COETAIL

Course 5, Final Project

Growth

I have grown as a learner in numerous ways. First, I set my 2020-2021 goal for my  Professional Growth Plan (PGP) to complete the COETAIL certificate. I have explored and applied pedagogical approaches made possible by technology and reflect on their effectiveness (1a).

Staying Current with the Research

Second, I am attempting to, "stay current with research that supports improved student learning outcomes, including findings from the learning sciences" (1c) by researching questions I have about the practices we are implementing with our students. Our school has a subscription to Ebsco and I also use Google Scholar to investigate my wondering.

Professional Interests

Third, I have pursued my professional interests by participating in different professional online groups (1b). I noted in my community involvement blog several of the groups I follow and have started participating in, such as the Orton Gillingham Online Academy group and the Teachers Pay Teachers.

Empowered Learners

I have endeavored to help students to become empowered learners in two ways. First, I have "advocated for equitable access to educational technology, digital content and learning opportunities to meet the diverse needs of all students" (2b). I spearheaded a trial of the Google extension Read&Write for our Special Educational Needs department. This extension has the potential to help our students comprehend their grade-level content. I also encourage teachers to accept students' written work done with voice-to-text and word suggestions. Second, I have tried to "model for colleagues the identification, exploration, evaluation, curation and adoption of new digital resources and tools for learning" (2c). Two examples are, I have shared with teachers how they can have their students create infographics to show their learning. Another example is, I have shown teachers how they can share their anchor charts with their students through Google Keep and the students have them next to their Google doc while writing on their Chromebooks. Finally, I am working with teachers on deciding how to best implement tech in our lesson planning.

Collaboration

I have deepened my practice, initiated collaboration with my peers, challenged myself to rethink traditional approaches, and prepared students to drive their own learning.

I have "dedicated planning time to collaborate with colleagues to create authentic learning experiences that leverage technology" (4a) by meeting weekly with classroom teachers to plan lessons the differentiate for students' needs. I typically make suggestions towards using technology when appropriate.

Traditional Approaches

When considering appropriate technology to integrate into lessons, I will consider the traditional approach and determine if the technological approach would be any better than the traditional approach. If the technology does not improve the lesson, then it is not used.

Students Drive their own Learning

I have helped to prepare students to drive their own learning by giving them voice-and-choice. For all projects, students have opportunities to pick their own topics and to pick how they would like to present their learning on their topics. They even can choose if they want to use traditional approaches such as creating a poster using pencils and markers or use a green screen to present their presentation.

ISTE Standards for Students

My practice of authentically embedding the ISTE Standards for Students has improved because of becoming more aware of the ISTE Standards. Because I am more aware of the ISTE standards, it is becoming second nature to reinforce the standards with students throughout their learning. Even if the lessons were created by another teacher, I am now able to make small suggestions towards improving their learning and explaining to the classroom teacher why it would be a good idea to include that little something extra. For example, when researching online, students are learning to cite their sources (2c). This is a new concept and expectation of them. I had a conversation with a classroom teacher recently explaining, even if students are not correctly citing their sources now, by making the beginnings of an effort, it will be easier the next time they attempt to make citations. Another example is when I noticed students were not using their own drawings in a project. I went to the classroom teacher discussed the importance of the students learning to not just copy and paste from the internet. The teacher agreed and we made it a mandate the students must include at least one of their original drawings in their work (6b).

Learning from Course 4

During Course 4, I created a learning plan I would use in the future for the Course 5 final project. The reality of it worked out to be I made several changes. I narrowed my focus from the big picture of scientific writing down to specifically focusing on using assistive writing to help students improve the quality of their content.

Read&Write

I chose to introduce the Google extension, Read&Write. With this extension, students have several tools at their disposal to help with their writing, like voice-to-text and predictive text. After presenting this extension, I realized the reading aspects for researching are in addition to what iPads and Google already offer. In hindsight, I realized the writing tools are already available to the students. Of course, it was not a total waste of time. The advantage was I encouraged students to use these tools, practiced with them so they would be more proficient with them, and had the support of classroom teachers. Students struggling with learning differences are not "cheating" by using assistive technology, they are simply leveling the playing field by being able to be more successful with showing their learning.

My Reflection

Over the past year of my COETAIL learning journey, I learned much to improve my teaching practice. Learning how to design my blog to be more reader-friendly, how to design infographics, and being a contributor and not just a consumer of the world wide web were three areas I enjoyed significantly. One area I still want to work on is redesigning units to have superior technology integration. I am able to incorporate all of these topics when working with my students.

Learning how to "redefine (SAMR), transform (TIM), and find the balance of technological, pedagogical, & content knowledge (TPACK)" will be an area I will continue to work on after COETAIL and on into the near future. As a support teacher, I started at a disadvantage not having experience with building units. I have always tried to support units with differentiation for English learners and students with learning differences; however, rebuilding a unit is a huge undertaking. I do not teach entire units nor am present for an entire unit with my students. I am an inconsistent constant in the students' learning! I am present in math, reading, writing, and Units of Inquiry; however, not every day for every student. This is not possible as a support teacher. Therefore, I did my best with the final project assignment and making it my own.

During Course 4, I chose the writing unit that would be happening during the Course 5 project. I choose writing because it is an area my students need the most help with. It is difficult for many to take the ideas they have and put them to paper. I believed focusing on integrating technology to help students with their scientific writing would be a win-win. I would have a unit to focus on for my COETAIL project and my students would have some new ways of working on improving their writing.

We were introduced to the SAMR model during our COETAIL journey, and it has been a constant reminder to me to consider how I am integrating technology in my lessons. Am I only substituting or augmenting the work? Or could I improve my lesson plans and move up to modification and redefinition? It is a goal I strive to achieve more often. 

During Course 4, I created a digital scientific notebook for students to use as a graphic organizer to help them with their scientific notetaking and article writing. If the students were simply typing on the sticky notes, that would be an example of substitution (SAMR). Many of my students have written expression issues so I encourage them to use voice-to-text, spell check,  and predictive text. This boosts the use of typing in the digital notebook to augmenting the learning. Finally, the students redefined their learning by taking the research they collected during the How the World Works Unit of Inquiry and their Scientific Writing unit and creating their own Bookcreator book. Students included text and narration. I strongly encouraged students to create their own drawings or take their own photographs for their final product; however, that was not very popular with the students and making a suggestion was not enough for students to make the switch from copy and pasting photos to creating their own. This will have to be another lesson! 

In conclusion

My COETAIL experience over the past year has been filled with learning opportunities, support from my peers, and our instructor. I do not feel this is the end of my "just another COTAIL journey" but the continuation of one. Thank you Joel and Lissa for all your help and a special thank you to Erika and Shalene for being the best of my COETAIL community members.

Resources

G3 Scientific Writing Slide Deck

G3 U2 - Reading to Learn and Scientific Writing

Holly's Final Project Video for Course 5

ISTE Standards for Educators

ISTE Standards for Students

Lev's Book Creator

Scientific writing pacing calendar

Course 5: Executive Functions

What are executive functions?

Where's my phone? Where are my keys? I forgot my folder! I can't finish this assignment! I can't figure out this math word problem!  Executive function (EF) is the ability to plan and organize information in order to execute a task. Jacoby (n.d.) identified several aspects of EF: Attention, organization and planning, self-regulation, self-monitoring, problem-solving, working memory, memory retrieval, time management.

Attention: Focusing on one piece of information while ignoring the rest.

Organization: Ability to organize work space, materials and information.

Planning: Prioritize and sequence actions into achievement.

Self Regulation: Get started, maintaining effort to complete task.

Self monitoring: Evaluate self, adjust behavior.

Cognitive Flexibility: Change view or adapt approach to fit situation such as schedule or problem solve.

Working memory: Mentally retain and utilize information.

Memory Retrieval: Retrieving previously learned information.

Time management: estimate time, awareness of passage of time.

Challenges of Executive Functions

Having low EF skills, or executive dysfunction, can lead to issues socially, emotionally, and academically. These students with executive function disorder do not choose to not complete tasks or not remember to bring their folder from home. They lack the mental abilities to function the same as their peers. This may be due to underdevelopment, excess stress or anxiety, or brain injury. There is also research suggesting poor EF is hereditary. The bright side is EF skills can be taught and improved upon (Logsdon, 2020) through targeted strategies and accommodations (Executive Control Network, n.d.).

Logsdon (2020) identified several signs to look for in a student you might be concerned about:

(1.) Difficulty in planning and completing projects, (2.) Problems understanding how long a project will take to complete, (3.) Struggling with telling a story in the right sequence with important details and minimal irrelevant details, (4.) Trouble communicating details in an organized, sequential manner; (5.) Problems initiating activities or tasks, or generating ideas independently; (6.) Difficulty retaining information while doing something with it such as remembering a phone number while dialing.

Executive Control Network (n.d.) explained executive function disorder is not an official disorder and it may even resemble Attention Deficit Disorder. Furthermore, intelligence is not directly related to EF either. For instance, a student with poor EF can have a high IQ, they just may not perform up to their potential.

"The key to unlocking content and ensuring a pathway to long-term memory is through executive function" (Sulla, 2018).

Strategies

There are so many strategies to try with students. After a time, reevaluate if a strategy is helping. If it is, continue but if it is not, then try something else. Logsdon (2020) provided the following list:

• • • Give clear step-by-step instructions with visual organizational aids.

    • Children with executive dysfunction may not make logical leaps to know what to do. Be as explicit as possible with instructions. Use visual models and hands-on activities when possible. Adjust your level of detail based on the student's success.

    • Use planners, organizers, computers, or timers.

    • Provide visual schedules and review them at least every morning, after lunch, and in the afternoon. Review more frequently for people who need those reminders.

    • Pair written directions with spoken instructions and visual models whenever possible.

    • If possible, use a daily routine.

    • Create checklists and "to do" lists.

    • Use positive reinforcement to help kids stay on task.

    • Break long assignments into smaller tasks and assign mini-timelines for completion of each. If children become overwhelmed with lists of tasks, share only a few at a time.

    • Use visual calendars or wall planners to keep track of long-term assignments, deadlines, and activities.

In conclusion

Executive Functions are abilities that may need to be taught to certain students so they can be more successful in the classroom. Most students are not purposely sloppy or slow. They just have not been given the strategies they need to reach their full potential, yet.

Course 5: Why is Writing so Difficult?

Is writing the most difficult skill for students to learn?

While researching for my COETAIL final project, I came across a blog post by Erin Sturm. She explained three reasons why writing is so difficult, (1.) trying to be perfect, (2.) being out of practice, and (3.) fear of failure. As I was reading her post, I made a connection between how writing is as difficult for students as how completing COETAIL projects are difficult for me.

According to Erin, we have similar issues. First of all, I want my projects to be perfect; however, the idea "done is better than perfect" is a difficult concept to accept. I realized I tell students often to just start writing and not to worry about it being perfect. Usually, this is not helpful advice as they just do not listen to me. But I understand because I rarely take my own advice and still want to be perfect. This reminds me of how crippling it can be to initiate a task. Getting started is a difficult first step into the writing swimming pool when you are worried about getting the writing right. If we would just jump in and get started writing anything without first worrying about the quality, we would find we are able to swim through the writing process-one stroke at a time. Second, Erin advised we need to have a consistent writing routine. We should work on our writing every day for a few minutes to improve our productivity. Third, she described how a fear of failure can hold us back from being writers.

According to El-Koumy  (2020), many students struggle with expressing themselves through writing with complete, organized, and logical ideas. They get lost in the process and end up with a jumble of words on their paper that may not have characters or a clear goal for their story. Many of these students focus on their handwriting and spelling instead of their ideas. These microstructural elements of writing are not as important as being able to express ideas. 

Teaching writing might be as complex as English grammar but it is also one the most important skills we teach. Students will need writing to be successful in the academic and professional worlds. Students who are good writers independently follow the writing processes:  plan, draft, revise, and edit. Students with poor writing skills need to be taught strategies for every step of the writing process to help them learn how to be efficient writers (El-Koumy, 2020).

Teaching the writing process is made up of several distinct skills and it is not easy to learn to put them all together. Research supports teaching writing with a focus on the writing process, instead of focusing on writing conventions, which establishes students who will enjoy writing, write more, and write better (El-Koumy, 2020).

Writing Strategies

El-Koumy (2020) outlined four strategies teachers should practice across all genres when teaching the writing process. First and foremost, teachers should model writing. This helps students to visualize what and how they should be writing. Teachers should verbally and visually model the four substages of the writing process - planning, drafting, revising, and editing. When verbalizing what the teacher is doing, she helps students better visualize the process. After the modeling stage, students should practice the writing strategies with a partner or small group before moving on to practicing the strategies independently.

Writing with technology can be motivational

Students have areas they need to improve in as well as their individual gifts. In my lived experience, using technology is one of the areas many students excel in. An eight-year-old student with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) taught me how to use the tools in iMovie. Another student who was an English learner taught me how to maneuver around Google Classroom. My own children taught me how to play World of Warcraft and that game is complicated! Students do not seem timid to try new games, software, or new ways of completing their classwork. I am surrounded by dozens of change agents!

The use of technology or access to the internet does not mean a student definitely will learn more or better. However, technology can provide students opportunities to try different ways to complete assignments. For example, in one study; English learning graduate students were judged with a pre and post-writing test. The experimental group blogged their essays, while the control group used pencil and paper. The experimental group was more motivated and found the writing more interesting (Kashani,  Mahmud, & Kalajahi, 2013). Had I been in this experimental group, I would have agreed with the others since I have had the experience with our COETAIL blogging. It is more interesting.

Can technology lighten the cognitive load when writing?

Sometimes having reluctant writers use assistive technology can ease the cognitive load so they are able to produce their ideas easier, quicker, and maybe with more fun. For example, students can narrate their learning as an alternative. I discovered during this unit sometimes it is necessary to differentiate the writing in order for the student to have enough time to show their learning in ways other than the written word. Students learning English and/or with learning disabilities need differentiated activities. They have the same high expectations for learning; however, they cannot be expected to always perform exactly like their peers. Alternative formative assessments can include the student speaking instead of writing with voice-to-text, using predictive text, spell check, online dictionaries, and thesauruses.

In Nawal's (2018) research, they found, "writing performance was improved by the reduction of unnecessary cognitive load, in this case by removing the use of dictionaries while writing." Cognitive load theory explains there is only so much our brains can hang on to at one time so for students to achieve mastery, they need to learn one chunk at a time. Heick (n.d.) explained, "since the brain can only do so many things at once, we should be intentional about what we ask it to do." If a teacher wants a student to show their spelling and handwriting skills then assistive technology (AT) is not the way but if she wants a student to show the writing process then it might not be a bad idea to allow for AT.

In conclusion

The writing process is a complicated system that is much more than spelling words correctly and having pretty handwriting. Students need to be taught explicitly the various steps and given grace for not being an expert right away. There should be many opportunities for practice and feedback plus students need to come away with positive feelings and a sense of being a successful writer. Writing may not be the most difficult skill a student learns in her educational career but it is towards the top of the list.

Course 5, Community Involvement

There is a community section for this resource and it allows for contributors to share their activities with others. I often search the community resources to find activities already made my students can use. There is no opportunity for discussion among the contributors. I once came across an activity I wanted to use but there was a misspelled word. I was not allowed to edit the activity and there is no way to contact the person who created it. I find this limiting in allowing for collaboration among the people using the website.

Teachers Pay Teachers

Another resource I use to find teaching material is Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT). I find inspiration for creating my own materials on this website and of course, I find activities to use in my teaching. With my learning from COETAIL, I came to realize I need to be a contributor and not just a consumer. I am proud to say I recently uploaded my first resource to my store on TpT!  "It is good to use TpT because it's helpful when you're creating your own materials and contributing back to others. First, you were searching for information now other people have an opportunity to find more," said one student.

SEN teachers WebEx Teams

This year our school switched to using WebEx instead of Google Meet for our platform for working online with students. One of the services WebEx offers is WebEx Teams. We are able to create collaboration groups to message ideas, questions, share files, etc. The most exciting advantage of using WebEx Teams is how quickly we can get answers to our questions. Emails traditionally are answered eventually; however, people respond to messages much quicker. The supervisor of my department created a group for the faculty and we collaborate often.

COETAIL Community

My school has the strongest COETAIL community! Last year, I embarked on this COETAIL journey with several colleagues from school. Right away we started a WhatsApp group called, "COETAIL group 2020" to collaborate with each other. We also had coaches in the group to help with any questions. Shout out to Cary and Paul for all their help!

Unfortunately, this group was not very active except for a few of us. To not annoy the silent ones with all the banter, we next created a smaller group. Shalene, Erika, Mooney, and I held continuous discussions via the smaller WhatsApp group, "the real coetail group" plus we would meet at times for a face-to-face work session  Shalene humorously dubbed "COETAIL Cocktails." This professional learning support group community (PLsgC) helped with sharing information and ideas plus provided a safe place to ask for help or encouragement. We should totally have t-shirts made. 

Reflection

Online community involvement is a natural way to collaborate with others to create synergy towards improving our teaching practice. Through the process of reflecting on the ways I seek information, I have come to realize some of my interactions are not sustained beyond a topic. Other interactions are more continuous with a back-and-forth, give-and-take relationship where sharing information and expertise does happen more regularly. I was lucky to have my school colleagues completing the COETAIL course with me. Social media platforms are a great way to network; however, having a couple of in-person collaborators is even better.

Course 5: Assistive Technology for Struggling Writers

I recently attended an online workshop presented by Kelly Rasmussen from  GotSmartz Assistive Technology Coaching on the topic of Assistive Technology (AT) for Writing.  In the past, I thought of AT as students using the Voice to Text feature to help them with their writing. Or using the Read to Me feature in digital books to help with comprehending a reading. In the back of my mind, I assumed there was more available for us out there in the Kingdom of Unknown Knowledge but of course, I did not know what I did not know. After Kelly's presentation, I am happy to say I now have more tools in my AT toolbox, and in addition to learning new tools, I learned a few new concepts plus I came to wonder about a couple of other points.

Benefits of using Assistive Technology for Writing

Kelly shared the benefits of using AT with our struggling writers which involved (1.) the students feeling included, (2.) it is an accommodation, (3.) it allows teachers to differentiate (i.e., making a voice note instead of writing for science), (4.) it gives students a voice, (5.) holds the students accountable for their learning, and (5.) provides the students better access to the curriculum.

Written Expression Disorder Defined

One wondering I have actually been considering off and on for quite a while was, I wonder why students have the ideas in their heads but have trouble getting them on paper? According to Kelly's presentation, it may be because of a written expression disorder. This of course led me to wonder, what is Written Expression Disorder and what is Dysgraphia? 

Chung, Patel, and Nizami (2019) described it as, "dysgraphia and specific learning disorder in written expression are terms used to describe those individuals who, despite exposure to adequate instruction, demonstrate writing ability discordant with their cognitive level and age." This is what I have been noticing in some of my students; however, none of them have been diagnosed with a written expression disorder.

Steps in the Writing Process

In searching for answers, I discovered I first needed to consider the writing process. Specifically, the process of writing a sentence includes,

(I) internally creating the desired statement; (II) segmenting the desired statements into sections for transcription; (III) retaining the sections in verbal working memory while executing the task of writing; and (IV) checking that the completed written product matches the original thought (Chung, Patel, & Nizami, 2019). 

Steps in the Speech to Text Process

In her presentation, Kelly shared with us the Speech to Text & Word Prediction steps: Think it, Speak it, Check it,  Fix it. I found these steps similar to the writing process. Like we should teach students the writing process, we also should teach them how to use speech to text. 

Tools in the AT Toolbox

Several tools were shared during the workshop and the ones I plan to incorporate immediately are the Chrome Extensions (1.) Read&Write, (2.) Session Buddy, and (3.) Power Thesaurus. In addition, I want to use Google Keep to save Anchor Charts for students to be able to pull up when working on a Google doc.

In Conclusion

While reflecting on how to start incorporating AT with students, I realized they have two devices available to them, iPads and Chromebooks. The iPad can go home with them and they are just starting to learn how to use Chromebooks so this will be a big step in the process of them learning to write with a device and use the assistive technology to help them with their writing. The iPad has its advantages; however, I feel the Chromebook is better suited for word processing.

The four tools I plan to incorporate right away with my students will happen one tool at a time. We will play around and explore the tool with the goal of the students becoming proficient when using them. Students do not have to have a diagnosis of dysgraphia or a written expression disorder to benefit from using assistive technology. In fact, I will be using AT as a role model for students to see an adult using them. I will also encourage the parents and classroom teachers to also model the use of AT in their daily lives.

Course 5 - Balancing Screen Time

"Do not watch too much TV or play too many video games because it will cause learning and attention issues!" Pre-pandemic, parents and teachers were encouraged to keep the screen time to a minimum. However, during these times of the pandemic, teachers are being told to keep the students online in synchronous learning practically all school day. Educators strive to make research-based decisions; therefore, I wonder what research there is to back up this new way of teaching our students who are not in school? I also wonder if the positive aspects outweigh the negative aspects during these times with the necessity to have students online so much? 

Negative aspects:

As a third-grade support teacher, I push into many online lessons. As the classroom teacher teaches away, sometimes I watch the students and observe what they are doing while they are listening to the lesson. These would be the students who bother to turn on their cameras because many do not. Needless to say, eight-year-olds can be super gross and/or super funny. The faces they make and the places they stick their fingers-incredible. The students become bored and tune out so quickly. It is very difficult to have a lesson flow and go well. As a reminder, the Learning Pyramid shows us what percentage of learning is retained through different modes. Teachers should also be keeping this in mind while planning online lessons. To make matters worse, getting students to participate online is difficult. They do not seem to want to answer any questions and they seem to be counting the seconds until they are excused from the online lesson. In their 2016 article Sharkins, Newton, Albaiz, and Ernest shared from their research,

"Some studies caution that children’s use of and exposure to media, technology, and screen time (MeTS) can lead to decreases in executive functioning (ability to attend to tasks), academic performance, quality social interactions with parents and peers, and creative play. In addition, MeTS has been shown to increase obesity, aggressive and violent behavior, bullying, desensitization to violence, lack of empathy to victims, fear, depression, nightmares and sleep disturbances." 

With all these negative results, it is clear educators and parents must work together to maintain a careful balance for our children. Education is important but of course, the children's well-being is also. A child's attention span is short and long lessons online are not enjoyed by the teachers or students. Besides, the likelihood students are actually learning something is doubtful, in my experience. It seems to me, teachers should provide a five to ten-minute lesson then have an activity or send the students off to be productive. In a recent Facebook forum discussion in the group, Instructional Designer, a member posed the question, "Max run time for video aimed at ages 8-15? Client thinks 20-30 minutes." Over 100 comments were given and the consensus seemed to be five minutes or less- shorter is better. 

Positive aspects:

Fred Rogers’ Center Position Statement on Technology and Interactive Media in Early Childhood Programs (2012) stated "technology is effective if it is active, hands-on, engaging, empowering, and child controlled."  Teachers should plan their students' screen time purposefully. For instance, screen time should be used to communicate and create.  During this pandemic it is especially important teachers understand the lessons they are creating should be not only in the best interests of the students' education but also their mental health.

One surprising bit of information I found was from Scherer (2014). He shared a statement from Steve Graham, a professor of education at the University of Arizona, "Word processing has also been shown to improve the quality of student writing over longhand, even in the early grades. From first grade to 12th grade, we have the same effects. It's basically a 20-percentile jump." As a child,  I remember being told if you write neatly, your teacher will be more apt to give you a higher grade. Now I can switch that thinking over to word processing. Students can do better writing through a keyboard than with traditional handwriting. 

In conclusion,

During the pandemic, alternative forms are necessary for educating our students. We have to keep our distance and keep everyone healthy. Online synchronous learning is an option we have chosen. Parents and teachers are struggling to give the children the best education possible under the circumstances. Teachers need to plan engaging activities and minimize teacher talk time. Students need to be active, creative, and hopefully happy and healthy. So much screen time is not the best for our children; however, we do not yet have a better alternative for educating during this pandemic. We are all in this together and in the end, we will come out knowing we have done our best.

References

Instructional Designer Facebook Group. (2021). Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/groups/201308379891017

Scherer, M. (2014). The Paperless Classroom is Coming. Time. 184(15), 36.  Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tth&AN=98751183&site=ehost-live

Sharkins, K. A., Newton, A. B., Albaiz, N. E. A., & Ernest, J. M. (2016). Preschool Children’s Exposure to Media, Technology, and Screen Time: Perspectives of Caregivers from Three Early Childcare Settings. Early Childhood Education Journal, 44(5), 437–444.

December 21, 2020 Course 4 - Final Project

 Why this unit?

I think this scientific writing unit is a good possibility for my Course 5 project because writing is an area many of our special educational needs students struggle. It would be great if I could find a way to improve upon the unit to make being successful more of a possibility for all our students.

ISTE standards

The ISTE standards I chose were 1-Empowered Learner and 6-Creative Communicator. The standards will enhance the students' understanding of the content by making the learning more student-driven and giving the students a voice and choice in their learning

ISTE Standards for Students, 1 (Empowered Learner) Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving and demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences.

ISTE Standards for Students, 6 (Creative Communicator) Students communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media appropriate to their goals.

Learning with COETAIL

This unit reflects my learning during COETAIL through synthesizing everything I have been learning about into a plan to incorporate technology to enhance students' learning. This unit is different from other units I have designed or facilitated because I am not collaborating with others on this project. As a member of a grade-level team at my school and as a member of a COETAIL student team, we have always worked together to design and facilitate units. Not having the others' expertise to draw from or rely on has been a huge loss for me and reminded me how great working on a team is.

Influence

One concept that has influenced me during COETAIL is the SAMR model. It is reflected in this final project when I created lessons that were not just substituting technology but also augmenting and modifying the work.

Concerns

Some of my concerns about redesigning this unit are my lesson ideas will not really make the writing aspect easier for the students, maybe the lessons are still basic technology substitution, and there is an even better way to use technology to help my students be successful scientific writers.

Pedagogy shift

The shift in pedagogy this new unit will require from me is focusing on using the technology in a way for it to have a positive effect on the learning.  “Technology used without powerful teaching strategies (and deep learning tasks) does not get us very far"(Fullan and Langworthy, 2014). I have to find a way to make deep learning able to happen and I have to make sure the students are not bored but engaged and active in their learning. I am relenting my hold and the students are taking more of a lead with the learning. Also, I am keeping a focus on the assessment for this unit through the one-point rubric and will rewrite it in student-friendly language so the students can use the rubric as a guide to see what is expected of their products.

 Photo by Janko Ferlič on Unsplash

Student attitudes

This new unit will require the students to be active in the learning process. They will not be able to simply "sit and get" but they will need to advocate for their own needs. They will need to question the activities and provide ideas to make them work better.

Outcomes

The outcomes I hope to see when students complete this unit are they will be able to write like a scientist and they will be able to collaborate with their peers to improve upon their work. I will know students have learned these concepts by them demonstrating growth through their scientific journal and conversations with their classmates.

December 6, 2020 Course 4, Week 5, Putting Deep Learning into Practice

 Photo by Sigmund on Unsplash

COETAIL course 4 has been about "exploring what it means to be designers and facilitators of learning" and this week has been learning about ways we can do that. The readings included several frameworks, processes, or means of how we can make it happen.

Challenge Based Learning

Challenge Based Learning (CBL) is a teaching framework in which students are engaged and active in relevant learning. CBL has hands-on learning, collaboration, and real-world problem solving using technology (Johnson & Adams, 2011). Students identify a challenge and they follow a framework to overcome it.

Augmented and Virtual Reality

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are innovative learning experiences that immerse the learner into a creative and engaging environment. Typically the curriculum is science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and the students use devices like headsets that allow them to see concepts virtually they would otherwise not be able to. This is an opportunity for students to better understand complex topics they are learning (Schneider & Radu, 2018).

Game-based learning

Gamification is creating learning games like Oregon Trail created in 1971 which is an example of one of the only successful educational games ever created. Gameful design is making a game out of what is being taught by using the basic elements of gaming. (Bell, 2018).

Gameful Design Rubric (Bell, 2018)

Project Based Learning

PBLworks.org explained Project Based Learning (PBL) is a teaching method in which students learn by actively engaging in real-world and personally meaningful projects. With a traditional project, teachers give students a project to complete at the end of a unit they taught and this can be referred to as a dessert project. The difference with PBL is the entire unit is the students use collaboration, high order thinking skills, and problem-solving to complete a project (pblworks.org).

What is PBL? pblworks.org

There are seven essential project design elements to provide a framework for developing high quality projects: (1.) a challenging problem or question, (2.) sustained inquiry, (3.) authenticity, (4.) student voice and choice, (5.) reflection, (6.) critique and revision, and (7.) a public product (pblworks.org).

There are also seven project based teaching practices to help teachers, schools, and organizations improve, calibrate, and assess their practice: (1.) design and plan, (2.) align to standards, (3.) build the culture, (4.) manage activities, (5.) scaffold student learning, (6.) assess student learning, and (7.) engage and coach (pblworks.org).

Design Thinking

Design Thinking is an innovative process students and professionals from all industries use to creatively solve a problem (Spencer, 2019). The process is not necessarily a linear process but can be an overview of the ways to solve a problem or complete a project in school, work, or life (Friss Dam & Siang, 2020

Student Achievement

Hattie Ranking: 252 Influences And Effect Sizes Related To Student Achievement is new information for me and I first heard about it during my COETAIL Course 4. I am beginning to understand what his research means and I am starting to wonder how I can use it in my practice. Using research seems logical; however, understanding how to use it is not necessarily intuitive. I noted "hinge point" was a new concept and I searched for its meaning. DeWitt (2016) defined it clearly, "Hinge Point - It has long been agreed upon by researchers over the last few decades that when a given approach has an effect size of .40 it means that the approach can offer, when done correctly, a year's worth of growth for a year's input. Anything over the .40 can offer more than a year's growth. So, if we look at the given approach of classroom discussion, you can see that when done well that can lead to two year's of growth."  The implication of hinge point is important in my job working with students with learning differences and students learning English as an additional language. My students typically are  behind their peers academically. I need to know how I can help them make more than a year's growth.

Assessment of Learning

Fullan and Langworthy  (2014) explained most measures still being used are standardized, content mastery assessments.  Along with the new pedagogies, they told us new measures are needed which would include,

"students' deep learning competencies: 1) students’ mastery of the learning process, including their ability to master new content; 2) students’ key future skills, including their abilities to create new knowledge using the collaboration and communication skills necessary for high-level value creation; 3) students’ proactive dispositions and levels of perseverance in the face of challenges; and 4) the effect of students’ work products on intended audiences or problems."

If the "ultimate goal for teachers, as John Hattie has described, is to “'help students to become their own teachers (Fullan and Langworthy  (2014).'” then, teachers will need to provide students the skills to be independently in control of their own learning.

[caption id="attachment_494" align="alignnone" width="70

Effective v. Ineffective New Pedagogies (Fullan & Langworthy, 2014)

The bottom line

Students are bored and teachers are not satisfied by teaching bored students (Fullen, 2015). The new pedagogies and the examples of different teaching methods we explored this week could lead to my students and me being excited and engaged with our learning. Some of the concepts I am considering are how do I put this all into practice? I am a support teacher and I have so little time with my students. How can I start implementing little changes now to improve my students' learning experience? How can I measure the effectiveness of the teaching I am providing for my students?

I might assess and measure the impact of deep learning pedagogies with the use of rubrics. A rubric could clearly outline for the student the goal which they are aiming for and they could see what they need to do to achieve it. I would like to implement deep learning tasks in my practice. It might look like project based learning. I can see implementing PBL with my learning support students and English learners.   

I will support my students in becoming “independent, autonomous learners able to effectively design, pursue and achieve their own learning goals and personal aspirations as well as master curricular learning goals” by laying the groundwork for understanding they can be in charge of their own learning, they can learn about what interests them, and they can make suggestions and help me figure out how to make it more interesting, relevant, and engaging for them.

The learning frameworks and new pedagogies in my school include inquiry, design thinking, and project based learning in the secondary school. I have been learning about using the rapid design cycle the past two years. I have used gameful design elements in the past and I might put them into action in Course 5.

Resources

Bell, K., (7 May 2018). Gameful Design: A Potential Game Changer. Retrieved from https://er.educause.edu/articles/2018/5/gameful-design-a-potential-game-changer

DeWitt, P., (13 September 2016). John Hattie's Research Doesn't Have to Be Complicated. Retrieved from https://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/finding_common_ground/2016/09/hatties_research_doesnt_have_to_be_complicated.html

Friss Dam, R. and Siang, T., (2020). What is Design Thinking and Why Is It So Popular? Retrieved from https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/what-is-design-thinking-and-why-is-it-so-popular

Fullan, M., (2015). Topic Series 11 - Push & Pull: The Role of Technology. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEO9lmmamy8

Fullan, M. and Langworthy, M., (January 2014). A Rich Seam: How New Pedagogies Find Deep Learning. Retrieved from https://michaelfullan.ca/a-rich-seam-how-new-pedagogies-find-deep-learning/

Hattie Ranking: 252 Influences And Effect Sizes Related To Student Achievement. Retrieved from https://visible-learning.org/hattie-ranking-influences-effect-sizes-learning-achievement/

Johnson, L. and Adams, S., (2011). Challenge Based Learning: The Report from the Implementation Project. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.

Schneider, B. and Radu, I., (28 August 2018). Using Augmented Reality to Promote Making with Understanding. Retrieved from https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2018/8/using-augmented-reality-to-promote-making-with-understanding

Spencer, J., (6 April 2019). What Is Design Thinking? Retrieved from https://spencerauthor.com/what-is-design-thinking/

What is PBL? Retrieved from https://www.pblworks.org/what-is-pbl#:~:text=Project%20Based%20Learning%20is%20a,question%2C%20problem%2C%20or%20challenge.

November 28, 2020 Course 4, Week 4-Unleashing Deep Learning

 Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Digital Tools and Resources

Fullan's New Pedagogies is comprised of three core principles. Over the last weeks, we have read about learning partnerships and deep learning tasks. This week we read about the final new pedagogy principal, Digital Tools and Resources. Fullan and Langworthy (2014) began by sharing research data that showed having technology as part of a lesson has little to no effect on student learning. The research findings showed for technology to have a positive effect on learning, how it is integrated into the lesson makes the difference.

The evidence I have seen to support, “technology used without powerful teaching strategies (and deep learning tasks) does not get us very far" is from Fullan and Langworthy (2014). They shared research findings from John Hattie in A Rich Seam, "Meta-analyses of the impact of technology on learning outcomes confirm that, up until now, technology use has had a below-average impact on learning relative to other interventions" (Fullan & Langworthy, 2014).

Leveraging technology in powerful ways, i.e. for collaboration and knowledge creation is not a simple task to plan for third-grade students. First, collaboration might be easier to figure out. I could possibly have students write to students in other schools to discuss different topics. I also might have students collaborate with students in other classes on a research project. A third possibility could be to have students create digital stories and share them with their families, friends, and classmates.

There are several tools I use to integrate technology for basic uses. For example, students use their iPads to research, word-process, use Google Apps like docs and slides, find pictures, practice their math skills

raz-kids.com level K ebooks

on websites like IXL, practice their spelling on websites like SpellingCity.com. They can find more information about many topics on websites like brainpop.com and to read books on websites like Epic! and raz-kids.com. They can easily find books at their level on a variety of fiction and non-fiction topics.

My practice could allow “students to become independent learners who design and manage the learning process effectively” in different ways. One example could be instead of first teaching students how to write an essay with an introduction, body, and conclusion; I could challenge students to write a persuasive argument on a topic of their choosing and in their own opinion. Once they have finished writing their piece, we could go back and edit and revise as necessary, using their first draft as the basis of the teaching.

Shame

In Brown's 2017 South by Southwest Keynote speech, she spoke about shame. She explained we need to understand the difference between emotions like shame, embarrassment, and humiliation. If we understand these nuances, we will be better prepared to deal with them when they happen in the classroom, home, or workplace. She encouraged teachers to create a safe classroom for their students to be able to learn. If students do not feel safe, if they feel shamed; they will not hear the teacher and they cannot learn.

I teach courage and develop a courageous classroom through flearning. I remind my students often the way to learn something is to make mistakes. I encourage them to be risk-takers, to not worry about being perfect, and when we fail, we're given an opportunity to learn. I am vulnerable with my students by not hiding my mistakes, asking them for help and to teach me something new, and thanking them for their patience when I am learning new stuff.  I would like to think there is no shame in my classroom. My students are perfect just like they are and are accepted for who they are-all learning differences.

Dialogical Learning

Kelly (2019) explained how Freire's five ideas of dialogical learning added the communication between teachers and students necessary to allow learning to happen. A teacher who practices with humility, hope, faith, love, and allows students to think critically; will set up an optimum environment for student learning.

I recognize learners as equals so that true learning can take place. My students are young, short human beings who want to be treated with the same respect as adult humans. I demonstrate humility by asking students to share what they know with me. I give them hope by setting high expectations with attainable goals. I show them I have faith in their abilities by focusing on their strengths and helping them work on their weaknesses. I show them love by asking about them and their interests, truly listening to their answers. I promote critical thinking with my students by giving them the wait time they need to figure out the answers themselves. If they struggle and need help, I give them bits they can take and run with and come up with the answer themselves.  Students are encouraged with positive reinforcement to demonstrate these traits with their classmates and others.

In conclusion

Based on this week’s reading, I might shift in my practice in three ways. First, I will be finding more ways for my students to collaborate and create using technology. Also, I will be careful to point out when my students make mistakes, the thing they did wrong does not reflect on them as a person. They might make a mess, but they are not messy. Finally, I will be more mindful to use Freire's five ideas for dialogical learning to increase the likelihood my students are able to learn. I want students to feel safe when they are learning with me and provide them the most optimum environment for learning.

Resources

Brown, B.(2017). Keynote, Daring Classrooms. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/DVD8YRgA-ck

Fullan, M. & Langworthy, M. (January 2014). A Rich Seam: How New Pedagogies Find Deep Learning. Retrieved from https://michaelfullan.ca/a-rich-seam-how-new-pedagogies-find-deep-learning/

Kelly, M. (17 Sep 19). Paulo Freire’s Five Ideas for Dialogical Learning.Retrieved from https://instructionalcoaching.com/paulo-freires-five-ideas-for-dialogical-learning/

Terhart, E. (2011). Has John Hattie Really Found the Holy Grail of Research on Teaching? An Extended Review of “Visible Learning.” Journal of Curriculum Studies, 43(3), 425–438.

November 22, 2020 Course 4, Week 3: Learning Deeply, Digitally

Create a reality where all students can and will learn. 

-Fullan's moral imperative

Deep learning tasks

Fullan's New Pedagogies is comprised of three core principles. Last week we read about the first one, learning partnerships. This week we read about the second, deep learning tasks.

 Infographic from A Rich Seam: How New Pedagogies Find Deep Learning

Fullan and Langworthy (2014) explained deep learning "tasks harness the power of the new learning partnerships to engage students in practicing the process of deep learning through discovering and mastering existing knowledge and then creating and using new knowledge in the world." They go on to say, "Deep learning tasks re-structure learning activities, involve knowledge construction, develop the 6 Cs or key future skills, and define clear learning goals." If you would like to play around with these concepts, I have created the following Quizlet.

Re-structure students’ learning

In my school, when we use digital tools we can re-structure students’ learning of curricular content. For example, when writing a persuasive essay, students can use Book Creator as an alternative to handwriting or word processing. It becomes more engaging for some students. In addition, it can add a bit of a challenge for those who are ready to try a new digital tool.

Real experiences

We try to give students real experiences in creating and using new knowledge in the world beyond the classroom. For example, during the Save the Planet Unit of Inquiry, we have students design a plan and produce a prototype of an innovative way to Rethink, Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and/or Repair (the 6Rs) plastic.

Partnerships

Using the plastic example from before, one way we can partner with students in designing the structure or process of the task by using the Rapid Design Process.

https://discoverdesign.org/handbook

Authentic choice

We can give students authentic choice over what they learn and how they execute the learning by allowing them to decide on their own topics, such as with the rapid design process and allowing them to decide what opinion they want to choose to write about.

Learning goals

We connect the deep learning tasks to clear learning goals by sharing the learning goals and keeping them in mind during the unit. We also share the rubric for what the expectations will be for their final products.

Raising the bar

The expectations for all of our students are high. To begin with, the student population of our school scores mostly at or above grade level on the standardized MAP assessment. This naturally pushes the English learners and learning support students to strive to meet their peers' performances. At times, we even have to remind ourselves that we must allow some students the time they need to meet the expectations. We meet students where they are currently and push them to excel, bit by bit.

Students can & will learn

At my school, all students can and will learn. Not only are their high expectations and the entire grade level is working approximately one year above grade level, but we also provide support to those students who need it. We have a strong Special Educational Needs department and we strive to help our students be as successful as possible and meet their potential. When a student is not performing to their potential, we give attention to what that student needs. It may be as simple as a six-week intervention.

Designing meaningful learning experiences

Teachers meet weekly and plan for deeper learning through the design of meaningful learning experiences. We collaborate and create lessons that allow students to chose their own learning interests.

Invisible bias

As an English language teacher, I am culturally sensitive; however, invisible bias is a new concept for me. I will need to think further about this phenomenon and create a plan for nurturing self-awareness in my students and colleagues. I would think a reasonable first step for me will be to keep an eye out for instances happening around me. When I notice them, I could bring attention to it in a friendly manner.

My practice

I can shift my practice based on this week’s readings in order to create an environment that embraces equitable deep learning tasks. I will need to plan lessons to maximize the potential of technology through active, deep learning. I will need to keep in mind SAMR and be sure to strive to use technology to redefine the learning experience. Creating a bias-free learning environment where students have choices, clear goals, and meaningful learning opportunities lends itself naturally towards more personalized learning experiences. As a special educational needs teacher, it is my job to assist classroom teachers to accommodate their students' learning differences. It may be in the form of using voice to text instead of handwriting, working in a small group with a teacher, or working one-on-one with me to learn to read. The bottom line is creating deep learning experiences to meet the way students learn individually.

Resources

Fullan, M. & Langworthy, M. (January 2014). A Rich Seam: How New Pedagogies Find Deep Learning. Retrieved from https://michaelfullan.ca/a-rich-seam-how-new-pedagogies-find-deep-learning/

Fullan, M. (16 March 2016). Topic Series 10 - The Moral Imperative. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/tQYvruRPeLU

Whiting, J. (4 September 2019). Everyone Has Invisible Bias. This Lesson Shows Students How to Recognize It. Retrieved from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-09-04-everyone-has-invisible-bias-this-lesson-shows-students-how-to-recognize-it

November 15, 2020 Course 4, Week 2: Partners in Learning

This week we are discussing the needed change in our pedagogy, with the use of technology integration, to ensure our students are actively engaged and participating in their learning. We very well know the traditional industrial teaching styles should stay in the past where they belong. Let us continue to explore and embrace new pedagogies that will prepare students for the 21st-century skills they need for a workforce that may not even exist yet.

 Photo by Mihai Surdu on Unsplash

May the three forces be with you.

New pedagogies, new change leadership, and new system economics are the three forces at work in this innovative change in education. New pedagogies are about changing the "relationships between all the key players in learning: students, teachers, technologies, school cultures, curricula, and assessments." New change leadership is about creating an environment where the students take charge of their learning and become intrinsically motivated to lead themselves. New system economics refers to these new pedagogies being cost-effective with the potential of twice the learning for the same money (Fullan & Langworthy, 2014).

How do new pedagogies find deep learning?

Fullan and Langworthy (2014) painted an exciting picture of an innovative change in education taking place. Frustrated and bored students are pushing for changes to meet their 21st-century ways of learning and some teachers are showing students how to take charge of their own learning. Under this new way, students are defining their own goals and teachers are supporting them by teaching them how to pursue these goals and achieve them. The changes happening between teachers and students is creating new roles for both.

A Rich Seam: How New Pedagogies Find Deep Learning

Fullan (2017) explained the initiative, New Pedagogies for Deep Learning includes six C's: character education, citizenship, collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking. This initiative had a strong beginning in Ontario, Canada. As a result of the initiative, teachers and students were feeling empowered and it was noticed the students came to care more about school, life, and making a difference. "Students are becoming a force for change, they are frustrated and bored with traditional school and starting to influence the pedagogy (Fullan, 2017)."

The new pedagogy defined

Fullen (2015) defined pedagogy as drawing out learning from students and explained it was rooted in Latin. The New Pedagogy is the best learning relationship between and among students and teachers. It includes partnerships between teachers and students and they are all learning more from each other (Fullen, 2015).

Three Emerging Theories of Learning

"Technology integration can play a large role in changing our learning environments to better support the development of higher-level thinking skills needed by the 21st century (Doak)." Three theories of learning emerging are, (1.) situated cognition, (2.) distributed cognition, and (3.) socially shared cognition. These three new theories embrace action, communication and collaboration, and the use of technology to achieve learning environments with higher-level thinking skill development students need to be best prepared for their futures. Our teaching practice should be based on research and these current theories can assist with that.

In conclusion

My students are collaborating with each other on their work. They are discussing their ideas and giving feedback. They ask questions and learn from each other. They share ideas and build on them taking their own direction. Students are setting their own goals and continuously work towards achieving them. They are empowered to question our lessons and encouraged to give suggestions and make choices on how to achieve the learning objectives. However, there is always room for improvement. As the students learn to take charge of their education, I learn to let go and allow them to make more decisions about their path. Through new pedagogy and new learning theories, it is possible to improve my teaching practice to become more of an innovative teacher ready for the 21st-century higher-levels thinking skills development my young students need.

Resources

Doak, S.Emerging Theories of Learning and the Role of Technology. https://sites.google.com/a/boisestate.edu/edtechtheories/Home/emerging-theories-of-learning-and-the-role-of-technology

Fullan, M. (22 January 2015). Topic Video: The New Pedagogy. Retrieved from https://michaelfullan.ca/topic-video-the-new-pedagogy/

Fullan, M. (13 March 2017). New Pedagogies for Deep Learning. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/-39PNs4sCmQ

Fullan, M. & Langworthy, M. (January 2014). A Rich Seam: How New Pedagogies Find Deep Learning. Retrieved from https://michaelfullan.ca/a-rich-seam-how-new-pedagogies-find-deep-learning/

November 6, 2020 Course 4, Week 1 Frameworks for Learning

 "While educational technology does make learning visible, it is the teacher that makes learning meaningful." L. Portnoy

I fell down an internet rabbit hole while researching technology integration frameworks this week. There are so many articles, videos, and graphics!

When planning lessons, teachers use a framework to assist in deciding on how to best teach the content while integrating technology. The two frameworks we considered were Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition (SAMR) and Technological knowledge, Pedagogical knowledge, and Content Knowledge (TPACK).

"We want to impact student learning, not just replace a tool with a tool."  -NCVPS

SAMR

The SAMR model was created by Dr. Ruben Puentedura in 2010 to assist teachers in reflecting on how they are using technology in their lessons. SAMR is designed to help teachers use technology to move their tech from enhancing learning to it transforming learning. It has been likened to making the switch from crawling to walking. Google doc with the SAMR ladder graphic

TPaCK

TPACK is also a framework teachers can use to guide their use of technology with their students and it was introduced by Punya Mishra and Matthew J. Koehler of Michigan State University in 2006. There are three areas of knowledge teachers use (1) content, (2) pedagogy, and (3) technology. The content knowledge is the "what"-their subject matter, the pedagogy is the "how"-what activities they use to teach, and finally, the teacher's technology knowledge is how they layer the tech into the lesson to improve the students' learning.

 I created this graphic with tech at the bottom because it shouldn't be the first we think about. -HdM

This infographic compares and contrasts the SAMR and TPACK frameworks for technology integration using a Double Bubble Thinking Map. Google doc with the Double Bubble Map

Google doc with the Double Bubble Map

My practice of technology integration

I am a support teacher for third grade and I do a lot of small groups and one-on-one teaching. Currently, I am using technology to meet with students at home. We meet in my Webex room to work on reading and writing. We use several Google tools like Slides, Docs, and Google Search. I prepare some lessons in a Google Slide deck for students to see easily. I use Reading A to Z for online books to read with students. I sometimes use a document camera to show writing and reading books. According to the SAMR framework, I am at the Substituting and Augmenting level. I am using more technology now than ever. Before teaching online, I did not use a lot of technology with the teaching I was doing.

My school's technology vision

My beliefs and practices fit into my school’s vision for learning. I try to personalize learning for my students by offering choices. I provide immediate feedback on students' work while we are together. I encourage students to be risk-takers and to learn from their mistakes. When learning takes a turn due to students' interests and questions, I welcome it.

my schools' technology vision

Real-world example

Serendipitously, this week my son, Jacob, shared a video he made for his English 201 class. After viewing his video, I had to ask to see the instructions he had followed to come up with his product because I was very curious. You can see the full prompt in the screenshot below from Jacob's phone. (I also thought it apropos Jacob accessed his course assignment on his mobile. I cannot imagine completing my course from my mobile! I am definitely showing my age.:) The professor explained in the instructions for the final paper the students are to create "an easily consumable video" instead of "scrambling to submit a behemoth final paper last minute." I was pleased to see the professor had moved her teaching practice to the top rung of the SAMR ladder with this assignment. 

There are many frameworks available for teachers to use to improve their lessons involving technology. The SAMR is quick to gauge at what level your lesson is. The TPACK helps teachers to keep the different types of knowledge in mind. Regardless of which technology integration framework you choose, we need to keep attempting to improve our teaching by constantly learning more to stay current. Being aware of these frameworks is a step in the right direction.

Resources

Ady, K. & Kemp, B. TPACK vs SAMR: Key Differences Between 2 Tech Frameworks. Rretrieved from https://youtu.be/JVq4F36b8gM 

Alivi, J. (2019). A REVIEW OF TPACK AND SAMR MODELS: HOW SHOULD LANGUAGE TEACHERS ADOPT TECHNOLOGY?. Journal of English for Academic and Specific Purposes. 2. 1. 10.18860/jeasp.v2i2.7944.

Bevans, J. (1 Nov 20) Week 1: Frameworks for Learning. Retrieved from https://online12.coetail.com/

Introduction to the SAMR Model. Retrieved from https://www.commonsense.org/education/videos/introduction-to-the-samr-model

NCVPS Professional Learning. Take 5: Why use TPACK and SAMR? https://youtu.be/x9La-U-mP54

Marshburn, J. (8 Nov 20) Jacob's Eng 201 final. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/hMDwYbXh7WE

Portnoy, L. (1 Feb 18). How SAMR and Tech Can Help Teachers Truly Transform Assessment. Retrieved from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-02-01-how-samr-and-tech-can-help-teachers-truly-transform-assessment

Course 3, Week 6 Final project

example of using visual links

In my experience, the typical elementary school student is egocentric. They complete their online projects to please themselves. The idea of making a slide deck more comprehensible for the reader is a new concept for many of them. They still want to have multiple, unreadable florescent green fonts with a red background, for example. I have included a work sample below showing what an eight-year-old finds visually appealing. I was able to talk him down to only two font colors and I plan to work with this student to incorporate more design principles in the future. I will know students have learned the concepts once I see them independently using infographics in their work or following design principles. Hopefully, I will also see students making suggestions to their peers on how they can improve their work.

I hope to see students take what they learn about infographics and design elements and transfer them to their future work. I hope they will agree with the idea infographics can make learning easier. I hope they will agree using the design principles of Contrast, Alignment, Repetition, & Proximity (CARP) in their work will make relaying their message to the reader more effective. In addition, I hope to see students improve on giving and receiving feedback as this is a difficult skill for this age group and more exposure is beneficial.

Course three has been full of fun activities and new information. I look forward to using what I have learned about visual literacy and continue to become a better communicator and collaborator.

Course 3, Week 5-Breaking Down Barriers

 Cycle of Socialization

Cycle of Socialization

The activity we completed for this week's action was to read Bobbie Harro's chapter, the Cycle of Socialization. Below you will find my first Flipgrid post. I have not used a tool like Flipgrid before where we make and watch others' video clips. I especially appreciated how easy it was to make a recording. While watching others' videos, the next video would start playing making it a quick and easy transition by not having to select the video myself.

Fear. ...people who conform minimally receive the benefit of being left alone...Our silence is consent.

Flipgrid

I can foresee using Flipgrid with my students to encourage conversations and discussions. Most grade three students enjoy videoing themselves and watching their peers' videos. They like to make positive comments for feedback, too. I could provide the prompt or activity and have the students respond or reflect through a Flipgrid. Although this was my first, the students have used Flipgrid before with their classroom teacher. Most of my special educational needs students struggle with writing so this platform will make the process easier using videos instead of writing.

https://flipgrid.com/s/8JEJ7sGGjzSgYSZh

My practice

My reading on diversity and social justice will impact my practice. Harro's chapter helped me to see and be more aware of the different social identities. From here on out, I will remember to be mindful of my students in the targeted groups and the agent groups. I will question myself: Am I showing bias? Am treating my students equitably? Am I giving or taking away their power? Am I being a good role model?

My social identity

I identify as a middle-aged, white woman raised in poverty in the south-eastern United States. My social identities set me off on a path as a young adult and somehow I landed where I am now. If I knew then what I know now, there were so many other opportunities I could have explored. Choosing teaching as a profession is so typical for a woman. My children are my greatest achievement. That being said, getting married at 18 and having babies at 20 (just like my mother and grandmother) was not necessarily the best decision for our futures. Luckily my kiddos have chosen to break this cycle that kept us in poverty. I share all this personal information because those struggles are what I believe shaped me into this middle-aged, white woman I am today. My start in life could have been easier if I was a member of more agent groups; however, like every coin has its flip side, my start could have been much worse.

I am the accumulation of all my life experiences, shuffled together with my agent and target memberships. I can empathize with my students. I can appreciate my colleagues. Harro's article resonated with me on a deep level. Harro shared information I "can't not know it anymore." I see the power imbalance in my workplace, for example. I am one of those silent bystanders who "conform in order to receive the benefit of being left alone." I do not argue with my administrators when I believe my students or I am being treated unfairly. I may ask a question but when I am not favorably listened to, I stop. I cannot afford to be a troublemaker. At least, I am not willing to risk my job by challenging those in power. No promises but I realize I need to try harder and I will try harder to make a difference.

This week we explored technology tools we can use to collaborate and share ideas. We dove into the content-the cycle of socialization, using the tool- Flipgrid, while we practiced the visible thinking trend-Text Rendering Protocol. Please join our community discussion by following the link to our community Flipgrid! 

Course 3, Week 4-Choose a visual aid and update it

Design principled presentations

"Ninety percent of what you hear is gone after 30 seconds!" David J.P. Phillips explained in his TedXStockholm presentation five design principles to follow to improve presentation slides so the audience will retain the information you are trying to impart.

1. One message per slide to keep the focus

2. Include an image of your message and a few words to highlight your point

3. Size-The main idea should be sized bigger

4. Contrast-What you are talking about should be brightest. No white backgrounds.

5. Objects-No more than six.

Phillips finished up by reminding us it is not the number of slides in the deck, it is the number of objects in each slide. In other words, when admin tells you to only use one slide for your lesson to keep it easy for your students, they're wrong-according to Phillips. Forcing you to have10 messages in one slide to cover your content defeats the purpose of keeping it simple.

"If companies would have as little respect for business as they have for presentations the majority would go bankrupt." -John Medina, Ph.D.

Less is More

Zen principles can apply to everyday life, like when designing presentation slides. Garr Renolds told us in his blog, Presentation Zen, to keep our visuals simple. He showed us before and after slides as examples of how to improve visuals. Simplistic changes can make the slides more relevant, such as making sure images match the message, using declarative statements as the title for the slide, and using the image as the slide itself instead of placing the image on a slide.

Who knew storytelling should be used in modern presentations? Obviously, Renolds did. In his blog post, 10 tips for Improving Your Presentations Today, not only did he share tips, but he also shared his TedXKyoto speech: "10 Ways to Make Better Presentations: Lessons from Storytellers."

After:

Holly's G3 Digital Planner Space

Course 3, Week 3-Show not tell

Infographics

Infographics are great visuals to make information more accessible to our students and I'm excited to incorporate more in my teaching. I am also looking forward to having my students create their own infographics. I'm certain they will enjoy creating them as much as I did. What a great way to learn! This topic was a great reminder of the power of using visuals in our teaching.

Course 3, Week 2: Facilitating Collaboration

What do you think?

Thinking routines is a new concept for me although it has been around for years. I watched Project Zero Thinking Routines to gain a basic understanding. I learned these are strategies like See, Think, Wonder (STW), people can use to guide them towards a productive way of processing information that becomes so routine, it's easy.  Harvard Graduate School of Education shared, "Thinking Routines loosely guide learners' thought processes and encourage active processing." 

Visible thinking routines

Next, I took a look into Visible Thinking Routines (VTR). In his blog, Sean Hampton Cole defined VTR as, "having a carefully chosen set of embedded cognitive and meta-cognitive tools to think with and to use to understand better."

Padlet

Then, I decided to create my first Padlet and ask my colleagues to share how they have used the See, Think, Wonder visible thinking routine. I hoped this would start a conversation to lead to healthy collaboration. I found out from the Padlet attempt I have been a part of STW activities in the past but I hadn't made the connection it was a visible thinking routine. I will update my blog as I receive more collaboration on my Padlet. 

In summary

I wholeheartedly agree collaborating with my colleagues is a wonderful way to learn and improve my practice. Also, I see the value in planning a collaboration for my students. Currently, I work a lot one-on-one with students right now. I haven't begun working with groups of students yet. I will be thinking of ways I can include collaboration among students and keep an eye out for how my classroom teacher colleagues might be able to also.

ISTE Standards for Educators 6.c. Create learning opportunities that challenge students to use a design process and computational thinking to innovate and solve problems. 

Resources Project Zero's Thinking Routine Toolbox. Visible Thinking Routines for Blogging What is Visible Thinking Really 

Course 3, Week 1: We are all Designers

Boring! You could have scored my blog’s visual hierarchy level fair at best. I realized I needed to make changes on my blog to better communicate with my readers. What do you think of the new and improved version? 

Changes

We tell our students to show, not tell when writing. I'm afraid I did a lot of telling and not a lot of showing. The blog is text-heavy and I worry readers will skim or scan without wanting to read the post. The colors are muted. It may not look appealing or draw the reader into the topic.

My blog would be more aesthetically appealing if I could improve the images, font sizes, the colors on the page, and the layout of the text.

Images

I decided to remove the picture of myself on vacation. I realized if this were a travel blog it might make sense; however, since it is a teacher-tech blog it is not fitting.

Font size

I changed the title to make it simpler and spelled out the acronym in smaller text. I included different size headings to guide the reader to see what is more important.

Colors

I changed the colors of the blog to try to appeal to my readers and improve the readability.

Layout

I shortened my paragraphs and included more headings to chunk the information to make the content clearer.

TL;DR

As you can see on this page, there were a few changes I made to my blog to make it more appealing to my readers. Leave a reply below. I'd love to hear what you think about the changes and any suggestions you have for me!

Course 2, Unit 6: Final Project

My three-woman group for this project was Erika, Andrea, and myself. Erika and I work together in second grade at our school and we collaborated on the final project in Course One. We work well together so I asked her right away if she'd like to collaborate on this project together. I knew from reading the Cohort 12 blog posts at the beginning of Course One, Andrea is also a second-grade teacher so I sent her an email asking if she'd like to join Erika and me on this project. Fortunately, she was able to join us.

The collaboration on this project went very well. Erika and Andrea out-did themselves with the lessons, resources, and their contributions. It is wonderful working with motivated, responsible professionals! Kudos to Erika and Andrea and I'm grateful to have had such a positive experience working on a virtual group project.

Although it can be rewarding working with a group, it is also challenging. We were all dealing with a pandemic, being in different time zones, and the jet-lag from traveling across the globe. Luckily we had the time for people to be able to provide their contributions. When collaborating on a unit planner with others who you never have face-to-face (f2f) meetings is different from planning sessions with coworkers at school. The personal connection aspect is missing. There are no quick hallway-meetings to ask questions or five-minute discussions. However, it is similar because we go back to our own computers to complete the work. We send messages and emails to get clarification and share ideas, just like our f2f coworkers. 

We chose Option One, create a unit planner, because it was practical for Erika and Andrea to have created it for use with their students in their classrooms. Although our technology integrationist at school provides an introduction to internet safety to our students at the beginning of the year, this unit goes much more in-depth to helping students understand how to be proficient digital citizens. ISTE Digital Citizen 2 standards were the basis for the goals set for this unit.

This learning experience I helped design is different from my normal instruction because I am usually adapting or designing lessons for my English learners or my students with learning disabilities, not creating units of instruction. It is helpful for me to participate in the process Andrea and Erika used to create this unit. Of course, it is not completely different from what I usually do. This experience was like the instructional big picture instead of the snapshots I typically work on.

The Digital Citizen unit we created synthesized many of the ideas we learned in Course Two. Ideas like respecting the intellectual property of others, connecting with others on social media (safely), managing digital identity and protecting data, and differentiating between truth and misinformation. The ISTE standards for educators support the work we are doing with students and the Digital Citizen unit planner we created was based on the enduring understandings of Course Two.

My Course Two final project was a globally collaborative project. We used the UbD lesson template and included desired results, learning goals, and opportunities for students to show evidence of their learning. 

Digital Citizenship UbD PlanDownload 

Course 2, Week 5: Becoming Contributors

There is no acceptable use (AU) policy for students at my school, only for adults. The AU can be found on the school's website and in the faculty handbook and I have included the AU at the bottom of this blog. Honestly, this was my first time reading through it carefully and I had two main takeaways. First, the school wants everyone to use the WiFi provided and second, don't do anything inappropriate while using it.

While reading the AU, I considered if it empowers stakeholders to make positive contributions to local and global communities. In the AU, it said, "Our goal in providing this service (WiFi) to users is to promote educational excellence by facilitating resource sharing, innovation, and communication." However, taking into consideration what Scott McLeod shared in his TEDx talk, Extracurricular Empowerment, it seems to be a way of controlling users out of fear something bad will be done. It is unclear to me how the AU is promoting any sharing, innovation, or communication. I believe the AU is laying out the rules and if anyone breaks them, then you won't be allowed to use the WiFi at school. For teachers, it could mean disciplinary action from the administration. McLeod encouraged us to let go of the fear and the need to control in order to empower the students, and in this instance, the people. That being said, of course, I believe the students' privacy would be honored and we should behave professionally.

Media literacy is an on-going process of growth. Technology is evolving at the speed of an expert typist's words-per-minute and it's a continuous journey to learn what's new, relevant, and useful. I have a degree in instructional technology and distance education yet here I am taking another tech certification so I can continue to improve my media literacy. I am always asking my students to teach me what they're doing online. I offer help to my colleagues with any tech issues they may have that I can help them with. Sometimes it feels like a blow to the ego not to be the ultimate media literacy expert since I have that ITDE degree (that I'm not even using); however, I swallow my pride and ask anyone and everyone for help to improve my tech skills and continue to learn. 

Participatory culture is a term used to describe how people are creating self-made content then sharing their videos, audio, text, and images on social media (Mindjet, 2008). I have embraced this culture and I enjoy putting myself out there. I have always loved making digital stories (DS) and I have been posting my videos on my YouTube channel for a while. I find the best way to learn something new is to practice it on yourself. In 2017, I wasn't able to attend my graduation ceremony in the states so my friends celebrated with me in Russian style-selfies and a big party. I created my ITDE digital story to remember it by.

Recently, I discovered Tik Tok. I believe this is a prime example of participatory culture and just this week I posted my first video on TikTok. So far, I have three followers! (Two are personal friends but it's still a start.) Seriously though for me, contributing my work to the web isn't about how many followers, likes, or subscribers I have. I do appreciate all that of course but I enjoy the process of creating and have a warm sense of accomplishment when I upload and/or post my creations for the world to see and judge-or not. In the past, I have had students create their own digital stories. They would write a story, create illustrations, record themselves reading their story, take pictures of their pages, then share them with others. I'm not the only one who enjoys this process of creating for a purpose and audience.

Resources

Extracurricular empowerment (McLeod, TEDxDesMoines) FacultyHandbook(2018-19 September). pp. 35-38 PuttingtheParticipatory Culture to Work. (2008). Retrieved from http://download.mindjet.com/static/pdf/us/wp_participatoryCulture.pdf

COMPUTER AND INTERNET STAFF ACCEPTABLE USE

AGREEMENT

The School offers electronic communications and network access to all users. Access to the network provides users with Internet access in addition to other resources. All employees, students and visitors are encouraged to use the school wifi or wired internet connections (not to use data from cellular networks). Our goal in providing this service to users is to promote educational excellence by facilitating resource sharing, innovation and communication. While the Internet provides a massive information source to our school, we must also recognize that some material available may not be considered of educational value in a school setting. The responsibility for proper educational use of the network lies with the user. If an AAS user chooses to access resources that are objectionable, adult-oriented, or restricted, the consequence may be withholding or termination of access privileges, depending on the circumstances and intent of the user.

AAS Computer Systems and Internet Use Terms and Conditions

1. School computers should be used to support education and research consistent
   with the learning outcomes of the Anglo-American School. Use of another
   organization's network or computing resources from school computers must
   comply with the rules appropriate for that network as well as for the AAS network.

2. Network Etiquette - Users are expected to abide by the following rules of network etiquette. These include (but are not limited to) the following:
   a. One should be polite and never abusive in messages to others. Using
   vulgarities or any other inappropriate language will not be tolerated. Hate mail,
   harassment, discriminatory remarks and other antisocial behaviors are
   prohibited. Messages should not contain profanity, obscene comments,
   sexually explicit material, or expressions of bigotry or hate. Such remarks may fall under purview of the AAS Harassment Policy.
   b. E-mail is not guaranteed to be private and may be monitored at any time.
   Messages relating to or in support of illegal activities may be reported to
   authorities.
   c. E-mail chain letters should never be forwarded to or from AAS e-mail accounts.
   d. The personal address, phone numbers, or passwords of users of the AngloAmerican School, including one's own, should not be revealed without the
   employee’s permission other than on a need-to-know basis.
   e. The network should not be used in such a way as to intentionally disrupt its use by others.
   f. Files downloaded or transferred via removable media should be checked for
   viruses. Deliberate attempts to degrade or disrupt system performance will be
   viewed as a severe offense.
   g. Illegal downloading of files is prohibited.
   h. Files stored in public storage areas may be deleted by the school at any time.
   Users should save files either on removable storage or on their home network
   directory.
   i. Files stored on the school computer local hard drives are not backed up and
   should be saved on either removable storage or in user home directories on
   the network servers.

3. Accuracy of Information - Use of any information obtained via the Internet is at
   one's own risk. Users are responsible for determining the accuracy or quality of
   information obtained through school accounts. Users should not alter any computer configuration on a school computer (without express permission). This includes installing ANY programs from home, the Internet, etc. If a user needs a particular program for school use, the user should contact their divisional administrator (principal or direct supervisor) and/or Tech.Support@aas.ru with the request.

4. Security is a high priority, especially since the system involves many users. If a
   user identifies a security problem on the network, the user must notify a teacher, librarian or principal, without demonstrating the problem to other users. Users should not intentionally seek information on, obtain copies of, or modify files, other data, or passwords belonging to other users, or misrepresent other users on the network. Attempts to gain unauthorized access to system program or computer equipment will result in the cancellation of user privileges.

5. Vandalism - Vandalism will result in revocation of privileges as well as other
   sanctions cited in the AAS handbooks and Board Policy Manual. Vandalism
   includes any malicious attempt to harm, modify, destroy, or remove from the AAS premises computer hardware, software, or data of another user.

6. Any software installed must be properly licensed and evaluated by AAS IT
   Department prior to the installation.

7. Computers and other electronic equipment available for checkout may not be
   removed from the AAS campus by AAS Staff without explicit, written permission. Lists of available items for checkout will be updated regularly. AAS Staff members may checkout approved devices for professional use only. When checking-out and using an AAS school-owned ICT device, AAS Faculty and Staff members agree to the conditions and procedures outlined below:
   a. AAS ICT devices are only to be used to support our school’s Mission and
   Vision. Personal, non-school related use is inappropriate and prohibited.
   b. AAS school-owned ICT devices off-campus use is short-term only (i.e.,
   overnight/weekend).
   c. AAS Staff members are 100% responsible for the off-campus care and
   appropriate use of the AAS school-owned ICT devices checked out to them.
   d. AAS staff members are liable for any associated costs due to on or off campus
   damage/loss/theft, including repair/replacement costs.
   e. All AAS school-owned ICT devices must be checked out through the current
   prescribed circulation system. Any subsequent extensions of checkout periods
   must include a visual inspection and verification of the AAS school-owned ICT
   device by the ICT / IT staff.
   f. In the event of the loss or theft of an AAS school-owned ICT device, on or off
   campus, the user must notify the following immediately -- AAS Security,
   immediate supervisor or Divisional Principals, and the ICT / IT staff. (This will
   ensure that recovery procedures can be activated as soon as is possible
   including device tracking and security surveillance.)

8. Damage to AAS school-owned ICT devices must be reported immediately to the
   employee’s immediate supervisor or Divisional Principals.

9. AAS Administration reserves rights to monitor any information which is stored on the AAS Network Servers or transmitted over AAS Intranet, Extranet, or Internet communication links. This includes (but not limited to) any data sent over AAS wired and wireless communication systems.

SOCIAL MEDIA

AAS respects the right of employees to use blogs and social media as part of their professional network and as an extension of their personal and professional lives. We do not want to discourage employees from self-publishing and self-expression, but employees are expected to follow the guidelines and policies set forth to provide a clear line between you as the individual and you as the employee in order to preserve the environment that is based on focusing on students at all times.

General Provisions - Employees should not allow social media or blogging for

personal reasons to create a distraction to the learning environment consistent with our similar expectations for students and as noted in Acceptable Use Agreements. Blogging or other forms of social media or technology include but are not limited to social media, video or wiki postings, personal blogs or other similar forms of online journals, diaries or personal newsletters not directly affiliated with AAS.

Consistent with standard privacy expectations in other areas of this handbook,

employees should not publicly discuss students, employees or work-related matters that would typically be considered confidential in other forms. Employees are expected to protect the privacy of the school and its employees and community, and are prohibited from disclosing information and any other proprietary and nonpublic information to which employees have access. Such information could include but is not limited to student and parent information, images of students, student work, financial information, admissions data, etc.

Instructional Blogging - The goal of instructional blogging and instructional social media is to promote sharing of ideas, collaboration, and expanded exchange of information. Instructional blogging/social media may be used to convey information about the school, promote and raise awareness of AAS activities, and communicate with employees, students, and parents to brainstorm, discuss divisional-specific activities and events. To start an instructional blog or social media site, you should consult with technology

leadership in your division and coordinate with the Director of Communications and Development. When blogging or using other forms of web-based forums, AAS must ensure that use of these communications maintains our highest standards of conduct, integrity and reputation while minimizing actual or potential legal risks, whether used inside or outside the workplace. We also have an interest in maintaining connected integrity of our systems and these leaders can provide support in ensuring tight integration with existing systems.

Personal Social Media - It is important to remember that the use of social media networking implies personal responsibility and a complicated separation between personal and professional speech. Individuals can be held personally and/or professionally liable for public commentary that is considered defamatory, obscene, proprietary or libelous by any offended party, including AAS. In order to maintain a professional and appropriate relationship with students, employees should not communicate with students who are currently enrolled (or former students under 18 years of age)using personal

social media sites.

o Staff should not issue or accept student friend requests or follow

individual students on personal social media accounts.

o Staff should decline students’ friend requests on personal social media

accounts. Employees are strongly encouraged to maximize “privacy” settings on personal social media accounts and should not share or allow access to these accounts with students. Staff should not have online interactions with students on social media outside of forums/platforms intended for educational purposes. Employees should refrain from using school-owned equipment, including computers, company-licensed software or other electronic equipment to conduct personal blogging and should not access personal social media during work hours, if said use will constitute a distraction to the learning environment and detract from a staff member’s primary duties as assigned. Professionals should never use social media to harass, threaten, discriminate or

disparage other employees, students or anyone associated with or doing business with AAS. If you choose to identify yourself as an AAS employee, please understand that some readers may view you as a spokesperson for the school. Because of this possibility, we ask that you state that your views expressed in your personal social media site(s) are your own and not those of the school, or of any person or organization affiliated or doing business with the school.

Posting school logos or other proprietary documents on personal social media sites constitutes a breach of copyright. In addition, it is recommended that employees obtain expressed consent of each of any person(s) in the photograph(s) or other image(s) that they choose to post online. Photos of students or individual student work should not be posted on an employee’s personal social media site. While traveling or participating in school-funded business, professional development, school sponsored/funded activities or trips, employees should refrain from posting photographs or accounts of personal entertainment, unprofessional behaviours, unprofessional comments or questionable social activities. Abuses associated with the above guidelines are consistent with similar behavior in other forms of media, print and in real life. As such, adjudication of problems or complaints in this area will be addressed through the appraisal process as appropriate to the Professional Responsibilities domain. If you have any questions related to these guidelines, ask your principal, supervisor, or Human Resources.

Course 2, Week 4: THINK

LET’S THINK BEFORE YOU POST…

Butler University's division of student affairs shared a mnemonic device to use before doing anything on social media on their website. It resonated with me-T=Is it true? H=Is it helpful? I=Is it inspiring? N=Is it necessary? and K=Is it kind? Several times I have noticed my friends and family repost social media news I doubt is true, I might find offensive, or I may not appreciate. Butler recommends we should, "Be critical about what you post, like, and forward. Utilize your research skills to check fact from fiction." I wish there was a way to get this message out there to my friends and family! Oh wait, I can start by reposting it on my Facebook account:

Butler went on to suggest we should be active bystanders. Active bystander?! This is taking action which is a little less comfortable for me than just sharing an article on Facebook. In the past, I have directed people to Snopes.com when I find something that's been reposted which is not factual. That part is ok, I'm comfortable with it. However, does this mean I am supposed to tell someone when they are posting information I find unhelpful, uninspiring, not necessary, or unkind? Is my opinion more important or more correct than theirs? Is posting information I find mean just their freedom of speech? I can imagine having this conversation with a student but with an adult-seems sticky. Butler has given me something to ponder and next time I see a post, I will have to THINK carefully about how I will respond and how I can be an effective active bystander. 

How can I teach my students to critically question what they're reading online, to question if it is true? My students are at an age when they are learning to read, they are beginning to distinguish between fact and opinion; also, they are learning the difference between fiction and nonfiction. Gaining these understandings is paramount for students to be able to critically question if what they are reading online is true. Seven-year-olds may not yet be ready to fact-check news articles or find original sources for posts online; however, they can begin to hear about the concept of people posting false information online. When we start teaching students about researching online, teachers can give students a consistent message they should consider the possibility someone might have posted misleading information online just to lead them astray, just to mess with them. At this age, teachers can begin to plant the seed of doubt in students' minds which will lead them to begin questioning the validity of online information. This is the first step for students becoming critical THINKers. 

Course 2, Week 3: Finding the Balance

Keep your posts rated G and do not friend students! This was the first idea that came to mind for maintaining my privacy, and it was concerning social media. I was warned years ago by my school system I could get in trouble for having pictures of myself at parties or being online friends with students. I realize now as I'm reading about privacy, this was also a protection issue - not just privacy.

The information my students and I are posting and sharing online could be considered sensitive and there are people in the world who might take advantage of the information for financial gain or other purposes. Just because this would never have occurred to me, that people are doing bad things with children's data, doesn't mean I shouldn't be aware of the issue or relieved of my responsibility to protect my students in every way possible.

Specifically what I have done to maintain my students' privacy is to not share details about them with non-stakeholders. I don't post pictures of students and I won't mention their names online. I am sure to shred sensitive documents and not place them in the trash or recycling. For my own privacy, I have passwords for accounts, I do not consent for anyone else to see my medical records, and I still don't post pictures of myself at parties on FaceBook. 

Course 2 Week 2: Social interactions change as technology evolves

Kids today spend more time now than before with friends virtually than face-to-face. With mobile, devices, and gaming technology becoming more affordable and available, more and more children and teens are connecting online with their friends and others. With the new technologies, there are new social norms, new language, and new expectations all around. Adults need to at least be aware of these norms so they can be aware of why the younger generation is poking fun at them on social media. For a funny example, check out Rob Lowe’s Sons Keep Trolling Him On Instagram (Balčiauskas & Laurinavičius, 2019). 

Course 2: Week 1. Respect the Remix

Can the powers-that-be make this any more confusing?! I have the mindset people have positive intentions. This helps me to have better interpersonal relationships and better communication with others. In the same vein, I believe people try their best to follow the copyright rules but the rules are so complicated it's hard to do.

I only started to hear about and understand copyright in the last 10 years or so. Copyright is still somewhat confusing to me; however, even before COETAIL Course 1, I knew I should give credit for images I use and not steal pictures from the internet. I like to use Google to search for images so I can filter by copyright use. I've advanced in my copyright use sensitivity to the point I will now create drawings I need if they are not fair use. Creative Commons and Fair Use are still fuzzy and I need to learn more about these areas. Also, I have been assuming when inserting images into Google slides and docs using the web search, these images are available for use without having to cite the source or request permission. Now, I'm wondering if I've made an inaccurate assumption and I need to research this further. I hope to know the answer by the end of this course.

Informing students and informing peers about the importance of respecting the intellectual property of others would be different conversations in my situation. I generally explain or remind students of the rules for using images in their presentations. Classroom teachers give a lesson to their students about Copyright usage and I try to reinforce the idea when I'm working with students. I don't say anything to peers. Before this week, it hadn't occurred to me it would be my place to tell a peer they need to check their copyright usage. I assume my peers know at lease as much as I know about the subject and are doing their best. If I were more confident in my understanding of respecting the intellectual property of others, I would be more willing to try to explain it to a peer.

As I was reflecting on intellectual property, I asked my 19-year-old son if he uses copyright rules in his school work. He's a sophomore in college at UNC Wilmington and in general, I would expect he wouldn't bother following the rules. However, he said he does sometimes.

The importance of respecting the intellectual property of others is an issue at my school. It doesn't seem to be considered a high priority since it is not consistently enforced. Students turn in work without following the copyright usage rules and the work is accepted by the teachers. However, it is understandable when you're trying to teach a seven-year-old to research and write on a topic, nitpicking about citing the source of images is not a high priority.

As an educator, I feel an obligation to teach my students about copyright. It is a normal part of education now and like teaching someone to drive a car or how to have appropriate online etiquette, students need to be directly instructed on the rules and expectations. In addition, I believe we should encourage our students to take their own photos and create their own drawings. Of course, this is more time consuming; however, the pride of ownership students gain will help them to be more conscientious of why we should respect others' work.

Course 1, Week 6: Final Project

• Erika Tabor and I are on a Grade 2 team together and decided for our project to work on our Unit of Inquiry (UOI), How We Organize Ourselves (HWOO). The reason we chose to revamp this unit is it was an opportunity we saw to specifically be able to improve upon our student research lessons with the Google Search tricks and tips we learned during this course.

• This learning experience (unit plan) relates to what we learned in Course 1. As the Understanding by Design instructs us, we focus the students on what they will learn and be able to do at the end of the unit. Also, we will be able to help students better research on the topics they choose for their final products.

• I believe Course One has influenced me the most by bringing the importance of appropriate technology integration in my lesson planning and keeping in mind what students should be able to do by the end of the unit.

• One outcome I hope to see when students complete this learning is to be more successful and independent when researching their topics and have a conceptual understanding of human systems, they will see themselves as researchers, inquirers, and thinkers.

Course 1, Week 5: From LOTS to HOTS

I've been reflecting on how I use learning theories in my everyday practice to support student learning and I thought of a few examples of Behaviorism, Constructivism, and Connectivism.

First, I had a parent meeting this week about a student I've started a reading intervention with. One thing the mom pointed out that works for her daughter is positive reinforcement. I agree with Mom and think it's really important to remember how effective positive reinforcement is for a lot of students. This student struggles with reading and by telling her how great she's doing and talking about the positive progress she's makes helps to keep her motivated.

Next, as a support teacher, I sometimes go into other teachers' classrooms and teach their class. Our behavior management styles can differ and I was reminded this week how I need to start a lesson by telling the class my particular behavior expectations. Once I start then I consistently let them know when they are in line with or falling off the grid from my expectations. If I have a student who is off task, I point this out to them. As soon as I see them back on task, I point this out to them. Seven-year-olds respond to this type of reinforcement.

Course 1, Week 4: Used to have a little, now I have a lot

What exactly does "tech-rich learning" mean? Is there a Likert scale for the richness of the tech we use in our teaching? Does it mean there is a little or a lot of tech in our lessons? Without a clear understanding of this question, I first sought a definition. IGI Global defined technology-rich learning as, "The purposeful integration of appropriate technology into student learning to enhance motivation and active engagement in learning processes." This makes sense to me. In our reading, we're thinking about how to appropriately use technology with our students by first thinking of the learning objectives and what we want our students to learn. In the past, I have explored new technology with my students by trying them out. It was more of a technology for technology's sake. Now I try to use technology so it will improve the learning outcomes. For example, I have a student diagnosed on the Autism spectrum who I'm working with on improving how he treats others. In addition to reading a book on manners with him, he is also creating a digital copy of the story with iMovie. He is taking pictures of the book and narrating it. By using this technology, it will help him be actively engaged with the ideas in the book and it is highly motivating to him. Once he completes the digital story, he will be able to save a copy in his Google Drive and access it for future episodes when he is not being kind or respectful to others.

Another topic I am considering this week is the possibility of having to teach from a distance. With all the hoopla about teaching and learning online, things are getting a bit confusing to me. It seems now any teacher is going to be qualified to teach online and this is concerning to me. Penelope Adams Moon, the Director of Online Learning Strategy at the University of Washington tweeted about my concern on March 4th. She said it clearly and concisely-the emergency situation of schools closing and teachers needing to provide instruction online is only a stop-gap measure to deliver their instruction and it is not the same as online teaching. In response to her tweet, D. Christopher Brooks, Ph.D. proposed the idea this could be an opportunity for teachers effected to be more open to online learning in the future and lead to long term change. I find myself considering the silver lining in this stressful time we are experiencing.

This week, the focus of our reading from Living with New Media was Geeking Out. The authors defined it as, "an intense commitment to or engagement with media or technology, often one particular media property, genre, or type of technology. Geeking out involves learning to navigate esoteric domains of knowledge and practice and participating in communities that traffic in these forms of expertise. It is a mode of learning that is peer-driven, but focused on gaining deep knowledge and expertise in specific areas of interest." (p. 28) I reflect on my students' practices and I can't think of an example of how they show Geeking Out. Possibly this is an engagement that will soon make its debut among the second graders.

The authors go one to explain how Geeking Out can be social, "Just as in the case of messing around, geeking out requires the time, space, and resources to experiment and follow interests in a self-directed way. Furthermore, it requires access to specialized communities of expertise. Contrary to popular images of the socially isolated geek, almost all geeking out practices we observed are highly social and engaged, although not necessarily expressed as friendship-driven social practices. " (p.28)

Course 1, Week 3: Lights, camera, action plan.

Last night I attended a Toastmasters meeting and as usual, we had our Table Topics session. In this session, you're given a question to discuss impromptu in front of the group. One of the lesser know rules about this session is if you don't understand or maybe don't like the question, you can give a random answer on any topic of your choosing. Which brings me to this week's blog post assignment. I'm having a heck-of-a-time coming up with a new skill or concept to learn. I've tried to brainstorm by taking advantage of my network-I've sent emails, I've messaged my COETAIL group for ideas, I've talked to colleagues to brainstorm ideas. After all this, I've still not come up with an idea, and now I've let myself get behind in the course. I believe I have enough I'm already learning and I am not motivated to learn something new. Taking a page out of the Table Topics rule book, I'm going to twist this blog post task to meet my needs.

First, I am currently learning Russian. I've been studying Russian for almost five years but I can barely comprehend or speak. I need to do something more so I have come up with the following action plan for the month of March.

• Duolingo Russian app daily goal (currently 50XP)

• Send at least one text (sentence) in Russian to a Russian speaker daily

• Listen to at least one story on https://3ears.com/ weekly

• Add Russian language teachers on Twitter and read their posts

• Add Russian language blogs on Feedly and read them

• Add Russian captions to my English Instagram posts when possible

Second, I am currently learning to play the viola. I've been going to strings practice with my colleagues since the beginning of the 2018 school year. We meet once a week when school is in session. Recently I've decided to try and do more. I found a tutor and I'm attempting to practice more. We have a little concert on March 20th we are preparing for. I will play the three songs to the best of my ability. Here's my plan:

• Practice daily for 30 minutes

• Attend weekly strings practice on Thursdays 4:30-5:15

• Meet with my tutor on Mondays 12:15-12:45

• Meet with my tutor on Saturdays 11:00-12:00

• Watch videos of experts playing the songs I'm learning

• Listen to the songs I'm learning on iTunes

• Video myself playing the songs and ask for feedback from my tutors

Learning new skills is a lot on the front end and once you're at the top of the learning curve, it's a long row to hoe.

My takeaways from The first 20 hours — how to learn anything (TEDx, Kaufman).

• The 10K hour rule was based on people at the tipy-top of competitive professions.

• The learning curve is the graph showing how incompetent people are when they start to learn a new skill. The early improvement happens fast then the growth slows or tapers off.

• The speaker says with 20 hours of focused, deliberate practice into your new skill you will become decent at it.

• First, decompose what it is you want to be able to do to discover the little skills, then practice those.

• Next, learn enough to practice and self-correct. Find three to five resources to help you-books, videos, etc. Get better at noticing you're making a mistake so you can do something different.

• Third, remove the barriers keeping you from your practice-social media, etc.

• Finally, practice 20 hours.

• Kaufman makes the point you don't have to learn the 100s of details, you really just need to learn the major important parts to get decent. The major barrier is to get over is feeling stupid (emotional).

My takeaways (favorite quotes) from Pages 4 – 12 Living with New Media (John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation)

• SUMMARY OF FINDINGS FROM THE DIGITAL YOUTH PROJECT.

• "...new media empower youth to challenge the social norms and educational agendas of their elders in unique ways."

• "What is generally lacking in the research literature overall, and in the United States in particular, is an understanding of how new media practices are embedded in a broader social and cultural ecology."

• "We aimed to transcribe and translate the ways youth understand their own use of new media and, at times, the barriers they encounter in their desires to use them."

• "An ethnographic approach means that we work to understand how media and technology are meaningful to people in their everyday lives."

Course 1, Week 2: Becoming a Researcher

There were two probing questions this week: (a.) How will you actively seek out knowledge instead of letting it come to you? and (b.) How might being an active researcher impact your practice? Can knowledge just come to us? I believe we always have to do something to find knowledge. Therefore, since I did learn some new tips this week for searching for information, I decided to give it a go. I did a Google search for "Who coined the phrase fake news?" I found several articles with .com domains and I tried a sites: .edu search but I didn't find anything for who coined the phrase. Interestingly, it seems the term has been around quite a while. Defined by etymologyonline.com, "Fake news 'journalism that is deliberately misleading' is attested from 1894; popularized in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign." Trump took credit for the term; however, Craig Silverman an editor at Buzzfeed, also claims he popularized the term during the election campaign, even though he has decided to no longer use it (Beaujon, 2019). As I spiraled down this rabbit hole, I also learned the United Kingdom government also decided to no longer use the term "fake news" (Hern, 2018). Since I could not find supporting evidence on a domain other than .com's, I checked the name of a source Hern cited, Dr. Claire Wardle. I found her on harvard.edu so I have decided this bit of news is probably trustworthy and maybe Beujon's article is accurate but without more reliable sources, I leave it as only a possible truth. The second question was about how being an active researcher will impact my practice. This question has true-to-life significance for me in my current position. I am educated to teach languages, was hired as an English as a second language teacher, but three years ago I was voluntold to also teach students with learning disabilities. I have enjoyed the experience immensely and have learned so much. One of the ways I have made it through this experience so far is through finding information online to help the students I'm working with now. Don't know what ASD is? You can find thousands of hits online. Don't know how to write a social story? You can find examples for any topic on teachers-pay-teachers or Pinterest. Maybe my example is not exactly the type of "active researcher" the question was implying; however, the practical research I have to do to be better at my job is spot on.

First reading of the week and my takeaways from Children in a Digital World: I was surprised to read, children who "speak minority languages often can’t find relevant content online." I wasn't surprised this is true, I was surprised the idea had not occurred to me. As a native English speaker, I think I'm spoiled and have this expectation the whole world understands English. "Ninety-two percent of all child sexual abuse URLs identified globally by the Internet Watch Foundation are hosted in just five countries: the Netherlands, the United States, Canada, France and the Russian Federation." Since the URLs are based in those countries, does this mean the abuse is happening there too? Information and communication technology (ICT) lacks the needed research on children's health like it's effect on obesity and depression. The authors recommended we should be "focusing more on what children are doing online and less on how long they are online." They also suggested, "internet companies should work with partners to create more locally developed and locally relevant content,

especially content for children who speak minority languages, live in remote locations and belong to marginalized groups." Should it be internet companies' responsibility? I wouldn't trust corporations to do the right thing. My next thought is should the government be able to regulate this? I definitely don't trust governments to do the right thing either.

Second reading of the week and my takeaways from Pages 13 – 20 of Living with New Media: Genres of Participation with New Media. The main idea of this section was the three genres of participation, "hanging out, messing around, and geeking out are three genres of participation that describe different forms of commitment to media engagement, and they correspond to different social and learning dynamics." The study found adults see using new media while hanging out with friends as a waste of time. In response to restrictions on hanging out, teenagers find workarounds. The first genre was hanging out. "While hanging out with their friends, youth develop and discuss their taste in music, their knowledge of television and movies, and their expertise in gaming. They also engage in a variety of new media practices, such as looking around online or playing games, when they are together with friends." "Young people use new media to build friendships and romantic relationships as well as to hang out with each other as much and as often as possible." The second genre was, "messing around represents the beginning of a more intense, media-centric form of engagement. When messing around, young people begin to take an interest in and focus on the workings and content of the technology and media themselves, tinkering, exploring, and extending their understanding. The third genre was, "'geeking out' —an intense commitment to or engagement with media or technology, often one particular media property, genre, or type of technology." TLDR: Hanging out, messing around, and geeking out are three ways kids are using technology in their lives but to different extents.

My takeaways from Google Search Tricks for Research: Search operators target whatever I'm searching for. First, quotation marks give more exact results for what's in the quotes. Second, use OR in caps; for example, climate change OR global warming. Third, the minus sign, for example, apple -fruit will give results for apple but not the fruit. Finally, site: - you can search within a specific website for search terms. You can also include university domains with .edu and country domains like .de for Germany.

Course 1, The real week 1 (aka week 2)

I hate to disconnect; however, I love short but sweet articles and What does it mean to disconnect? (Utecht) hit that sweet spot for me. Going into the lurker debate, I was confident I was not one; however, after reading this article I started to think about how much content I'm creating, or rather not creating. I have room to grow to reach the 80/20 rule. I would guess I'm closer to 5/95. I'm going to make a point to keep a balance of my screen time while increasing my production time. I am creating a video this week for a presentation coming up and I'm having a great time doing it. I'm recording videos, uploading them to my drive, to be edited together this week to create teaching points for the impending presentation. It doesn't feel like work at all and I'm excited about it. Although I'm spending more time creating the video for the presentation than I am preparing for the presentation. Another one of those lack of balance moments. Make adjustment, move forward.

What did I learn new this week? I'd heard about UbD so a refresher on that was good but not new. Google Synergyse was definitely new since I'd never heard of it. Of course, I had to Google it, Google acquires Synergyse, an interactive training service for Google Apps. It's some sort of training on Google Apps for workers outside of Education. I'm so deep into my own little educational world, the thought hadn't occurred to me companies would be using Google Apps and of course they'd need a way to learn how to use them. I ran across a new term, in the white paper,  Living with New Media, so I consulted the handy-dandy, go-to Wikipedia page and it was able to explain media ecology fairly well. They still used really big words so I had to read it more than once. I also learned leeches are a type of participant found in social media. I hope to avoid that title if at all possible!

My take-aways from Living with New Media. There were two research questions: (a.) How are new media being integrated into youth practices and agendas? and (b.) How do these practices change the dynamics of youth-adult negotiations over literacy, learning, and authoritative knowledge? I only read the introduction and the conclusion, which was all the energy I could put into it. I thought it was interesting how they explained social media is the new hangout compared to when I was hanging out at friends' houses whose parents were away. As a mom, I think back to my kids growing up and I felt better about my kids being at home and not out getting into trouble. I was ignorant of the online dangers but luckily we survived it ok. Recently they've been teaching me to play WOW. I've not made any new online friends yet, but I expect I will eventually. I discovered another way we're messing up our kids-when we don't allow them access to the internet we are keeping them away from their peers, their common culture. We're isolating them and probably causing them depression! Yikes. The writers told us girls are more stigmatized for participating in these online social groups, "highly technical interest groups and complex forms of gaming." I checked the publication date of this article and it was published in 2008. Which means the study was probably done around 2005. It's way too old for us to trust what they're saying is still relevant. Girls are geeks too and we let our freek flag fly! Girl power! If you doubt the irrelevance and obsoleteness of the article, they spout Myspace and Facebook as the means of social communication of the youth (p. 36). Educators are not communicating with the teens and adult leaders in the gaming and creative production worlds. The authors suggested to "build bridges" of communication in order to gain awareness (p. 37). I would make a guess the gamers of 2008 are now current educators and perhaps they are more intune and aware of the online social norms of today and better able to make connections.

My takeaways from Online Personas: Who We Become When We Learn with Others Online. "who does the work in an online network and how rich are the roles that they adopt." concluded Lloyd, Skyring, and Fraser in the last line of this paper. Let's call them LSF for short. My initial thought was we're talking about a multiple personality disorder. Aren't I still me regardless of which online group I'm connecting with? LSF introduced, "This paper contends that people take on multiple online identities, here called personas, depending on context. These emphasise the “social” in social media and mediate our relationship with others and how we fit within the networks we join." Maybe they're talking about a switch of mindset? Like when we switch between formal and informal language depending on our audience? Gladwell (2000) identified the roles, "connectors, mavens and salesmen;" which are new-to-me terms cropping up in this paper. What are they in this context? I control F for the term "connect" and do a word inquiry. I got 82 hits including the terms connectors, connections, connectivism, and connecting. Finally, on page 161 I found the explanation and I re-cite from the paper, Gladwell (2000) "roles can be comparatively described as: “Mavens are data banks. They provide the message. Connectors are social glue: they spread it. But there is also a select group of people – salesmen – with the skills to persuade us when we are unconvinced of what we are hearing.” LSF went on to explain the roles deeper then concluded the findings: The roles are still current and it was found people can switch between these roles. LSF found, "Those outside of these roles were categorised as: lurkers, core participants, challengers, facilitators, irritants and leeches." I personally find leeches a colorful role title. how personally engaged participants in personal learning networks are. Lastly, LSF found in their study participants were as personally engaged in their online professional learning networks (PLNs) as they are when in face-to-face situations. "They (the participants) were as concerned with their fellow participants as they were with the topics under discussion." This is nice to hear. #coetail , you care! You really really care! 

Course 1, orientation week 1

I wonder if anyone else struggles like I do to figure out the way new communities work? Not the read this, then write that, and finally respond to a classmate's post of typical online courses. I'm thinking on the parts I don't know. Someone said they're the unknown unknowns. Comprehensively, I feel like I'm missing stuff.

Something new to me is the RSS feed. I'm not sure what it is yet but I've started a Feedly and added some instructional technology blogs. I even found it in the Play Store so I added it to my phone. I'm sure it'll make sense eventually. Just like everything else, hopefully, maybe it will eventually make sense.

ISTE Standards. I am looking through the ISTE standards and two jump out at me, (a.) Designer (Educators design authentic, learner-driven activities and environments that recognize and accommodate learner variability) and (b.) Analyst (Educators understand and use data to drive their instruction and support students in achieving their learning goals). I have a passion for designing instruction and I look for designing opportunities in my everyday lesson planning. I enjoy trying out new apps and learning how to implement them for my students' learning experiences. Second, analyst is where I can see providing the big impact on my students' learning. We are currently talking formative assessment throughout the school and here is where I see the possibilities of implementing different ways of assessing my students to plan for their needs. My goal for this course is to show growth in using instructional technology, specifically in the areas of designing and analyzing. I hope to come away with new ideas and improve my practice.

This orientation week has not been easy! However, I feel excited about the learning about to happen and I'm looking forward to collaborating with everyone in the cohort. Now, I wonder what I've forgotten to do...

Course 1, how I'm connected

Course 1, my introduction

My name is Holly and I'm originally from North Carolina, USA. I currently live and work in Moscow, Russia with trips back home to NC twice a year to visit friends and family. This school year I am working as a grade 2 support teacher. I mainly work with students with learning differences and/or English as an additional language. I'm in Cohort 12 and you can find me on Twitter @holly28428.

My school suggested the opportunity to do the COETAIL courses. I am the typical teacher - a life long learner. I am always learning something new and I am looking forward to what I will learn next with this online learning experience!