Reflections on EDUC6710

I have been lucky in my life. I first started using computers when I was three years old. I was programming at eight. We signed up for Prodigy when I was fourteen, and I learned how to communicate with others from around the world. Because of this, I have always been excited about the capabilities of technology in educating and developing our youth.

During the past couple of months, I have been able to use some new technologies that I have not really experienced before, specifically wikis and podcasts (blogs were not new to me). More importantly, I have been able to see these technologies from the viewpoint of a student, and how they can be used to not only assist but increase learning.

My philosophy for teaching has always been one where the teacher acts as the facilitator for student-led learning. What this class allowed me to do was find many new ways to bring educational opportunities to my students. While I have some techniques to use with my students, not all of my students have succeeded with these. Now that I have more ideas that I can use, for instance a wiki that will help them explain and understand mathematical terms, I hope that some of the students that are having trouble will be able to grab on to a different way of thinking.

As I go forward, I plan on starting technology programs from the beginning of the school year. I feel that leading my students in discovery of the options available to them will lead to a better education for them. But in order to achieve this, I need to stay on top of the technologies that are available and the new ones that are coming out on almost a daily basis. I am reading other blogs about technology, staying in touch with people who are using these technologies, and working with colleagues to see which techniques they think we can use together to help all of our students be 21st century learners.

My main goals over the next two years are to make my classroom completely integrated with technology, and continue fighting for education reform.  These two goals are mutually compatible as the largest reforms will involve students contacting each other and professionals from their desk at school or home to increase their knowledge and to become community and world leaders for the future.  Fighting through the bureaucracy is a difficult task, but one that I am happy to help out with. 

An App for the Classroom

In many classrooms, one of the biggest issues is teaching students who do not speak English as their first language.  Teaching word problems in my math class often means teaching the meaning of words as well as the techniques for solving the problems.  We currently have translation dictionaries available for each of our students, but a new app for the iPhone and iPod touch has been released that has tremendous implications.  Word Lens instantly translates text from one language to another (currently only Spanish/English, but that will be improved with time.)  Imagine putting a problem or a text on the board and having your students be able to understand it in their own language instantly by simply viewing it through their hand-held device.

. . .Now we just need the schools to allow hand-held devices in the classroom.

Podcast

For our class assignment this week, we had to do a podcast.  I don't like the sound of my voice on playback, so I will probably not do many of these unless it is for an assignment.  We were instructed to determine the amount of technology our students use on a regular basis.  I was definitely surprised that all of my low-income students had computers at home and worked on them daily.

21st Century Skills

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills is an important tool for the reform of our education system.  We need to get every school in the country involved and excited about the "4 Cs."  However, they run into the same problem that every other type of education reform is also facing.  It is coming from a top-down approach.  It is easy to tell a district or a state, "these are the skills that you should be enforcing.  Now go and do it."  Trying to get the states to implement these standards is much more difficult.

E.D. Hirsch Jr. is the founder of Core Standards, the organization behind Common Core, a set of standards for education.  He was quoted in a USA Today article that 21st Century Skills are an "ineffectual use of school time."  He goes on to call P21 "a fragmented approach with uncertain cognitive goals."  His points are valid, and there is a concern that the depth of Common Core and the requirements of 21st Century Skills would not be able to coexist in the current school system.

Yet Massachusetts, where I live established 21st Century Skills as a "high-level, state-wide priority" in 2008 and adopted Common Core on July 21, 2010.  In fact, thirteen of the fifteen states (Maine and South Dakota are the two exceptions) considered P21 Leadership states have adopted Common Core standards.  We now have two initiatives, that consider themselves irreconcilably opposed, being thrust simultaneously on our students and teachers.  There is no way to succeed in this situation.  But since our budget is being cut, maybe no one will notice.

After reading Thomas Friedman's "It's a Flat World, After All", The first thought that crossed my mind was that he was missing the point.  Yes, India, China, and other countries have had a boost in their presence on the world stage due to the technology boom of the 90's.  Yes, they have the population and the motivation to become world leaders in technology, communication and the information age.  But we are not in competition with them.

We need to think of the world as a cooperative.  The great minds from all over the world are now able to communicate with each other instantly.  The top companies from India, China, Russia, the US and more can share their success and failures.  I am not saying that this should be the end of capitalism.  We will still have multiple choices and the economy will decide which way we choose to continue.  But we must use all of the resources at our disposal.  And those resources are in other countries.

Mr Friedman does make a good point that we need to change our education system and improve the outlook at the local level.  We will not be able to work with the best in the world if we are not also the best.  We must teach all of our students how to use the tools available to us.  We must encourage creativity.  We must encourage teamwork.  And we must encourage technology.  If this is not done in the near future, then we will not be a world power any more.

Can Technology Rescue School Budgets?

This was the title of a recent post on Flypaper.  They ask the question with regards to e-schools and hybrid schools (specifically New York City's School of One program).  I really like the School of One program in NYC, although it can require more effort on the part of the teachers. E-schools are expanded home-schooling options.  Both of these programs have important places in our society, but I don't feel they should be used as budget reducing options.

The extra effort required by the School of One means that the teachers should be earning more money for doing the work.  It may require fewer teachers, as mentioned by John Chubb, but those teachers deserve the extra rewards.  As for e-schools, I don't feel that home schooling is the best option for most students.  Children need the social interactions and leadership skills that brick-and-mortar schools provide.  Some students find these through other groups and organizations, but I don't think a wide-spread home schooling system is the way to go.

 Can technology rescue school budgets?  Absolutely.  Technology makes text books cheaper.  Paperless classrooms save money on resources.  It may be possible to use fewer teachers (although I do not think this is the best solution).  But these are all ways that technology allows us to do things differently.  The real purpose of technology, as all of my classmates will attest, is to do different things.

Blogging in Mathematics?

As I've been working on my assignments for my class, I have been thinking frequently, "That would work so well in an English classroom." or "Every history class should be doing that."  It has even made me want to get my teaching certificate for science more so I can do some of the things that have been suggested for biology or physics.  It does seem that many of the features of the read/write web do favor the classes that are focused on reading and writing.  But as I've gone through my days thinking about it, I have developed several strategies for using technology in general and blogs in particular even in a math classroom.

If you have heard me talk about mathematics at all, you know that I feel that math is really just the study of patterns.  Different courses give you different tools to use to find, analyze, and create patterns.  Arithmetic is the patterns of counting.  Geometry is the patterns of shapes.  Calculus is the patterns of change.  I want my students to understand patterns in their lives and in the world around them.  A blog is the perfect way to do this.  I can set up a topic of "what patterns do you see in _____?"  Or I can have the students discuss how different tools can be used on a specific type of pattern.  Or the students themselves can find patterns and start a discussion about them all by themselves.  They can find information about how different cultures or people looked at patterns.  No matter what the student finds interesting, they can find a way to tie it to patterns.  A blog will help them discuss their ideas with each other and let them use their creativity to develop new ideas beyond what is taught in the classroom.

Retaking classes online?

The New York Times recently ran this article originally from The Texas Tribune.  It seems that students in Texas are making up classes that they failed using online courses.  The main concern that seems to be coming up is the fact that there is little empirical evidence that the students are learning as much in the online courses as they are in traditional classrooms.

Now as a student in an online masters program, I can say with certainty that online classes can be as rigorous as brick and mortar classes are.  And programs like Rosetta Stone and The Great Courses have proven records of success.  The credit recovery courses may be electronic, but there is no reason to think the students are not learning.

In fact, some students will perform better with the electronic environment than they do in the traditional classroom.  Especially if they have other things going on in their lives as Krendon Reynolds did in the article.  We do need to make sure the classes do cover the material that the students need to learn, but that is simple.  With the standards based education system that we are currently entering, we can focus the electronic education on the standards of the state.  And with Common Core being adopted by more and more states, this would be a very good place to start.

The purpose of standards education is to make sure that the students know certain important elements that they will need when they are out of school.  Whether this is done through a classroom or a computer program, the results are the same.

Facebook for the classroom

Last week, Norton school district warned its teachers not to friend their current or former students on Facebook or other social networking sites, and not to share their phone numbers with their students.  They feel that students shouldn't know too much about their teachers.  While I agree that there is a need to keep our professional lives and are private lives separate, I feel that this is the wrong direction to take.

In the business world, I feel it is a bad idea for an employer to friend his or her employees.  Knowing too much about the people you work with can cause issues for both sides.  However, I don't think that doing so should be a punishable offense.  It is more a breach of etiquette than a breach of power.  The same is true in the case of classrooms.  Students and teachers should not be forced into the awkward situations that can occur in the social internet.

However, there are some very good reasons to know what students are interested in outside of the classroom environment.  Educators can use social networks to gather information about what their students are interested in learning, and modify their curriculum accordingly.  Information can quickly be disseminated to students if a last minute change is required.  And online bullying can be noticed and proper interventions can be made.

So what should teachers be doing?  First of all, teachers should be educating themselves about the social media that is out there, and they should be learning about internet ethics and standards.  Second, they should be teaching their students these same values.  All civics and ethics classes should have global communication added to their curriculum.  Most importantly, they should be behaving at all times as if they were in public.  Because with the open communication that we have now, they are.  But so should politicians, businessmen, and every other person that knows someone who uses electricity.  We are all in the public eye now.

Education Reform 101

What is the purpose of education?  Traditionally, schools have taught the knowledge of the elders.  It has been the primary concern of education to make sure that the next generation had the same knowledge.  The experiences of each generation were the focus to guide the experiences of their children.  The only way to learn was to go to the experts and learn at their feet.  Even my education was focused on gathering the knowledge that I could from my teachers.

With the introduction of the internet, and especially Web 2.0, the goal of education must change.  No longer do we need to teach our students all of what is known.  Instead, we must teach them how to gather the knowledge that is available, how to interpret the information that they find, and how to think for themselves.  My goal with this blog is to show how our education system can be improved with technology and why we must make these changes now.