TRUTH OF PERCEPTIONS

Perception
1. Teachers plan, communicate, guide, and evaluate. Information technology can be adapted to allow the teacher to do these better and thus, impact positively the efficiency of the teaching-learning process.
(Technology-Enhanced Curriculum (TEC) allows teachers to deploy computers to evaluate, provided feedback, and immediately initiate remedial measures.)
In my classroom a key element in this perception is planning, which could also be improved with “pre-planning.” If we believe that planning has a significant impact on the teacher-learning process, how much better is it to “pre-plan” by assessing our students first, and then do planning around them when possible? I assess every student the first day they enter my class. I don’t assess them by giving them a test, I visit with them asking questions pertinent to their subject and at what point they are in learning at their home school compared to my class. I always preface the assessment with my not wanting to start them further behind the point they were at, at their home school. Some, like today’s new student, tell me they weren’t in class for a month so they don’t remember where they were; others tell me they “know it all” and they truly don’t and still others admit they are confused about this or that. All of this “communication” gives me a relatively solid, success assured, starting point. It was done through pre-planning. Once I’ve established the success point for any student, I use plans previously developed to merge the student into my routine though continued guidance.
The TEC mentioned, is only as good as the curriculum directors for each content area. Their curriculum causes a positive or negative ripple-down effect to the classroom. If the teacher is provided a curriculum that does not include more than just a PowerPoint presentation or two, on-line worksheets or online exams, the curriculum should not be considered TEC. If on the other hand the curriculum requires students to use technology to do research, make presentations, obtain and analyze statistical information, and interact in other multi-media lessons, then the planning is based on TEC and should provide for the perceptions in #1.

Perception
2. All human activity is driven by information; the more demanding the activity—the greater the need for information. Thus, information can be termed the fuel that powers the teaching-learning process.
Maslow instantly popped into my head when I read this perception. I thought he would dispute “all human activity is driven by information” theory. Maybe as he would say it [all activity] is driven by the need to survive. Taken a little further into the teaching-learning process, isn’t that what goes on sometimes in a classroom, just trying to survive? I strive to keep my classes as up-to-date, interesting, interactive, and student centered as possible. It is this drive that continues to have me seek and provide information for my students. I give information to them, many times in return for the information they give to me. The more difficult the lesson becomes, the harder they must work to complete it. Sometimes their drive for information leads them to peers for help, which I encourage, developing social and communication skills as well as academic skills. I would say that information is not the “fuel” as much as “not having” information is the fuel. It is the need for the information that lights the fire in learning; the fire burns on with new information.

Perception
3. Information technology empowers teachers by amplifying their capacity to readily provide their learners the heightened sensory perceptions of multimedia. “It can be perceived that the “info-genie” is knocking at the door of the classroom.” Soon someone has to answer.
I loved the reference to the “info-genie”!
Just like poor Major Nelson in I Dream of Genie, teachers are given equipment that could make all their dreams come true in the classroom, if and only if instructions were also delivered. Without question teachers could offer high fidelity information to their students with the millions of dollars worth of technology at their fingertips. Interactive multimedia presentations would be the norm. Continuous lectures with student sitting bored would be a thing of the past. How great it would be if via the Internet using something like Skype, students in Web Master in Tim-buk-tu could present their pages to my students. But it’s not happening in my classroom or my district. Teachers must follow a district curriculum that many times is supplemented with “busy work” because the powers that be haven’t provided the front line with training to do more or in some instances, the powers that be can’t work with the technology themselves. I have shared Skype and the blog site we have learned about in ETEC524 with our technology department to see if there is any way these tools for learning can be integrated into the classroom. We’ll see. I just finished reading NEA’s monthly newsletter and they have developed a 12 step plan for school districts to use to curtail the high school dropout rate. I have included #'s 11 & 12 as I found it very apropos.

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11. Make sure educators have the training and resources they need to prevent
Students from dropping out including professional development focused on the needs
of diverse students and students who are at risk of dropping out; up-to-date textbooks and materials, computers, and information technology; and safe modern schools.
12. Make high school graduation a federal priority by calling on Congress and the president to invest $10 billion over the next 10 years to support dropout prevention programs and states who make high school graduation compulsory

We have already learned that money is NOT the answer!
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Perception
4. The master teachers of the Information Age are those who develop the capacity to navigate the worldwide oceans of information and selectively retrieve that which can provide an enriched experience for their learners. Not everyone is awed by the mind-boggling Information Age.
This perception I can relate to; I am able to navigate the information and selectively retrieve it. BUT it is also mind-boggling. I find myself many times finding new information that takes me off my beaten path of bits and bytes to an entirely new path that I sometimes don’t understand at all. I am consciously making efforts to stay on track and still be awed at what I find. I work with my students closely to lead them in ways to search for information avoiding becoming overwhelmed and frustrated.

Perception
5. How teachers manage information has a major impact on the outcome of the teaching-learning process. Technology facilitates and amplifies the teacher’s capacity to provide learners with information of higher fidelity in an individualized, interactive mode. The teacher is the manager, not the student.
As we encourage and teach our student in the way they need to learn and do so with technology, we are opening the gates to the possibility that they may, in the search for the assigned information, become enthralled with some category that has no connection to the assignment. They may become so excited in fact, they want learn more, research more, even to the point of saying let me do my assignment over this information. It has happened more than once to me. I find myself so pumped that a student is asking to learn about something that I give into the request and the student has generated a new assignment. Here the student is the manager not me. He has stepped outside my plan. I am no longer guiding him under my plan but his own. Is this okay? My philosophy is, it is better that the student learn the methods of research, how to use the technology to learn then present his findings then it is to make him go through the motions over a topic that is of no current or future interest. I do put stipulations on the deal I’ve just made, and that is if the student wanders of the topic, he is facing a zero.

Perception
6. A verbal description alone of anything that can be seen must be considered a compromise; a compromise made every day in the classroom in an age when technology makes it unnecessary.
The old adage A picture is worth 1000 words works well to reinforce this perception. On one occasion I had a student who spoke little to no English relatable to education. He was to say the word sand and wanted to know what it meant. Try to explain sand when the student doesn’t understand beach or dirt or waves. Finally seeing the frustration of the student, I logged into the Internet and showed him a picture of sand. He smile and told me the word in Spanish! He was extremely happy with himself and his progress with pictures. The same case can be seen in US History when the Internet is used to show students film from the dust bowl as well as live interviews from those who experienced it. But, we must remember, some teachers are hesitant to step outside the district curriculum to share such wonderful knowledge. This is where my “pre-planning” perception would allow for the technology to be added by the teacher instead of busy work.

The Worst and Best of It All

My worst fear is not taking the chance to follow my vision. My second worst fear is not being afraid of what might happen!

Worst Fears Best Hopes

Money Obtaining a grant from the Juvenile Justice Department enabling to purchase necessary equipment, hire and train the correct personnel to teach at-risk students.

Stress Deal with the stress associated with at-risk students, parents and laws associated with education and juvenile justice.


Organization Maintain an organized environment for learning and progressing


Multiple learning Use technology to provide physical and academic learning tools
opportunities


Community Acceptance Integrate at-risk students into the community as a positive addition

My worst fear is not taking the chance to follow my vision. My second worst fear is not being afraid of what might happen!
I will overcome these fears by surrounding myself with personnel that support my vision and compliment my inadequacies. I will use technology to allow my students to step outside the box in their academic environment to see the possibilities and consequences of learning.

The six barriers for me fall into one of four areas; teachers, integration, curriculum, training. I will see that the curriculum is developed to insure freedom for the teachers to integrate technology into their lessons after they have received extensive training. Worksheets would be a thing of the past. Classrooms would be teamed with similar classrooms in the nation and students would learn from each other by presenting academic learning via web broadcasts, video conferencing and critiquing. For example, in U.S. History, student in Texas would teach their counterparts in Ohio, New York, Virginia, the Texans’ role in the development of the U.S. Students in Virginia could video the Potomac River, a trip to the Capital Building, and Arlington Cemetery for a presentation while students in Texas could show off the Alamo. Students could ask questions of their counterparts throughout the presentation allowing for responsibility for their learning.

What I have learned so far in this class has added to my excitement in the possibilities that we have for helping as-risk students. If I could use blogs and skype in my classroom my students would be exposed to the world. I would have to figure out a way to monitor behavior or better yet have the students monitor each other by rules they have developed for the class.

I have no problem with students mentoring me, giving them control of what they learn and running with it. Daily I learn from my students. Daily I ask them for assistance in finding problems with web sites, video making and even Excel formulas. Teachers cannot know everything and those that act like they do are not good teachers. This is true especially for any technology classes as technology changes almost daily. In this reading alone I have found multiple sites to explore and add in my teaching. I also integrate my lessons whenever possible for dual credit with students’ core classes such as English, History and Sciences. Excel is integrated into math. Currently I have a BCIS student who is building a Power Point on different types of cattle that will be used as a grade for his animal husbandry class. This is a special education and at-risk student in line for graduation if he completes these two electives. Using the Internet and BCIS skills becomes less of a challenge for learning. The assignment is aligned with his IEP as he is set up for success.

One hundred percent of the dual credit in my classroom comes from my suggestion to fellow teachers. The teachers in my building are not technological savvy. They have the mind frame of following the online curriculum, never varying, which in many classes does not include technology. Out of fear, I believe, they fail to teach outside the box. Their trips out side the box include magazines and posters!

EMPOWERING TEACHERS & EMPOWERING STUDENTS

Empowering Teachers 1& 2

When reading these chapters two things jumped out at me; 1) using data from 1956 to show how far we haven’t come and 2) the money we spent to get nowhere.

I felt as though those “leading authorities” on education hadn’t been in the classroom since 1956.

If teachers were given the $29.2 billion dollars that was spent getting us nowhere with technology in the classroom (funds don’t include the Apple experiment and other donations), I can guarantee the true “leading authorities” (teachers) would make sure it was used to get somewhere in the classroom.

As I thought more about it in relation to my District, I realized that the only department that truly used the technology to its best ability was the Math Department. Why? The math coordinator for my District is very technological savvy. He has not only provided fabulous lesson plans, he has written or found programs that give the math teachers technology at their finger tips. One great example is the ability to attach the TI83 calculator to the projection system allowing the teachers to demonstrate its use to the entire class.

Comparing that to the English Department is similar to the studies in the textbook. The online curriculum provides worksheets for vocabulary that are to be printed and passed out, worksheets for fill in the blank, tests and reading assignments. There are Power Points for various areas to be covered but nothing that stands out as true technology in the classroom. When I taught English I, I had the students draw from a cup slips of paper that had various areas of Shakespeare’s life on it ie., parents, education, where he lived, etc. They had to research on the Internet whatever area they had chosen and then create a Power Point to share with the entire class using a broadcast system. This activity was no where in the “assigned curriculum”, but was well received and presented by the students.

My point is “leading authorities” are the persons on the front line of education, the teachers. Until the assigned leaders become technological savvy as our Math Coordinator, the technology will remain a useless tool in the classroom.

Empowering Students

When the attention turns to empowering students through technology, the challenge returns directly to empowering the teachers via information vs automation. In the preface of Empowering Students a statement validates my opinion of “leading authorities” when November writes … “most importantly, responsibility shifts to the person who is the closest to solving the problem,” which in turn links to the problem of power and control. The technology department blocks, the department coordinators tell, and the teachers regurgitate what they are told. Perhaps instead to worksheets placed in the on-line curriculum, examples of validating sources, plagiarism, educational uses of e-mailing, video cams and even fax machines as suggested for the younger grades.
Our District prohibits students from accessing e-mail. However, I use my e-mail address to allow them to send work to their parents, questions that may come up during the day or as in one case, communicating with a college football coach.

I have not used the video conferencing as a tool to draw in parents but I think this is a wonderful avenue to engage parents in our schools. I am going to attempt to do this if I can get permission from our technology department (it will be a control issue as well as a privacy issue).

Our school is very active in Service Learning. Three or four times a year our students visit a local nursing home sing and read to the residents. I am going to propose (possibly through grants) that we set up a web cam for the students and residents to communicate. I feel this would be a triple win situation; our students, the residents, wonder teaching technology tool and a service learning experience that has not been address – the use of computers to improve the community.

I am going to contact my niece in WV and see if we can do some technology integration between our classrooms as a “beginning” project of online buddies. Again, I will get permission from technology. If they will not allow the online cam projects then I will video my students and we can send videos back and forth through my e-mail.

Currently I use two sites to publish my students work. One is Artsonia and the second is Worth1000. I was introduced to Artsonia by my granddaughter in Waco. Her art teacher uses it to share the students work with family all over the world. I can use it to share my Communications Graphics and Multi-media students work. I am currently working with Worth1000 to enter my Photo Shop students work into contests. It is a fabulous site to stimulate creativity – thinking outside the box.