565: Week One - Leadership Assessment

The timing of this class was really interesting. I have been starting to take a closer look of what my role at my school should be. Originally, five years ago, I was hired to teach computer classes and be the librarian. Since then, however, my role has changed drastically and I find myself taking more of a leadership role as the technology specialist. Hence, I found taking the assessment as a principal helpful. Obviously I'm not a principal but the questions asked helped me define some of the areas where leadership is important.

Currently, my leadership role is rather undefined; yet, I'm constantly looked to for advice and to in-service other teachers as well as make financial decisions for our technology at school. Since my principal has limited technology knowledge, including trends and practices, I'm the one expected to direct us. In some respects this role is empowering and in many ways I feel fortunate that I don't have to deal with all the red tape others do. At the same time, I feel a huge responsibility and pressure to make the right choices when sometimes I'm not sure what the best direction is. Fortunately, each year I'm feeling more comfortable with my role, as I really work to define exactly what my position is.

This weeks lesson was also eye-opening after something that happened at school. At the beginning of the school year, the first and second grade teachers met and decided to modify the grade descriptions they give to their students. Since I help with our grading program, I had spoken to them and was aware of some of the changes. What we all discovered later, however, was that they had also drastically changed the grading scale, which affected all of us who teach specials. What was once an A was now a B or C. The change was that big. So at our last staff meeting I, once again, was going on and on about how frustrated I was with the change to the point that the first and second grade teachers were becoming frustrated with me. After I got home, I tried to carefully think through the reason behind my angst, and thanks to our lesson this week, I think I figured it out. Because the two teachers had made the decision without anyone else's input, they had ignored each of the four frames we talked about. They failed to get everyone on board with their decision. In the end, it's not that I necessarily disagree with the decision they made. In fact, in retrospect it makes sense, but they failed to explain the philosophy behind their decision in the first place. Also, they didn't take into account how many others are affected by their decision. I had no idea the scale had changed so when it came time for me to do my grades at the semester (specials only give grades at the semester), the grades were very different from what they were in the past because I was not aware of the change in the scale. In the end I apologized to the teachers and spoke to the principal about it. I explained to her why I was frustrated, and I think she understood. It has all been a great lesson in how leadership works - or doesn't.

Ced0555: Week Four - From the Trenches

So, I'm up to my eyeballs in work. There's the portfolio and now this week the culminating experience. I'm excited about my project, but, as usual, I'm not sure if I've bitten off more than I can chew. This experience is reminding me a bit of my studies in college. Since I was the only english teaching major at my school (the others that year were elementary ed teachers), I was given the option of taking my english methods class as an independent study. The head of the department, a man with many credentials and little time, sent me merrily on my way with the textbook. I had no clue what I was doing, but I was to make a set of two week lesson plans, incorporating a variety of materials. The result was an extremely ambitious set of lesson plans that literally had students reading a novel one day and a play the next and a series of poems the following. It wasn't until I actually got into the classroom that I realized just how silly and naive I was. I'm hoping the same won't hold true in this situation. So far, I have really three different things that I want to have happen with my third graders; I want them to have an age-appropriate introduction to Internet safety; I then want them to learn about blogs and start blogging themselves; and finally, I want them to apply what they're doing already with virtual worlds like Club Penguin and Webkinz to an educational virtual world, Wiglington and Wenks. From my observation of my current third grade students, I think I will be able to accomplish my project, but I'm concerned that the one area I haven't focused enough on might be special needs. Unlike this year's group, next year's has several students who have issues but who have not been officially labeled. There are several low-level readers and others who have attention issues. I'm wondering if they'll be able to handle my rather ambitious plan. My other concern is with the classroom teacher. I think she'll be very open to my project proposal which involves her social studies curriculum, but I'd like to her to be a collaborator, and I'm concerned that she won't take the role I'd like her to. I'm wondering how I can get her more involved without making her feel overwhelmed at what I'm doing. I plan on setting aside plenty of in-servicing for her, so I am hoping she'll feel comfortable. Perhaps I just need to assure her that I'll be doing the majority of the work and that all she'll need to do is be a supportive member of our project community. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

CEd0555 - #2 Reflection

This past week, for my culminating project, I decided to kick it into gear and get working. I think I've come up with a topic that, one, I can write about, and, two, really has my attention. Several courses ago, and I can't remember which class now, we were introduced to Second Life as a resource. I had never heard of it and had no idea of how cool and complex this free application is. As I explored topics for my project, I thought I would look into Second Life more to see just how it was being used. I was amazed by the number of educational and professional worlds that exist in Second Life and how many corporations are utilizing Second Life as a tool for employees to hold meetings, brainstorm, and watch uploaded content, such as Powerpoint presentations. Seeing all this got me wondering if any schools were integrating Second Life into their curriculums. Afterall, what better age to target than the teens, most of whom have already immersed themselves in the gaming environment and who would have no problem understanding the concept of Second Life? After further investigation, I was pleased to see that the creators of Second Life have also established Teen Second Life, a world dedicated to teens, ages 13-17. In this world adults are strictly forbidden, but there are several educational institutions that have created worlds in order to conduct lessons. I was immediately fascinated with TSL and wanted to jump in right away, but it's not that easy. In order to be approved, I have to submit my information and pay $40 for a background check. Once I've been approved, I have to invest heavily if I want to create my own space in TSL. Well, that alone killed it for me, not to mention that my students' ages fall into the 7-12 category. So, now that I was hooked on the idea of using virtual worlds in education, what could I possibly find for my target age group? After literally several hours of exploration, I came upon Wiglington and Wenka, a virtual website, much like Club Penguin, only educational in nature. What's great about this website is that it's fun enough for younger students but also challenging enough to keep them interested. The emphasis of W&W is geography and history. Players travel the world, learn about historical places, and collect famous people who have, unfortunately, lost their memories. In order to regain them, players must collect relics. I'm excited to examine this site closer and discover practical ways to incorporate it next year into the curriculum. The challenge will be convincing my principal that it's not just a game for wasting time. That's where the careful planning of my proposal comes into play. I'm hoping I'll be able to present it to her so that she will understand how this site, as well as others I may find in the future, can benefit our students and are not just time killers.

Ced0555: Week One

This week we investigated professional portfolios. Quite honestly prior to my research, I had never understood what an eportfolio was all about. Now that I've started looking, I'm finding it interesting the various types of portfolios in existence and I'm starting to think how I will want mine to look. So in addition to looking at samples, I'm trying to find information and recommendations for creating my own. One such site is 5x5 Model for Electronic Portfolios contains a rubric structure for the various types of portfolios as well as graphics and multimedia that can be added as well. This is a great resource when in the brainstorming stages of designing the portfolio. In addition, How to Create Your Own Electronic Portfolio takes the 5x5 model and breaks it down even further. What I like about this site is that each section contains a "you will know you're ready for the next stage when" bullet summary that acts as a sort of checklist for that section. In this age it makes such perfect sense to establish an online portfolio. When I see examples that date back to the early 2000's, I also get that feeling of being in the dark. I had no idea that this was a happenin' thing for so long, and I wonder how many employers look to the eportfolio when considering candidates. There's talk all over the news these days about getting one's resume together and tricks to applying for jobs, but I have yet to see one discussion focus on the eportfolio. Do we have a bunch of employers out there who are not aware that these exist and are still glued to the ol' hard copy? Seems that way, doesn't it?

Like anything else, I guess my big question is how much is enough? Some of the sample portfolios I viewed were real sketchy while others were what I'd call over-kill. I can't imagine an employer, for example, trying to link through pages and pages of sites. So I guess one has to think about the purpose of the eportfolio. Is it a living record of my work, or is it something I plan to send to employers? I have also observed how several of the sample portfolios have favorite educational links, transforming the portfolio into a PLN (Personal Learning Network). One person even included a link to Delicious which contained more links, making the portfolio endless. I'm thinking down the road I may want my portfolio to evolve into a PLN, but for now the task seems daunting.

Ced0550: Week Six - Summary

So, now that I've come to the end and have gained the necessary information for taming the world of online learning, I'm left to figure out how I will use the information I have gained over the next thirty days as well as over the next year.

I have to be honest and say that doing ANYTHING over the next 30 days other than the homework for the next class will be a challenge. My initial thought, however, is that I'd like to start building my curriculum for next year. My school is adding a 7th grade, and I am hoping to be able to teach them a few of the Web 2.0 tools that are popular as well as give them a glimpse into what their future learning might be like. Thus, teaching the class about online learning is going to have to be an integral part of my curriculum. It's really this generation of learners who are going to be greatly affected by online learning in the future. Almost just as crucial is teaching their parents about online learning and all it has to offer. For most parents, online learning consists of a conference call and maybe something to look at on a giant screen, along with emails of homework sent. They have no idea the options open to them and their children. I have mentioned before, but I wish I had known of all the great courses kids can take online, especially the AP high school classes. My daughter very much wanted to take AP Psych this year, but her schedule wouldn't allow for it. Little did I know that she could have taken this online instead. And even though I knew online classes existed, I did not realize just how great the curriculum is. So over the next 30 days as I begin contemplating next year's curriculum, I will need to figure out how to include both the student and parent. For example, perhaps I can set up an online night for both students and parents just to give them a brief intro to our class in the fall. That might be kind of fun.

So beyond the next 30 days of integrating the advantages of online learning into my curriculum, I will also be taking what I've learned well into the next year or two. I am in the process of forming a technology committee to look into our school's five year technology plan. Working closely with the public school, I want to make sure that we are also examining online learning as a possibility for our school. That means examining our hardware, our curriculum, and inservicing our staff. Maybe for our school it's not so much a matter of what core classes they could take, but what classes we could offer as a compliment to what we're doing already. One of our frustrations is trying to accomodate the variety of learners we have. Since we're a small school, we don't have the resources that the public school has for our special needs students. Online classes may be a perfect fit for many of our students, especially for those who are falling behind in some of the subject areas.

Ced0550: Week Five

This was a big week for me. I had to prepare/finalize my lesson to be taught online. The major challenge was trying to master Elluminate to the point that I could manipulate it for class. I found Elluminate to be extremely user friendly, and I thought the video tutorials were particularly helpful. This week also had us working in groups again. I'm not sure what has happened, but collaborating has become more and more challenging as time has gone on. Seems earlier in the program my groups had very little trouble finding a time to gather online and complete our projects. The last two classes, however, have been a different story. I'm not sure if it's the time of year, or if our lives have gotten even busier, or if we're less motivated to work, yet again, in groups. This collaboration in particular has given me a new attitude about groups in online learning. Not too long ago, a friend of mine was talking about her daughter, a sophomore, struggling with a group project. She was very frustrated that one or two people refused to pull their weight, and so she was doing everything and of course getting extremely frustrated. When asked why she wouldn't just let the others suffer, she said she couldn't because one group was being given, and she didn't want to have a lower grade because of the two knuckleheads. Well, after hearing of some of the same frustration with other groups in our online learning environment, I've evaluated how I would lead collaborative assignments. First, as difficult as it may be to assess, I think it's only fair that each group member receive a separate grade. I understand the one grade is supposed to perhaps motivate the group to do well, but it only works to frustrate the driven members. The slackers, on the other hand, end up benefiting and learn basically nothing. Second, in my opinion in order for group work to actually work, time during class has to be given, at least initially, for the group to get together and get organized. Half our battle was trying to find a time to even meet initially. We ended up sharing a Google doc with everyone getting on and doing what they could when they could. Perhaps 3 were available at a given time. It just seems that when it comes to online learning, people's schedules aren't as flexible. That's the reason why they typically are online in the first place - so that they can learn at their own time and place. Also, as is the case with this cohort, we're all full-timers during the day, so that automatically leaves us with less time to meet. Overall, I think we were able to complete a great presentation, but if the same attempts at collaborating were done with high schoolers, it would be a whole different story.

CeD0550: Week Four - Assessments

Okay, more confessions from a marginal teacher...
This week we've been examining teacher-centered versus student-centered lessons and authentic assessments. I've quickly come to see that much of my classroom teaching time has been about me. Now normally that wouldn't surprise me since much of my life is about me and discovering ways that others can make me happy, lol. Actually, that's a big, fat lie - My life is centered around my kids with the goal of getting them places and involving them in activities that will ultimately have me praying to Jesus for peace. Anyway, that's a whole different blog. Back to the classroom. I used to assume that because my classroom was a classroom full of little bodies that logically everything I did was about them. My role in the classroom was to teach them. I've now come to realize that my thinking is faulty and a bit reversed. It's not so much my role to teach as it is their role to learn. It almost sounds like the same thing except by simply rewording my thinking, my focus shifts quickly as do my lessons. I remember when I used to teach high school english that my lesson writing consisted of pages of notes. My daily goal was to get as much stuff from my notes onto the students' papers. I really didn't give a rat's behind if they understood, nor did I necessarily provide them adequate means of sucking my information from my papers onto theirs. I simply spoke, and they wrote. Now, in all fairness, I didn't do this everyday. THAT would make me the worst possible teacher around. But when it came to disseminating information, that was my primary method.

After what we've done this week, however, I'm doing what I can to shift that focus. In some ways, a huge burden is lifted from my shoulders. It's okay if my students don't know EVERYTHING I do about computers. That's not my purpose. What is my purpose is to teach them skills so that their brains will know how to explore and fend for themselves. Does this make any sense??? How to put it? Rather than spend an entire school year teaching them how to use Word, for example, I want them to investigate for themselves and in doing so, become proficient in problem-solving. I also want them to be able to think creatively so that they will want to branch out and discover and play. Finally, I want them to be able to communicate and collaborate with each other. In order to do these things, obviously I cannot just stand in front of them and talk at them all day long. They have to do for themselves.

I have had so many parents comment and question how it is that I went from a high school english teacher to a computer teacher. After all, I went to college in the 80's, so, for me, technology was the dinner roll to my meat and potatoes education. What I tell people is that somewhere along the line I discovered that I was mechanical and enjoyed playing and problem-solving. I honestly can't remember how I evolved, but I know it had everything to do with exploring and satisfying my curiosity. No one taught me computers. I taught myself. I want that same experience for my students, so this is why I need to shift from my leading all discussions to guiding them to discover for themselves. This, however, is no easy task, and the time it will take to plan these lessons and assessments will be enormous. But for once, I think I'll feel completely satisfied that I've truly done my job as an educator.