I plan to investigate whether web-based reading intervention programs are effective tools to prepare students for the Ohio Achievement Test. Also I want to see if these programs preparesstudents better than traditional methods.
Who: Students
What: Achievement on the Ohio Achievement Test
Why: To find out if web-based programs are effective in preparing students.
My research questions are as follows:
Do online reading interventions prepare students better than traditional methods?
Which programs have shown the most success in multiple achievenment levels?
Does the use of web-based programs benefit low achieving students enough?
I plan to investigate whether a reading and math intervention Study Island is an effective tool to prepare students for the Ohio Achievement Test. Also I want to see if Study Island prepares students better than traditional methods.
Who: Students
What: Achievement on the Ohio Achievement Test
Why: To find out if this web-based program is effective in preparing students.
This course has exposed me to a lot of new tools that would work very well in my classroom. I expected to pick up a few things here and there, but what I didn’t expect is that I would learn that I have been using technology as a teaching tool and not as much as a learning tool. The tools I look to utilize in my classroom will be learning tools like voice thread, wikis, and blogs. I want my students to make artifacts that they will want to keep for a long time. Also I want to be able to use their work to help teach other students in other classes or other years. I think the possibilities for being my effective in my classroom are endless. There are a lot of exisisting practices that I can do better. I have been using my response system clickers for assessment, but I can also be using it for quick non formal assessments and surveys. I also use my white board tablet to lecture and demonstrate, but I need to allow the children to use it because the few times I have they become instantly engaged. By adjusting these little things, I think I can impact my students in a powerful way.
Wow! I’m really impressed with VoiceThread. I just finished my first one and I am already thinking about how to use this in my classroom. I have been using an online classroom environment called Moodle to give my children comprehension questions on the stories we read weekly and then respond to each other in a forum. Its a very simple way for them to connect to each other and to learn from each other, but I feel like it has a short shelf life. I think the engagement level with VoiceThread can be stunning. I would love to upload images or actual text from the story and have the children discuss the story. I think the option of using the mic or using text is going to get more of my students involved. I could see myself doing voice threads for almost any subject that we work on. This tool can give my students the chance to create artifacts that they can save forever and that is so powerful. Here’s my first VoiceThread http://voicethread.com/share/657754/ please check it out and let me know what you think!
I really like the idea of constructivism because it gives the students something to have or take away from the lesson. One of the examples from this week’s resources that I like is using power point. I use power point in my teaching all the time, but rarely hand off the power of the application to the students. For my third graders, I would like to start having them build vocabulary slides for each of the stories we read. I think allowing them to find pictures to connect to the vocabulary word and its definition will not only help them remember, but give them stronger technology skills in the area of searches. If each child makes their own they will have a nice collection by the end of the year and I feel this will be much more effective than writing definitions in a journal that they never really look back at.
I have to admit that until this course I had never heard of Concept Mapping programs. I am almost embarressed to say that and wish I would have know about them sooner. At first glance, I thought they were just a run of the mill story web, but after looking a little closer I realized that they can be a powerful tool. Unlike traditional webs they can help make connections with students because of the way they are presented. Adding color, graphics, and word processing the material makes it much easier to follow for the students. When my third graders do webs there are usually problems with space, their handwriting, and they are pretty bland. I like concepting mapping because it organizes a lot of material, but doesn’t overwhelm the student if presented correctly. I want to try to use them to prepare my students for their weekly reading story and also as a way to prewrite for language arts.
Another tool that I am excited to explore are virtual field trips. My district is facing budget cuts and we are not able to take the students on any off campus field trips. I am a strong believer that children make stronger connects and retain information better when they experience things. Just reading about nature is nothing compared to experiencing it and is hard to explain if a student has no prior knowledge. I like the idea of being able to show my students space, natural habiats, and different areas of the world without leaving the classroom. Plus I like the students being able to control the field trip if they are working in the computer lab. Traditional field trips do not give the students the freedom to explore like a virutal field trip could. Usually the children experience what is planned for them by a guide or their teacher, but a virutal field trip lets them be the guide. The opportunity to make concrete connects is greater in some ways. The student can also revisit and reconnect with that field trip more often than a traditional field trip. The ability to reinforce the lessons learned is also very exciting. My hope for my class this year is to make the same connections we would have if we had field trips and more.
In this week’s reading I found a lot of practices that I like and some that I have been using in my class. I really like the idea of the children charting their own effort. I have been using a spreadsheet to monitor behavior and whether or not they are achieving their behavior goals, but I didn’t realize it could be such an effective tool for monitoring effort. It makes the children more aware of hard they are trying and can show them what results they can get when they give their best effort. My third graders have become pretty honest about their behavior charts, so I do not think there would be a problem doing the same for effort.
I am pretty fortunatue to have some tools that allow me to give my students instant feedback. I use Turning Point which is like Power Point, but it allows the children to answer questions using a response clicker. The great thing about the program is I can show them the correct answer and how we responded in a graph. Its amazing how the students get so excited and motivated to do well when they see the entire class get an answer right. The children start to feed off that energy and seem to focus a little bit better.
I also use quite a few Powerpoint games that give tutorial help when the student gets an incorrect response. These games are fun, but they also allow the children to self check their answers and find out how to do problems or find the right answers. They are great review and give the children a chance to repeat games and “drill” the skill.
Overall, I have noticed that I use quite a bit of behaviorism in my class. I know that a lot of educators feel its not a good practice to follow, but I feel like the way I am using it I am helping my students enjoy learning and build stronger fundamental skills.
This course has really moved quickly and has taught me that technology moves even quicker. The skills learned in this class are going to built on for new emerging technologies and adapted to new practices in the classroom. The most important skill I have learned from this course is to adapt. The ability to adjust to the changing times is not only important for the students, but teachers need to be willing to do so as well.
Before this class I felt I had a pretty strong grasp of what tools were available and how to use them to instruct my students. I was using my white board slate, clickers, and online classroom all wrong. I was using them mostly to throw knowledge at students. Very rarely were my lessons able to promote peer learning and exploration. Now I see the need to branch out and use tools like blogs and podcasting to create a real connection to content. I want my students to remember these artifacts that they are creating and want to share them with friends and family for years as opposed to a day or two.
My goals are pretty lofty in terms of creating a more technological classroom. I have been in discussions with our district’s technology department about piloting a program where all the students will trade in their text books for smaller versions of laptops that would only have basic functions on it. The idea is to use textbooks online instead of reordering texts every 10 years. The challenge is the funding, but the true pressure is making the new equipment work properly and have it last for more than one year. The discussions are in the very early stages, but they are exciting and make me really want to push myself to prepare for the change over.
Another goal of mine is to become as paperless as possible. My district has limited the amount of paper that teachers can use due to the economy. I saw this as a chance to change my homework policy. I am going to use our Moodle page to have the children do all their homework next year except for their math homework. (Our math program has a homework workbook.) I’m hoping that this will not only make my classroom more green, but will make their homework more meaningful and fun. A big challenge will be the handful of kids that do not have access to the internet at home, but I will provide time for them to get into the computer lab.
Overall, I am really pleased with how this class has challenged me to step up and use more technology in more meaningful ways. I think it also opened my eyes that the practices I am using now will not last forever and for me to stay effective I need to continue to try new things.
The link is right below…please let me know you if you have any trouble with it.
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I found the article about 21st century skills to be very exciting. I have always been a strong believer that as an educator I need to promote being a part of a global community. Traditionally, American education has been about American history and being a part of the American culture. With existing technology such a social networking children are able to learn from each other about all cultures. Using a search engine to explore a culture from a story or a poem makes the learning more meaningful and exciting. Having the ability to go on virtual field trips via streaming video opens up the possibilities that were not available before. These are all ways that will make our students members of a global community in addition to their local culture.
As a teacher I am forced to step out of my comfort level to make this technology available to my third graders. It would be very easy when lessons do not go as planned to give up on using new technology. It would be a disservice because as the article stated, these children will be forced to multitask throughout their educational and professional careers. If I were to try to teach the conventional way, I would be robbing them of the skills needed to succeed in our ever changing world.
So what does this mean for me and my students? We are going to have to learn how to adapt, use patience, and problem solve. I have been amazed by how quickly my children have adapted to my technology driven classroom and at times I wonder what would happen if my tools were taken away. I am pretty confident that my students would not be discovering and having higher level discussions like they are now. Or maybe my tools will be replaced with something that will breed more discovery and even better discussions. That is what makes me excited about teaching 21st century skills. School has become so much more interesting for me as a teacher because as my children learn their core skills, we both learn new technology skills.
