tweenteacher.com » Ed Tech

Edutopia post: 20 Ways to Model Technology

heather — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 23:50:19 +0000

My latest post on Edutopia is not just about using technology, but about modeling it as a means to teach it. After all, students need to be immersed in an environment of usage. So don’t feel bad if you don’t have a computer lab or if your students aren’t necessarily in front of a computer 1:1 every day. Learning technology begins with you.

Need advice? Check out my post at Edutopia titled, “20 Ways to Model Technology.”

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Post tags: Ed Tech, education, edutopia, k12. middle school

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Metlife Survey Analysis and The New Evolution in Education: Hybrid Teachers

heather — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 15:30:20 +0000

Lately I’ve been intrigued by recent studies on this topic of “hybrid teaching.” So when the most recent portion of The Metlife Survey of the American Teacher was released, I was eager to read its findings about “hybrid approaches to teaching roles.”

The definition of hybrid teaching varies, and I guess that’s the point. It defines a flexible career which allows teachers to explore different percentages of their job in the classroom and in other forms of education. For instance, a teacher can be paid to be in the classroom in the morning, but be a mentor teacher or district liaison in the afternoon. A teacher can, therefore, keep one foot in the classroom with the clientèle that are our students and also be paid to work outside the classroom to make the structure of school run at a higher quality.

I’ve heard any number of part-time education positions bantered about: curriculum coach, department head, grade level chair, technology coordinator, author, field researcher, publicist, teacher mentor, master teacher, literacy coach, district liaison, teacher trainer, professional development coach, distance learning educator, online tutor…the list goes on. It’s as infinite as the needs are of the individual district and school site.

The point is, that rather than get a meager stipend to do work in addition to being a full-time classroom teacher (which puts a strain on the quality of workmanship in both areas), a school can create a salaried “Frankenjob” of sorts for a teacher that addresses the needs of the school or district.

You need to train new teachers? Don’t hire an outside resource. Ms. So-and-so is already presenting at conferences on some weekends and has experience in teaching teachers. Let’s put her part-time in the classroom and part-time developing applicable professional development for teachers. Or let’s have her working as a mentor teacher with the newbies at the district. She can observe, guide, help them reflect and better their practice. Working one-on-one over a period of time, she might even have some influence on the teacher evaluation process rather than just leave it to the once-a-year-principal-pop-in observation. (Note to self: while I’ve briefly written on the topic here, a revamped teacher evaluation process is for a different post.)

And when you consider that according to the survey more than 56% percent of teachers agree that there are second career teachers in the classroom, don’t we have to allow for the fact that these people have skills that must be allowed further outlet in education?

But wait, let’s go back. Put aside the second career teachers. What about all teachers? Haven’t we all had skills put on the back burner of usage due to the rigid structure of our current educational paths? Don’t we all have talents we wish could be fully utilized?

I mean, one of the things that I love so much about teaching is the fact that it allows me to use some many of my passions: talking, reading,writing, drawing, etc…But after a few years of teaching, I soon found that I really longed for other outlets for my other interests.

For instance, I like talking to adults, and I long for it sometimes. I enjoy mentoring teachers, passing on what I’ve learned and helping them with their own practice. And, in so doing, I improve my own. For based on my own experience, I’ve noticed how recharged my own batteries get after touching education outside of the classroom in some way. And, as a consequence, I return to my students stronger.

In fact, I beg to differ with the study’s worry that hybrid teaching might lead to burnout. I, for one, see myself as leaving the classroom if I don’t one day find a hybrid role to fulfill me, to keep me stimulated. According to the study, I might fall under their 42% of teachers who want combination roles in education who are “less than very satisfied teachers.” But it’s not that teaching in the classroom isn’t satisfying or fulfilling. It’s just that I’m like my students. Sometimes I need to mix it up to be at my best.

I also have to take issue with this fact that there are “less than very satisfied teachers” and “very satisfied teachers.” What teacher who is reflective, growing in his or her own practice, challenging themselves and their students, working towards bridging that achievement gap and teaching toward the students’ futures is very satisfied right now? In fact, in my experience, the teachers who are totally happy with the way things are are not the ones we should be applauding as success stories. Sure there are the 30-year teachers out there who love teaching with their heart and soul. And I am in awe of them. But even they don’t seem so satisfied these days. So I question the variables used to determine this ambiguous state of mind and the fact that they implicate dissatisfied teachers as somehow wanting out.

In fact, I think that the mere fact that a “less than very satisfied teacher” is still looking for ways to remain in education in a positive way despite their frustrations says a lot about their dedication to the profession. The structure of ed needs to work with us to retain the best in each of us.

There are needs in education that aren’t being filled by those outside of education. We’ve all been to professional development that is empty and meaningless. We’ve all had teachers and trainers, many in our own teacher prep programs, who have distanced themselves from the classroom so much so that their teachings have become antiquated and lite in their message. (You can read about teacher prep program staffing in my Part 2 post on the topic here.)

But there must be an evolution in our profession. The Metlife Survey claims that a percent of teachers are happy with their job. But how long will that last when schools become more and more like prisons for both student and teacher alike? How long will that satisfaction last when we are all expected to be lock-step in our progression through our lessons, our units, and our careers? What will happen if we aren’t proactive and aggressive in styling our profession on the abilities and strengths of those within the profession?

What will happen if we don’t differentiate our professional paths?

If teaching is about the best and the brightest, it must provide an outlet for that which makes a person unique in their abilities. After all, only the best and the brightest can help produce the same.

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Post tags: Ed Tech, education, hybrid teaching, metlife survey

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Arne Duncan and His Distance Learning Missive

heather — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:40:39 +0000

I read this article on August 8th with no real plans to write a post about it, but sometimes the content just sticks with a gal, you know? In The LA Times, “Swine Flue Won’t Mean School’s Out,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan warns:

“Realistically, some schools will close this fall. It’s incredibly important to all of us that our students continue to learn,” U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said. “Educators need to start thinking now about having temporary home school in place using both phones and the Internet.”(...)
Read the rest of Arne Duncan and His Distance Learning Missive (579 words)

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Post tags: arne duncan, distance learning, Ed Tech, education, funding, k12, online learning

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Help! Save schools from Massive Ed Tech Budget Cuts!

heather — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:37:13 +0000

As a teacher concerned about the future of education, and as a blogger who has jumped whole-heartedly into an online collaborative existence as a means to help teach her students, I am astonished at the oxymoronic message coming for our government.

One the one hand, we are to help our students function and advance in their use of technology. On the other hand, our budget to do so is constantly cut and slashed in a bloody display of shortsightedness.

I have blogged before that if you have any involvement in technology in the school, or even if you just see the writing on the wall, that using technology as a tool is the future for our students, then we all find ourselves in a special interest group.

Members of our group cross political boundaries. The use of technology and providing the tools to learn it are of the utmost importance to our country’s future. But once again, the funding to teach these vital skills is being threatened.

As a member of the national Ed Tech Action Network, I receive emails when key bills are about to be passed so that my voice can be heard. I hope that you too will lend your voice to this battle.

ETAN says,

Last week, the House of Representatives’ Appropriations subcommittee approved a 63 percent cut in the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) Program. If this cut becomes law, it will leave many school districts without funding for hardware, software and technology professional development, placing our students at a distinct skills and knowledge disadvantage when they enter the 21st century job market.

In order to get your opinion out there, please click on the link below (or cut and past the URL into your address bar). ETAN makes it all easy to get your stance out there. You can sign and send the existing letter or change it up in your own words. The representatives rarely read the letters, but they do count the number that they receive. And that determines their vote. So if we send enough letters, they will represent us.

http://capwiz.com/edtech/issues/alert/?alertid=13735446

Help education and technology’s role in it. Help our students to achieve in the 21st Century. Write your representative today.

ETAN’s made it easy.

Thanks,

Tweenteacher

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Post tags: budget, Ed Tech, education, EETT, ETAN, funding

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San Gabriel Valley CUE Teacher of the Year!

heather — Wed, 06 May 2009 01:24:21 +0000

I won the San Gabriel Valley CUE (Computer Using Educators) Outstanding Teacher Award. Hazzah!

I’m not sure CUE realizes, however, that my enthusiasm for Ed Tech outweighs my knowledge. My daily calls with questions to the computer teacher can attest to that.

I discovered technology late in my life. I have grown up a theater geek, but in the past few years, I have added technology to my list of passions. I used to be a very tech-tentative ELA teacher, but in 2005 I attended the CUE conference in Palm Springs, and I realized that the writing was on the educational wall.(...)
Read the rest of San Gabriel Valley CUE Teacher of the Year! (487 words)

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Post tags: CUE, Ed Tech, education policy, EETT, integration, SGVCUE, UCI, Writers Project

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5 Things Teachers can do to Improve Teaching

heather — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 04:36:43 +0000

We all know there are many problems in education and not one bullet to solve any one of them. We as teachers can’t do a lot about many of the factors that have huge influence on student success: parental involvement, health care, funding. But there are a few steps we as educators can make in protecting our professional reputation, advancing student achievement, and making our day-to-day lives a little less challenging.(...)
Read the rest of 5 Things Teachers can do to Improve Teaching (996 words)

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Post tags: collaborate, Curriculum, Ed Tech, merit pay, middle school, performance pay, Title I, TLN, tween, writing project

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Students, Sexting, and the threat to Ed Tech

heather — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 16:12:07 +0000

Thanks to Scott McLeod for Twittering the following article from The Washington Post. It describes a terrible ordeal that an administrator went through battling charges of ”failure to report suspected child abuse” and potential child pornography after students were caught sexting on their cell phones.

Long story short, due to the premature lynching of the sheriff’s department and the over-eager condemnation of the media, an earnest educator lost time, money, and a dose of educational enthusiasm before being released and dropped of all charges.

But there are a few points this article brings up that are also of concern, perhaps not to the administrator who is breathing a sigh of relief, but possibly to those of us who must reflect on these incidences and learn from them.

There were a few beats in the article, for instance, that seemed to follow the theme of “educator who was behind the tech times.” Like this excerpt:(...)
Read the rest of Students, Sexting, and the threat to Ed Tech (625 words)

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Post tags: Ed Tech, middle school, teaching, technology, TLN, Washington Post, Writers Project

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Twitter as Think Aloud

heather — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:46:58 +0000

I was reading through my Digg headlines this weekend, and I happened on this article of the top 10 most extraordinary Twitter updates. I also did some digging (no pun intended) and found articles that range in claiming that there are anywhere from 4 million to over 14 million current Twitter users. If true, then Twitter has a greater population that Greece. Or, if you would rather think in cities, twice as large as London.

So today, my class is going to start Twittering. I’ve been thinking about using Twitter as a tool for Thinking Aloud for some time now. I always pictured it on the LCD projector as I taught, entering thoughts as I simultaneously taught, so as to model my own reasoning and processes for my classes.

I also think it will be a powerful 21st Century (hate that term) tool for them to use to give me a snapshot of what they are thinking. So I’ve been tackling the issue of how to Twitter online and offline with students.

Here’s what I’m just now deciding on. You know how you sometimes get your best ideas in the shower or in the rear-view mirror? Well, I got mine brushing my teeth. Just a little share for all you readers out there.

Here’s how I’m setting up the unit and how I’m helping to control their safety while creating a transparent and open-door environment in my classroom.(...)
Read the rest of Twitter as Think Aloud (368 words)

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Post tags: Curriculum, curriculum design, Ed Tech, education, ELA, Think Aloud, tween, twitter, UCI, Writers Project, writing

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Spontaneous Public Displays of Art

heather — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:44:56 +0000

I can’t wait to show my 8th Grade Honors class this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq6b9bMBXpg.

It’s a great display of the act of spreading the arts publicly and on a huge scale.

My students have been working all year on their “Spontaneous Shakespeare” scenes. (Cue “Mission Impossible” music) Their goal: to spontaneously appear in a public place and perform a scene from Shakespeare, spreading the works of The Bard as they go.

It all started with a shadow puppet Shakespeare show that I presented to them as a project-based learning opportunity. The kids took it and ran. With their enthusiasm leading the way, it soon morphed into this public explosion of learning.(...)
Read the rest of Spontaneous Public Displays of Art (280 words)

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Post tags: Curriculum, curriculum design, curriculum development, Ed Tech, life long learners, metacognition, technology, TLN, UCI, Writers Project

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Marzano con’t & Corporate Sponsorship in Education

heather — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 04:00:53 +0000

There’s a really interesting discussion thread going on at the Interactive Whiteboard Revolution ning. It all began with my post recapping Robert Marzano’s position on the influence of IWB technology when he presented at the CUE conference this year. You can read the thread here.

One of the most interesting arguments going on is in the importance of whether or not Marzano is sponsored by Promethean (he is) and whether or not this somehow corrupts his findings (it shouldn’t). As Peter Kent points out, “Corporate sponsorship is common practice. The MIT Media Lab (created by Papet and highly reputable) and currently including Mitch Resnik of Scratch fame has over 60 corporate sponsors including the possibility to having an employee of a sponsor work in the Media Lab. There is also the opportunity for a sponsor to work closely with a principal investigator and a graduate student in a specific area. My point is that corporate sponsorship of educational research is both common and necessary.”

I’ve written on this topic before when I’ve said that I think there is a future in education as a privately sponsored entity. In my earlier post, “Walmart Presents: (insert some president’s name) Middle School,” I previously wrote, (...)
Read the rest of Marzano con’t & Corporate Sponsorship in Education (318 words)

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Where the Wild Things Are: Part II

heather — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:20:24 +0000

So I recited the book and showed the movie trailer to the students on my Interactive Whiteboard, just as I mused about in my last post. From there, I read an old version of the “Three Little Pigs” and asked my students to formulate questions or plot points to fill in the gaps in character development, narrative, background, etc, muck like what Spike Jonze seems to have done in his adaptation.

So I want to share some of the awesome questions my 7th graders developed to help them fill in the story gaps:

1. If the mother pig didn’t have the “means” to have so many kids, why did she have three?

2. Why did the three pigs go their separate ways? How was their relationship if they wouldn’t stay together?

(...)
Read the rest of Where the Wild Things Are: Part II (154 words)

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Post tags: Curriculum, curriculum design, Ed Tech, education, interactive whiteboards, k-12, k12, middle school, tween, UCI, Writers Project

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Teaching Secrets: Finding a Job That You Love

heather — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 01:33:00 +0000

Know a teacher who got a pink slip? Maybe my newest post at Teacher Magazine can help. Click here for the article.

It’s Step 1 of my Top Secret New Teacher Handbook. Hope it creates some shortcuts, a machete even, through the education jungle.

-Tweenteacher

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Post tags: achievement gap, blog, classroom library, classroom management, collaboration, common language, critical thinking, Curriculum, curriculum design, curriculum development, differentiation, Ed Tech, education, ELA, employment, free, fundraising, internet literacy, jobs, k-12, k12, Language Arts, learning, life long learners, merit pay, metacognition, middle school, NCLB, new teachers, peer teaching, performance pay, professional development, technology, test prep, Think Aloud, Title I, TLN, top 10, tween, UCI, Writers Project

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Internet Reading: The genre

heather — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 02:58:38 +0000

So I’m sitting here pondering the titles of the two curriculum books I am currently writing on teaching Internet Literacy, and I can’t help but wonder if reading on the Internet isn’t its own genre all together.

I mean, I know that reading online takes the form of any other genre depending on its content, but the format is unique: headers, sidebars, ads, flash, menu bars, etc…

So doesn’t reading online specifically take different skills then reading any other genre? Isn’t it a combination of genres, combined with a social genre of sorts? Isn’t the fact that it is a 2-way read justifiable in identifying it as its own category of literature?

And if we were to identify it as a category of literature, would not more teachers see the imperative need to teach to that genre?

Thoughts?

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Post tags: Ed Tech, internet literacy, TLN, Writers Project

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A teacher’s duty?

heather — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 00:05:18 +0000

So by now I assume we’ve all heard of the sanctioned “cage fighting” in a Dallas, TX school. As AP reports, school officials apparently condoned the use of a steel cage in which students could bare-knuckle fight their way towards agreement. Great peer mediation program, right?

But why is it that only the worst of the worst appears in the news, as if this level of inappropriateness was a common disease facing education today?

I was corresponding with Teacher Leader Network all-around-awesome-guy John Norton, and we stumbled on an interesting point which relates to this issue of highly publicized educational indecency. And it kinda got me thinking.

Sure, I’m frustrated by the ease in which the news reports the horrible, inbred cousins of education. Sure I tire of the publicity behind those YouTube worthy rants, those rare abuses in schools made seemingly frequent, as if they were a chronic problem along with the achievement gap and childhood obesity.

But I feel that we as teachers in the trenches have a duty to battle this poor publicity.

Teachers of yore were quite isolated, closing their door and teaching in their solitary rooms. Some still do, but the job has changed. Collaboration has become a key to our survival. Teaching with transparency and an open-door policy has become necessity, evidence of our ability. Some of why this is necessary is because test scores and observations have become the go-to way to evaluate a teacher (but that’s for another post). Another reason is that our challenges and our horrors have become far more public than our glories.

Whose fault is that? I blame us.(...)
Read the rest of A teacher’s duty? (593 words)

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Extreme Makeover: Classroom Edition

heather — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 05:45:58 +0000

There’s been so much talk lately of deep-needed reforms for education, but we neglect just how powerful a simple makeover can be. I’m lucky to currently work at a school that has a patch of green, which fixes the broken windows and washes off the graffiti when it happens. But I’ve worked at the schools that smell of urine, at the sites that lay forgotten by funding, yet are still expected to succeed.

According to What Not to Wear, a makeover does wonders for your confidence, your pride. According to Extreme Makeover, it can renew your hope in life.(...)
Read the rest of Extreme Makeover: Classroom Edition (248 words)

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Post tags: Ed Tech, ELA, ELD, extreme makeover, fundraising, k-12, k12, middle school, TLN, tween, UCI, Writers Project, writing

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The “Sweet Spot” in Interactive Whiteboards courtesy of Robert Marzano

heather — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 04:06:19 +0000

CUE scored Marzano.

As he began his keynote presentation on Friday at the 2009 Computer Using Educators conference, Robert Marzano confessed that he had been slow on the tech bandwagon, only recently researching enough to see what all the fuss was about. But by the end of test study, after test study, after test study, he soon realized that using certain ed tech strategies resulted undeniable successes in student achievement.

There are four strategies, he says, that are irrefutably changing the future of education, that, without proper adoption, would doom us to be “dinosaurs” in our practice.

But he warned us that while there are “no silver bullets,” there are “silver bbs,” and a teacher must decide “which combination of silver bbs is best for [their] classroom.”

And of the four points he talked about, the leading teaching strategy that Robert Marzano felt was a true breakthrough in education (aside from the use of the internet which he is currently studying), was the use of the Interactive Whiteboard and its Voter-Response Technology.

(...)
Read the rest of The “Sweet Spot” in Interactive Whiteboards courtesy of Robert Marzano (404 words)

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Post tags: 100% accountability, achievement gap, Curriculum, curriculum design, curriculum development, Ed Tech, education, interactive whiteboards, internet literacy, middle school, robert marzano, voting

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CUE Conference: Podcasting with 70 Middle Schoolers – RU Crazy?

heather — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 06:36:26 +0000

So here’s my Keynote presentation for all of you who wanted to flip through it for some reminders. To open up my handouts, click here.

Hope you all enjoyed the session, and feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions.

-Heather

aka Tweenteacher

CUE Presentation10

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Post tags: CUE, Curriculum, curriculum design, Ed Tech, education, middle school, podcasting, teaching, technology, Title I, Writers Project, writing

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How to be an Ed Tech Advocate

heather — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 01:26:24 +0000

OK, guys. So I got it from the horse’s mouth at CUE. According to the ISTE Director of Governmental Affairs, No Child Left Behind is not going away.

In the weeks leading up to the election, the Obama administration talked the talk, proving that Educational Technology was on their radar, but if you’ve been listening, the silence on Ed Tech has since become deafening. (...)
Read the rest of How to be an Ed Tech Advocate (515 words)

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Top 10: How to Take Control of Your Teaching

heather — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 07:00:00 +0000

Occasionally, I repost this article so that new readers can find it more easily. Based on some very enthusiastic feedback, it has since morphed into a book proposal called The Top Secret New Teachers Handbook. I’ll share more as it evolves…

I’ve been developing this Top 10 list of ways to take control of your teaching even in the face of, well, teaching. It’s an advice list on how to encourage respect, and, if necessary, how to demand it as a means to make sure you aren’t being taken for granted.

Let’s face it, if you are feeling appreciated, you will be happier in this difficult job. Consequently, your students will be happier, and quite frankly, if they are happier, they will be more successful. After all, an unhappy teacher’s room has the smog of misery in it, and for a student, it hovers like a stench that affects their own victories. And while it benefits a school to keep its teachers happy, it is a teacher’s responsibility to demand those things that make this challenging job better than tolerable.

I think that finding those tricks or strategies to keep in your pocket is important in any career; but in education you need them even more so. Otherwise, the day-to-day duties of the job will eventually grind your enthusiasm to a halt and it won’t just be you who is affected, your students will be affected as well.

I will be expanding on each of these over time, but in a nutshell, here’s my TOP 10:

(...)
Read the rest of Top 10: How to Take Control of Your Teaching (1,396 words)

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Am I So Past My Prime?

heather — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 15:02:28 +0000

Somehow, and maybe I’m reading into it here, I feel a little written off already. Education Week is reporting that some districts are pondering the possibility of “front-loading” new teacher salaries, increasing their compensation earlier in their career to aid in recruiting “higher-calibur talent.” But, um, what about me?

I’m a little frustrated at the message this sends to those of use who have invested in this career. I mean, I know that we need to recruit new teachers, but a talented person with great ability in their field does not necessarily a good teacher make. Remember, teaching is about two skills that must be mastered: that of content and that of communication.(...)
Read the rest of Am I So Past My Prime? (198 words)

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