CEO 810 Reflection

In your entry, talk about how your professional practice will change because of the work you've done in this course. Also, address questions that remain for you. What do you still need to figure out? What new questions have you developed because of the work you have done?

Throughout this course, I have reflected a lot on my technology practices both for myself as a learner and for my students. I admit, I am not the typical student completing this course. For most, it is the launching point for their Masters in Educational Technology. For me, I completed my masters back in 2013, and have acted as an instructional technology facilitator for the past 5 years, only now, entering back into the classroom. 

In week 3, we examined our Professional Learning Network (PLN), something that educators should do on a regular basis. It is essential to be sure that you are staying connected to others not only in your grade level, or school level, but around the country and around the world. Technology brings such a power to educators now that we do not have to teach in a silo and do as we have always done. The world is full of experts and eager learners, hoping to connect and share. Embrace it. It has been my professional development goal to participate in more edchats, with the plan to be affiliated with or aid in facilitating. In my new district, I would like to get these going. I'm curious, how do I begin? How are channels like this started? What steps are needed or taken to facilitate? 

Many of the weeks involved tools I was already familiar with, or practices already in place in my classroom and profession. For example, my students have already begun Genius Hour, learning a skill or topic online through the expertise of others. We are using Google Classroom as our platform. In my Networked Learning Project, it caused me to reflect more on the process of learning and exploration. I will bring my struggles and findings to my classroom with my students to aid in this process. 

Lastly, I think the final week, on Creative Commons, has proven most beneficial to me. Copyright and safe searching have been two items I have emphasized with staff in the past. As teachers, we are notorious for infringement for the "sake of the children." A common mantra, is not to ask permission, but rather to beg for forgiveness. These resources are great and I hope to use these with my team and my school to help inform them as to how we can utilize resources, but also the affordances that our students may have in their creativity or transformation of other material. My questions surround this and other content forums, as well as open source and the connection between. How can I protect projects and ideas I have and share to the public? When developing curriculum, where does the intellectual property lie? If creating it while working for the district is it their property? These questions and more involve my work in curriculum writing, with the hope to eventually produce a consulting business and curriculum development. How can I protect myself and ensure I am not infringing on others? 

Moving forward I hope to increase the creative opportunities for my students while using Chromebooks. I strive to go further than the basics, and hit that sweet spot of TPACK to transform their learning. I want to go beyond the typical tasks and really have them apply their learning to create something new, something unique, something original. I want to empower students to make their digital footprint for the better. 

Cooking with TPACK

This week in CEP 810, I revisited TPACK and the critical relationship that technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge should play in all lesson planning for the classroom. When designing student learning utilizing technology, teachers are often motivated by new shiny tools or apps. As an educator, we need to think critically about the way in which that tool will support the methods of learning and the content being covered. Although this was not a new concept to me, Dr. Kohler and Dr. Mishra recorded a video explaining TPACK in further detail. 

In my activity, we had to apply TPACK to cooking, and having the right (or wrong) tools to complete a task. In this case, the technology was an ice cream scoop, a glass tea plate, and a wooden salad bowl. The content I was trying to learn or accomplish was making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Therefore the process was somewhat up to me how I achieved the task, different from how I typically would make a sandwich. The first challenge I faced was that we didn't have any jelly. So I attempted the task with just a peanut butter sandwich. 

Here's my attempt: 

In my experience, we can often adapt a tool or use something in a different way just to skate by and get the task done. However, when using the right tool, efficiency and accuracy are greatly increased. I think it is so easy to be eager to try a new technology just because it's new, however, we need to really ensure that the tool we are using is helping the learner through pedagogy to comprehend the content knowledge. 

On their website, tpack.org, they have a plethora of resources about finding that sweet spot where TPACK truly occurs. They describe the difference between just TK, or CK, or PK, and having some overlap with TPK, TCK, or PCK. 

As an instructional technology facilitator, it was my role to make sure that teachers were not distracted by technology, to lose sight of the curriculum goals or the best practices in pedagogy to get the students there. It is incredible the way that technology can motivate, engage, and truly transform the learning when done with purpose and intention.  

Final Network Learning Project Update

This topic has been especially challenging to learn strictly from YouTube and help forums. With baking, I am instantly drawn to talking to those I aspire to be in the kitchen, and reading the comments and conversations on recipes. There is so much wisdom to glean from others, but I found those who posted in forums were not always very creditable sources.

this comment for example, this person has no experience with sourdough  And as I mentioned in the last post, sometimes it is challenging to find videos from those you connect with.

My reflection and overview:

Given my progress over these 4 weeks, I decided it was more feasible for me to focus on getting a starter going for sourdough. Let me talk you through my journey. I watched several videos, as I mentioned in post number 2, but had a few failures.

Looking back, attempt one. The first attempt I expected success immediately, so when the water and flour separated, I threw it out and started over. How hard could it be? Water + flour = yeasty sourdough starter. Wrong. I had also used measuring cups for this, but I couldn’t leave anything else up to chance. I bought a kitchen scale.

Using measuring cups, I started small as many forums suggested.

So I tried again, this time was much better, right around our update post. I was eagerly awaiting. I was nervous as the water and flour separated, so I stirred and made another one.

Separation

The next couple days I noticed little bubbles. We have had a really cold, rainy week here in northern Michigan. I began looking at forums relating to temperature and sourdough starters. I saw a lot of posts about the temperature being too warm. If it is too cold, yeast slows and becomes more dormant, but many keep their starter in the fridge long-term. The bubbles didn’t look exactly like the videos I had seen, so I tried to find a warmer place to leave it. I also covered it with a tea towel at this point instead of a lid, which, as I read, allowed it to breathe a little more.

Look! It’s alive and bubbling! A little

More days passed and I was required to feed it. This was tricky so I started another starter just in case. To “feed” the starter, you have to discard part of it, and then replenish it with water and flour so that the yeast has fresh flour to feed on. At this point it really started to smell. That is one aspect that is hard to get from a video. Remove 1/2 the starter (which I put in another jar), and add 1 c flour, and 1/2 c warm water.

Apparently at this point, your starter should really be growing. It took mine a little longer and I had to wait to feed it again, but then it started to grow and it looked much better – or at least more like the videos.

It’s growing!

All in all this was a very beneficial learning process! I realized that some of my fears of yeast are certainly warranted, as it is a tricky critter to keep a live and keep growing. I may have needed a more introductory bread to get me started.

Moving forward, I would not learn baking in this way, but I see the benefits for other contexts. There were a lot of pros and cons:

21st Century Learning in the Math Classroom

I have been very fortunate at my school to have 1:1 Chromebooks which allows me to take learning further, while increasing engagement. We utilize a lot of technology in our classroom to enhance their learning, but this week’s reading really pushed my thinking about the tools and how we are using them. Although we are lucky to have Chromebooks, I am unlucky to have to teach math with extremely outdated textbooks. In order to support student learning, I supplement a lot.

Here is a lesson plan I have created for perimeter, to utilize more technology to reach my students. This lesson is structured as an “investigation” in our textbook, but does not set the students up for success. This lesson is often very dry in a textbook, given arbitrary scenarios in farming and planting a garden. Students are often disengaged and unable to envision what that situation really looks like. Utilizing technology, I am to engage students at various points in the lesson, gain real-time input on their understanding, keep students accountable, and allow them to learn through play.

After direct instruction and formative assessments, using peardeck and google forms, students move on to practice with play using Spheros. Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown (2011) emphasize that “All systems of play are, at base, learning systems” (p.97). It is essential for us to build time into lessons for students to play. Furthermore, they state “(Play) are ways of engaging in complicated negotiations of meaning, interaction, and competition, not only for entertainment, but also for creating meaning” (p.97). Previously I worked with a kids museum to emphasize the power of play and learning, my county even developed a magnet theme surrounding the concept of play. When we allow the time, and provide the constructs, students make play an extremely memorable and helpful learning experience.

My goal is to provide students with various opportunities to demonstrate proficiency with the standard and objectives. In the beginning of the lesson, I gain a baseline of understanding, then scaffold the instruction to build on their background. After participating and practicing, they again have an opportunity to demonstrate proficiency, before moving on to the next level of the learning. Utilizing Sphero requires them to use more critical thinking skills and reasoning while working with a team. Not only do they need to be accurate in their measurements, but understand the level of coding to command the robot to move along the perimeter of the shape. All students in the group have a job to 1. measure, 2. command, 3. drive, 4. check and improve. The reiterative nature of using robotics in math, pushes students to strive for perfection while taking interest in the learning process. Another goal, as Hobbs emphasizes, is to promote curiosity. I hope that using these tools will spark curiosity and creativity in my students for the future.

You can view the lesson plan here.