The Total PACKage
Chicago Public Schools is, for the moment, stuck at a crossroads, looking down the path of progress, but not yet traveling confidently in that direction. According to a 2006 case study, because of the district’s site-based school management philosophy, decisions about acquiring and integrating technology have traditionally been made at the building level, creating huge variations from school to school (Chicago Public Schools Integrate Technology with Help from the Intel® Teach Program). In the last two years my school has purchased a Mac cart, containing 15 computers, installed 5 SMART boards, and provided each classroom with an ELMO projector. However, this is amount of technology is at the same time remarkable and lacking when compared to other CPS schools. I see a change coming in regards to the use of mobile computing devices, namely iPods and iPads, in the classroom, and I am motivated to demonstrate to my school and to the greater school community how and why students should be allowed to use these devices in the classroom. I encounter a wicked problem, however, in planning to implement this change. My administration and I am certain many others are not comfortable granting students access to the district-wide network. The password is guarded and recently a teacher who inadvertently left it on her desk was firmly reprimanded. There is the additional issue of a technology divide. Of the district’s roughly 431,000 students, nearly 85% are growing up in poverty (Chicago Public Schools Integrate Technology with Help from the Intel® Teach Program). Schools can’t expect students living in poverty to provide their own mobile computing devices, but we must make technology and purposefully-designed learning experiences using technology available to all students, to ensure this potential technology divide doesn’t impact the future of a student living in poverty. I believe a classroom set of iPods, managed and controlled by the teacher, can and will provide dynamic and meaningful learning experiences for all students. This project will help CPS to move more confidently towards our future, where mobile computing devices will be as useful and ubiquitous in the classroom as calculators.
Stone Academy has three computer carts (2 Mac Book, 1 Dell, each cart containing 15 computers) and a computer lab. The lab is primarily used for library classes and RTI (Response to Intervention) activities, so it is rarely available. The computer carts are often available, but not always. Also, a teacher might check out a cart, forget to return it for the next teacher who is scrambling to locate it, while the teacher keeps his or her fingers crossed the computers have enough battery life to last for an activity. Although we are lucky to have much more technology now than we used to, I know it’s still a struggle for some teachers integrate it into their teaching. There are many reasons for this, but I believe diversifying our cache of technology while keeping to user-friendly devices with low maintenance required will enable teachers to branch out. The future is upon us; mobile devices are everywhere and it is only a matter of time before they are used for educational purposes in the classroom. We have the the tools. We know how to use them. We are innovative and creative enough to weave the use of these devices into our classrooms. We can teach students how to use them responsibly. We can model digital citizenship. What are we waiting for?
To speak more directly to my challenges, I am a traveling teacher who must cart all books, materials, and supplies to eleven rooms each week. Each classroom has different technology available. Some rooms have a working SMART board, others have an ELMO collecting dust in the back while the teacher still uses an overhead. I find using technology challenging simply due to my struggles to transport and set up computers for each class. It’s stressful and eats up precious instructional time. I think many educators would agree that a classroom where instruction is less teacher-centered would enable students to take the control of their learning, allow for collaboration, and provide more opportunities for a teacher to differentiate. I feel the ease of using iPods would transform a language classroom, or any classroom for that matter.
As a Spanish teacher I am often confronted with the issue of defining proficiency. What does it mean to be proficient in a language? True proficiency requires a student to demonstrate high level skills in the areas of reading, writing, speaking, and oral comprehension. This topic can be controversial in certain aspects because some students arrive in my classes thinking they are proficient, but are severely lacking in certain categories, most commonly reading and writing. The speaking component of a language is socially constructed. Young children learn from a MKO (More Knowledgeable Other) starting in the first year of life, some would argue starting at birth. Parents and other MKOs scaffold young language learners to help them tie meaning to words, ensuring the learner is at the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), or the spot where, a task can be achieved with appropriate assistance (http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Vygotsky%27s_constructivism). Since a language classroom, even those stressing a communicative approach, cannot mimic the natural process of how language is learned, a teacher must try hard to ensure the appropriate scaffolding is in place to boost every student to new levels of understanding and ensure a student is motivated to progress to high levels of understanding. A teacher must teach each student at his or her level. Otherwise, learning activities will be meaningless, beneath the students, extremely frustrating, or even impossible. Also, considering one student may lack proficiency in some areas, but not all, there is even more of a need to creatively differentiate in all areas of language learning. Pedagogically speaking, since language is best learned through authentic experience, similar to how we learn our first language, in addition to crafting tasks requiring students to read, write, speak and listen, teachers must attempt to provide experiential activities, where spontaneous language production and analysis is required. This mimics natural language acquisition, but is extremely difficult to accomplish in a traditional classroom setting.
One technology that could fall into this pedagogical philosophy of experiential learning is the augmented reality app ARIS. ARIS allows users to create mobile games, tours and interactive stories through GPS and QR Codes. Once created, the project will allow participants to digitally explore characters, items, and media. Students will encounter tasks and challenges that can take them out of the classroom, virtually experiencing language and culture. One such project on ARIS is entitled Mentira, a mobile game for learning Spanish in a local neighborhood in the Southwestern United States.
Another idea would advance an assignment my students already complete each year. Students examine the city of Chicago and locate textual example of Spanish. In previous years most of my students simply wrote down what they saw and drew a picture of text's location. If students could photograph the text, use VoiceThread to capture audio of themselves reading the text and describing the location, the students' could upload their projects onto the class website. Then, students could evaluate each others work and compare and contrast text and locations.
If I continue and implement these ideas of technology integration in a Spanish class, I could craft a course where students were able to choose activities at their level and proceed as self-directed learners or in collaboration. I would then be able to move around the room to facilitate, direct, problem solve, guide, and correct. For example, I have encountered students who desperately need to learn basic Spanish numbers while advanced students have progressed far beyond this stage. Mobile computing devices could enable one group of students (novice) to listen to a podcast about numbers 1-100, at the same time another group could make a digital timeline with pictures and audio, to practice learning years in Spanish (intermediate), while another group could play a learning game to practice spelling large Spanish numbers (advanced). All students are learning Spanish numbers, therefore the standards are met. All students are working independently or in groups and engaged in appropriately challenging activities, while I move around the room to ensure students are grasping the concepts, and I did not have to monopolize ⅔ of the school’s available computers to do this.
Also, in terms of learning styles, the app StoryKit would be a dynamic way for students to tell a story in Spanish, record audio, take photos, and illustrate. Visual learners can see and type text, while auditory learners speak the text, kinesthetic learners can act out a scene to be photographed and included in the story. Also, interpersonal learners will have the experience of working with a group to accomplish a task. Once the digital story is complete it can be shared with a much greater audience than normally would see student work posted in our classrooms and in the hallways. Also, younger students or future students would have access to this type of project for instructional purposes.
Another function of the iPods I am eager to use in the classroom are podcasts and apps which can function as tutors, provide flashcards, games, and cultural experiences. Most of these apps are free and provide students with activities where they would hear a variety of native speakers. This is invaluable. The Spanish language is extremely varied and diverse. Most of my Mexican American students are unaware of the differences between Mexican, Castilian, and South American Spanish. Even though their level of understanding in their own culture may be high, they are amazed at how quickly they can become lost while listening to a speaker from Spain, Argentina or Cuba, for example. It is extremely important to take into consideration what a student already knows when designing lessons. As I mentioned earlier, this can be a challenge if I am teaching a literate, fluent Spanish speaker. I would like to show these students that Spanish is more than what they know, it is diverse and varied in different cultures. Creating assignments that require a student to listen to a native speaker from another country can propel these students into a higher level of understanding of the Spanish language. They can see and experience the language and a culture thousands of miles away from their family in Mexico, their grandparents in Puerto Rico, or their Spanish-speaking home in Chicago. Specific apps and podcastsI am interested in using include: Spanish A+, World Nomads Spanish Language Guide, and Gengo Quiz Spanish.
The goal of using technology in the classroom is to find the “sweet spot” or the the spot at which technological knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and content knowledge fuse to create a new new kind of knowledge. This is known as TPACK:
Stone Academy has three computer carts (2 Mac Book, 1 Dell, each cart containing 15 computers) and a computer lab. The lab is primarily used for library classes and RTI (Response to Intervention) activities, so it is rarely available. The computer carts are often available, but not always. Also, a teacher might check out a cart, forget to return it for the next teacher who is scrambling to locate it, while the teacher keeps his or her fingers crossed the computers have enough battery life to last for an activity. Although we are lucky to have much more technology now than we used to, I know it’s still a struggle for some teachers integrate it into their teaching. There are many reasons for this, but I believe diversifying our cache of technology while keeping to user-friendly devices with low maintenance required will enable teachers to branch out. The future is upon us; mobile devices are everywhere and it is only a matter of time before they are used for educational purposes in the classroom. We have the the tools. We know how to use them. We are innovative and creative enough to weave the use of these devices into our classrooms. We can teach students how to use them responsibly. We can model digital citizenship. What are we waiting for?
To speak more directly to my challenges, I am a traveling teacher who must cart all books, materials, and supplies to eleven rooms each week. Each classroom has different technology available. Some rooms have a working SMART board, others have an ELMO collecting dust in the back while the teacher still uses an overhead. I find using technology challenging simply due to my struggles to transport and set up computers for each class. It’s stressful and eats up precious instructional time. I think many educators would agree that a classroom where instruction is less teacher-centered would enable students to take the control of their learning, allow for collaboration, and provide more opportunities for a teacher to differentiate. I feel the ease of using iPods would transform a language classroom, or any classroom for that matter.
As a Spanish teacher I am often confronted with the issue of defining proficiency. What does it mean to be proficient in a language? True proficiency requires a student to demonstrate high level skills in the areas of reading, writing, speaking, and oral comprehension. This topic can be controversial in certain aspects because some students arrive in my classes thinking they are proficient, but are severely lacking in certain categories, most commonly reading and writing. The speaking component of a language is socially constructed. Young children learn from a MKO (More Knowledgeable Other) starting in the first year of life, some would argue starting at birth. Parents and other MKOs scaffold young language learners to help them tie meaning to words, ensuring the learner is at the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), or the spot where, a task can be achieved with appropriate assistance (http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Vygotsky%27s_constructivism). Since a language classroom, even those stressing a communicative approach, cannot mimic the natural process of how language is learned, a teacher must try hard to ensure the appropriate scaffolding is in place to boost every student to new levels of understanding and ensure a student is motivated to progress to high levels of understanding. A teacher must teach each student at his or her level. Otherwise, learning activities will be meaningless, beneath the students, extremely frustrating, or even impossible. Also, considering one student may lack proficiency in some areas, but not all, there is even more of a need to creatively differentiate in all areas of language learning. Pedagogically speaking, since language is best learned through authentic experience, similar to how we learn our first language, in addition to crafting tasks requiring students to read, write, speak and listen, teachers must attempt to provide experiential activities, where spontaneous language production and analysis is required. This mimics natural language acquisition, but is extremely difficult to accomplish in a traditional classroom setting.
One technology that could fall into this pedagogical philosophy of experiential learning is the augmented reality app ARIS. ARIS allows users to create mobile games, tours and interactive stories through GPS and QR Codes. Once created, the project will allow participants to digitally explore characters, items, and media. Students will encounter tasks and challenges that can take them out of the classroom, virtually experiencing language and culture. One such project on ARIS is entitled Mentira, a mobile game for learning Spanish in a local neighborhood in the Southwestern United States.
Another idea would advance an assignment my students already complete each year. Students examine the city of Chicago and locate textual example of Spanish. In previous years most of my students simply wrote down what they saw and drew a picture of text's location. If students could photograph the text, use VoiceThread to capture audio of themselves reading the text and describing the location, the students' could upload their projects onto the class website. Then, students could evaluate each others work and compare and contrast text and locations.
If I continue and implement these ideas of technology integration in a Spanish class, I could craft a course where students were able to choose activities at their level and proceed as self-directed learners or in collaboration. I would then be able to move around the room to facilitate, direct, problem solve, guide, and correct. For example, I have encountered students who desperately need to learn basic Spanish numbers while advanced students have progressed far beyond this stage. Mobile computing devices could enable one group of students (novice) to listen to a podcast about numbers 1-100, at the same time another group could make a digital timeline with pictures and audio, to practice learning years in Spanish (intermediate), while another group could play a learning game to practice spelling large Spanish numbers (advanced). All students are learning Spanish numbers, therefore the standards are met. All students are working independently or in groups and engaged in appropriately challenging activities, while I move around the room to ensure students are grasping the concepts, and I did not have to monopolize ⅔ of the school’s available computers to do this.
Also, in terms of learning styles, the app StoryKit would be a dynamic way for students to tell a story in Spanish, record audio, take photos, and illustrate. Visual learners can see and type text, while auditory learners speak the text, kinesthetic learners can act out a scene to be photographed and included in the story. Also, interpersonal learners will have the experience of working with a group to accomplish a task. Once the digital story is complete it can be shared with a much greater audience than normally would see student work posted in our classrooms and in the hallways. Also, younger students or future students would have access to this type of project for instructional purposes.
Another function of the iPods I am eager to use in the classroom are podcasts and apps which can function as tutors, provide flashcards, games, and cultural experiences. Most of these apps are free and provide students with activities where they would hear a variety of native speakers. This is invaluable. The Spanish language is extremely varied and diverse. Most of my Mexican American students are unaware of the differences between Mexican, Castilian, and South American Spanish. Even though their level of understanding in their own culture may be high, they are amazed at how quickly they can become lost while listening to a speaker from Spain, Argentina or Cuba, for example. It is extremely important to take into consideration what a student already knows when designing lessons. As I mentioned earlier, this can be a challenge if I am teaching a literate, fluent Spanish speaker. I would like to show these students that Spanish is more than what they know, it is diverse and varied in different cultures. Creating assignments that require a student to listen to a native speaker from another country can propel these students into a higher level of understanding of the Spanish language. They can see and experience the language and a culture thousands of miles away from their family in Mexico, their grandparents in Puerto Rico, or their Spanish-speaking home in Chicago. Specific apps and podcastsI am interested in using include: Spanish A+, World Nomads Spanish Language Guide, and Gengo Quiz Spanish.
The goal of using technology in the classroom is to find the “sweet spot” or the the spot at which technological knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and content knowledge fuse to create a new new kind of knowledge. This is known as TPACK:
To quote Matthew Koehler, “a teacher capable of negotiating these relationships represents a form of expertise different from, and greater than, the knowledge of a disciplinary expert (say a mathematician or a historian), a technology expert (a computer scientist) and a pedagogical expert (an experienced educator). Effective technology integration for pedagogy around specific subject matter requires developing sensitivity to the dynamic, [transactional] relationship between all three components” (http://www.tpck.org/). It is my goal as an educator to traverse this new area of knowledge, create innovative learning environments where students can engage with technology they are already using on a daily basis, but see how and why this technology can be used in an educational way.
Mobile devices are everywhere. Most of us can’t imagine living without them. It’s only a matter of time before students are using mobile devices in the classroom to enable them to better manage their schedules, take notes, create reminders, track their grades, take quizzes, vote in class polls, virtually visit locations, find answers to questions, look up words, study for exams, add to discussions, submit their homework, and start discussions with students on the other side of the classroom or the world. The list could go on and on. We are only beginning to understand all that is possible. Let’s confidently move towards the future.