Don't Hammer Screws...Use the Right Tools, Part 1.

Working through adopting a 1:1 laptop campus at our school for 2012-2013, we are coming to terms with the fact that we must begin to shift our thinking about how we teach.  There have been a number of reports lately that point to technology integration boosting test scores. These reports open a whole new can of worms when we begin to think about why we are adopting technology.  Is it because it is in the best interest of our kids? Is it solely to boost test scores? Given the current climate toward standardized tests and NCLB waivers, do we need more of an emphasis on these tests? Less?  I digress...

As I approach thinking about my teaching and shifting my instruction, I am aware that I am engaging in metacognition.  This dimension of thinking is critical to the revised Bloom's Taxonomy. A healthy amount of our discussions in planning professional development has centered on ensuring that educational practitioners are reflective and metacognitive about their teaching. Additionally, we are working to ensure that students are engaging in metacognition as they read for the content areas. In Anderson and Krathwohl's "A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives" metacognition is broken in to three kinds of knowledge: strategic knowledge; knowledge about cognitive tasks, including contextual and conditional knowledge; and self knowledge.

When it comes to a 1:1 computing initiative, strategic knowledge is a basic component.  As defined by Anderson and Krathwohl, "Strategic knowledge is knowledge of the general strategies for learning, thinking, and problem solving" (56). This level of metacognition applies to not only the students but the teachers who are encountering this shift in instruction.  If you are shifting the style of your instruction to include the integration of technology, knowing the strategies for learning including but not limited to mnemonic devices, summarizing, and paraphrasing are helpful in increasing levels of comprehension. Finding the right online tools or software to foster these activities is on the shoulder of teachers when integrating technology.

Perhaps more germane to metacognition and using the right tools in a 1:1 classroom would be the skills for problem solving and thinking that were identified by Anderson and Krathwohl.  When introducing these new 1:1 technologies to students and staff, there is a need to teach our colleagues and students how to think through solving problems. We also need to consider how to use the technology to allow our students to think about problems and develop solutions.  This is a blessing that comes with integrating technology.  We get to break from the comfortable and expand to a new style of teaching.  We can move to the intersection of metacognition and creation, the highest level of thinking our students can operate within.  Likely, some of my colleagues will adopt problem-based learning and use the technology to enhance student competencies within their content area.  Others may find it useful to have the technology as an aide to learning.

Strategic knowledge is simply recognizing the tools you have at your disposal to master learning. If you are using the right tools and letting your students discover the right tools, there will be increased success for all.  Once again, the technology isn't the solution to a problem, but it is a tool by which problems can be solved.      

Works Cited

Anderson, Lorin W., David R. Krathwohl, and Benjamin Samuel Bloom. A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Longman, 2001. Print.

1:1, Gradual Release of Control, and Calming Fears.

I am blessed to work in a district in Iowa that is joining the practices of many others in adopting 1:1 computing as a learning resource.  With this shift in operating norms comes excitement, wonderment, and a dose of apprehension.  After all, the unknowns are always a bit daunting.  How do we know it will work?  How am I going to incorporate these computers in my classroom? Why do we need to do this? Will this help kids learn?

In adapting the instructional model, it cannot be ignored that for many, this is a second order change. As Marzano (2005) identified, "Second order change is anything but incremental.  It involves dramatic departure from the expected, both in defining a given problem and finding solution...Deep change alters the system in fundamental ways..." (66).  With the adoption of the 1:1 instructional model, it may seem apparent that the way one teaches must change.  However, that is a dramatic departure from the expected if what we teach is the same set of lessons from year to year.

The computer is not a solution for poor instruction. Whether your school is adopting iPad, MacBooks, netbooks, Chrome Books, or some other portable computing device, it is merely a tool that helps students access the world more easily and engage with the material in a new way.  Putting computer-handed students in a room with a poor teacher will likely not result in a better learning experience for the students.  Effective technology integration is something that comes with practice, even for the best teachers.  This takes extra effort on the part of teachers to find what is out there that can be used in the classroom.

One expectation that we have made clear in our district is that the computers should not be used to do the same old things.  Perhaps you give out worksheet after worksheet in your class. Not necessarily higher order thinking stuff. What we don't want is for teachers to simply digitize their worksheets.  We want the students to gain a powerful experience and use the technology to accomplish those higher order thinking skills: analyzing, applying, evaluating, and creating.  What is more powerful than having students create a filmed adaptation of Hamlet using animation? What better evaluation of student learning than using GarageBand to create a podcast about photosynthesis? Is there a departure from the expected? Yes. Will it feel different? Absolutely. Yet the questions we have to keep at the forefront of our minds in moving to a technology enriched classroom are, "What benefit does this have for the student?" "How is the student thinking differently?" "Are they learning in a better, more useful way than before?"

What is critical to making a 1:1 initiative successful? According to Stanhope (2010)

              adequate management and technical infrastructure (including connectivity, a wireless network, hardware and software resources, and school procedures/policies), professional development (PD), technology support personnel, and the use of the laptop by teachers and students leading to changes in instructional practices and student learning outcomes.

Infrastructure cannot be ignored.  We are discovering the wrinkles in our infrastructure in terms of connectivity and continually ironing them out. It is a learning process that requires patience from all involved.  Of equal importance is professional development. Effective PD that addresses the concerns of educators will do a great deal to preserve a positive culture and alleviate some of the fears that may be associated with a change in procedures.  We are spending a healthy amount of time in block meetings with our technology consultant from the AEA to guide us in the tools and uses for the MacBooks our teaching staff have been issued. Having these moments with technology personnel is extremely helpful in seeing potential uses for the technology in the classroom. This is just the beginning of the journey though, and the road is likely long and winding.

At the cost of discomfort for some teachers, we have new learning tools and are unlocking potential for our students. So how do we overcome the fears that accompany releasing more and more of the instruction to the students? More on that later.

Works Cited

Marzano, Robert J., Timothy Waters, Brian A. McNulty. School Leadership That Works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2005.

Daniel Stanhope, et al. "How Laptops Digitize And Transform Learning." Online Submission (2010):ERIC. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.

Listening to Student Ideas for Improving Schools

In addition to teaching courses in English/Language Arts, I also teach a college credit course offered by our local community college.  "Exploring Teaching" currently has 16 bright, enthusiastic juniors and seniors who are getting their first glimpse at the teaching profession while in high school.

One thing I know about kids is that if you ask them their opinion on something controversial, they usually have a strong reaction and rarely hold back sharing their thoughts.  So after an English department meeting one morning, I was interested in what my students felt they had missed out on in their high school courses.  What do they feel inadequately prepared for on the march to college? I lobbed them an easy hook..."School is boring, right?"

"YEAH" they replied in unison.  "Why?"

"Teachers just talk to us all day."
"There is no reason to get excited about the class when the teacher isn't excited about it."
"We don't do stuff that applies to our lives."
"We take a test, everyone fails, and then we just move on without realizing why we failed."

I needed to change the direction of the conversation before we spiraled in to a complaint session. So I asked them, "What does good teaching look like? You are all preparing to be teachers, so what would you do to engage your students?"

Their responses were delightful.  For forty more minutes, these students shared their thoughts on lectures, worksheets, collaboration, useless homework, technology, and test questions that don't make them apply their learning but simply regurgitate what they have heard. I was impressed! My talented principal and I reviewed the scribbling I was able to put on the chalkboard while trying to capture my student's ideas and enthusiasm.  What we were reminded in this time was that our kids care deeply about their learning. So much so that they will suggest even harder course offerings in order to feel academically prepared and challenged. It is days like this in the middle of the winter, when the kids teach me...that I feel so honored and excited by the very nature of a profession in which moments like this exist.