My Final Report
For my novel, I read the DreamKeepers, by Gloria Ladson-Billings. In this book, she profiles a select group of teachers, the DreamKeepers. All of these teachers have different styles, but one common theme that they all shared, that struck a chord with me was cultural relevancy and the importance of making a connection with your students. All of the teachers that were profiled showed the students that they cared for them, and the students understood that the teachers believed that they would be successful. Teachers didn’t necessarily use one particular culturally relevant strategy. Rather, they made their teaching something that was accessible to all of the students, and worked with the students to ensure that they were not just teaching, but that the students were actually learning.
What did I learn from my meetings with colleagues and students? I was given many good ideas and things to consider for managing my project from staff and students alike, from suggestions for grouping students, to modifying the project for students with special needs, to the need for a clear, concise rubric so that all students are completely clear from the start what my expectations are for them. Additionally, two apps for creating math videos were tested, and met with students’ approval.
What have I learned between writing my implementation report and now? Many things, some that seem more obvious than others. Here are three: 1. Cheap stylus pens are a waste of money. You get what you pay for. 2. Google and Apple don’t like each other very much, which makes sharing videos much more time consuming. 3. Students are capable of much more than I ever thought possible, and I have learned far more from them then I will ever teach them about technology. As a result of number 3, I am approaching the video creation time from a different standpoint than I originally intended. Instead of me learning all about a program, then teaching what I know to the students, I am handing apps over to the students virtually unknown, and together we figure out the best way to use the app. It has fostered an environment of creativity and discovery for both the students and myself, and the videos have gotten better as a result.
Looking forward to round two, I will be giving more structure via a rubric as to what the end result videos should look like, but will still leave room in this rubric to reward the creativity the students have been demonstrating. I’m looking forward to it!
For my novel, I read the DreamKeepers, by Gloria Ladson-Billings. In this book, she profiles a select group of teachers, the DreamKeepers. All of these teachers have different styles, but one common theme that they all shared, that struck a chord with me was cultural relevancy and the importance of making a connection with your students. All of the teachers that were profiled showed the students that they cared for them, and the students understood that the teachers believed that they would be successful. Teachers didn’t necessarily use one particular culturally relevant strategy. Rather, they made their teaching something that was accessible to all of the students, and worked with the students to ensure that they were not just teaching, but that the students were actually learning.
What did I learn from my meetings with colleagues and students? I was given many good ideas and things to consider for managing my project from staff and students alike, from suggestions for grouping students, to modifying the project for students with special needs, to the need for a clear, concise rubric so that all students are completely clear from the start what my expectations are for them. Additionally, two apps for creating math videos were tested, and met with students’ approval.
What have I learned between writing my implementation report and now? Many things, some that seem more obvious than others. Here are three: 1. Cheap stylus pens are a waste of money. You get what you pay for. 2. Google and Apple don’t like each other very much, which makes sharing videos much more time consuming. 3. Students are capable of much more than I ever thought possible, and I have learned far more from them then I will ever teach them about technology. As a result of number 3, I am approaching the video creation time from a different standpoint than I originally intended. Instead of me learning all about a program, then teaching what I know to the students, I am handing apps over to the students virtually unknown, and together we figure out the best way to use the app. It has fostered an environment of creativity and discovery for both the students and myself, and the videos have gotten better as a result.
Looking forward to round two, I will be giving more structure via a rubric as to what the end result videos should look like, but will still leave room in this rubric to reward the creativity the students have been demonstrating. I’m looking forward to it!
UPDATE: Implementation of Imagine IT and Report
The good news is, I've been successfully implementing my Imagine IT project for a couple of weeks now. The scope of my project has changed as I've realized some realities of my technology situation, through feedback from peers and colleagues, and through reflection on the what has and has not been working. My project originally started off being several different things, all centered on the idea of increasing student engagement. I wanted to create a flipped classroom, to have students create videos demonstrating their math knowledge, and to utilize Google apps for education. Through conversations with my advisor, our tech coordinator, and other teachers, I realized just how great of an undertaking the flipped classroom would be, so I dropped that component of my project and decided to focus on incorporating technology into my teaching of math in order to increase student engagement.
The videos have been successful so far. Originally, I thought the videos would be a good alternate assessment, and while they might be, I've found that the students are really intrigued with the idea of creating instructional videos for YouTube as a series of projects for everyone to participate in, rather than an assessment.
Utilizing Google apps for Education has been a challenge, as my school does not have any Chromebooks and I have frustratingly discovered that Google apps for education do NOT work well on iPads, unfortunately. Furthermore, Many of the features of GAFE are already in use at our school through other applications, so rather than add another outlet for features the students already are comfortable using seemed counterproductive. Funny note: I was so excited about using Google apps on iPads that I wrote a Donors Choose proposal for iPads dedicated to my classroom, only to realize that they do not work well with Google. So, I've decided to shift the focus of my project entirely to student-created videos that demonstrate content knowledge through integration of technology.
A couple of weeks ago, I conferenced with my colleagues about my project and they gave me feedback regarding the student videos, mainly in the areas of grouping the students and how to give them feedback regarding performance expectations. One teacher had given the students projects to complete on the computer before, and was able to tell me which students excelled with technology, and which ones need extra assistance. She suggested that the rubric included the technology as a part of the grade, which is something I wasn’t sure about, as I was unsure of my ability to teach the technology, but given the nature of the project, a certain amount of mastery of at least one application is necessary for a successful video, and I am giving the students regular time to practice with different apps.
The good news is, I've been successfully implementing my Imagine IT project for a couple of weeks now. The scope of my project has changed as I've realized some realities of my technology situation, through feedback from peers and colleagues, and through reflection on the what has and has not been working. My project originally started off being several different things, all centered on the idea of increasing student engagement. I wanted to create a flipped classroom, to have students create videos demonstrating their math knowledge, and to utilize Google apps for education. Through conversations with my advisor, our tech coordinator, and other teachers, I realized just how great of an undertaking the flipped classroom would be, so I dropped that component of my project and decided to focus on incorporating technology into my teaching of math in order to increase student engagement.
The videos have been successful so far. Originally, I thought the videos would be a good alternate assessment, and while they might be, I've found that the students are really intrigued with the idea of creating instructional videos for YouTube as a series of projects for everyone to participate in, rather than an assessment.
Utilizing Google apps for Education has been a challenge, as my school does not have any Chromebooks and I have frustratingly discovered that Google apps for education do NOT work well on iPads, unfortunately. Furthermore, Many of the features of GAFE are already in use at our school through other applications, so rather than add another outlet for features the students already are comfortable using seemed counterproductive. Funny note: I was so excited about using Google apps on iPads that I wrote a Donors Choose proposal for iPads dedicated to my classroom, only to realize that they do not work well with Google. So, I've decided to shift the focus of my project entirely to student-created videos that demonstrate content knowledge through integration of technology.
A couple of weeks ago, I conferenced with my colleagues about my project and they gave me feedback regarding the student videos, mainly in the areas of grouping the students and how to give them feedback regarding performance expectations. One teacher had given the students projects to complete on the computer before, and was able to tell me which students excelled with technology, and which ones need extra assistance. She suggested that the rubric included the technology as a part of the grade, which is something I wasn’t sure about, as I was unsure of my ability to teach the technology, but given the nature of the project, a certain amount of mastery of at least one application is necessary for a successful video, and I am giving the students regular time to practice with different apps.