Since social studies is the discipline that I am integrating with in my unit, I chose to read the social studies section next. I was interested in the author's assertion that social studies is not a cohesive area of study, but rather several interrelated areas of study. I think that sometimes I tend to equate social studies with history, but in reality it is so much more.
Of particular interest to me in the chapter was the notion that media literacy is the domain of the social studies. It seems to me, as an English teacher, that evaluating websites tends to fall into the domain of English Language Arts. I know that when I am teaching my research paper unit, I need to instruct many students how to evaluate a website based on "authority, currency, coverage, accuracy and objectivity" (http://www.studygs.net/evaluate.htm). While I disagree with the notion that anything is solely the domain of one particular discipline, I believe that having social studies teachers reinforce (and perhaps introduce) the idea of evaluating websites would be both valuable and profitable for my students.
Although mentioned only briefly in this chapter, plagiarism is a great concern of mine, and of many other teachers that I know. All I can say is that Google can be your friend. There have been many times in the past where I have run a sentence or two through Google and have quickly found the page from which students plagiarized. This only takes a few minutes and can really reinforce the idea of academic integrity.
I also enjoyed the part of the chapter that talked about how technology connects students to the "real world." I could immediately see uses for this in an English Language Arts classroom. One of the things that quickly popped into my mind was a possible email correspondence or virtual chat with an author. I am considering adding a new young adult novel to my Pre-AP sophomore English class next year. Wouldn't it be cool to have the kids set up a wikispace or a blog about her book and to have her correspond with and interact with them? Even a simple email from an author could change kids' perceptions about the relevancy of this piece of literature in their lives. I know that I have always been thrilled when I got a letter or email from a favorite author of mine (I've written to several and almost all have responded personally to me) and my dad treasures a handwritten note he got from Tony Hillerman. Taking it a step further, what if the actual author critiqued your essay about his/her book? Of course, this might be too much to ask, but it could be possible and it's exciting to consider.
All in all, I think I found more exciting and immediately useful ideas in this chapter than I did in the chapter on English...I'm glad I read it!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Saturday, February 7, 2009
TPCK-Chapter 4--Leveraging the development of English TPCK within the deictic nature of literacy
In reading chapter 4, I was struck by one important facet of TPCK: the need to integrate it clearly into all aspects of teaching. It is not just enough to use technology in your classroom, you must use technology to support learning in your content area. This task becomes even larger when you take into account the number of constraints that most teachers face.
Here is a real life example of something that happened to me just this week. I wanted my AP Literature students to start playing around with our wikispace. I had learned about wikis this summer and I wanted to start using them in my classroom, but wikis (and other personal pages) are blocked by our school’s net nanny, Bess. At the beginning of the year, I contacted our tech coordinator and he graciously agreed to allow access to the wiki. However, when it came time to start using it, my students could not post! It took the tech coordinator and me an entire class period (about 80 minutes) in order to work out the problem. I persevered, because I really wanted to use the wiki, but I did feel like giving up and going back to the “old” and more easily available ways of doing things. I can see why some teachers just “don’t want the hassle” because it was very frustrating for the kids and me.
Our school says that it values technology, and they show it in ways like giving us one to one laptops. However, in many other ways (most notably our incredibly restrictive AUP) they are not supportive of teachers and students really using technology, or stretching the boundaries of how technology can be used (in other words, going beyond functional fixedness). Obviously this is a problem that must be addressed in our school before we can truly even think about using E-TPCK. If we do not have full access to the scope of the technology that is available, how can we use it effectively in our classrooms? We can’t! It is maddening to be asked to use technology and to start thinking about new ways to integrate technology and then find out that we are not allowed to use tech in the way that we want and/or need to.
The information about the pre-service training was very interesting. In many ways, I felt that what the Ed-U-Tech program is doing in Minnesota is much like what UMF is trying to do with our MS Ed cohorts here in Maine. The one obvious difference is that we are in-service teachers, rather than pre-service. Again though, the emphasis is on training and using technology. This is a wonderful idea, but our districts must learn to trust teachers (and students) to use these tools as they are meant to be used in the classroom. Otherwise, we will be constantly be hampered from fully using E-TPCK.
While linking from site to site after James and Charmaine's presentations, I found this marvelous site, with cyber-guides for all kinds of literature. These pages also contain links to rubrics, graphic organizers and other activities. One of the best things about this site? It is broken down by grade levels! This site will work for elementary, middle and high school levels.
Another amazing site, EDSITEment, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, provides lesson plans and websites that are geared for all grade levels. I am looking forward to using one of these lessons this week with my AP Literature students.
Finally, Education World suggests that blogging can be done by students in kindergarten! I thought about my technology conversations with my team mates Stacey and Christine while reading this. Hopefully as our access to blogs and wikis opens up, we will be able to use some of these strategies in our classrooms. Perhaps these hints will be helpful.
Here is a story about how technology impacts students with disabilities such as autism. It also talks about how Hewlett Packard really stepped up to the plate to help this school.
Here is a real life example of something that happened to me just this week. I wanted my AP Literature students to start playing around with our wikispace. I had learned about wikis this summer and I wanted to start using them in my classroom, but wikis (and other personal pages) are blocked by our school’s net nanny, Bess. At the beginning of the year, I contacted our tech coordinator and he graciously agreed to allow access to the wiki. However, when it came time to start using it, my students could not post! It took the tech coordinator and me an entire class period (about 80 minutes) in order to work out the problem. I persevered, because I really wanted to use the wiki, but I did feel like giving up and going back to the “old” and more easily available ways of doing things. I can see why some teachers just “don’t want the hassle” because it was very frustrating for the kids and me.
Our school says that it values technology, and they show it in ways like giving us one to one laptops. However, in many other ways (most notably our incredibly restrictive AUP) they are not supportive of teachers and students really using technology, or stretching the boundaries of how technology can be used (in other words, going beyond functional fixedness). Obviously this is a problem that must be addressed in our school before we can truly even think about using E-TPCK. If we do not have full access to the scope of the technology that is available, how can we use it effectively in our classrooms? We can’t! It is maddening to be asked to use technology and to start thinking about new ways to integrate technology and then find out that we are not allowed to use tech in the way that we want and/or need to.
The information about the pre-service training was very interesting. In many ways, I felt that what the Ed-U-Tech program is doing in Minnesota is much like what UMF is trying to do with our MS Ed cohorts here in Maine. The one obvious difference is that we are in-service teachers, rather than pre-service. Again though, the emphasis is on training and using technology. This is a wonderful idea, but our districts must learn to trust teachers (and students) to use these tools as they are meant to be used in the classroom. Otherwise, we will be constantly be hampered from fully using E-TPCK.
While linking from site to site after James and Charmaine's presentations, I found this marvelous site, with cyber-guides for all kinds of literature. These pages also contain links to rubrics, graphic organizers and other activities. One of the best things about this site? It is broken down by grade levels! This site will work for elementary, middle and high school levels.
Another amazing site, EDSITEment, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, provides lesson plans and websites that are geared for all grade levels. I am looking forward to using one of these lessons this week with my AP Literature students.
Finally, Education World suggests that blogging can be done by students in kindergarten! I thought about my technology conversations with my team mates Stacey and Christine while reading this. Hopefully as our access to blogs and wikis opens up, we will be able to use some of these strategies in our classrooms. Perhaps these hints will be helpful.
Here is a story about how technology impacts students with disabilities such as autism. It also talks about how Hewlett Packard really stepped up to the plate to help this school.
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