Tech Play 4

Teaching information literacy to students is essential in the “information rich” world we live in today.

One way I teach information literacy to students is to use the database tools that school districts in the state of Texas have access to online. Digital Knowledge Central, http://dkc.esc20.net/ gives teachers and students access to grade specific tools to locate information. The database tools allow teachers to design lessons based on media literacy, research and library skills, critical literacy, and information ethics.

I have been exploring reading apps that can be used with students. I have found specific apps to use to teach phonemic awareness, phonics, and comprehension skills. Flagstaff USD has an initiative called iREAD. Their initiative has specific apps that can be used to teach specific reading skills. If I have a student struggling with reading comprehension, I can use the grade specific resources to find apps to use to help the student. The web site is: http://www.fusd1.org/Page/6488. I like how the tools are sorted for teachers so specific content can be used with students.

This content fits into the TPACK model by bringing together the technology, content knowledge and pedagogy because the reading apps provide additional practice. The pedagogy is the different types of reading instruction, the content is using specific apps to reinforce content taught, and the technology is used as a tool to provide additional practice.

 

The app Scribble Press can be used as a creativity tool. Students can draw pictures and write words to go with the pictures. Students could also use the camera tool on the iPad to take pictures of items in the classroom that begin with specific letters.

TechPlay 3 - ETEC 524

The tools I have selected fit into the TPACK model because they incorporate technology, pedagogy, and content to allow students to use technology to demonstrate learning by creating.

It is important for students to use creativity tools because students can use the tools to create based on their understanding of content taught. By creating, students are using higher thinking skills to demonstrate their learning.

I explored the following tools for audio recording:

• Audioboo
• A tool students can use to record their voice and share it. The free app allows students to record up to 3 minutes.
• VoiceThread
• A tool students can use to create and share voice threads around documents.

I explored the following tools for students to create stories:

• ToonTastic
• A tool students can use to create cartoons.
• StoryLines for Schools
• A tool like telephone where students draw pictures.
• StoryWheel
• Students spin a wheel to get a picture, then students can narrate a portion of a story.
• Story Buddy Lite
• Students create, read, and share stories.
• Story Kit
• Students create electronic storybooks.

I explored the following apps that students can use to create short movies using pictures:

• Animoto
• Students can use pictures to create short videos.
• FixLab
• Students can create short videos and slideshows using pictures.
• iMovie
• Students can create short movies using video.

I explored the following apps that students can use to create mindmaps:

ePortfolio

The link to my ePortfolio is www.cyndewadley.com. I will be adding content to this site.

Have a great week!

Cynde

Tech Play 2

I have used ePortfolios while working on my Master's degree, my principal certification, and my superintendent certification.

I have used Web sites to build my ePortfolios. The first one I built was for my work with teachers in technology integration, I still use the site. The Web address is www.cyndewadley.com.

During my principal certification classes, I made an electronic portfolio on each competency and it also contains articles, artifacts, as well as my resume. This ePortfolio was created using html. I did not want to publish it on the Web, so I just burned it to a DVD. The DVD works like a a Web site.

During my superintendent certification classes, I updated the ePortfolio. I published it to a flash drive. I find that having all of my documents and artifacts in my ePortfolio keeps me organized. I can update it quickly and all of my documents are stored in my ePortfolio. For example, when I needed to create a portfolio for admission to the doctoral program, I was able to complete it in a timely manner.

I also created an ePortfolio for a school district to use for Response to Intervention. All of the documents for RtI are located in the ePortfolio I created.

Tech Play 1 for Introduction to Educational Technology

I would design an assignment for students in which students create a blog to discuss novels that we are reading in an English Language Arts class. The blog could be used for students to list their views on character analysis, plot development, and to practice writing short concise answers to support their views related to the novel.

Students could read and post comments to the blog post of class members.

The pedagogical stance for the activity is based on constructivism, in which students are actively involved in the learning activity to create their own knowledge.Students are reading and responding to the posts of their classmates. This process allows students to agree with or defend their own understanding of the novel.

Students can use mobile devices such as smart phones, iPads, tablets as well as computers to design their blogs. Students can respond to one another using their devices.

Obstacles that teachers and students could face are the availability of a mobile device or computer and access to the Internet. However, the obstacles could be overcome by reminding students of locations with free wi-fi access such as businesses and libraries.

Great Educator

Dewey’s argument that social influences are the “great educator” and that schools are only a secondary agency has implications in all neighborhoods and families.  The neighborhoods and families students are raised in from birth to kindergarten will greatly influence a student’s experiences before they enter public school.  The experiences can be excellent to marginal in different neighborhoods as well as different families.  For example, a student in an affluent community might not have a cohesive family because of the values a family has.  They may be affluent, but the student is not being raised in a caring, supportive environment.  Another example, could be a child being raised in a low socioeconomic community, but the child has the caring and support for the student to be successful.   The teachers of the two students that I have used as examples can make the difference for the child and for the family. 

In each example, the teacher could intervene to offer support to the child from the affluent home, but is not being shown the care and support he/she needs to be successful academically as well as socially at school.  The teacher could also intervene when working with students in low socioeconomic communities to give families resources of local support agencies that can help the family manage through the difficult economic times.  We know from Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Pyramid that if a child’s basic needs of physiological, safety, and belonging are not met, it will be hard for a student to master basic skills at school.

Dewey was right, schools are secondary while social influences are primary.  However, knowing that as an educator will help teachers to meet the needs of all students.

Hidden Curriculum and the Role of Schools in Cultural Hegemony

        One of the most intriguing questions asked in this week’s readings was, “Why do we look to schools to fix what is wrong in our Contemporary Society?  Sociologist Philip Jackson uses the term ‘Hidden Curriculum’ to describe, “what is taught in schools is more than the sum total of the curriculum.  He thinks that school should be understood as a socialization process where students pick up messages through the experiences of being in school, not just from the thing that they are explicitly taught.”   Steven Tozer states that hegemony is a term used to describe the “power relationships between two or more cultures, ideologies, socioeconomic groups, and so on.”  Hidden Curriculum can conflict with the hegemony in school settings.  An example of Hidden Curriculum and hegemony conflicting with each other can take place at a school campus’s Hidden Curriculum that differs from the hegemony of a community.  The role of schools in cultural hegemony is to be aware of the relationships in the community so that the teachers and staff have an understanding of the relationships to build trust with parents and students.  The ‘Hidden Curriculum’ should not devalue the hegemony in the community.  An administrator needs to be aware of the ‘Hidden Curriculum’ as well as the cultural hegemony of the campus and community.  The administrator can work to provide staff members the knowledge to create an environment of trust and respect within the community.

            Cultural hegemony affects what happens in classrooms because parents and community members want to make sure schools understand what they value.  Think about conflict in schools, it is usually the result of a simple misunderstanding or miscommunication.  The conflict can become very volatile if a parent believes a staff member discriminated against their child because of cultural hegemony.  It is necessary to be aware of the power relationships, strong ideologies, and socioeconomics to communicate an understanding and common goal of providing the best education for the children of a community. 

            Education can create an atmosphere of understanding cultural pluralism and assimilation and to foster understanding of diverse groups.  Administrators should, “demand a conception of cultural pluralism that respects diversity among peoples and among students’ different ways of encountering the school culture.  Such a conception may not come “naturally” to a profession that is white and socialized by the dominant culture’s value and practices.”  In contemporary society educators need to be aware of the values and practices of all cultures within a school.  The awareness provides insight to not marginalize a group based on the educator’s background. 

            “The debate about education for its own sake versus education for a particular role in society continues” in the community where I live at all levels.  This especially prevalent in the Hispanic community and received a lot of media attention when a neighboring school district did not meet the AYP requirements for No Child Left Behind.  When the news stations reported on the story of the district, it was broadcasted that the district did not meet AYP because of the dropout rate of Hispanic males.  When Texas State Accountability ratings are released to the media, there are news stories about school districts’ ratings and how the different races performed on the assessment.  I think it is helpful to disaggregate the data, but in small districts one student’s performance can impact the district’s rating that is released to the public and reported on by media.