Chapters 10 & 11

10 Promoting Success for All Students through Technology

*MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION IN 21^ST CENTURY SCHOOLS*

“Multicultural educators organize teaching and learning to achieve multiple outcomes at the same time—providing majority students information about individuals and groups who are different from them, while offering diverse opportunities to locate themselves and their histories and cultures within the school curriculum” (Maloy, Verock-O’Loughlin, Edwards, & Woolf, 2013, p. 244).

            Because America has such a diverse population, teachers are expected to meet the needs of all students by integrating multicultural education into the curriculum.  Due to the fact that we are living in the 21^st century, technology enables educators to provide multicultural education to all their students.  Teachers should be able to pull from sources on the web and teach multiple perspectives to reveal hidden histories, instruct students with information that their students can connect with, and create a classroom community where cultures and collaboration are celebrated.  In the history textbooks, not every side of an event is revealed; therefore, it is the teacher’s job to provide students with texts in which multiple perspectives of an event is revealed.  Moreover, by connecting classroom learning to students’ lives and to things they value, teachers are able to making learning relevant to their students.

*UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING*

“By emphasizing highly flexible instructional goals, strategies, and materials, UDL reduces potential barriers to learning while increasing learning opportunities for all students” (Maloy et al., 2013, p. 250).

            Although it is frowned upon to teach in a uniform manner for all students, universal design for learning (UDL) is beneficial and is much more than teaching in a uniform manner.  UDL enables teaching in a universal way that can meet all students’ needs without taking away from any one student.  Furthermore, I have already practiced UDL unknowingly.  By using the SMART Board to display any writing to my students during my student teaching, I did not only cater to students who had poor vision, but also to students who learn better with visual aids.  I always enlarged the text on the SMART Board in order to ensure that everybody could easily read the learning material.  However, even though many teachers use technology in the class, they may not use it in a way to promote UDL.  For instance, in the classroom I observed in, using the SMART Board to project the answer key for the math homework would be considered UDL; however, the teacher did not zoom into the page, and left many students seated in the back row squinting and unable to check their homework.  Teachers need to be careful in guaranteeing the UDL they integrate into their classrooms truly reduce potential barriers to learning while enhancing all students’ learning opportunities.

11 Engaging Students in Performance Assessment and Reflective Learning

*TEACHING PRACTICES*

“Teachers foster student engagement by establishing a balance between teacher-chosen and student-chosen activities…students contribute to the learning process in ways such as those described by Steven Zemelman, Harvey Daniels, and Arthur Hyde…

·      Students select themes for study, reading materials, discussion topics, and formats for publishing their own writing.

·      Students set personal goals and document their progress.

·      Students’ own questions and interests are the focus of classroom discussion and study.

·      Students take responsibility for making decisions about classroom rules and procedures” (Maloy et al., 2013, p. 284).

After reading through the different teaching practices to foster student engagement, I found myself relating to them during this course as well as when I taught over the summer.  These practices revolve around a student-centered way of teaching, and really give students a voice in completing their schoolwork.  Within the EDU 7266 course, I found myself selecting themes and formats for publishing my writing, setting personal goals and checking out my progress, and adding personal questions to the classroom discussion while listening to others talk about a topic of interest.  Over the summer, I always teach my students by starting out with creating the rules with my students and selecting materials of their interest.  However, if I were to incorporate all of the teaching practices listed above to engage my students in, I feel my teaching would connect better to my students and make learning more meaningful to them.

 **REASONS FOR TEACHING WITH CLICKERS*

“Student participation systems with clickers have numerous instructional advantages…Active learning…Student involvement…Real-time feedback…Question-centered instruction” (Maloy et al., 2013, p. 288).

            I believe I have only used clickers only once throughout all my years in school.  Furthermore, I only used it during one class session in high school for a brief period of time.  However, I can still recall using the clicker and seeing myself as one of the highest scorers, even though nobody else knew those scorers were, due to the anonymity provided by the numbers that represented us.  Although I rarely have any experience with using clickers, I believe using clickers are beneficial and would really love to use them in my future classroom.  By teaching with clickers, everybody is engaged and alert, not falling asleep at their desks.  Clickers provide a competitive environment that promotes learning, as students compete to score as high as they can.  Furthermore, not only do clickers provide the teacher feedback as to what students know, but clickers also provide students with immediate corrective feedback after each question, when the answer is revealed before proceeding to the following question.  In addition, teaching with clickers promotes question-centered instruction, as students critically think to answer challenging questions and hold discussions with the class or with their groups.  I wish I had more experience with using clickers, for I would have absorbed much more information through this method than just a simple lecture.

***FOOD FOR THOUGHT...***

1)    How do you promote multicultural education in your own classroom/How has multicultural education looked like in the classrooms you observed?

2)    What is one method of UDL you use in your classroom/have seen in a classroom?

3)    How would you provide more student engagement by following the teaching practices listed by Zemelman, Daniels, and Hyde?

4)    If you use clickers/or would like to use clickers, how would a lesson with them look like in your classroom?

Work Cited

Maloy, R., Verock-O’Loughlin, R., A. Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (n.d.). Transforming

learning with new technologies (2nd ed.). Pearson

Lesson Learned on 11/11/15

Today, the lesson I took away was that we can use assistive technology in the classroom, and advocate for them for our students, to meet the needs of our students.  Assistive technology ranges from little to no technology, to mid- to high-technology.  Strategies, such as behavior modification, can be used in the curriculum as a form of assistive technology.  Manipulatives can be used as well, and it is considered to be low technology.  Calculators are considered mid-technology, and Electronic AAC devices are considered high-technology.  Furthermore, assistive technology is not only used for those with severe disabilities, but is also used for the general population.  For instance, if a student injures his/her hand and cannot use it to write, the teacher can provide a laptop for the student to use.  We teachers must be able to fight for the rights of our students to assistive technology, which will enable them to learn according to their needs.

CHAPTERS 7 & 8

7  Exploring Problem Solving with Software, Apps, and Games

* HIGHER-ORDER AND LOWER-ORDER THINKING  *

“...games that promote higher-order thinking should include most of the following elements:

·      Complex storylines with open-ended activities for game players to complete

·      Meaningful, age-appropriate characters who become learning companions for game players

·      Real-world settings that include complex puzzles that must be solved during game play

·      Opportunities for game players to interact with virtual characters as they play the game

·      Opportunities for replaying the game with different possible outcomes

·      Interesting and engaging graphics and the capacity for game players to zoom in and out of different game spaces” (Maloy, Verock-O’Loughlin, Edwards, & Woolf, 2013, p. 163).

Similar to how Bloom’s Taxonomy is used to create questions of different orders of thinking, games can be categorized as those that promote higher-order thinking or lower-order thinking based on their content.  In Bloom’s taxonomy, recalling information is lower-order thinking question, whereas creating is a higher-order thinking question.  Likewise, games promote higher-order thinking by enabling players to think creatively and critically as they encounter new and challenging experiences every time they play the game (Maloy et al., 2013, p. 163).  The different elements listed above really called out to me as they reminded me of my experience in making my WebQuest.  I wanted my WebQuest to have a game-like feel to it, so that my students would feel as if they were playing an educational video game while completing each task.  In order to accomplish this, I created mathematical word problems with a scenario to go with each, using storylines, opportunities for game players to interact with virtual characters, opportunities for replaying the game with different possible outcomes based on the clients they chose, and interesting and engaging graphics to accompany each storyline.  Although my WebQuest pales in comparison to a higher-order thinking game, I am happy with learning about the elements I could integrate into my WebQuest to turn it into such a game.

* INQUIRY LEARNING USING INTELLIGENT TUTORING SYSTEMS  *

“Intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) are powerful new software programs that promote inquiry learning through computer responses to student actions.  As students answer questions, the computer records their responses and makes predictions about what users know and do not know” (Maloy et al., 2013, p. 176).

            From the point of view of a learner, I believe that intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) are awesome and can greatly improve student learning.  Just the other day, I used an app on my phone called Memrise to brush up on my Japanese vocabulary, and I observed how a flower would bloom for each term I answered correctly on multiple occasions.  Therefore, with repetition and multiple exposures to the Japanese vocabulary, and me spelling out the words, clicking on the correct word, or clicking on the correct term spoken orally, the app was able to keep track of which words I was able to successfully learn and would take out a term I mastered each time a flower bloomed for the term.  I find that software containing this feature can definitely aid learners in a way tailored to that particular learner, similar to how a tutor would tailor lessons based on the specific student. 

            From the point of view as a teacher, I also fully support ITS being used with my students.  In classes I have observed, many ELLs took turns in having independent time at the computer during the ELA block to play an educational game.  Once the students put on their headphones and signed in, they would continue where they last left off and play games focused on math skills or English skills.  After completing a game, the results would be forwarded to the teacher.  I am not exactly sure if the computer game software had the ITS function, but if it did, the computer games would be a great asset to use in my future classroom to provide students with the practice they need in the specific skills they struggle in.

8  Communicating and Collaborating with Social Media

* INTEGRATING ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS INTO YOUR TEACHING *

“There are several ways to use electronic communications and social media in inside- and outside-the-classroom professional work:

·      Teaching beyond the school day

·      Engaging students

·      Sharing information with families

·      Building learning communities

·      Publishing student work

·      Energizing student writing” (Maloy et al., 2013, p. 189).

To become a 21st century teacher, it is important to use technology not only to communicate with others, but also to extend learning into the digital world.  For instance, families would love to hear about their children’s work, and some parents would love to know about the assignments, grading policies, and homework their children are involved in.  Furthermore, students would be greatly motivated to complete their work if they know it would be published for a large audience to view.  Classroom newspapers published online with student work could be shared with students in other classes, and with family members at home.

*   STRATEGIES FOR MODERATING ONLINE DISCUSSIONS  *

Strategies for moderating online discussions include the following: focusing on issues in which students find meaningful; stressing the significance of active, thoughtful participation; stressing rapid feedback; establishing clear rules students must follow for online conduct; responding in a direct yet tactful manner; and creating an online reading response form in which students use (Maloy et al., 2013, p. 201-203).

            I was always wondering about how to create an environment in which students could share their thoughts in a digital way safely.  When I came upon strategies for moderating online discussions, I immediately marked the pages in the textbook because I knew that I would refer to these strategies in the future for when I integrate online discussions into my curriculum.  First and foremost, rules should be set for students in conducting their behavior online.  Furthermore, other strategies that are important pertain to creating an engaging and relatable topic for online discussion, and immediate and effective feedback from both the teacher and peers.  I am already used to participating in online discussions on Blackboard as a student, but I know that as a teacher, online discussions would be taken to the next level, as I have to put in a lot of effort to act as a moderator for the online discussion to be a success.

***FOOD FOR THOUGHT...***

1)    Based on the six elements the textbook mentions games should have to be considered a higher-order thinking game, do you feel confident in evaluating games you would consider using in your classroom?  Why or why not?

2)    Would you use intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) in your classroom?  If you would like to, how would you integrate them into your class?

3)    How would you incorporate electronic communications into your teaching?

4)    If you were to open up an online discussion for your class, what would the topic be on, and what question would the students have to answer?

Work Cited

Maloy, R., Verock-O’Loughlin, R., A. Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (n.d.). Transforming

          learning with new technologies (2nd ed.). Pearson