blogging from Belfast :-)

so here we are in northern Ireland and the only place i have found to blog is Starbucks :-) so i guess i won't be posting my assignments until i return :'( i will post pics then as well. catch you back in the states 11/29.

Belfast here we come :)

Today is the day we set off on our adventure! I am so excited! We will be visiting with my niece and her husband who are living in Belfast and have been for a couple of years now. I am hoping that I will be able to visit a school or two while we are there to see what they are doing in northern ireland as far as the use of technology and didgital learning. I'll keep you posted! The link below is a school that my niece worked at last year. Maybe we will stop in for a visit while we are in Dublin at Blarney castle :) More to come... http://www.shimnacollege.org.uk/

Have you flipped?

I think that there are a lot of misconceptions about the flipped classroom concept. I have heard comments about the use of technology to 'flip' a classroom but it is really much more than that. Think of what you know about traditional roles of the teacher, "old school" where the teacher stands in front of the class and lectures for 45-50 minutes (trying to teach for mastery) and then when the lecture is over the students "practice" the concept(s) that the teacher just "taught" and those who don't finish do it for homework...right? Well, now take that picture you have in your mind and FLIP it! The students got the "lecture/teaching" via podcast (or similar) the night before as "homework" and now during class have the opportunity to "practice" what they have learned in a small group setting in the classroom while the teacher circulates and discusses, clarifies, explains, and elaborates on the student learning while the students work through the actual homework during classtime with the assitance of their teacher. The teacher is there to facilitate the student's learning. REVOLUTIONARY if you ask me! I believe that this could actually change the whole educational system as far as the way instruction is delivered and new skills are practiced. The students are actually doing thier own inquiry and leaning and the teacher is guiding that learning :) Here are a couple of GREAT clips that explain it much better than me, i'm sure :) Happy flipping!

Daylight Saving...much more than an extra hour to sleep (or not)

Check out this video clip to learn more about Daylight Saving. Not exactly what I thought...

Show me the $$$

Barriers of technology in education? Isn't it ALWAYS about money? I guess that would be the first and foremost "excuse" or barrier when it comes to the use of technology in education but i can think of a couple more...Actually, I would list the following three things as the most ubiquitous barriers of technology in education:
1) the aforementioned all mighty dollar
2) lack of understanding and/or close mindedness
3) appropriate and meaningful ONGOING professional development (lack thereof)

With these three things in mind I would like to propose some recommendations as possible solutions to alleviate the presumed obstacles as such. First, the money issue. I have read recently several different articles that discussed the number crunching dealing with the cost of the 1:1 initiatives  in school systems vs. the use of text books and/or consumables. Just imagine the money we would save if we could get to the place where the majority of our teaching, classwork, homework, school work in general were ALL done electronically , not to mention the whole "going green" and "save the earth" campaigns. Yes, initially the cost of purchasing laptops/ipads whatever is decided on would be a significant expense but cumulatively after years of NOT purchasing text books and/or consumables, and NOT making copies for every student everything that they work on in every class everyday! WOW!!! just thinking about it!

The lack of understanding and/or close mindedness can be resolved through awareness and openness between colleagues. The ones that know and use the latest and greatest can share what they know and how is can be used in the process of education to increase student achievement. Which in turn would lead right in to the third barrier PD. I heard a teacher at my school talking about a weekly twitter chat that she participates in every week with other educators from the same grade level with the same interests. they share ideas and knowledge and expertise on various technologies that they heard about, use, and explore with students in the classroom, things that they are doing RIGHT NOW, not things that were developed and researched decades ago in some university learning lab some where by educators who are 10 or more years removed from the classroom! This teacher made the comment that when she participates in these chats that "it is the BEST professional development I have ever gotten" isn't that just what we are trying to impart to the students we teach? Inquiry, collaboration, communication...sound familiar? Why don't we MODEL what we expect? Without having to spend ANY $$$!!!

Literacy: out with the old, in with the new?

The question is posed: Does technology help or harm literacy? First, we have to define literacy. Is it still simply the ability to read and write? According to Merriam-Webster, yes it is. Although this would be considered the most standard and simplistic definition of literacy I would have to say that this definition is continually evolving as new technologies are introduced. I liked this expanded definition of literacy that I read on Wikipedia that says: 

Literacy refers to the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently, and think critically about the written word. Visual literacy includes in addition the ability to understand all forms of communication, be it body language, pictures, maps, or video. Evolving definitions of literacy often include all the symbol systems relevant to a particular community. Literacy encompasses a complex set of abilities to understand and use the dominant symbol systems of a culture for personal and community development. In a technological society, the concept of literacy is expanding to include the media and electronic text, in addition to alphabetic and number systems. These abilities vary in different social and cultural contexts according to need and demand.

So then, is it out with the old, in with the new? I think not! It is the old combined with the new that creates the foundation on which to build the 21^st century skills for ALL students. Yes, teacher facilitated basic phonics instruction along with modeling and practice is still best practice but why not add a web 2.0 tool and/or an ipad app to engage the student in the practice of newly acquired phonics skills? From my own personal experience with a group of 3^rd grade struggling readers using Storybird (an online digital story telling tool) technology proves to be a beneficial and yes, helpful tool for the development of literacy. Technology provides limitless opportunities to investigate and learn, explore and create, reflect and communicate in ways that the paper and pencil never will.

NYT Article vs. HASTAC "pointed response"

In the process of searching and reading for my research paper focused on the use of ipads in the instruction of reading, I came across a somewhat “heated” discourse between a published New York Times article http://hastac.org/blogs/cathy-davidson/pointed-response-nyt-article-ipads-schools that apperently celebrated a Long Island High School’s distribution of ipads to a group of humanities students and teachers in January of 2011 and a “pointed response” to that article by HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory http://hastac.org/blogs/cathy-davidson/pointed-response-nyt-article-ipads-schools ). Cathy Davidson of HASTAC stated, “If you change the technology but not the method of learning, then you are throwing bad money after bad practice.” WHAT??? Is what I asked myself. She also made some comment about ipads as “babysitters” and I just think that this is WAY too extreme. I think that there is much more good than bad to come out of students’ access to digital learning such as the use of ipads in the classroom. What Davidson failed to consider is that the mere presence of the technology in the classroom will inevitably change the method of learning, just by being there. Talk about collaboration, when facilitated effectively teachers and students will learn from each other. Shame on you HASTAC for being so unjustly critical of a school’s efforts to “bridge the gap” between the students who were “born to be wired” and the teachers who are trying to make connections with them.