Friday, August 8, 2008

Journal 2

McFarlane, S.H,. "The Laptops are coming! The Laptops are coming! Rethinking Schools Online. 22. 2008. 23 July 2008, .

When the author and her middle school students became the first to receive laptops via a tech levy, they experienced a long transition period of adjustment. They were “guinea pigs” and along with that came the first-hand growing pains of classroom technology immersion. In the excitement of the unprecedented opportunity to receive laptops, no one anticipated the ensuing struggles, challenges or success stories the students and staff would encounter. While the question of student “access” seemed to be resolved, the unforeseen levels of frustration with student training, staff development time and people “disconnect” soon became apparent. The author found that there was little time to assess the negative impacts of the new technology. Surveillance during class time and ensuring the students weren’t emailing, texting or blogging, overrode teaching the lesson itself. Varying levels of student comfort and discomfort with technology became apparent. Face-to-face interactions between students and teacher became noticeably less frequent.
The situation was as if they were given a game and told to make up the rules as they went along, but weren’t given enough time to do this.

Question 1: Being aware of some of the challenges, would I be prepared if presented the same opportunity as the author? I don’t know how it would be possible to avoid many of the pitfalls experienced by the author. It seems this “opportunity” is still in its infancy, with brand new challenges most haven’t experienced or hashed through. Before reading this article, I had already considered what it might be like to have laptops for all and would never have been able to foresee the whole downside. One I had previously considered was the loss of face-to-face interaction with one another. As we now see in our homes and with kids who already have cell phones, video games and PCs, it has become easy for them to fall into communicating electronically rather than face-to-face. Technology has made communication more broad, but far less personal. There is also the lack of time staff needs to address and troubleshoot any new system. Teachers and school staff already face a time shortage, so introducing a full-blown, head-on tech immersion isn’t realistic. A gradual introduction of technology, rather than all at once seems more realistic and plausible.

Question 2: Should the students have been included in the tech immersion planning? Absolutely! They are equally as affected as the staff. While the staff would have felt privileged and excited at this tech opportunity, they soon felt apprehension and were overwhelmed at all of the unforeseen struggles. The students, most of whom were also probably excited at this new tech opportunity, would have appreciated and respected the chance to be included in part of the decision-making processes.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Journal 4

“RtI: Innovations in prevention and intervention” by Richard R. Reid, PhD

Dr. Reid wasn’t as an engaging speaker as Dr. Villa, but he was tough act to follow!
RtI is an acronym for “responsiveness to intervention”. His goal was to convey the steps for a successful plan implementation. In the U.S., there are about 8 million 4 – 12th graders reading below grade level. First, in order for teachers to help these kids succeed, they need to know their students’ skill level, monitor growth in response to instruction and use that data to alter that instruction. We should also recognize that most educators are doing the very best with the resources available, but that a plan for change needs to be developed and implemented. The following characteristics need to be part of a successful plan for change: vision, peer coaching, incentives, time for training and measuring competence and an action plan. If one aspect is missing, it won’t be successful. He cautions to allow at least five years to measure success for a well-articulated plan. In order for that plan to succeed, everyone must be involved, from the administration on down to the kids. He acknowledges that change is hard, but the current system can only change if the people do.

Question: How can teachers stay motivated on the process knowing it’s a
5 – 7 year implementation timeframe? Complete dedication and commitment from the staff is paramount. Everyone must be given a specific part in the process and accountability must be measured and reported on a regular basis. Everyone must be provided with exactly what their task is and given the tools and time to complete it. Change is never easy, but with staff fidelity and integrity, success is certain.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Friday, August 1, 2008

Journal 6: Podcasting Basics

Schaffhauser, D.. "Podcasting basics: Simples steps for introducing podcasting to your K-8 class, Part 2." The Journal. 2008. 1 Aug 2008 .

Using Garageband, you can edit and publish your podcast with drag and drop, easy editing features. Podcasts can be posted at many places on the web, including Apple.mac, Podbean and class blogs. Because these sites include tutorials, posting a podcast doesn’t have to be complicated or require that you be a tech whiz. After the kids get a taste of the ease and satisfaction of posting their podcast, it fuels their motivation and creativity for the next one. With pride, they’ll tell parents and friends about it who’ll watch and give positive feedback. Successfully managing podcasting in the classrooms has to be done with patience. It can be daunting trying to manage what so many students are supposed to be doing all at once. Working in teams and giving each student a part in building the cast, best keeps students better on task. Training a small group of students at a time and then having them pair up with the next group to train has proven successful.

Question 1: How can we address the students’ various levels of comfort and proficiency with computers while introducing podcasting? This will always be a challenge with any new technology. Teaching one small group of students at a time and ensuring their comfort level before having them train a new group should help. Also recognizing which students are most comfortable with which jobs can help team them up where they are best suited as well as help them feel an integral part of the successful podcast process.