There's an App for That!

I, thank goodness, am not considered part of the app generation. However, I am an avid user of technology, especially apps. I have found they streamline so many things I do in my every-day life. Right now, I am using an app that helped me create a holiday present shopping budget (mGifts), and I am loving it! Using apps has become such an essential part of my every day life that I can't even think about how I found information, played games, or organized my life before them! I grew up with no access to computers and had to actual use a card catalog to locate information for research papers!

I enjoyed the information provided in The App Generation, but didn't really like how the book was written. I think it was more of the voice the book was written in. With that being said, Gardner and Davis did provide some thoughtful information. One of the things discussed in the book was children's lack of imagination. Children are so used to the excitement and instant gratification they receive on their devices that when given verbal instruction, they struggle to use their imagination to generate responses. This is something I see almost every day in my classroom. In 6th grade math, we have added a Project Based Learning menu to each unit. Students can use a variety of apps (eg: PowToon. Piktochart, and Keynote) to create a visual of the current concept. Students have been struggling with using the content they learned and applying their imaginations to transform it into something visual. They also get frustrated quickly when they have to take time to work for their results. They think that because they are using an app, the answers should "just appear."

Another topic that I related to and even recognized in myself was the discussion on multi-tasking. Howard and Davis discussed our now "constant state of divided attention." This type of multi-tasking doesn't allow for deep and abstract thinking. Since I co-teach with three different teachers, I feel that I am constantly multi-tasking all day( actually, I don't think I know any teachers who don't multi-task). I find myself becoming more forgetful since I don't really get a chance to focus on one task at a time. I have resorted to writing post-it notes so I don't forget important information. Needless to say, my desk is filled with them!

The App Generation really made me think about this generation growing up now and their constant use of media. I hope that these children will realize that technology does enhance our lives and make a lot of tasks we do easier, but they shouldn't let it consume everything they do.

Am I a Thief of People's Time?!

Net Smart by Howard Rheingold was the perfect book to follow The Information Diet and Copyright Clarity. Net Smart tied everything together nicely. Rheingold does a great job of breaking down digital literacy into five topics: attention, crap detection, participation, collaboration, and network smarts. With The Information Diet, I learned about how much digital information I was consuming and how to make changes to reduce the amount. Copyright Clarity taught me about how to determine if the information I found on the Internet was being used fairly and lawfully. Net Smart taught me how to be more mindful of the tools I use online, how to become aware of where I focus my attention, how to determine if information I find is "crap" or valid, how to thoughtfully participate rather than consume information, how to collaborate with intention to share common interests and resources, and the importance of networks and how they influence behavior.

Of the five digital literacy topics, Participation really resonated with me. It was also the topic I worked on with my group to create a Glogster. What Net Smart made me consider in terms of participation was whether I participate when I am online, or am I just "passively consuming culture" or "stealing people's time." I like to think that I participate and add meaningful contribution to things I post, but I will definitely be more conscience and think before I hit the "post" button from now on. The biggest notion from the Participation section that I will bring into my classroom is making sure my students understand that what they post online is there forever. It can be searched, reproduced, and distributed. Sixth graders may not think what they post now is a big deal. However, when they are applying to colleges or for their first job, they will be glad they knew enough to think twice about posting something questionable.

It's OK, I'm a Teacher

OK, I admit it. I am one of those teachers that believed that it's fine to use a source as long as it's cited. I was also under the assumption that as an educator, I had free reign on what ever I found on the Internet and could use in it my classroom. My justification was, "I'm educating my students, where else am I going to find information?" Until I read Copyright Clarity, I had no idea that there are actual laws that I have been breaking (shhhhhh!). Though I found the laws of copyright, transformativeness, and fair use as clear as mud, I now understand the importance of following these laws by modeling good, legal use of information that I use in my classroom. I can't expect my students to automatically know what's right and wrong with using information and graphics found on the Internet, but I can teach them how to use what they find ethically and within the ream of the laws.

The fair use law is the most confusing to me. According to the fair use law for education uses, I can make copies of copyrighted work, embed copyrighted material into new work that I create, and share, sell, and distribute said copies of my new work. How is that different that what I was already doing with my free-for-all attitude? That's where the law becomes muddled to me. Of course I wouldn't intentionally use copyrighted information illegally. My intentions are always to inform my students using engaging materials.

I now understand that even though I cited my sources, that act alone doesn't make information I used fall within the copyright and fair use laws. I realize that I have to use critical thinking skills to determine if fair use applies to what I want to use. However, I don't want to make a 180 and be scared to use information because I'm afraid to make a determination of the legality of it's use. I believe there is a fine line that needs to followed and respected. Understanding copyright, tranformativeness, and fair use are not something I am going to completely understand after reading one book. This is a skill that I am going to have to work with on a daily basis when using the Internet to find information.

Not Another Email, I'm Stuffed!!

Every week when we read a new book, I think, this is the best book so far (except for Mind on Society, for obvious reasons)!! I absolutely LOVED The Information Diet by Clay A. Johnson. While I was reading it, I kept stopping to read aloud parts to my husband that I found fascinating or unbelievable. I did that quite a bit, much to his annoyance.

Prior to reading the book, I didn't think that I overindulged in technology. After the book, I now think otherwise. I am the exact type of person Johnson referred to when discussing the anxious feeling one gets when a text or email comes in. I have this need to answer them immediately. I even get annoyed when I text someone, and they don't immediately reply. I think that they must always have their phone with them like I do and are choosing not to answer me. I check my email at work constantly, and my phone is always with me. During the summer, I did take steps to reduce the amount of time I was trolling Facebook, and now I rarely go on it anymore. It seriously is not a big loss for me. However, I do enjoy reading Yahoo! News and BuzzFeed. Come on, who doesn't want to know which secret Starbucks drink you should order based on your favorite Disney princess (BTW, mine's the raspberry latte). I have also recently noticed, but didn't make the connection until reading The Information Diet, that the ads on Yahoo! News are geared directly towards me personally; I just thought they were a coincidence. Bottom line, to me, this means that I need to go on a serious information diet.

In my middle school, especially when I am doing locker duty, I overhear the conversations students have with one another. Sometimes what they are saying is totally untrue, and the person listening will just nod along in agreement or even reply with a much more absurd comment. I don't feel that I have the right to jump into their conversation and set the record straight. But, what I can do is what I do best-teach. I can teach my students how to use the Internet responsibly. How to check sites to make certain they are unbiased and reliable. They need to know that everything they find on the Internet is not true. If they do find something they are uncertain about, they can use the Internet to help clarify and give them understanding. Being a good digital citizen is not something they will develop on their own over time. Just like organization and studying, it's a skill students need to be taught with guidance and allowed to practice. Once they master this skill, not only will they become better, more informed digital citizens, but they will be over-all better citizens in society.

We've Got Spirit, Yes We Do...

After I read the journal article, The Creative Spirit, and learned that imagination, creation-oriented, and inter-disciplinary action are the characteristics which good instructional designers embody in their lesson designs, I began to think about what a disservice I have done my students by just being a “lesson planner.” Creative lesson designers “truly design to extend understanding, [and] to create something new and innovative.” What student wouldn’t rather learn using that type of lesson?!

Lessons designed to allow students to use their imagination, create, and explore learning on their own rather than being fed the outcome in which we want them to achieve are so much more powerful. The inter-disciplinary part of the creative spirt allows students to collaborate with others who can add their viewpoints and knowledge to enhance the overall learning. When the means to the product can be discovered rather than directly taught, students can make stronger background connections, which allows them to have a person interest in the intended learning goal.

The video we created last class is the perfect example of the creative spirit. As a group, we used our imaginations to create a recruitment video for the Doodles program. We were given guidelines to follow, but we could incorporate our creative ideas into the actual content of the video. Each member of the group had their own expertise and knowledge to lend, which only enhanced the outcome. We had to incorporate the six design principles into the script by summarizing them to discuss the key points. By doing so, I was able to review, connect, and see how they build on one another. The final video came out awesome; exactly how my group had hoped.

I have found that all the activities we have completed in class come full circle with what we are learning, even when I think that there is no way the activity is relevant (Helping Don in Africa?!). I look forward to class each week so see what new activity we will be completing and just how it fits in to the design principles.

The Right Tool for the Job

When I finished reading the journal article Affordance Allowances, I was so confused! I searched more examples and explanations on the Internet. I even found another journal article called, Educational Affordances of a Ubiquitous Learning Environment in a Natural Science Course. I thought if I read it, I could glean some clarifying information. Needless to say, I did not! I watched The Day the Universe Changed thinking that by the end it should clear everything up. Wrong! I ended up writing my affordance allowance with not really understanding what result I was trying to achieve. I especially looked forward to class to help me get a better understanding.

During class, I found that writing the affordance analyses for the Osmo and Ozbot really helped me understand that even though a technology might look cool and engaging, it doesn’t make it the right technology to use to reach a learning goal. The Matching Learning Goals and Tools – Considering Affordances activity also really helped me to understand that there are so many right and wrong affordances to meet learning goals as well as multiple ones that may help for different reasons. It’s all a matter of choosing the right tool for the job.

The fifth design principle, The Means Principle, helped me realize that there are so many educational affordances that are available, but it’s not a good idea to start with the affordance in mind. In a previous post, I mentioned that my math team had done lesson planning by creating the assessment first then working backwards to plan the lessons. It now makes perfect sense as to why this type of planning doesn’t work. When teaching directly to the test, it is so restrictive to what students can learn and discover on their own. The same applies to choosing the technology before the learning goal. Taking into consideration what we want our students to learn as well as connecting the content and learning activities to the affordance will lead to choosing the most appropriate technology to meet the planned learning goals.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Technology

I actually really enjoyed reading The Victorian Internet. Because I was part of the generation that was young enough to see the impact the introduction of the Internet had on society as it was made available to us, just plain folks. The Internet changed everything: the way we communicated; making it easier to locate information, how we did our jobs, and learned in school. I could completely connect with how people felt when the telegraph was introduced. The changes in society when the Internet was made available to everyone was so similar to when the telegraph was. Both opened many doors for the good while also allowing opportunities for consequences. Being able to connect with a loved one across the world was life changing, as was being deceived or misinformed. The idea that I really took away from both the book and the class discussion was that new technology really impacts society. It can change the way we receive and interpret information. It changes human nature in order to use the information received. Basically, changes in technology changed how people interact with the world.

The changes I have seen in society since the introduction on the Internet were subtle at first when everyone was learning how to use it and understand it’s potential. As time has gone on since the early 1990’s the changes have become greater and the impact irrefutable. I see my own children and my students in complete panic if they can’t locate their smartphones. It’s almost impossible for them not to be connected to their friends using text messaging or social media. I often wonder when did we become a society that requires us to know what everyone is doing at every moment?

I also see the good in technology. We can earn college degrees, pay bills, bank, book vacations, and buy virtually anything without ever leaving our homes (but is that really a good thing or just convenient?). To me, most importantly, it changes the way I think of educating my students. I can use technology to enhance my lessons, enrich students, as well as help struggling students.

Since technology has a cascading impact, it is only a matter of time before the next best thing is available to us as a society. The question is, will it enhance it or be a disadvantage?

But Play IS Learning!

After reading Vygotsky’s Mind in Society and discussing his ideas in class, I wondered if how we teach our students would have evolved to where we are today if it wasn’t for his insights. I assume eventually that learning and development would be studied and analyzed to determine how children best learn. But, Vygotsky was really ahead of his time. Who would have thought that play IS learning? When we think of children playing, we think of them occupying their time with games and toys. When in reality, they are developing essential symbols, tools, and rules that will be used throughout their lives. When these tools, symbols, and rules are learned during play, they help children develop those critical, high-order thinking skills which they will apply to other situations, such as work.

When discussing the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), I thought about my students who depend on support when learning a new concept. ZPD is what a child can do with help until they can do it on their own. There is such a great feeling when I have worked with a student and that lightbulb goes off in their head and they just “get it.” You can actually see it in their eyes.  Not only does it give them a sense of accomplishment, it gives me one too. When comparing Piaget’s idea of children developing naturally at certain age ranges, Vygotsky’s “play is learning” and Zone of Proximal Development is more realistic to how I experience children learning in my classroom. I couldn’t imagine saying to a student, “You’re 12-years-old, you should know how to do this.” Vygotsky’s process lets children develop at the time that is right for them at that moment, getting the help that they need when necessary.

The fourth Design Principle, The Learning Principle, is about designing engaging lesson which allow students to participate in “playful” activities at the edge of their knowledge and understanding using symbolic tools to develop and internalize meaningful thought. Students can engage in meaningful, playful activities to allow them to interact with the concepts being taught. We did just that during class when we wrote our poems. We took what we learned about Vygotsky then created different types of poems (eg: haiku, concrete). The poems where the symbolic tools we constructed to represent Vygotsky’s ideas in a fun, playful way. We did the same thing when creating our mind maps of the ZPD. These lessons really resonated with me after class, I mean, I internalized meaningful thought from participating in these lessons (: I really enjoy this class because it gives me the opportunity to think about how children learn rather than what I want them to learn. I look forward to introducing more of these types of activities in my math classes. Maybe, just maybe, my students will look forward to math for once!

Situated Cognition

I was so excited after last week's class because everything came together for me. I had been taught to create the assessment first, then work backwards to plan the lesson. The assessment being what I wanted my students to learn (SOLs). I thought by planning my lessons this way, I was making certain that my students were learning exactly what they needed to learn so that they would do well on the summative assessment. During our Doodles class last Wednesday, we discussed how students learn best when the activity, concept, and culture are interdependent. Lesson must be designed with what we want our students to know, what concept/knowledge they need to know, and whom in the real-world uses it. As a math teacher, I find that my students struggle with rote practice work. We think that giving lots of opportunities to practice will make our students better and stronger in math. However, what I realized was that if my students can't make a connection with why they need to learn a certain math concept or even when they will use it in real life, it's just rote memorization for them. Embedding activities is learning is an integral part of what is learned. Our students need the opportunities to have the culture and activities they participate in to have meaning and purpose so that they can use the acquired skill outside of the classroom. I need to have my students become problem solvers rather than problem do-ers. One of my favorite quotes from Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning (Brown, Collins, Duguid) states, "Don't teach students math; teach them to be mathematicians."

We were introduced to the third design principle, The Knowledge Principle, and didn't even realize it. At the start of class, when we were given a real-world problem (Don and his trip to Central Africa), we needed to become problem solvers. I had never used a medical database, but learning how to use it during the activity rather than being directly taught how to use it made the task of learning fun. I had to construct my own understanding because I was engaged in an authentic activity. I think about how I like to learn new concepts and idea; by doing. Why wouldn't I want to give my students the same opportunities?

What Does a Saber-Tooth Tiger and a PICKLE Have in Common?

What interested me most about The Saber-Tooth Curriculum is that even though it was written in 1939, the views about education and where it is heading are still VERY relevant today (70 years later!). I also found the fact that the story was written using the Paleolithic era and a lot of satire made the story appear to be way ahead of its time! At no time that I was reading it did I feel like it was a story from 1939. 

After reading and reviewing the book, I learned that education is important because children need to learn to find ways to enrich their lives, not only for themselves, but also for the benefit of the society in which they live. Education's purpose is to teach students to prepare for their future in the work force and security. They learn to become better and more informed citizens. Education also unifies people into cohesive communities. Students need real, relevant experiences to understand what they are being taught. However, changing the way students are taught or how teachers teach is not always received well by others. Especially if they feel that sticking to the fundamentals is better than changing education to fit with how society is ever changing. The Elders (conservative tribesmen) in the book view changes in education merely "training" and not education due to their tribe traditions (fish-grabbing, woolly horse clubbing, and saber-tooth tiger scaring) and their "magical" beliefs. Despite the changes in the needs of all tribe members, the Elders felt that the basis of education should not change. Those concepts worked, so why should they be changed. One stated, “The essence of true education is timelessness. It is something that endures through changing conditions like a solid rock standing squarely and firmly in the middle of a raging torrent. You must know that there are some eternal verities, and the saber-tooth curriculum is one of them!” (p. 44). The Radicals thought the Elders were crazy, and the education system needed to be updated, however, their hands were tied because all the decisions came from the Elders in regards to educating the tribe. When a tribe teacher questioned the other tribe teachers about how education should have a clear goal in mind that will modify the students’ behavior so they learn another system for hunting and fishing so they don't starve to death, the other tribe teachers stated that, “’We can teach them how to think, not what to think.” (p.109).  This is still an ongoing problem today, and I believe it will be for as long as we educate our children in public schools.

The second design goal, PICKLE (P=problem solving, I=information using, C=community participation, K=knowledge, L=literate, and E=ethical decision making), is the basis for 21^st century learning. Like New-Fist wanted to prepare his tribe’s children to have security and be prepared for the work force of fish grabbing, woolly-horse clubbing, and saber-tooth-tiger scaring, the same principles for PICKLE are what we need to prepare our students for their security and workforce readiness.

Each principle that makes up PICKLE is essential for 21^st century learners. Though students may be stronger in one principle that the others, they still need to be able to draw on each principle in order to succeed. These principles are not inherent. Students need to learn them just like any skill they learned. Our job as 21^st century teachers is to design lessons in which students not only learn the PICKLE principles, but can take what they learn and apply it in their every-day lives.

Design Not Plan. How the Heck Do I Do That?!

Even after our first class, I wasn’t quite certain what our first principle, Design, meant in terms of planning lessons. I had to come home and look at the PowerPoint and re-read the articles we were given in class again. How could planning a lesson not be the same as designing one?! What I learned was that planning a lesson which incorporates technology (such as reviewing for an assessment using Kahoot! or using a math game on the computer to practice a concept) is completing different than designing a lesson that incorporates technology. In the planned lesson, students are not using the technology to help facilitate or strengthen their learning. They are basically using it as an output device to regurgitate a previously taught concept. Lessons which are designed using technology allow students the ability to have control over their personal learning. They can work at their own pace, at any location (classroom, library, home, etc…) and be able to determine which information they will need to get a deeper, more thorough understanding of the concept they are learning.

As a math teacher, I had always been under the assumption that math is not a subject which lends itself with lessons in which students can learn a concept on their own. However, now I believe math is the perfect subject! Since math is everywhere, students can use real-world problems and technology to determine answers on their own or working in collaborative groups. For example, if students are proposed the problem: Plan a party for the entire 6^th grade class, including food, drinks, supplies, and games with a budget of $500. Students will need to work on budgeting, adding, subtracting, multiplying (and many more math concepts) in order to plan their party. They would also have to make decisions on how much money they are willing to spend for each part of the party. Some students would think food is more important than games, while others will think the opposite. I look forward to designing more math lessons rather than planning them. I think that these types of lessons are ones that students will remember and be able to implement in the real-world.