Week 7: Final Reflection Project

For our final blog post for CEP 812, we were asked to create something, anything that reflects what we learned from Warren Berger’s A More Beautiful Question  and shows our Passion Quotient (PQ) and our Curiosity Quotient (CQ) (Friedman, 2013) and (Berger,2014). I chose to record an audio recording of a lecture that I wrote and animate it using Powtoon.

Throughout my speech I demonstrate my passion for education and how my love for technology and innovation has driven me to attempt to make a change in education. I show my curiosity through my thoughts and questions that do not necessarily have a definitive answer yet, but only possible solutions. Through reading Berger’s “A More Beautiful Question”, I have learned that it is within our wicked questions that amazing ideas and innovation live (Berger, 2014). If I have learned anything, it is to not be afraid to ask questions because through our questions come change.

Through the survey that my group conducted during this class, it became evident that many educators believe that there needs to be a change in education. My passion for innovation and teaching has been further ignited from reading this book and completing these projects. I plan to be a part of the change in education, by starting in my classroom. I will work to engage my students through inquiry, creativity, designing, and self-paced learning. There will be bumps along the way I’m sure, but I will learn through the process to improve and make a better classroom for my students.

I hope you enjoy the video I created to show my passion and curiosity for education.

References:

Berger, W. (2014). A more beautiful question: the power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas. New York: Bloomsbury.

Friedman, T. L. (2013, January 29). It’s P.Q. and C.Q. as Much as I.Q. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/opinion/friedman-its-pq-and-cq-as-much-as-iq.html

Week 7: Final Reflection

Children_at_school_(8720604364)                         Photo by: (Ribeiro, 2013)

Throughout this course I learned about many new technological tools that can and will be easily implemented into my classroom. I loved learning about the Network Learning Project and being able to experience it first hand. Being a pilot classroom for one-to-one devices has already allowed me to test out flipped instruction. The Network Learning Project allowed me to see flipped instruction from a different perspective. Based on the work I did during my Network Learning Project and the successes and failures I had along the way, it taught that not everything can be simply learned just by watching videos online. It is important to also have personal and individualized help to support online learning.  I plan to allow my students to search for instructional videos to help give them extra help in school subjects.

I also love that this project was tied to inquiry-based learning where we researched and learned about a topic that was of interest to us. Next school year, my plan is to incorporate more inquiry-based learning instruction in the classroom and allow students to use their Personal Learning Network to learn all about a topic of their choosing that is tied to our classroom subjects (Guido, 2017). See as teaching using inquiry-based learning is new for me, I wonder how this teaching approach will allow students to fully learn all the content that is required. Will this allow use to meet all the content standards with deeper understanding? I believe that it will create a better environment for learning, but this is something that I will have to learn first hand.

Another great thing I learned was how to use sources and pictures that have a creative commons license. Before, I would simply use any picture that I found on Google, but now I understand that importance of utilizing only images that allow for use or modifications. Creative Commons is a great site to teach my students how to use to search through and find properly licensed pictures to use in their projects.

In addition, this course has provided me opportunities to deeply consider how I use technology in my classroom. Am I just using it as a tool to replace pencil and paper to teach the same lessons in the same way or am I using it to transform my instruction? Am I considering TPACK when I create my lessons to think about repurposing technological tools for more engaging ways to teach and create opportunities for deeper understanding? My goal is to create a classroom that lives within the “sweet spot” that we call TPACK. Utilizing TPACK will allows lessons to go from memorizing facts and figures to engaging with the content to deepen students’ understanding (Mishra & Koehler, 2006).

I am excited to start this next school year with all of these amazing ideas and tools under my belt. I am looking forward to the transformative fire that this course and this program has stirred up in me. This program enriches my love for teaching and the power that it can have on our students. I am ready to take all that I’ve learned and use it to impact my students and classroom in a powerful way.  

 

References:

Guido, M. (2017, June 21). Inquiry-Based Learning Definition, Benefits & Strategies. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from https://www.prodigygame.com/blog/inquiry-based-learning-definition-benefits-strategies/
Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. J. (2006). Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A Framework for Teacher Knowledge. doi:10.18411/a-2017-023
Ribeiro, L. (2013, May 08). Children at school. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/95639384@N08/8720604364

Week 6: Cooking with TPACK

This week, we were asked to have a family member pick a utensil, plate, and bowl from our kitchen at random and a number from a jar that would tell us what “cooking” activity we needed to complete using our random kitchenware. My husband selected a small plate, small bowl, and a spoon that I was to use to cut hard cheese that I would arrange on a cheese platter. This task did not prove to be easy. The spoon failed to do its job of slicing the cheese well enough for a cheese platter. I was able to break off chunks, but nothing appealing enough for a platter. Although my tool didn’t prove to be successful, it got me thinking about taking the knowledge, tools, and teaching methods that teachers already have and recreating them to enhance learning.

The whole idea for this project was to cook using TPACK or Technology Pedagogy and Content Knowledge (Mishra &Koehler, 2006). The idea behind TPACK is that these three things should not be used or taught in isolation, but together. Learning becomes meaningful when we use technology as a tool to allow students to reach a depth of knowledge and interest that they would not have without all three elements working together.

The idea of repurposing the tools stood out to me. Just because one technological tool was designed for a specific purpose does not mean that it can’t be just as meaningful used in another way. While cooking with TPACK, I had to figure out how I was going to repurpose a spoon to be a knife and it forced me to see the spoon in a different way. That is what we have to do with the technology that we are given to help our students obtain meaningful learning.  

References:

Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. J. (2006). Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A Framework for Teacher Knowledge. doi:10.18411/a-2017-023

 

 

Week 5: Final Network Learning Project

In CEP 810, we were asked to learn something new that we’ve always wanted to learn, but with a catch; we could only use our online learning network to learn our new skill. I chose to learn how to finger pick on guitar the song “Say You Won’t Let Go” by James Arthur. I mainly used one specific video I found on youtube to learn the fingerpicking pattern for this song. I found the lyrics to this song on Twitter and printed it off to help me practice singing and playing the song. I found that I was going back to the video several times to see how to make the different chords in the song. So, I decided to draw the chords I kept forgetting so that I had a quick reference. From here, it just took lots and lots of practice. I practice the fingerpicking patterns and the transitions over and over again.

One major challenge was figuring out how to lyrics fit in with the guitar pattern. The melody was syncopated which made it tricky to try and fit together. To overcome this problem, I practice the guitar riff over and over again while humming the tune instead of focusing on the words. This helped me feel the rhythm of the music.

This project was harder than it sounds because we could only use our Online Network and no physical experts. This proved to be a bit difficult because my husband is an excellent guitar player and it would have been very easy to ask him for help. But, in efforts to try and maintain the integrity of this project I refrained from going to him for help. I became determined to learn it on my own without his help. It was a bit empowering to know that I could learn how to play the guitar using one video. It did prove to be difficult for my husband to keep his advice to himself. As I would practice, he would come up and ask me if he could say just one thing. Sadly for him, I turned him down every time.

Going forward I plan to continue to use online videos to learn even more songs and increase my guitar playing ability. However, the one thing I will change is being able to utilize the expert help of my husband. Using online tools and videos is a great way to learn, but it is always good to have individualized help.

In my classroom, I flipped my Math instruction and posted instructional videos on Schoology for each Math lesson in the Unit. However, I do not just leave them to learn on their own. We have daily check-ins and I am always available for mini-lessons or questions. Using online videos that allow you to learn from experts is a great tool, but I believe it is also important to have personal expert help that can give individualized instruction. The goal for online learning with flipped instruction is to create a self-paced learning environment where the teacher spends class time helping students through the practice instead of teaching the content and leaving the practice for the students to do on their own. Through this project, I have learned how valuable my online network is, but also how important personal help is too.

 

Week 5: 21st Century Tool Lesson Plan

ipad-tablet-technology-touch                           Picture by: Pixabay

During week 5, we were asked to create a lesson plan that utilizes a 21st century tool. I will be teaching 3rd grade next year, so I chose to write a lesson plan that I could implement next year in Social Studies. In Social Studies, 3rd grade learns about Michigan history starting with the American Indians that first populated our state.  Therefore, the lesson I wrote asks 3rd students to learn about the different American Indian tribes that first lived in Michigan and use Google to research their different customs, traditions, houses, foods, and tools. The students will chose one American Indian group to research with a partner and present their information using a 21st century tool.  The reason I chose to have students work in partners is due to the idea that students are able to understand and create more with shared knowledge than by learning on their own (O’Donnell, 2012). I chose to allow my students to choose between 3 different presentation tools: Prezi, Google Slides, or Powtoon. Each tool is a great way to present information in an engaging way. The three tools I chose progress a bit in difficulty to allow for differentiation.

Google slides is the easiest way to present the material. It follows the same structure of creating a Powerpoint with minor differences. If a student chose to use Google slides, they would choose different backgrounds, transitions, layouts, and fonts. Then, they would select images to put on their slides and add text to describe their topics. This is a great beginner presentation tool.

The next tool is Prezi, this is similar to a powerpoint, but with added features and difficulty. You can choose basic templates on Prezi or complete one from scratch. Prezis can range from very basic presentations to complex and creative presentations. Even though Prezi has a few new tools that need to be learned, there are tons of videos online to walk anyone through the steps to create a powerful presentation.

The final tool students can choose from is Powtoon. I recently discovered just how easy to use and this tool is for making professional looking presentations. Powtoon has great instructional videos to learn this tool in easy steps. I chose this tool as a variation to typical presentations. Powtoon is a way of presenting information that can look like a typical slide, but is animated with characters and transitions into a video format. Students would add pictures and information as they would in a typical Powerpoint, but then they could add animated characters, transitions, and music to create their final video.

All three tools allow students to present their material in engaging ways, but each is simple enough for students to learn quickly with the help of instructional videos.

Here is the link to my lesson plan. I hope it inspires you to utilize 21st century tools in your classroom.

 

References:

O’Donnell, A. (2012). Constructivism. In APA Educational Psychology Handbook: Vol. 1. Theories, Constructs, and Critical Issues. K. R. Harris, S. Graham, and T. Urdan (Editors-in-Chief). Washgington, DC: American Psychological Association. DOI: 10.1037/13273-003.

Hobbs, R. (2011). Digital and media literacy: connecting culture and classroom. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Pixabay (n.d.). Free stock photo of business, computer, device. Retrieved June 18, 2017, from https://www.pexels.com/photo/laptop-technology-ipad-tablet-35550/

 

Week 5: Wicked Problem Survey

problem-solving-assessment

During week 5, we were asked to come up with solutions for Rethinking Education in the 21st century. Our think tank came up with many solutions, but focused on a few actionable solutions.  We started by asking ourselves lots of “Why” and “What If” questions and narrowed them down to actionable “How” questions. See below:

  • How can we rethink education to ensure that it is individualized and responsive to the needs of each student while maintaining standards for rigor and effectively utilizes 21st century technological tools?
  • How can we structure education for teachers to provide ample productive opportunities for collaboration to meet the needs of all students (e.g. lesson studies, curriculum planning, activity coordination and evaluation)?

From there, our think tank came up with a few solutions that we thought could help Rethink Education in a positive way.  Here are our solutions:

 

 

  • Instruction should be flipped or blended to allow for self-paced learning.
  • Instruction should incorporate technologies to enhance individualized learning and collaborative projects.
  • Instruction should utilize Inquiry Based Learning to ensure that content blends with student interest and research.
  • Students are assessed on a variety of measures some of which are student-directed while others are teacher-directed.
  • States will streamline and coordinate standards/curricula/techniques to facilitate interdistrict collaboration among teachers and schools.
  • Teachers will have established/guaranteed time for self-directed collaboration (horizontally and vertically) within the school, district, and interdistrict.

We then crafted this survey to gather data and opinions about our proposed solutions. This survey was created for an assignment that is part of my graduate program in educational technology at Michigan State University. I also hope that the results will inform discussions and planning for technology integration in the work we do together, and with students.

Your answers will be collected anonymously — please do not give your name or any other personally identifiable information. My think tank and I will analyze this data and submit them for evaluation to my professors at MSU. We will share our analyses with our professors and professional colleagues once they are complete. I really hope this survey helps us to gather data that we can use to make an impact. 

If you wish to participate in our survey  please click on the link below  and complete it no later than Friday, June 23, 2017. Thank you very much for your time and insights!

https://noelle32.typeform.com/to/w3slqc

 

 

Photo References:

Problem Solving and Decision-Making Skills. (n.d.). Retrieved June 17, 2017, from http://blog.readytomanage.com/what-is-a-good-problem-solving-assessment/

Week 4: Wicked Problem Infographic

How can we Rethink Education? That is the “wicked problem” that my Think Tank has been challenged to answer. This week,we were asked to come up with 3-5 guiding questions that will help us tackle our wicked problem. Our think tank brainstormed questions that helped get our minds in a place to begin to tackle this problem. Our discussion focused our thinking on these essential questions:

  1. Why rethink teaching at all?  (to explain why we think it’s important to address?)
  2. Why can’t we rethink teaching and maintain a balance with the demands of standardized testing to ensure that students have multiple paths to demonstrate their learning and teachers have multiple paths to assess it?
  3. Why can’t we restructure and rethink teaching and what is taught? (e.g. mixed age groups/age homogenous, coteaching and collaboration/teacher as independent, active/passive, teacher as facilitator/sage on stage)
  4. Why can’t we come to an agreement on a common vision of what  it means to be a teacher/to teach in 21st century schools and why can’t we create an effective system for providing teachers career-long support and development?

 

Through more research and discussion our think tank will work to design a solution to this wicked problem that will hopefully impact not just the students in this course, but our current classrooms.

Click on the link below to view my Infographic about Rethinking Education.

https://infograph.venngage.com/publish/ebffbeb3-6a2e-4b6b-af44-50c1d9a111af

 

Week 4: Network Learning Project Update

For my Network Learning Project, I chose to learn how to play a finger picking pattern song on the guitar. The song I chose was “Say You won’t Let Go” by James Arthur. This task has proven to be more difficult than I thought it would be, but I am persevering. Prior to this assignment I knew a few very basic chords on the guitar and could do some basic strumming patterns, but I had not learned any picking patterns. Building up callouses on your fingertips is essential for being able to fluidly play the chords on the guitar. I haven’t played guitar in while and so the callouses on my finger tips had faded away. So on top of learning a finger picking pattern, I’ve had to work on rebuilding my callouses.

I have chosen to primarily use the video above to learn the finger picking pattern. This was one of the original videos that I had posted and has proven to be most helpful. The video I chose to use walks through each chord that is being play and displays the chart on the video. It also slowly shows how to pluck each pattern out one chord at a time. It teaches the finger picking pattern through a slow progression and then plays them all together at an easy to follow tempo. Once each chord and pattern was shown, the video played the patterns more up to speed.  I tried using  the other two videos I originally posted, but one was in a different key with different chords and the other just used a basic strumming pattern. I used Twitter to see if there were any other videos that might be more helpful, but my originally choice turned out to be the best. I wanted to try and sing the lyrics while playing and was searching for a lyrics sheet. With great doubt, I tried Twitter, thinking I would surely never find anything that could help me learn guitar, but to my surprise I found a lyrics chart as well as a ton of instructional videos. Who knew!? So then, I begun practicing away.

It definitely takes a lot of practice to master a finger picking pattern. I started off very slow and began increasing to the normal speed. I still am working on transitioning from one chord to another smoothly. That has proven to be on of the more difficult parts for me as well as singing while playing.

A time I failed was when I first tried to sing the lyrics while playing the picking pattern. I could not figure out how the two lined up together. My timing was all off. I almost gave up, but then I decided to use Twitter to find the song being fully played. It helped a lot to hear how the lyrics and picking pattern lined up. I tried again and slowly found success. I am still very much in the learning process, but I’ve definitely made some progress.  

 

Another frustration of this process is not being able to use an expert. My husband is a very good guitar player and could easily help me learn this song. It would be easy for him to see and hear what I am doing and give me personal critiques. Personal feedback and advice is something that is missing through this learning process that I feel could aid in quicker success. But, I am happy at the progress I was able to make just by using my online network.

 

It was hard to show a before and after picture of my learning process for playing guitar. So I did my best to present a picture that shows me strumming the guitar and then finger picking the guitar.

 

BEFORE:

IMG_3657

 

AFTER:

IMG_3658

 

Week 4: Workflow

As educators, we are constantly pulled in twenty directions. We have tasks to complete in our work lives and our personal lives. It is hard at times to keep everything straight and organized. It seems we always have more tasks to complete than we have time for, so we need tools to help us make the most of our time.

I recently started using Evernote and have loved it. It is great for clipping anything off the web that I am searching for. Evernote allows you to create different “notebooks” to help organize your information. You can type and create documents right on Evernote or clip sites from online, which is one of my favorite features. Evernote comes with an easy to access widget on your toolbar, that when clicked, allows you to clip a portion of a website or even the entire website. Then, you choose which notebook you will “clip” it to. Before Evernote, I would attempt to bookmark pages and search through an unorganized list of bookmarks. But now, Evernote allows me to instantly organize the links and sites that I want to save so that I can easily access them later. Once the documents have been clipped, you can highlight and write on the site within the “my notebook” section. So far, I have used this app to clip articles for papers I am writing and to track ideas for the drama club that I have been leading at my school. It has been a great tool for organization and allows for easy sharing as well. There is even an upgraded version that provides even more amazing tools.

My tip for using this organizational tool would be to create many different notebooks. The more notebooks you have your ideas and links stored in, the easier it will be to find exactly what you are looking for. Think of your notebooks as “boards” on Pinterest. It is easier to locate chicken recipes if it is under its own “board” titled chicken recipes than it would be under dinner entrees. This tool is designed for organization and notes. The more organized you can make it, the better.

The only critique I have about this app is that the widget on the toolbar and the Evernote website you go to for access to your clippings and notebooks don’t have a unilateral login. It is a small issue, but can be cumbersome to have to sign-in in two places. Other than that, I love this tool and will continue to use it and recommend it to others.

References:

E. (2012, May 11). Evernote Overview – LEARN MORE BELOW! Retrieved June 10, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pjn6YkCY2yA

Week 3: Information Diet

Prior to this week, I never thought about my information diet. I understood that information was always coming at me and as I scrolled through the internet I gravitated towards some things and not others based on my personal interests and beliefs; but I never realized how filtered my information diet actually was. Everyday, we are so inundated with information that our brains quickly determine the important information and the irrelevant. It is through this process that our brain keeps its efficiency, but our information diet shrinks. We have only so much room in our memory bank that we seem to dump the information if it does not seem useful (Berger, 2016).  Without even realizing it, our brains confirm information that aligns with our current beliefs and negates information that does not (Gee, 2013). We’ve all heard the phrase “There’s two sides to every story”. With this in mind, it is important for us to remember that as we  receive new information everyday we must open our minds to the possibility of other ways of thinking. It is when we do this that we can truly innovate and create something new. When we take the time to open up our information diet to more than the status quo, we allow ourselves to see things from other perspectives. It is then that we can ask the wicked questions with fresh eyes and an open mind.  

After this week’s readings, my eyes have been opened. I have been living in an information bubble for the most part. For one thing, my mind is always being pulled in twenty directions (school, family, after school programs, etc.) and because of that I pay attention only to the things that seem relevant to me. But when I do this I place myself in an information anemic environment. The visual that comes to mind when I think of this is my Pinterest. We’ve all been there, engrossed in the world of Pinterest. It is an amazing tool to use to find information, resources, projects, etc. for all different topics of interest. You can search by specific topics or simply browse the main feed of pins that shows ideas from all sorts of areas of interest. However, I noticed that if I recently searched for things about gardening, the next time I pulled up Pinterest, my main feed would be polluted with images and links to all things gardening. Instead of the home page broadening my horizon to new projects and ideas, it narrowed my view to the specific topics I searched for. In other words, my information diet shrinks. This is great when I am trying to gather information about a specific topic, but aside from that it can be detrimental to my world view.  When our information diet shrinks, the possibility for out of the box thinking shrinks as well.

This week, I began to broaden my information diet, by following sites on Feedly that were outside my normal filtered bubbles. I began to follow sites  about world culture, the web, untold stories of history, coding, common core, standardized testing etc. I also broadened my Personal Learning Network (PLN) to integrate Twitter. Prior to this class, the idea of using Twitter to find articles and discussions on things of substance had not crossed my mind. I browsed through Twitter every once and awhile to see some things my teacher friends were doing  in their classroom or for funny anecdotes from famous people, but that was about it. However, after I did some exploring this week, I realized what a valuable tool Twitter can be. I found articles and discussions about educational reform, common core, and standardized testing. While broadening my info-diet, I made sure I read articles from both perspectives and not just the perspective I agreed with. I was and still am determined to have a well-rounded information diet and not a biased view of a topic. By broadening my information diet, I am opening myself up to asking wicked questions that lead to innovative thinking and ideas. I am working to escape the box of filtered information and explore the world through new eyes.

References:

Berger, W. (2016). A more beautiful question: the power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas. New York: Bloomsbury.

Gee, J. P. (2013). The anti-education era: creating smarter students through digital learning. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Below you will find my Storify showcasing some of the “healthy information” I added to my diet this week.  Click on this link to read the storify below online.

Information Diet

Broadening my Information Diet

  1. In my search to widen my Information Diet so that my perspective can be broadened and my mind can be opened, I stumbled across some amazing conversations about education and the world. Take a look at the various websites and conversations that can spark change in the world of Education.

  2. Core of the Problem: The Real Agenda Behind #CommonCore…:  http://youtu.be/oMy_92XXS_4  June 04, 2017 at 09:30PM
  3. I’m angry with what I saw this week. Students are not data points. Standardized testing needs to go. #publicschool #standardizedtesting