Teacher Tech Tools 1

http://www.ideastoinspire.co.uk/index.html#2
Ideas to Inspire
http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/
ICT in My Classroom
http://dougbelshaw.com/blog/
Education. Technology. Productivity
http://www.edublog.jrowing.com/
Teaching Learning Technology
http://happyhippy.edublogs.org/
I Should Be Marking
http://www.billmcaninch.blogspot.com
It's Elementary My Dear Watson
http://sharegeography.co.uk/
Share Geography
http://www.digitalgeography.co.uk/
Digital Geography
http://www.2learn.ca/teachertools/Wordprocessing/wphow2.html
Word Processing Tools
http://www.grammaruntied.com/
A guide to grammar, punctuation and style
http://sqooltools.com/
eLearning
http://www.ed.gov/nclb/methods/whatworks/edpicks.jhtml
Doing What Works
http://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm
Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching
http://www.besthistorysites.net/
Best of History Web Sites
http://nsdl.org/
The National Science Digital Library
http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/assessments/
Interactive Assessments
http://www.fsdb.k12.fl.us/rmc/tutorials/whiteboards.html
Interactive Whiteboards In the Classroom
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/index.php?method=FreeDownloads
An empowering place where teachers buy & sell original and used teaching materials and make teaching an even more rewarding experience
http://adavis.pbworks.com/Language+Arts+Examples
Blog To Learn
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/03/lp322-01.shtml
Education World--The Educator's Best Friend

Five Technology Processes

Building on Commitment

A few blogs ago I referred to Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs. I invoke that model again. Operationally, individuals or groups do not move upward through levels before each lower level is substantially and continuously satisfied. When a lower level is not being substantially satisfied, individuals and groups will regress to efforts to regain satisfaction at the lower level. Arguably this concept applies as well to my model above, with exception. I can see where the actions required at more than one lower level might be ongoing during the same time frame without deterring progress. For example, installation of computers and word processing software would probably be necessary, to some degree, before word processing training should begin. Yet installation of computers and word processing software can readily be installed while constructivist pedagogy orientations and instruction occur. As noted in the "The Results Are In" blog below, Maslow's hierarchy can apply to education as well as to the work place. A great interpretation of his thoughts on education can be found here are are quoted in part below:

Maslow believes that the only reason that people would not move well in direction of self-actualization is because of hindrances placed in their way by society. He states that education is one of these hindrances. He recommends ways education can switch from its usual person-stunting tactics to person-growing approaches. Maslow states that educators should respond to the potential an individual has for growing into a self-actualizing person of his/her own kind. Ten points that educators should address are listed:

1. We should teach people to be authentic, to be aware of their inner selves and to hear their inner-feeling voices.
2. We should teach people to transcend their cultural conditioning and become world citizens.
3. We should help people discover their vocation in life, their calling, fate or destiny. This is especially focused on finding the right career and the right mate.
4. We should teach people that life is precious, that there is joy to be experienced in life, and if people are open to seeing the good and joyous in all kinds of situations, it makes life worth living.
5. We must accept the person as he or she is and help the person learn their inner nature. From real knowledge of aptitudes and limitations we can know what to build upon, what potentials are really there.
6. We must see that the person's basic needs are satisfied. This includes safety, belongingness, and esteem needs.
7. We should refreshen consciousness, teaching the person to appreciate beauty and the other good things in nature and in living.
8. We should teach people that controls are good, and complete abandon is bad. It takes control to improve the quality of life in all areas.
9. We should teach people to transcend the trifling problems and grapple with the serious problems in life. These include the problems of injustice, of pain, suffering, and death.
10. We must teach people to be good choosers. They must be given practice in making good choices.

Practicing What You Believe

Today I was reviewing old notes about professional development and found this that I once wrote in response to a request for PD recommendations: "The professional development focus should not be on technology, rather on pedagogical practices. Should technology be found to be complementary to or facilitating of constructivist learning, teachers will seek training and education in the use of technology." At the time I was certain that if teachers believed in the value of a student-centered approach to teaching,technology integration would naturally follow. Seemed logical, however,it was not exactly what I experienced when observing classroom teachers. Wondering if there were studies on this issue, I conducted a web search and found this: How teachers integrate technology and their beliefs about learning: is there a connection?. The final sentence in the FINDINGS section states, "Put simply, the researchers stepped into the classrooms with a constructivist lens and found there was no significant correlation between teachers' reported beliefs about instruction and their actual practice of integrating technology." The questions I am left with are: 1) technology integration aside, do teachers who profess to believe in the value of a contructivist pedagogy actually practice it? and 2) what do we do now, focus on technology integration disassociated from student-centered learning?

Just In Time Learning

About a year ago I bought a book on Adobe's Photoshop and determined to learn how to use it. It was/is touted as being the premier photo editing software; however, due to its capabilities, difficult to learn and use. Being proficient in many off-the-shelf applications, I thought I would breeze through the book, thus becoming a Photoshop expert. Wrong! Well, maybe not entirely. Working through the book, in about a month I "Photoshopped" a lot of photos, creating some really cool effects. But I really couldn't find much use for the edited photos (a few family laughs was about it) so my interest in Photoshop wained. Its been about 10 months since I've even opened the application. What I mostly need in photo editing is redeye correction and cropping. The old tried and true Microsoft PhotoDraw (yes, I still have a copy installed) or Paint.net work just fine for such basic editing. So, whatever esoteric expertness I developed with Photoshop is now mostly gone. Why? Because I didn't have a need to use it. Of course, to regain my familiarity with the software would take less time that it did to learn it initially, but practically I wasted my time during those two months a year ago.

This seems to be pretty much how it is regarding most things technological. How many of you have been required to sit through four hours of, say, MS Excel professional development? This continues to be typical of technology professional development sessions, even though experience has taught us that ten percent of those attending the sessions will remember ten percent of what was presented. That ten percent needed only to remember the ten percent they remembered. They had no immediate need for the other ninety percent of the information and the other ninety percent of the attendees had no need for one hundred percent of the information. The ten percent with the need(s) probably could have satisfied their need(s) in a timely manner with a 15 or 20-minute one-on-one training session with a knowledgeable user. I call this Just In Time Learning. Or better, Just In Time Training.

It sounds a bit like the "authentic" (realistic, project-based, problem-based, inquiry-based, etc.) learning that we are familiar with as a pedagogical tactic, with two major differences: the training occurs because an immediate need is realized and the training is conducted during a time frame when the need is prevalent--just in time. Sending an email message to tech support, asking a more knowledgeable colleague, clicking the Help menu item in most applications, conducting a Google search, or perusing an online tutorial are just a few Just In Time Training vehicles available to address an immediate technology need. My experienced guess is that when technology training occurs just in time it will more likely stick.

I am not proposing that group technology professional development be abandoned completely. Group orientations and collaboration are valuable to familiarize staff with potential software uses and to exchange technological integration into classroom instruction and curricula ideas and experiences. Group training sessions are also appropriate before and during introduction of new or major upgrades to administrative and management software.

The Results Are In

There are good and bad urban public charter schools and there and good and bad urban non-charter public schools. Profound! Regardless of reformer and transformer interventions, mayoral control or not, instant principal and teacher schools, more money spent per student, more hours in the classroom, more alternative schools, less bureaucracy, less union interference, more firings and hirings, more school turn-arounds, closures and openings, and Arne's focus on whatever works, the infamous "gap" continues, whether it be the real or perceived gap between the our and other advanced nations' students or between disadvantaged and not-so-disadvantaged students. (Phew, and I surely missed a number of experiments.) So what does work? Why exactly do some school do better than others that yields significantly better test scores? And should the goal be to equalize test scores, assuming that tests are good indicators of student potential as well as current knowledge? Probably not. I think the best we can do is strive to equalize education opportunity.

It could be that the "no excuses" schools are on the right path but I'm also inclined to agree with the notion that "our urban public schools cannot succeed unless health, social and employment issues are addressed" (see Jay Mathews blog). My thoughts on this turn to basic management theory. Many will remember Maslow's hierarchy of needs pyramid: simply put, the majority of lower level needs (physiological, safety, love/belonging and esteem) must be met before one can experience self-actualization. As Deborah Meier observed

The poor kids I encountered in kindergarten were accustomed to more formal and more consistent good manners—whether it was in how to address their elders or how to dress properly. They were less whiney and more obedient.

Children of the poor get tougher and more unmannerly slowly. In time, they lose respect for authority. Perhaps because adults are rarely able (or willing) to protect them. Maybe because many public authorities quite openly treat them and their families disrespectfully. Over time, they come to depend on “the streets” and their “peer culture” for safety...

When children of the poor realize that their lower level needs are not being met, they begin to seek satisfaction elsewhere, usually from within a culture that does not place much value on education. Obviously a small percentage of urban poor children achieve educational self-actualization in spite of their communities and economic circumstances. I will bet that these children are somehow experiencing a greater degree of basic needs satisfaction than the majority as well as being indoctrinated with the no excuses concept.

How important is technology in the educational setting?

I was recently asked that question. I stumbled. I know I should be able to answer it; no, I know the answer. But I just could't seem to filter and organize the billions of synapses that were firing to form a concise response. I mumbled something about the ubiquitousness of technology and the skills and knowledge needed to perform successfully in higher education endeavors and the after-education environment. In retrospect a better response would have been to narrow the question to something like, "How important is technology in facilitating the learning process?"

I categorize educational technology into five general processes, mostly for my own use in setting priorities for providing service and support (numbering not necessarily indicative of priority):
(1) interactive education process (core subjects teaching-learning primarily within the classroom);
(2) unilateral learning process (students using technology not under the direct supervision of a teacher);
(3) technology as a separate subject area (e.g. computer courses);
(4) school administration and management (school information/management systems, course/learning management systems, routine administrative and management functions; and
(5) faculty/staff technology professional development.
To refine the question a little further, we'll remove numbers 3 through 5 from consideration. Now the answer leaps to mind--it's that tried and true buzzword, "engage". Whether or not you agree with Mark Prensky's digital native-digital immigrant concept, we can all agree that K-16 students have access to and have used a hell of a lot of digital interactive stuff. They are comfortable in that world and they bring that world to school with them, whether we allow them to do so or not. At least outside of school they operate in that world. If you are a proponent of the constructivist or constructionist pedagogy and agree that engaged students learn faster and deeper, you will allow, even encourage, them to bring their digital world into the learning process and you will use those tools to guide them.

The answer then should have been, "Kids are immersed in technology and technology is indisputably in their futures. It follows, then, that if we intend to engage them fully in the learning process, technology most be a major ingredient in the educational environment."