Five Technology Tools You Can Use Tomorrow

So we've touched on some thoughts classroom teachers have regarding technology. The last post left you with Larry Ferlazzo's checklist of whether a technology was worth using. Since we can't share I-pads or laptops with anyone we thought we might offer a few suggestions and links to some tools we have found useful. You are welcome. Every time you click these we get $1 and also can count the time towards out PLC(PLN) goal. Seriously though I sometimes wonder how these business models are set up and how they make any money. These are all quick and easy things that you can easily start using in some fashion with minimal effort. And based on much of what I read...we teachers are all about minimal effort ...right?

www.quia.com
Quia Intro/Tutorial
A site I started using about 6-7 years ago mostly for test and SOL review and as I understood more I realized its potential and power. I get a lot of positive feedback from parents and students on this one. It is a simple "create your own" site that most importantly allows you to "steal" from other teachers and quickly use their stuff and make it your own...like a virtual walk down the hall. So day 1 you could be up and running in a few minutes with access to huge amounts of content you can actually use with kids. And they like it. You can give quizzes, play review games, give surveys, share files, post HW...pretty powerful. Most important to me is that it was created with the classroom teacher in mind. very helpful for assessments in or out of class. It is a paid site.


www.quizlet.com
Quizlet Demo Video
Quizlet is something I am using only recently but it is easy to learn and intuitive. Good for basic review of information and another example of a way to extend the classroom. Nice because it tailors to where the kids are weak and is pretty simple. Again easy to start with nothing and quickly get to something.


www.edmodo.com
I describe it as the Facebook for school. Kids like the basic format and it opens the door to extending the classroom virtually. You can do all the usual...assign stuff, have stuff turned in, grade it, etc. I like the layout and ability to use it without much appreciation for its power. In a sense it does what Facebook does and helps create community. They have the coolest music with their tutorial as well. Oh that matters...


Googledocs
If you are looking to promote the cooperative work projects this is where it is at and it has 2 turntables and a microphone(See artist known as Beck) My kids use this more than I do but it is a very effective way to have kids work on projects and avoid having situations where one kids does all the work. You can track edits and actually see who did what when. Likely the most flexible and powerful if you know the ins and outs. Many teachers in my building are awesome at this.Admittedly I do not...but I still use it now and again to share stuff.


Jing
Jing Overview Video
Jing allows you to share information from your computer. PowerPoint Presentations with narration are the easiest example but you can do so much more. You can share what you see on your screen and make short videos to help others.

HONORABLE MENTION
Discovery Education
My school has a site license and I mostly use this to access video segments to use with my PowerPoint notes. In more recent classes I have have kids use this to research and find suitable video clips for projects.

Crocodoc
Easily allows you to upload/correct documents and then you can download PDF versions Good for peer reviews for students(though trading actual pieces of paper still works believe it or not)

Are Teachers Anti-Technology?

Are teachers anti-technology?  I don't think so.  One of the primary responsibilities of teaching is to relate to students in your classroom.  If you think those earbuds in your student's ear are plugged into a magic little box that creates music out of the ether, well, you might not make it as a teacher.  My four year-old demonstrated the other day that he knows enough about computers to exit the Word document that I've failed to save in order to find his favorite games website for a little "Uphill Rush" in the afternoon.

My point is that a teacher who doesn't get technology is akin to the teacher who lets ink stain his or her shirt pocket, the one who still says "that's the bomb" when they want kids to think they're "hip", the male teacher who still wears mid-thigh shorts in the summer time.  Teachers must understand the world their students live in.  This doesn't mean yielding to every fad or fashion of the day, but if we are not at least involved enough to understand what influences our youth, we're likely not concerned enough about them to teach them well.

Still, we aren't the trendsetters.  Kids aren't taking their fashion cues from us.  Several years ago, students started prefacing every statement with the phrase "not gonna lie."  It was the new "like."  I thought it would be cool to start my own trend so I started saying things like "NGL, this is going to be the hardest quiz you'll ever take" and "you've got a low B right now, but NGL, if you get a good grade on this test it might bring you up to an A-."  I think they made fun of me for that.  I tried to tell them that everyone was saying it now because "not gonna lie" just took too long to get out.  They didn't believe me.

What does this have to do with anything you say?  Well, as a teacher, I must be immersed in the culture of technology as much, nearly as much, or maybe slightly more than my students.  If I'm too far ahead of the curve, most of them aren't going to follow.  A few months ago, I laughed with a colleague over the fact that when we were in high school, shorthand was still a class.  Our last post mentioned the Apple IIe from the 1980s.  Most adults, even as young as twenty years old, can look back with a little humor at how far we've come with technology since their high school days. 

So are teachers, anti-technology?  I don't think so.  I think most teachers are very willing to engage learners in new ways, taking risks from time to time for the sake of better teaching.  I think we're a little put out when our leaders promote the myth that technology will save money and solve so many of our problems in education.  We get tired of seeing that money is always available for new technology, but scarce in other areas.  We don't jump to use technology that just does what we've always done, except maybe a little faster or fancier.

Teacher/blogger, Larry Ferlazzo wrote a piece for Education Week earlier this week suggesting a checklist of sorts for whether he would consider using a particular technology in his classroom.

1) Does it take me less than one minute to learn the basics on how to use it?

2) Will it take less than one minute -- with guidance -- for my students to learn to also learn the basics on how to use it?

3) Does it provide a value-added benefit to student learning over a similar activity using basic classroom tools?

4) Is it a tool that I believe can be used regularly in class?

 

5) And, lastly, though being able to answer yes to the previous four questions usually outweighs a negative response to this one -- Can it make my life a little easier?

I like it.

The Digital Bandwagon

Tim exits his mom's car and flips open his phone to begin textting. His Ipod blaring as he weaves his way through the halls barely avoiding collisions with others whose eyes are also glued to tiny screens. He rounds the corner and enters my room. He puts his phone away and removes his ear buds and plops into his seat. He takes out his Netbook and frantically checks his E-mail and Facebook before the bell.  He next logs in to begin the lesson for the day using Edmodo and begins working pausing occasionally to check twitter feeds. So Tim has done a lot this morning but he hasn't done one thing, spoken directly with anyone.  Is Tim your son in my class? Probably not as things aren't that bad but we better keep an eye on Tim and his classmates.

Nothing is as attractive or as marketable for schools as digital technology. My neighboring local district is spending more than $2 million to provide each student in 6th-12th grade with Windows based tablets. The adoption accompanied by a flashy new acronym, the Blended Learning to Advance Student Thinking(BLAST). Most schools are increasingly investing in technology as a key improvement strategy.  One to one is coming. 

One to one is the educational jargon meaning that each student has his or her own computer. School divisions, and thus public taxpayers, are pouring funds into equipping students with the latest and greatest digital resources. Smartboards, Promethean Boards, LCD projectors, laptops, Ipads, Computer Labs, Instant Poll Clickers, Software Applications and Information Management Systems and the dizzying amount of unseen infrastructure needed to make them function are sucking up cash like a vacuum. But as decision makers barely pause to reflect on these investments it might be prudent to consider them a bit more.

I think having access to such tools is great for both kids and teachers. Where would I be if in the 1980's Apple IIe hadn't appeared and allowed me to learn LOGO?   (Probably in the same place)  Technology is a great asset in education.  I love computers and what they allow schools to do.    What they are not is a guarantee that learning and education will improve. Soldiers in the military can be more effective with the best weapons. Teachers too can multiply their impact with new tools. But both must know how to integrate them to do their job. Another way of thinking about it is you don't just pass out bazookas. (OK a bit of a stretch but I liked the phrasing) Schools should both pilot technology and also prepare the majority of teachers to utilize such tools. If they don't then they are eye candy and do little to substantively improve what's already happening.   

Technology adoption is more complex that it appears. Worth remembering is that these tools don't stay "new" for very long and as an example that little Apple IIe far outlasted its usefulness.  Equal access across divisions with disparities in funding might expand gaps in resources. The big business side of the adoption process shows when company salespeople court officials and saturate them with information like a DC lobbyist.

Contracts have become big money, and often cut out of the loop are the ground level educators. We (in our division) experienced this firsthand last year with a little disaster called Gradespeed.  Another complicating factor important to remember is that in addition to large up front costs there are also a continuing expenses as long as the school supports a product. Wear and tear, maintenance, infrastructure upgrades, required support personnel all can be unseen costs. What happens 3 years down the road when kids complain that computers are too slow because they take .3 seconds longer to connect?

Technology constantly changes how we operate.  It can motivate some kids in ways other approaches seemingly cannot.   Many are pushing hard for state of the art technology to completely transform our classroom.  As it does we might be wise to remember we can pay in other ways for this blind faith in technology.  A recent NY Times article stated "Even as students are getting more access to computers here, they are getting less access to teachers."  Not a good thing.  

There is a reason we still drive our own cars instead of using onboard computers.  There are social consequences since these things that are meant to connect us can isolate us as well.   Within the classroom, I know once a kid has a computer on their desk nothing you say matters. With the young sometimes technology contributes to a decline in civility.    Many wonderful teachers in the classroom struggle to keep pace with the changes and I pride myself on integrating the newest technology into my instruction, sometimes not pausing to consider the unintended consequences.

• Am I spending more time on the computer and less time interacting face to face with students?
• Are kids disconnecting from each other?
• Are we blurring the line between real engagement and entertainment?
• Does the outcome justify the expense?

There's much to consider with this panacea.

With this in mind it might be interesting to watch this story unfold and think a little more deeply about all that it affects.

A Problem of Standards: September 11 in School

"What are you doing to commemorate 9/11 in the classroom this year?"

I'm sure nearly all teachers have encountered this question in the last month, perhaps more.  On the ten year anniversary of the attacks, our schools are expected to... well, to do what they are supposed to do: educate and inform students about the world in which they live.

I'd never say that social studies teachers "love" this stuff, but in a way, it's why we do what we do.  Wars and diplomacy, technological milestones and catastrophes, assassinations and visits of state, the good and the bad, defining moments drive history and we grasp those events, the more current the better, to draw our students into a curious desire to understand their world.

Yes, it's a t.v, not a microwave.

I remember from my childhood, a major national or world event meant that if our teacher couldn't find a television to bring into the classroom that we'd be crowded in the room of the teacher who could.  The Iran-Hostage crisis,  the attempted assassination of Reagan, the Challenger explosion and the Iran-Contra hearings all provided current relevant events that opened the door for my teachers to share the history leading surrounding these events.  These teachers helped me to understand the context of the milestones and understand why they were so important in my life.

That is part of the problem.  Those events are now history, as much a part of the past as Abe Lincoln, Teapot Dome, the Russian Revolutions and even (gasp!) the fall of the Berlin Wall.  Kids entering high school this year were not likely to have even been in school on September 11, 2001.  Adults look back with words like "I remember it like yesterday."  Answer honestly, if you're over twenty-five years old, isn't it surprising to think that ten years have already passed?  

An article in the most recent Education Week laments that a majority of states' education standards don't mention September 11.  On the eve of ten years, and the standards of History haven't caught up.  Is this really a problem?

It depends.  I remember June 2001.  My tenth grade World History (1500-present) class had already taken their SOL test.  The test didn't carry as much weight then, but it was still important.  I was glad to have over four weeks of school left after the test to cover content outside the standards, which at the time didn't reach any of the major events of the 1990's.  We learned about the Soviet conflict with Afghanistan and the political movement called the Taliban that had taken control of Afghanistan.  That spring, the Taliban had been destroying historic Buddhist monuments and forcing Hindus to wear identification to single them out.  My students easily drew comparisons between what this Taliban government was doing in spring 2001 and the events that transpired in Germany prior to World War II.  I chose this content because of its relevance.  It unfolded as we learned about it from multiple news media.

Three months later, those same students watched the world change.  They'd never heard of Osama bin Laden, but when the President of the United States called out the Taliban government of Afghanistan, there should have been at least seventy-five eleventh graders in Virginia's public schools who knew exactly what he was talking about.  In the minds of those students, September 11 probably sits on the knowledge perch of "current events" as it still does in mine.  For today's students and those of the near future, September 11 is placed on the shelf of history along with the Kennedy Assassination, Pearl Harbor, The Great Depression, the sinking of the Lusitania, etc.,

I worry that if we fret too much about adding September 11 to "the standards" or mandate that schools and teachers conduct lessons about September 11 on its anniversary, that for this generation of students we will turn it into another static monument of an era past.  There is nothing "standard" about the current affairs of our world and the dynamic influence of history.  Any worthy curriculum should be able to address this.

In the spring of 2001 I was able to help students explore a narrative that reached back to the Age of Imperialism, stretched into the twentieth century, and had yet to culminate in the 21st.  I had already hit the high points that students would have to remember for their test.  "All that you need to know is that Asoka converted to Buddhism after a particularly bloody battle, his empire was called the Mauryan, and it was in India.  Yes, there's a story, but we don't have time for that you've got sixty other facts to learn before May."

I hope that we don't turn September 11 into another checkbox standard like so many others.  Can a teacher of American history examine the aftermath of the Cold War and explain the changing face of American culture in the 21st century without discussing September 11?  Can a student of US Government understand the growth of executive power and declining right to privacy in the last decade without starting with September 11?  Can one learn about World History and the global relationships of the modern world without the context of September 11?

Certainly not.  But I'm not ready to reduce it to a standard of learning, giving it the first panel of the "most important moments of the 21st century" poster.  Standards of history and social studies aren't meant to be comprehensive lists of important names, dates, and places.  Real history standards provide enough context to understand and enough flexibility to explore the rich paths that human society has created.  For now, I am comfortable knowing that September 11 has yet to appear in the "standards" in many places because I know that my colleagues will provide their students with opportunities for a rich understanding of that day regardless of standards of learning.