Reflection 3: Smaller sizes please

      “A common and unifying goal should always be to build and expand on the accumulated mass of technical knowledge and expertise in the district (Picciano, 2010).  Teachers especially at the middle school level, meet weekly to discuss students, issues, common subject goals, and/or plainly school related issues.  There is not much time spent trying to create a professional development moment for technology in these meetings.  Some teachers are so behind when it comes to technology knowledge, it is almost prehistoric.  Some teachers have barely begun using email.  As sad as this notion seems, it is realistic.  There are many missed opportunities at these “team meetings” to procure technology skills that we can use in the classroom.  Just as there are many teachers not familiar with many of the latest technology equipment out there, there are just as many teachers who are aware and can share that knowledge.

         “Professional development in a technological way requires new definition and new resources (Rodriguez, 2000).”  We lose our chances of grasping those moments.  I have spent some of my time in those long scheduled professional development days learning different strategies one right after another.  Usually by the time your through the rush herding to the parking lot, you have forgotten most of the key concepts.  Short period-long professional development days should and need to be utilized.  Why not take one of those scheduled meetings and show this small group of teachers how to bring technology to enhance motivation and learning in our classrooms.  Those teachers in turn can teach other smaller groups in smaller time increments.  These are the type of professional development moments that inspire teachers to bring that knowledge into the classroom. 

        Just like our students, teachers also need hands on experience with technology.  Nothing is worse than technology failing for you and not being able to fix what is usually a simple problem.  I have had many bad experiences using technology in the classroom and having to have a student call on another experienced teacher for help, only to learn that all that was needed was the touch of a button is quite embarrassing.  This is why professional development for technology is important.  Teachers do not want to stand in front of a class using equipment they are not comfortable using. Smaller professional development groups are more conducive to learning than whole school environments. Is not strange that we support smaller class size because of its conduciveness to learning yet require teachers to learn in those huge “classroom” sizes that educators hate?

Picciano, A.G. (2011). Educational leadership and planning for technology, 5th ed. Upper Saddle River,

NJ: Pearson Education.

Rodriguez, G. (2000). Critical issue: providing professional development for effective technology use.

North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, Retrieved from http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/technlgy/te1000.htm

Blog #2 Bringing Multimedia in the Classroom

      As our world becomes more digital and technology driven, I feel that it is essential for educators to reveal this phenomenon in our curriculum and instruction.  Many students are bombarded with a fast paced multimedia world and come into the slow paced classroom. It has become evident with all my experience in the classroom that students need to have that fast paced environment to learn as well. 

      As a young student,  I had to have no distractions like the television on in order to study.  I could not function with a lot of noise around.  As I have gotten older and become a mother of four, I need those elements that I once considered distracting in order to study.  My study habits have changed as my life has changed.  Living in a home with four children, you can bet that it is never quiet.  I adapted and while I once could not work with the television or music on, I now need to. 

       This has helped me understand how multimedia our students have become.  I see from our students’ view how boring everything has become.  While now they see through a visually appealing 3D image, we are still teaching them with a black and white image.  Could we as educators not see how unappealing and unimportant it would be to our students?  Games have become increasingly interesting and have helped motivate students in their education, but we know this cannot be our only outlet (Picciano, 2011).  I know the biggest obstacle for educators is money for technology, but there are other ways to bring multimedia in your classroom. 

       Educators have discussed many technological learning tools that we can utilize in our classroom, but do we realize that it does not have to be a new technological expensive equipment to bring technology into our classroom?  Most schools have the basic tools for bringing some technology into the classroom.  We just have to be creative.  As I have just had to read the book, Speak for another class. I thought I would find a way to bring multimedia into a lesson using this book.

       To introduce this book, I would use the video on youtube of the song with the lyrics only.  I would have student journal write what the song was about or their feelings about it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcs7fMmhRms   We would then have a discussion about what they thought.  I would then play the actual video for the students. < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXYiU_JCYtU&ob=av3e>  I would have students compare their interpretation of the song to the video.  We would discuss how the words are the same, but many come up with different interpretations.  This would also be an introduction to how to analyze texts.  I would want my students to look beyond the words and these videos would help me portray that.  It would also help me introduce a book like Speak whose themes can connect with the song lyrics.  It would also help me motivate my students and help them connect the songs with literature.  This is what it means to capitalize on technology to channel our students’ multimedia literacy into educational activities (Picciano, 2011). This is a simple way to introduce some type of technology in the classroom.  If able, I could even use the Xtranormal website to have students create mini movies to interpret the songs too. This are all simple ways to integrate technology that does not utilize expensive equipment the school may not have.

I was part of the digital divide!

I grew up in a small town in California.  You can look around this town and see miles and miles of fields.  The smell of freshly cut broccoli, onions and lettuce wafts through the air.  As you drive up to my hometown, you can look left or right and see migrant farm workers dotting the landscape.  All are using primitive cutting tools and equipment to gather the produce.  Anyone, even a small child, can follow in these footsteps. Coming from parents of farm workers, I know that this only gives you a hint of the poverty and illiteracy, in more subjects than reading, which is prevalent in the schools.  “Rural schools often have lower budgets for laboratory equipment and supplies than other schools (Picciano, 2011).  What sort of future holds for the children of many of these farm workers?

Even if that student has a mind to dream big and go the college route, a hard and long road.  That is what my road was like.  There were no computers in my school even though computers were becoming more and more popular and available.  When I got to college, I read that this was called, “the digital divide.”   This was a concept that I was only too aware of even if I did not know the name.   You see, it is easier to read about this digital divide than to be a part of it. 

My first few years of college were my hardest.  I was not aware of how to do anything technology-wise.  Every assignment that had technology attached to it took me so much longer.  It made me feel like I was always playing catch up.   “Even if the digital divide is reduced or eliminated within a school, it will likely continue to exist outside of school (Picciano, 2011).  I remember having a 10 page critical analysis essay due.  I spent four days trying to get that paper just typed up.  I averaged over twenty hours of typing that paper, sheet after sheet, error after error.   We had an old typewriter with no correction buttons.  I had to retype the page so many times.  Even though there were computers that would have made my life easier.  I did not know how to work one and was too embarrassed to ask for help.  Most students would have given up.  I did not.

My point is that it is critical to introduce technology to our students and not to assume that they know what to do.  I think we would be surprised at what some of our student do not have available at home.  I assigned students a homework assignment that involved watching a commercial.  I, sadly, was confronted by a student that disclosed he had no television or cable to watch it.  Technology is our future whether we like it or not and teaching our students how to utilize it is just as critical.