Digital Blog Post #C - Chapter 3

This week's reading took us through the world of teaching from behind the scenes. Creating the lessons and the art of finding a teaching approach would have to include much of the information discussed in the material throughout this chapter and module.  There are also many more concepts about strategies  and technology that are useful. Some of which I find worth mentioning are with regards to instructional teaching methods, and digital citizenship.

Learning theories such as behaviorism, cognitivism, contructivism, and construtionism are typically the methods that teachers use and adopt as their own in their classroom.  I have found that behaviorism is the most useful, especially with younger students or all kids in general. As explained in lesson 3, this type of learning requires the teacher to provide explicit and planned stimuli in order for the student to memorize, demonstrate, and imitate the desired product or behavior (Maloy, 2013. pp 49). In the VPK classroom, or elementary schools you can recognize behaviorism being used when you see a colored behavior chart. When my daughter, a kindergartner, goes to school each morning, she knows she has started the day with her name on "green". As the day goes on, if she misbehaves (no, not MY KID...never!) she gets her color downgraded to "yellow," and if she continues the misbehavior (she must get it from her father's genes) she will get downgraded once again, to "red". Staying on green for  a week straight earns her points, which earns her a prize on Friday, whereas yellow earns her a warning, and red results in parent contact/or point deduction.  This type of input/output behavior modification helps students get in a routine and teaches them what the expectations are. This concept can also be applied to older students but I feel should be introduced on day 1 of the school year (ie: not writing your name on your paper, late work, etc...may result in point deduction for the assignment).

Instructional teaching methods are not necessarily a one size fits all kind of approach.  You will rarely find a teacher who solely teaches one-on-one, or utilizes learning groups for every single lesson.  I feel as though there needs to be a balance and a good teacher will utilize these methods based on the needs of the students and the material they are trying to teach.  It's important for all students to have various ways to explore the lessons they are trying to learn. In the language arts classroom, I would often have students working one on one with me as I assisted them in trying to complete a prompt or understand various literary works. At the same time, there would be students gathering information on that same literary work, on the computer in order to complete their assignment. All, while others would be utilizing a rubric to self evaluate if they met all of the requirements since they have completed their assignment.  It was a balancing act but they students were able to adapt to each method throughout the course and I knew what worked best for each kid by observations and assessments.

Finally, I was happy to see digital citizenship explained as it was an important topic in my most recent teaching experience. "Technology today enables teachers and students to express creativity through social media, sharing ideas, among people who know each other and those who do not" (Maloy, 2013. pp 65).  The world we live in today is so computer rich that students sometimes get lost in cyber space and assume that their information will be as well. This past fall semester, I was assigned to be permanent sub for a middle school technology course, since the teacher relocated to another job.  The students had that teacher for a month and I felt it would be a good thing to assess what their practices are with using technology.  I was able to find a digital awareness quiz that helped them self assess what kind of information they are sharing and feel it is ok to share on the internet. The results were frightening! Most of those 150 students soon realized that they are putting their personal and family information at risk by oversharing online. Not to mention, many of them felt that their actions online can not be traced or tracked with regards to accessing inappropriate information or cyber bullying. That was just one aspect of digital citizenship that I had trouble emphasizing the importance of. The other aspect, being citing sources and "give credit to who said it," was a whole other ball game. I had trouble getting the students to understand that just because it is on the internet, doesn't mean it's free information to use and that the author of the information they are gathering should be cited.  I'm sure that their age had much to do with it, however with practice and reinforcement from all their teachers, they will learn in time.


Resources:

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Digital Blog Post #A - Chapter 1

In Chapter 1, we are introduced to the world of our youth who are driven by and driving technology into our future. Although, I believe deep down I knew it all along, I guess I was in disbelief about some of the statistics that I learned from this chapter. It's definitely no surprise to me that kids today have technology at their fingertips when you see toddlers lying down with an ipad watching videos, or playing preschool games on social media photos. However, what IS surprising and alarming to me is the statement that "media multitasking" accounts for "10 hours and 45 minutes of media time during the day. In other words, youngsters were spending almost every waking minute outside school using some type of electronic equipment," according to Maloy et al (2013, pp.4-5). What is there left to show or to do with little people who have the world at their fingertips. This is one thing that I feel would be the biggest challenge to teachers today. The "digital divide" in the 21st century classroom, could pose a problem when you have most students spending every waking hour online while other students have zero digital time outside the classroom. Finding a way to bridge the gap and keeping the computer savvy kids engaged while also providing basic internet/ media instruction to the kids who do not have those skills will be essential lesson planning consideration for today's teachers. 

Secondly, as a student now with prior teaching experience, I find technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPAK) to be a great way for new teachers to learn to balance the three most important aspects of lesson planning today. It combines what to teach, how to teach and how to teach it using technology. This concept was not something that I was taught my first round of college courses in early 2000s, and feel it would've been very helpful had it been. With much trial and error, it may come to teachers and when it does it can make integrating technology so much easier. When I was a language arts teacher, I was always trying to read ahead and be one step ahead regarding the lessons that I was going to teach whether it be grammar, or literature as well as continuously try to incorporate higher order critical thinking questions. Many times I would get caught up in class discussion about the literature but lose sight of the students that may not be following along or getting lost in the shuffle. These were beginner mistakes on my part but a learning experience for me just the same. Having to juggle how to teach meaningful content was a challenge within itself and then having to do so by incorporating technology was disastrous for me at times! It was a difficult and underestimated task. TPAK, is something that I plan on learning more about and practicing in my future return to the middle school classroom not matter what subject I end up teaching. 

Last, but not least I would have to agree that "Building a digital identity as a technology-using educator is an exciting part of becoming a teacher and is as important as creating and refining an in-front-of the-class-teaching personality," as stated by Maloy, et al (2013, p.15). Just like anything in else in education, keeping up with the most recent studies through continuing education and professional development as it pertains to media is an essential part of evolving as a teacher. One of the greatest things about being an educator is that you learn with every lesson you teach or observe.  With every new resource you are given or taught, you are eager to incorporate it in your own classroom. Being able to model to your students that you are capable of teaching them in a way that they didn't expect to learn, can make for more meaningful learning experiences for students of all learning styles.  

In conclusion, the world as we know it is no longer the world that we knew growing up. We need to look to the future with an open mind and build upon the knowledge that we have and learn to go in this forward gush of technology and embrace it as our new way of teaching in the 21st Century.  

Resources:

Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.