Personal Learning Technology

The Dreaded Inquiry Tool

While reading about the online inquiry tool, a slow anxious feeling continued to sit in my chest.  My first thought was, “Oh my God, Personalized Learning Technology will take over my job.” “I’m going to become unemployed.”  I saw visions of students with sound canceling headphones on their heads with their eyes glued to a computer monitor, sitting in rows and columns inside a room of white walls. I’m sorry, are we creating students to become lifelong learners or are we producing robots?

The Inquiry tool sounds just about perfect! (sarcasm) It’s formulated so precisely that this tool can differentiate instruction, provide endless streams of information for learning, and everything has an algorithm.  This is suppose to break down the “one size fits all” theory?  It will be cost efficient and a dynamic learning experience, all done with the right pace, difficulty, and tailored to the students’ specific needs. Adams claimed in the article that is was the “key to economic growth.” “The American Dream.”  American dream for whom?  It sounds like a factory producing EXACTLY what society wants them to become.

Products.  This is what comes to mind of what our children will become.  Products of the school society we will have created. Products produced and marked and tracked with the intention to make our economy grow.  Are we truly creating innovating learning environments this way? The objective behind the inquiry tool is to get our students ready for 21st Century Skills, developing curriculum in a way to get our students ready for college and careers, through the power of technology.  What about the power of human interaction?  What about the social and emotional needs of our students?

“Oh wait!”  The inquiry tool can also measure grit, tenacity, perseverance along with any other physiological process.  “Are you kidding me?!” Children are already showing a decrease in social skills, let's just hook them up to a computer that analyzes how they are feeling as well.  That way no one will know how to have authentic human relationships. I have to wonder as well, if a student’s learning is so precisely mapped out for them, how will the react when they find themselves in their first challenging college assignment or a daunting task which they need to be able to tackle on their first job? I predict they would crumble under the pressure, because there wasn’t a human teaching them for the last 5 years, it was a computer, who is always accurate but did not teach them how to persevere or problem solve. Yes, this inquiry tool scares me.  Just a little.

Balancing Talk with Technology to Truly Personalize Learning

I agree with Coiro when she speaks of a difference between personalized versus personal approaches.  She makes a good point in explaining how “students have the ability to move through sequenced activities at their own pace but, often they have little choice in selecting the activities they engage with and even less control over how they demonstrate understanding.” Yes, students do go through their personalized lists independently, but it also lacks collaboration of other students that enables engaging conversation that leads to other types of interests and learning opportunities.  It also lacks looking at problems students may be having at home or at school or within their community. The critical theorists must be having a fit!

She also mentions blended learning and when done the right way, there are teachers (Thank God) and students that use both digital sources and accountable conversations. Progressively, I still see a classroom with students engaged in conversations, moving around the room, and discussing issues and text with evidence and enthusiasm.  I just can’t imagine sitting in front of a computer dictating everything you do in your day and mapping out exactly what you need to learn.  Kids are already restless and tired from sitting all day.  What will happen if most of their time is on a computer?  I predict health issues, depression, and obesity will rise.   

Coiro does give suggestions on how to implement both digital resources and an active engaging classroom of discussion.  Critical literacy is still important to incorporate in our curriculum because students need to know their lives, opinions, and interests matter.  Students need to know their voices can be heard.  It may be these students who may change the way our education system is going, so we need to prepare them well!

Poetry Promotes Passion

In reading Christensen’s chapter about poetry this week, I was inspired to teach poetry in a whole new way.  Looking at the 3 roles she writes about in this chapter made a connection for me in seeing poetry in a whole new light.  

The first role:  Community Builder

I have always tried to make my classroom the type where students felt they could take a risk and that their ideas, cultures, and heritages would be respected and heard.  I agree that students sharing their lives, whether good or bad, helps them to identify who they are and why they are important. Building those communities while working on academics helps make a connection between others who have similar challenges or joys.  Students seeing they are not alone, or have things in common with others, gives them hope and strength.  For teachers, we get a chance to know the “whole child” while practicing compassion and empathy. As students learn to actively listen to their peers, it helps spark an interest about sharing things more personal in their lives.  Setting this stage as a class community will play as a stepping stone onto content and political areas.

The second role:  Grammar Text

Christensen talks about teaching poetry all year long.  Many times we are tied to curriculum maps and pacing guides that tell us what and when to teach it.  Christensen reminds us that if we don’t build these opportunities into the curriculum, students may never get the chance to genuinely write. We need to listen to our students, learn about their lives, and then locate the right poems or stories that they can relate too.  In turn, we can create lessons that incorporate parts of speech and descriptive writing.

Her strategy of using 1 crayon to highlight repeated words or phrases, and the other to locate vocabulary words helps build their skills in identifying parts of speech, while building stamina in their pieces. Her idea of identifying vocabulary and using word lists is something I’d like to try this semester during my poetry unit.  

My district is currently struggling with the “right tools” or “references” to teach grammar in the elementary schools.  Christensen’s techniques gives students a chance to learn how to use grammar and language effectively.  Teaching skills in isolation on worksheets is no longer the norm.  There is simply not enough time.  I agree that teaching students how to pay close attention to detail, while they are writing something that is meaningful to them, is simply more effective.  

The third role:  Literary Tutor

I really like the idea of using poetry to demonstrate understanding of content. I’ve done this in my classroom but not to this extent.  It is more of a choice for a finished project for science or social studies. Not only are students learning about metaphors and what they mean, but they use the same skills to help them develop ideas for essays.  I now know why writing a poem for this week’s RAFT assignment was an option.

Finding the Poems that Hide: Why Students Should Write Poetry

When I read the poem Forgotten Things by Kati Macalusco, the first thing I felt was sadness.  In reading her thoughts that followed, I realized when she talks about the “space between experience and language,” her poem was written in a way that put me in that “space.”  Her explanation is so clear when she speaks of just telling her husband what happened at the grocery store would not do it justice.  She wrote the poem  in a way that made me feel sad for the elderly lady, just as she experienced it herself.

It made me think of times we may experience something, and how it impacts us emotionally, but when we try to explain to someone, and they are not feeling the intensity we did, it doesn’t seem validated or understood.  I can now see how poetry can help students express their own experiences during those times.

February 14

Coteaching

In our first reading (Emdin Chapter 5) we learn about 3 different types of  co-teaching.  The first is two adult teachers working together to deliver content.  It is explained that the teachers work together to decide who will teach what according to their expertise.  Although collaboration is positive, the negative is that the focus can shift from their students to teachers learning how to work together in such close quarters during a 6.5 hour day.  Personally, I think having a co-teacher would be very productive.  In fact, a DREAM!  Many times the demands of student needs and curriculum on the shoulders of one teacher can be overwhelming.  We are in a world of IEPs, PLPs, MLP, and  RTI plans, which include both academic and social emotional interventions.  It is challenging to teach and supply the interventions needed on a daily basis to students with these plans alone.  Having a teammate would be ideal and efficient in my eyes!

The second form of co-teaching is a teaching-learning opportunity.  An experienced teacher and a student or novice teacher both lead a classroom with the veteran teacher modeling practices while slowly giving responsibilities to the other. I have never had a student teacher.  The thought of adding on another responsibility is stressful to me, but I know I would love to do it.  I also think it would help me grow more as an educator because I would be forced to reflect more intently on practices as well as learning outcomes and community of my class. I’m also a bit of a control freak, so having someone take over my classroom would force me to try new things and think or do things I might not try or have thought about.  I also think having a novice teacher who is eager to learn, could bring fresh ideas and creativity to the table.  

The last form of co-teaching discussed is the inclusion classroom featuring one general educator and the other a special educator.  It can be effective because the students are a mix of general educated students and children who have behavior problems and or learning disabilities. They are exposed to the grade level curriculum while having the support staff and resources they need to succeed.  I taught in an inclusion classroom for 3 years with a special educator and a teacher assistant.  It was one of the most challenging jobs I ever had.  General education students were mixed with students with special needs, primarily with learning disabilities.  The second year, administration decided to add behaviorally challenged students to the mix.  THIS WAS NOT EFFECTIVE!  Due to the challenges that were faced to maintaining a safe environment, the students did not always have good models to reflect upon and instead of things getting easier, everything was extremely hard.  Emdin expressed in the chapter that “Students are well aware which teacher occupies which role and because of hierarchies that privilege the content expert over the other teacher, inherit a respect for one teacher and a disrespect for the other.”  I found this NOT to be true in the 3 years I did this.  My team teacher and I always worked together in a way that I believe was a true team.  On the other hand, I did see this perception from my students with my teacher assistant.  No matter what, I always told my colleagues we were a team.  If one of us made a decision for the class, we had to support it.  It was like parenting...once you said “no,” you expect your significant other  to back you up and say “no” too.

Gallagher Chapter 5

My favorite take away from this reading is on page 93. “We tell students that writing is worthwhile. They tell us they don’t like to write.  We scoff at that, telling them that the big game is coming (the state-mandated writing exam).  We insert them into pressure writing situations (their efforts will be scrutinized and graded).  When they finish the “game” they are grateful that it is over and hope not to write again any time soon.

This really hit home for me.  I fear that the same may be perceived by my own students. Even though I always think I am giving them great feedback and telling them how impressed I am with their writing, I now know, it is not enough.  “Tests come and go, but attitudes about writing can be lifelong. (Page 93) Already I am thinking about ways I could possibly change their outlook on writing by taking a break from “standardized” writing and finding something of more interests to them.  I totally agree with the notion of “taking a step back before we can move forward.”  Looking through the ten ideas to get students to write was refreshing to me.  I’m going to give a few a try.  If I am asked by administration what my students are writing about, my reply will be, “I am taking a step back so that my students can move forward.”

Christensen Chapter 2

All I can say is “Wow!”  This chapter was loaded with so much enriching and powerful information to teach Narrative writing.  I especially like the technique she uses called blocking.  One of the things I say in writing is, “show don’t tell.”  Blocking is a strategy I can use to help the students visualize the scene.  I agree with why teaching narrative writing matters.  Sharing and discussing students’ lives brings us to the reality of the “whole child.” Integrating stories and read alouds, making sure you have a variety of cultural and ethnical authors, helps students to identify with themselves.  If a classroom is created with a welcoming community, students are more apt to feel comfortable enough to share and take risks.

I was also reinforced with the fact that not all of what my kids write, needs to be published.  Whoosh writing pieces or quick writes can be drafts with maybe the student only picking one to publish.  I find it is important to write, a lot, every day.  I like how she recommends color coding to help with their revisions.  I use this technique for persuasive writing, but now I know how I can use it for narratives! I also want to try the Read-Around Procedure. (So exciting!)

Testing...Testing...

“What meets the standard?”  “What is the criteria?”  “How long does it have to be?”  “How many paragraphs do you want?”  These questions are common in today’s standardized learning  environments.  We as teachers strive for our students to succeed so we unpack the standards, integrate them into our classrooms as best we can and try our best to keep up.  But I have to question...what are we really teaching our students?  To be good test takers?  What are our roles as teachers now?  To become assessors rather than teachers?  EVERYTHING is based on data.  How do we keep up with what is expected while instilling the desire to question and investigate and strive for success into our young students’ minds?  
Many times I am afraid we are giving them mixed messages about achievement.  Consistently, baseline tests are given with the purpose to group students by ability so more efficient teaching can take place to fill gaps of concepts not yet mastered.  We tell them, “Don’t worry.  This does not go on your report card.”  “It’s more information for me, so I can see where you are and where I need to go next in my teaching.”  Their reply, “So this doesn’t count?  It doesn’t matter?” The conversations that follow can be very confusing and frustrating.  If students don’t understand the point of what they are expected to do, they do not invest in it.  Computerized tests of such formative assessments for math, pop up a percentage score when it is complete.  The student is concerned.  They see a 68%.  I have to tell them, “The score doesn’t matter, it’s finding out for me what needs to be taught.”  We are giving our youth, mixed messages! They want to do well, but they still feel the pressure and stress, no matter how you try to conceal it.  I have to question not just PARCC testing but ALL of this excessive data collecting as did Johnson and Richer  in saying, “This contributes to the cycle of self-doubt, struggles, and potential failure for my students.” (Johnson and Richer, RIC, July, 17, 2015)

School Improvement Plans are shared with parents and school committees.  What is the common thread, that all in favor, need to see to prove school achievement?  DATA!  Looking at the PARCC score data from the previous year, even though it is old and no longer valid, all those involved want to see an increase in scores.  Ridiculous expectations are made in SLO’s set by administration to close the “gap” and aim for higher achievement.  If not met, those SLO’s are not met, and teacher’s status as highly qualified will decline.  “However, simply setting Academic experiences must be designed to increase students’ sense of self-efficacy as well.” (Johnson and Richer, RIC, July 17, 2015)  Are we losing our focus of teaching the whole child?  I can’t help but think we are skimming skills from the top and not giving students enough time to dig deep into analyzing, predicting, and thoroughly learning any one content. Time is always against us.  Thirty-six percent  of teachers are reporting spending “over 15 hours preparing students for the content of the test” (Johnson and Richer, RIC, July 17, 2015) What could I do with 15 extra hours?  I know, I could actually teach!
Don’t get me wrong.  I do think standards are important.  I like having a guideline of what they need to know, and how I’m going to get them there.  But I do feel that long are the days where a teacher’s own creativity and ideas and theories were considered in a professional manner.  Many teachers feel they are not heard or their  expertise is simply not good enough.  I wonder if that culture is slowly seeping into our students’ perception of their learning as well.  A rubric can say “Almost There” but to a student, it is a failing grade.  They did not “meet the standard.”  

As teachers we need to think of ways to instill self-worth in our students.  Bring out their uniqueness and inspire them to question the norm.  In class we are learning how important it is to incorporate current events and political views into literacy.  Now that we are into our third year of PARCC testing, it could be a topic that could be explored and brought to engage students in expressing their point of view.  I am curious if such an inquiry has been investigated.