-T 4a)

The last course: Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom has opened my eyes to the fact that many teachers (at least in my school) are not deliberately instructing students on the legal and ethical use of digital information and technology. Whilst we all agree that it is important, I do not believe that we are making this point transparent enough to the students. Indeed, I am not at all certain that most teachers are even familiar with our school’s Acceptable Use Policy. There are several actions that I would like to take in order to achieve the goal of advocating, modelling and teaching legal and ethical use of digital information and technology. The first would be to open these discussions during grade level and whole school faculty meetings. To discover what is happening in other classes and to reach a consensus on how we can all move forward in order to ensure consistency across the grade levels. The next stop is two-fold: planning for and explicitly demonstrating good practice in the classroom.

Progress will be monitored through the assessment and evaluation of my students’ knowledge and digital artefacts. If my students’ work reflects the appropriate use of citations and paraphrasing, as opposed to copying and pasting without crediting the sources I will feel that my goal has to some degree been achieved. My learning will have been extended by the development of my lesson plans and instruction in such a way as to reflect this change in my students. Monitoring my progress towards developing consistency across grade levels may be more a matter for my administration to evaluate and track. However, I will feel successful if, at very minimum, teachers are able to engage in positive and useful collaboration through our discussions and reflections.

My second and on-going goal is to evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning (NETS-T 5c). The beauty of the technological advancements of recent years is that there seems to be a tremendous increase in the creative use of technology tools. The downside is that this progress seems to be happening at such lighting speed that it is often hard to stay abreast of all the new innovations and applications.

For me, there are two greatest sources of information and education in this regard. The first is my personal learning network online: other professionals sharing their experiences and knowledge and the older students creating and demonstrating how they use technology. “After you’ve identified your learning goals, you need to take action to meet those goals (…) You could take class. You could ask others. You could research information online or in books. You might even ask your students” Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer (2009) p.4.

Whilst my personal learning network keeps me up-to-date with current research and novel ways of implementing the strategies, I feel that I need to make a more conscious effort to regularly evaluate my use of technology and its effectiveness vis-à-vis my students’ learning. In order to achieve this goal, I would like to maintain a technology journal; which includes my own observations, personal reflections and accounts of both student focus groups and colleagues’ comments. “Key to effective reflection is to go beyond a simple description of what happened to consider why it happened, how it is connected to other events, and what adjustments should be made to subsequent actions based on this understanding” Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer (2009) p.11.

Reviewing these notes at quarterly intervals will allow me analyze patterns in the data and monitor the progress I have made towards achieving this particular goal.

References

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful

classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc.,

Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National education

standards for teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashxhttp://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx

My reflections on Learning with Technology

Previously I stated that my personal learning theory might be entitled Cognitive Constructivism. I believe that every individual should be responsible for their own learning. That their natural curiosity should lead the way to building and refining knowledge and understanding. In a sense, my teaching is only as effective as their learning. The two sides must connect in the learner's mind.
Through the study of different theories I have come to the conclusion that instructional and learning epistomologies are not a set of guidelines to follow. Instead they are hypotheses which allow us to consider how, when and in what circumstances optimal learning is most likely to occur. And, it reinforced my hypothesis that no one theory alone can seek to prepare all our students for a future that we can only imagine. Lever-Duffy & MacDonald (2008) seem to sum this up best when they advise: "(A)s an eclectic instructor, you can choose to implement those parts of the theories that best match your learner's needs and the characteristics of a particular lesson's specific objectives."

However, focusing in on each theory did assist in a better selection of strategies and tools. Being more specifically selective and better able to account for my choices has allowed me to see my immediate goal of revising the level of technology I use in my classroom. As somewhat of a technophile myself, I know I can often become dazzled by the latest innovation. I am eager to jump in and test it out with my students but, at times, this means that I am not thinking carefully enough about how the tool might actually be (or not be) enhancing their learning.

In the short-term this means that I must take stock of the tools that I am using and cut back on those which maybe superfluous and/or beyond the students' needs and abilities.
As a longer term goal it means making a more conscious effort to integrate technology into my pre-planning; keeping the learning objective at the core and ensuring that the technology actually fulfills that objective.

To ensure more seamless integration I will need to increase individual access to technology. Currently my students have limited access to cumbersome and out-dated hardware. The students lose valuable time just dealing with the mechanics and, in this day and age, that should no longer be the case. It is a little like my students having to turn pulp into paper and whittle their pencils to a point before beginning their essay.

In order to achieve my goals I will need to stay abreast of new technologies and their applications for learning. Maintaining a strong personal learning network and regular scholarly reading will be crucial to developing my own knowledge and understanding and to empower me to present a much stronger case to those who make the funding decisions.

References
Lever-Duffy, J., & MacDonald, J. (2008). Theoretical Foundations (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

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Practical Social Constructivism

I have a young learner in my class this year who has taught me a lot about constructivism and socially constructed understanding. He was introduced to me as a hyper-active student with severe language delays and concentration difficulties.
Firstly, I noticed that he had not yet developed his ability to self-talk. That little voice inside our heads that tells us not to speak too loudly to our neighbor in the cinema, or, in this boy's case not to make animal noises every few seconds during circle time. Since self-talk is a crucial part of constructing knowledge, I wondered whether he was finding it hard to build connections because of this deficit.
Soon we had him talking out the steps of each and every task and, before long, not only his vocabulary improved but also his ability to perform tasks independently. In the past, he had been addressed for his anti-social behavior on numerous occasions but stimuli-response behaviorism was having more of a negative effect.
His language development was holding him back from verbally interacting with other students. And his attention deficit was potentially eliminating any contributions he might have made if he were better able to follow the flow of the conversation. Nevertheless, with support, he was made to feel part of our class team. He was listened to and his peers (who were only 6) were amazingly patient and supportive in the way they not only included him but actually made sure he was fully understanding. The power of social constructivism was almost palpable.
Our young friend has made exceptional progress but so have his peers; having truly come to an understanding of their role as the More Knowledgeable Others (MKO).

Dr. Orey tells us the MKO can sometimes be a computer. He states that conversations help students concretize their learning and that these verbal interactions occur naturally when students are working together to construct an artifact. Multimedia technology supports the tenets of social constructivism in a myriad of ways. VoiceThread slideshows, for example, allow students to verbalize their thought process through a combination of visual and audio recordings. "Technology can play a unique and vital role in cooperative learning by facilitating group collaboration, providing structure for group tasks, and allowing members of groups to communicate even if they are not working face-to-face" (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007). There exists a wealth of websites and technology tools which allow the learning to go far beyond the classroom. Perhaps the most exciting, yet challenging, role of technology as an instrument of social constructivist learning is its global application. "(T)here are many examples of Websites that facilitate correspondence and project-based learning between students and other communities" (Pitler et al., 2007).

Knowledge is being shared, critiqued, revised, constructed in ways we never thought possible 20 years ago. As Siemens puts it information abundance may well be reshaping education.

Teacher issues

I hope you enjoy the humor and message in this Voicethread.
I look forward to hearing/seeing your comments.

Constructvism and Constructionism

In our reading last week, we saw an example of using spreadsheet software to reinforce effort. We considered how the strategy of Reinforcing Effort correlated with the tenets of Cognitive Learning Theory.

Let us imagine that, as an introduction to that sample lesson, the students had been invited to hypothesize as to some of the factors which might have a significant impact on test performance. The students could follow up by collecting and testing the data. In this example, students would be involved in Constructivist Learning since they are offered the opportunity to inquire into their own learning. They are constructing their own understanding by creating and testing their hypotheses.
As Dr.Orey (2001) points out "Rather than viewing knowledge as truth, constructivists construe it as a working hypothesis."

Now let's assume that the teacher encourages the students to prepare ways of communicating their findings by creating a final artifact. They might, for example, create a multimedia powerpoint presentation and then they would be using Constructionism since they are involved in producing a final construct.

The type of activity described above is often referred to as Learning by Design (LBD) or Program Based Learning (PBL). Since the students are immersed in generating and testing hypotheses, they are designing their own learning. The teacher should be instigating the ideas, guiding the project, supporting the plans and assessing both the process and the final outcome. "Learning by deisgn emerges fromt eh constructionist theory that emphasizes the value of learning through creating, programming or participating in other forms of designing. The design process creates a rich context for learning (...) Through this experience, learners construct meaning and internalize the learning process. (Orey, 2001). Project based learning extends this idea by stressing the importance of student-centered, authentic learning with an emphasis on creating as a part of the learning process. (Orey, 2001).

Many people feel that student-generated learning is best suited to older students. I would disagree with this assumption. Young children are often consider to immature or inexperienced to "know what's good for them". However, I believe that this is a serious underestimation of the true potential of every child. Like their older counterparts, young children have an amazing capabilty for self-regulation. And, from a teacher's point of view, this ability to think out loud makes assessment of the process a whole lot easier. I feel that developing and encouraging the ability to overtly verbalize their learning is crucial to effective constructivist education. Students who are competent and confident at expressing their thought process are more open-minded, creative and have less fear of taking risks, not to mention being invaluable members of cooperative teams.

This sharing of knowledge and understanding brings us closer to Vygotsky's theory of Social Constructivism; whereby meaning is developed not only through immersion in content but also through collaborating, evaluating and disseminating learning with others. "Vygotsky's sociocultural theory emphasizes the social environment as a facilitator of development and learning." (Laureate Education, Inc. 2008).

References:
Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Main_Page

Laureate Education, Inc. (2008). Learning Theories and Instruction. Boston: Pearson.

Cognitive Tools for Learning

When cognitive theorists first hinted at the complexity of human learning, the best they could do was hypothesize. In their own words, the mental processes to which they referred were undetectable through mere observation. In more recent times however brain imaging technology and research is beginning to open up that closed world of brain function. It is forcing us to re-evaluate what we believe to be true about the operation of this fascinating organ.

Cognitive Learning Theory suggests that humans learn by sensory inputs entering the short term memory. From here the most important data is scrutinized more deeply by the working memory and rehearsed in order to pass into the long term memory. "Cognitive information processing is not the name of a single theory; it is a generic name applied to theoretical perspectives dealing with the sequence and execution of cognitive events." (Laureate Education, Inc, 2008.).

Keeping it clear
Essentially, keeping information manageable and concise adds to our ability to attend to it. Thus strategies such as advance organizers, summarizing and note taking assist us in focusing on what is important. "Note taking is similar to summarizing in that it enhances students' ability to organize information in a way that captures the main ideas and supporting details, helping students to process information." (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn And Malenoski, 2007.).

Connect the dots
Using spreadsheet rubrics (as an example of an advance organizer) provides a graphical representation of how knowledge is connected. Paivio's dual coding hypothesis and elaboration are instrumental in ensuring that information is not only stored but also more easily and effectively retrieved from the long term memory. Cueing and questioning are effective techniques for firing up previous learning experiences. Good questioning can trigger the recall of previously stored schema and provide opportunities for attaching the new learning to this previous understanding. "Questions perform the same function as cues by triggering students' memories and helping them access prior knowledge." (Pitler, et al, 2007.).

Tying it all together
Combining the use of advance organizers with effective, essential questioning can offer an ieven more powerful classroom instructional technique. Quality essential questions "... require the student to make a decision or create a plan" (Pitler, et al, 2007.) leading to deeper levels of critical thinking, such as problem solving.
Multimedia software, such as Powerpoint, allows students to present notes and summaries in a variety of formats: lists, tables, graphics and words. As technology advances, we begin to see an increasing number of cognitive tools which not only target the important elements of dual coding and elaboration but also extend the capacities and capabilities of the short term memory.

References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (2008). Learning Theories and Instruction. Boston: Pearson.

Pitler. H., Hubbell. E., Kuhn. M., and Malenoski. K. (2007). Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

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Behavorism in Practice

The application of Behaviorism, a theory most commonly associated with B.F Skinner, can be explained as teachers creating situations in which students are exposed to stimuli which require a response from the learner. This learned behavior is then either reinforced as effective or deterred or ignored if inappropriate. Interestingly, many people equate negative reinforcement with punishment but this is not necessarily the case. For example, in a computer game, or more commonly in the game of “Snakes and Ladders”, you might reward 5 correct answers (or moves) with skipping ahead. In the same way, rewarding consistently good quality homework with a free pass on the next homework assignment might be an example of negative reinforcement used as an incentive.
The strategy of reinforcing data using spreadsheets (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007) demonstrates several characteristics of Skinner’s (1954) programmed instruction with particular reference to computer-assisted instruction. The learning is presented in a linear fashion, the students are involved in active responding, new knowledge is built on prior understanding (in this case being able to understand the words in the rubric for example), there is immediate feedback and individualized outcomes (Laureate Education Inc., 2008, p.175). It also conforms to the components of mastery learning because it uses small units of content such as learning how to read a rubric, selecting appropriate score, inputting score into the spreadsheet, selecting a new workbook page which shows the graph, understanding how the graph demonstrates the correlation of effort and test scores. There is a logical, linear sequence to the learning and the students must understand the previous requirement before they are able to complete the next task. There are concrete, observable outcomes of this mastery. For example, if a student enters a score of 52 when the highest possible score is 4, they have clearly not achieved mastery of the previous skill. (Laureate Education Inc., 2008, p.177).
Thus, reinforcing effort through spreadsheet software requires the students to input data which then offers correlation information between the degree of effort as compared to the resulting test scores. The purpose of this technique is to encourage students to visualize the potential of test score improvement as a result of increased effort. Since the students are able to see the correlation between behavior (effort) and result (test score), the students is encouraged to apply this positive behavior onto future assignments. In this sense the behaviorist pattern of stimulus-response-reinforcement is clearly defined.
If we consider the four key principles of Behaviorism attributed to James Hartley (1998) by Smith, K. (1999) we can begin to analyze how the strategies of Homework and Practice relate.
1. The students are involved in the drills and practice of the skills. This is evident in the example of Coach Turnage and Mrs. Baker’s use of spreadsheets on pages 190-191 of Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that works (Pitler. H, Hubbell. E.R, Kuhn. M and Malenoski. K, 2007.)
2. The learning is repeated in a variety of situations and by different means. Where homework is concerned, the learning may have begun in the classroom and the homework task is similar to, but not necessarily identical, to the way in which it was delivered previously.
3. To be effective, homework and drill practice should be responded to as quickly as possible. Modern technology is a great source of immediate feedback for the students. For example the use of flash, interactive mathematical games can give students immediate feedback at home.
4. Mastery of learning is demonstrated in the example of how to use word-processing tools. Each step is clear, concise and builds on previous learning. In Emma’s search for the meaning of the term persecution, she builds on her understanding through the use of different reference tools.

References:
Hartley, J. (1998). Learning and Studying. A research perspective. London: Routledge.
Laureate Education, Inc. (2008). Learning Theories and Instruction. Boston: Pearson
Pitler. H., Hubbell. E., Kuhn. M., and Malenoski. K. (2007). Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Smith, K. (1999). The behaviourist orientation to learning. In The encyclopedia of informal education. Retrieved from http://www.infed.org/biblio/learning-behavourist.htm

A new beginning

The title of this posting has several meanings. Firstly, it is the beginning of a new calendar yer, 2011. Happy New Year to you! It also marks the beginning of a new course that I am taking.

Recently we have been introduced to the importance of creating strong links between prior and new information and with that in mind I decided to review a previous post I made on this blog which referred to brain research.

...After several long hours of trawling and search refining the Walden Library Online, I came upon the Journal: Mind, Brain and Education by Blackwell Publications Inc.
It contained many articles pertaining to this week's studies and I spent time digesting Bob Samuels (2009) "Can the Differences Between Education and Neuroscience be Overcome by Mind, Brain, and Education?" in particular.

A fascinating and relevant article which I would urge you to take a look at.
Other interesting websites such the Harvard Developing Child Center and Neuroscience for Kids can be found by checking out my recommended sites links on the right menu bar of this blog.