The Instructional Leadership course was not one that I truly enjoyed. While I did enjoy completing the Shared Vision paper, Swot Analysis, and other assignments in this course, they just weren't the highlight of my year. I have realized the depth to which technology leaders must go to assess school technology needs and capabilities and the process for creating change through technology action plans. The course's Technology Planning Project really helped me assess technology's impact at my school, as well as current needs for improving student learning. As a classroom teacher, I can get caught up in the creation of lessons and monitoring of student progress. I enjoyed reviewing my schools technology plan and vision, as well as that of other schools and the state. In this course I was then given the opportunity to create my own vision, which forced me to consider how my technology vision could be implemented in a real school setting. After creating a vision, I analyzed the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats at Gainesville High School. This helped me to determine what concrete goals could be achieved with the creation of an action/evaluation plan. One of my favorite activities for this course was writing the technology grant. Several of my peer teachers have told me over the years that I could be really good at writing grants. I actually enjoy writing and I'm argumentative by nature. It is easy for me to identify a need and a solution and take a persuasive stance to toward success. This activity allowed me to explore that skill and I was proud of the product and am working on submitting it for review to try to actually obtain the grant (especially since I've already done the difficult part). Overall, the projects that were completed in this course have had a tremendous impact on my growth as a technology coach and leader in my school. The Technology Project, in particular, has aided in my own growth as teacher and technology mentor.
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This course has been the highlight of the program for me so far. The Web 2.0 Tools we explored have offered a variety of opportunities for technology integration in the classroom. The course design provided opportunities for continuous learning and practice with a variety of online resources. Some tools that were new to me included VoiceThread, FlipGrid, Zoom, and Podcasting. I also truly appreciated the practices with Adope Spark and Screencasting, and I enjoyed researching and identifying useful Chrome extensions and add-ons. This course also demonstrated the need for continuous usage of tools to become better at creating with them. Another favorite moment in this course was when I realized that Bloom's Taxonomy can be used to organize the multitude of available Web 2.0 tools for student experiences. This course also provided opportunities for collabotration about the online tool we studied. I had a great time learning from my peers and offering and recieving feedback about our assignments.
This semester marked a traumatic event in education, with global and widespread school closures due to a Coronacius global pandemic. This course allowed me to offer supports to teachers in a spontaneous impromptu Professional Development session on the best online tools to support student learning and assessment. Our schools' closures landing the day of a pre-planned professional learning day, and our Principal allowed me to present a 2 hour session on virtual tools for asynchronous learning. I presented Edpuzzle, Quizizz, Zoom, Google Suite Product, and video creation/editing. Although there was only a small group of educators present in person, the supports were well recieved and distributed among staff. I've also heard many compliments from teachers who have praised resources, such as EdPuzzle, who did not know about it prior. It warms my heart to know that I have been able to help my colleagues find peace and support during this troubling time. The implementation of the lesson plan in this course enabled me to see how seamlessly Web 2.0 tools could, and should, be integrated into instruction and assessment. Student learning and collaboration allowed my students to continue studying even though we could not meet in person. This course was by far the most impactful on my learning so far.
Twitter may be the best decision I made for a Professional Learning Network. It was through Twitter that I found the inspiration for the lesson plan that I created. One thing that I've learned about English Language Learning Students is that they are usually motivated and hard-working, but they are always on different levels regarding academic content and language acquisition. Because of this, teachers must become adaptable and be able to use resources to identify student needs and capabilities. Personalized learning opportunities and differentiation strategies are a necessity when teaching ELL students. For this lesson plan, I chose to create the ultimate choice board for learning content, practicing concepts, and demonstrating mastery. Technology truly helps with this because it allows us to offer students language supports while providing content and assessments. The Think-Tac-Toe board idea was modified from a peer Twitter user's work, and the Hyperdocs was also a shared resource from a Twitter user. It's amazing to see our communities and world come together during a time of need to create ans share resources to help all students. I hope you enjoy my lesson- and please forgive my Screencast- it's not that great!
Virtual Environment Tools
Google Tour Builder is an interesting way to create visual stories, embed images and videos, and take a learner to new levels of experience. It integrates story-telling with Google Earth. This would be great for History, Science, & Languages Arts. After experiencing Mary Howards Ancient Egyptian Tour, I realized that history would be so much more fun in today’s time, with technology enhancements, than it was in the “encyclopedia days” of my high school years. I also went on Jane Goodall’s tour of Tanzania’s Gombe National Park and learned about her work in the study of chimpanzees and evolution.
For math, Google Tour Builder could be used to connect applications to the real world. For example, for Geometry students studying right triangle trigonometry, tour builder could potentially connect students to construction sites where houses or apartments are being built- students could use measurements to calculate distances (board lengths) required to finish the roof. Or for circles, Tour Builder could zoom in to a logger in forest, standing next to a huge oak tree that he needs to cut. Students could use his measurements of circumference around the tree’s base to calculate the diameter (to decide how long the chain saw bar would need to be to cut it). They could also use dimensions to calculate board feet, weight, and how much the log would bring at a Sawmill. (On April 12th, a tornado came through near our property and we are still in the midst of cleanup!) Virtual and augmented realities are both powerful resources that support student engagement through curiosity and movement. With virtual reality (VR), students are immersed in the experience. They wear a virtual headset or cardboard goggles to minimize distractions and focus solely on the screen that delivers the VR. This takes away all outside distractions and the student can feel as though they are present in the VR with 3D viewing. It makes it possible for students to go places and see things that they might not experience otherwise. In contrast, augmented reality (AR) allows students to scan a room and find 2D and 3D images that are overlayed within the room and help to tell a story or teach a concept. Students can collaborate and do not have to worry about surroundings (such as desks, chairs, or walls) while they are navigating the experience. I enjoyed reading Medium.com’s article Create Magic in your Classroom and EdSurge’s article Five Ways Teachers Can Use—and Create—Augmented Reality Experiences by Jeff Clark. Clark pointed out that VR/AR can be used for more than just virtual field trips and google expeditions, but also for virtual puzzles and scavenger hunts, and to foster student creativity. With a well designed VR/AR for student learning, that requires students to collaborate and think critically, the Four C’s a fostered. VR/AR can also move classroom experiences into the transformational aspect of the SAMR model. I chose to explore augmented reality with Metaverse. Metaverse is a platform that allows users (teachers and students) to create and share virtual experiences easily. Metaverse allows you to arrange components on a storyboard, add 2d and 3d images, and even animations. Of course, I had to challenge myself to create a Math game, especially since there seem to be so very few of them. I found this collection of Metaverse AR experiences, and Math has the least amount. It took me about 2 hours to create the experience, but it connects 3d animated characters to math website links and questions to check understanding. When students answer the questions correctly, they advance, but if answered incorrectly, they are sent back to the website to review. There are four different questions in total, but students can complete the task by answering the first 3 correctly. Check out the video below for a preview, created by my 6th grade son who had never experienced an AR task, and tried to answer Algebra 2 questions! His reflection of the activity is that there are some students who would love it, but he thought it was hard to read, so I should probably use shorter sentences and larger images of problems, or a pause feature. Managing Equitable Access during a Pandemic
At Gainesville High School, the digital divide is in the form of accessible devices and internet access at home. Moreover, low-socioeconomic status proves to be a massive component to the digital divide. Unfortunately, it does not matter if students have devices at home, or connectivity, when they are pressured into assisting with supporting their families while at home. Many of our students have demanding jobs, including working in factory settings or babysitting siblings/relatives while others work. Many families share a house or rent a single room from relatives or friends; it is not uncommon for 3 or more families to share the same apartment or home. Because of this, the digital divide becomes more prevalent as inhibiting factors come to light. Our school is in city limits, so students have access to wifi hotspots or more affordable internet service, but that does not alleviate the socioeconomic status that contributes to the divide or lack of devices.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, our school launched a technology lending program to try to close this gap for our students. We are not a 1:1 school, and had limited hopes of becoming one in the next few years. Our ratio of Chromebooks to students is 1.3:1, which means that we could possibly provide devices to 76% of our students. At the onset of the Coronavirus, our technology team retrieved devices from departments, chrome carts, and classrooms, and updated them to be able to distribute to students for at-home learning. Our school also ordered 100 Kajeet Smartspots immediately and a second order later based on demand. The Kajeets were a necessity and provided students with internet access while at home (except between 11pm and 6am). The resources were prioritized to Seniors first and then to underclassmen. As far as I know, no student was denied access to technology if they needed it, but I also know that many students prioritized work over education and stopped participating in virtual learning entirely. |
AuthorI am Brandy. This blog is a collection of my thoughts and reflections about assignments and courses during my Instructional Technology Archives
December 2020
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