Time for a Tech Check

As we continue to focus our work around student achievement, it’s important that our technology use supports our cause.  I’ve used this space to reference the SAMR model in the past and you will see a similar message in my “Tech Check”list below.

Before students use technology in the classroom, check this list:

TECH CHECKlist (All checked = great use)

• The technology is targeting a specific skill, within the curriculum, that will help the student achieve.  The targeted skill should be individualized to the student, not just one-size-fits-all activities.
• The technology is allowing the student access to content or collaboration that wouldn’t be possible without it.
• The technology is creating or housing student content that demonstrates their mastery of current curriculum.

That is it, it’s a pretty short list.  Technology use should be meaningful and purposeful.  Passive or consumption use (videos, game rewards, listening to music) really should be minimized.  Our students are consuming more and more technology every day.  According to CNN, students are spending between 6-9 hours a day on screens.  As a school district, I think it is important for us to tie student screen time to student achievement goals.  If the screen time doesn’t impact student achievement, don’t use it.  The American Academy for Pediatrics has provided tips for parents that I think easily transfer into the classroom.  Start with the tech checklist above, but also incorporate some of the AAP tips by modelling appropriate use, valuing face to face communication, setting limits and having a tech free zone in your classroom. Narrowing our technology use to purposeful use, not only will model appropriate behavior, but ultimately will impact student achievement.

Supporting Standards with SAMR

When we dig into our grade level or discipline standards (Common Core, NGSS, etc.) and identify what it is our students are expected to master, one of the next logical steps is to develop activities that support the mastery of the content.  As these activities are created, this is where differentiation has to be present.  If we create a “one size fits all” activity, our results will be equally as flat.  So, differentiate the activity for all students to grow in the mastery of the content. 

This brings us to SAMR, see a previous blog post for a reminder of what SAMR is, as we start designing the activities.  Can we create a learning opportunity that isn’t possible without the technology?  If not, we are just

substituting this with this

                  

Instead, what if we create an activity where students can practice the skill and explain their thinking.  

Click on the image to go to the video.

Wisconsin Academic Standard, Mathematics: 1.OA.A.1

ISTE Standards, Student: Communication and Collaboration, Research and Information Fluency,          Technology Operations and Concepts

This is perfect example of “R”edifining instruction on the SAMR model.  By using the app Educreations, the teacher is still having her students work on single digit addition, like the worksheet and app example above, but she is also asking her students to give a “math talk” that explains their reasoning.  Based on observations during universal instruction and assessments, we then can create a differentiated experience where all students can:

• Use academic language that supports mastery at their level as it supports the standard.

• Show their mastery by creating “How to” videos for an audience and creating an authentic purpose that wasn’t possible in the worksheet or skill and drill app.

Now let’s look at a 6-12 example.

substituting this with this

           

Again, instead let’s create an activity where students still identify the content, but can explain their understanding in their own words as well (using Shadow Puppet and Seesaw).

Click image to watch video

NGSS, Middle School Life Science: MS-LS1-2

Common Core Standard: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.4

ISTE Standards, Student: Communication and Collaboration, Research and Information Fluency, Technology Operations and Concepts

Technology can be a very awesome tool in our educational tool belt, or it can just be a digital version of the same tool.  A hammer is a hammer, whether it is real or digital.  Instead of just hitting the nail, lets have our students explain why they are hitting the nail and what strategy works best for them.  If we design our classroom activities in this frame, we will have a much deeper understanding of what ALL of our students know.

Playing in the Positive

This is a step away from my normal Ed Tech blog...Today's topic: Youth Basketball.  After a weekend of watching 4th and 5th graders play in a state basketball tournament, I was inspired to share some of my observations.

Disclaimer: This blog isn't directed at my son, his teammates, his coaches, or our group of parents, it is a reflection on multiple teams and supporters I witnessed at the tournament.

The reasons we participate in sports are numerous: love of the game, competition, camaraderie, community pride, etc.  All positive!!  However, frustration and anger were the two dominant emotions I witnessed this weekend from players, coaches, and parents.  My concern is that we are creating a culture of playing in the negative.

What is playing in the negative?

A player makes a negative play (turnover, missed shot, defensive mistake, failure to block out, etc.) and that play is immediately followed by a negative reaction.  This weekend I witnessed countless negative reactions from multiple sources, including the player involved, teammates, coaches, and parents.  These ranged from body language, to yelling (at the ref, teammate, parent, child, etc.), to pouting or giving up, or worse--retaliation.

As a result, that one negative play has now grown exponentially and has lowering the "negative bar" even lower for the next negative play, and so on, and so on.

Mistakes are part of the learning cycle.

Basketball is a game where players constantly have to learn and evolve, and mistakes or negative plays are a natural part of that learning cycle.  In my 30 plus years as a player, coach, and spectator, I have never witnessed a "perfect game,” mistakes and negative plays happen.  We can't control when mistakes happen as there are too many variables from the play of another player, the ability of the opposing team, or a missed call by a referee.  What we CAN control is how we respond when a negative play happens.  The teacher in me always likes to compare the basketball court to the classroom.  Imagine if the "playing in the negative" scenario happened in that environment. I would imagine it would look something like this:

• A 4th grade student is reading in class and mispronounces a word.  The reading specialist in the classroom identifies the error to the student.
• After being corrected, the student shows their frustration by flipping their book over and gesturing towards the regular classroom teacher with their hands up.
• At the same time, the classmate next to the student slams their hands on the desk and shouts "Really?!"
• Then the student's parents yell at the student, "Come on!  You are better than that!"
• Finally, the classroom teacher stands up, walks towards the reading specialist and yells, "Now you are going to call that?  The other kids mispronounced the same word and you didn't call anything!"

I think we all can agree that this isn’t a culture of learning in the classroom, so why is it ok on the basketball court? We need to play in the positive.

What is playing in the positive?

A player makes a negative play (turnover, missed shot, defensive mistake, failure to block out, etc.), realizes that mistakes happen and concentrates on making a positive play on the next possession.  At the same time, the player thinks about what caused the negative play and how it could be avoided next time.  Teammates respond by supporting their teammate with positive play in the next possession as well and reflect on how they could have changed their play to positively impact the situation.  Coaches encourage the player to respond with positive play.  When the time is appropriate, ask some constructive questions or give good feedback.

• Why do you think the negative play happened?
• What could you have done differently during the play?
• Give specific skills or activities that you will work on in practice to help.

Parents also encourage the player to respond with positive play.  Focus on positive play, not the negative play.

Model positive responses to officials.

We need to stop complaining to referees.  When we do this, we are modeling to our kids/players that this is acceptable behavior.  Has anyone ever witnessed a sporting event where somebody has argued or complained to a referee and the referee changes the call? When a call doesn't go our way, we need to let it go and model how to handle it positively.  This weekend I referenced a handful of technical fouls, a few flagrant fouls, and one coach ejection...in a 4th/5th grade tournament.

Change the culture!

Where do we go from here?  Well, we need to change the culture one play at a time.  "Playing in the Negative" didn't happen overnight, it has been learned by our kids/players over time.  Getting our kids/players to "Play in the Positive" will take effort, but ultimately will produce players we all will be proud of.

Play in the Positive!

The 4C's and SAMR...Plus a Tech Tool!

The 4C's and SAMR

Like everything else in education, instructional technology loves to use acronyms. Today we are going to talk about the 4 C’s and SAMR. The 4 C’s were first introduced to us way back in 2009 as part of the framework for 21st Century Skills.

Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Creativity were defined as needed 21st century student skills.

“Learning how and when to be creative, how to build cross-cultural teams, how to manage budgets and risk, how to present a compelling proposal, and how to manage a project from beginning to end will provide students with the necessary skills to become the next generation of problem finders and solvers, innovators, cross-cultural collaborators, entrepreneurs, and leaders.” 

-Dr. Chuck Cadle, Chief Executive Officer Destination Imagination, Inc. 

As teachers, we all recognize the merit of Dr.Cadle’s quote and the value of incorporating the 4 C’s in order to prepare our students for the future. When we implement the 4 C’s, they are often connected to technology integration. Notice the graphic above, “technology” isn’t included in any of the descriptors. It is important for us, as educators, to remember to incorporate the 4 C’s both with and without technology. Often times, we dive into a technology integrated activity that involves virtual communication or collaboration skills but we neglect to model or allow students master the skills without the technology, first. Our students live in a very device rich world and we sometimes forget the “soft skill” side of the 4 C’s. We need to ask ourselves, “if students can accomplish mastery of the content using the 4 C’s without technology, then why are we using the technology?" Now that being said, there are numerous technology integration tools that facilitate and promote the 4 C’s. For instance, many of us use Google Docs as a Collaboration and Communication tool in the classroom with students, team members, guests, and/or content experts that allows for easier or unimaginable tasks prior to the tech. As the Technology Coordinator for my district, I obviously love to see high quality instruction that incorporates the 4 C’s and includes integrated technology to accomplish the content purpose. Which brings me to the second acronym, SAMR.

Last April I shared a blog post, Why do you use technology in the classroom?, where the SAMR model was defined and referenced in regards to technology integration. In my blog you were challenged to think about why you are using technology and what the technology is allowing you to do that is either easier or isn’t possible without it.

Now, let’s merge these together. When lesson planning, we should be asking ourselves the following questions:

1. What is the content purpose of the lesson? How will I know if students understand the content purpose?
2. What activities will allow for students to meet the content purpose? 
3. How will I incorporate the 4 C’s as I release the learning responsibility onto my students? 
4. How will I check for understanding along the way?
 

Does integrating technology functionally change, improve, or assess your students' ability to communicate, collaborate, critically think, and/or creatively problem solve? If so, have I modelled the skills my students need to use to be successful?

Next time you are lesson planning, reference the questions above. My belief is that incorporating the 4 C’s in conjunction with the SAMR model will lead to higher quality instruction and ultimately, lead to increased student achievement.

The tech tool spotlight below was created by Mandy Schroeder, our district technology coach. Follow her on Twitter @MrsSchroederGB

Tech Tool: SeeSaw

Seesaw is a tool that allows students to create online digital portfolios to showcase their learning. The power of Seesaw is that it allows students to have some control over how they are documenting their learning. Students decide which artifacts and projects should be included in their portfolios. These can include images, videos, writing samples, drawings, files and links. With the ability to add annotations to these artifacts, the students can further explain their thinking.

The teacher then approves these submissions to be included in each individual student’s portfolio. In addition, parents can be granted access to view their child’s portfolio in real time.

I’ve watched as some of our 4K students created their own portfolios on Seesaw. The program is extremely simple to use at any grade level. It acts as an assessment tool for teachers and a self-assessment and reflection tool for the students.

Click HERE for directions on how to get started with Seesaw. To learn more about how teachers are using this tool, click HERE.

Try it out! It is available on the web and also as an ipad app. Seesaw will save you time, lead to more authentic forms of assessments, allow for easy communication with parents, and provide a place to store all student examples, artifacts and projects.

Leadership: Teachers Standards and Instructional Practice

Today I started the next journey in my learning as I began my Educational Leadership Masters through Viterbo.  In my first class, Leadership Assessment, our professor, Dr. Joe Sanfelippo, lead a great discussion on being a leader with instructional practice.  The discussion made me reflect on my current role as an Instructional Technology Coordinator.  Below is a Tagxedo of the 10 Wisconsin Teacher Standards.

If you look closely near Ashland, WI, you will see the word "Technology".  If you aren't familiar with word cloud generators, like Tagxedo, the more frequent the word, the larger the text.  When I think of the PD I have planned and or led, the focus has been on "Technology", not "Learning", "Understanding", "Instruction", or "Teaching".  Don't get me wrong, we need to provide some basic understanding of a technology/digital tool, but in general PD should be focused on the pedagogy or instructional change.  Technology should be introduced as a way to improve, ease, or make the instruction more efficient.  

As I continue to grow as a leader, I need to grow as an instructional coach as well.  As my buildings continue to implement Gradual Release of Responsibility and workshop models, my "Technology" PD needs to support and promote that instructional change.  My focus needs to change from WHAT we are doing to HOW or WHY we should do it.

What does PD look like in your district?  Is technology presented in a PD silo or is it integrated in with instructional practice?

Why do you use technology in the classroom?

It makes me proud to walk through the halls of our buildings seeing our students using devices in the classroom.  I've enjoyed seeing our students working independently, collaboratively, consuming, and creating content on their devices.  Why do you use technology? I’m not sure we ask anymore, we just do.  Studies are popping up supporting this movement.  Specifically, project RED reported that schools with a 1:1 ratio have increased graduation rates and tests scores as well as decreases in dropout rates and disciplinary action.  The data is pretty clear that our students should be using technology in the classroom, but ultimately the technology is only as effective as the teacher who is driving the instruction.

All of that being said, we still need to ask the question.  Why do you use technology?  More specifically, what is the purpose of technology use in your classroom?  This brings us to the SAMR Model.  The SAMR Model was developed by Dr. Ruben Puentedura and is a framework to help teachers design technology use in the classroom.




 The SAMR Model breaks down technology into 4 key parts, is the technology…

Substitution- Technology acts as a direct tool substitute, with no functional change.

• Example: A digital worksheet.  Nothing functionally changes using the technology.

Augmentation- Technology acts as direct tool substitute, with functional improvement.

• Example: Using a Google Doc for student work.  Direct substitute for word processing, but with the ability to be paperless, auto-save, and share with collaborators/editors.

Modification- Technology allows for significant task redesign.

• Example: Using Google Slides, with embedded student created video and/or audio, links to related sites, and user commenting enabled.  Technology enhances and transforms a student presentation.

Redefinition- Technology allows for creation of new tasks, previously inconceivable.

• Example: Sharing a presentation with others outside the school walls.  Using a tool like Google Hangouts, students could present a book talk to another classroom or even the author of the book.  The technology takes a previous inconceivable task and makes it possible.

Going back to my first paragraph, I’m proud of all of the technology use I see in our district, but I want to challenge you to move past just use.  Let’s push for quality use.  Every time you plan on using technology, ask yourself why and reference the SAMR Model.  If you’re just substituting with little or no functional change, then don’t use it.  Secondly, have you modelled the functional skill you are hoping to enhance or transform with the technology?  I’ve witnessed students struggling on an online discussion board, not sure how to appropriately respond or provide feedback to a classmate.  If we don’t model or practice discussing and collaborating face to face without the technology, we can’t expect success with the technology.

Hopefully the SAMR Model helps you plan and reflect on your technology use in the classroom, transforming and/or enhancing the educational experience of your students.

Good Reads on the Topic:

SAMR Resources, Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

Project RED Research Overview, Project RED

SAMR and Bloom's Taxonomy, Common Sense Graphite

Jamie Averbeck
Instructional Technology Coordinator

ASHWAUBENON SCHOOL DISTRICT
javerbeck@ashwaubenon.k12.wi.us
@AverbeckTech