point a to point b » Content Area Focus

Linking Design Questions, Instructional Strategies and Technology Tools

Michael — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 16:47:08 +0000

This coming school year our professional development program is focused on Marzano’s Art & Science of Teaching. Cross-district teams organized by grade or subject area (“Design Teams”) will be meeting to focus on design questions brought up in the book. Over the course of the next 3-4 years we will undergo district-wide conversations around the following design questions:

What will I do to…

…establish and communicate learning goals, track student progress, and celebrate success?
…help students effectively interact with new knowledge?
…help students practice and deepen their understanding of new knowledge?
…help students generate and test hypotheses about new knowledge?
…engage students?
…establish or maintain classroom rules and procedures?
…recognize and acknowledge adherence and lack of adherence to classroom rules and procedures?
…establish and maintain effective relationships with students?
…communicate high expectations for all students?
…develop effective lessons organized into a cohesive unit?

Woven into these questions are Marzano’s strategies for Classroom Instruction that Works. My role as a design team facilitator is to help link strategies to technology tools that improve learning.

Last year I did an extensive book analysis of Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works, where the strategies are analyzed for which types of technology tools can support them. Click here to review the final summary, along with links to individual strategies.

As we move into the design team process, I am thinking more about the link between strategy and tool. I just recently came across a very nice interactive graphic that depicts Marzano’s 9 strategies for classroom instruction that works, from a website titled Curriculum Portal (click the image below to go to the interactive graphic at the site:

We have an extensive toolset to help students learn within the strategies. Here is a sampling of the tools we have:

These tools fall withing the categories of technology as defined in Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works:

Word processing applications
Spreadsheet software
Organizing and brainstorming software
Multimedia
Data collection tools
Web resources
Communication software

For me the important thing is that questions about learning begin with the need, not the tool. A question that begins with, “How can a (wiki, blog, etc.) help students…” is incorrect in my book. A question that begins with, “How can students deepen their understanding with a (wiki, blog, etc.)…” is more like it.

I’m looking forward to some great conversations!

Fear of Google Docs

Michael — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 14:04:41 +0000

This fall we will be rolling out Google Apps for Edcuation district-wide. With the snap of a finger, all 12,000 students and staff will have access to Google’s cloud services. OK, so it’s more than the snap of a finger, but with the skillful work of our dedicated IT technicians and developers, it will appear to be a snap for the users, as it should be.

Some of our ELA teachers are planning their writing curriculum for next year, and want to convert to digital journals, RTLs, and more. They are very excited that with Google Docs students can create and collaborate on writing pieces from any computer and share them with each other and the teacher. As they were talking, one teacher said the following (this is a paraphrase):

My fear of using Google Docs is that the students will not be able to handwrite well enough for the assessment at the end of the year.

Ow. Yikes. This is not a case of a technology-fearing teacher (she is totally together w/respect to students & technology). This is a case of the reality of the dichotomy between what we should be doing and what we have to do. At the end of the day (year), students must handwrite essays in those ridiculous, arcane, blue books that have haunted education for a century. These great teachers did not see this issue as a deal-breaker at all, and simply came up with a game plan to have students do enough hand written practice along the way to make sure they are OK for the exam. It’s a shame they even have to consider this issue.

I know that the writing process for me is completely different when I word process compared to handwrite. I could not be a blogger if I had to hand write and scan in my entries. I think totally differently when I type as compared to write. This, combined with the fact that I’m an immigrant to this type of writing, makes me wonder just how bad it is for our natives who type and text all day, and then for a few hours a year are forced to handwrite the things that judge them the most on their progress!

There is a glimmer of hope on the horizon for assessment (if it is in fact possible that assessment is a useful thing). When I took my certification exams for the School Building Leader and School District Leader recently, they were completely computer-based. New York State contracts with Pearson to administer the exams at Pearson testing centers. I was able to sit in a secure, comfortable environment with a good functioning computer and type to my heart’s content (it had better be a secure, comfortable environment with a good functioning computer since each test costs $400…). I remebmer taking a pilot version of the exam which was hand written and it was not a good expereince. The good news about the exams is not only that they are computer-based, but that the essays are human-scored. That is a win-win in my book.

What is the fix for this? Simple – if we have to give assessments, then we have to provide an environment where the students can take them on a computer. Perhaps New York State will have to begin investing in laptops so every student in the state who normally takes a paper exam can do the same thing on a computer. That is a lot of computers, but at the same time, the increased benefit to student success and savings in paper is well worth it.

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial Images:
Pens on Parade by Abizern
fast fingers by KatieKrueger

MUVEs Finally Make Sense in Education

Michael — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 14:42:44 +0000

Multi-User Virtual Enrionments (MUVEs) have been around for a number of years. Second Life is by far the most well known. For at least a couple of years I have had a Second Life avatar (Coffee Roffo), and participated in a number of different events “in world”. As hard as I have tried, I have never seen where the effort involved was worth the results. Most of the educational events have been live presentations where a group assembles virtually, and listens to/watches a presentation. Woo-hoo. I have found other virtual meeting spaces such as Elluminate, WebEx, or even good old Skype to be more productive for synchronous meetings/presentations.

Along comes another virutal world environment, River City, a research project from Harvard. In this world, students are given the task to go back in time to determine why the people in the town of River City are sick, and what can be done about it. It is a great scenario in which participants have to use detective skills and lots of science application to figure out what happened. Students in our school participated and enjoyed the experience. The limitation with River City is that once the scenario is done, there is no more to do in the world.

This year we had a 6th grade class participate in another virtual world research project, Quest Atlantis (QA), from Indiana University. QA is a virtual world project in which there are multiple learning opportunities in multiple content areas. For the pilot, this class participated in a mission called Spacenik, where the goal was to determine how to deal with an asteroid that might be on a collision course with Earth. The task involved processing a lot of complex data, making judgements, and recommending to NASA a course of action. I worked the entire scenario as if I were a student, and it was hard. There was a lot of reading, analyzing, and writing to do. In addition to content-specific tasks (missions and quests), there is a whole virtual environment where students can earn credits that represent good character traits, get “jobs” to help other world members, and more.

With Quest Atlantis, suddenly MUVEs make sense. What sets Quest Atlantis apart from the other MUVEs I’ve seen is that is provides multiple true learning scenarios. If Second Life is the whole world, then Quest Atlantis is the school. It is a virtual learning world, and not just a virtual world. It is a focused, high-level place where students are challenged to do some great things.

Quest Atlantis is still an active research project, so it is not open to the general public. If projects like this are the future of MUVEs, then there are some great opportunities to come.

The Writing Process

Michael — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:58:34 +0000

Clear, articulate, concise writing is important for our students. The mind of a middle schooler may often be anything but clear, articulate and concise (and that is OK). What strategies can we use to help students acquire and integrate learning of the writing process?

Better Answers is a writing program we are working on here at Heim. It is a structured writing response model that builds on the strategy of cues, questions and advance organizers. The “Better Answer Sandwich” graphic sums it up best (click to enlarge):

Using this organizer, students are directed through the writing process using specific, direct organizational ideas. The program has been used in lower grades in the past, and is now being rolled out across the school.

How might technology support this process? One way is with a new web resource we are piloting, the Glencoe Online Essay Grader. Teachers can assign essay topics to students, and students complete the essay online. In my first looks at the resource, there are tools that can be provided to students to formulate answers very much like the sandwich model. Additional supports (if desired) for students in this environment are sentence structure advice, spell and grammar check, and sentence diagramming.

Other technology resources to support the writing process include:

Create a template in a word processing document that includes the steps of the Better Answers process. Students download and complete an essay using the steps as a framework.
Use brainstorming and organizing software (such as Inspiration) to have students graphically complete the steps of the process, and then convert the graphic diagram to a word processing document.

Better writing is always a goal, and there are many technology tools to support it.

Worksheets and the Internet

Michael — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:16:29 +0000

Content Tech
Ideas for Technology Use in the Classroom

Using a worksheet to research information on the Internet and fill in the blanks is a popular activity. In its most fundamental state, this is a form of the strategy cues, questions, and advance organizers. Students use questions on the worksheet to (hopefully) guide them through a website and acquire the necessary information.

When a worksheet is fill-in-the-blank, it tends to be a regurgitation of information found on the web. How might the strategy be more beneficial to the students in order for them to be not only exposed to the information, but begin to acquire, integrate and personalize the knowledge?

A word processing document set up as a KWL chart is one option. Since the students will be using the Internet for the research, using the computer to create the document is easy. Begin with a brief warm-up where students type what they know about the topic. After some sharing, move on to having them type what they want to know. Through the use of questioning, direct students to note any other information they should want to know if they did not come up with the questions on their own. During the investigation process, students look for the information based on their own inquiry, making the process more meaningful. At the end of the lesson, students indicate on the word processing document what they have learned. The entire document can be submitted or posted electronically with ease.

Worksheets structured to use the technology available can help to increase the acquisition of knowledge in many ways. Other thoughts/ideas most welcome!

Image courtesy of christopherl on Flickr

Content Tech: Google Lit Trips Followup

Michael — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:47:20 +0000

Content Tech
Ideas for Technology Use in the Classroom

A few weeks back in Content Tech we looked at Google Lit Trips as unique way to study literature through geography. In Mrs. Calandra’s English 9R class, we used the Lit Trip as part of their study of The Odyssey by Homer. Reading this book can be a daunting task, and the Lit Trip was a great tool to help students’ understanding. The project went very well, and here is what Mrs. Calandra has to say about it…

“The Google Earth Lit Trip was really awesome! Not only was it cool and interesting for the students, it also genuinely increased their comprehension of the text, as evidenced by the very high final test scores. The Odyssey is a challenging piece of literature, both in terms of its language and its content; using the Lit Trip enabled students to understand Odysseus’s journey much better. Overall, benefits of the project included learning to use the technology effectively, better comprehension of the story, and increased understanding of the time period, culture, and geography of that area. I wouldn’t want to teach The Odyssey again without using the Google Earth Lit Trip!”

Each student was assigned a book (in The Odyssey, each chapter is called a book) and the product each created was a placemark in Google Earth which included:

A synopsis of the book
Responses to higher-level questions regarding the book
A picture selected by the student to represent the book (selected from Creative Commons Flickr images through FlicrStorm)

Specific directions for how students accomplished the above are in a wiki page (a link to that page is later in this post). The best way to see the student work is by downloading the .kmz file which contains all of the placemarks they created. You’ll need Google Earth installed on your computer to view this file. Click on the file below, choose to open it with Google Earth, and enjoy their work.

9r-odyssey (click to download file)

Additionally, this was my first time ever reading The Odyssey. I was enjoying the work the students did so much that I took some time to create a movie interpreting their work. The words and pictures in the video are from the students and the audio and sequencing was selected by me. Check it out…

So how did we manage the project? Students read 1-2 books per day in class and for homework. I created a wiki page with directions (click here to see that wiki page) and then worked with the first 4 students on creating a placemark. Those students then showed the next group how to do the placemark, and so on. So over the course of 2-3 weeks, the group helped each other create their own version of The Odyssey Lit Trip. Mrs. Calandra began each class with a review of the Lit Trip in Google Earth, and then a presentation of placemarks by students. The final product is a very rich experience that really helped the students understand The Odyssey at a whole new level.

I’m looking forward to embarking on more Lit Trips in the future!

A big hat tip to David Jakes for his workshops that helped push me to bring this project together.

Content Tech: Google Search and the Wonder Wheel

Michael — Wed, 20 May 2009 18:27:29 +0000

Content Tech
Ideas for Technology Use in the Classroom

You may be noticing a Google theme to Content Tech recently…I’ve been attending a BOCES workshop on the multitude of Google tools available, and the list continues to grow.

There is a new search tool recently released titled Wonder Wheel, that provides a visual representation of search results. This can be really helpful for students trying to understand a topic.

Try this…

Think of a topic you might ask your students to research
Type the search terms into Google
When the results come up, directly under the Google logo, click Show options…

In the left sidebar, near the bottom, click on Wonder Wheel

Google displays a visual representation of the search terms, with related topics around it. Search results are on the right side. Click a related topic, and the wheel will re-center, with new related topics surrounding it.

(click image to enlarge)

This tool could provide some helpful visual cues as students do their research. Notice that there are some other options for search results in addition to the Wonder Wheel!

Content Tech: Google Advanced Image Search

Michael — Thu, 14 May 2009 00:57:10 +0000

Content Tech
Ideas for Technology Use in the Classroom

Following up on the advanced Google search tip last week, an advanced image search in Google presents some very useful filters. Today we’ll look at one way to do an advanced image search to find copyright-free images.

Items produced by the U.S. Government are free from copyright (since we all pay for the government with taxes, we get to use the stuff ). This includes images found on government websites. Students looking for images that are OK to use can do an advanced image search and restrict the results to government websites (sites that end with “.gov”).

To search for images at government websites only:

Go to Google, click on the link for Images, and then click on Advanced Image Search (it’s to the right of the search box)
On the advanced image search page, type in the search terms in the top box
Near the bottom of the search page, in the field that reads “Return images from site or domain,” type .gov (include the dot before gov)
Click on Google Search, and the results you get should only be images from government websites.

Notice in the Advanced Image Search page that there are other filters for searches including type of image (clip art, line drawings, etc.), file types (.jpg, .gif, etc.) and image size. These filters can be a great help in improving image search results.

(click to enlarge)

Content Tech: Google Advanced Search

Michael — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:39:56 +0000

Content Tech
Ideas for Technology Use in the Classroom

We all use Google to search for information to help us teach. Have you tried an advanced search to get more of what you are looking for? For example, do you want to find PowerPoint files related to an upcoming unit? What about flash video clips to use in a notebook file?

If you want to look for PowerPoint files, then try this…

Go to Google, and click on the link for Advanced Search (its to the right of the search box)
On the advanced search page, type in your search terms in the top box
In the middle of the page, click on the File Type drop down and select Microsoft Powerpoint (.ppt)
Click on Advanced Search, and the results you get should be PowerPoint files related to your search.

If you want to find flash video files to use with your curriculum, do an advanced search as above, but for the file type, choose Shockwave Flash (.swf) as the file type.

As you browse around the Advanced Search page, you will notice many options for fine-tuning your search.

Happy Googling!

P.S. I’m attending a BOCES workshop about Google in the Classroom – many new ideas, tips and tricks to share!

Content Tech: Google Lit Trips

Michael — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:17:30 +0000

Content Tech
Ideas for Technology Use in the Classroom

Mrs. Calandra’s English 9R class is about to embark on a journey in Google Earth as they read The Odyssey by Homer. Google Lit Trips are very interesting and a new way to teach literature, incorporating the geography of the book. We’re planning to have students create their own placemarks in Google Earth along the way, to demonstrate their understanding of the book.

Check out Google Lit Trips for other titles to see how they look (there is a small but growing list of popular titles). The Google Earth files (.kmz files) download to your computer, and open up in Google Earth (which is on all school computers).

Google Earth is becoming an incredible resource, and applications such as these Google Lit Trips are presenting new and unique ways to teach and learn in many different content areas!

http://www.GoogleLitTrips.com.

Image citation:
“Mediterranean Odyssey.” Map. Google Lit Trips. Ed. Jerome Burg. 11 Apr. 2009. 22 Apr. 2009