Post 2

Question 1

I found the ELA case study interesting. I think the teacher utilizes many useful strategies. The use of the comment feature is invaluable when a teacher is grading papers on the computer. The use of quick writes are also a great tool to gauge a student’s understanding. A negative I see in teaching writing on line that a lot is lost when you can’t sit down with the student and talk to them about writing. I have edited and held “conversations” with students on the computer, but it is generally more effective when I am sitting with them in the classroom.

Question 2:

The face to face contact that lacks in an online environment is a major issue for virtual learning environments. Connecting with the students (addressed in the social studies review) and the feedback (addressed in the ELA study) are two areas that are critical for student success. I think that that the social studies teacher does a good job of making up for the lack of connections being made by uploading pictures of his family and using other images. This lets the students know about his personality and also keeps things fresh for students. The teacher in the ELA study really was thoughtful in how she was providing feedback to her students and their use of writing. It was clear she took the students’ needs into consideration when she was planning. 

Post 1

Scenario 1:

There are several problems that could occur for students with the new state requirements regarding online class requirements. One of the major problems could be that students could not be ready to take an online class and may need more than a teacher just facilitating learning. Another issue could be the access to technology. The school and/or the students could not have access to the necessary technology. It would very quickly create more of a gap with the graduation rates from high SES schools and low SES schools. Another challenge that could occur is the lack of technology experience, both from the students or teachers. Many schools do not teach basic computer skills because they feel the students come to school knowing them now. Much of the time this is not the case. Students often struggle with the practical skills when it comes to computers. On the other side, some teachers may not have the skills or feel comfortable with the technology needed to complete the state requirements. If this is the case, technology becomes nothing more than a video without discussion.

Scenario 2:

Independence: As the school year continues the teacher can start to take a back seat to the inquiry questions that students have. Instead the teacher can encourage the students to find the answers themselves.

Self-motivation: Find topics that the students can relate to and are interested. If it is a research project, they are more likely to be interested in it if it is something they like.

Self-Regulation: During an extended project, the teacher should encourage the students to set their own deadlines so they aren’t rushing at the end to get it all done.

Time management: Setting deadlines with negative consequences and being consistent with the consequences. When the students are first learning about deadlines, it is important to be consistent with reminding them of upcoming deadlines and encouraging them to use a planner.

Scenario 3:

My school focuses on teaching the students the skills needed to use a computer and also teaching the soft skills needed for online learning. The students that I deal with most are 6^th graders, so this is the first year that the students are changing classrooms every hour and the first year that they experience letter grades. I am not 100% sure what the school could do to increase the students’ access to technology. This is my first year at the school and I am still learning the curriculum. I do know they are pushing using technology in all classes, but aren’t giving clear guidelines to teachers about what that should look like. Some guidelines and expectations would be nice for the teachers. 

Technology in the Classroom

It seems like as I was going through school, technology has become more and more integrated in to education. It's all about the newest and greatest way to teach using technology. It is very easy to get caught up in the "tech madness." It is very easy for teachers to let the technology do the teaching and to take a back seat. I am definitely not advocating that. However, teachers shouldn't be afraid to try new technology, which is what I see sometimes in school.

I do believe that technology can be an incredible asset to the classroom. I think that the technology can help students in ways that textbooks can't. All of that being said, technology does not replace good teaching. I have written about Google Read and Write before on this blog, and it has completely changed how my students write. In social studies, I am able to take my classes on "field trips" to Italy, China, France, etc. They are much more interested in the ancient sites when they can "visit" them. Should technology be used in place of quality teaching? Definitely not. Should teachers begin to feel more comfortable using the different technology available to them. Definitely.

When technology is first implemented in a school or classroom, it is likely that there will not be as much achievement as liked. However, I do believe, that when a teacher is properly trained and comfortable with the technology the achievement part will follow.

The other thing to take in to consideration is the bigger picture. Technology often makes some classroom tasks easier. For instance, using Google Docs, I can provide feedback during class, which is extremely beneficial to my reluctant writers, or the ones that tend to stray off topic. The students also begin to get a feel of the type of comments they should be leaving during the peer editing process. The other thing that it allows is for students to collaborate on documents. Students are able to help each other on projects, even if they aren't able to to meet outside of school.

In my mind, the pros often out weigh the cons when it comes to using technology in the classroom.

CIPA/COPPA

CIPA and COPPA are both acts intended to help protect children when they use the internet. Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) was passed by Congress in 2000 in efforts to curb “children’s access to obcene or harmful content over the Internet” (Federal Communications Commission, 2015). It requires schools and libraries to block or filter pictures from the Internet that are: obscene, child pornography, or harmful to minors (Federal Communications Commission, 2015). Along with the filters, schools must also provide education to students about appropriate online behavior. There is funding that is attached to this act.  Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) was passed in 1998 in order to curb the information that is collected by websites from minors. COPPA is specifically geared towards websites or online services directed towards children under 13 years old.

Both of these acts are meant to protecting children, defined here by children under the age of 13. These acts were put in place fairly early in the Internet being readily available to everyone. It is clear that the FCC was trying to think ahead and protect a population that may not be able to make the best decisions for themselves. When CIPA was passed, there was an outrage because public libraries were being forced to block material that would be acceptable to adults.  The ALA went all the way to the Supreme Court, which found the law to acceptable as long as the librarian would unblock the content for the adult when needed.

As far as using this in the classroom, from what I can tell this isn’t something that you would specifically discuss with kids. A lot of this falls on the teacher to make sure they are complying with CIPA and COPPA. It is important to know that as a teacher, your computer is not subject to CIPA. You should have access to the internet, unblocked, in order to plan for lessons. I found this web site to be incredible helpful in explaining the different aspects of internet safety and education.  

New and Old Technology

My current district has quite a bit of technology. We aren’t one-to-one, but it seems like that we are heading that way. We recently purchased two new Chromebook carts at each of the middle schools I work at, for a total of four all together. Many teachers prefer to use the Chromebook carts and they are a hot commodity in both schools.

We did recently clean out a work room and found about five or six overhead projectors that had a thick layer of dust on them. Some of the older teachers had a laugh about them. I personally, have never taught with an overhead. I have always had access to a projector. Every classroom in the schools that I work at has at least a projector. Promethean boards are available on request.  From what I have gathered from my colleagues is that the district has money to spend on technology, but they are very careful about how they use it. Take the Promethean Board issue, they will get one for a teacher that feels that they will use it, but they recognize that many teachers will not use it in a way besides a projector screen. They did however, just buy every student and teacher a subscription to Google Read and Write. This is a fantastic add on to Chrome that has revolutionized how my students are writing. It is also a great thing for ELLs, Special Ed, or any students who may struggle with reading.

When I was going through school I saw the change from overheads to projectors. I remember when my social studies teacher had the projector on a cart we knew it was lecture day. He is the only teacher that I vividly remembering using a projector, many teachers used the overhead for notes. Even when I was at Eastern, professors were primarily using overhead projectors for notes. 

Blogs about Education

http://theclassyteacher.blogspot.com/ -- Mrs. Weaver is a middle school teacher in Little Rock. She details her day to day achievements and struggles within her classroom. While she hasn’t posted much this year, she has some great posts in the archives.

http://www.lessonsfromthemiddle.com/ -- Krystal Mills is a 7^th grade teacher currently who blogs about different ideas that she comes across and tries in her classroom. She also networks with other blogs so the entire site is almost like a one stop shop for middle school.

http://flippedclassroom.blogspot.com/ -- Delia Bush is a teacher at Kenowa Hills and teaches 5^th grade. She blogs about different ideas that she implements in her classroom. What drew me to her blog are the flipped classroom posts (which are deeper in the blog) and how she does it at an elementary level.

https://thisteachersings.wordpress.com/ -- This blogger is a music teacher and touches on publicly (which is why she probably doesn’t use her name) on issues that are hot button topics in education. Her most recent post was very interesting, describing what a 3% cut can do in education.

http://www.mrswatersenglish.com/ -- Mrs. Waters is a high school English teacher in Rural Oklahoma. She offers her insight on the educational climate and giving resources that uses in her own classroom.

http://www.globicate.com/ -- This is a great resource for global education. It is not recent, but like some of my other choices, many of the older posts are very good. This one struck a chord with me because as a social studies teacher I am constantly trying to teach my students to think outside of their community.

http://worldhistoryeducatorsblog.blogspot.com/ -- This is an excellent source for all things world history! It also talks about flip classrooms, which is a big interest of mine at the moment. It is geared more towards high school, but again, with a little tweaking it could be relevant to middle school.

https://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/ -- This is joint blog written by Stacey Shubitz and Anna Gratz. Ann is an editor for Heinemann Publishing and Stacey is a literacy specialist and was 5^th grade teacher at P.S. 171 in East Harlem, NY. They both contribute to the blog, which focuses on writing in the classroom.

http://6thsocialstudiesmcginty.blogspot.com/  -- This blog is kept by Matthew McGinty who teaches 6^th grade Social Studies. This is more meant for his students, as it details assignments for each day. I find it very useful because I am teaching 6^th grade social studies for the first time and having outside resources is great, especially the first time through the curriculum.

http://themiddleschoolmouth.blogspot.com/ -- This blog is written by a middle school teacher in North Carolina. This teacher uses interactive notebooks, which is interesting to me. While his blog isn’t very current, his past posts are good and it looks like he is starting to get at posting. 

Sources on Social Media

Twitter:

@pbsteachers – Sponsored by PBS, this account tweets digital resources and courses about education.  

@ronclarkacademy – Ron Clark is a Middle School teacher that opened his own academy and tweets about his classes, as well as about conferences he speaks at.

@shannapeeples – Shanna is the 2015 National Teacher of the Year and retweets many articles about education.

@edutopia – This account offers inspiration and resources to teachers on a variety of topics. The articles are useful.

@ellabredthauer – This is a teacher that is on sabbatical and posts a lot of great resources about ed technology and articles.

@rmbyrne – This is a Google Certified Teacher who retweets many articles about using technology in the classroom.

@mscharest – A teacher who retweets and tweets a about a variety of things that happen in her classroom. She also talks about her travels.

@huffpostedu – This account tweets articles that are about education, the good side of it as well as some of the not so good parts of it.

@ncssnetwork – This is the Twitter account for the National Council for the Social Studies. They post information about their organization as well as information about Social Studies.

@weareteachers – This twitter account offers inspiration and resources for the classroom.

Pinterest –

Eat.Write.Teach – This pinner pins many different ideas for the classroom, ranging from writing to organization.

NEA Today – This account is controlled by the NEA and posts a variety of resources that teachers at all levels can use.

Middle School Café – This account offers a lot of great resources for teaching middle school.

Middle School Matters – Another great account with middles school resources from core areas to planning resources.

Differentiation Station – This account has resources on differentiation in the classroom. It is slightly geared towards elementary, but many of the ideas could easily be adjusted for secondary.

Teacher’s Craft – Offers different pins on education and the boards a split by grade level.

No Failing Students – This pinner offers multiple boards that are great for differentiating for struggling students. It is definitely geared towards vocabulary.

Youtube:

Crash Course – This channel has 10-15 minute videos that cover a variety of world and US history topics.

Maccabeats – This is the channel of a Jewish Accapella group and they sing about important holidays and traditions of Judaism. While not a traditional way getting information, this channel was the best thing that I found to teach the traditions to my students. And they are still singing these songs.

TED Talks – Ted talks always provide great information on a variety of topics.