EDTC6535 Wk 7 Podcasts and Productivity

This week’s reading was focused on Component 2.3 Select and Use Applications: Use productivity tools and common applications effectively and constructively.  The reading was on podcasts.  While I subscribe to a few podcasts for fun through iTunes, this week I explored podcasts and videocasts for potential application to my students.

I can see the usefulness of using online lessons and podcasts as an extension of the classroom.  Studies at various colleges have shown enhanced experience for students and higher quality work. (Ovadia, 2007).  I especially liked the Drexel University chemistry professor who podcasted lectures and then used classtime to review problems. Certainly, not enough of my 9th and 10th graders will listen to podcasts to make it something I can require.  However, I like the idea of giving students options and using tools that are already embraced by student culture.  Some students learn by listening, and those are the ones that I’d be interested in fostering an interest in math by subscribing to math podcasts.

While I am not in an environment where all my students have iPods or internet access from home, I have been considering creating a Google site for my students with links to podcasts and videocasts.  For example, I could send a student who is having problems with solving multi-step equations to http://www.mathtrain.tv/play.php?vid=100 .  While it’s probably needed by the students I send, the fact that it’s made by 6^th graders, might make it feel embarrassing. I have been thinking about adding links to various online videos.  There are a number of Algebra videos on Youtube.com.  They are fairly dry, but perhaps watching a video a few times, even if it’s at the library, might make the words more familiar.  Again, it gives the students choice if they want to watch another teacher explain it a different way.

Bibliography

Ovadia, M. (2007). Poducate me: Practical solutions for podcasting in education. Retrieved 11 14, 2009, from Poducate me: http://poducateme.com/guide/index7.php

Wk02 Technology Standards, Blogging

The 9 page introduction of the Washington State K-12 Educational Technology Learning Standards was useful for understanding how technology fits into the state’s learning goals, and what these goals are.  I found the framework of the Integration EALR and the Digital Citizenship EALR helpful for my understanding.  I think of the technology goals as falling into either of two buckets:  using technology to do the work we want (EARL 1), and learning how to use this technology with good judgment (EARL2).      

The blogging articles in Coming of Age (pages 29-31, 35-36, 49-55) were just what I needed for inspiration.  Reading about the successes and the great potential is encouraging me to keep going even though it’s been a technologically frustrating week.  I’ve seen how some of my students come alive when they’re on the computer.  For these students, they were in the classroom because they had to be, but being in front of a screen is where they want to be.  In one case, it was the only time I received any work. 

I’ve been coming across the term authentic learning and recently did some research into it.  It looks like one of the requirements to be authentic is to have value beyond school.  It makes total sense that educational technology greatly increases our chance to make learning authentic, because what is done outside the classroom is very often on the computer, whether at work or at home, and often at both places.

All of my students have some proficiency in technological literacy.  They all gain some in a 9^th grade tech class, as well as in earlier schooling and outside of school.  I’ve had my students research data in the computer lab and all have some proficiency.  Making connections between technology and math should be easy, but currently we are using books and paper.  Some of the textbooks are online, so it does help to avoid lugging the heavy text books around, but not everyone has access to Internet at home, so it’s not a solution for all. 

Technological fluency is another matter.  This requires higher cognitive demand, and I expect my students span the range from hours wasted on simple games to hours focused on new creations. 

I’m most interested in accessing other math websites, so I searched for “pre cal.”   It still makes Google’s first page, although it’s no longer the first result.  I’m looking forward to exploring this site http://pc40s.blogspot.com/ further.

The screencast and Youtube videos are great for awareness and understanding the concept.  However, I found that I need to supplement them with my notes or a print out of directions.  For example, I recalled that there was a way to get a count of characters in Word.  However, I didn’t want to watch a video for 15 minutes for the 3 seconds I needed.  The next time I watch a screencast, I’ll be pausing it here and there, and writing the time and a description of the info I may want to come back to.  I wonder how my students keep track of scenes they want to see again? 

On a personal note, when reading the differences between technology literacy and technology fluency, and reflecting on my struggles with these past two weeks with Delicious, Sidewiki, Google groups and Google sites, I have to admit that the world has been moving much faster than I have.  It’s been humbling and frustrating.  Just because I spent much of my days on the computer for years and years does not mean I’m able to do much of what is needed in the Web 2.0 world without difficulty.  It really pointed to how I’d gained enough technological literacy to do just what I needed, but didn’t do much in technological fluency, especially when it comes to adapting.  I’ll be working on Component 2.4:  Adapt to Change over this quarter.

Lastly, the learning curve has been time consuming.  Unknown to me, there was a problem between Delicious and Internet Explorer, causing IE to closing every time I close a tab.  While we’d been told to install Firefox during week 1, no explanation was given, so I saw no reason to change.  After a week of this problem, I finally reached out to the group and found out about known incompatibility issue.  I won’t be making this mistake again, and will be reaching out much sooner next time.

 

References

Washington State K-12 Educational Technology Learning Standards December 2008. (2008). Washington Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.   

Retrieved from http://www.k12.wa.us/edtech/techstandards.aspx

 

Freedman, Terry. (2006). Coming of Age: An introduction to the new world wide web. Terry Freeman, Ltd.  Retrieved from http://fullmeasure.co.uk/Coming_of_age_v1-2.pdf

Textbooks and teachers

In reviewing the textbooks and curriculum resources that my mentor teacher has to support her teaching, I see how important it is for the teacher to recognize the students’ needs and have the tools and skills to supplement the text.  This fits with my philosophy that each student is unique with needs that are different than the next student, and therefore one book or method cannot be best for all students. 

One course that we’re co-teaching is Algebra-Geometry. This remedial class is for 11^th and 12^th grade students who have not passed the WASL and were promoted from algebra to geometry whether they were ready or not.  Because of the district decision to not offer pre-algebra in high school, many of these students have been over their heads over the past 2-3 years, if not longer.  We are using old textbooks that my mentor teacher stored years ago when the district adopted new textbooks.  The Algebra 1 in 2 years books are in good shape and come with supplemental worksheets and tests.  My mentor’s careful explanations, gradual conceptual development and plenty of skills practice seem to be what these students need.  

I think my mentor’s general belief is that we need to be fair to students and help them where they are, not where we want them to be.  My guess is that she believes the students will learn by working hard and practice will help conceptual understanding.  Students are working and experiencing success with their skills and this approach appears to be a good fit for over 70% of the class at this point.  Their conceptual understanding appears to be improving as well.

While this teacher with this textbook and these students appears effective, it would be interesting to compare this same teacher with a different textbook and this type of student.  There are currently 9^th graders learning Algebra 1 through the Discovering series with another teacher who is a fan of the Discovering series.  It is hard to gauge his effectiveness, partially because I’m not his student teacher, and partially because it will take time to gather the results and compare.  However, one week of observations leads me to think that he would also be effective, because he regularly explains why this approach works for him.  I do wonder if the fit of a teacher and the textbook are more important to the student than the textbook itself?    

Regarding roles, it appears that my mentor is primarily a transmitter of information and a group facilitator.  The students are expected to be attentive listeners, polite participants, and workers.  I want to be primarily a source of intellectual stimulation, and I do see some teachers doing this.

Learning to Observe

I’ve taught geometry and segmented math for a semester, and I’m observing my mentor teacher teaching very similar subjects.  I’m very interested in improving my lesson planning and she seems an expert at it.

Drawing from years of experience, she knows what the students will need during the course of the year, as well what they’ll need in preparation for later courses.  She’s teaching the fundamentals, supplementing the book, and taking time to ensure the groundwork is laid.  I can see how this will pay off during the rest of the year.  There are parts of the book that she’s not covering, because  they are peripheral.  The difference between my bumbling semester of teaching and watching my mentor is that I was following the book very closely, without awareness of what they’ll need for later chapters or later courses.   While I’ll be in good shape for teaching geometry and algebra-geometry next year, if I am teaching any other course, I’ll need to go through the book and get input from other experienced teachers on what I have to cover for subsequent courses, and what I can skip if time is tight.  I see that I planned in too much isolation last year.

I feel a strong affinity for the students in the algebra-geometry class.  I remember being aware as a high school student that there was a lot my parents couldn’t teach me because they were not aware themselves.  I suspect this is the case with many of the students in this class.

I expect the majority of the students in this course will not go on to further math and therefore this is the last math class many of them will ever take.   I feel a responsibility to make as many connections to the world as I can, to prepare them the best I can by opening their eyes to the need for math and how to use math.   They’ll need math to survive, to make informed votes, and to not be swindled.  I felt I was able to open a few eyes this week by pointing out a problem in their textbook and bringing it to life.  Instead of having the problem be just another skills practice, I did some role playing and asked them a few thought-provoking questions so that students understood how “average” can refer to 3 different mathematical numbers. 

In debriefing this important point with my mentor teacher, a shortcoming of the book was pointed out:  there was only one problem like it in the book.  Students need more than one example to go on if they are to really grasp a concept.  It was an example of how a teacher can become aware of the need for supplementary materials after teaching out of a book, and how it will influence my lesson planning if I teach out of this book again.