Week 3 of 525

In this third week of class, the first aspect of education our cohort examined was cues, questions, and advance organizers.  These three strategies for increasing retention help students retrieve, use, and organize information.  I believe the purpose of using the aforementioned tools with my students is to "trigger" their intellectual machinery, allowing them to relate to the material.  The most recent example that I recall in my classroom would be the successful use of a cue.  Last week, as a precursor to a seventh grade unit on writing/simplifying equations, I had the students do a group project on "deciphering ancient symbols."  These symbols were essentially just basic equations with unique variables, but got the students extremely exited about solving equations (in large part due to their mysterious nature), leaving me quite pleased.  On the other hand, I can recall several months ago beginning a unit on solving proportions with my Pre-Algebra students, and using questioning ineffectively.  Essentially I led my lecture assuming my students were more comfortable with the subject matter than what they were, and my preliminary questioning left students confused and dejected.  I believe I was unsuccessful because I made a false assumption about my students that could have been clarified by talking with their eighth grade teacher.  In regards to the technology that can aid students with their advance organizers (the importance of which was stated in a research journal article that we read); tools such as Wallwisher and Kidspiration allow teachers or students to display their knowledge visually, both individually and collectively.  A question that I have regarding the use of such advance organizers is how to appropriately incorporate them into my classroom?  Would they be most beneficial as pre-content outlining, or better used to organize the content of the topic itself.

The next topic that we discussed was that of nonlinguistic representation.  Nonlinguistic representation allows students to use mental images to retain subject matter.  I believe that the purpose of utilizing nonlinguistic representation is to give students another method to master their learning material, besides simply copying down notes.  Using my own classroom instruction as an example, I've found that it works quite well to draw pictures with word problems.  I think this works well because students not only get the benefit of information from the problem, but also from their OWN drawings.  I feel this is successful because it empowers the students, almost with feeling of creating the word problems themselves.  Conversely, I've occasionally taught lessons where I've known that pictures would have enhanced the lesson, but in the interest of time, opted not to use them.  For example a fractions lesson could have been enhanced by pictures of fractions in real life (partially filled egg cartons, drink containers, etc.); opting not to use them gives students fewer "weapons in their arsenal of learning."  Technology that promotes nonlinguistic representation includes the website Kwiki, the podcast for "Maps Alive!" (great ideas sent in by educators of all ages), the WonderWheel feature of a Google search, among others.  One of my biggest questions with the above technologies is what circumstances are required for WonderWheel to work?  I noticed that some words provide a very detailed topic map, where others do not.

Along with discussing the nuances of cues/questions/advance organizers and nonlinguistic representations, we were assigned to examine three different types of advance organizers/nonlinguistic representations.  The three that I chose to peruse were Bubbl.us, Webspiration, and CMAP.  Comparing the three graphic organizers, I found that their ease of use were all relatively simple, with the exception of Webspiration.  I found the sign up to be quite a hassle.  However, I do believe that the resources differed in functionality.  Once I was finally up and running on Webspiration I found it to be effective, allowing for easy creation of maps that were visually pleasing.  Bubble.us was quite similar, but I found the screen to be too cluttered with sign up information and additional features (font sizing, zooming capabilities, printing options, etc.).  Finally, although CMAP was rather informative, with hyperlinks to many different websites, I can't help help but feel like its functionality was limited.  As I could not find a way to brainstorm my own ideas, I place it's functionality dead last of the three.

Lastly, we were to discuss the importance of notetaking and summarizing in the educational process.  Proper notetaking/summarizing consists of taking in a lot of information, and then distilling it into a concise form.  I believe the purpose of proper notetaking/summarizing abilities is to help students efficiently collect data, thus aiding a positive attitude toward the subject manner.  An example of how I utilized an effective notetaking strategy would be my use of a KWL chart in my Advanced Mathematics class.  This allowed me to gather information about what my students know, and what they wished to learn.  However, the most important part of the chart, "L" for learned, allowed me to figure out what they exactly remembered.  This helped me figure out if their notes were effective.  I think this worked because it forced the students to provide me with what they learned, not just what I perceived of their knowledge.  An example of me not promoting effective notetaking would be how I once began a seventh grade math section by telling my students to copy down "everything that I write down on the overhead."  I don't think this worked well because it made the students focus on blindly copying things down, as opposed to focusing on the main points of the examples themselves.  There are several different types of technological aids that help with proper notetaking/summarizing.  These resources include, but are not limited to NoteStar, GoogleDocs, Cornell Notetaking, and KWLH charts.  My question is how to involve Google Docs on a regular basis in math classes?  I love this resource, I just can't quite seem to find a way to incorporate it into my classroom.

Week 2 of 525

This week's studies revolved around setting objectives, providing feedback, and providing recognition.  I feel it is essential to set learning objectives for students, letting them know that it is important to follow certain steps to complete a goal.  I recall an assignment where I laid out my expectations very clearly for the unit, stating they would learn how to write verbal phrases as variable expressions.  By taking our time on the subject, along with having a methodical conversion procedure, this particular unit went quite well.  On the other hand, there have been other times when I've assigned a group assignment with little to no further instruction, and the results were disastrous.  I believe this went poorly because I set few parameters, and didn't specify roles for the group members.  As far as providing feedback that encourages learning and recognition is concerned, one technological aid that I use is a graphing calculator.  For example, when I review with my students I divide them into teams and assign them a number.  Only I know this number, and when I use my random number generator it will select a student whose answer I should check.  However, I make sure to look at everyone's paper, and I never reveal whose paper I actually looked at for the result unless they get it right.  This provides positive reinforcement to those who answered correctly, along with correcting those who are incorrect (without degrading them).  Other than that, I'm always looking for ways to expand technological use for feedback/recognition; the following resources were certainly informative in this respect.

One of the resources we were to review was "Feedback That Fits."  I thought this article was very good at expressing the importance of educators exhibiting not just feedback, but feedback that helps students improve while encouraging their potential.  I was reminded that as a teacher it is important to not just give answers, but rather formulate questions that make students more or less provide their own answers.  Should they not be able to answer their question, I should provide help without blatantly giving them the answer.  Whereas this is normal practice for me, occasionally time constraints cause me to get lazy, giving feedback that could be a little more productive.  This article was a good reminder that feedback is an essential piece of the learning process.

We also examined some online resources geared toward student feedback, namely RubiStar and QuizStar.  RubiStar provided an excellent template for creating a topic specific rubric.  For example, if a teacher wanted to make a graphing assignment, RubiStar provides a drop-down menu of graphing related topics (labeling, accuracy of point plotting, and neatness).  Should a teacher want to create his/her own topic, they can type in whatever graphing topics they choose.  Once they have their topic list for their assignment, they can then specify the criteria for each individual topic (4-Exemplary, 3-Good w/ some errors, 2-minimal requirements met only, 1-barely acceptable, etc.).  There is also a decent amount of text space available for typing in what would constitute a 4,3,2, or 1 (the point scale can also be changed if a person so chooses).  QuizStar allows a teacher to create folders for their classes, create quizzes/exams for those classes, administer the quizzes/exams online, and finally analyze the results (also, displaying results to students is an option).  This resource essentially gives instructors the ability to create/administer tests in an online setting.  Seeing as my school only provides an online grade book (Skyward) for the students, being introduced to RubiStar and QuizStar will give me two valuable tools to aid my feedback to students.

First Post of 525

Our first blog post for Enhancing Learning Materials Through Technology is geared around commenting on two educationally progressive articles.  The first article, entitled "Principles of Teaching and Learning," focused on seven different principles for understanding the framework of each essential facet (teaching and learning) of education.  In regards to the seven principles for learning, the main themes involved prior knowledge, student motivation, application of knowledge, and flexibility.  The principle that I found most interesting was that of motivation.  I believe it is paramount that a student be motivated in order to efficiently retain information.  I had a professor in college who once told us, "Trick yourself into believing the content is interesting."  Whereas I don't believe someone should devote an immense amount of time to something they dread, sometimes in life we close informational doors without giving them a chance.  Motivating one's self, intrinsically or extrinsically, allows for much better knowledge retention.  The principles involved with the teaching aspect of the article centered around understanding one's pupils, prioritizing, thorough instruction, and constant adaptation to course structure based on student needs.  This last theme stuck out to me as being the most true.  I don't believe in a "one size fits all" approach to education.  A teacher should always be looking to make a class work for the students, not the other way around.

The final article we were to examine was "A Meta-Analysis of the Effectiveness of Teaching and Learning With Technology on Students Outcomes."  This information thick research piece essentially stated that the overall effects of technology on student learning may be greater than initially anticipated.  Along with several directly observable outcomes that can be linked to technology, there may be several different indirect, unmeasurable positive outcomes that can possibly be traced to technology.  However, the article did stress the importance of increasing the research on technology's effect on learning (both in quantity and depth).