Personal Learning Networks

 A twitter? Me?

I must say upon first thought personal learning networks or PLNs intimidated me.  I feel like I have so much to learn myself. How would I contribute to a global conversation about education?  Eric Sheninger’s blog post helped push me into thinking that I could do this.  He made a list of 10 reasons why every leader should have a PLN.  While I am not a leader in the sense of administration, in my district we promote leading from every seat.  In this way I have leadership roles on my PLC and in my building.  

Three of Sheniger’s points that most spoke to me were the PLN’s allow you to work smarter not harder, offer support and feedback, and allow for 24/7 inspiration.  Access to support is so important in teaching.  It is easy to get lost in the day to day and be bogged down by all the to dos.  It is always comforting when you realize that others out there are going crazy over their students misuse of there, their, and they’re or that someone else feels like they are herding cats every time they ask their students to line up.

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On a more serious note, the experience other teachers have is an invaluable resource.  I have always learned the most at conferences from the people I sit with so I decided to think of Twitter as a huge table at an educational conference.  

With this thinking in mind I created a Twitter account (@HHPack122) that could serve as a resource for new resources and idea as well as a way to connect with parents in a less formal more consistent manner.

After creating my Twitter and first following my favorite baseball team (@cleguardians), I started looking for educational accounts to follow.  I started with other teachers I work with and have worked with.  Then I looked first at the pages they were following.  After that I looked at the pages of some of the podcasts I listen to and really went down a rabbit hole from there.  I was able to follow pages specific to education as well as pages that I would call education adjacent that can relate to topics I teach to my students.  Education pages I would recommend following include @WeAreTeachers, @TheTeacher Studio, and @DiscoveryEd.  Some education adjacent pages I would follow are your local library, @FieldMuseum, and @NatlParkService.

My Twitter Chat

I have to be honest from the start.  This Twitter chat intimidated me.  I have always thought and rethought what I put in writing and much prefer a face to face conversation (I know, says the girl blogging for her online grade school class).  It is true though, when posting or writing e-mails I hesitate and read and reread what I am putting out into the world.  The speed of a Twitter chat intimidated me.  I was also intimidated by the fact that I was sending a tweet out as opposed to just commenting on a post.  A comment feels like lower stakes.

All that being said I gave it a go!  I found a chat from a company called Nearpod that works to implement active learning in lessons and assessments.  Nearpod held a Twitter chat on a Wednesday evening posing 6 questions to its feed.  Being new to this, I was much more of a listener and passive participant.  As questions were posted I read through answers and liked comments of people I agreed with.  Then I left some comments to connect with other teachers.  Finally, I felt confident enough to add to the conversation.  

After this initial experience, I think I need to give a few more a try before I can say whether this will be something I participate in regularly.  It is nice to know this resource is available to me every day, and that there are educators to connect with on a consistent basis.  I think I just need to find the right chat to be a part of!

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But the Resources!

Discovery Education is a resource I was introduced to by my district as a part of our innovate learning initiative.  Discovery Education offered our district engaging lesson ideas and coaches to help us implement these more engaging and effective ways of teaching.  When I found their Twitter, I was excited to have those resources come across my feed as a reminder of all the great content that is out there.

One of the resources that stood out to me was the article Shifting to Student Centered Instruction.  After discussing active learning, this article caught my attention.  This article helped me reflect on my own teaching practices especially in math.  This year I am teaching our accelerated math group in sixth grade.  These students are ready for something new, and I am making it my goal to give these students a more student centered learning environment.  

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References

50 funny teacher memes that are painfully true. FamilyMinded. (n.d.). Retrieved September 23, 2022, from https://www.familyminded.com/s/funny-teacher-memes-21477c5b214f4574 

Lattanze, R. (2022, August 23). Shifting to student-centered instruction. Discovery Education Blog. Retrieved September 23, 2022, from https://blog.discoveryeducation.com/shifting-to-student-centered-instruction/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=blog&utm_content=student-led-learning 

Sheninger, E. (2016, October 30). Why every leader needs a PLN. Why Every Leader Needs a PLN. Retrieved September 22, 2022, from https://esheninger.blogspot.com/2016/10/why-every-leader-needs-pln.html 

Twitter. (n.d.). Twitter. Retrieved September 23, 2022, from https://twitter.com/home 

What is active learning? prezi.com. (n.d.). Retrieved September 23, 2022, from https://prezi.com/vltahpm3b1hn/what-is-active-learning/?token=21acedd662237401cb58486f35352d6fba7d05e6b30cf495979ca34cbf121958&utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy 

Your daily learning platform. Discovery Education. (2022, September 19). Retrieved September 23, 2022, from https://www.discoveryeducation.com/ 

Educational Research

 Who are these kids?

The students sitting in front of me in my classroom everyday sometimes make me feel like I am teaching in a foreign country.  Honestly, even my teaching team (three first year teachers) can make me feel the same way. (If you feel similarly, a helpful list of all of Gen Z slang can be found here.)  I am sure our parents felt the same about us, but with so much technology at their fingertips, I feel like our students are picking up on new trends and terms at a much more frequent rate. As you can see on the image below, our students use tech on average 10 hours a day.  You can also see how different the engagement strategies are in comparison with the Baby Boomer generation.  Both of these pieces of information show how important it is to use our tech resources effectively in order to engage our students. 

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What does the research say?

According to The Common Sense Census, the tech dependency and use has become even greater since the start of the Pandemic.  Their study showed that tweens and teens' use of technology for entertainment has increased by 17% in the last two and a half years.  This was not surprising to me.  I feel like my own screen time has gone up, and as parents continue to balance working from home and the other demands of life, it is easy to use technology as a resource of entertainment.

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With our students online so much, I am concerned about their safety and access to so much information.  Every year before we hand out devices to our students we do five lessons on digital citizenship.  I think these lessons are great, but they do not feel like enough, especially now that I teach sixth graders who have a hard time getting through the school day without checking their phones.  According to The Family Online Safety Institute, teens seem to agree with this, but at the same time don’t know how to get the help they need in order to be safe online.

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What surprised me was that teens, along with their parents, agreed that it was up to the parents to help teach online safety.  I think the hardest part is where do parents get these resources.  Now that we know they are wanting them and willing to share them with their teens, we need to get the resources into their hands so they can do that.  I am not an expert on digital citizenship so I would love to hear of any great parent resources that are out there.

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Is the research important?

Admittedly, I do not usually delve into the world of educational research.  This is my sister’s world, working for a policy research firm, but seeing the numbers and information in black and white like that is quite startling.  When you are given data showing teens are actually craving something, it is hard to ignore that.

Whether we realize it or not our whole day is dictated by educational research.  The curriculum we use, the standards we assess with, and the standardized tests we administer are all data driven.  After looking over this I do think it is important in teaching to look into the why behind what we are using by finding research that supports our teaching practices.

References

Born 1995 – 2009. Generation Z. (n.d.). Retrieved September 28, 2022, from https://generationz.com.au/ 

Bureau, U. S. C. (2021, October 28). 2020 decennial census visualizations and Infographics. Census.gov. Retrieved September 28, 2022, from https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/decade/2020/2020-visualizations.html 

Chen, T. (2019, June 1). A 43-year-old teacher has been keeping a running Google Doc of slang terms he overhears his students using. BuzzFeed News. Retrieved September 28, 2022, from https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tanyachen/43-year-old-teacher-has-google-doc-of-gen-z-slang-terms 

Managing the narrative: Young people's use of online safety tools. FOSI. (n.d.). Retrieved September 28, 2022, from https://www.fosi.org/policy-research/managing-the-narrative 

May 12, 2022 FOSI briefs - global-uploads.webflow.com. (n.d.). Retrieved September 28, 2022, from https://global-uploads.webflow.com/5f47b99bcd1b0e76b7a78b88/62d965f7a274fa1394bac4cd_Fosi%20Brief_Creating%20an%20Age%20Appropriate%20Design%20Code%20in%20California_May%202022%20V2.1.pdf 

The Common Sense Census: Media use by tweens and teens, 2021. Common Sense Media. (n.d.). Retrieved September 28, 2022, from https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/the-common-sense-census-media-use-by-tweens-and-teens-2021

Active Learning

 Today’s Learners

The students in front of us today are not the same learners we even had four years ago.  We have all gone through a traumatic experience living through the pandemic and it has changed social norms and how we interact with one another.  This is especially true of the students that sit in our classroom each day.  According to Tim Elmore and the notes from his book Marching off the Map there are seven things we can do to engage our Gen Z students in their learning.  These include but are not limited to keeping a lesson short, making it visual, giving the students ownership over the lesson, and/or making a lesson interactive.  

One of my favorite ways to get students engaged in a topic is being able to take them on a field trip.  As you can see in the image below (also shared in Nicole Zumpano’s Prezi) people remember 90% of what they do as opposed to 10% of what they read or even 20% of what they hear.

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Just last week, I had the opportunity to take my students to Spring Valley Nature Center in Schaumburg.  We were previewing our study of ecosystems in science.  My students hiked around the prairie for about 2 miles discovering native plants and animals.  The excitement my students felt when they saw a turtle swimming in the pond was something even watching a video online could never spark.  This was a great way to get students away from their devices and experience something hands on.

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Active Learning Resources

Obviously, it is simple to get kids engaged when you are out of the classroom and exploring somewhere new, but that is not the everyday reality.  So, how can we support our students' learning, while putting them in the driver’s seat?  Active learning takes the pressure off the educator of being the all knowing giver of facts and information.  It challenges the students to not just regurgitate information, but to explore topics and truly learn, not just remember.  The article, 8 Active Learning Strategies and Examples, lays out strategies that can be implemented in multiple subjects across almost any grade level. Active learning is a must to make the school day exciting and engaging for not only the students but the teacher.  It allows for the learning to happen together.  

Active learning reminds me of one of my favorite third grade read alouds-  Chasing Vermeer.  In the story, the teacher pretends not to know anything and allows the students to choose the topics of learning.  The students’ curiosity drives the instruction all year.  This was set at the lab school at the University of Chicago, so the teacher had a little more flexibility than I do, but her theory is not wrong.  We can find ways to give our students choice in their learning even while staying in the confines of standards and curriculum.  

I created a Padlet to share some activities we can add to our classrooms.  

Padlet

In her blog, Nicole Zumpano shared a project done by Mrs. Malhiot’s class.  The students used Pic Collage and Audioboom to show their understanding of the American Revolution.  This activity seemed like it was used as the culminating activity for a unit of study.  While, not much detail was given about the how this was done, even what was shared I can tell this activity engaged students in active learning.  Students used multiple platforms to share their knowledge of the American Revolution.  It does look like students work independently, and I am not sure if they had choice in the topics they worked on, but based on the final product you can tell the students were engaged in the activity and took pride in their learning.  Even the way the teacher chose to display the projects involved active learning.  She posted QR codes that linked to the students’ podcasts so others could learn about the topic as well.    

Active Learning in My Classroom

After learning more about active learning this week, I realized this is something I have been doing throughout my career without even knowing it.  This is not something I do every lesson or even every day, but I am always trying to find new ways to engage my students in our learning.  

I will say my creative juices flowed a little easier when I was the only third grade teacher at a Catholic school.  I had a lot more flexibility in my schedule and in the way I taught each lesson.  Some of my favorite lessons included students creating structures that could withstand hurricanes, literature circles of Roald Dahl books, and state research projects ending in a state museum.

Even in my new district with stricter guidelines, my teams have found a way to give students choice and engage in active learning.  As a classroom teacher in second grade we create a PBL in which students found ways to save pollinators. Students were able to work with other groups of students and present their final project using Pic Collage, Seesaw, or a poster. This year with my sixth graders, I took a district SEL lesson and added an active learning element. We were discussing the key of integrity as a part of our unit on the 8 Quantum Keys of Excellence. At the end of the lesson students used adobe spark or canva to create an Instagram Story to show how they could use integrity in their lives.  Students then posted their story to a shared Google Slides Deck.  Once posted, students were able add comments to the slides in order to interact with one another. 

Active Learning for All

While there can be more prep and it can be stressful to let go of our old ways of teaching, it is important for us to include active learning in our weekly lesson plans.  Through active learning we can reach students that have found school “boring” (honestly my least favorite word) or inaccessible.  Students that may not shine on common assessments, can find success in showing their knowledge in ways beyond a multiple choice test.  It is our responsibility as educators to not just give knowledge but to encourage students to be active curious learners in our classroom and beyond.

References

8 keys. 8 Keys of Excellence. (n.d.). Retrieved September 18, 2022, from https://8keys.org/8keys/ 

Balliett, B., & Helquist, B. (2018). Chasing vermeer. Scholastic. 

Dr. Tim Elmore: Millennial expert & founder of growing leaders. Growing Leaders. (2021, September 29). Retrieved September 18, 2022, from https://growingleaders.com/tim-elmore/ 

Elmore, T., & McPeak, A. (2017). Marching off the map: Inspire students to navigate a Brand New World. Poet Gardener Publishing. 

Game, P. (2018). 8 active learning strategies and examples [+ downloadable list]. Prodigy Education. Retrieved September 18, 2022, from https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/blog/active-learning-strategies-examples/#download 

NMZumpano. (2015, May 26). The American Revolution...it's like we were there! The American Revolution...It's Like We Were There! Retrieved September 18, 2022, from http://zumpanotechlab.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-american-revolutionits-like-we-were.html 

What is active learning? prezi.com. (2020). Retrieved September 18, 2022, from https://prezi.com/vltahpm3b1hn/what-is-active-learning/?token=21acedd662237401cb58486f35352d6fba7d05e6b30cf495979ca34cbf121958&utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy 

  Wikimedia Foundation. (2022, July 8). Edgar Dale. Wikipedia. Retrieved September 18, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Dale

My Digital Map

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Visitor vs Resident

Technology is just a part of our daily lives now.  Even my 80+ year old grandparents text me and send money through Zelle.  It has been interesting to reflect on how I personally use technology through the lens of David White’s Visitor vs Resident Model.  White’s theory helps people see how they utilize technology.  There are two categories discussed in White’s model.  The first is being a visitor in relation to technology.  A person is considered a visitor when they use an online tool for a specific purpose in a particular moment.  An example of this would be searching for a recipe in order to make dinner.  On the other hand a resident is someone who uses the internet as a means of communication.  If we were using our dinner example again, a resident might blog about the food they are making, or comment on the recipe to engage with others.  Throughout peoples days and lives they can swing between visitors and residents.  Some people could also have a different online presence between their personal and professional lives.

My Digital Map

When discussing digital mapping with my husband, he chuckled at my assignment for grad school this week.  He knows that for the last couple years I have shied away from having an online presence.  He was worried I would have a blank map.

As you can see my map is not blank.  I am ashamed to admit that I am that person that is not sure how they would survive without their iPhone.  I feel like I use it all day for one reason or another. 

Upon reflection, I quickly realized I tend toward the visitor’s side of White’s model in both my personal and professional lives.  I utilize the internet and most of my apps to accomplish a task or answer a question.  

In my personal life, this ranges from quick google searches to answer questions, to online banking, and checking on the score of my favorite baseball team (Go Guardians!).  The only times I noticed I veer into the resident side was when I use the Tiny Beans App to post pictures of my daughter so my extended family can see them each day or text messages and facetime with family and friends.  The only opportunity I take to personally post in a global setting is tracking the books I finish on Goodreads.

Professionally, the sites and apps I use tend more towards the resident side of my map.  I interact with students on Google Classroom, email colleagues, and use shared Google documents to plan and communicate with my team.  Since beginning EDU 776, I have also taken to Twitter and blogging.  I have enjoyed using Twitter as a quick way to keep in touch with parents about what is happening in sixth grade.

What does my map tell me?

While in my personal life I don’t think I am ready to make any changes and am happy sticking in the visitor side of the map, I do think it is time for me to branch out more professionally.  Taking EDU 776, is opening my eyes to the resources and networking opportunities available outside of my district.  I feel like I have already learned from my classmates blogs, and I am simultaneously nervous and excited about my first Twitter chat.  I am hoping this class gives me the confidence to put my ideas out there and interact with teachers throughout the world.

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Resources

Iphone hand screen - free photo on Pixabay. (n.d.). Retrieved September 15, 2022, from https://pixabay.com/photos/iphone-hand-screen-smartphone-apps-410311/ 

Visitors & residents. David White. (2020, February 28). Retrieved September 15, 2022, from https://daveowhite.com/vandr/

Effective Tech

 What is SAMR?

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I appreciated the simple, straightforward language of the SAMR model.  In education we love an acronym, and SAMR gives a clear picture of how we use technology in the classroom.  SAMR stands for substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition.  SAMR applies to all grade levels and content areas. According to Power School, 

The SAMR model was created to share a common language across disciplines as teachers strive to personalize learning and help students visualize complex concepts.

When assessing an activity using the SAMR model you can ask yourself the following questions:

• SUBSTITUTE:  Am I just trading out an assignment and having students do the exact same task using technology?

• An example of this may be instead of filling in a graphic organizer on paper, students complete it on a Google Slide or Google Doc.  Students are completing the same activity and getting no further benefit from using the technology.  

• AUGMENTATION:  Am I substituting with technology, but it does make the activity more functional or accessible.

• An example of this could be giving students access to online resources when completing a research activity.  With this substitution students are gaining more access to different resources, but it is not changing the overall outcome of the activity.  This does not allow for more collaboration, and it is still possible to do the activity without the technology piece.

• MODIFICATION:  Does the technology change the outcome of what we are achieving?

• An example of this would be using a sight like Padlet where students could choose how to present their response to text, then allow other students to comment and discuss.  

•  REDEFINITION:  Does the technology enhance the activity in a way that I could not in fact do the activity without it?

• An example of this is one would be to go on a virtual field trip.  This could be done by students individually with personal devices, VR goggles, or projected for the whole class.

Teaching and Learning Team gave even more great examples of each step in this model.

Another element of the SAMR model I appreciate is how quickly I can assess any activity I want to do with my students.  Just by asking myself a couple simple questions as I plan I can determine if what I am wanting to do is productive and/or worthwhile.

SAMR & Me

After reflecting on my use of technology, I can admit to falling into each of these categories in my teaching career.  Since I began teaching, the access I have had to different types of technology is night and day.  From starting at a small Catholic school where we had a computer lab with 20 ancient desktops and a class set of very used donated iPads to now being at a district with one to one student technology and an interactive monitor in every classroom, I have been tasked with very different levels of integrating technology.

When first starting to add some technology elements to my lessons, I was firmly in the substitution phase of the SAMR model.  I can admit one of my activities was taking my students down to the computer lab every week and having them type their list of spelling words three times.  While I think the keyboarding practice was important for my third grades, I was truly just exchanging a pencil and paper for a keyboard.

As I have mentioned previously, I like to use Peardeck with my students.  Peardeck allows me to take my standard Slide Deck presentation (usually in math) and make it a more interactive experience for students.  While this could just be used as a substitute for white board work, I like to share multiple student answers which allows for collaboration and discussion during the lesson.

After being introduced to tools like Padlet and Adobe Spark I have found it easier to give students choice and use platforms that allow for peer feedback and discussion utilizing the modification level of SAMR.  An example of this was a project I had my fourth grade students work on last year.  My students read different opinion articles then wrote a debate essay choosing a stance based on the article they read.  In order to publish their article, students used Adobe Spark.  After creating their presentation students shared a link on a class Google Doc.  

I have hit the redefinition piece of the SAMR model in a few different ways.  One of the ways that was the most enjoyable and engaging for my students and myself came when I taught third grade.  At the time, my mom was also teaching third grade at another local Catholic School.  Throughout the year we had our students be pen pals.  Toward the end of the year we had students complete similar projects.  Once the projects were complete, we Skyped and had each class present their project to the other.

Upon reflection, I find myself hovering most often in the modification level of SAMR.  Being back in the classroom this year allows me more flexibility in my planning and implementation.  I am looking forward to finding more ways to expand my students' learning through technology.  Maybe we will take some virtual field trips while studying Ancient Rome or collaborate on a project virtually with my husband’s sixth graders.  I am hoping to gain more insight on how my fellow teachers reach the redefinition level in order to get there more often myself.

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A Post Virtual World

Our post pandemic teaching world has shed a whole new light on how we can and should implement technology.  For two years I think we all fell into the substitution model quite often, just trying to make lessons as accessible and safe for students as possible.  I noticed as I supported different grade levels last year, it was almost like we had to relearn how to teach without putting everything on a chromebook.  We had to teach students how to read and annotate within an actual book, and students had to converse face to face.  The SAMR model can help us all get back to remembering when it is productive and meaningful to add technology to our lessons.

References

Benigni, M. (2021, November 8). Make your tech integration stronger using SAMR. Teaching and Learning Team. Retrieved September 7, 2022, from http://tlt.cofc.edu/2021/11/08/make-your-tech-integration-stronger-using-samr/ 

SAMR Model: A Practical Guide for K-12 Technology Integration. Powerschool.com. (2021, April 13). Retrieved September 7, 2022, from https://www.powerschool.com/blog/samr-model-a-practical-guide-for-k-12-classroom-technology-integration/#:~:text=The%20SAMR%20Model%20is%20a,Augmentation%2C%20Modification%2C%20and%20Redefinition.