Week 4 Reflection - better late than never!

Using Online Data

Students like to sound knowledgeable and so they often make statements based upon things they have heard their parents, or sometimes a favorite teacher, say.  Continually I ask my students, “How do you know?” or, “…based on what data?”  When I ask them to form conclusions after a lab investigation I always require them to use data to back up or support their statements.  But it seems that no matter how often, or how I say it, a high percentage of my students fail to provide adequate data to support their conclusions.  They just don’t seem to understand that their opinions hold no value without the data to support them.  While reading chapter 6 in our text I realized that what my students really need is practice in this area.  I don’t usually give them the practice they need because data collection is time consuming and labor intensive.  However, as our text points out “the internet provides immediate access to numerous data sets.”  Existing online data sets allow students to “explore phenomena beyond their classroom and school settings.”  I’m in!  The task now is to organize my lessons using best practices to make the work more user  friendly and effective at the middle school level.

Generate an argument 

The Sampson and Grooms article describes the relevance of, and methods for,  assignments that “generate an argument.”   While I want to develop lessons based upon this model, I see several challenges as described below:  

1.)    I teach grade 7.  These can be curious and capable folks but they often have no sense of how little they actually know.  I will need to insure that my students have, or have the ability to develop, adequate background knowledge in the area of study.

2.)    There is a lot of data out there.  I need to find ways to isolate and restrict the data bases my students will use.

3.)    I need to find a relevant argument that engages these young minds.

I really like how the model includes group cooperative work that could easily incorporate the creation of a digital presentation.  I like how the members of each group then need to share and defend their conclusions.  But then each student must provide an additional written piece to summarize their argument and provide the reasoning behind their conclusions.  This represents a great combination of learning activities.  I look forward to seeing how my classmates develop this lesson.

Yellowstone BioBlitz!

This is an experiment. For the course, Yellowstone Lake Ecology, I need to develop a lesson plan or digital presentation that somehow connects to at least one of three YouTube videos. So I'm actually just playing around to see if I can embed one of the videos in my blog.  If it works I will continue on to completely develop my blog post. If it doesn't, well, I'll just keep at it.  Whether the video embeds or not I would really appreciate any and all suggestions as to how to embed a video successfully and effectively. I did try JING since I think that I am fairly comfortable with that tool. Unfortunately the file is very large and it did not load easily from JING.

Please send your suggestions my way.

Slowly moving forward

I am slowly moving forward.  This week I was finally able to purchase my new laptop (since the mother board of the old one crashed) and so I was able to do some exploring. This summarizes the things I have finally been able to work on.

Media Analysis

This was something that everyone else looked at last week.  I had fun sharing the videos with my 2 college age kids.  Since they were brought up to be skeptical of what they see on TV they had a lot of fun discussing with me the kinds of comments that their classmates might have made while viewing these videos.

It was easy for my own children to be skeptical of the videos but I wonder about the students that I teach.  First of all, my student's background knowledge in these areas is extremely limited.  Also, they are raised NOT to question. So using a video like this would be a very valuable tool to encourage a more skeptical approach to material that is presented through the internet. I like the 4 D's approach that was described in Brunsell's article, "Teaching Kids to Think 2." It would be good to begin a school year with an activity such as this.

Delicious

I was able to set up a Delicious account.  I really love this concept as I, like Linda, tend to find websites when I am working at home and then I need to email them to myself.  But even better will be the opportunity for sharing websites with my students and with my colleagues.  Unfortunately I do not really have any bookmarks yet as I am working on a brand new computer and have not yet collected new bookmarks.

Voicethread

What a cool  way to collaborate!  I have not yet worked with voicethread enough to create something to share but I love the concept for collaborative work in digital storytelling.  I think that I will encourage students who already have used this tool to use this as part of a multimedia project assignment.

Twitter

I continue to struggle with Twitter.

Google Reader

I love using Google Reader it really helps me to be more efficient in reading many new blog posts.  I have yet to subscribe to everyone's blog but I'm getting there.


So that's where I am - moving forward, a bit behind, but finally, I'm moving forward.  This week I head to MSU for the Yellowstone Lake Ecology course.  I hope I'm able to spend many quality evening hours gaining and developing my skills.

Science & Literacy

In her article, Science & Literacy, author Marlene Thier identifies three strategies that help form the structure of support that students need if they are to be successful learners.  She states that "students need a compelling reason to read, write, listen, and speak, and meaningful science content offers that reason."  She points out that students need to be exposed to science-related issues that are relevant to their lives.  I agree with the author but, as a teacher of middle school students, I find that one of my biggest challenges is in convincing my students that authentic issues affect their lives.  This year in the closing reflection of an ecology unit, students were asked which assignment were the least valuable.  The predominant choice was one in which human impacts on the Long Island Sound watershed were discussed.  I did not test my students on this reading.  This is why my students thought that it was not valuable.  They "didn't need it" to be successful in my class.  Perhaps I did not do well to connect the reading to their lives.  Perhaps I did not develop and present clear performance expectations to help them direct the focus of their learning.

On the other hand, perhaps I did not help my students to develop effective strategies for reading the article.  In her article Thier demonstrated a technique that encourages students to develop strong and independent reading skills.  By making notations throughout the reading and by writing questions, notes and summaries, a student becomes personally involved with the reading.  While I did introduce a reading strategy with this assignment I do not feel that it was specific enough to be effective.

The third strategy that Thier describes involves metacognition, or, the ability and tendancy of a student to think about his or her own thinking.  While writing a summary of the Long Island Sound article I wanted my students to question their own understanding of the content and its application to their lives.  My lesson fell short.  My students were unable to target what they did and did not understand.  I like the author's suggestion to include group problem solving methods with direct prompts to direct their thinking.

Teaching literacy to support inquiry-based learning is a bit of an art.  This article was relevant for me because the strategies that were described are similar to techniques I use but they are more detailed and specific.  The school year has just ended but I have made my notations to use these techniques next year as I try to reshape how I help my students to develop their literacy skills.

Guiding Principles

I'm sure this is a work in progress.  Currently I use computer technology to do "old things in old ways" and "old things in new ways."  I am clumsy in my methods and understanding.  I have visions as to what I would like to do but, as of now, I have no idea how to get there. 

Already the organization of this class is throwing me off.  Do I go to the pbworks page? If so, where do I look?  Why are there comments and posts everywhere?  How do I go from a variety of blogs, to the class website, to the online readings, to trying out the webtools?  How the heck do I Tweet!! Arrrrgggghhhh!  I have so much to learn.  I'm sure it will all be better once school is not in session, we are not yet done… sigh.

That said - and I feel much better now that I have vented - I will begin the rough draft of my Guiding Principles.  This post is quite overdue but I just somehow missed the assignment on the Week One page.

Current technology usage:

J      I have a very simple webpage. On my webpage I post my class assignments.  I include files for project descriptions, rubrics, lab report templates and the like.  I have internet links and a calendar posted. 

J      I utilize some Smartboard and PowerPoint presentations.

J      I utilize some YouTube videos.

J      I utilize online assignments from resources such as http://www.sciencespot.net/.

J      I have my students organize some of their data on Excel spreadsheets.

J      My students produce and save some project assignments in class folders that are located and available only on our school computer system.

I've taken this class because I see more possibilities but, as I've said above, I don't know how to get there.  In any event, the technology that I incorporate for classroom usage must:

ü      Be accessible to all students.

ü      Encourage student to explore beyond the realm that is available in our school.

ü      Allow for differentiated learning.

ü      Encourage collaboration locally and globally.

ü      Enhance inquiry learning.

That's all for now.  Please bear with me as I come to the end of my school year.  My dad is sick too so I'm doing a bit of juggling.  Things will even out soon… I hope.

Setting the Stage

I bought my first computer in 1983.  It was a Commodore 64 - cutting edge.  It came with no software.  I had to write my own programs.  I played with it a little but mostly it sat alone in the corner of my bedroom.  I didn't have the skills needed to fully utilize my new computer.  

Flash forward. In the late 1990's the school in which I worked implemented a phone program that allowed students to call a number and they could access the night's homework - this was cutting edge technology.

Flash forward.  It is the year 2011.  I am a digital immigrant; my students are digital natives.  My students are adept at playing a variety of computer games, they easily access digital videos, they take and send photos with their cell phones, and they enjoy social networking.  But ask my students to independently access a file from my webpage and they are dumbfounded. 

In chapter 10 of the course text, Educational Technology in the Science Classroom, the author cites Pew Foundation studies where "the authors conclude that there is a 'digital disconnect' between limited use of technology in schools and extensive use of technology by students to complete academic work outside of school." This is not consistent with my observations. I see that my students more often than not are challenged to use the simple technologies that I incorporate in my classroom. As a result, while "the ultimate goal is to enhance student learning" I see that most of my endeavors to incorporate technology involve a high level of "instructional overhead" which limits our accomplishment.  Students do not at this time see the connection between the technology that so easily engages them in their free time and the investigations they are asked to conduct in the academic setting.

In a school where high stakes testing is the common practice my students have been trained to provide rote answers and to follow set procedures for solving problems (as in the "scientific method").  As I see it, in science education, the first challenge is to convince students that their technological savvy is transferable and applicable to their academic work. We need to have courses devoted to teaching technology methods so that the instructional overhead in a content area course is reduced. Then we need to convince our students of the value of the true inquiry investigation.  This would bring us to using technology to create new and different learning experiences as described in the article: "Evaluating Technology Use in the Classroom." 

Although I am on a slow learning curve with technology I am encouraged.  Appropriate use of technology in the classroom has the potential to open many doors to learning.  Once the "overhead" is dealt with there is incredible potential for differentiation, collaboration and creativity during inquiry and problem-solving activities. Through this course I look forward to exploring the possibilities that technology offers for not only my student's learning but my own.

Introduction

Hello! 
My friends call me Su and my kid's friends call me momma j.  I live with Allan, my husband of 25 years, 2 cats and a female dog named Rufus.  I have 2 college age children, Ian and Jessi, who live with us during the college summer session.  One of my favorite things to do is listen to Allan, Ian and Jessi perform in their band called the Ragamuffins.  When I'm not listening to the Ragamuffins I prefer to hike with Rufus along my favorite local river.

I have taught high school chemistry, biology, anatomy and physiology, and marine biology.  Currently I teach middle school life science.  We participate in the Trout Unlimited program, Trout in the Classroom, and we look for every opportunity to have class outside!