Tech Tool Review

National and State Technology Standards

    1. What did you determine to be the purpose of the National Education Technology Plan (NETP)? How does it affect teacher and students, people like you and me?

Answer: According to the Introduction of the National Education Technology Plan, I believe the purpose is to dramatically transform the way we deliver education by integrating technology at all levels of curriculum so that we produce better educated citizens ready to meet the challenges of a “21^st century global economy”.

This ambitious plan has implications for teachers, students and common citizens. One negative implication is that with any technology implementation there are financial and budgetary concerns. Who will assume the burden of the cost to implement this initiative? It is evident by the current government shutdown that we as a nation are already in a financial crisis. Federal funds are sparse, state and local governments are struggling to meet their budgets, and taxpayers continue to seek relief.  If funding is generated, how will we support such an initiative within schools? Added staff will be needed to support any hardware and software infrastructure within the school system. Additional training will be needed for teachers who are digital immigrants and are not quite as comfortable with technology. Until standards for teacher training align with technology use in the classroom, you will continue to have a subset of teachers who do not possess the skills necessary to fully integrate technology into the classroom creating yet another learning curve. However, time does not stand still. Technology is the wave of the future, being proactive rather than reactive will allow us to get ahead rather than trying to play catch up. It’s very important to have a technology plan in place at the federal level, so state and local governments can use the information to form and align their plans to meet the overall goals.

     2. What were the main assumptions under which the plan was developed?

The plan is based on the following assumptions:
·         Many of the failings of our education system stem from our failure to engage the hearts and minds of students.

·         What students need to learn and what we know about how they learn have changed, and therefore the learning experiences we provide should change.

·         How we assess learning focuses too much on what has been learned after the fact and not enough on improving learning in the moment.

·         We miss a huge opportunity to improve our entire education system when we gather student-learning data in silos and fail to integrate the information and make it broadly available to decision-makers at all levels of our education system—individual educators, schools, districts, states, and the federal government.

·         Learning depends on effective teaching, and we need to focus on extended teams of connected educators with different roles who collaborate within schools and across time and distance and who use technology resources and tools to augment human talent.

·         Effective teaching is an outcome of preparing and continually training teachers and leaders to guide the type of learning we want in our schools.

·         Making engaging learning experiences and resources available to all learners anytime and anywhere requires state-of-the-art infrastructure, which includes technology, people, and processes that ensure continuous access.

·         Education can learn much from such industries as business and entertainment about leveraging technology to continuously improve learning outcomes while increasing the productivity of our education system at all levels.

·         Just as in health, energy, and defense, the federal government has an important role to play in funding and coordinating some of the R&D challenges associated with leveraging technology to ensure the maximum opportunity to learn.

 What are some concerns administrators, educators, or even students might have with these  assumptions?

Answer: Some concerns administrators, educators, or even students might have with these assumptions are varied. Administrators and teachers might take issue with assumption number one that “we are failing to engage the hearts and minds of students.” Many of the school districts I am familiar with already use some level of technology within the classroom and are striving to utilize technology to enhance what students are learning. It’s a strong assumption stating that the current system is unequivocally failing to meet the needs of students. However, I do think most educators would agree there is room for change in all aspects of education. Schools are already taking a proactive stance by investing in more technology education and training for teachers. There are also many initiatives promoting comprehensive school reform in the curriculum areas, such as Literacy Collaborative and Common Core Initiatives to improve the education we are delivering to students. Many administrators are already calling on private industries such as Batellle to do statistical analysis of data that will help teachers modify their curriculum to suit student’s needs. Batelle also helps schools analyze the assessment data more in depth to inform administrators on how teachers are performing. I am sure most administrators, teachers and students all agree technology has a significant role in enhancing the way we deliver education now and in the future.

3.      “The NETP presents a model of learning powered by technology, with goals and recommendations in five essential areas: learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure, and productivity.”

What are the “21^st century competencies, what and how people need to learn” in the summary? How will technology support these competencies?

Answer: The skills they want people to acquire to become expert learners are “critical thinking, complex problem solving, collaboration, and proficiency in multimedia communication”. The belief is technology will play a key role in helping students develop these competencies. Students are already technology savvy, it’s the educators’ job to take what students already know and integrate it across all curriculum areas so students are building on their prior knowledge. For example, technology will enable students to do more in-depth research, which might enhance critical thinking skills because they have access to many forms of multi-media for research. With computers in the classroom, students can work collaboratively to research, present and share information they learned. There are on-line lessons that exist now that utilizes multimedia formats that empower students with information they might not have had access to in the past.

4.      How does the State of Ohio’s Technology Plan’s purpose and mission align with NETP or not align and why?

Answer: Both the State of Ohio and the NETP align because they are concerned with making sure students are better educated and equipped to meet the demands of a “21^st century global economy”. However, the State of Ohio’s plan references the No Child Left Behind Act from President Bush’s Administration, but the NETP does not. In addition, Ohio’s plan is concerned with making sure technology is implemented for all students from preschool-graduate school (called P-20). The Ohio plan takes on a more state specific initiative, such as increasing the number of charter school and distance learning opportunities. The NETP’s technology plan seems mostly concerned with k-12, but also completely overhauling and rethinking how we deliver traditional education. Ohio seems to have action steps, but NETP has more of an outlined plan.

5.      How do you believe the outline aligns, with the “model of learning powered by technology, with goals and recommendations in five essential areas” proposed by National Education Technology Plan? In which areas are the two not aligned? Why?

Answer: The outline for the State of Ohio plan seems to align with the NETP plan on the following items: learning, teaching, productivity and infrastructure. The State of Ohio plan does not address assessments like the NETP plan does. The NETP plan is concerned with working with governors to make sure data is used to improve the technology implemented. In addition, the NETP calls for a comprehensive look at the research done in the learning sciences to improve education. The State of Ohio plan is more concerned with our individual state and the NETP calls for research and development to be funded at the national level.

6.      What barriers do you see fulfilling this plan (Ohio’s State Educational Technology Plan measurements of success)? Provide four reasons why it may not be possible to reach these “measurements of success” in the state of Ohio.

Answer: The number one barrier I see to accomplishing these measurements of success is the amount of funding it requires accomplishing such a large initiative. A good example would be a recent article in the Columbus Dispatch regarding Columbus City Schools trying to pass a 9.01-mill levy so all students in middle school and high school in Columbus city school district could have a laptop computer. In this district they would be fulfilling a part of the initiative, but it requires taxpayer money. When initiatives are subject to the hands on the voters, they may not be implemented. Secondly, the Ohio plan was adopted under the Democratic leadership of Governor Strickland, and we currently have a Republican Governor, John Kasich. I am not sure what kind of support the current state administration is giving to this initiative. The measurements of success will need to be fully supported and funded to be accomplished. Thirdly, in order to accomplish these measures of success you need to have highly trained and qualified people to carry out the initiative. Who are these people who will carry out the goals?  What is the infrastructure in place to support and carry out such a large initiative? Fourthly, if the target goal is having these measures of success assessed in 2014, the initiative will need more time. Technology is rapidly changing and the current plan will need to be fluid. A task force will be needed to oversee and support strategic planning and long term goals.

ORC Lesson Plan

My favorite subject to teach is social studies. My teacher licensure area will be K-3 with a 4/5 Generalist Endorsement. For this reason, I have chosen a lesson plan that can be used for 4th grade social studies. The lesson plan I have chosen from the ORC website will acquaint students with a key figure from the Underground Railroad movement-Harriet Tubman. This lesson plan integrates language arts, social studies and art.

The ORC website linked me to an excellent lesson plan provided by ArtsEdge through the Kennedy Center. In this lesson, the students will learn to gather information from a variety of resources on Harriet Tubman.  They will also analyze artwork, photographs and monuments depicting Harriet Tubman. This research material information the children gather throughout this activity will assist them in crafting a paragraph describing Harriet Tubman's role in the Underground Railroad movement. The lesson then culminates with an art activity in which the children construct a piece of impressionist artwork of Tubman. They will use the KWL method. The lesson will walk the children through what they Know, what they Want to know and wrap up with what they have Learned.

The focus of 4th grade social studies for the Common Core standards is the study of "Significant events in Ohio's History and how events and people of the past shape us today." One field trip the children participate in is a visit to the Kelton House in Columbus. This field trip provides the necessary background for the children regarding the purpose and nature of Ohio's connection to the Underground Railroad. Because Harriet Tubman is such a prominent figure in the Underground Railroad, this is an excellent lesson for an in-depth study of her.

The ArtsEdge website is also very helpful, because it identifies for you the standards covered for Common Core for according to the state. The state of Ohio standards met by this lesson are as follows:

Ohio Common Core Standards

4th grade Social Studies

7.4.: Grade Level Indicator: Obtaining Information: Describe how archaeologists and historians study and interpret the past.

7.1.: Grade Level Indicator: Obtaining Information: Obtain information about state issues from a variety of print and electronic sources, and determine the relevance of information to a research topic: Atlases; Encyclopedias; Dictionaries; Newspapers; Multimedia/Electronic sources.

Grades K-4 History Standard 5: Understands the causes and nature of movements of large groups of people into and within the United States, now and long ago

Grades K-4 History Standard 7: Understands selected attributes and historical developments of societies in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe

Language Arts

SL.4.1(b): Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions and carry out assigned roles.

RL.4.10.: By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, in the grades 4-5 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

RF.4.4(a): Read on-level text with purpose and understanding.

My selected lesson would probably be best implemented as a coordinated teaching effort between the language arts, social studies and art teachers. The implementation of this lesson would be a cross curriculum study of Harriet and her role in the anti-slavery movement following the War of 1812. The biggest challenge will be the coordination with other teachers.

The challenge for students will be gathering the information from a variety of resources. These activities also require the use of technology to research the website resource list. Computer access for students individually or in small groups is necessary for project completion. In addition, some students may need scaffolding based on their knowledge of the subject matter. However, implementing this after the field trip and the discussion of the War of 1812 and the abolitionist movement will make it easier for the students.

The following is the link to the lesson plan on ArtsEdge website.

https://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/educators/lessons/grade-3-4/Harriet_Tubman_An_Informative_and_Impressionistic_Look.aspx#Instruction

This picture captured from the website gives you the objective of the lesson, the time needed to complete the lesson and links to all the useful websites in one area.

The ArtsEdge website is excellent for helping a teacher implement the lesson. You will notice in the screen capture above it provides you with complete instructions on the overview, preparation, instruction and standards of the lesson. It also has links to additional web resources to supplement the lesson.

The website provides you the links to the artwork and photographs the students will be analyzing as well as discussions points for the teacher to introduce. In the above screen shot, this is one of the monuments the students will analyze for this lesson plan.

Pinterest in the Classroom

Our most recent educational technology assignment was to create a Pinterest account and explore how we might utilize it as a teacher. I am not new to Pinterest. I actually have used Pinterest as a parent,when I am looking for ideas for teacher gifts, homeroom parent classroom party ideas and craft projects. Pinterest is kind of a one-stop shopping place for creative ideas for just about anything.

From this activity, I learned a little bit more on how to organize my Pinterest boards. In fact, while I was searching for potential pins for this project, I learned that if I am going to utilize Pinterest as a teacher, I need to be very specific on how I organize my boards.  For instance, if I teach all subjects in 3rd & 4th grade, I would not just have a generic language arts, social studies, math and science boards. I would break them down even further, because there is so much information out there. If you just drop multiple pins to one board based on social studies, you might have a hard time finding your specific idea when your students are studying the branches of government. I would create sub boards based on the content I am teaching. Then I would put multiple activity ideas under each topic board. By organizing my pins more specifically, I will be able to find my pins more quickly later.

As a teacher, I will primarily use Pinterest as a source for adding creativity to my curriculum. There are so many teaching ideas and recommendations. Classroom activity ideas for every grade and subject are limitless on the site. New ideas are being added all the time when new content standards are enacted, so there is always something new out there.  I would also use Pinterest for ideas on how to organize and decorate my classroom. They have great bulletin board and thematic decorating ideas. I think utilizing Pinterest will save me time as a teacher, because people share what works and what doesn't work. I won't have to recreate the wheel which is a real time saver.

Pinterest has many strengths that make it popular. First, it's easy to use. They don't try to dazzle you, they keep it simple. I love how it's more visual than text based. I can find what I want without having to read a lot of information. It also has a single focus-allowing people to share what they are passionate about. I think Pinterest's greatest strength is that it's a great place to go and get ideas. However, with this strength is a potential weakness. Sometimes I find Pinterest very overwhelming. I could spend hours looking at boards and pins. It also can be time consuming to stay on top of categorizing and organizing boards. The search function can also be tricky.  If I don't search on common words it will return zero results, which can be frustrating. Overall, I love Pinterest. I think it's a great way to get creative ideas quickly.

This assignment was very productive for me. I also learned the best way to utilize Pinterest is on-going. Now that I have a basic framework for adding pins, I am going to create more boards. I will continue to add, delete and refine the organization of my boards and pins. My account will continue to be a work in progress much like a blog or website you maintain.